Shirl
Background
Thorn is a detective with the 14th Precinct in New York City. He lives with Sol Roth in an apartment.
During the events of Soylent Green (1973) played by Charlton Heston
Thorn gets out of bed and asks Sol what information he has found out about the cases they are working on. He leaves their apartment and goes to Simonson's apartment complex to investigate his murder. He talks to Charles, who tells him the security system went out the week before. He then goes to Simonson's apartment. He shows his badge to Shirl and Tab and then looks at the body. He tells Tab that Simonson didn't appear to put up much of a fight and asks him where he was when Simonson was murdered. Thorn then has Tab write a sworn statement. He questions Shirl who tells him she would never cheat on Simonson. Wagner and the Sanitation Squad enter the apartment and bag Simonson, and after he gets Tab's sworn statement, Thorn catches a ride home with Wagner. He shows Sol everything he took from Simonson's apartment including meat, fresh fruit, vegetables, bourbon, soap and two volumes of an oceanographic report from 2015 to 2019. Thorn goes to the police station and is chastised by Hatcher for being late. Hatcher asks him what he has discovered about his cases, and is disappointed when Thorn really doesn't have anything. He then asks Thorn about the Simonson case, and Thorn tells him he thinks he was assassinated. Thorn waits outside for Tab to leave his apartment complex and then sneaks inside. He asks the Fat Guard where Tab's apartment is and then knocks on the apartment door. Martha answers the door and lets Thorn in. He searches the apartment and asks her questions about Tab, before stealing a spoon of jam and leaving. He and Sol have a nice meal from the food he stole from Simonson's apartment and Sol gives him biographical information about Simonson and tells him the oceanographic surveys were classified. He leaves his apartment complex and calls Hatcher when he thinks someone is following him. Thorn then goes to Shirl's apartment. He finds her having a party with The Furniture Girls in the complex and brings her into the bedroom. He tells her he thinks Simonson was assassinated and asks who Simonson's friends were. She tells him she doesn't know many of them but he did take her to church and sometimes he would start crying suddenly. They then have sex. Thorn goes outside to find Charles slapping The Furniture Girls and tells him he brought them to Shirl's apartment for questioning. After Charles and The Furniture Girls leave, Shirl asks Thorn to stay overnight and that the New Tenant is coming tomorrow. He decides to stay when she tells him she has hot water and they turn the air conditioning low and kiss. Thorn goes to the church and finds a child next to their dead mother. He brings the child into church and then speaks with The Priest and asks what Simonson confessed to him. The Priest tells him to come back tomorrow to speak with him and that the truth is destroying him. Thorn returns to the police station and Hatcher asks him to sign paperwork closing the Simonson case. Thorn refuses and as he is walking out, Kulozik tells him Hatcher put him on riot control duty. At the Soylent Green give out, Kulozik approaches Thorn and tells him to get prepared, because the suppliers have run out of Soylent Green. A riot starts and as the crowd is surrounding Thorn, Gilbert starts firing at him. Multiple people are shot and Thorn is shot in the calf, but before he can shoot Gilbert, Gilbert is crushed by a Riot Control Scoop. Thorn returns to Tab's apartment and ambushes him and beats him up. Before leaving, he tells Tab that if anyone follows him again, he will come back and kill him and Martha. He then goes to Shirl's apartment and they hug. He wakes up and Shirl tells him she tried to fix up his leg the best she could. She suggests they leave, but he tells her everywhere else is the same. Thorn returns home and finds a message from Sol telling him he is going home. He goes to the euthanasia center and has the Usher 1 take him to Sol's room. Thorn talks to Sol and he tells him he has to get evidence that the oceans are dying and Soylent Green is people and give it to the Exchange. They then say they love each other and Sol dies. Thorn goes to the waste disposal building and hops on the back of a vehicle. It takes him to the Soylent Green factory and Thorn jumps off. He searches the factory and sees bodies being put into a vat and Soylent Green coming out the other end. He is then forced to run away, when he is seen by a worker. He returns home, but calls Hatcher when he notices men hanging around the entrance to his apartment complex. Hatcher's line is busy so he connects to Shirl and tells her to stay with the New Tenant. He gets a hold of Hatcher and tells him he needs help. The men run after Thorn and start shooting at him. He shoots and kills most of them, but is shot in the chest by Tab as he is trying to run into the church. Tab follows him into the church and when he is distracted, Thorn jumps at him. Tab beats him away and as he is walking over to finish Thorn, Thorn stabs him in the chest with a large knife, killing Tab. Hatcher arrives and Thorn tells him he has to tell the Exchange that he found proof that the oceans are dying and Soylent Green is made from people. As Thorn is being carried away in a stretcher he continues to yell at Hatcher to tell everyone Soylent Green is made from people and they must be stopped.
