RELIC

                              MARGO
                        (taken aback)
                    Mbwun.

                              KAWAKITA
                        (sensing more gossip)
                    What's that?

     Margo frowns, suddenly uneasy.  She and Dr. Frock exchange a look.

                              MARGO
                    Warrior deity of the Kothoga, an
                    extinct South American tribe.  Dr.
                    John Whittlesley led an expedition
                    that found the only known
                    representation of Mbwun.  The statue
                    is said to carry a curse.
                        (she looks away, quiet)
                    Every member of Whittlesley's
                    expedition died.

                              CUTHBERT
                    I got the relic out yesterday to put
                    on display.  Beauregard was there.
                    The crates had been broken into and
                    the contents were strewn about.  But
                    nothing was missing.  It was
                    downright weird.  We joked that it
                    was the curse of Mbwun.  I'm not
                    laughing now.

                              FROCK
                    Come, Ian.  We all know you're
                    superstitious.  But you're among
                    scientists here.  We deal in facts.
                    That statue had nothing to do with
                    what happened to Beauregard.

                              CUTHBERT
                    All I know is, everyone who has come
                    in contact with that relic, is dead.

     INT. BUSINESS OFFICES - MUSEUM - DAY

     D'Agosta has set up a temporary command post among the antique desks
     and chairs.  The room is on the ground floor with a view of the park.
     Gawkers are outside looking in.  D'Agosta pulls the blinds in their
     faces.

                              D'AGOSTA
                        (mutters)
                    Get a life.

     Pendergast is looking closely at one of the large paintings of birds
     that line the walls.

                              PENDERGAST
                    An original Roger Tory Peterson of a
                    Red-Breasted Merganser.  Amazing.  I
                    have a copy of this in my office at
                    home.

                              D'AGOSTA
                    Can't really focus on birds at the
                    moment, Pendergast.  I'm tryin' to
                    keep my breakfast down.

                              PENDERGAST
                    In this violent world, I believe the
                    only way to stay sane is to take
                    time to notice beautiful things.

                              D'AGOSTA
                    I drink.  After hours of course.  On
                    duty, I smoke.
                        (he pulls out a fat cigar)
                    Do you mind?

                              PENDERGAST
                    Not at all.  I enjoy the smell of a
                    good cigar.

                              D'AGOSTA
                    Then you won't like this one.  It's a
                    piece of shit.

     He bites off the end, spits it out on the floor.

                              PENDERGAST
                    Lieutenant --

                              D'AGOSTA
                    Call me Vince.

                              PENDERGAST
                    Did you read about a boat that
                    washed up outside of New Orleans
                    about four months ago?  Twelve bodies
                    on board.

                              D'AGOSTA
                    Who didn't?  Big news.  Out of Brazil,
                    wasn't it?

                              PENDERGAST
                    Yes.  That's my case.  Now it's yours.
                    All the corpses were badly mutilated
                    in a very particular way.
                    Decapitated.  Brains extracted.  Limbs
                    torn to shreds.  It looked like the
                    work of a large animal, but there
                    was no sign of an animal on board.

                              D'AGOSTA
                    So the method of death is the only
                    connection?

                              PENDERGAST
                    No.  There's more.  There were crates
                    from this museum in the hold of the
                    boat.

     BAILEY enters, interrupts.

                              BAILEY
                    Uh, Vince.  Sorry.  This won't wait.

                              D'AGOSTA
                    It better be good.

                              BAILEY
                    There are a couple of kids who were
                    lost yesterday near the site of the
                    murder.  Claimed they saw a monster.
                    They're pretty determined to tell
                    you their story.  You want to see
                    them?

                              D'AGOSTA
                        (rolls his eyes)
                    No.

                              PENDERGAST
                    If you don't mind, this could be
                    important.

                              D'AGOSTA
                    You're kidding.

                              PENDERGAST
                    Unfortunately, no.

     INT. MUSEUM CLASSROOM - DAY

     A modern classroom that has been taken over by the police for the
     purpose of interrogation.  Seated on small chairs at a plain table
     are...

     HENRY and LARRY, looking like two little boys with a story they are
     desperate to share.  Standing behind them is MRS. BEASLEY, starchier
     than ever.  D'Agosta takes a chair across from the boys, at their eye
     level.  By this time of day he looks pretty rumpled and tired.
     Pendergast stands upright and unruffled in a doorway behind.  This
     isn't hard duty for D'Agosta.  He's surprisingly genial and at ease
     with kids.  Larry kicks his sneaker against the table leg in
     excitement.  Henry tugs his t-shirt.

