BERNARD CARL CHANCE CHRISTINA DI GAMBLE JACLYN LUCY MAN MEN NARRATIVE_TITLE NICOLE RAYMOND SUZANNE WAITRESS WOMAN CHANCE Eldon Chance is a 55-year-old, right-handed neuropsychiatrist. Of late, he is increasingly aware of a mental state he finds to be dark and unstable. CARL This is D. D, meet Dr. Chance. CHANCE Do you remember that furniture we looked at? DI I do. You decide you want to make it right? CHANCE Jaclyn Blackstone is a 39-year-old ambidextrous woman living in Berkeley with complaints of intermittent memory loss, poor concentration, loss of time. It says here that you separated from your husband after he struck you in the face. Shortly thereafter, you became aware of a second personality-- Jackie Black. RAYMOND You were in her room just now. Why didn't you look in on her? JACLYN He'll kill me. He said he would, and I believe him. This was big, even coming here. It could be for you, too. I could be putting us both in danger. CHANCE I was trying to help someone. I will not accept this problem cannot be solved. DI Let's walk. CHANCE This is not good. I don't like this. DI If anyone starts shooting, duck. Otherwise, don't fuckin' move. NARRATIVE TITLE CHANCE DI What are you doing? CHANCE Calling 911. Get that kid an ambulance back there. DI Don't. CHANCE I'm a doctor, for Christ's sake. DI You're in the database. I'm not. If you really want to call someone, use that. WOMAN 911. What's your emergency? CHANCE There's uh-- there's three guys in an alley in the Tenderloin that need medical attention. WOMAN Can you give me an address? CHANCE Uh, it's an alley in the Tenderloin. WOMAN Can you be more specific, sir? DI In between 23rd and 24th. Enter off Mercer. WOMAN Okay, and-- DI Do you feel better? You want some water? CHANCE Back there. What's that about? DI That was about me getting right. What you do with it is up to you. This cop-- this cheap fuck gun-and-a-badge tough guy, I'd like to see him meet me somewhere. CHANCE What?! What are you saying? That what you just did was some kind of aud-- audition? No. DI Why? The rules? You think that's how he feels? CHANCE Those guys back there, how'd you know they wouldn't be armed? How'd you know they wouldn't have guns? That it wouldn't be the two of us left for dead? Oh, fuck! DI Most fights are over before they start. Those guys followed us into an alley. What kind of idiot goes into a blind alley to escape? Emotion over logic. They didn't think. They just reacted, so they let me dictate. There are no victims. Only volunteers. CHANCE CHANCE D? D! Jaclyn. Jaclyn. Jaclyn! DI Man does like his scalps. CHANCE Morning. I wouldn't have stayed late at the office last night if I'd known you were gonna be here. NICOLE Well, I said I would if Mom and Neil ended up going to the movie. Remember how I said that? Although they didn't actually go out to one. They ordered one on TV and pretty much took over the living room. Again. He's living with us now, I guess. CHANCE Neil is? NICOLE Yeah. I mean, he basically was already, but he found somebody to sublet his place, so it's official. Hey, how accurate is this thing? The Beck Depression Inventory? It's kind of weird. Like, I don't get how, "I make decisions about as well as I ever could" is the answer that's supposed to show you're not depressed. But I do seriously have basically no interest in other people, though. And I definitely feel more discouraged about my future than I used to. CHANCE You know, when I administer that test, it's in conjunction with other tests. It's cumulative. It's not a stand-alone diagnostic. NICOLE You look pretty bad. CHANCE Thanks. I slept in a chair. NICOLE Well, last time I stayed over, you said the next time there would be a futon couch or something for me to sleep on. Guess what. There isn't. Plus, are you ever gonna unpack these other boxes? It's been months. I mean, if you didn't need any of this stuff, then why'd you even take it? CHANCE Okay, who's for pancakes? NICOLE And coffee. You don't have any. CHANCE What do you mean? I-- I have coffee. NICOLE You have that stuff that tastes like burning earthworm dirt. Also, there's none left. We have to go now, though. I have 10 demerits already this semester. CHANCE For what? NICOLE Talking in the library and being late. You have something on