The Truth of Dexter Morgan

Harry's Dilemma

Miami Metro Homicide Department, 1981: Detective Harry Morgan is sitting in Lieutenant Thomas Matthews' office. Tom pours Harry, then himself a glass of whisky.

Harry: Tom, you know Dexter's history and you know what I've always feared and I'm telling you Tom, I'm not imagining it. It's real. There's...There's something inside him. Something dark. And I have no idea how to manage it because when it comes out and it will, maybe not too long from now. Something horrible is going to happen.

Tom: Harry, you're a god cop and I trust your instincts, but the kid's ten. I'm not saying you shouldn't be worried, but he wouldn't be the first boy to be interested in blood and fighting and all that sort of thing. Many people are and then they turn out normal.

Harry: No, it's more than just talk or playing. He wants to kill, I think he needs to. It...it must have got into him in that shipping container, I prayed he would be too young to remember it, but something got inside him that day and it's never going to leave, if we don't do something it'll consume him.

Tom: It's okay, Harry, there are professionals, people who deal with this sort of thing. If anything's wrong, they'll know. They'll fix your boy Harry. 

Harry: No, they'll just cart him away to some institution, he'll be caged, like an animal at the zoo. Whatever chance he had for a normal life destroyed. We can't let anyone know the truth about him, I won't do that to my son.

Tom: Okay, Harry. No doctors. We'll keep this between us. Tell me Harry, you said it was more than talk. Has Dexter every harmed anyone? 

Harry: Not a person, well nothing more than a few scraps at school, but last week, I found them, in the garden, little graves, must have been at least twelve of them. One of them was next doors dog.

Tom's face betrays a sense of shock and he quickly regains his composure.

Tom: I see what you mean, Harry. You're right, this isn't normal, but that doesn't mean there's nothing we can do. The boy's still young, we can make sure your son lives a good life. How about hunting, maybe he could channel his urges that way.

Harry: I've tried Tom and maybe it'll keep it under control for now, but I've seen it in his eyes. He want to kill, he needs to and not just animals. He said he wanted to kill a person and I know he meant it. I just don't know what to do, Tom, any way I look it at it, he's going to kill, isn't he? Probably before he's twenty. Even if he really doesn't want to, he will, someone's gonna upset him and he won't be able to control himself. One moment, that's all it takes. One moment and a man is dead and Dexter's life is over. I should have known, I couldn't handle this Tom, I never should've taken him on, I...

Tom: Are you sure there's no way to stop his urges?

Harry: I've seen him, Tom, I've looked into his eyes and really seen him. He told me, yesterday, that he kills an animal at least once a week, towards the end of the week, if he hasn't killed in a while he's on edge. He gets frustrated, that's when he gets into fights at schools. That's the closest he got to really hurting someone. Some boy at his school, told me he was seconds away from pushing him down some stairs when a teacher walked into the corridor. After a kill, he's calm, happy. When he told me all this, he wasn't sorry, not really. I could see he wanted me to think he was, but he just couldn't stop smiling and you know that Dexter never really smiles like most kids do, but he was smiling when he was telling me about what he did. I just don't see any way that it doesn't get the better of him one day, and that'll be it for him.

Tom: I see your position Harry, trying to suppress his urges is only going to make them worse. But you don't have to let them explode, you can channel them. Somewhere where they'll do good.