The Tall Man

- Not a single thing. - What do we do?

Police line. No one goes in or out!

But there are other entrances.

Just make it look good.

How are you, Mrs Denning?

We haven't found them.

Not him, nor the others.

Our town has been dead for six years.

At first we blamed the closing of the mine.

The lack of jobs.

The lack of money. The lack of everything.

But then we had much worse to blame. For something had come to Cold Rock.

Something bad that was destroying our town even more.

That morning, nobody knew that Cold Rock case was reaching its conclusion.

Don't drink out on the street, Rolly!

What street?

Julia!

Julia, some help here, please!

What happened?

I don't know. She started screaming all of the sudden, out of nowhere.

- How long has she been like this? - I don't know.

- Oh my god! - You didn't know?

I'm not equipped for this, Tracy.

Push! Keep doing it. Good, good.

When the contraction comes again, push where you feel my fingers.

Push where my fingers are. Down. Push deep and down. Push!

- Push. - I can't!

You're doing it. Keep doing it. Very good.

Do it again.

C'mon! Here it comes. Good girl! That's it!

Okay.

It's breech. Which means the feet are coming first.

But that's fine. I just need you to push really hard.

- I can't. - Really big push for me.

Push! Push, Carol!

You did it! There it is!

You did it.

Why is there no sound?

- The baby is fine. It's good. - Take her outta here.

Good work, honey. That is my girl!

You did such a good job. - But the baby...

I know, honey. Julia is gonna take very good care of her, I promise you.

C'mon.

Open your eyes. C'mon.

Take a breath. You can make it.

C'mon, breathe. C'mon now, breathe.

Breathe. Come on.

Okay. Come on.

Breathe. Breathe.

You can do this. C'mon, you can make it.

Open your eyes.

There you are!

Hello.

It's a big boy.

No hospital, Julia.

He needs monitoring, Tracy.

No. No way.

Steven.

That bastard never made a secret of a fact that he likes my girls.

He's always parading around in front of them like a rooster.

Bare-chested and cocky with those stupid cowboy boots.

Always showing them things and teaching them this and that.

And Carol falling for all of it.

Did you realise?

No. God, no! If I had...

...I would've shot him. Bang, bang. Goodbye cowboy.

Get rid of him.

This is nobody else's business, Julia, but ours. No hospital.

- They won't ask any questions. - No, we won't go.

I won't put Carol through that shame. She's not even nineteen.

We take care of our own problems, okay?

In Cold Rock sometimes children were born when they were not wanted.

People just managed and they didn't go hollering it from the rooftops.

It may have been a bit sad, but it was just good sense.

Because a lot worse things were happening when it came to the children.

Wanted or not, boys and girls,

some of them just disappeared.

Something had come to Cold Rock that was taking the children.

Something so menacing, so terrifying...

...that the people finally gave it a name.

She was in her room...

...a few minutes earlier. Then I came back and...

...and she was gone. She was just gone.

There wasn't a sound. There was no scream.

There was nothing. I just... looked outside and he was gone.

- I just wish I have been there. - I couldn't believe it.

I looked up and down the street. I couldn't see her anywhere.

I panicked... and all I could think of was the Tall Man.

- I think he's the Devil. - What kind of people take people's kids?

- Talking about the Tall Man? - No, that's a myth. There's no Tall Man.

- He exists. - The only Tall Man that I've ever seen

is the one that kids built, the Scarecrow over there.

If this was a rich town, we'd have the whole army looking for those kids.

I saw him two times. Going into the forest at nighttime.

Right there, like he was trying to avoid the bridge.

It's such a big place. We've got so many places for someone to hide.

What are you talking about? What else could it be?

Of course it's a child molester. A kind of asshole who hurts the kids.

- All I'm saying is that... - What you say is bullshit, Chestnut.

It's not the Boogeyman, or the Devil, or any of that old wives tale crap.

Tall Man my ass. The guy's got a name,

and he'll shit himself like anyone else when we drag him to the chair.

You know about a lot of things, don't you Douglas?

Give me another hit of that, Beth.

I was sitting back there, listening to you telling the sheriff your nice story.

