A CLUE SAGA - Episode #18
INT. PRATTON POLICE DEPARTMENT - FOREST's OFFICE - AFTERNOON
COMMISSIONER RANDALL FOREST sits in his office behind his bulky, metal desk. His brow is heavy, his posture is slouched, and his fingers are tapping anxiously against the pad of paper before him.
There is a gentle knock at the door which startles him. COMM. FOREST looks up to see the door is already opening without consent.
COMMISSIONER RANDALL FOREST
(mumbling)
"Come in."
COMM. FOREST turns his eyes back down to the surface of his desk as his secretary, MISS ANGIE ECRU fully enters the room. She has a fake smile plastered over her tired face.
MISS ANGIE ECRU
"I can't hold off the Daily Echo for much longer."
COMMISSIONER RANDALL FOREST
"What do they already know?"
MISS ANGIE ECRU
"They know that something happened at Blackwell Grange late last night and several bodies were taken to the morgue. They have no names or information."
COMMISSIONER RANDALL FOREST
"Keep it that way."
MISS ANGIE ECRU
"Commissioner, it's only a matter of time before..."
2.
COMMISSIONER RANDALL FOREST
"Stall them. Tell them you know nothing and can't help them. If the reporters refuse to leave, have a deputy roughly escort them away."
MISS ANGIE ECRU
"I'm not sure that is going to lead to a very good headline tomorrow..."
COMMISSIONER RANDALL FOREST
"Then I'll have to sure enough for the both of us. Everything will be handled accordingly. Now, if you'll excuse me?"
MISS ECRU looks down and nods politely. She sighs in frustration as she exits the office, closing the door behind her - loudly.
COMM. FOREST stands up from his desk, closes his pad of paper and slips it into the long draw of his desk. He walks over to a small, metal door near the secretary's door. He unlocks it and enters.
INT. PRATTON POLICE DEPARTMENT - HOLDING CELLS - conTINUOUS
COMM. FOREST enters a long, narrow hallway made of concrete bricks. Every five-six feet there is a barred door leading into a small, cramped cell with only a mattress on the floor beside a dry, stained toilet.
COMM. FOREST stops in front of Holding Cell #5.
HERR KLAUS GOLD is sitting on his mattress with his back against the wall. His head is turned up towards the small, slotted window at the top of the wall in his cell.
COMMISSIONER RANDALL FOREST
"Are you ready to talk?"
HERR GOLD turns his head slowly to look at COMM. FOREST.
3.
HERR KLAUS GOLD
"I have no knowledge of the mass murders. You know this. I only knew about the photographs. If I knew what shaking the rat's nest would have done, I would have done things differently."
COMMISSIONER RANDALL FOREST
"Oh? How so?"
HERR KLAUS GOLD
"I should have exposed Hugh with the photographs at his annual garden party."
COMMISSIONER RANDALL FOREST
"Why are you so hell-bent on exposing Hugh?"
HERR KLAUS GOLD
(shaking his head no)
"You are asking the wrong person. I may have help get the gears in motion, but this wasn't my idea."
COMMISSIONER RANDALL FOREST
"Then who is the mastermind behind this plan to sabotage Hugh Black?"
HERR KLAUS GOLD
"Frau Bloom."
HERR GOLD sees the look of confusion creep over COMM. FOREST's face.
HERR KLAUS GOLD
"Prince Azure received an anonymous tip that someone - Frau Bloom - had been holding onto the photographs from the last meeting in Monte Carlo."
COMMISSIONER RANDALL FOREST
"And who was the anonymous tip?"
HERR KLAUS GOLD
"I couldn't honestly say. If I were going to guess, I would start with Brunette, Mustard, or the Ravens."
4.
COMMISSIONER RANDALL FOREST
"I just don't understand why someone would start killing random people to frame Hugh Black."
HERR KLAUS GOLD
(cocking his head)
"You think the victims were random?"
COMMISSIONER RANDALL FOREST
(uncertain)
"I am still waiting for all the information before I begin to speculate."
HERR KLAUS GOLD
"Then allow me to offer some speculations of my own."
COMM. FOREST leans in closely to the cell door - genuinely interested in every word that comes from HERR GOLD.
HERR KLAUS GOLD
"I told Yvette and Fivel to tell Mustard of a rendezvous in the stables. Why? Because I knew they would deliver the message immediately to Mustard and then immediately to someone else inside the house. The plan was to plant the photographs, set the maniac in the crypts free, and have the police stumble upon the photographs while searching for him. Things went a little differently. Frau Bloom is dead - and she had the photographs. Yvette is dead - and her mother was in the photographs. Miss Dove is dead - and her fiancé is a known serial killer. Mr. Clay is dead - and no one knows who he really was or that he grew up in Pratton."
