Manhunter analysis - part 74: The fingerprint man is deceiving Will

CATEGORY: MOVIES     [Hidden plot related]

We have already seen that Beverly Katz, the hair analyst, is deceiving Graham in the investigators' meeting. In the below, we explain how Jimmy Price, the fingerprint man, is also involved in the deception of Will.

Prior to the tissue note found in Lecktor's cell being brought to Washington, D.C. for lab tests, we observe that when the (blond) guard brings the note to Dr. Chilton, he tells Chilton that no one besides himself has seen the note. He tells Chilton that what led to the finding of the note, was that Lecktor was seen hiding something in a book when staff came to clean his cell. While the guard is in Chilton's office, Chilton, with his speakerphone on, calls Crawford's office, and the person who answers says, "Special Agent Crawford's office"; then, Chilton requests to speak to Graham, and is told he can be connected to both Graham and Crawford simultaneously, since the two men are already on the phone with each other; the guard hears all of this. (Next, while Chilton is waiting to be connected, he tells the guard to leave.) An event then takes place that the Manhunter audience does not see: The guard who was in Chilton's office tells Lecktor about the part of the conversation he overheard, and thus, Lectkor knows the note is to be brought to Washington. As will be explored in more detail later, Lecktor is working with Crawford, so Crawford knows to deceive Graham on the lab results. Crawford notifies the people who will be analyzing the note, prior to its arrival in Washington, that Graham is to be deceived.

Above left: Once the tissue note has been brought to Washington, and after it is found by Beverly Katz to have a one-half inch blond hair on it (and also, as she states, "a couple of blue grains"),[a] the note is brought to Jimmy Price to be analyzed for fingerprints. Price first looks over it through a table-mounted magnifying glass. Above right: Next, Price (seated) asks Graham (standing on his left) and Crawford (standing to his right) what persons have handled the note without gloves on, and Crawford answers, "Guard, cleanup man, Lecktor." No hair sample from the cleanup man was obtained, but Graham does not consider this as a problem, because his unconscious is under the influence of Lecktor. Crawford doesn't say anything about the lack of a hair sample from the cleanup man, even while in Price's area, because he is in on the deception of Graham.

Top left: Price puts on special goggles to further study the note. He says, "Cleanup man, scrubbing sinks - probably had the oil washed off his fingers; but the others..." He then states there is one smudge on the note. Top right: Next, Price reaches for a hand-held magnifying glass, and Graham puts goggles on. Above left: Price places the magnifying glass over the note, and we see a reflection of a portion of the note in his goggles. Note that there is more than one smudge on the note (click image to enlarge - more than one smudge can be seen in Price's left goggle lens). Graham is wearing the same type of goggles as Price is, but he is looking at the note from too far away to see through the magnifying glass clearly, so he can't see these smudges. Above right: We then see this view of the note, as Price sees it. As stated back in part 38 of the analysis, Price says, while pointing, "Those aren't ridges, it's just the texture of the paper." Price says this in in order to get Graham not to recognize the bite marks in the note for what they are, i.e., so that Will will believe that they are just part of the texture of the paper. Price eventually tells Graham, "I can't get a print off this in the time you've got to get it back, Will."


As indicated above, while Price is analyzing the note, he suggests to Graham and Crawford that the cleanup man (the man who cleans Lecktor's cell) would have had the skin oils washed off his hands. Price is here implying that he would not be able to determine whether the smudge Price says he sees on the note, if it was a print, might have been left by the cleanup man. Will asks Price if a ninhydrin analysis (boosted with heat) would help make out a print on the note, and Price says no, that he would not be able to wash the coloring that would be left on the tissue (due to performing this particular test on it), after he was done with the test (the goal is to place the tissue note back in Lecktor's cell as it was found, without making him suspicious, or he might try to warn the Tooth Fairy). The problem is this: the cleanup man would, of course, normally use at least one solution containing ammonia while doing his job, and ammonium salts yield a positive result when tested with ninhydrin. There would have been no color stain left on the tissue from this test, since the sample would have been first collected from the surface of the tissue, then placed in a solution. A solution suspected of containing the ammonium ion can be tested by ninhydrin by dotting it onto a solid support (such as silica gel); treatment with ninhydrin should result in a dramatic purple color if the solution contains this species.[b] The point is, Price does not want Graham to know that he could rule out the cleaning man as the source of the smudge.

Another clue as to Price's involvement in the deception of Graham, is that when Price turns on the laser he uses to help him look for prints, we notice that a portion of the inside of the laser machine gives off a violet 'glow' (pointed to by the orange arrow in the screencap at left; click image to enlarge). This indicates that he is tied in with Lecktor, to the extent that he's working with Lecktor to defeat the second coming of Christ. However, note that this violet is lighter than is that in Lecktor's cell and Katz's work area (shown below); it is instead more similar in shade to that in Dollarhyde's own work area, as indicated below.

The violet beam in Dollarhyde's photo development room at Gateway Labs, is similar in shade to that in Jimmy Price's laser machine. This indicates that Price is ultimately working with Dollarhyde. Price is assisting Dollarhyde in trying to become the great red dragon, whom as we recall represents Satan; whereas Lecktor actually is a personification of Satan. Basically, Dollarhyde wants to 'usurp' Lecktor's place. In this capacity, Dollarhyde represents the Freemasons.

Above left: Note the violet coloring in the sink in Lecktor's cell, and that it is darker than the violet beam in Dollarhyde's work area shown above. The fact that both lights are violet indicates a connection between Dollarhyde and Lecktor, but the fact that the shade of the violet in Dollarhyde's area is lighter than that in the sink, indicates that Dollarhyde is not fully aligned with Lecktor; in fact, as stated above, he wants to usurp Lecktor's place. Above right: Note the violet of the enclosures in Katz's work area (on the left side of the screencap). The shade of violet indicates that Katz is in league with Lecktor.


a. Regarding the blue grains, in the investigators' meeting Katz states that three blue grains went to Brian Zeller for examination; Zeller then states, "the grains are commercial, granulated cleanser, with chlorine, from the cleaning man; several particles of dried blood, but not enough to type him." (With "him" being a reference to the Tooth Fairy, i.e., Francis Dollarhyde).
b. Wikipedia, 'Ninhydrin'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninhydrin.