英语剧本《鸦魔战士》
时间:2007-10-27 21:58:30来源: 作者:
Crow: Salvation, The (2000)
by Chip Johannessen.
Based on the comic book series by James O'Barr.
by Chip Johannessen.
Based on the comic book series by James O'Barr.
OVER BLACKNESS.
Silence. Broken by the faint clink of precision tools.
Accurately, patiently wielded.
INT. MYSTERY ROOM - DIMNESS
X-CLOSE. A SCALPEL returned to its place in a neat array
of TAXIDERMY TOOLS. Long surgical TWEEZERS taken. A steady
HAND grasps a CLAY BIRD FORM. Then sets the second eye.
Unhurried. Meticulous.
A MYSTERY MAN, features obscured, sets the tweezers aside,
reaches for a black lump on the table, revealed to be shiny
feathers as he wraps it around the form. Adjusts it so the
glass eyes peer out through holes in the skin of this large
CROW. A taxidermy specimen.
WIDE, the man works across the room under the pooled light
of a draftsman's lamp, the Crow on the table in front of
him. His identity yet to discover.
SLOW FADE OUT.
EXT. GARRISON PRISON - WITNESS ENTRANCE - NIGHT
X-WIDE. "THE WALLS" like a medieval castle above a throng
of PROTESTERS and GAWKERS. A POSTCARD at first, then signs
of movement--handheld placards and flickering candles
telegraph an imminent execution.
The group shifts amoeba like as... A LARGE MERCEDES
approaches, slowly works its way into the edge of the crowd.
INSIDE THE BENZ NATHAN RANDALL, father of the victim
comforts ERIN RANDALL, seventeen year old sister, as she
looks up in terror at the bodies pressed against the car,
the throng between the car and the prison entrance. The
car stops.
ERIN
Why are there so many?
RANDALL
Just hold on to me.
THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD--a Protestor's poster visible.
"Remember the Victim." With a picture of LAUREN RANDALL,
the deceased, who bears a striking resemblance to surviving
sister Erin. And another sign--"Happy Birthday Alex."
2.
ERIN
It's because they're doing this on
his birthday.
She takes a deep breath, they get out of the car and...
WITH THE RANDALLS as they make their way through the throng
toward a special entrance marked "WITNESSES," nearly within
reach when WHOMP.
Erin shields her face as a BRIGHT LIGHT comes on. OVER TV
REPORTER BARBARA GONZALEZ Action Newsteam addressing the
Nathans. Speaking into a mic.
GONZALEZ
Mr. Randall. Sir. Do you think
this execution will bring you a
sense of closure?
Nathan pushes past Gonzalez, taking Erin's hand.
GONZALEZ (CONT'D)
Erin. Your sister...
RANDALL
Leave us alone!
The Reporter TURNS to the camera, not missing a beat.
GONZALEZ
A difficult time for everyone
involved.
(then)
Interesting fact. It will take
about twenty-one cents of
electricity to execute Alex Corvis
tonight on this, his twenty-first
birthday.
CUT TO:
INT. GARRISON PRISON - DEATHROW - NIGHT
CLOSE on a BIRTHDAY CAKE, twenty one candles flickering as
it makes its way past deathrow cells, held waiter style on
one hand by MERCER, a MUSTACHED prison GUARD.
INT. GARRISON PRISON - ALEX'S CELL - NIGHT
CLANG. The barred door opens and the cake swoops in, landing
on a small table next to a CHESS GAME in progress and an
untouched last meal. ADJUST to find...
ALEX CORVIS. Twenty-One today. Disarmingly appealing.
Peaceful. Simple clothes. He looks up from the game, at...
PETER WALSH, Alex's pro-bono attorney and only friend,
trying not to explode at this shit-eating stunt.
3.
WALSH
He didn't order that.
MERCER
We found the man with the scar.
Despite himself, Alex looks up. Mercer gestures at... THE
CAKE in the middle of the candles, an arm made of frosting
with a large ZIGZAG marking on the forearm, also frosting.
FAVORING ALEX looking from the cake up to Mercer, who nods
at the candles.
MERCER (CONT'D)
Go ahead. Make a wish.
WALSH
(intense whisper)
Get it out of here.
Alex focusses on the chess board. Tries to anyway.
CUT TO:
EXT. GARRISON PRISON - NIGHT
FLASH. The harsh Newsteam video light WHUMPS on,
illuminating a WRINKLED OLD WOMAN.
OLD WOMAN
Yes, I've come to a lot of these
over the years, but this one has
many unique aspects. Youth of the
condemned. That's unusual. Fifty
three stab wounds. Kind of a record.
GONZALEZ'S VOICE
And Corvis still maintaining his
innocence.
OLD WOMAN
Oh, they all say that.
CUT TO:
EXT. GARRISON PRISON - WITNESS ENTRANCE - NIGHT
FLASH. A nervous, not to say shifty looking THOMAS "TOMMY"
LEONARD, thirty five year old key witness in the trial,
talks to Gonzalez under the hot video light.
TOMMY
I don't fault him saying I lied on
the stand. Facing the chair, you
do what you gotta do. But I saw
those two fighting that night.
Tommy shifts uncomfortably, silent as we HOLD a long beat.
4.
TOMMY (CONT'D)
I didn't lie.
CUT TO:
INT. GARRISON PRISON - ALEX'S CELL - NIGHT
CLOSE. A Chess piece, a CASTLE, shoved at CAMERA. ADJUST
to INCLUDE ALEX.
He breathes deliberately, trying to hold it together. His
hand shakes as he removes it from the piece.
WALSH
You ok?
Alex gets up, crosses to a small ledge on the other side
of the cell that holds a few books and pictures. He finds...
A PICTURE OF LAUREN AND ALEX In a grove of tall trees. A
self-portrait by autotimer. Arms around each other. Her
head on his shoulder. Happy.
RESUME Alex staring at the photo, taped to the wall.
ALEX
What's been holding me together is
the hope that maybe you do go
someplace. And I'll be seeing her
again soon. Only what will I say?
That I was too stupid to find the
guy who killed her? That he's down
here laughing?
WALSH
Tell her... we'll get him.
ALEX
We won't.
WALSH
Someday he'll surface and I'll get
him for both of you. I promise.
I'll find the guy with the scar.
CUT TO:
EXT GARRISON PRISON - WITNESS ENTRANCE - NIGHT
FLASH. Four UNIFORMED COPS--DUTTON, ERLICH, LARKIN and
TOOMEY--in the harsh news light.
Erlich holds a CANE in one hand. Larkin and Toomey are
twosie monkeys, smoking cigarettes with eerie simultaneity.
ERLICH
This mystery man with the scar...
(indicates forearm)
...the zigzag, whatever.
5.
Erlich gives a long-suffering look. Like it's preposterous.
But he's too gentlemanly to say it.
ERLICH (CONT'D)
We couldn't find him. And,
obviously, the jury didn't buy it.
GONZALEZ
Some people here seem to.
DUTTON
People here are protesting the
execution of a kid just turning
twenty-one. A kid who had a tough
life. No parents, no dough. Always
had to fight for everything. It's
a tragedy, it really is. But I
don't see a single sign telling me
Alex Corvis is innocent.
Look around. He's right.
CUT TO:
INT. GARRISON PRISON - ALEX'S CELL - NIGHT
Alex still gazing at the picture of Lauren. At the board,
Walsh moves a piece.
MERCER
I was facing the hot seat, I'd
want my attorney banging down the
door of the Supreme Court, not
playing board games. But maybe
that's just me.
They look up as Mercer appears outside the barred door to
the cell, starts to unlock it.
WALSH
Your move.
MERCER
No. It's time.
It really is. Other prison personnel arrive outside the
cell in various uniforms:
A MINISTER with clerical collar, the WARDEN, two GUARDS.
Waiting. Walsh crosses, very emotional how. Gives Alex a
huge hug.
ALEX
I don't want you to watch. I don't
want to give them the pleasure.
The two friends exchange a long last look.
MERCER
Ok. C'mon now...
6.
As Alex exits past Mercer, Walsh sits down on the cot.
He's hard to read a second until he lashes out, flips...
THE CAKE against the wall where it hits, slides down, still
semi-intact as it hits the floor.
INT. GARRISON PRISON - DEATHROW
Dead Man Walking. A mini parade past the cells of the
condemned. One guard flanks Alex, another follows. The
Warden and Minister out in front.
HANDS extend from the other cells as Alex passes. Unable
to touch, but he reaches for them, a gesture of solidarity.
Mercer catches up with the group, flanking Alex cell-side.
Alex drops his hand, cut off even from that.
INT. GARRISON PRISON - DEATHROW #2 - NIGHT
The parade continues down another hallway.
INT. GARRISON PRISON - DEATH CHAMBER - NIGHT
The CHAIR, an atavism, sits alone a moment before the
entourage enters and begins a surprisingly well
choreographed last dance.
The Warden gestures, and Alex is escorted to his place in
the chair. The Guards move in, death attendants now.
MINISTER
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want...
THE MINISTER CONTINUES as...
CLOSE. Handstraps tightened. WHOP. WHOP. Alex squirms
despite his resolve. Through an act of will, calms himself.
Looks up at...
THE PHONE. On the wall. A last possibility of reprise.
CLOSE. Trouser legs slit. Footstraps tightened around bare
ankles. Electrodes checked.
CLOSE. Chest strap tightened. Yanked again for good measure.
ALEX gasps. It's hard to breathe now with the strap tight
across his chest.
CLOSE. Copper mesh. Pieces of sponge jerry-sewn onto it,
the irregular stitching giving it an unsettling natural
appearance.
ADJUST to REVEAL this is the electrode in the odd leather
HELMET tightened now on Alex's head.
THE EXECUTIONER. Pulls a hood over his own obscured face.
Moves behind a half curtain at the side of the room.
7.
MINISTER (CONT'D)
(concluding)
... and I will dwell in the house
of the Lord. Forever.
SLAP. The Minister shuts his bible. WIDER. Some weird sin.
Alex strapped into the chair, unable to move.
The guards exit, jobs done. The Warden nots and...
ALEX'S POV - THROUGH PLEXI - THE OBSERVATION ROOM REVEALED
as the CURTAINS OPEN.
Two dozen observers crammed into a space the width of a
singlewide trailer. Erin. Her father. The Cops. Tommy
Leonard. Gonzalez and other media types. Prison personnel.
Every seat occupied. Sweaty and surreal. All looking at
him. IN THE DEATH CHAMBER The Warden steps forward.
WARDEN
Alexander Frederick Corvis. Do you
have any last words?
A thick silence. Alex looks unprepared, uneasy as he scans
a sea of hostile faces, settling on Erin and her dad.
ALEX
I loved Lauren. I still do. I'm
innocent.
Erin shakes her head, disgusted. Looks away.
ALEX'S POV - THE LAST SECONDS OF HIS LIFE SLOWING in his
inner perception, movement ramping down as Alex scans the
disbelieving faces.
The Phone. Silent. No reprise. The Observation Room witness
door opens. A Guard in the back row deferentially offers
his seat to the NEW ARRIVAL, a man in dark clothes, his
face obscured by REFLECTIONS in the plexiglass. As he
UNBUTTONS his shirt cuff...
The warden steps to the side of the room, nods to the
executioner who lifts a COVER off a large switch.
The New Arrival pulls his shirtsleeve back over his forearm,
exposing a scar for Alex, THE SCAR, an odd zigzag pattern
of raised welts, a pattern deliberately formed of skin.
The Executioner throws the switch. ON ALEX SHAKING violently
as he fights to stay alive, time extremely subjective now
as he chokes out...
ALEX (CONT'D)
(indistinct, filtered)
Murderer!
The word bubbles up as if from underwater, audible only to
Alex. Alex wrenches his head, a superhuman act of will
trying to ID the Scar Man through the reflections.
8.
THE HELMET starts to smoke. Then a burst of FLAME at Alex's
head.
A BOTCHED EXECUTION made worse by Alex's struggle to see,
to stay alive.