INT. BLACKWELL GRANGE - BALLROOM - conTINUOUS
A large faux-wood folding table has been set up in the middle of the room. Upon the table, serval weapons have been collected, tagged, and photographed. There is a blood-stained Dagger, a bottle of Poison, a Candlestick, Mr. Green's Pistol, a bloody Wrench, and a Syringe.
5.
DET. AMARILLO, OFFICER FROST, and OFFICER MOSS stand in front of the table looking down at the possible implements of murder.
DETECTIVE LOUIS AMARILLO
(beginning)
"The dagger? Where was it found?"
OFFICER LEON MOSS
(reading off his notepad)
"The dagger was found in the Study near the windows that lead out to the Tennis Courts."
DETECTIVE LOUIS AMARILLO
(concluding)
"Use to slit Edward Clay's throat and remove his eyes."
OFFICER FROST makes a face of disgust.
OFFICER THEODORE FROST
(squirming)
"Nobody has found that boy's eyes yet."
OFFICER LEON MOSS
"We will. Don't worry."
OFFICER THEODORE FROST
"I'm not worried... I just don't want to be the one that finds them."
OFFICER LEON MOSS
"Hey, I was the one who found the body in the lake."
OFFICER THEODORE FROST
"We both saw her. Besides, after seeing that crispy, burnt-up body..."
DETECTIVE LOUIS AMARILLO
(annoyed; sleep deprived)
"Can you two focus on what is going on right now in front of us? The weapons - the poison?"
6.
OFFICER LEON MOSS
(clearing his throat)
"It was in a pocket of the billiard table."
DETECTIVE LOUIS AMARILLO
"Which pocket?"
OFFICER LEON MOSS
"Nearest to the blood on the floor. By the bar."
DETECTIVE LOUIS AMARILLO
"And the candlestick?"
OFFICER THEODORE FROST
"It was in the kitchen on a drying rack. It was still oily and soapy when we found it. Someone hastily cleaned it off."
DETECTIVE LOUIS AMARILLO
"And what about the Dreyse belonging to Mr. Green?"
OFFICER THEODORE FROST
"Mr. Green's pistol was in an oriental vase in the dining room."
DETECTIVE LOUIS AMARILLO
"Missing bullets?"
OFFICER THEODORE FROST
"The magazine holds seven bullets and there were only four."
DETECTIVE LOUIS AMARILLO
"And what about the wrench?"
OFFICER LEON MOSS
"The library. One of the bookcases has a secret wainscot panel. It was in there. It is soaked in blood.”
DETECTIVE LOUIS AMARILLO
"How did you find the secret panel?"
OFFICER THEODORE FROST
(shrugging)
"I've been kicking and knocking on walls and furniture to see what moves and what is fixed to the mansion."
7.
DETECTIVE LOUIS AMARILLO
"Good work, Frost. Make a note of everything that doesn't move. I wouldn't be surprised if there are dozens of passageways and tunnels right under our noses."
OFFICER THEODORE FROST
"That just leaves the syringe..."
DETECTIVE LOUIS AMARILLO
"And?"
OFFICER LEON MOSS
(speaking up)
"We sent a sample of the poison from the syringe and are waiting to see if it matches the poison from the bottle. It is the same color."
DETECTIVE LOUIS AMARILLO
"Where was the syringe found?"
OFFICER LEON MOSS
"In the lounge. Someone planted it in the back of the baby grand piano."
OffICER THEODORE FROST
(speculating)
"I wouldn't be surprised if Bloom and Dove were killed with the poison."
OFFICER LEON MOSS
"Bloom with the syringe, Dove with the vial?"
OFFICER THEODORE FROST
"It's possible they could have both been struck with the same needle?"
DET. AMARILLO sighs and begins to walk off towards the curtained entrance.
OFFICER LEON MOSS
"Where are you going?"
DETECTIVE LOUIS AMARILLO
"I need to find Inspector Pry."
OFFICER MOSS and OFFICER FROST watch as DET. AMARILLO hurries out of the ballroom.
8.
The two officers shrug to one another and continue speculating about the weapons on the table before them.
INT. BLACKWELL GRANGE - ATTIC - CONTINUOUS
INSPECTOR LAWRENCE PRY is standing in a gabled window with his palm against the glass. He can see the clearing with MISS DOVE's charred corpse from the view of the attic.
A single crow lands on the windowsill, cawing loudly into it's reflection. INSP. PRY can't help but feel as if the crow is looking and cawing directly at him.
A small centipede crawls from a crack between two bricks on the window sill. The crow snatches the centipede in it's beak and flies off.
INSPECTOR LAWRENCE PRY
(whispering nonsensically)
"Rose... Gold... Gray... Azure... Black... Night... Sky... Clouds... Flames..."
INSP. PRY holds his hand up to the ceiling of the attic in a ceremonial/ritualistic fashion. He closes her eyes and returns to the window. He places one palm against the glass, while the other remains pointed up.
INSPECTOR LAWRENCE PRY
"Show yourself to me."
INSP. PRY opens his eyes and looks out at the clearing where MISS DOVE's body is. He notices something in the clearing and leans in closer.
INSP. PRY narrows his eyes trying to get a closer look at whatever is outside the attic window.
Suddenly-
INSP. PRY leaps back with a gasp as if he had been choked. Chills run down his spine as he feels a shadow cross behind him.
INSPECTOR LAWRENCE PRY
(whispering softly)
"Evil is here!"
The ghostly hallucination/apparition of BEN BLACK V stands beside INSP. PRY, looking out the window with a grim, disappointed expression.
9.
BEN BLACK
(lucidly)
"They couldn't save me."
INSPECTOR LAWRENCE PRY
(closing his eyes)
"You aren't here."
BEN BLACK
"They tried to fix me for years in that crypt. I wasn't right for this world. I was supposed to be put out of my misery at the end of the executioner's rope when I was a child. But this family has a habit of dragging the old horse out to every fucking race."
INSPECTOR LAWRENCE PRY
(repeating)
"You are not real. You aren't here."
BEN BLACK
"Insanity runs in the family, Lawrence. We weren't supposed to bear children. Hugh, Margaret, even Rose. You are as tortured and hallow as the rest of us."
INSPECTOR LAWRENCE PRY
(clinging to reality)
"This is not real."
BEN BLACK
(calming; kind)
"It isn't your fault, Lawrence. You are the biproduct of two very, very dysfunctional, mentally unstable people. These voices, these visions... they are aa gift and they are a curse. You can clearly see what happened here last night, but you can't connect all the pieces together."
INSPECTOR LAWRENCE PRY
"I just want to be free."
BEN BLACK
"You need to hunt them all down. You need to hunt them down and make sure that none of them will ever hurt anyone else ever again."
10.
INT. AQUATINE VISTAS - HOTEL LOBBY - CONTINUOUS
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN enters through the glass front doors. He looks over at HOLLY behind the front desk and approaches her quickly.
As INSP. BROWN approaches, he pulls out his badge and holds it up for her to see. HOLLY places her palms on the desk and leans forward to better hear INSP. BROWN.
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
"I spoke with Miss Snow about a room for interrogations."
HOlly
(turning away)
"Room seven-o'two."
HOLLY grabs the hotel room key and slides it over to INSP. BROWN.
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
"Thank you."
HOLLY
"Is there anything else I can do to assist you?"
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
"Thank you..."
(reading her nametag)
"Holly."
As INSP. BROWN puts the key in his pocket, he notices NURSE AVA SILVER and FIVEL DOVE walking solemnly towards dining room doorway.
11.
INSP. BROWN crosses the hotel lobby swiftly.
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
(calling out)
"Miss Silver, a word?"
NURSE SILVER stops in the threshold of the dining room. She turns to face INSP. BROWN, placing a protective arm around FIVEL's shoulders.
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
(softly)
"A word alone, perhaps?"
FIVEL looks down at the floor. Tears begin to flood into his eyes.
NURSE AVA SILVER
"Why don't you go and sit down on the ottoman. I'll be over there in a minute and then we can get something to eat."
FIVEL opens his mouth to protest, but shakes his head in dismay. He stomps off towards the ottoman and throws himself down onto it angrily.
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
(lowering his eyes)
"I am so sorry."
NURSE SILVER steps closer to INSP. BROWN.
NURSE AVA SILVER
(sullen)
"What happened? At Blackwell Grange? With Miss Dove?"
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
"Both Olga Bloom and Brenda Dove were found. She..."
(pausing)
"Miss Dove... her body..."
12.
NURSE AVA SILVER
(impatiently)
"Just come out with it already!"
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
"Her body was found in the woods. Someone burned her up."
NURSE SILVER covers her mouth with a shaking hand as tears begin to fall from her eyes.
NURSE AVA SILVER
"And Olga?"
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
"They pulled her out of the lake near the boat house."
NURSE SILVER looks over at FIVEL with fear in her eyes. She places her trembling hands on INSP. BROWNS arms.
NURSE AVA SILVER
"What about the boy? What am I supposed to tell him? What is going to become of him now? Where is he going to live? He has no other family..."
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
(sighing)
"Yes, about that..."
INSP. BROWN looks around the hotel lobby to be sure that no one is close enough to eavesdrop.
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
"After pulling some documentation regarding Brenda Dove and Fivel Dove... it turns out that Fivel and Miss Dove were trying to pull something over on Dr. Black."
NURSE AVA SILVER
"What are you saying?"
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
"Miss Dove adopted Fivel a little under a year ago. The boy is going to end up back in foster care. I'd try to convince him to own up to the truth. A con-artist tied up in murder is still a suspect regardless of the age."
13.
NURSE SILVER stares silently at FIVEL with more fear in her eyes now than ever.
INT. AQUATINE VISTAS - HOTEL ELEVATOR - CONTINUOUS
DR. WALTER RAVEN presses the button to take the elevator down to the ground floor lobby. MRS. WHITE steps onto the elevator quickly before the doors are pulled shut and secured.
MRS. BLANCHE WHITE
(out of breath)
"I need to talk to you?"
DR. WALTER RAVEN
"Is that why you high-tailed it over to the elevator when you saw me leaving my room?"
MRS. BLANCHE WHITE
"You've been around Blackwell Grange your whole life - my whole life. How much do you remember about when Benjamin was a child?"
DR. RAVEN looks up at the rattling beads on the elevator's light fixture.
MRS. BLANCHE WHITE
"You aren't going to answer? That means you remember quite a bit, I'm guessing."
DR. RAVEN looks over at her.
DR. WALTER RAVEN
"Why on earth do you want to bring up painful, terrible memories from thirty-some years ago?"
MRS. BLANCHE WHITE
"Because I want to know what else I've blocked out!"
14.
DR. WALTER RAVEN
"No, Blanche. You didn't block anything out. Dr. Black chose what you could and couldn't remember."
MRS. WHITE doesn't answer.
Her face twists up in sadness - a sadness layered with betrayal and realization.
MRS. BLANCHE WHITE
"The pills for my migraines."
DR. WALTER RAVEN
"After Benedict made the arrangement with Lord Gray and your sister, you snapped. You could only focus on the housework. You would sew, clean, do the laundry, scrub the floors, and beat the rugs as if you were a mechanical device built to keep Blackwell Grange frozen in time, spotless and perfect."
MRS. WHITE closes her eyes, exhaling all the air from her lungs. She holds her breath, empty lungs, heart thumping loudly...
MRS. BLANCHE WHITE
"Why did he sedate me?"
DR. WALTER RAVEN
(whispering)
"Because every moment you realized your son was gone, you tried to kill yourself."
MRS. BLANCHE WHITE
"The woman with the seashell brooch..."
DR. WALTER RAVEN
"You remember her?"
MRS. BLANCHE WHITE
(thinking hard)
"I remember her glasses. I remember the seashell brooch."
DR. WALTER RAVEN
"Do you remember her name?"
15.
MRS. BLANCHE WHITE
"No, but I remember she was the one who helped me forget my time with Benjamin."
DR. WALTER RAVEN
"She didn't help you. She allowed you to relive a false reality until you believe the lie. She is an expert of metaphysical practices. No one should have that kind of influence... manipulation. Hypnosis and drugs are one thing, but to meditate with someone and change everything they believe... Coral Redmond needs to be stopped."
MRS. BLANCHE WHITE
"Why are you telling me this?"
DR. WALTER RAVEN
"Because she is the one making Mabel Ash forget who she is."
MRS. BLANCHE WHITE
"I can't stop Ian Masque."
DR. WALTER RAVEN
"So you'd rather pick up the broken pieces with your son while Mr. Ash mourns the wife he'll never see again?"
DR. RAVEN laughs, scoffing.
DR. WALTER RAVEN
"It doesn't surprise me. You may not have realized what you were doing at the time, but everyone else saw that you used Thallo Green to replace Benjamin."
MRS. BLANCHE WHITE
(defensively)
"Thallo had no real family!"
DR. WALTER RAVEN
"You took him under your wing and tied those apron strings tight because he liked you and needed a mother figured... and you needed to be needed."
16.
