Fragments

Crimson Behind the Badge

COLD OPEN (00:00 – 02:30)

Setting: Crime scene — a warehouse in Chicago, stormy night
Characters: Dylan Mateo, Ainsley Holland, forensics team

(Camera pans over the bloodied body with crimson writing on the wall: "REPENT.")
(Flash of lightning. Dylan lights a cigarette.)

Ainsley (staring at the body):
Jesus... That's three this week. Same signature.

Dylan (calm, observant):
Crimson paint. Always the same word — "REPENT." You think it's religious?

Ainsley:
Maybe. Or just theatrical. Guy's a freakin' poet with a knife.

Dylan (coldly):
No... he's a planner. This one wasn't about rage. This was personal.

Ainsley (sighs):
We need to find this monster before he paints the whole damn city.

(Cue opening title sequence: slow, gritty shots of Chicago, over eerie ambient music.)

SCENE 1 (02:30 – 07:00)

Setting: Police precinct, morning briefing
Characters: Dylan, Ainsley, Captain Harris, squad

Captain Harris:
Alright, Crimson Mayhem struck again. That's seven victims total. No prints. No DNA. Just a goddamn calling card in blood.

Dylan (to the room):
There's a pattern. He's escalating. These aren't random — he's targeting former felons, people with sealed records.

Ainsley:
Revenge killings?

Dylan (shrugs):
Or redemption. "REPENT" could mean he sees himself as a judge.

Captain Harris:
I want profiles by noon. Dylan, Ainsley — you're primary on this now. Don't let me down.

(Everyone disperses. Ainsley leans toward Dylan.)

Ainsley:
Think he'll strike again tonight?

Dylan:
Yeah. I think he already has.

SCENE 2 (07:00 – 11:00)

Setting: Dylan's apartment, late at night
Characters: Dylan (alone), internal voiceover

(Dylan stands over his sink, washing red-stained gloves. A lockbox opens revealing files, photos of victims, and a crimson marker.)

Dylan (voiceover):
They all deserved it. Every last one of them. I gave them a chance. I left them the word... and they laughed. They never repented.

(He flips a photo: Victim #8 – marked "TONIGHT.")

SCENE 3 (11:00 – 15:30)

Setting: Car stakeout with Ainsley
Characters: Dylan, Ainsley

Ainsley (eating chips):
So what do we really know about this guy?
He's methodical, clean, smart — almost like... a cop.

Dylan (tense):
Don't start with that "cop killer" theory again.

Ainsley (grins):
Just sayin'. Whoever this is — he knows the system. Knows how to slip through it.

Dylan (deflecting):
Maybe he is the system. Or thinks he's fixing it.

Ainsley:
That's what scares me.

(They get a call over radio: another body.)

SCENE 4 (15:30 – 20:30)

Setting: New crime scene — alley behind a church
Characters: Dylan, Ainsley, forensics

(Victim has a priest's collar, throat slit, crimson word on the wall.)

Ainsley (quietly):
That's Father Morales. He did time in the '80s for abuse. Charges dropped.

Dylan (flatly):
No such thing as an innocent man.

Ainsley (turns):
What?

Dylan:
Nothing. Just thinking aloud.

SCENE 5 (20:30 – 24:00)

Setting: Dylan's apartment — next morning
Characters: Ainsley, Dylan

(Ainsley surprises Dylan with coffee.)

Ainsley:
Can I ask you something off the record?

Dylan (nervous smile):
Always.

Ainsley:
You ever feel... too close to a case? Like it's inside your head?

(Dylan freezes slightly.)

Dylan:
Every damn time.

(Ainsley nods, but she notices something on Dylan's counter — crimson ink bottle.)

SCENE 6 (24:00 – 28:00)

Setting: Precinct — Ainsley's POV
Characters: Ainsley, Captain Harris

(Ainsley looks into Dylan's past. A file reveals he was once a suspect in a cold case. All sealed.)

Ainsley (to Harris):
Sir... I think Dylan might be Crimson Mayhem.

Captain Harris:
You better be damn sure.

SCENE 7 (28:00 – 33:00)

Setting: Confrontation at an abandoned building
Characters: Dylan, Ainsley

(Dylan arrives, expecting to kill his next target. Ainsley is waiting, gun drawn.)

Ainsley:
Drop the knife, Dylan.

Dylan (calmly):
It was always going to be you, wasn't it?

Ainsley:
You're under arrest for the murders of—

Dylan (interrupting):
They were monsters. I gave them a choice. They never changed.

Ainsley:
You don't get to be judge, jury, and executioner.

Dylan (smiling):
Too late.

(SWAT team rushes in. Dylan surrenders.)

SCENE 8 (33:00 – 37:00)

Setting: Courtroom
Characters: Judge, Dylan, Ainsley, Press

Judge:
Dylan Mateo, for the murders of eight individuals... you are hereby sentenced to life in prison without parole.

(Dylan turns to Ainsley as he's escorted out.)

Dylan:
You're not mad at me... just mad you couldn't stop me sooner.

Ainsley (cold):
No. I'm mad that I trusted you.

_(Last shot: Dylan in prison, carving "REPENT" into the wall with his fingernail.)

CUT TO BLACK.