IN THE OBSERVATION ROOM The observers panic, horrified.
Only the Scar Man calm as he covers his arm, rebuttons his
shirt. Face always obscured.
IN THE DEATH CHAMBER Alex in electro-spasm, smoke filling
the room, the warden in real time now as he runs to pull
the curtain closed.
It JAMS partway across. ALEX expires in the char,
grotesquely burned, EYES OPEN as the Warden finally yanks
the curtain closed.
IN THE OBSERVATION ROOM The Scar Man slips out, but the
rest remain, transfixed, horrified. Erin and others in
tears. HOLD a long beat, their GASPS faintly audible.
Then...
MERCER
Cruel, who's to say, but it sure
was unusual.
CUT TO:
INT. GARRISON PRISON - MORGUE HALLWAY - NIGHT
Two guards push a gurney down a reverberant hallway far
from the in-your-face security of deathrow.
GUARD ONE
Look at this. Goddamn helmet melted
down.
MERCER
That, my friend, is a deterrent.
They WIPE past, Alex's charred remains visible a moment,
parts of the helmet fused on his face and head, his body
convulsed in a pugilistic attitude.
INT. GARRISON PRISON - MORGUE - NIGHT
The guards swing the gurney to a stop by a steel locker,
one of several. Mercer opens the locker door. The
unceremoniously slide the body into the locker and...
BANG. The body hits the open door. Convulsed as it is, the
body won't really fit through the door.
MERCER
Whoops.
CRUNCH. The sound of something breaking as the SHOVE Alex
into the cubby hole.
9.
GUARD ONE
Why do they even autopsy these
guys? Cause of death is pretty
fucking obvious.
FROM INSIDE THE LOCKER. The door slams shut.
CUT TO:
INT. GARRISON PRISON - ALEX'S CELL - NIGHT
CLOSE on the PICTURE of Alex and Lauren.
ADJUST to include Walsh, looking at it. Pained. Still trying
to understand. He secures it to the lid of the case already
containing the neatly packed chess set. Closes it. Bows
his head.
CUT TO:
EXT. GARRISON PRISON - NIGHT
The protestors are gone, as is the Newsteam, but the four
Cops are still there, Larkin and Toomey synchro-smoking.
They look up as the Randalls emerge shaken from the Witness
entrance.
FAVORING NATHAN RANDALL He speaks softly to Erin, who's
leaning against him.
RANDALL
(to Erin)
I'll meet you atthe car, honey.
She continues on and Randall crosses to the cops, who wait
patiently to see what he'll say. Finally...
DUTTON
We all wish this had ended better.
Sir.
Randall nods. Like that's all anyone could say. As he walks
off the Cops fall into easy chatter. CUT TO:
INT. MYSTERY ROOM - DIMNESS
CLOSE. A face slides into frame in PROFILE, too tight to
be recognizable.
Just an eye, peering...
EYE'S POV - THROUGH A MAGNIFYING GLASS A coarse ZIGZAG
stitch shaped like the Scar runs the length of the Crow's
underbelly. The end stitch now tied with a tiny knot.
Tightened just so. THE MYSTERY MAN features obscured still,
grabs a bent surgical SCISSORS, snips the excess thread.
Smoothes black feathers into place, hiding the stitching
on...
10.
THE CROW Finished. The Man gets up, leaves.
CAMERA PUSHING on the Bird's head as we HEAR a door shut,
still PUSHING on the glass eye that BLINKS now.
CUT TO:
INT. GARRISON PRISON - MORGUE - NIGHT
INSIDE THE LOCKER. A human EYE BLINKS. Barely visible in
the darkness. Alex KICKS with a YELL and...
IN THE MORGUE. The locker door flies open and Alex spills
onto the floor. Gropes a few seconds on hands and knees
before a SHADOW passes over him evoking a primitive
response. He cowers, looks up at...
A LARGE CROW flutters through the bars of a high window,
lands near him on the floor. It looks at him, then flaps
its way up to the autopsy countertop, cocks its head. Follow
me.
ALEX strains to pull himself up on the gurney that brought
him here.
HIS POV as he slowly rises above the gurney--the Crow in
front of a mirror over the splash sink. It flies off,
revealing Alex's reflection. Charred. Hideous.
ALEX drops back to the floor with a SCREAM. Turns, sees
himself in a stainless door and SMASHES it with his fist...
THE BASHED STAINLESS DOOR the word "MORGUE," painted on
the wall behind Alex, brought into focus at the center of
the concavity. ALEX thrashes, trying to avoid his
reflection, but the dim mirrors have him surrounded.
THE CROW flaps down, crazed too, as if in empathy. CAWING
loudly, finally getting Alex's attention. ALEX settles,
hazards another look at his reflection in stainless steel.
His body looks less misshapen now. He looks at his arms,
hands, no longer burned. Pulls himself up on the gurney
again, cautiously.
OVER ALEX as he slowly rises above the gurney a second
time, looks in the mirror. His body miraculously HEALED,
covered by shredded clothing.
His face obscured by the meltdown helmet. He slowly
approaches the mirror on unsteady feet.
ALEX
(to his own
reflection)
What happened?
Alex starts to tear away the helmet and gets a first
frightening FLASH as his fingers touch it...
11.
ALEX'S INTERNAL POV - FLASHBACK A blitz return to his own
execution. The copper screen, the helmet lowered into place.
Electro-spasm. The faintest glimpse of a jagged scar seen
darkly.
RESUME -ALEX clutching the helmet on his head, ripping it
off in one painful OVERCRANKED movement and...
OVER ALEX, IN THE MIRROR It's Alex, and yet not. His face
marked with the Crow MASK, jagged WARPAINT where the melted
helmet ran down his face. An indelible reminder of the
botched execution. he stares at himself for a couple of
deep breaths. Then WHAM! Shatters the mirror with a martial
punch.
THE FRACTURED MIRROR Alex's mask reflected in shards as
his busy hands remove certain pieces of broken glass. His
purpose unclear.
CUT TO:
INT. GARRISON PRISON - MORGUE HALLWAY - NIGHT
The Crow hops out into the hallway, flies toward us, lands
with a CAW as Alex enters the hallway, framed against hight
walls. His tentative movements growing more assured.
ALEX
Follow the leader.
The Crow flies off and Alex follows, to... A DOOR marked
"No Unauthorized Entry." As they pass through...
INT. GARRISON PRISON - SECURITY BOOTH - NIGHT
CLOSE on a MONITOR, a SCHEMATIC MAP of the prison. A small
red light FLASHES. The GUARD keys a communications radio.
RADIO GUARD
We've got unauthorized movement in
"B five."
INT. GARRISON PRISON - MORGUE HALLWAY - NIGHT
WITH the LEGS of a Guard walking quickly. REVEAL Mercer.
His RADIO crackling.
MERCER
(into radio)
Mercer. I'm on it.
He passes through the "No Unauthorized Entry" door into...
INT. GARRISON PRISON - "B-5" HALLWAY - NIGHT
Empty. Bars at the far end spell seriously secure territory.
Mercer moves cautiously up the empty hallway, stops as...
The Crow hops out from a side hallway. Drawing him on.
12.
MERCER
(into radio)
Found our intruder. It's got a
beak and a death wish.
Mercer pulls out his NIGHTSTICK, loses the bird as it hops
back THROUGH BARS into...
INT. GARRISON PRISON - ALEX'S CELL - NIGHT
Alex looks around his now empty cell. On the wall is a
rectangle, clearer than the wall around it, where the
photograph of Alex and Lauren had been before Walsh removed
it. Alex goes up to thewall and touches the spot.
FLASH! ALEX'S INTERNAL POV FLASH of LAUREN, laughing as
she beckons to someone, Alex, who joins her in frame as we
hear the whir of the camera auto-timer. A click, as the
picture is taken. Alex and Lauren are frozen in the pose
of Alex's photograph.
RESUME The picture is gone. Alex, perplexed, stands looking
at the blank spot on the wall for a moment. He turns and
exits the cell...
INT. GARRISON PRISON - DEATHROW - NIGHT
Mercer is peering through the double-barred gate at the
end of the row as Alex emerges from his former cell.
MERCER
(still into radio)
Get me some backup. We got one
loose on the row.
(through the bars
to Alex)
Now who the fuck are you?
Alex looks up, sees Mercer and FLASH...
ALEX'S INTERNAL POV A pop of Mercer bringing the birthday
cake. A wash of flame, twenty one candles. A blip of Walsh.
Of a White King.
RESUME Alex perplexed, looking at the cake still littering
the floor of his ex-cell, candles melted down. Mercer works
his way through the double-barred doors onto the row.
MERCER (CONT'D)
And what have you done to your
face there beauty queen?
The INMATE occupying the cell next to Alex's peers out
through the bars, vanishes again as Mercer WHOPS the bars
once with his nightstick.
ALEX
It's my birthday.
13.
MERCER
Yeah, well... here's a present for
you.
WHOOSH. Mercer swings his NIGHTSTICK at Alex's head. Alex
catches it, instinctively in one hand. Mercer reaches for...
A RED PANIC BUTTON hanging off his guard belt. Mercer slams
it. FAVORING ALEX lets go of the stick, looks at his own
hand, surprised.
WHAM! Mercer broadsides Alex's head with the stick. Alex
goes down shocked, not from pain, from the fact that someone
would attack him.
WHAM WHAM WHAM. Mercer brutalizes Alex, collapsed at his
feet as... TWO GUARDS enter the far end of the Row, race
toward Alex's cell, one holding a TASER. Its LASER SIGHT
finds Alex, crumpled in front of Mercer.
MERCER (CONT'D)
It's ok. Man. Had me going there.
Looks like it's over. The guards relax. ALEX suddenly looks
up at Mercer. Zero damage from the blows.
ALEX
Go ahead. Make a wish.
MERCER
Taser!
Alex wheels around as Guard One squeezes the trigger.
CROWVISION The Taser Darts speed toward Camera.
RESUME Alex shunts himself to the side and the TASER DARTS
impale themselves in Mercer's thighs. He drops fibrillating.
A CHEER goes up from the men in their cells, who become
progressively rowdier as the guards BOLT and Alex follows,
strength in his stride, nightstick in hand.
Pieces of FLAMING TOILETPAPER flung now from the cells of
Deathrow.
AT THE FAR ENTRANCE the two Guards scramble to get the
door closed behind them before Alex catches up. They'd
make it except Alex hurls...
THE NIGHTSTICK flying end over end like a throwing knife,
catching the trailing guard in the back of the head,
dropping him in the door, propping it open.
ALEX enters the cage entrance to Deathrow, sharing the
space with the Guard still standing.
ALEX
(pats pockets, then)
Keys?
14.
The frightened Guard opens the door into the next hallway
and bolts. Leaving the keys. The Crow hopping, screaming...
INT. GARRISON PRISON - SECURITY BOOTH - NIGHT
CLOSE on a SCHEMATIC MAP of the prison. Lit up like a
Christmas tree now with flashing red lights. The Guard
keys a communications radio.
RADIO GUARD
Unauthorized movement in B five, B
six, C three, four, five...
Another LIGHT goes on. They're starting to make a line.
Buzzers going off now. A general ALARM sounded.
RADIO GUARD (CONT'D)
Escape in progress. Heading for
the roof.
INT. GARRISON PRISON - STAIRWELL - NIGHT
The Crow flaps up the stairwell. Alex on its heels, taking
steps three at a time.
AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRWELL The Crow waits on a LANDING
with a door marked "Emergency Use Only." Plus a dozen lines
of assorted instructions. Guards' feet THUNDER below,
approaching.
ALEX
I hear the pitter patter of little
feet.
He opens the door. The ALARM is LOUD.
EXT. GARRISON PRISON - ROOFTOP - NIGHT
Dark a moment. Then a HUGE SPOTLIGHT hits Alex, casting
long shadows. He looks up at a GUARD TOWER, the source of
the light. And of a BULLHORN VOICE.
BULLHORN VOICE
Do not proceed. Back slowly away
from the fence.