MRS. BLANCHE WHITE
"I love Thallo. I love Benjamin."
DR. WALTER RAVEN
"Only one of those men is your real son, Blanche. You don't get to have everything. Now help your fucking friend. He's been loyal to you through everything you've gone through. He wants his wife back. Help him bring her home."
MRS. WHITE nods her head.
MRS. BLANCHE WHITE
"I'll figure something out."
DR. WALTER RAVEN
"I know you will."
INt. AQUATINE VISTAS - HOTEL ROOM #705 - eveNING
MISS OLIVIA RAVEN opens the hotel room door to see INSP. BROWN standing in the hallway.
MISS OLIVIA RAVEN
"Inspector, of course, please come in."
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
"You asked to speak with me before the interrogations begin?"
MISS OLIVIA RAVEN
"I don't feel safe, Inspector."
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
"Why is that?"
MISS OLIVIA RAVEN
"Because of the murders."
17.
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
"The murders have stopped. There is no reason to think they will continue here."
(pausing)
"Do you have any reason to think they might continue here?"
MISS OLIVIA RAVEN
"I... saw Hugh's killer."
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
"Who did you see?"
MISS OLIVIA RAVEN
"Sergeant Gray with the wrench in the library..."
MISS RAVEN puts her hand over her face.
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
"What happened?"
MISS OLIVIA RAVEN
"I thought I was alone in the room. When I realized I wasn't alone, I assumed the person in the room was Mr. Green. The person was in the shadows after all... but then he stepped out of the room and I saw... It was Sergeant Gray. He looked like a madman."
INSP. BROWN nods his head.
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
"I believe you, Mrs. Green. I do."
MISS OLIVIA RAVEN
"Why..."
INSP. BROWN motions for her to sit down on the bed.
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
"I had to do my research on all the suspects and victims. Just surface level information. You'd be surprised the simple lies that can be checked. You married Thallo Green seventeen years ago. I assume to legal reasons."
MRS. OLIVIA GREEN sits down slowly on the edge of her bed with her mouth open.
18.
INSPECTOR WINFIELD BROWN
"You are going to need to figure out how to address everyone, your father, your husband, as I am most certain this information will go public. I do not know how it will go over with Igor O'Range and that is not the case I am assigned to, so I do not care. I am simply warning you, since you are worried that people want to kill you."
INT. AQUATINE VISTAS - HOTEL ROOM #1303 - conTINUOUS
MASTER JOHN BODDY opens the door to his hotel suite and lets MONSIEUR ALPHONSE BRUNETTE inside.
MONSIEUR ALPHONSE BRUNETTE
"This should cheer you up. Or at least take your mind off of everything."
M. BRUNETTE tosses a small bag of marijuana onto the coffee table.
MASTER BODDY takes out money from his billfold and hands it to M. BRUNETTE.
M. BRUNETTE pushes the money back, shaking his head.
19.
MONSIEUR ALPHONSE BRUNETTE
"Allow me."
M. BRUNETTE pulls out a small black pipe and starts packing a bowl.
MASTER JOHN BODDY
"I can't stop thinking about them."
MONSIEUR ALPHONSE BRUNETTE
"Dr. Black and Miss Dove?"
MASTER JOHN BODDY
"My parents."
MONSIEUR ALPHONSE BRUNETTE
"I didn't know Sam and Margaret that well."
MASTER JOHN BODDY
"You knew them at all?"
MONSIEUR ALPHONSE BRUNETTE
"I sold some paintings to your grandfather on your fathers side."
MASTER JOHN BODDY
"Really? I don't know much about my father's family."
MONSIEUR ALPHONSE BRUNETTE
"He was an angry Russian brute with a bald head and an eyepatch."
MASTER BODDY eyes the pipe full of marijuana impatiently as M. BRUNETTE tells the story.
MONSIEUR ALPHONSE BRUNETTE
"He knew I was full of shit when I sold him those Monets... or were they Manets? Eh, what is the difference?"
MASTER BODDY picks up the lighter from the coffee table and hands it to M. BRUNETTE
MASTER JOHN BODDY
"Can we..."
MONSIEUR ALPHONSE BRUNETTE
(smiling)
"Oh, of course."
20.
M. BRUNETTE holds the pipe out for MASTER BODDY and lights it.
MASTER BODDY takes back the smoke and slowly blows it out. His eyes begin to redden as he watches it curl into the air.
M. BRUNETTE takes his hit - a much larger one.
MONSIEUR ALPHONSE BRUNETTE
(exhaling smoke)
"Your father was an asshole."
