How i Died S1 E05: Devil in the Details

Transcript: How i Died S1 E05: Devil in the Details

This transcript is adapted from the episode’s original script, so the final audio may differ slightly.

[Mic click on]

Jon: No cases today. I can finally look over some past case files. And maybe set up my office, finally.

[Keys jingle, door unlocks.]

Ray: (murmuring) Maybe I could’ve used the fire extinguisher to smash the glass…

Jon: Oh – hello. Who are you?

Ray: No… It was too thick. If we had only left earlier and didn’t work as late…

Jon: Hellooo? You – guy standing by my desk. What are you doing in here?

Ray: Oh- hey kid. Are you a ghost too? Welcome.

Jon: Me? No. You’re a ghost?

[Jon keeps trying to interrupt as ray is speaking. (no – i – you see – um)]

Ray: Yes, of course. You must not know yet – it’s not usual that I get visitors in here. That’s kind of why I tuck myself away – so I’m not interrupted. But yes, anyway – welcome to the afterlife. You have died recently, even if you don’t remember it. You’re now a ghost, as am I, and some other people haunting this hospital. Although there are even more outside of here, which is, again, why I’m hiding.

Jon: No, you don’t understand. I-

Ray: I know it’s probably overwhelming, but you can just walk right through the door, or walls if you like. There are a few others who might be a bit more helpful with this stuff than me. Right that way.

Jon: Stop. Seriously, I’m not dead and I’m not a ghost.

Ray: Preposterous.

Jon: It’s true. I can just… Well, I can see ghosts, but I’m very much alive.

Ray: Are you sure of that? This isn’t a whole existential crisis, or Schrodinger’s cat situation, is it?

Jon: No. It’s not. And yes, I’m sure. And I was really planning on going over some files alone today…

Ray: You and me both.

Jon: Well, you’re the one in my office.

Ray: Ah, so YOU’RE the new pathologist, huh? Kind of young…

Jon: You look only a few years older.

Ray: Yes, but I’ve been dead for over 30 years years.

Jon: Geez… And you’re *still* here?

Ray: I’ve been pouring over a case of my own – well, sort of. I can’t interact with the physical plane, obviously, so I haven’t looked at the actual file, but I’ve thought about it enough to remember every detail in my mind.

Jon: Let me guess. You want me to help you, or pass on some sort of message to a loved on? Or what? Lie on your case file so you can feel better about how you died?

Ray: What are you on about? I don’t want anything from you. You’re the one who came in here, haha.

Jon: That’s perfect then. How about we agree to just let eachother work in peace, and we can share the office for today?

Ray: Sounds like a plan, man.

Jon: Ah. I can see the generation gap coming out.

Ray: What did you say, guy?

Jon: Nothing. Do you mind if I take the desk? Since, you know – you’d phase through it.

Ray: Be my guest. My file is somewhere in these cabinets anyway, and I always feel like I can think better if I’m near it.

Jon: Do your thing.

[Jon lays down a big stack of papers. Chair scoots out and]

[Back in. Jon opens a paper.]

Jon: Let’s see. Case number 0477 – Wendy Mullen. It says she had water in her lungs, but it wasn’t water from her pool or any known body of water around here.

Ray: Where was I…?

Jon: Victim was 34 years old. First responders noted that her skin was slightly yellow. Obviously jaundiced… There’s no M.E. signature on this chart. I’m not sure who examined her or determined the cause of death.

Ray: When was that case from?

Jon: Huh? Umm. 2013, May.

Ray: I don’t think we had a medical guy down here from just about 2012 to 2015.

Jon: Three years? That’s insane.

Ray: Yeah… I was living the good life, with the office to myself.

Jon: Funny. Without an examiner, I wonder if they even tested how much of the fluid was actual water… Interesting. According to the photos, she was found in bed.

Ray: Maybe she drowned while drinking a glass of water?

Jon: Did you just say drowned while drinking water?

Ray: No. I was talking about my files. I can’t talk to myself too?