As if in defiance, the Crow hops toward the fence, old
chain link topped with razorwire along the perimeter of
the roof.
BULLHORN VOICE CONTINUES as Alex follows... ALEX'S POV
through the fence, down fifty feet to the pavement.
ALEX
Damn.
Alex turns, sees... A HALF DOZEN GUARDS emerge from the
stairwell to the top of the roof, level weapons at Alex.
15.
ON THE FENCE - ALEX climbs quickly to the top, where he
grabs two painful handfuls of razorwire that cut deeply
into this hand. He extricates himself, balancing atop the
fence. And looks...
ALEX'S HANDS The jagged bloodlines disappear, miraculously
heal.
FAVORING ALEX as he holds up his hands to show the guards,
a kid-like smile on his face.
They respond by raising their weapons and BAM BAM BAM.
Alex hurls himself off the edge in a hail of Gunfire that
Dopplers down to silence as he falls, falls...
EXT. GARRISON PRISON - BASE OF THE WALLS - NIGHT
AT THE BASE OF "THE WALLS" Alex hits, flushing PIGEONS,
that fill frame with manic wings.
As the SPOTLIGHT sweeps toward Alex he rolls off, over the
sidewalk, between two parked cars.
EXT. GARRISON PRISON - ROOFTOP - NIGHT
ON THE ROOFTOP Mercer and the others stand there dumbstruck,
looking down as the SPOTLIGHT finds nothing.
A RADIO CRACKLES. Mercer keys it a beat later.
RADIO GUARD VOICE
Physical head count shows all
inmates present.
Mercer moves the radio away from his head.
MERCER
Then who was the fucking Houdini?
EXT. GARRISON PRISON - BASE OF THE WALLS - NIGHT
AT THE BASE OF "THE WALLS" Illuminated by spill from the
Spotlight, Alex crouches between two cars. He leans forward,
checking his reflection in a CHROME HUBCAP. A huge smile
spreads over his face.
ALEX
Happy birthday.
He laughs. Life--or whatever this is--is good. So far.
CUT TO:
EXT. CITY - AIRBORNE - NIGHT
The CROW flies past tall buildings downtown.
16.
EXT. POLICE STATION - NIGHT
The crow flies past letters P-O-L-I-C-E on the side of an
older building taking us to...
INT. POLICE STATION - EVIDENCE ROOM - NIGHT
SMASH. A hand punches through a sash window, right through
the imbedded security wires, roughly rips off the latch
inside. Retracts, bleeding. The window opens.
It's Alex, on the fire escape, checking out his arm as the
BLEEDING STOPS.
Alex follows the Crow into the dark room packed with file
cabinets and evidence bins, wire lockers. And a desk, strewn
with POLICE FORMS. Plus a vertical SPIKE with processed
evidence request FORMS impaled on it.
ALEX
(checking out desk)
Police? Evidence?
(then, to Crow)
Look. I like what we've got going
here. But I can think of lots better
to do with it than fighting crime.
Know what I mean?
The Crow makes its way to a file cabinet, the top drawer
marked "Cl-Cr." Alex lingers a moment at the desk, eye on
the spike.
WHOP. Alex drives his hand onto the SPIKE. Looks up,
delighted. CAW.
The Crow gives Alex an admonishing look. Alex pulls the
spike from his hand. Instant healing.
ALEX (CONT'D)
Ok, ok... what?
Alex opens the top drawer. Looking for... he's not sure
what. Glibly goes through folders.
ALEX (CONT'D)
Nothing under "Crow."
He stops. Pulls out the first FILE out in a thick section
marked "CORVIS, ALEXANDER F." Having caught a glimpse of...
IN THE FILE - ALEX'S MUG SHOT And rap sheet. X-CLOSE. We
see "Murder 1st degree," "Penalty Phase: Find for
Execution."
ALEX (CONT'D)
Execution?
But even this has little interest for him as the finds the
words "Lauren Randall" on the page.
17.
ALEX (CONT'D)
(remembering)
Lauren...
ALEX rips the drawer out of the file cabinet, dumps it
CRASHING on the ground. He drops to the floor with a growing
sense of dread, feeling with both hands, finding...
A SPLAY OF PHTOGRAPHS encased in plastic -- the
prosecutions' background presentation on Alex and Lauren.
The first photo shows LAUREN Posing jauntily, her arm around
a Snowman. She and the Snowman wear matching Boston Red
Sox caps.
ALEX'S INTERNAL POV On Alex, anticipating...WHAP! A
snowball nails him square in the face.
WIDE to reveal LAUREN running for cover as Young Alex scoops
up snow for ammo. He lobs a snowball at Lauren, just as
she slips to the ground. she doesn't get up right away.
Alex is just a shade concernec as he runs over to her. He
reaches the spot to find LAUREN in the snow, waving her
arms and legs to make a snow angel. She looks up at him
and beckons him to lie on top of her.
ALEX (CONT'D)
What are you, an Angel?
LAUREN
I'm your Angel. Come here.
RESUME Alex's pained smile at the memory, until he finds:
THE MURDER WEAPON A rough looking hunting knife bagged and
tagged as "AC-005: Murder Weapon."
ALEX frantic now, spreading out the file contents,
finding...
CRIME SCENE PHOTOS In a Grove of tall trees, Lauren
Randall's stabbed and mutilated body, her neck slashed,
head lolling sideways, melds with...
EXT. THE OLD GROWTH GROVE
ALEX'S INTERNAL POV Brief glimpses of Lauren with Alex in
the Grove, happy, like the still photo Alex kept in his
cell.
INT. POLICE STATION - EVIDENCE ROOM - NIGHT
RESUME Alex full-blown tortured now, throwing things.
ALEX
No! I didn't...!
Alex SMASHES his own head against the metal file cabinets,
wounding himself on the handles, droplets of blood flying
now, spattering the evidence on the floor.
18.
He reaches for the KNIFE, the murder weapon, to end the
pain and FLASH...
INT. COURTROOM - DAY
ALEX'S INTERNAL POV A tunnelvision pop of Tommy Leonard on
the witness stand. The knife held up for him by an unseen
lawyer.
TOMMY
His knife. Corvis.
ALEX'S VOICE
You lie!
INT. POLICE STATION - EVIDENCE ROOM - NIGHT
RESUME Alex shakes his head "no." Incredulous, horrified.
The fury abating with a growing sense of mission.
ALEX
You lie, you lie, you lie...
Alex fishing through the detritus around him, finding...
"THE LIST" A list of witnesses by category with contact
numbers, addresses. Alex's finger finds Eyewitness Thomas
Leonard.
ALEX (CONT'D)
Thomas Leonard.
THE DOOR TO THE EVIDENCE ROOM opens.
A YOUNG COP enters, walks slowly past rows of file cabinets,
looking down empty aisles until finding the file drawerful
Alex dumped. But Alex is gone.
The Young Cop looks up as the Crow departs through the
window and two other cops arrive. One of them Dutton.
DUTTON
What the hell was that?
(then seeing mess)
Shit.
Dutton walks to the mess on the floor, curious. He squats.
Picks up a tag marked "Murder Weapon AC-005" staples ripped
out, nothing attached to it. Takes in the crime scene photos
of Lauren. Off the PIX...
EXT. CEMETERY - NIGHT
CAMERA DRIFTS down through dark trees FINDING Alex at a
grave beneath a sheltering tree.
ALEX
I thought I'd be with you now.
He's kneeling in front of a HEADSTONE. "Lauren Randall
1982-2000. Always With Us."
19.
The Crow perched nearby. Camera circles Alex who looks up
as the headstone WIPES through frame and...
ALEX'S INTERNAL POV LAUREN NATHAN, a compelling sixteen
year old, circles making an oddly sexy version of the "Oooo"
Bruce Lee sound. A goof, a game she's playing with Alex,
who circles opposite.
LAUREN
("Chinese" pseudo
dub)
Your Shaolin style is no match for
my kung fu.
As Alex wipes by...
RESUME Camera continues to circle Alex at the grave.
ALEX
I'm not dead. And I'm not alive.
And I'm remembering. And it hurts.
ALEX'S INTERNAL POV More goof kung fu, the circle closing.
Lauren laughing more, searching for words.
LAUREN
Your... flying crane style is no
match for my... drunken tiger kick.
RESUME Resolve strengthening.
ALEX
I can't be alive. Not without you.
ALEX'S INTERNAL POV Lauren's starting to crack up, trying
to think of what comes next.
LAUREN
Your... mad monkey... love ... is
no match for...
They look at each other a long moment. As they kiss...
RESUME
ALEX
I want to be with you forever.
ALEX'S INTERNAL POV Lauren in his arms as the kiss ends,
and she answers a question we never heard.
LAUREN
Only forever?
RESUME OVER THE CROW. Camera stops circling. Alex looks up
at the headstone, silent tears in his eyes as...
ALEX
What happened to us?
20.
A SINGLE BLOOD RED TEAR rolls down the cheek of the angel
atop the headstone. Alex stops it with his finter.
WIDER, the supplicant at the grave. And the Crow nearby.
CUT TO:
INT. MERCEDES - TRAVELLING - NIGHT - RAIN
A GIRL'S HAND clutches a HEART SHAPED LOCKET.
TILT UP, it's Erin, wearing an identical LOCKET around her
neck. School uniform, pleated skirt and school books. The
splish splash of the wipers the only sound until...
ERIN
Dad...
Nathan looks over. Sees she's holding the Locket.
ERIN (CONT'D)
I want to take this to Lauren.
She'd want it.
RANDALL
Honey. I just can't.
ERIN
Stay in the car. I'll only take a
second.
RANDALL
Erin. I know you think she's been
talking to you.
ERIN
It's not that. Really. It's just...
now that he's gone, I think it's
time.
Off her dad...
CUT TO:
EXT. CEMETERY - NIGHT - RAIN
The Benz stops on the roadway beneath Lauren's grave. The
door opens...
ERIN gets out in the pouring rain pulling her jacket HOOD
up over her head. Locket in hand she runs to...
LAUREN'S GRAVE The tree a shelter from the downpour. Erin's
approaching the headstone when Alex emerges from behind
the trunk. Drenched. She YELPS.
ALEX
It's ok. I'm not going to hurt
you.
21.
ERIN
Don't come near me!
He holds his hands up, compliant. She doesn't bolt. But
she's ultra-cautious. Like with a snarling dog.
ALEX
I was a friend of your sister's.
ERIN
I know her friends.
ALEX
That locket you're holding. You
have one just like it.
She lifts the Locket around her neck. Visible to anyone.
ERIN
Yeah, no kidding.
ALEX
Your father gave them to both of
you.
ERIN
And he's right over there by the
way.
(then)
What did you do to your face?
ALEX
Someone else did it.
ERIN
You're a friend of the guy who
killed her, aren't you? You almost
sound like him.
ALEX
He didn't kill her.
ERIN
How do you know?
ALEX
I know everything about your sister.
I'll prove it to you.
ERIN
(loud now)
Stay away from me! Dad! Dad!
OS, the car door opens. Then SLAMS shut. Nathan approaches.
RANDALL
Erin!
ERIN
Watch out!
22.
She whips around, points at... Alex is gone.
RANDALL
What were you yelling about?
ERIN
This guy said he was a friend of
Lauren's. He had like paint all
over his face.
RANDALL
Are you ok?
ERIN
What's that supposed to mean? He
was right here. He was!
She shakes her head, confused, then, looking around spots...
THE HEADSTONE. The track from the RED TEAR indelible even
in the downpour.
Off Erin, as she touches the angel's stained cheek. And
her dad, soggy in the rain...
CUT TO:
EXT. TENEMENT BUILDING - RAIN - NIGHT
A street LIGHT flickers on. Maybe because night has fallen
or maybe its just a rainy day.
Thomas Leonard hikes up his collar, trying to stay dry, as
he pauses a clutch of hookers huddled in a doorway...
HOOKER
Yo, Tommy. Red light special.
(hikes her skirt)
Even you can afford it.
He shakes his head--don't need that grief--continues on to
the next building and CAMERA FINDS...
ALEX watching, holding "The List." He crosses off the name
for Eyewitness "Thomas Leonard."
INT. TENEMENT HALLWAY - NIGHT
Tommy clears the stairs, heads for his door. Unlocking the
second lock, he looks around, alert, like he heard
something. Then opens the door.
INT. TENEMENT - TOMMY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
Alex waits for Tommy, crouched by an OPEN WINDOW that looks
out onto an alley, a four story drop.
TOMMY
(sees Alex, then)
March?!
23.
ALEX
Sssshhh. She's resting.
TOMMY
Where the fuck did you come from?
ALEX
Big bang, primordial ooze, divine
hand of a benevolent creator? All
possibilities. Although recent
events have given me doubts about
the benevolent creator.
Tommy starts toward Alex, who pulls the KNIFE from the
Evidence Room.
ALEX (CONT'D)
You lied at my trial.
TOMMY
I don't know you, man.
ALEX
Capital case nine nine dash C one
one five. Alex Corvis.
(flashes knife)
Exhibit A.
WHAM. Alex pins what looks like Tommy's arm. It's just his
jacket, but it immobilizes Tommy.
TOMMY
Hey. I said what I saw. Two kids
arguing. A guy and a girl.
ALEX
You said you saw me with this. I
never held it until today.
TOMMY
What's your damage, man? Corvis
hacked up that girl like a
motherfucker.
Alex HEAVES Tommy crashing into the window, smashing the
glass and cheap aluminum frame.
Tommy hanging halfway in, halfway out. Four floors above
the alley. Alex rips Tommy's shirt where the knife already
cut it. JACKS the sleeve down. No scar there.
ALEX
One chance to tell the truth, Tommy.
Who is the man with the scar? He
planted this in my car.
TOMMY
There's no scar. Corvis made it
up.
24.
ALEX
Wrong. Answer.
TOMMY
Who are you?
TOMMY'S WIFE
Tommy!
TOMMY'S WIFE enters from the bedroom, SCREAMING.
Heavy eye makeup, looking like she just woke up. OS, a
TODDLER CRIES as she throws herself on Alex and they spill
back inside.
TOMMY'S WIFE (CONT'D)
Let him go! Let him go!
TOMMY
Honey. Take the baby. Get out of
here now!
But she doesn't leave. She pleads in wrenching SOBS that
seem to affect Alex. The Crow lands in the window.
TOMMY'S WIFE
He's all I got. Tommy and the baby.
Don't take him. The baby needs a
father.
Her MASCARA runs down her cheeks, a facsimile of Alex's
mask. They share a long look, connected by pain.
The Crow cawing a warning, hopping in the window as...
ALEX
Your baby is crying. Go.
Tommy nods at his wife, who heads off to the bedroom. The
Crow gives Alex an admonishing CAW, then takes flight.
ALEX (CONT'D)
What did they give you?
TOMMY
They showed me pictures, what he
did to her. Evidence. Said all I
had to do was stand up there and
not my head "yes."
ALEX
(repeats, insistent)
What did they give you?
TOMMY
A job. Construction. Twelve an
hour.
25.
Tommy's wife returns, holding a fifteen month old BOY.
Alex unfolds "The List," passes it to Tommy, blank side
up.
ALEX
Write down their names. All of
them.
But Tommy takes a look at "The List" and flips it over...
"THE LIST" Tommy points to the Police Witness list. Dutton,
Erlich, Larkin, Toomey.
TOMMY
You already got 'em. Right here.
These cops said the needed an
eyewitness, or Corvis would walk.
ALEX drops his head. All clear now. He laughes gently at
the sound of SIRENS approaching, still blocks away.
CUT TO:
INT. MYSTERY ROOM - DIMNESS
CAMERA CREEPS toward the by now familiar Mystery Man, bent
over his work at the table across the room.
CLOSE. A lineup of short (2") rods. One selected with a
pair of surgical forceps,
INSERTED through a hole in human flesh, raising a
considerable welt. Some bleeding.
As the man reaches for a cotton ball, he notices an empty
STAND among the taxidermy specimens. Marked "Corvus
brachyrhynchos."
He scans the table, searching, then throws up his hands,
shielding his face as a Crow flies out of the darkness,
right at him.
The man turns toward Camera but we never see his face as
the Crow wheels mid-air, flying past him a second time. As
the Crow flies up and out a SMALL WINDOW, the man stands,
hands on the desk. SLOW PUSH on the man, on...
A ZIGZAG PATTERN of raised welts on the underside of his
forearm, in high relief under the Draftsman's lamp.
The "Scar." A drop of blood zigzags, running downward.
SLOW FADE OUT. OVER BLACK, the CRACKLE of a Police Radio.
We're...
EXT. CITY STREET #1 - NIGHT
HIGH ANGLE. A police CRUISER has stopped a late model
CADILLAC SEVILLE on a deserted street.
26.
IN THE POLICE CAR CLOSE. COP I.D. "Dutton, Philip" with a
picture of the same face CAMERA FINDS working a bad comb-
over in the rearview mirror.
IN THE SEVILLE TRACY, almost sixteen, dressed for nightlife,
sees Dutton primping in her rearview mirror. He's getting
out now.
TRACY
Oh no...
She jostles her friend JANNIE, passed out in the front
passenger seat, trying to rouse her. No luck. DUTTON motions
and Tracy buzzes down the window.
TRACY (CONT'D)
Anything wrong?
DUTTON
Let's hope not. License and
registration please.
Tracy tries hard to keep her smile going as she looks
through her purse. Not finding anything.
DUTTON (CONT'D)
What's with your friend there?
TRACY
She's... sick.
(off Dutton)
Actually she never had Mai Tais
before.
DUTTON
But you, you've had them.
TRACY
Not tonight. Honest.
Tracy paws through her purse some more. Vamping.
DUTTON
If you had a license, I bet I'd
have seen it by now. How old are
you? Fifteen?
TRACY
Look, I'll tell you the truth.
Jannie drove us and was supposed
to drive us back, she has a license,
but I mean... look at her.
Dutton leaves that dangling. Circles around to the passenger
side...
TRACY (CONT'D)
(whisper to Jannie)
Get up, get up...!
27.
Dutton opens Jannie's door, leans in, slides a hand between
her slightly parted legs. Dutton smiles at Tracy.
DUTTON
Why don't you get out.
CROWVISION High overhead. Tracy steps out of the car. Dutton
shuts the passenger door, points. Tracy moves behind the
Seville.
RESUME Dutton closes in. She's getting very nervous.
TRACY
You want me to walk a straight
line?
DUTTON
I want you... to bend over.
TRACY
Look, can I just call a cab?
DUTTON
What did I say?
Tracy bends over the car trunk. Dutton eases her feet apart
with the tip of his boot then pulls out his NIGHTSTICK,
uses it to lift her tiny skirt slowly up over her butt. As
he does, she stands back up, shakes her head "no."
DUTTON (CONT'D)
Maybe I'll ask your friend.
Tracy's frantic, about to call out as Dutton moves to the
passenger door, opens it and...
OVER DUTTON - ALEX sits in the passenger seat now. Jannie
shunted inward.
ALEX
(mimicking Dutton)
I want you... to bend over. Officer
Dutton.
Dutton pulls his 9MM BARETTA on Alex.
DUTTON
Where'd you come from? Out of the
car. Now!
With insolent slowness, Alex finishes writing...
"THE LIST" a red line drawn through Dutton's name.
ALEX gets out of the car. Dutton SLAMS the door and Janie
stirs, coming to. At least a bit.
DUTTON (CONT'D)
Hands on the car.
28.
ALEX
Question. These hands?
Alex advances on Dutton.
DUTTON
You're dead, ditch weed.
CLOSE. Dutton's finger squeezes the trigger.
BAM! The shot blows Alex back at the Seville passenger
window. Slumped face against the car.
TRACY
Omigod, omigod...
Jannie's head pops up inside the car. She SCREAMS at...
JANNIE'S POV Alex right in her face, nice and dead. Dutton
lowers his gun BG. Tracy in a panic. Suddenly, Alex opens
his eyes, smiles.
Face distorted against the glass. She screams again.
ALEX
You're up.
ALEX wheels around, wrenches Dutton's wrist, vise gripped.
Dutton's gun falls to the ground.
ALEX (CONT'D)
Ladies. Drive carefully.
Tracy rushes to the driver side.
ALEX (CONT'D)
You might want to call 911. Report
an officer down.
Tracy SCREECHES off leaving Dutton in shock.
DUTTON
That was a fucking hollow point!
ALEX
I guess it's true. Guns don't kill
people...
Alex draws the KNIFE--the murder weapon--from his costume.
ALEX (CONT'D)
Think maybe knives do?
DUTTON
Keep that thing away from me.
ALEX
This is not just some "thing."
It's A C zero zero five.
29.
DUTTON
You're the skel broke into the
evidence room.
FLASH. The knife moves and RIP! Alex yanks the sleeve off
Dutton's uniform, revealing a SCARLESS FOREARM.
DUTTON (CONT'D)
Fuck! What do you want?
ALEX
A scar. On the arm. Of the man who
planted this in Alex Corvis's car.
DUTTON
There's no scar, you freak. The
Corvis kid made it up.
Alex glitches, hearing this a second time, then RAMS Dutton
into a wall with a great CLATTER of trash cans.
Alex all over him, holding Dutton's head firmly in his two
hands, like he could crush it in an instant.
ALEX
He was innocent. You framed him.
You. And Erlich. And Larkin. And
Toomey. What do you think, Officer
Dutton? An eye for an eye?
Alex's thumbs inch toward Dutton's eyes, grazing Dutton's
eyelids now and a wild thing happens.
FLASH! ALEX'S INTERNAL POV Dutton's Nightstick lifts
Lauren's skirt.
Then flashs of a bloodsoaked struggle, Lauren's death. And
the surprise BAM! of a shot fired.
RESUME Alex thrown by this. Relaxes his grip on Dutton.
ALEX (CONT'D)
You were there. All four of you.
Dutton kicks him off, smashes a garbage can over Alex's
back then pulls a SMALL SEMI-AUTO from an ankle holster.
ALEX (CONT'D)
You killed her. I saw it.
DUTTON
Bitch killed herself when she shot
a cop in the leg. If she' just
acted like a girl nothing would
have happened.
(then)
So you're right, spooky. Happy?
BAM! Alex barely slowed by the shot, advancing, Dutton
starting to panic. BAM!
30.
Alex keeps coming, right up to the gun. Pointed right at
his face, then...
WHOOSH. Alex flips it around, RAMS the gun in Dutton's
mouth. He couldn't talk if he wanted to.
ALEX
I'm working on it.
BAM! We HEAR the blast as we... CUT TO:
INT. "THE HOLE" - NIGHT
BAM BAM continues, but these are TOY GUNS, fired in synch
with POUNDING MUSIC.
In the hands of TWO STRIPPERS. Topless, leather G's and
chokers, black stockings, POLICE HATS on their heads, law
enforcement stars for earrings.
The CAPACITY CROWD responds as they pout, wield their
weapons.
AT THE ENTRANCE - MADDEN a straightfaced plainclothes
detective, more upscale than the clientele, flashes a BADGE
at a BOUNCER who scowls, lets him pass.
WITH MADDEN circumnavigating the mainstage, where the cop-
strippers are waving handcuffs now. At the edge of the
room, LAP-DANCERS pull one-on-one's for twenties. Madden
exits...
INT. "THE HOLE" - BACKSTAGE - NIGHT
BACKSTAGE Madden moves past girls in various stages of
undress. Smoking, yapping, waiting to go onstage. One looks
up, interested, but he doesn't look back, exits into...
INT. "THE HOLE" - INTERNET PORN FACILITY
AN INTERNET PORN FACILITY Where "live" sex workers man
tiny fantasy sets--a Dungeon, a Shower, a desk and
blackboard meant to suggest a Schoolroom. Crudely built,
but good enough for 500x800 pixel resolution. Madden stops
a second, looking...
OVER A MONITOR - THE DUNGEON SET UPDATES every six seconds,
the slowly changing low-rez version of the action on the
set--a woman tied to a chair with bright surgical tubing.
The picture refreshes and BG, the woman sneaks an expertly
timed sip of Diet Coke, puts the can away before the picture
updates again.
A COUNTER shows 132,768 hits and climbing. Madden gives a
look, like people are really fucked up, continues past a
curtain with a "No Admittance" sign into...
31.
INT. "THE HOLE" - BACK HALL - NIGHT
A BACK HALL dark, the furthest recesses of the building.
Madden continues cautiously toward... A DOOR
INT. THE HOLE - BACK ROOM - NIGHT
The door is cracked open. Madden moving very quietly now,
scowling as he peers through the slight opening.
Three guys and whirring machines counting stacks of money.
Guns on the tabletops, in holsters, out of reach.
The door flies open.
MADDEN
Police!
A moment of panic as the guys bent over the machines freeze.
Raise their hands, slowly turn. Then lower their hands.
ERLICH
You fuck. Don't do that.
It's Erlich, Larkin and Toomey. Three cops we met at the
execution. Erlich's cane nearby.
MADDEN
How's the month end?
ERLICH
Oh yes. Never been better.
MADDEN
Where's Dutton?
ERLICH
Probably parked near some high
school with a hardon. Fuck never
showed.
MADDEN
Anyone at all curious why?
Erlich, Larkin and Toomey exchange a look. Madden goes to
one of the money counters and grabs...
A STACK OF TWENTIES tossed violently at the ceiling.
Larkin and Toomey scramble as the bills flutter down like
leaves, picking them up.
MADDEN (CONT'D)
You leave the door open with two
hundred strangers out there! What's
it take for you guys to learn a
goddamn lesson?
TOOMEY
No one saw anything, Mad.
32.
MADDEN
You know why Dutton's not here?
Rigor mortis! He's dead.
The Three exchange looks.
MADDEN (CONT'D)
One shot to the head, then fifty
three stab wounds with a six inch
blade. Any deja vu here? Think
Corvus knife, missing from the
evidence room.
TOOMEY
Since when?
MADDEN
Since last night. As usual, you're
right on top of things.
LARKIN
It was supposed to end when Corvis
died. Remember? The kid no one
would miss?
ERLICH
Don't look at me, asshole.
LARKIN
Hey, I didn't kill anybody.
ERLICH
Back off. I mean it.
MADDEN
Shut up! Erlich and Larkin settle
down.
MADDEN (CONT'D)
Crime scene's a goddamn clusterfuck.
Every reporter in town's trying to
get a look at Dutton's body. I
suggest we get a line on this before
someone else does.
LARKIN
Who'd give a shit about Corvis at
this point? Kid didn't have a friend
in the world even when he was alive.
ERLICH
I can think of one.
Erlich and Madden share a look. On the same wavelength.
Erlich picks up his weapon off the table.
33.
EXT. CITY STREET #1 - NIGHT
A large CRIME SCENE marked off by tape, Dutton's cruiser
where he left it. Several other cruisers nearby, lights
flashing. An ambulance, stretcher being unloaded now.
AN ACTION NEWSTEAM the one we've seen before, Barbara
Gonzalez frontman, speaking into a mic, too far away for
us to hear.
INT. RANDALL HOUSE - ERIN'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
CLOSE on a TV. Gonzalez audible now.
GONZALEZ
... rumors multiply as officials
refuse to confirm or deny reports
of multiple, multiple stab wounds...
Gonzalez CONTINUES UNDER as...
ERIN
Dad! Come in here!
The SOUND of footsteps racing down the hall.
RANDALL
What is it?
ERIN
The cop who found the knife in
Corvis's car.
Randall riveted by the TV now.
GONZALEZ
They're moving him now, body
covered. It would appear that thirty
seven year old Phillip Dutton is
dead in the line of duty...
ON THE TV the Newsteam and Gonzalez SHOVED back by COPS
running defense for the stretcher. Gonzalez grabs for the
sheet covering the body and...
NEWSCAM TIGHT on Dutton, as the sheet pulls down, partially
uncovering...
DUTTON'S HEAD: Comb-over hanging to the side. Blood dripping
from crude letters carved in his bald pate--the word
"DAISY." Quickly covered by a COP who yells at Gonzalez...
COP
Out of here! Now!
... but through a digital miracle the "Daisy" frame has
been grabbed, and appears as a still now behind Gonzalez.
RESUME - FAVORING ERIN struck dumb by this.
34.
GONZALEZ
Shocking even for these mean
streets, the word "Daisy" apparently
cut into his head by the
perpetrator, still at large. A
name. Perhaps a message...
Gonzalez FADES UNDER as Erin backs away from the TV.
RANDALL
What? What is it?
ERIN
Lauren called me that when we were
little. Daisy. No one knew but us.
RANDALL
Honey. It's doesn't mean anything.
It's not a message.
ERIN
That guy in the cemetery today
said he knew everything about
Lauren.
RANDALL
It still doesn't mean...
ERIN
He said he'd prove it.
Off Randall, as he sits on the bed, thoughtful...
EXT. CITY STREET #1 - NIGHT
WIDE. The ambulance drives off, lights flashing, and we
BOOM UP over the crime scene, over the Newsteam, revealing
the top of Dutton's cruiser, marked with a BLOODRED CROW.
Continuing upward, FINDING... The Crow, perched high on a
building. It takes flight.
EXT. CITY - AIRBORNE - NIGHT
The Crow soaring through this lousy part of town.
EXT. LOW-RENT OFFICE BUILDING - NIGHT
The Crow swoops in, lands on the roof of a low end brick
building, peers down over the edge.
Camera DRIFTS DOWN the side of he building finding a light,
someone burning the midnight oil.
FINDING a CHESS SET mid-game near the open window as...
INT. WALSH'S OFFICE - NIGHT
WAM! Erlich's CANE knocks a pile of papers to the floor
off a desk piled high with briefs.
35.
WALSH
I don't know about any knife. I'm
trying to forget that case.
ERLICH
Well someone isn't. They killed
Dutton.
WALSH
It wasn't me.
ERLICH
No shit. You couldn't get close to
him. But I'm betting you know who
did. Who's into Corvis? Huh?
Erlich flips through a Rolodex, knocks it to the floor,
then picks up a PHONE LOG off the desk.
ERLICH (CONT'D)
Not a lot of calls. Business slow?
He tosses the phone log out the window.
EXT. LOW-RENT OFFICE BUILDING - NIGHT
HIGH ANGLE. Watching the phone log fluttering down.
INCLUDE ALEX, sitting where the Crow was perched, wearing
Dutton's badge on his evolving costume.
Alex winces at the voices faint but audible from below.
ERLICH'S VOICE
You're the only one gave a flying
fuck about him when he was alive.
WALSH'S VOICE
Lauren Randall did.
ERLICH'S VOICE
Hey. Bitches are crazy. Richer
they are, crazier they get.
"THE LIST" The name "Erlich, Vincent" crossed off now by
Alex.
INT. WALSH'S OFFICE - NIGHT
Erlich limps through frame toward Walsh, grabs him roughly
by the collar.
WALSH
Maybe if you hadn't fried an
innocent kid...
ERLICH
Who is it?
36.
WALSH
How about the real killer. You
think of that?
Erlich violently tosses Walsh crashing back toward the
window, falling by the chess board.
ERLICH
If you're covering for someone,
that's jail time. I got my eye on
you.
Erlich exits, slamming the door behind him. Walsh starts
to get up, stops. Looking at his own eye level...
ALEX'S CHESS BOARD set up identically to the game in Alex's
cell, a piece of FOLDED PAPER protruding from under the
board. Walsh pulls it out.
It says "Q-->B5" WALSH makes the move, Queen to Bishop
Five. Smiles. Looks at...
THE PAPER UNFOLDED says "Check." Walsh sets it down in the
Chess Box next to...
THE PICTURE OF ALEX AND LAUREN arms around each other in
the woods, smiling.
WALSH sensing something, a presence.
WALSH
Alex?
Walsh moves cautiously to the curtains, draws them back.
Nothing. He leans out the window.
EXT. LOW-RENT OFFICE BUILDING - NIGHT
CROWVISION: Starting on Walsh, popping his head out the
window two stories down, INCLUDING Erlich as he exits the
building, gets in a SILVER PORSCHE.
Picture bending wildly as the Porsche takes off and the
Crow takes flight.
CUT TO:
EXT. CITY STREET #2 - INTERSECTION - NIGHT
A RED TRAFFIC LIGHT. The Porsche pulling to a stop.
IN THE PORSCHE Erlich looks down, presses a button on the
stereo. Elvis from his baroque period "If I can Dream."
Erlich looks up, waves his arms.
ERLICH
No, no...
37.
ERLICH'S POV - THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD A BUM starts to
"clean" the windshield with an OILY rag, leaving opaque
smears on the once clean glass.
THUD. A handful of gravelly MUD lands on the windshield,
starts to get smeared around. ERLICH pounding the window
from inside.
ERLICH (CONT'D)
No! Shit!
The bum is giving the driver side window the same treatment.
Hard to see anything now. Erlich throws up his hands in
disgust, reaches for the door handle just as...
SMASH! The driver side window SHATTERS as something enters
at high speed KICKING Erlich across the car...
Erlich's head bounces off the passenger window, leaving a
BLOODY SMEAR. Alex in the driver seat now.
ALEX
The Germans really know how to
make a car, don't they?
LOW ANGLE ON THE PORSCHE wheels spinning as it peels out.
INT. CORVETTE - TRAVELLING - NIGHT
WINDSHIELD WASHERS and WIPERS clear away the grime Alex
smeared on the windshield, revealing that we're rocketing
through a bad part of town.
MUSIC CONTINUES as Alex pulls the KNIFE out of his costume
with his LEFT HAND. It looks huge in the cramped sports
car.
ALEX
(re: Lauren knife)
I heard you were looking for this.
ERLICH
You're the guy killed Dutton.
ALEX
I want you to think of me as the
guy who killed you.
Erlich pulls a .380 SEMI-AUTO stashed between the two seats.
Points it at Alex.
ERLICH
Stop the car.
Alex FLOORS it and... BAM.
Erlich blows a hole through Alex's LEFT ARM, a yawning
aperture through which Erlich watches the passing scenery
a few improbably seconds.
38.
ALEX
Ow.
The WOUND closes. Knife still in Alex's hand.
ERLICH
Fuck. Me.
ALEX
What happened to your leg there
Officer? Hunting accident?
WHOP. In one swift move Alex impales the knife THROUGH
ERLICH'S WRIST, into his thigh. Erlich SCREAMS, tries to
remove the knife, but Alex keeps a firm grip on the handle.
ALEX (CONT'D)
Lauren Randall shot you trying to
get free. The fifty three stab
wounds she died of came from you.
Am I right? Ballpark?
Erlich tries to stay steely, yells louder as...
EXT. CITY STREET #2 - NIGHT
The Corvette bumps over a sidewalk, runs a red light.
A POLICE CRUISER going the other way pulls a stunt U, flips
on its lights. In hot pursuit.
INT. CORVETTE - TRAVELLING - NIGHT
Bumpier now as Alex's driving gets more and more erratic.
ALEX
In Saudi Arabia they cut off the
hands of petty thieves. What price
for a life? Two lives?
FLASH. Alex yanks the Knife out and FLASH, slices through
the left arm of Erlich's jacket, sawing into the FLESH.
Erlich's arm bleeding.
ERLICH
Not my arm! What you fucking want?
ALEX
I want Lauren. I want my life back.
I want... to know why.
ERLICH
Why? Why's anything happen? It's
all money, man. Money. The girl
just got in the way.
Alex grimaces, then RIP, he yanks the sleeves off Erlich's
arm. Erlich looks down, surprised to see his arm intact.
39.
ALEX
The scar. Which of you has it?
ERLICH
Nobody.