your shirt. NICOLE Are we going?! CHANCE Yeah, just-- just give me one second. NICOLE Dad! CHANCE Yeah! I'll be right there. SUZANNE I waited in line 45 minutes for these. They don't have them on the menu every day. Come on. You haven't taken one bite. CHANCE Yeah, my stomach's not feeling great. So anyway, I called the Alameda County D.A.'s office. Volunteered to do the psych evals, profiles, whatever they need, pro bono. SUZANNE Okay. CHANCE If I can get a friend there, maybe I can put that friend onto Raymond Blackstone. If he's as dirty as Jaclyn says he is. SUZANNE If Blackstone is even close to what she says, how is he not gonna find out you're poking around? CHANCE 'Cause he doesn't work there. He can't have his finger in everything. SUZANNE Okay, so you said you had two things. What's the other thing? CHANCE Jaclyn tutors math. Now, if she came to my apartment, says it's for that, you could meet her there to continue her therapy. SUZANNE At your apartment? CHANCE Ye-- it doesn't have to be there. The point is to set up some cover that allows you and her to keep meeting. SUZANNE Do you really still not see what dangerous ground this is? Even for someone without your history, your vulnerability, it would be. Or is that what you like about it? CHANCE Come on, Suzanne. SUZANNE Jaclyn wouldn't be the first to trade in one abusive man for another. Remember you said that? So maybe Jackie Black and all the rest of her story is just about finding one man to save her from another. CHANCE You don't believe in Jackie Black? SUZANNE I don't know what I believe. CHANCE Well, Jaclyn or Jackie Black or however many of her there are or aren't, I can't imagine any of them would want to go on getting beaten. SUZANNE Eldon, why can't you let this go? CHANCE That's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to let go. I'm trying to give Jaclyn to you. She needs help, and I'm trying to find a way to let you keep helping her. Or we can-- we can just hope for the best. SUZANNE I'm taking yours home, too. Did her other therapist go to this much trouble for her? Myra something. What was her name? CHANCE Cohen, I think. Yeah, Cohen. SUZANNE What happened there again? She-- she died? CHANCE Yeah. She was an older woman, lived alone. On the Internet, the police said that they thought she might have tried to stop a home-invasion robbery. SUZANNE Wow. Poor woman. That couldn't have been easy for Jaclyn, either. CHANCE Is that a yes? SUZANNE I just hope you know what we're doing. JACLYN Hello? CHANCE Hi, Jaclyn. This is Eldon Chance. Listen, I might have an idea about how you could continue your therapy. Is-- Is this a good time? JACLYN You mean now? I'm at work right now. CHANCE Now, later, whenever is convenient. JACLYN I'll call you back. CHANCE Okay. When-- JACLYN This isn't a good number, just so you know. CHANCE Bernard Jolly is a 19-year-old white male who, until his recent arrest and incarceration, has lived in the basement apartment of his maternal aunt, Amanda Jolly of San Francisco. He is two years into a post-concussive syndrome following a basilar skull fracture and intracerebral hematoma following a bicycle/ pickup truck accident in which he was riding the bicycle. BERNARD CHANCE Since his discharge, the patient admits to both visual and olfactory hallucinations. Visual hallucinations consist most often of seeing the Mexican gardener who struck him, even though Jolly has been informed that this man has since left the country. BERNARD CHANCE On top of that, various olfactory hallucinations. GAMBLE What kind of olfactory hallucinations does he have? CHANCE Incense, hay, and something he describes as the smell of different beings. GAMBLE Yeah, I get that every time I'm on BART. CHANCE GAMBLE Okay, so headline. If competency means that Bernard Jolly could communicate effectively with his attorney... CHANCE Then, no, he's not competent. GAMBLE You think you could write that up for me by Thursday? CHANCE Sure. I'd be happy to help with anything else. GAMBLE Yeah? 