The Youth Killer - Recap

A woman enters a room decorated as a temple. She is beautiful but age has begun to work on her, adding bags to her eyes and faint wrinkles to mar her complexion. She wears an off the shoulder gown of pure white. She begins to chant in Greek, repeating the name Hecate several times.

On September 20 at 8:05pm, twenty-two year old William Cubby jogs along a park path. Then he begins to slow down. Lines appear in his face and his hair begins to grey. With each step he seems older. He staggers and begins to weave, finally collapsing near a tree. A ring falls from his hand into the grass.

Elsewhere, the woman completes her chant. She is radiantly beautiful now. No lines mar her face, no bags age her eyes. She nods slightly, as if in thanks.

The following morning police and ambulance personnel load an old man fallen onto the grass on a gurney and cover his head with a sheet as bystanders gape.

Reports of the death reach the Independent News Service where they become the subject of discussion. Miss Emily calls the man a poor old fool. Ron wonders what’s unusual about a ninety year old man having a heart attack and Carl replies that this old man was out jogging! Ron says that with proper care and exercise, one may do everything at ninety that one could do at nineteen.

Tony Vincenzo emerges from his office, unusually cheerful. He asks his staff if they notice anything different. A few wrong answers later he reveals that he has lost five pounds through exercise, yoga, and skipping breakfast. His transformation apparently not obvious enough, Tony’s characteristic irksome demeanor returns. He asks Carl for his progress on the swinging singles update and Carl promises it by Friday.

Tony takes Carl’s rough draft. Carl nervously offers Tony a delicious caramel doughnut, clearly trying to defuse the legendary Vincenzo powder keg. Carl follows Tony into the office where he sees his boss down pills for colds and flu, and Vitamin E for vitality. Surprisingly, Tony says Carl’s first draft is a good start. Happy to have avoided a tirade, Carl again promises the complete article by Friday. The Carl returns to the strange death of the elderly jogger, but Tony dismisses that with a scornful ‘nobody cares about ninety year old people!’ that earns him a dark look from Miss Emily. Tony continues: the modern culture is youth oriented and that’s where Tony wants the news focused. Carl shares a few more odd tidbits: the jogger carried no identification – not a Social Security card, nor a Medicare or Medicaid card. And the death site by the river road was at least four miles from the nearest dwelling. Police did not discover a car, and if someone had dropped him off, that person would presumably have contacted the police. So the man must have jogged those four miles. Tony remains uninterested, and reminds Carl that New York wants the singles piece, light and perceptive, by FRIDAY!

Through newspaper ads, Carl finds a matchmaker to interview. She is Bella Sarkov, and Carl hopes she can help him with some background. He asks how her matchmaking service works and she offers him a card to complete. With the information on the card, she’ll find a compatible girl and invite the two of them to meet at her office, usually with her relatives present, over a nice cup of tea – an informal setting. Carl next asks about her competition. She says singles apartments, clubs and computer dating compete for her business. That last surprises Carl, who admits he believed computer dating went out with love beads. Bella says she saw a lot of firms fold up but that a few remain, including the biggest, Max Match. Bella disdains such services as concerned only with youth and beauty: egomaniacs looking to hook up. At such places charm, steady work and sincerity count for nothing. Bella promises to find Carl him a girl (despite his being a newspaperman) but Carl leaves, declaring no interest in marriage.

In her temple, the priestess anoints herself and begins to pray. Once again her face shows lines and bags.

On September 21st at 8:13pm, convention hostess Cynthia Tibbs exercises on her balcony. Cynthia is young and beautiful and determined to stay that way. But as she performs her calisthenics, something happens. With each deep bend her face has new lines and her hair is a little greyer. Short-winded, she stops and turns to reenter her apartment. She catches a glimpse of what she has become in the window glass – an old, old woman. Stunned and horrified, Cynthia staggers backwards, striking the railing and gracelessly pitching backwards and down to the lawn below.