Alex poises the knife for another descent.
ERLICH (CONT'D)
I swear. It's a bullshit fucking
story the loser boyfriend made up.
This gives Alex pause. He shakes his head, clearing the
reality glitch, looks up...
IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR Cop cars, lights flashing.
EXT. CITY STREET #4 - NIGHT
The Corvette slides around a corner, screams into a final
straightaway that dead ends into the sloping concrete side
of an overpass.
The cops not far behind. The Porsche bottoming out on a
bump now ant...
INT. CORVETTE - TRAVELLING - NIGHT
Alex's sun visor falls partway down from the jolt. He
reaches to push it back into position and notices...
ON THE BACK OF THE VISOR The CAR REGISTRATION. Alex takes
it out of the holder. RESUME Alex suddenly calm. He reaches
down for...
THE CIGARETTE LIGHTER pushed in. The volume on the Elvis
song pumped up. ALEX relaxes back in his seat as they scream
toward the abutment.
ERLICH
Are you out of your fucking mind?
We're going to die.
ALEX
How can you die if you're already
dead?
ERLICH
You're him. Corvis.
ALEX
I was talking about you.
Alex smiles as the CIGARETTE LIGHTER pops out. He grabs it
and the GLOW vanishes as he closes his fist around it.
Erlich turns front in horror. The microsecond of terror
realized as Elvis climaxes, the retaining wall zoomes in...
40.
ELVIS
My dream... comes true... right
now!
EXT. OVERPASS / ABUTMENT - NIGHT
WHAM! The Corvette hits at a million mph. Crumpling,
disintegrating, and hurling two bodies bouncing off the
abutment.
THE CAVALRY - CRUISERS AND PLAINWRAPS Too late. A half
dozen cars bearing down all lights and sirens. Screeching
to a halt by what used to be a silver Porsche. The ruptured
gas tank spurting GASOLINE.
A CRUISER screeches to a halt. Both doors fly open. Toomey
and Larkin step out. Toomey on his radio as Larkin looks
up the embankment, catches a glimpse of...
ALEX battered but alive, jerkily unclenches his fist, still
holding the Lighter, glow fading. He tosses...
THE CIGARETTE LIGHTER arcs down onto the ex-Corvette. WIDER -
BOOM! Cops shield themselves as the Crash scene explodes
in a huge FIREBALL that engulfs a cruiser stopped too close
by.
IN THE TOO-CLOSE COP CAR the DRIVER rams the car into
REVERSE. Tires squeal as the fireball hits and...
THE TOO-CLOSE CRUISER Engine compartment ignites, a second
fireball racing backward into another Cruiser. BOOM!
Total chaos now. LARKIN focussed on Alex, seen vaguely
through the flames. Moving toward him.
WITH LARKIN as he arrives at the top of the enbankment,
draws his weapon. Hyperalert. Alex is gone, but he finds...
ERLICH'S BODY two hundred broken boned bagged by bruises.
Larkin pulls something out of Erlich's shattered fist.
It's...
"THE LIST" Dutton and Erlich crossed off. Larkin and Toomey
yet to go, but the first letters of their names are all
contained in a VERTICAL OVAL, "DELT" circled in red.
LARKIN, AS TOOMEY JOINS HIM They give each other an oh-
shit look. Then Larkin checkes his fingertips, smeared red
from...
"THE LIST" - FLIP SIDE the CROW CIPHER, rendered thick in
coagulating blood. Illuminated by the flickering light of
the fire below.
CUT TO:
41.
INT. RANDALL HOUSE - ERIN'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
CLOSE. A heart shaped Locket swung gently back and forth,
then closed in Erin's hand as CAW!
Erin turns, sees the Crow perched on the window ledge. As
she moves to the open window, the Crow flies off.
ERIN'S POV - OUT THE WINDOW - THE CRASH SCENE far away,
the flashing lights and sirens of fire trucks arriving to
bring the fire under control.
ERIN looks, wondering, then spots something closer to hom.
She moves off, WIPING through frame REVEALING...
ON THE FRONT LAWY Alex. He looks down now, at the front
door where...
EXT. RANDALL HOUSE - FRONT YARD - NIGHT
Erin exits the front door and we see her framed against
the huge house, a rich-man's castle built in the twenties
of quarried stone, quarter sawn oak and leaded glass.
Erin, like her sister, a child of privilege. She approaches
Alex.
ERIN
Daisy. How did you know?
ALEX
I told you, I knew your sister.
ERIN
You killed that cop Dutton.
ALEX
And another one. There. Erlich.
Took a wrong turn.
Alex points at the distant crash site, the vague flashing
lights.
ERIN
I know who you are.
(no response)
That's why you paint your face. To
hide.
ALEX
I'm not hiding. I'm right here.
ERIN
You killed Lauren! You killed her!
Erin shakes her head, trying to absorb what's going on,
then RUSHES ALEX, screaming, beating on him, fists of fury.
42.
ALEX
Not me. Dirty cops killed her.
Dutton, Erlich...
Alex tries to handle her flailing arms but she's too manic.
He's getting hit in the face, the chest, and it's hurting.
He grabs her roughly, gets her to stop.
ALEX (CONT'D)
I've been shot, and stabbed and
thrown from a car and none of it
hurt. But what you're doing now,
does. I don't know why.
ERIN
My dad was right! He said you'd
ruin her life.
ALEX
No. Listen to me. Lauren found out
something they didn't want her to
know.
(then)
This.
He holds up a Card, the Registration from the Corvette.
ALEX (CONT'D)
From the bonfire over there. Look
at it.
ERIN
No! Why are you haunting me?
ALEX
Because you need to understand.
And you need... to be careful.
He tries to give it to her one more time, then flips the
card through the air. She turns, watching its flight all
the way to the landing by the front door...
ALEX (CONT'D)
I'm sorry. Your father wasn't right.
She turns back and...
He's gone. Erin walks to the door. Despite herself reaches
for the Card on the landing. It's...
THE CORVETTE REGISTRATION which we see clearly for the
first time. Owned by a company called DELT. The address is
4201 Forestview Drive.
ERIN spins around horrified, holds up the Registration.
43.
THE ADDRESS ON THE REGISTRATION - 4201 FORESTVIEW matches
the numbers two feet away from her--the address plaque on
her own house.
CUT TO:
INT. POLICE STATION - ROLL CALL BULLPEN - DAY
The buzz of nervous COP WALLA settles out as a stocky
SERGEANT #2, clueless but honest, raises his voice, trying
to command attention.
SERGEANT#2
Listen up! Yo! We got a cop killer
out there.
Walla responds "no shit"--and CAMERA BOOMS UP, moving to
the back of the room over a nervous sea of blue uniforms.
SERGEANT#2 (CONT'D)
Til we get an I.D. treat everyone
like a suspect. Patrol assignments
are posted by the door. Read them.
No singles, it's the buddy system
til we catch this asshole.
Sergeant #2 CONTINUES UNDER as CAMERA FINDS...
FAVORING LARKIN, TOOMEY AND MADDEN huddling together at
the back. Urgent whispers. Larkin and Toomey try to contain
their panic.
LARKIN
He knows. I saw him. Fucking zombie
mask.
MADDEN
Calm down.
LARKIN
You calm down.
Larkin takes out "The List" from the crash site.
LARKIN (CONT'D)
Whose name's fucking next? Not
yours.
TOOMEY
You didn't testify. You're not on
the list.
MADDEN
(flips it over)
Scary guy. Not only survives that
crash, but takes time out for art.
He pockets "The List." Then looks up as...
44.
SERGEANT#2
Madden! Hey!
The entire room looking back at the three renegades.
SERGEANT#2 (CONT'D)
The old man's requested the pleasure
of your company.
Madden shakes his head like this is bad news, rises and
leaves.
CUT TO:
INT. POLICE STATION - HALLWAY - DAY
A SECRETARY mans a LOW COUNTER guarding a large door at
the end of the huge empty hall. She's got a heavy mascara
trailer park vibe, looks up from her eyelash curler at the
sound of approaching FOOTSTEPS.
HER POV - THROUGH THE EYELASH CURLER Madden approaches.
Stops. THE SECRETARY smiles, hits a BUTTON under the
counter. The door to the Captain's office swings open.
SECRETARY
Glad I'm not you.
MADDEN
Right back at ya.
She checks out Madden as he moves past her, then puts the
eyelash curler away in a NAILIT containing a couple of
razor sharp SCALPELS.
INT. POLICE STATION - CAPTAIN'S OFFICE - DAY
No sunlight in this cavernous, wood-panelled office. The
Captain obscure in skifts of shadow at the edge of the
room.
CAPTAIN
Sit down.
Madden sits.
CAPTAIN (CONT'D)
I thought we had an understanding.
I thought we understood that
discretion is paramount.
MADDEN
Yeah, we do.
CAPTAIN
Shut up.
Madden does. The Captain begins and intense slow burn.
45.
CAPTAIN (CONT'D)
Erlich gimping around in his goddamn
hot rod is not discreet. I've got
reporters asking me how much he
made. I've got the entire force
looking at this case now.
MADDEN
I know.
CAPTAIN
You know.
MADDEN
I know the guy leaves a sign.
Madden produces "The List," flips it over to show the Crow
doodle in blood.
CAPTAIN
No shit he leaves a sign. He's a
goddamn Picasso.
The Captain slaps down a crime scene photo--the Crow
emblazoned huge on the top of Dutton's cruiser.
CAPTAIN (CONT'D)
What else do you know? Do you know
this?
The Captain SLAMS a file down in front of Madden, who lets
things cool out a moment before looking at it.
MADDEN
(reads cover)
Tommy Leonard. The eyewitness in
the Corvis case.
CAPTAIN
Some hooker phoned it in. There
was a riot at his apartment
yesterday.
MADDEN
Guy dressed for Halloween?
CAPTAIN
Good for you. You do know something.
They look up as the Secretary enters, holding the door
open, like it's time to leave. Madden starts to speak and...
CAPTAIN (CONT'D)
Don't say. Just do. Before it all
comes tumbling down.
The Secretary gives Madden a look as he exits, then joins
the captain who's standing...
46.
BY AN AWARDS CASE holding glass bowls and trophies presented
to the Captain over the years for Civic Service.
The Secretary wraps her arms around him from behind as he
looks at his loot.
CAPTAIN (CONT'D)
Idiots.
SECRETARY
Sssshhhh.
CAPTAIN
You're the only one who makes it
go away.
As he turns toward her embrace, CAMERA ADJUSTS to point up
something we may have noticed...
IN THE CASE - A STUFFED BIRD, on one of the glass shelves.
CUT TO:
EXT. RANDALL HOUSE - NIGHT
CAMERA CREEPS toward the large stone house. A light comes
on at one end of the lower floor, shining through the
window.
INT. RANDALL HOUSE - NATHAN'S OFFICE - NIGHT
Erin works at her father's desk under the light of an
antique floor lamp. Using a LETTER OPENER to PRY open...
A DESK DRAWER full of files. She flips through, finds a
manila file marked--DELT. Takes it out. ERIN lays the file
open on the desktop.
EMPTY. She checks...
A SMALL PAPER SHREDDER under the desk. Judging from the
paper spaghetti in the basket underneath, recently used.
ERIN scoops up the shreds of paper. No way to reassemble
this.
RANDALL
(trying to be casual)
What are you doing there?
Erin's a terrible liar, spooked as he approaches.
ERIN
I think I dropped an earring.
RANDALL
Looks like you have them both on.
She jumps up as her father reaches the desk, keeps her
distance. He spots the empty DELT folder, closes it.
47.
ERIN
Alex Corvis didn't kill Lauren.
Cops did. Didn't they?
No response.
ERIN (CONT'D)
You're in with them.
RANDALL
It's not what you think.
ERIN
You killed her!
RANDALL
No.
ERIN
Stay away from me! Stay away!
RANDALL
Erin. It wasn't supposed to happen.
Erin SCREAMS, runs out the door with her hands over her
ears. He misses a beat, then RUNS after her.