MASTER BODDY begins to giggle.
MASTER JOHN BODDY
(grinning)
"He really was."
FLASHBACK - BLACKWELL GRANGE - CHRISTMAS EVE
INT. LIBRARY - NIGHT
Seven-year-old JOHN BODDY stands on the top of a bookcase ladder, hanging an ornament on the large Christmas tree in the window. MRS. WHITE and MARGARET BLACK-BODDY are unboxing decorations on the coffee table. There are strings of lights stretched over the red chaise lounge.
SAMUEL BODDY enters the room with a glass of brandy in his hand. The ice clinks as he stops firmly in his path towards the Christmas tree.
SAMUEL BODDY
(angry; drunk)
"For Christ's sake, John! You are going to hurt yourself. Get down from there."
YOUNG JOHN carefully climbs down the bookcase ladder.
YOUNG JOHN BODDY
"I was being careful."
SAMUEL BODDY
"Don't argue."
MARGARET steps away from MRS. WHITE and puts her arm around her husband's shoulder.
MARgAREt BLACK-BODDY
"Darling, join us in decorating the tree."
21.
SAMUEL BODDY
(scoffing)
"Don't you think the tree is decorated enough? If you add much more it'll look too busy."
YOUNG BLANCHE WHITE
(speaking up)
"We still need to have the lights around the bookshelves."
SAMUEL finishes his brandy and sets the empty glass down on the large desk. He takes the brandy sifter and sniffs it. Disgusted, he puts it back and takes his empty glass with him.
SAMUEL BODDY
(groaning)
"I'll be in the billiard room, should any one need anything."
As SAMUEL turns to exit the room he bumps into MABEL ASH as she enters.
MABEL ASH
"Oh! Pardon me, sir."
SAMUEL BODDY
"It's quite alright."
SAMUEL narrows his eyes at MARGARET. MARGARET pretends not to notice.
BACK TO PRESENT
INT. AQUATINE VISTAS - HOTEL ROOM #1303 - CONTINUOUS
MASTER BODDY puts the pipe to his lips and inhales deeply. He looks over at M. BRUNETTE and notices that he is covering his watering eyes.
22.
MASTER JOHN BODDY
(jokingly)
"Are you crying?"
M. BRUNETTE lowers his hands to show that he is crying.
MONSIEUR ALPHONSE BRUNETTE
"Yeah, and I can't tell anyone why."
MASTER JOHN BODDY
"You can tell me."
M. BRUNETTE shakes his head.
MASTER JOHN BODDY
"You can. I promise. I'll tell you how I met Andrea."
M. BRUNETTE looks over at him and shakes his head.
MONSIEUR ALPHONSE BRUNETTE
"I'm sorry, buddy. I just need to fight this battle on my own."
MASTER BODDY lowers his head.
MASTER JOHN BODDY
"I've had to do that my whole life. It sucks."
MONSIEUR ALPHONSE BRUNETTE
(nodding)
"It does."
MASTER JOHN BODDY
"So don't fight it alone. Tell me."
MASTER BODDY passes the pipe back to M. BRUNETTE.
MONSIEUR ALPHONSE BRUNETTE
"I killed all of Patricia's husbands for her and she never even wanted me to."
MASTER JOHN BODDY
(shrugging)
"I only fucked Andrea so that I could blackmail her later."
M. BRUNETTE stands up and walks to the door.
MONSIEUR ALPHONSE BRUNETTE
"I have to go."
23.
M. BRUNETTE slams the door behind him.
MASTER BODDY picks up the pipe and the lighter from the coffee table and lights the bowl. It is burned through. He empties it and reaches into the plastic bag for more marijuana.
INT. AQUATINE VISTAS - HOTEL LOBBY - conTINUOUS
MISS VIVIENNE SCARLET walks across the lobby from the elevator to the front doors. As she reaches them, GREYSON enters from outside.
MISS VIVIENNE SCARLET
(bumping into him)
"Oops! Sorry!"
GREYSON
(chuckling)
"My bad!"
MISS VIVIENNE SCARLET
"Hey, I wanted to thank you for being so kind to me and my stepmother."
GREYSON
"Think nothing of it. You two are going through an incredibly rough time. I'm here if you need someone to talk to."
GREYSON smiles at her and turns towards HOLLY at the front desk.
MISS VIVIENNE SCARLET
(stopping him)
"Greyson!"
GREYSON turns to face her.
GREYSON
"Yes, Miss Vivienne?"
24.