That night Carl visits singles bars, so that by ten the next morning he has material enough to complete his assignment, a plethora of detail on biorhythms and Harvey Wallbangers and rugby and tuned exhausts and (of course) sex. His next stop is singles’ apartments. Singles’ apartments come in all sizes and degrees of exclusivity; Carl determines to start at the top. Thwarted by the locked gate, Carl returns to his car to try elsewhere – and hears approaching sirens. Shortly, police and an ambulance pull up. Reversing course, Carl follows the official crowd inside, and there meets the reason they came: the building manager and his unpleasant discovery. The man leads them to the lawn below several balconied apartments, where there lies a very old woman in a body stocking. As the ambulance attendants load her on the gurney a ring falls from her hand. Carl collects it but a sharp-eyed investigator asks for it. Carl hands the ring over and meets Sergeant Orkin.

Sergeant Orkin already knows Carl by reputation. He has heard Carl described as “a pinwheel” by other policemen but he prefers to form his own opinions. He believes the press and the police should work in concern. This attitude amazes Carl, who cannot believe his good luck in finding perhaps the only sympathetic Chicago policeman.

The manager lets the sergeant, several officers and Carl into various apartments. They finish in Cynthia Tibbs’ unit, where the officers find no suitcases or clothes suitable for an elderly woman. The policemen have discovered no evidence of an elderly visitor anywhere they have looked, and conclude that she didn’t fall from one of the balconies. Carl discovers the balcony door still open and the stereo hot. These make him wonder but the super dismisses both as perfectly ordinary.

At the City Morgue, Carl talks to his morgue contact Gordy Spangler. Gordy reports that no one has been in to identify the body, and speculates that the old man must have lived a rich, full life to make it all the way to nearly a hundred. Gordy removes the man’s glass eye and slips it into an envelope. He tells Carl the cause of death was heart failure in both recent cases. Carl notices a ring band on the old man’s hand and wonders about the ring; Gordy suggests it might be in the personal effects. But he won’t let Carl look in that box. It seems Carl has broken too many promises and the morgue attendants have collectively decided that he’ll get no more help unless he provides them with a television set. After negotiation Carl and Gordy agree on a television and Carl claws open the box. But there is no ring inside, only some clothing and a key. Gordy assure Carl the man wasn’t wearing it, or it fell off, because no one in the morgue would steal it – there’s no faster way to lose the job than stealing personal effects. Gordy fails to notice Carl pocket the key.

Carl returns to the scene of the old man’s death and combs through the grass, finally discovering the same type of ring he saw at the old woman’s death site. A policeman accosts him for parking illegally; Carl hurriedly jams the ring onto his finger and pretends his search was for a four-leaf clover.

At Max Match, the president (who is also the priestess) interviews Lance Mervin. She informs Lance that he is now an Olympian – an elite member of the Max Match clientele that consists of only the most youthful and beautiful people. The Olympians cost nothing to join because they are a pet project. She asks Lance if he has any physical flaws and he answers no. Then he hesitantly admits his name wasn’t originally Lance Mervin and that he legally changed it. She dismisses that as unimportant and hands him the ring and scroll that proclaim him an Olympian, assuring him that all the gods and goddesses will know who he is.

At home later, Lance puts finishing touches on his hair with a blow dryer. His mother addresses him as Irving, the name he disliked enough to change. He asks her to call him Lance but she refuses, saying that he will always be Irving to her. When she asks what kind of name is “Lance” for a cost accountant, he tells her the whole point of changing his name was to change his image. His mother doesn’t understand using a machine to pick a girlfriend or wearing shorts to a date; Lance humors her, explaining that his date is a tennis date and tennis shorts are what one wears to such a date.

Carl investigates the key he pilfered from the old man’s effects. It was stamped “118E” and after doing some legwork Carl has found a matching building on Akron Street. Moving from door to door, he tries the key in each lock. A resident surprises him while he’s at the man’s door, but a little fast talking and a feint towards the exit handles that situation. Eventually Carl discovers the lock that his stolen key opens. Ringing the bell and knocking, Carl receives no answer and so enters the apartment. Inside he finds William Cubby’s Olympian scroll and a driver’s license marked “Restricted – One Eye” on the back. On a dresser Carl discovers a small box that contains another glass eye.

Elsewhere, Lance walks toward his tennis date. As he walks, his face gains lines and his hair grays. He posture becomes stooped, his stomach is a little looser and his gait less sure. He leans on a lamppost to catch his breath and then sits down. Then he slumps over. Not far away, the priestess is again beautiful, and again gives a small nod of thanks.