INT. RANDALL HOUSE - FRONT FOYER - NIGHT
Nathan catches up with her as she frantically grabs CAR
KEYS out of a dish by the front door.
He grabs hold of her arm, she struggles, CLAWS at his face
to get loose. Squeaks out the door onto...
EXT. RANDALL HOUSE - FRONT YARD - NIGHT
Erin runs to the far side of the big Benz, parked in the
driveway. Tries the door. The ALARM goes off.
RANDALL
They killed her because she found
out.
ERIN
About you.
RANDALL
About them. You've got to leave it
alone.
ACROSS THE STREET, A PORCH LIGHT comes on. Erin hits a
button on the key ring, CHIRP CHIRP. It stops.
RANDALL (CONT'D)
Sweetheart...
ERIN
Don't call me that! Don't call me
anything!
48.
A NEIGHBOR opens the door, peers at them from across the
street. Inquisitive.
RANDALL
I would never hurt you or Lauren.
Never. Believe me.
ERIN
I don't believe you.
RANDALL
Please. Come inside.
ERIN
I'm never going back in that house
again. Get away.
He edges away from the car, reluctantly. She starts to get
in, anger giving way to extreme sadness.
ERIN (CONT'D)
(crying now)
They killed Alex for something you
did, daddy. You killed both of
them.
She gets in the car. Starts it. ERRRKKKK! She peels out
backward down the driveway.
SLAMS the car into Drive and tears off down the street.
The Neighbor shakes her head at Nathan, goes back inside.
INT. TENEMENT - THOMAS LEONARD'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
WHAM! Thomas Leonard bounces off the wall, drops to the
floor.
A FEMALE FIGURE wipes through frame, throws herself on
Larkin, who's roughing up Tommy.
TOMMY'S WIFE
Please! Leave him alone!
Larkin backhands her sprawling to the floor, where she
crawls to the WAILING BABY, takes him in sheltering arms.
TOMMY
I'm not making this up. He had a
crow with him.
LARKIN
Caw, caw, that's what you're telling
me.
TOMMY
He said I lied at his trial. It's
Alex Corvis.
49.
LARKIN
So we're talking... a ghost. With
a pet bird.
Tommy nods.
LARKIN (CONT'D)
Turn down that fucking baby!
The baby's gets quieter as the mom rocks it.
LARKIN (CONT'D)
Get up, Tommy. I want to show you
something.
Larkin helps Tommy to his feet. Places "The List" on the
table. Then RAMS Tommy's face down on top of it.
LARKIN (CONT'D)
You see that? My name's next on
his list. It's fucking next.
Larkin hauls Tommy back upright. Dazed.
LARKIN (CONT'D)
So who is the guy, Tommy?
TOMMY
Corvis. It's...
LARKIN
(cutting him off)
Take your time. Think before you
speak. Cause at this point I got
to hear something besides the crap
you're been spewing.
KA-CHUNK. Toomey cycles his 9mm. Everything dead silent.
TOMMY
He said the whole trial was a setup.
That I caused an innocent kid to
die. Is that true?
Larkin grimaces. The only question is how to end this.
EXT. TENEMENT - ALLEY - NIGHT
Madden stands by a plainwrap ,calmly SMOKING.
A SCREAM above. He looks up to see CRASH!
Tommy's BODY breaks through a window four floors up and
falls with broken glass, landing by Madden who rubs his
temple a second, then calmly grinds out the butt.
INT. TENEMENT - THOMAS LEONARD'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
Tommy's wife horrified, pleading, as Toomey raises his
weapon.
50.
TOMMY'S WIFE
No, please...
Her voice stops mid-sentence as BAM.
The baby still crying as Toomey takes aim again, then lowers
his weapon, starts to leave the room with Larkin. At the
door, Toomey turns and BAM!
The crying stops.
CUT TO:
INT. WALSH'S OFFICE - NIGHT
CLOSE. A diminished field of Chess Pieces. ADJUST to include
Walsh, scrutinizing the board.
WALSH
Alex?
He looks out the window a second. Then scans the room again.
WALSH (CONT'D)
C'mon. I'm talking to my myself
here. It's humiliating.
Walsh goes back to the board, makes a move.
WALSH (CONT'D)
Check and mate.
ALEX
Dream on.
Walsh looks up. Nothing. Then Alex steps from the shadows.
Walsh looks at him a long moment, sees through the makeup.
WALSH
My God. It's really you under there.
The two guys look at each other a long moment, cross the
few steps to hug. Walsh blown away.
WALSH (CONT'D)
I'd like to say you're looking
good, but...
Walsh leans in, examines Dutton's BADGE on Alex's costume.
ALEX
Two down. Two to go.
WALSH
"Down?" Wait, don't tell me.
ALEX
The cops from my trial. They killed
Lauren. The whole thing was fixed.
(MORE)
51.
ALEX (CONT'D)
(off Walsh)
You think I'm crazy.
WALSH
I'm thinking... that explains a
lot.
Walsh sits down. Disturbed.
ALEX
Lauren's father's involved. He
bought the cops fancy cars, I don't
know what else. It's a company
called D-E-L-T. I think Lauren
found out.
WALSH
What do they do that they had to
kill her?
ALEX
I was hoping you'd find out.
WALSH
Yeah. I sure will.
They both turn as the Crow lands in the window, CAWS.
WALSH (CONT'D)
(at the bird)
Boo!
The Crow flies off. Walsh goes to the window and looks
out.
WALSH (CONT'D)
What's the deal with this bird.
It's been hanging around. Alex?
He turns toward Alex, who's gone. A double take as Walsh
gets it, whips around, looks out the window again. CUT TO:
EXT. REMOTE ROAD - FOREST - NIGHT
Far above a solitary car winding through an old-growth
forest, its headlights stabbing the darkness.
The Crow soars into frame, watching.
CUT TO:
EXT. OLD GROWTH GROVE - NIGHT
A simple WOODEN CROSS illuminated by the headlights of the
Big Benz as it pulls off the road into the grove of huge
trees dripping with moss.
IN THE BENZ Erin blank as she turns off the car, leaving
the headlights on. Silence.
52.
WITH ERIN as she steps from the car, walks toward the cross.
Partway there...
CAW! Erin looks up, finds the Crow fluttering in to perch
high overhead. Alex emerges from behind a tree, near the
cross.
ALEX
This is where it happened. Right
over here.
ERIN
Yeah, I know.
She stays where she is. Alex quiet, affected by the place.
Erin's about to lose it.
ALEX
Are you ok?
ERIN
When Lauren was missing the police
came to our house. They said they
were looking for her, right?
(breaking down)
But I know now they had her, and
the reason they brought her here
and knew the could blame it on
you...
ALEX
No...
ERIN
... is that I sent them here. I
told them she came here sometimes.
With her dirtball boyfriend. That's
exactly what I said.
She's crying softly. He draws nearer.
ALEX
Erin. It's not your fault.
ERIN
(losing it now)
It's all my fault. Oh God. I wish
I were dead.
ALEX
No. You don't.
ERIN
Yes I do, I really do.
Seeming to lose patience, Alex lunges at her, like an
attack.
ALEX
There were four of them.
53.
ERIN
No...
He's holding his hands over her eyes, transferring IMAGES
that shake them both.
ALEX/ERIN'S INTERNAL POV Jolting FLASHES.
A Plainwrap stops where the Mercedes is now.
A hand slams the car into Park. Doors open. Four men get
out, seen dimly, but they're Dutton, Erlich, Larkin, Toomey.
Erlich reaches back in to drag Lauren out of the back seat,
her hands cuffed in front of her.
Dutton flips up her skirt with his nightstick.
ALEX'S VOICE
Four large men. And still...
Lauren stumbles into Erlich, grabs and BAM! FLASH!
He takes a shot in the leg from his own, still holstered
weapon.
ALEX'S VOICE (CONT'D)
She grabbed one of their guns. Got
off a shot, then ran, ran for her
life.
RESUME - PRESENT Erin's covering her face, like trying to
avoid seeing some horrible thing.
ERIN
I don't want to know.
Alex grabs Erin, forces her to run with him, awkwardly,
like a three legged race. Tracing the path Lauren covered.
ALEX
She ran. Them breathing down her
neck...
Erin stumbling as Alex pushes, cajoles her, the two of
them running toward a large tree, MATCHING to...
ALEX/ERIN'S INTERNAL POV Lauren stumbling, her cuffed hands
hindering, tree limbs hitting her face.
Her own panting subsumed in the panting of the cops on her
heels.
ALEX'S VOICE
... all the way from the road to
this tree...
RESUME - PRESENT Erin still trying not to see. Alex forcing
her.
54.
ALEX
This tree. Here's where it happened.
ERIN
I don't want to see!
Alex spins her up against the tree and we MATCH to...
ALEX/ERIN'S INTERNAL POV Lauren an adrenaline crazed fighter
destined to lose. Her movements UNDERCRANKED, strobed.
Discontinuous and jarring.
ALEX'S VOICE
She turned and faced them and went
down kicking and punching and
fighting them, fighting death as
they stabbed her and stabbed her.
Fifty three times.
The brutal cops overwhelm Lauren. She drops to the ground
as...
RESUME Erin drops to the forest floor, convulsed in sobs.
ALEX
She fought for her life because
life is worth living.
Alex panting. Fierce.
ALEX (CONT'D)
Think about that. And then tell me
how much you wish you were dead.
Off Erin, sobbing, heartbroken. Alex's fury waning as he
looks at her, wonders if he did the right thing.
CUT TO:
EXT. GARRISON PRISON - ROOFTOP - NIGHT
Armed men and barbed wire. The Spotlight FLARES and we're...
INT. GARRISON PRISON - MORGUE HALLWAY - NIGHT
An odd foursome approaches from the far end of the hall.
Mercer escorts Madden, the Captain, and the Secretary who
hangs on her bosses arm, gawking like a tourist.
CAPTAIN
Why wasn't the incident reported?
MERCER
Nothing to report. All inmates
were present and accounted for.
CAPTAIN
So you pretended nothing happened.
55.
MERCER
Hey, Corvis fried. I don't really
see how it could be him.
CAPTAIN
No. I wouldn't expect you to.
They all enter...
INT. GARRISON PRISON - MORGUE - NIGHT
Mercer goes to the locker where he left Alex.
MERCER
Be forewarned. Nature takes its
toll.
(opens locker)
Bon appetit.
The all look inside. The locker is empty. Mercer's the
only one shocked. He noisily opens and shuts the other
lockers looking for Alex.
CAPTAIN
You lost him! Now lay off the
fucking doors!
Mercer stops, backs off, gives the power trio some space.
MADDEN
They botched the execution.
CAPTAIN
Could say that.
MADDEN
Christ. It was Corvis. Tommy Leonard
was right.
SECRETARY
Maybe you were a little harsh on
him.
They watch now as the Secretary moves, drawn to the mirror.
SECRETARY (CONT'D)
Babe?
She's looking at... T
HE FRACTURED MIRROR. Shards of glass selectively removed
forming, we see now, a CROW.
MADDEN
Fucking crow.
CAPTAIN
Sign of the dead come back to life.
Madden turns, not comfortable with the concept.
56.
MADDEN
How about sign of a big black bird?
CAPTAIN
The dead can return, given
sufficient motivation. And Corvis
has that.
SECRETARY
This guy David Jenkins came back
as a ghost because my uncle owed
him four dollars. Followed him
everywhere. Ruined his life.
MADDEN
Time out. You really saying he's
back from beyond?
The Secretary nestles into the Captain, who whispers in
her ear. He nods.
MADDEN (CONT'D)
Cause if you're losing your mind,
I got a right to know.
CAPTAIN
He's looking for something. Won't
stop until he finds it.
(then)
Sometimes the best way to get rid
of someone is to let them have
what they want.
SECRETARY
The man...
ALEX
... with the scar...
CUT TO:
EXT. OLD GROWTH GROVE - NIGHT
WIDE. Erin sits cross-legged in the HEADLIGHTS of the Benz.
Alex perches Crow-like on the hood.