'Cause just off the top of my head, I got 10 more defendants where Bernie Jolly came from. CHANCE Fine. I could also walk you through medical histories that seem confusing, too. GAMBLE When you fell down from heaven, did it hurt a lot? CHANCE Listen, does the D.A.'s office work with all the Alameda County police departments? GAMBLE Yeah. Oakland, Berkeley, Hayward-- all of them. They keep us busy. Gonna keep you busy now, too. Okay, how come? CHANCE I was just wondering, it's-- Colleague of mine was murdered, and the case is still unsolved. I know it's probably inappropriate. GAMBLE Where was this? CHANCE Fremont. 2014. GAMBLE We'd have that file here. You can't take it with you, but we'd probably have a room you could sit with it. That work? CHANCE Sure. GAMBLE Done. CHANCE Myra Cohen, PhD. Stab wounds penetrating vital structures. Total number of stab wounds-- 43. Nine classified as major. Hands tied in front using a double square knot with white nylon rope approximately 42 inches in length. Discovered subsequently at the coroner's office that Dr. Cohen had a kitchen knife embedded in her throat. It was undetected at the scene because of the pillowcase over her head. MAN Sorry. I got no time to fuck around. This is what I tell him. 300 degrees, and the beer is pouring out of me from the night before, right? And you know me, I'm just gonna say to him, you're gonna tell me where I can find this guy right now. 'Cause if you don't, I swear to Jesus Christ, I will come across this table, and I will rip your heart right out of your fucking chest! MEN MAN The little piece of shit looked like he was gonna piss himself. MEN CHANCE Hello? JACLYN Hi. It's Jaclyn. Sorry it took me so long to call back. CHANCE No, no, that's-- that's fine, really. I was calling to-- I talked to Suzanne Simms, and we came up with a plan to help you keep going with therapy. Would you-- are you up for that, you think? JACLYN Uh, tomorrow night, there's a lecture on the campus, the math department. I was planning to go. One of the graduate students is lecturing on the axiom of choice, if you'd like to come. CHANCE I-- I'm afraid that would be lost on me. JACLYN Sure. CHANCE There's a Chinese place on Shattuck that's close to the campus. Do you-- JACLYN Taizu Dragon. CHANCE That's the one. JACLYN We could meet there after. CHANCE We could. JACLYN At 8 30. CHANCE 8 30 it is. CHANCE Hey. LUCY Where were you? CHANCE When? LUCY Randall-- your 9 00. I called you a ton of times. CHANCE Shit. I didn't hear it. Uh, we better reschedule. LUCY Friday at 11 00. CHANCE That's good. LUCY I know it is. Also, a detective called for you. CHANCE What? LUCY Detective Hynes. CHANCE Did he say what was it about? LUCY No. Just that you're in trouble. Myra Cohen. He-- He said it's about the Myra Cohen case. CHANCE Right. Yeah, I-- I asked about that at the D.A.'s office. LUCY Do you want me to get him for you? CHANCE No, it's okay. I'll call him later. LUCY He wanted your cell. CHANCE Did you give it to him? LUCY Yeah. I just give out your cell number to whoever wants it. You would tell me if there's something going on, right? CHANCE Going on with what? LUCY You. CHANCE I like to think I would, yes. LUCY The Sykes guardianship call is at noon. I'll dial you in. CHANCE Thank you. CHANCE The patient states that Jackie is daring and extroverted, a person who comes out in times of stress. In particular, it is Jackie who continues to have a sexual relationship with her estranged husband even though she, Jaclyn, does not approve of this. CHANCE Hello? CARL Young man, do you have time to stop by and see me? CHANCE Uh, when were you thinking? CARL Well, what are you up to right now? CHANCE I-I don't really-- CARL You do so, and you won't be sorry. I got news that's too beautiful not to share. CARL I have a man who can do the restoration. He does fantastic work. DI Big dog. CHANCE Hey. Hey. There are victims. I spend half my life in rooms with them. They do exist, they do think, and they react to being bereft of protectors and damaged beyond repair. DI Your furniture's gone. CHANCE What? DI Yesterday. I thought that's why you were here. CARL All right. Bye for now. My friend. Would a cashier's check in the amount of $80,000 brighten your day? CARL A Mr. Morozov of San Francisco. CHANCE Is he Russian? CARL He's rich, and he's happy. Ah. And he's not in the mob. CHANCE You sure about that? 