Carl visits Sergeant Orkin at the Twelfth Precinct. He produces Cubby’s glass eye and asks Orkin to find Cubby’s fingerprints, if they’re on file, and compare them to those of the elderly corpse. If they match that will be the proof he needs that somehow young people are turning old awfully quickly. That will break the case open and garner awards and promotion for the Sergeant. Orkin explains how his boss laughed himself silly at the notion that Carl wasn’t such a bad guy. Opening a drawer, he pulls out a pinwheel other officers stuck in his coffee cup with a note attached: ‘A pinwheel for a pinhead.’ Orkin knows the fingerprint men will mock him for passing on Carl’s request. Then he realizes that Carl must have stolen the key to Cubby’s apartment from the morgue, and loses what little composure he has left, ordering Carl out of the precinct and throwing the pinwheel after him.

Carl returns to Cynthia Tibbs’ apartment. The manager remembers him from earlier and takes him for a cop, an assumption Carl does not correct. Carl discovers that Cynthia Tibbs was also a member of the Olympians when he finds her certificate.

That puts Carl onto Max Match. The receptionist ignores Carl in favor of two much younger prospects. The men discuss the detailed information requested on the application, which includes medical history, scars, and operations. One man suggests it adds to the exclusivity. They start to discuss the sort of women they want and Carl interrupts them with a bit about marrying ‘a girl just like the girl who married dear old dad.’ They’re baffled, too young to remember the song. Linda escorts them behind the counter to places where they can complete their applications. Carl forces her to react by attempting to follow them. He asks for an application and she tells him she won’t give him one. At that point the priestess appears and says she’ll talk to Carl.

Helen Surtees, as she identifies herself, runs Max Match. She explains that the service accepts only members thirty and younger. Carl asks if this is true of the entire service, or only the Olympians. As he does so, he scratches his nose in a way that allows Surtees to catch sight of the ring he recovered from William Cubby’s death site. She asks Carl why an attractive man like him has come and tells him he doesn’t need Max Match. He has the confidence to dress as he likes (a backhanded complement) and probably to do as he likes in other areas of his life. She trails off, probing for a name and Carl supplies one: Kollack. She asks what he does and he tells her he is a writer. Then he expresses admiration for the stylish painted furniture and meanders towards a curtained alcove, wondering aloud if more stylish decorations are there. Helen Surtees moves quickly to block his way, explaining that the computer is through that door. She asks Carl if he uses a camera and he explains that it’s just a hobby, and that more often than not the camera doesn’t work right. As he handles it several flashes go off underscoring his point. Surtees tries to learn what Carl writes and he pretends that his work is mostly sold overseas, as his publisher believes it too bizarre for the States. He gives as an example a story about ‘young people turning into crones overnight.’ Surtees then ends the meeting.

Carl checks the business licenses and discovers Max Match is almost new. That prompts what he facetiously describes as a midnight interview: he returns after business hours to see what else he can learn. Entering through an unlocked window, Carl passes the reception area and enters Helen’s office. He hears chanting in Greek and creeps close to the curtain. Sitting, he positions his recorder so it can pick up the voice of Helen as she kneels in front of a brazier and prays. Just as her invocation ends, Carl slips and Helen spins to see what made the tiny noise. Carl races back through her office and vaults the reception counter, then hunkers down in front of it out of sight. Helen appears at the doorway and looks around briefly before returning to her office. Carl crawls across the floor and leaves the way he entered.

Elsewhere, first grade teacher Renee Michelle eagerly anticipates the nice time Max Match promised her. Worn out beyond her twenty-three years by her children, she decides to take a nap before getting ready. But she never hears the alarm and never awakens for her date. In her bed lies an old, old woman.

The next day Carl finds a Greek cabbie he knows. Kaz explains that the language on Carl’s tape is Greek, as Carl suspected, but it is ancient Greek. Kaz tells Carl the recording is a sacrificial offering prayer to Hecate, goddess of youth. Carl asks what kind of sacrifice and Kaz tells him all that mattered was physical perfection. All of the Greek gods were easily offended; everything about a sacrifice had to be just right.