ALEX
... took everything I ever cared
about. Left me with nothing.
ERIN
So you're going to kill him?
ALEX
Have to find him first.
He closes his eyes. Pained at a memory.
57.
ALEX (CONT'D)
You know what Lauren and I were
fighting about that night? She had
a secret, wouldn't tell me...
ERIN
My father.
ALEX
All I knew, she was pulling away.
It made me crazy.
ERIN
I used to be so proud of him. My
big deal daddy. And now, he's just
a crook. Worse even. And the weird
thing is...
She fights back tears. Gains strength.
ERIN (CONT'D)
I wish I could hate him but I can't.
He said he'd never hurt either of
us, and I know it's true and...
I'm going back.
ALEX
It's what Lauren would do.
Erin nods, takes the Locket off her neck.
ERIN
I want to forget. Forget what I
know. Forget myself. Forget
everything.
She winds up to toss the Locket away and Alex hops down
off the hood. Stops her. Takes the Locket. ALEX
ERIN (CONT'D)
(re: Locket)
Keep it. Because it connects you
to Lauren. And it connects you to
me.
He fastens the Locket back around her neck. A covenant.
ERIN (CONT'D)
No matter what happens I'll make
sure everyone knows. That you're
innocent. That you loved her. I
promise.
CLOSE. Erin pulls some makeup out of her jacket pocket.
Dumps it on the ground. Finds a pot of dark eyeshadow among
the containers.
ERIN (CONT'D)
I don't want to be me anymore.
Make me like you.
58.
Erin's face blasted WHITE by HEADLIGHTS.
She closes her eyes as Alex begins the first bold lines
around her eyes and for a moment in the gauzy white light,
she could be...
LAUREN opens her eyes a second, smiles, shuts them again.
WIDER. Alex paints Erin's face in the Benz headlights, the
two of them kneeling in the forest-cathedral.
Camera creeps BACKWARD, leaving the two of them connected
by ritual. And touch. And a promise to each other.
CUT TO:
INT. RANDALL'S HOUSE - NATHAN'S OFFICE - NIGHT
CLOSE. A mess of documents. Nathan nervously writing,
assembling a tell-all at his desk.
CAPTAIN
You know it doesn't work this way.
Nathan gets up. Tries to subtly herd the Captain off.
NATHAN
I'm out of this.
CAPTAIN
Partnerships don't end like that.
Friendships don't.
NATHAN
Our friendship ended when Lauren
died.
The Captain circles to the desk now, past Nathan.
CAPTAIN
Do you believe in ghosts, Nathan?
Because there's a ghost threatening
us.
RANDALL
You mean Alex.
CAPTAIN
I mean Lauren.
The Captain flips through some of the papers on the desk.
Frowns. He closes a file folder.
CAPTAIN (CONT'D)
Because you never accepted that
what happened to her was an
accident.
RANDALL
You killed my daughter.
59.
CAPTAIN
An accident, Nathan.
RANDALL
(exploding now)
She was eighteen years old! There
were four of them. They stabbed
her fifty three times! Where's the
fucking accident?! Huh?! Where is
it?!
Nathan furious. The Captain keeps a preternatural calm.
CAPTAIN
I watched her grow up. Just like
you. I know how her mind worked.
She kept snooping around because
she was worried about you. What
you'd gotten yourself into. So
stop blaming me. And blame yourself.
RANDALL
(beat, quietly)
I do. Every day.
CAPTAIN
Erin knows, doesn't she?
This catches Nathan off guard. He starts to say something.
CAPTAIN (CONT'D)
Don't even bother. You never were
a good liar.
The Captain flips through the papers on the desk again.
CAPTAIN (CONT'D)
Look at this. Everything we worked
for. You tell me... what are we
going to do?
CUT TO:
EXT. RANDALL HOUSE - FRONT YARD - NIGHT
HEADLIGHTS approach from down the street. The Big Benz
pulls into the empty driveway.
Erin alone in the car, her mood tough to judge in the Crow
mask.
INT. RANDALL HOUSE - FRONT FOYER - NIGHT
Erin enters, steels herself. Then she calls out...
ERIN
Dad?! You home?
CUT TO:
60.
INT. RANDALL HOUSE - BATHROOM - NIGHT
UNDERWATER. Erin plunges her masked face into the wash
basin in this white-tiled bathroom.
ANGLE - ERIN A few SLO-MO DROPLETS cascade off her face
into basin as she scrutinizes herself in the mirror, wipes
off the mask.
CAMERA INCHING forward...
She listens up. Grabs a Towel to blot the water on her
face. We begin to hear with her...
DRIP. DRIP. DRIP...
She tightens the sink faucets. The sound continues DRIP
DRIP as she moves to...
THE CLAWFOOT BATHTUB Faucet not dripping, but the sound is
louder. DRIP DRIP. Erin grabs the shower curtain, whips it
back REVEALING...
NATHAN RANDALL behind the tub, face a mask of gore, blown
off point blank by the BLOODY HANDGUN on the tile next to
him. ERIN screams.
INT. WALSH'S OFFICE - NIGHT
CLOSE. The Chess set. A few pieces moved off the board
now. Alex not looking at it. He's looking at the picture
of himself and Lauren taped in the lid of the Chess box.
WALSH
It's like a bowl of spaghetti. D-E-
L-T is owned by Westwind Builders,
Nathan Randall's company. But DELT
in turn owns a dozen other
corporations. A big mess to wade
through, so I checked out Tommy
Leonard.
Alex picks up the BLACK KING.
ALEX
Leonard, Dutton, Erlich. They don't
matter. I want the King.
WALSH
We're getting there. Because in
his so-called construction job,
Tommy makes a daily delivery to a
place called "The Hole."
ALEX
The strip joint?
WALSH
I believe they call it a
connoisseur's club. Owned by DELT.
61.
Alex places the picture of himself with Lauren back in the
box of chess pieces, against the open lid.
WALSH (CONT'D)
Places like that, they're about
unreported cash, processing money
from drugs, prostitution.
(then)
I took a chance, called asking for
Larkin and Toomey, the two other
cops. Whoever answered said "they're
not here...
(meaningfully)
... this is the front office."
BAM BAM BAM.
They look up. A shadow banging on the door. Leaving BLOODY
SMEARS on the outside of the frosted glass.
ERIN
Alex!
Walsh opens the door and Erin enters, wild and blood
smeared, remnants of the Crow mask around her eyes.
ERIN (CONT'D)
They killed my dad.
It all catches up with her now, the flight, the exhaustion.
She throws herself into his arms.
ALEX
It's ok, it's ok...
ERIN
It's not. I can't take it.
ALEX
Erin. Who?
ERIN
I don't know. I found him lying
there.
Alex immobilized by this. He turns to Walsh.
ALEX
Where is it? This place?
WALSH
I think we should get some support?
ALEX
What? Call the police?
ERIN
What is this? Where are you going?
Alex waiting for an address. Finally...
62.
WALSH
1315 Berkeley Street.
ERIN
Don't leave me. Please.
Alex turns to her, comforting. Holds her face in his hands.
ALEX
It will be over soon.
(then)
Watch out for each other.
He heads off and we PRE-LAP sexbomb death metal POUNDING...
CUT TO:
INT. "THE HOLE" - NIGHT
More debauched than our previous visit. Darker, more
crowded.
Patrons propositioned in front of our eyes by girls barely
eighteen. The room writhing.
ON THE MAINSTAGE the "Cop" strippers we saw before, but
dangerous seeming, as they pantomime an interrogation, a
handcuffed "perp" manhandled between them.
AT THE ENTRANCE Alex blows past people waiting to get in,
creating enough disturbance that TWO BOUNCERS greet him.
ALEX
Toomey and Larkin. They're expecting
me.
The Two Bouncers give each other a look. One points to a
SIGN on the wall: "You must be 21..."
BOUNCER
I need to see some I.D., pal. Circus
in town?
The Other Bouncer grabs Alex as he pushes past. Alex heaves
him into the line of WAITING PATRONS.
As they go down like dominoes... the First Bouncer pulls a
GUN.
ALEX
I don't think you want to do that.
Lot of innocent people here...
(looks around)
A lot of people, anyway.
As Alex starts off... BAM! He's blown back by a shot half
lost in the noisy club. No panic yet.
ONSTAGE the strippers break character, looking. The audience
turns as...
63.
NEAR THE ENTRANCE The First Bouncer goes flying above the
heads of the crowd, getting off a dramatic SHOT while
airborne, inducing...
PANDEMONIUM Patrons stampeding as BAM BAM! Alex taking
bullets, the miracle lost in the chaotic exit. The Bouncers
out of sight underfoot.
ON ALEX visible again, back on his feet. Buffeted,
stationary as everyone flees. With the exodus still at
flood stage...
CUT TO:
INT. WALSH'S OFFICE - NIGHT
ON WALSH, in motion as he puts on a jacket, throws some
papers into a briefcase. He's nervous, ill-suited for this
cloak and dagger stuff, chattering...
WALSH
We'll be safe in my car. Nobody
will recognize it. Let's move yours
in back, no, down the block. Hope
it's nothing fancy. There's a chop
shop around the corner.
She's looking elsewhere, at the door that has quietly
opened. The Captain stands there. Somber reptile. Holding
a sheaf of papers in one hand.
ERIN
You followed me here.
CAPTAIN
No... Erin, I put out a bulletin
on your car because... there's bad
news. And I thought you should
hear it from me.
She stares at him expressionless.
CAPTAIN (CONT'D)
Your father got involved with some
bad cops. On my force, so I take
responsibility.
(beat, then)
He killed himself.
She talks with great difficulty.
ERIN
How?
CAPTAIN
How did he kill himself?
She nods.
64.
CAPTAIN (CONT'D)
With a gun. Is that what you mean?
ERIN
No. I mean... how did he kill
himself How do you figure he killed
himself--with a gun, right--when
it wasn't anywhere near where you
found him?
He takes a step toward her. She pulls out the Blood Pistol.
Seems crazy enough to use it.
ERIN (CONT'D)
You killed him.
WALSH
Erin. Don't.
ERIN
Back the fuck off! Now!
The Captain stops, gently tosses the sheaf of papers toward
her, onto Walsh's desk.
The papers Nathan was preparing. Walsh looks at them
while...
CAPTAIN
He left this. Names, addresses, a
note to you. These people he was
involved with killed Lauren. He
couldn't bear it anymore.
WALSH
My God. He's right, it's all here.
ERIN
The note. Show it to me.
Erin has one eye on the papers now, recognizes her dad's
hand. The Captain inches forward.
ERIN (CONT'D)
(to Captain)
Not you!
(to Walsh)
Show it to me.
The Captain steps forward, right to the desk. Erin backed
into a corner now.
CAPTAIN
It's right there, under that paper.
(grabs a note)
Here. Look.
She holds a hand out for the note, taking her eye off the
situation for one second as she reads...
65.
THE NOTE A bunch of numbers added together in her father's
hand. Not a suicide note.
THE CAPTAIN grabs Erin's wrist and BAM!
A chunk of the ceiling falls as the weapon discharges. The
Captain throws her in a chokehold, her finger still on the
trigger.
CAPTAIN (CONT'D)
You were always the stupid one.
She fights as the Captain wraps his own hand over hers,
wrestles her arm toward Walsh, in the sights now. BAM!
WALSH blown backward, collapsing by the Chess Board. Trying
to pull himself up. Erin struggling. As...
MADDEN enters from the hall, in a hurry, gun drawn.
MADDEN
You need help?
He nods toward Walsh, who is moving, barely.
CAPTAIN
Hurry. We don't have much time.
BAM. A shot from Madden drops Walsh for god. As Madden
drags Walsh toward the door, the Captain grabs...
THE PICTURE OF ALEX AND LAUREN pulled off the lid of the
Chess box, one of the pieces of tape left behind. The
Captain exits.
CUT TO:
INT. "THE HOLE" - NIGHT
MUSIC STILL POUNDS, lights swirl. But the club has cleared
out, leaving