'Cause I read an article in the Chronicle. CARL I've held back $20,000 for D's work and my own commission. And that's a deal. CHANCE I know, and D's work is not the issue. He's entitled to whatever is fair, and you are, too. CARL What is the issue? CHANCE I just-- I thought there would be a time, you know, when you had the buyer, and there would be a final moment to reconsider before... CARL It's what we agreed upon. It's why we did the work. I've made you a little something to remember them by. I thought you would be happier. When I pictured your face, you were smiling. MAN Three major fault lines, and shit tons of minor ones, and they all meet right here in the fucking Bay Area, man. How's that for freaky? CHANCE I was reading about something like that somewhere recently, yeah. MAN I think about us being, like, years past due for a seismic event of catastrophic fucking proportions. I think about it all the time. CHANCE What would you do? MAN If it happened? Nothing. Probably drown, right? But what am I gonna do? But it just seems like there's a lot of people afraid of bullshit, you know? If you're gonna be afraid, be afraid of something that could actually happen. That's what I am. CHANCE Yeah. Me too. CARL Carl Allan here. Please leave a message. CHANCE Hi, Carl. It's Eldon Chance. Listen, I've been thinking about what we... I have to make this right with the buyer, the Russian. I'm not gonna put any of this on you or on D. I'll explain. I'll say it was all on me. I'll tell him that the pieces-- they had brass on them when I brought it to you. I'm gonna offer him his money back. Whatever it takes to put right what we did. I'm sorry, really. I... It's just, ethically speaking, all of this... this is not who I am. WOMAN Hi. MAN Hey. How you doing? WOMAN Hey. RAYMOND You expecting someone? We met at the hospital. You were looking in on my wife. CHANCE Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I remember you now. RAYMOND You remember me now. As opposed to when you saw me walk in? CHANCE Yeah, you looked familiar. I see a lot of people in the course of my day. RAYMOND You mind? WAITRESS Can I get you gentlemen-- RAYMOND No. We're good. Thank you. Let me see. Is this what they would call Art Deco? CHANCE It's French Art Deco. RAYMOND French Art Deco. These are yours? CHANCE Yeah. Well, uh, no. It-- It was, but I just sold it. RAYMOND Hope you got your price. CHANCE Yeah. So do I. RAYMOND What brings you to our side of the bay, Doctor? CHANCE You know, I-I sometimes see patients up here. I like being on the campus now and then. Reminds me of my student days. RAYMOND Are you on staff at any of the hospitals over here? CHANCE No. I used to be, but I'm not anymore. I was asked by your wife's therapist to look in on her, 'cause she was worried that there might be some trauma to the brain. The doctors might have missed it, so that's why I was there. RAYMOND Well, I didn't mean to intrude. I just saw you sitting over here, thought I'd come over and say hello. You said you were meeting someone? CHANCE No. Actually, I didn't say that. Not at all. RAYMOND Hm. Oh, look. I guess it started raining. Weather report's finally right. Oh. Well, well, well. Jackie! Look who I found. JACLYN Hi. CHANCE Hi. How are you? RAYMOND Dr. Chance was just about to tell me who he was waiting for. CHANCE No, I was just saying that I'm not meeting anyone. RAYMOND It's a coincidence, then. You'd be amazed at how many coincidences I hear about in my line of work, and you'd be amazed at how often it turns out that they're not coincidences. I'm getting to the point where I don't even believe in such things. Here. Have a seat. CHANCE You know, it's not really a question of believing or not believing. Coincidence is the simple condition of coinciding. Any number of people or things occupying the same space at the same point in time. RAYMOND Right. CHANCE You want me to give you an example? RAYMOND Please. CHANCE There's a guy rehanging a light fixture in the lobby of an upscale hotel. For whatever reason, he gets distracted, and he doesn't do the job right-- leaves some screws out of the assembly. Some time later, a woman is crossing the lobby on her way to join some friends at the bar. She passes under the light at the point which a construction crew outside start using a jackhammer, and it vibrates the building very slightly... WOMAN CHANCE ...but enough. RAYMOND Then what happened? She die? CHANCE No. The impact caused a subarachnoid hemorrhage resulting in global aphasia. She was never the same again. I see it all the time-- people's lives changed irrevocably. I sometimes wonder if it's by that kind of geometry that our lives are our lives, those random meetings in time and space. It's just purest coincidence. RAYMOND And they call him Dr. Chance. So we're not responsible for our own actions, then? Is that the point? 