MISS VIVIENNE SCARLET
"I-I-I... uhh... I saw you comforting Sergeant Gray from my hotel suite. I-I just wanted to let you know I appreciate your... kind way of comforting others."
GREYSON smiles as he walks back over to MISS SCARLET.
GREYSON
"I am a bit of an empathetic person. I've always been a people pleaser. And I know how it feels to lose someone close. Everyone deserves a brighter day and as many of them as possible."
Across the hotel lobby, at the telephone table, DR. ANDREA ORCHID sits in the armchair. She is speaking quietly into the telephone's receiver.
DR. ANDREA ORCHID
"There were a series of murders... Yes... I have no idea... Hugh Black is dead."
(long pause)
"John Boddy broke off the engagement... of course I slept with him... No... I have it under control. Sir Benedict is in my palm... of course I'm going to sleep with him."
(long pause)
"You keep a close on Prince Azure. Keep him happy until the garden party."
(long pause)
"I have my eyes on Colonel Mustard, Mr. Green, Monsieur Brunette, and Miss Scarlet."
DR. ORCHID abruptly hangs up the telephone and then curses angrily under her breath.
25.
MISS ELEANOR TAWNY listens quietly from where she dusts, at the decorative curio cabinet, under the staircase.
INT. AQUATINE VISTAS - HOTEL LOUNGE - NIGHT
MRS. PATRICIA PEACOCK and COLONEL MICHAEL MUSTARD sit at the bar. They clink their cocktails together.
COLONEL MICHAEL MUSTARD
"God, I haven't enjoyed a drink like this in a while."
MRS. PATRICIA PEACOCK
"You always like to shoot the good stuff. I've always said t is better to mix the good stuff with even better stuff."
COL. MUSTARD guzzles down his cocktail and turns the glass up for the bartender.
COLONEL MICHAEL MUSTARD
"Another!"
BARTENDER
"Right away, sir."
The BARTENDER begins to stir up another cocktail.
MRS. PATRICIA PEACOCK
(chuckling)
"It reminds me of the time Hugh took me to Monte Carlo.
(MORE)
26.
MRS. PATRICIA PEACOCK (CONT'D)
You were there with us. You had some hot date..."
COLONEL MICHAEL MUSTARD
(looking around)
"I've never been to Monte Carlo."
MRS. PATRICIA PEACOCK
"Oh, hush!"
COL. MUSTARD does a full check of the lounge around him to make sure MRS. PEACOCK is keeping her voice down away from prying ears. It is clear he is uncomfortable with the conversation.
MRS. PATRICIA PEACOCK
(laughing)
"You and I were at the casino because they were doing some dreadful masked ball and you had just lost fifty thousand or some ridiculous amount. Anyway, the funny part of the story is when you ordered the gin and tonic and the German barmaid had you dance up on the bar. You had everyone cheering for you. Mixed drinks can give you the confidence to lead the room."
COLONEL MICHAEL MUSTARD
(hushing her)
"Ah, yes. My knees were quite a bit younger, back then."
COL. MUSTARD stands up from the barstool.
COLONEL MICHAEL MUSTARD
"If you'll excuse me, Patricia. I really must use the restroom. Those damned things make me piss like a race-horse."
COL. MUSTARD hurries out of the lounge quickly.
MRS. PATRICIA PEACOCK
"How rude."
BARTENDER
"He left his drink."
MRS. PATRICIA PEACOCK
"I'll take it."
MRS. PEACOCK scoots the cocktail over towards herself.
27.
GREYSON enters the lounge and smiles at MRS. PEACOCK as he approaches the BARTENDER.
GREYSON
"Vodka-tonic."
MRS. PATRICIA PEACOCK
"What a coincidence. I was just telling a story about a night full of vodka-tonics."
GREYSON
"My shift is finally over."
MRS. PATRICIA PEACOCK
"Does your shift include the compassion you seem to always be giving?"
GREYSON
"I'm afraid, I can never shut that off."
MRS. PEACOCK smiles and scoots closer.
GREYSON takes his vodka-tonic from the BARTENDER and drinks it down quickly.
GREYSON
"Keep 'em coming."
MRS. PATRICIA PEACOCK
"Tell me, Greyson. What is the story behind those big, sad, brown eyes."
GREYSON's smile turns more serious.
GREYSON
"Well, if you really want to know..."
MRS. PEACOCK slides closer, clearly quite drunk.
28.
MRS. PATRICIA PEACOCK
"I really do."
GREYSON
"My twin sister passed away over the winter."
