In Portland, the philanthropic businessman and family man Mr. Earl Brooks has been just elected Man of the Year. Mr. Brooks manages his factory of packages; lives in a comfortable house with his gorgeous wife Emma and has a rebel daughter Jane in college. However, Mr. Brooks has a dark secret: he is a psychopath serial killer also known as The Fingerprint Killer with an alter-ego called Marshall and addicted in killing. For two years, Mr. Brooks has attended the AA meetings and kept his addiction under control. However, Marshall returns and forces him to kill a couple of dancers that is making love in their house with open curtains. On the next day, Jane returns home without her BMW and a man named Mr. Smith (Dane Cook) visits Mr. Brooks in his factory with pictures of him in the crime scene; he is blackmailed and the man requests to participate in a murder. Meanwhile, the wealthy detective Tracy Atwood is having a troubled moment in her life: she has been investigating the murders of The Fingerprint Killer; is facing her former husband Jesse Vialo in a complicated divorce process; and is chased by the violent criminal Thorton Meeks that has escaped from prison and promised to kill her. When Tracy visits the crime scene, she suspects that Mr. Smith is an eye witness of the murder and presses him, and their fates entwine with the life of Mr. Brooks.

Danielle Panabaker plays the daughter of Mr. Brooks (Kevin Costner) and Mrs. Brooks (Marg Helgenberger). Panabaker's younger sister, Kay Panabaker plays the recurring role of Lindsey Willows, the daughter of Catherine Willows (also played by Marg Helgenberger) on "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (2000) for CBS.

Mr. Earl Brooks:
How did you find me, Mr. Smith?


Mr. Smith:
You're "Man of the Year", Mr. Brooks.

[Smith starts clapping]


Mr. Smith:
Your picture's in the paper. And if it hadn't had been, I don't know. I don't know what I would've done.


Mr. Earl Brooks:
Lucky me. What is it that I can help you with?


Mr. Smith:
I've been watching that couple for months. Yeah, they like to make love with the blinds open. Sometimes I would take pictures; visual aids for later. It's a great way to get off, I'll tell you that. It was fun, I thought, until I saw you kill them. And I have never, ever, felt a... a... rush that like, ever. I know you're the Thumbprint Killer. You've done this before. What I want... is for you, to take me with you next time you kill someone. And I'd like that to be soon.

[Marshall laughs out loud]


Marshall:
[sarcastically] And you were worried that this was going to be unpleasant? The answer is simple. Just tell Mr. Smith that you decided never to kill again, and he'll go away.


Mr. Earl Brooks:
You enjoy watching me suffer, don't you?


Marshall:
In a word, yes.


Mr. Earl Brooks:
Where do you think he has the other pictures?


Marshall:
He put them in a safety deposit box. But I'll bet the box is at the bank where he keeps his checking account. The key... is on his key chain! He really wants to do this. He's not going to the cops.

Continuity: Before Detective Atwood ever sees any action, her knuckles are scraped and bruised from fighting.

Composed by Burton C. Bell, Raymond Herrera, Christian Olde Wolbers
Performed by Fear Factory
Courtesy of Liquid 8