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FLASHBACK - Five years ago. Homicide detective SUZANNE BECKET leads the investigation into the brutal murder of 13 medical students, in a crime that's quickly dubbed the "BUTCHER'S DOZEN". But as time passes and Becket fails to bring in any suspects, she is removed from the case amid public and political pressure. Once the case is reassigned, the killer is quickly found and apprehended. With evidence stacked against him, a young Uptown Hospital orderly named JOSH ADAMS is quickly sent to death row by ambitious prosecuting attorney HENRY PLANT. Time passes to-. THE PRESENT. Becket watches Adams' first and last televised interview before his death sentence is to finally be carried out within five days. An image of Adams on the T.V. and his shortened pinky finger triggers a memory: one victim had five bruises where the murderer pinned her shoulder. Becket reviews Adams' medical history, disclosing that his pinky finger was partially amputated in a childhood accident. Thus, Adams' could not have left five bruises on the victims' bodies. As Becket digs further, she butts heads in every direction: her partner and friend of 15 years EDDY RUSSO doesn't believe her, Henry Plant and the victims' families prevent her from reopening the case, and the photos that would prove her theory are missing. As a new rash of copycat killings reflecting the Butcher's original M.O. occur, Becket pursues what few leads she has and discovers that RICKY MARCEAUX, another Uptown Hospital orderly who worked with Adams, wassuspect but dismissed. Tracking down Marceaux's mother, Becket discovers that Marceaux has been a patient at a psychiatric hospital for the last five years. Becket visits the hospital, only to find out that Marceaux had been discharged that morning by his therapist DOCTOR SHYVE. Assigned to investigate the new murders, Becket races against time to find Marceaux and build a case that can save Adams, whom she believes has been falsely set-up. Soon she uncovers a tangled web of lies revealing Shyve to be Ricky's father. When Becket returns to the hospital to confront Shyve, she finds herself thrown into restraints by the doctor and drugged by his orderlies- While held prisoner in a nightmarish set of circumstances, Becket's partner, Eddy Russo arrives. Russo reveals that Adams became the patsy before they realized his finger was paralyzed. Wanting to protect his son and his reputation at all costs, Shyve has blackmailed Plant lest the prosecutor's own dirty laundry be aired publicly during an election year. In turn, Plant threatened Russo's family and paid him through the years to throw his partner Becket off of Ricky's scent. Torn by guilt,
Russo turns on Shyve and Plant, assisting Becket in her escape. As the
public anxiously awaits the execution of Adams, Becket and Russo race
against time to prove their case to the Governor and mobilize the department
to hunt down the real killer. Caught in a cat and mouse game with the
real "Butcher", Becket faces Ricky Marceaux, who has returned to Uptown
Hospital to complete the his work in a new string of thirteen murders
that escalate towards a final, bloody confrontation. With the true killer
revealed, Becket's investigation vindicates Adams, but not before she
brings the new "BUTCHER'S DOZEN" case to a close-
"BUTCHER'S DOZEN " © 1998 Sara Coover Caldwell |