MRS. PEACOCK backs up a bit, reading the room.
MRS. PATRICIA PEACOCK
"Oh, I'm sorry."
GREYSON
"Brain aneurysm in her sleep. No one saw it coming."
MRS. PATRICIA PEACOCK
"I can't lie to you and say I'm not familiar with sudden, unexpected death."
GREYSON
"Oh, I know who you are, Mrs. Peacock."
MRS. PATRICIA PEACOCK
"And what does that make you think of me?"
GREYSON
"I look beyond what the public eyes see."
MRS. PATRICIA PEACOCK
"And what do you see?"
GREYSON leans forward and kisses MRS. PEACOCK on the lips. MRS. PEACOCK pulls him in tightly.
The BARTENDER turns away and begins to loudly stir some fresh cocktails.
Int. PRATTON POLICE DEPARTMENT - FOREST'S OFFICE - MIDNIGHT
COMM. FOREST leans back in his chair, mostly asleep. The telephone on his desk suddenly rings, startling him awake.
29.
COMMISSIONER RANDALL FOREST
(sleepily)
"Yes, hello? This is Commissioner Forest, speaking... Ah! The coroner's report, splendid... Yes?"
There is a very long pause on the telephone. COMM. FOREST takes off his pince-nez and leans forward in his seat.
COMMISSIONER RANDALL FOREST
"You are absolutely certain?"
(pause)
"Thank you."
MISS ECRU enters the office from the secretary's door.
MISS ANGIE ECRU
"Was it the coroner's report?"
COMMISSIONER RANDALL FOREST
"Hugh Black was shot in the side of the head with a Dreyse."
EXT. AQUATINE VISTAS - DAWN
The morning sun rises over the endless blue oceans as the residents in Aquatine Vistas are slowly drawn from their beds.
INT. AQUATINE VISTAS - HOTEL suite #1302 - continuous
30.
MISS SCARLET wakes up in her bed and stretches her arms out in front of her. She cracks her knuckles, neck, and back before stepping out of bed into her slippers. She stands up and throws open the curtains.
MISS SCARLET steps out of her bedroom into the sitting room of the suite. She immediately notices gray and blue clothing scattered from the hallway to the door to MRS. PEACOCK's bedroom.
MISS SCARLET is about to place her hand on the door knob when she recognizes the striped gray shirt with the black collar - GREYSON's shirt.
MISS SCARLET steps back and leaves the sitting room through her bedroom door. She closes the door and leans against it, panting, upset. She looks over at her open suitcase and sees black and white photograph of herself and EDWARD CLAY at Vermillion Gardens in Washington D.C.
MISS VIVIENNE SCARLET
"Oh God, Edward!"
MISS SCARLET sinks to her knees, resting her back against the door. Her head falls between her knees as she begins to cry heavily.
INT. AQUATINE VISTAS - HOTEL SUITE #1301 - MORNING
SIR BENEDICT BLACK IV looks out his window at the early morning sun rising over the endless blue ocean. PROFESSOR VICTOR PLUM enters the suite holding the morning's newspaper in his shaking hands.
SIR BENEDICT BLACK Iv
"So that's it then?"
PROFESSOR VICTOR PLUM
(nervous; excited)
"Commissioner Forest held up his end of the deal. We aren't in the papers!"
31.
PROF. PLUM holds up the morning's issue of the Daily Echo.
SIR BENEDICT BLACK IV
(reading the headline)
"Local school teacher missing."
PROFESSOR VICTOR PLUM
(sighing)
"What a relief. I thought we were all goin to wake up to Murder at Blackwell Grange or something equally as dramatic and unsettling."
SIR BENEDICT BLACK IV
"This is a short-lived victory. You know they are going to come down on us about everything that happened over the past few decades."
PROFESSOR VICTOR PLUM
"Yes, I know."
SIR BENEDICT BLACK IV
"This newspaper headline is a small victory. We have many harder trials ahead."
PROFESSOR VICTOR PLUM
"At least we won't be dealing with any pesky reporters. We'll have more time to get our stories straight and figure out where to go from here."
INT. AQUATINE VISTAS - HOTEL LOBBY - CONTINUOUS
A young woman in bright red high heels enters the room. She is wearing an orange business suit and wears a camera around her neck. She marches very directly towards HOLLY at the front desk.
32.
HOLLY
"Can I help you?"
YOUNG WOMAN
"My name is Kimberly Mango - Daily Echo. The public deserves to hear the truth about what happened at Blackwell Grange last night and what has been happening for years."
END OF EPISODE #18