Jon: That’s it. This is clearly some sort of pulmonary edema – and no one even seemed to check on it. But if the fluid was classified as "water" that means that someone forced her to drink water, even after she was having some sort of build up.

Ray: Seriously?

Jon: Yeah. This is highly unusual. If she had a fatal organ problem, she might have died anyway, but the fact that whoever was taking care of her forced her to drink instead of taking her to the hospital…

Ray: She was murdered?

Jon: More like manslaughter, but it was definitely not natural causes – or even a mystery really.

Ray: Wow, kid! Do another.

Jon: What?

Ray: Another case. I want to help.

Jon: I don’t even know who you are. You can’t look at patient files.

Ray: Well, I’m Ray Melba, amateur inventor. You know, before the

[Neck cutting sound effect]

Jon: You still can’t-

Ray: Oh, come on. I’ve been here 30 years – I’ve heard my share of confidential information. And who am I gonna tell?

Jon: Fine. But no backseat diagnosing. I heard that whole "drown while drinking thing."

Ray: Yeah, well turns out I was right!

Jon: Your awful idea help me put the details together.

Ray: See? Doctoring isn’t that hard. You can admit that I was helpful. Let’s do another case.

Jon: *I* will be looking at another case. Whatever you do…well… I can’t really stop you seeing as you’re ethereal, now can I?

Ray: That’s the spirit!

Jon: Let’s see… Man’s stomach lining ruptured and he bled internally…

Ray: BORING!

Jon: You can’t just say boring to a person’s death.

Ray: Oh, you have a lot to learn about this town.

Jon: So I’ve noticed. Was this place always weird?

Ray: Nah, I don’t think so. It was cool in the 80s. Place was really thriving. We could’ve been the next big city.

Jon: What happened

Ray: The accident…

Jon: The accident… How mysterious.

Ray: Heh. I worked for a big corporation – called Springfield Corp, easily enough.

Jon: Clever.

Ray: Well, worked is a loose term – I was a contractor on a small project and –

Jon: Is this… Pertinent?

Ray: Yes… I was getting to it. Anyway, there was an explosion and it caused a power outage in the whole county – lasted a few days.

Jon: A power outage caused this?

Ray: I don’t really know. There were a bunch of environmentalists protesting the big corporation that used to fund the town. I died, and then it seemed like things around here got progressively more weird… I must have been the catalyst, ha!

Jon: Is that so?

Ray: You should’ve seen some of the cases down here. I’d seen some crazy stuff before I started hiding out.

Jon: A 2012 file… Young boy died mysteriously in his bed. 4 years old, Josh… Crowley?

Ray: Oh yeah, the Crowley kid. Super sad.

Jon: Sheriff Fran Crowley?

Ray: Ah, yeah. You must work with her a bunch. Let’s figure out how her son died.

Jon: What the hell? No. We can’t – er… I can’t.

Ray: Sure you can. He’s long gone.

Jon: You saw him?

Ray: Of course. I’ve been down here long enough. You sort of get tired of explaining it to everyone who dies, so I kind of hid in the office for a bit… But yeah, I talked to him back then. Such a shame.

Jon: Did he say anything about what happened?

Ray: Probing for info, huh? I thought you didn’t want to know.

Jon: I don’t. Let’s look at another file. From the 2014 file: Case number 1017 – Jake Drazzer, 25 years old… Jesus christ. Look at this photo.

Ray: Wow… His whole body is purple.

Jon: And bloated. His skin looks stretched to extreme lengths.

Ray: That is disgusting.

Jon: There are tons of photos on this case… What did they determine cause of death to be? Internal hemorrhage…

Ray: That is a LOT of internal bleeding.

Jon: Drazzer originally presented with minor internal bleeding, causing ecchymosis on his arm.

Ray: I know a lot of big words, doc, but not… That one.

Jon: Bruising caused by blood under the skin. Patient was sent home with a blood clotting agent, only to he found in his car a few miles away.

Ray: Car accident?