Carl next shows Kaz the picture of Helen Surtees he snapped while pretending his camera didn’t work properly. Kaz identifies the woman as Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman ever, whose face launched a thousand ships. Carl is skeptical but Kaz claims the woman in the photo resembles every statue of Helen he has ever seen. Kaz continues, telling Carl that Helen was half mortal, the daughter of Zeus, and that she made a deal with Hecate for eternal youth. Carl asks what happens if Helen doesn’t keep up her end of the deal. Kaz says the gods would visit their wrath on Helen; and recounts how Diana turned a shepherd to stone because he offered her a sick lamb.

A drunken conventioneer appears and shoehorns his way into the conversation, asking about Helen and touting his own importance until Kaz finally sends him packing. Then Kaz tells Carl the sacrifices were often marked with an amulet. Carl holds up his ring finger and asks if a ring would do; Kaz says yes and Carl hustles him back to the news office to help remove the offending jewelry.

Kaz tries mayonnaise to lubricate Carl’s hand. As they attempt to remove the ring, Bella Sarkov calls with a nice girl for Carl, a dental assistant named Natalie Crevaric. Carl insists he doesn’t want a girl, and finally gets Bella to loosen her grip by offering her a nice police sergeant: Sergeant Orkin at the Twelfth Precinct. Bella promises to ‘sink her teeth in and not let go until rings are exchanged.’

Tony bellows from his office but Carl puts him off, more concerned with Kaz and his efforts to remove the ring. He tells Tony they’ll talk about the swinger article tomorrow. Kaz cannot remove the ring and Carl asks him about other ways to break the spell. Kaz starts to discuss it when Tony tells again, this time appending a ‘please.’ Shocked, Carl breaks off his ring removal efforts and walks into Tony’s office to find his boss on the floor, unable to rise. Tony tried yoga without success; Carl suggests he try the beginner’s position and Tony archly informs him that what he tried was the beginner’s position. Carl then offers Tony his mayonnaise covered hand. After both men slip and lurch apart Carl offers uses his other hand to pull Tony to his feet. Carl tells him the singles story needs only some polishing and that he will send it off in the morning, before resuming his conversation with Kaz.

Kaz explains that the ancient priests were powerful men. To make them powerless, their enemies destroyed their temples. Tony emerges in time to hear the end of that; as Carl races out, Tony wonders what temple Carl plans to destroy. Tony hollers louder and louder but Carl ignores him. Carl also doesn’t hear Kaz call after him that he’s not sure whether destroying the temple will break the curse!

Carl sneaks back into Max Match through the same open window, moves through the reception area and into Helen’s office, and then through the curtain and into her temple. After Carl passes, Helen emerges from behind a partition and follows him to the entrance. Carl circles the small room, smashing busts and toppling the brazier. The work strains him and he’s panting by the time he finishes – and notices Helen watching him.

Helen suggests Carl has exercised pretty strenuously for a man his age, ruining museum quality statuary and for nothing. Defiant, Carl tells her that Hecate ought to be destroying her about now. Scornfully, she tells Carl that he isn’t qualified to speak for Hecate. And that it is he whom Hecate will destroy, because he was foolish enough to don the ring. She asks him how he thinks it will feel as his heart slows down and finally jams like an old clock.

Carl replies that he is far from a perfect sacrifice. Thunder cracks and wind blows into the room. Then Carl drops a bombshell, telling Helen that he wouldn’t be the first imperfect sacrifice – that William Cubby had a glass eye. She doesn’t believe him. The wind grows more intense, thunder cracks and lightning strikes nearby. The overhead glass window shatters and rain pours in. Helen implores Hecate, mixing screams with imprecations. The Olympian ring falls from Carl’s hand and chimes tinnily against the marble floor. Helen screams and screams...

Sometime later, the morning light streams in. Carl took pictures, but he knows the destruction of the room will be labeled vandalism or the result of a faulty sprinkler. He needs no pictures of Helen, for in the center of the room a new statue stands, cold and beautiful and eternal, just as Helen was in life. As a postscript Carl advises those who find strange rings never to slip them on no matter how beautiful they are, for it may be impossible to remove them...

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