Merlin's Confession

• Merlin appears flushed and breathes heavily upon arrival, attributing it to nearly missing the train and needing more exercise.
• Ricky is skeptical of Merlin's explanation for being there.
• Merlin claims he is there to encourage Ricky.
• Ricky confronts Merlin about the false address and identity.
• Merlin says he is who he is.
• Merlin dismisses Ricky's visit as an oddity.
• Merlin admits the address on the card was wrong due to a printing error.
• Merlin claims the printing company fired the responsible employee.
• Ricky accuses Merlin of being outside his apartment with the Times message.
• Merlin denies being outside Ricky's apartment.
• Merlin suggests Ricky is too trusting of people's words and sees them as truths, while he sees them as ways to obscure truths.
• Merlin implies Ricky is under pressure.
• Ricky accuses Merlin or his employer of creating the situation causing him pressure.
• Merlin states he is employed by a young woman Ricky took advantage of.
• Ricky demands Merlin leave him alone, accusing him of lying.
• Merlin advises against Ricky's demand for him to leave.
• Merlin questions if Ricky has been wise and taken steps to protect himself legally.
• Ricky claims to have taken steps.
• Merlin suggests discussing a settlement between Ricky, his attorney, and himself.
• Ricky wants to stop the charade and know why Merlin is there.
• Merlin says Ricky has less than a week remaining.
• Ricky demands to know who Merlin is.
• Merlin calls himself just another player hired to do a job.
• Merlin says a quote from Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care is appropriate at this moment, "You know more than you think you do."
• Merlin urges Ricky to ask his second question in tomorrow's paper and to act with urgency.
• Merlin states the urgency is due to the fear in some circles that Ricky has not yet figured out his second question.
• Merlin reveals a laptop, file folders, a portable phone, and a semiautomatic pistol in his briefcase.
• Merlin asks Ricky what he saw that morning.
• Ricky says he saw an accident.
• Merlin questions Ricky's certainty about the accident.
• Merlin hands Ricky his cell phone and tells him to ask his question to the police and press send to make it work.
• Ricky asks a state trooper about an accident on River Road involving Dr. William Lewis.
• The trooper has no reports of such an accident.
• Merlin questions if what Ricky saw was real.
• Merlin questions if Ricky saw a patrol car, or whether he saw the man direct any other cars?
• Merlin casts doubt on the man being a state trooper.
• Merlin questions other details like ambulance, fire truck, sirens, rescue squad, etc...
• Merlin implies Ricky fled to catch the train instead of helping if someone needed help.
• Merlin asks Ricky to call the person he went to visit to make certain they are okay.
• Ricky calls Dr. Lewis, but there is no answer.
• Merlin questions Ricky’s certainty that he was actually at Dr. Lewis’s residence.
• He wants to know what he saw that tied him to the property, family photos etc...
• Merlin states the truth is a poker game where Ricky doesn't have the right cards.
• Merlin summarizes, saying Ricky can only be sure that he spent time with a physician he knew.
• He adds he now doesn't know that it was indeed his home, whether he has been in an accident, and he doesn't know for certain if his analyst is alive or not.
• Merlin asks where the first lie was and what did Ricky see.
• Merlin suggests the police Ricky spoke with was not real.
• Merlin suggests Dr. Lewis is on a slab in the Dutchess County Morgue awaiting some relative to come identify him right now.
• Merlin stresses Ricky is missing the point.
• Merlin suggests it is possible there's Dr. Lewis' severed head in the bag right now.
• Merlin says anything is possible, including a faked auto accident, a sexual harassment complaint, trashed bank accounts, and murdered relatives or friends.
• Merlin says Ricky needs to act.
• Ricky asks if Merlin has any limits.
• Merlin says there are none.
• Merlin indicates he is detached from his employer for security.
• Merlin hints there is something in the duffel bag that will link Ricky to a crime.
• The bag was purchased with one of Ricky’s credit cards with the initials (f.a.s.) revealed.
• Merlin says he can take the bag instead of Ricky.
• Ricky asks how.
• Merlin demands Ricky answers his second question and call the Times right now!
• Merlin dials the Times classifieds for Ricky.
• Ricky connects with the same woman who took his call the prior week.
• Ricky dictates his second ad for the scavenger hunt.

Twenty years, it was no joke, At a hospital I treated poor folk. For a better job, some people I left. Is that why you are bereft? Because I went to treat some other, did that cause the death of your mother?

• Merlin says the second add is very good/clever.
• Merlin asks Ricky if he thinks they are insulated from their employer.
• The train is approaching Penn Station and heading underground.
• Merlin tells Ricky to read the New York Daily News and Post.
• Merlin departs and leaves the duffel bag for Ricky as encouragement.
• Ricky yells, "Wait!" and "Stop!", but Merlin keeps walking.
• Ricky fears gaining attention and wants to disappear into the shadows.
• The duffel bag blocks Ricky's exit.
• Ricky feels fear, dizziness and quivering hands.
• Ricky opens the bag and finds a large cantaloupe.
• Ricky laughs from the relief.
• Ricky carries the bag and plans his next move: confirm his mother's treatment
• Ricky hopes the clinic has old patient records dating back two decades.
• Ricky notices a redcap reading the Daily News with a headline: Transit cop in hit-run coma/seek missing hubby in marital mayhem.