Jon: No. Look, the car is fine. Just parked on the side of the road. And in this photo, you can see where they laid him on a medical table.

Ray: What am I looking at here?

Jon: That’s a close up picture of his… torso, I believe. Wow…

Ray: What? It just looks like a fat thing to me.

Jon: No. Look at that… When someone dies, their blood can pool in their extremities, cauaing a purple hue called Livor Mortis or lividity.

Ray: Right. It’s blood – you said that.

Jon: No. Well. Yes. It is blood. But usually, you only get a small amount of blood pooling when people are stuck in a position for a long time. Like if a person dies in bed, you can see bruising on their back.

Ray: Like a bed sore.

Jon: Yeah, sort of. Anyway, this victim’s body is almost completely purple.

Ray: So what?

Jon: So, that means blood was under every area of his skin, even though he was sitting up when he died. Gravity should’ve pooled the blood in his legs or feet.

Ray: Why is that significant?

Jon: It means that there was so much blood under his skin that it filled up his entire body.

Ray: Gross. And what exactly does that mean?

Jon: I have no idea.

Ray: So all that and no conclusion?

[Chair slides out.]

Ray: Wait, where are you going?

Jon: I need to examime the body.

Ray: Well, I’m coming with you.

[Door opens. Jon walks out.]

Jon: Let’s see… Case 1017 is… Drawer… 23. Here.

[Drawer slides out.]

Jon: What the?

Ray: What happened?

Jon: His body isn’t here…

Amelia: Whose body?

Jon: Whoa – shit. You scared me.

Amelia: Haha, you are jumpy!

Ray: Ah, an uninvited guest. At least she’s attractive, eh, doc?

Jon: How long have you been here?

Amelia: I’m doctor Amelia Pence – Nice to officially meet you, too.

Jon: Please don’t sneak up on me.

Amelia: Calm it down. I was going to apologize for being a little blunt with you in the ER during that crisis the other week, but maybe it’s not worth my time.

Jon: Sorry… I’m just… I was distracted by a case.

Ray: And talking to me.

Amelia: Something interesting?

Jon: Just an unsolved one from a few years ago. A guy named Jake Deazzer.

Amelia: (nervous) Oh. Um… Why did you pick that case?

Ray: Cause I asked him to.

Jon: It just stuck out to me. The guy presented with subdermal bleeding, and a few hours later he’s found with all his blood below his skin?

Amelia: Ha. Yeah. I actually remember that case.

Jon: You do?

Amelia: Yeah, I treated him during the first visit. He came in talking crazy – seemed like he was doing some drugs or something.

Jon: Talking crazy? No one noted any drugs in his system.

Amelia: Yeah. It was a busy day, and we just treated him for the bleeding and sent him out. This place can be kind of intense.

Jon: You’re not kidding. This is more deaths than Baltimore.

Ray: Man, now I remember why I hate being around living people.

Jon: (whispering) Shut up.

Amelia: From what I heard, you’re doing a pretty damn good job. Glad to have you here.

Jon: Do you know what’s going on around here? People keep saying "Springfield is weird," and I’m starting to believe it – but why?

Amelia: Oh. Uh… It’s a long story, and I don’t really have time right now. Maybe we can talk sometime and I can fill you in.

Jon: Ah, no worries. I won’t keep you.

Ray: Doc, I think she was flirting with you. You dumbass.

Amelia: Aaaanyways – you have another guest who’d like to speak with you, if you have a minute.

Ray: She can see me?

Jon: You can see him?

Amelia: What? He’s… Outside in the hall. He asked to see you.

Ray: Bummer.

Jon: Oh. Oh. Yeah. Who is it?

[Amelia walking away and opening the door.]

Amelia: I’ll go get him. He’s been in my hair for days, bugging me with tons of questions. Yes, I get it. I saved you – I’m awesome. Get over your hero complex, right? He’s you’re problem now. (Pause) Go on it. Don’t touch anything!

Curtis: Hi doctor Spacer. Remember me?