“I was wondering who this was and now I know it’s you. I put you in the freezer to chill out all the Bad. That’s why you’re shaking. - Nana
The Risk and the Front
(Jessie Huber sits with Miss Dog and Nana. He’s a basket-case, shaking like a leaf.)
NANA: That was Win on the phone. He told me not to tell you he was on his way – why’s that?
(Almost in answer Huber pulls a gun from his shoulder holster. Nana is unafraid – in fact, she’s almost sympathetic.)
NANA: Oh, dear. What’s troubling you, Jessie? Is something wrong between him and you?
HUBER: I wanna – kill myself.
NANA: No, you mustn’t do that. You’re such a good man at heart. Here.
(She picks up the Hanged Man Tarot card.)
NANA: I was wondering who this was and now I know it’s you. I put you in the freezer to chill out all the Bad. That’s why you’re shaking.
(She sits down beside him, touches his hand.)
NANA: All creatures are worth saving, my darling. Why do you think God created you if He didn’t have a purpose?
(Huber begins to cry.)
The Story
These two movies are adaptations of the Patricia Cornwell novels of the same names. Win is the series’ detective; Nana is his psychic grandmother; Huber is the murderer in the first of the two books.
The Backstory
These were both developed as possible lead-ins to a series for Lifetime. Unfortunately, for various reasons, neither came out as well as we hoped, though the second is a bit better than the first. The fantastic Diahann Carroll, with whom I worked in the Broadway production of Agnes of God, played Nana – but because I was in Hungary working on The Pillars of the Earth I didn’t get to visit the set.