All I'm saying is you aren't here to catch a ghost. Right?

Noted.

I was just making conversation.

Cheers.

Yeah.

Ladies, gents...

- Dark knight is back? - Arrived this morning.

He's already on his fourth cup of coffee. Short, black, no sugar.

Well, he's gotta sit up all night in his car.

- Hi, guys. - Hi, Julia.

He'll start messing about, making his bullshit rounds, and all that for what?

- You mean Dodd? - I mean Sherlock Holmes.

Yeah, like clockwork. Last kid disappeared two months ago.

Won't be long before the next one goes. Dodd's back on the trail.

What difference will that make? Eh, Julia? This town is already finished.

Yeah, I guess everyone is feeling pretty down.

- Tell me about that. - Mrs Johnson!

- She's gone. - I haven't seen her in weeks.

Sweet Jesus! She looks even worse than before.

She wouldn't mind a cup of coffee.

She wouldn't mind a winning lottery ticket.

For you, Mrs Johnson. From Trish.

Don't you want it? I think it may do you some good.

Wow. I know I might've blacked out last night,

celebrating the birth of my baby boy, but I know I didn't order up no nurse.

Good morning to you too, Steven.

- What the hell are you doing here? - Just picking up the pieces.

Really? And who do you think you are?

- I know who I am. - What the fuck's that supposed to mean?

- I'm talking to you. - What? You wanna hit me too?

Stay out of our business. I really care about Carol.

I know. Like you care about your bike.

I don't like your style. May he rest in peace,

your husband left behind some pretty big shoes to fill.

After all, he was a doctor. You're just a nurse.

Stick to changing diapers and get off my back.

- Hey, Tracy. - Hey. Come on in, take a seat.

Thanks. So, how is that sweet boy?

He's okay. Actually, I sent them away to my sister's in Seattle.

She's got a big house, and they are close to everything, and...

they're just kinda better off.

Carol's in no shape to travel, Tracy.

Yeah, but they made it there fine. Julia, look, I still have to make a living.

I've got a job interview in Kaslo in 45 minutes. Good pay, good job, good tips.

I can't be here all day to help Carol. You gotta understand me.

- Yeah, I get it. - You know, I gotta hold on, Julia.

No, honestly, Tracy, I understand.

You want me to make you some coffee or something?

He's still here?

Yeah. You gotta give me some time with that, okay? It's not so simple.

He's kinda hard to handle. Trust me, you just gotta let me handle this.

What about Jenny?

Hey.

Your mom went to Kaslo.

You haven't been doing your speech therapy, have you?

Okay.

I'm here now.

So... speak.

Why are you always hiding behind all this hair? You're so pretty.

So, you believe it too?

He was like an ancient legend.

Something from a book of fairy tales, or an old song.

Everyone talked about the Tall Man all the time

because everyone was afraid of him.

People were always afraid he'd strike again. And when he did,

they thanked their lucky stars he took someone else's kid.

Maybe they felt a little guilty thinking that way,

but that feeling didn't last long.

For everyone's got their problems to deal with.

It's not just good or bad, it's just the way it is.

- Hey. - Hi.

- Done for today? - Yeah.

There's some more groceries in the car. Is everything okay?

Yeah. He's been looking forward to you getting home.

- Yeah? - Yeah.

Yes?

Hey, sweetheart. That's a beautiful song.

Christine told me that you missed me today.

I missed you too.

What did you do all day?

- We made a baking soda volcano. - And you made it erupt?

- Yeah. - How did you do that?

We put baking soda and then we put vinegar and then it exploded everywhere.

Guess what we're having for dinner tonight? Brussels sprouts!

Hey guys, dinner's in half an hour!

Okay!

- Wow, what's that? - That's a gorilla.

- Where does he live? - He lives in... Australia.

You think so? Maybe he can live in a jungle somewhere.

This fish can live in our moat. And he can patrol our waters,

so that no one can come by, and he'll eat everybody.

- Bomb! - Bomb!

Do the number trick. I taught him a number trick.

- Think of a number. - Okay.

- Double it. - Wait, that's too fast.