'Cause I've heard that one a few times, too. CHANCE You know, someone once asked William James if he believed in free will. And he said, "Of course. What choice do I have?" RAYMOND That's good. He's all right. How was the lecture? JACLYN It was good. RAYMOND That's it? That's all you got? Tell us about it. JACLYN Graduate student from the math department was lecturing on the Banach-Tarski paradox and the axiom of choice. RAYMOND Really? Why? Would you care, I mean. JACLYN It's a counterintuitive theorem. A solid ball in three-dimensional space can be split up into a finite amount of non-overlapping pieces, which can then be put back together so as to yield two identical copies of the same sphere. RAYMOND Fuck me. I never understood why she puts herself through it. Are you hungry or what? JACLYN I came for takeout. There are papers I need to read for tomorrow. RAYMOND Go up and order it. I'll be up in a second to pay. JACLYN That won't be necessary. RAYMOND Forget about it. JACLYN It was nice to see you again. CHANCE Yeah. You too. RAYMOND We've been living separately, but then you probably knew that. CHANCE No, I did not know that. I'm not your wife's therapist. I was trying to determine the extent of her injuries. Speaking of which, they ever find the person responsible? RAYMOND Whatever you're having here, I'm gonna pick it up. It'll be my treat. CHANCE I couldn't possibly let you do that. RAYMOND Of course you can. You were kind enough to look in on my wife. And no, we have not yet found the person responsible, but we will. You can take that to the bank. Hey, let me ask you, Dr. Chance, are you a married man? CHANCE Divorcing. RAYMOND Children? CHANCE I have a daughter, yeah. RAYMOND I don't envy you that. You know, it's rough out there. You know what I'm trying to say. I mean... we're a predatory species, Doctor. That's not what they teach you in the hallowed halls on campus, and as a cop, that's not what I'd say to the press, but it's the truth. I mean, that's the world I deal with every day, right? And next time we coincide like this... that's on you. Okay? CHANCE Hi. Uh, I just wanted to see Nikki, to say good night to Nikki. CHRISTINA Uh, yeah. Okay. Nikki? You went out to Rockridge? CHANCE Yeah, I had a thing. CHRISTINA The broker call you? CHANCE Uh, well, maybe. I haven't checked. CHRISTINA We have, like, four preemptive offers, all above asking. CHANCE Great. CHRISTINA Yeah, it is. I mean, it doesn't solve the whole school problem. You know, we've missed all the deadlines for financial aid, and, really, at this point, I don't even think she has any options beyond Marina South. CHANCE I... really didn't come here to fight. CHRISTINA Yeah. What would that even look like? NICOLE Hey, Dad. CHANCE Hey. NICOLE Anything wrong? CHANCE Sometimes I just like to see your face. Sometimes. I was in Oakland today. I came home with some more of that coffee that you hate for actually tasting like coffee. So, maybe we could-- NICOLE I need to go to bed. I have to do a tempo run tomorrow morning. CHANCE In the park? By yourself? NICOLE Well, Shawn has to do hers, too. And actually, Neil might meet us, maybe. Just for part of it. Sometimes he runs to the gym in the morning, and it's in the same direction-- CHANCE Okay, I just wanted to make sure that, you know, you're not alone. Is he here now-- Neil? NICOLE They ordered Thai, and he went to pick it up. How come? CHANCE It's nothing. I... I just want to say good night and I love you. NICOLE I love you, too. CHANCE Good night, baby. NICOLE Good night. CHANCE The axiom of choice. "An axiom of set theory allowing for the construction of non-measurable sets. Collection of points without volume in the ordinary sense." Why should they be? Why should any fucking thing be ordinary? Yeah? Hello? Who is this? JACLYN You're my knight.