                              D'AGOSTA
                    Hi.  I'm Lieutenant D'Agosta.  You can
                    call me Vince.  This is Special Agent
                    Pendergast.  You can call him...
                        (he looks to Pendergast, so formal)
                    Special Agent Pendergast.

                              BEASLEY
                    This is Henry Weiss and Larry
                    Bowers.

                              D'AGOSTA
                    So... Tell us about this monster.

                              LARRY
                    We were lost and trying to find a
                    short cut to the dino--

     Henry elbows him hard.  Larry shuts up.

                              HENRY
                    We were just lost, okay?  And we went
                    down this curvy staircase.  At the
                    bottom was a big shadow.

                              LARRY
                    Big as a house.

                              HENRY
                    Not that big.

                              LARRY
                    Well almost.  Depends which house.  It
                    smelled like old hamburger, and it
                    made this weird noise.

     Henry makes a low GROWL in his throat.  D'Agosta suppresses a smile,
     shoots Pendergast a look.  But Pendergast watches the kids intently.

                              LARRY
                    And it snuffled the ground like a
                    dog.

                              HENRY
                    Like this.

     He goes on hands and knees, sniffs the ground.

                              LARRY
                    It had a long tongue, teeth this big
                    and yellow eyes.

                              HENRY
                    They were green eyes and they were
                    slit like a lizard's.

                              LARRY
                    They were yellow!

                              HENRY
                    You're color blind.

                              BEASLEY
                    Boys, please!
                        (to D'Agosta)
                    These two get in a lot of mischief
                    and they tell some amazing whoppers.

                              D'AGOSTA
                    I can see that.

                              HENRY
                    This isn't a whopper!  It's the
                    truth.

     Pendergast now moves forward, pulls up a chair as if deeply
     interested.

                              PENDERGAST
                    How did you get away?

                              HENRY
                    We ran and screamed and stuff.  And
                    we got through a little door just in
                    time.  There was a guard there and he
                    went back to check.

                              PENDERGAST
                    A guard?  Do you remember his name?

                              LARRY
                    He was wearing one of those I.D.
                    badges.  His name was Bo... something.

                              D'AGOSTA
                    Beauregard?

                              LARRY
                    Yeah.

     EXT. MUSEUM - DAY

     An ambulance pulls away, lights flashing.  Pendergast and D'Agosta walk
     to a squad car.

                              D'AGOSTA
                    I've got to admit, that was a damn
                    sight better than "the dog ate my
                    homework".

                              PENDERGAST
                    How do you explain the part about
                    Beauregard?

                              D'AGOSTA
                    They heard the victim's name and
                    wove him into their story.  Nice
                    touch.

                              PENDERGAST
                    I believed them.

     D'Agosta stops, stunned.

                              D'AGOSTA
                    You think what we've got here is a
                    monster as big as a house that
                    smells... like hamburger?

                              PENDERGAST
                    No.  I think what we've got here is a
                    psychotic killer wielding some kind
                    of unusual weapon... who wants us to
                    believe he's a monster.

                              D'AGOSTA
                        (totally confused)
                    Oh.

     INT. NEW YORK CITY MORGUE - EVENING

     D'Agosta and Pendergast thread their way down a hall lined with bodies
     on gurneys.  It's dark and quiet.  They go into the autopsy room.

     INT. AUTOPSY ROOM - AFTERNOON

     A large gurney, currently empty, sits like an uninvited guest under
     the bright lights of the autopsy suite.  Beside it is a tall, imposing
     doctor in her late 50's, with intense eyes.  This is DR. ZIEWZIC.  With
     her are the PHOTOGRAPHER seen passing out at the museum, and a young
     intern, DOCTOR GROSS.

                              DR. ZIEWZIC
                    You're late, Vince.

                              D'AGOSTA
                    Sorry Dr. Ziewzic.  This is Special
                    Agent Pendergast.  Pendergast, Dr.
                    Ziewzic.  She runs the best chop shop
                    in New York.

                              PENDERGAST
                    We've met.  The Hacksaw Murders.  '89.

                              DR. ZIEWZIC
                    Oh yes!  Who could forget.  Afterwards
                    you sent me that amazing case of
                    Chateau Lafitte.

                              PENDERGAST
                    I hope you liked it.

                              DR. ZIEWZIC
                    Lovely bouquet.  After our last case,
                    Vince took me out for a draft beer.
                    As I recall we split the check.

                              D'AGOSTA
                        (grumbles)
                    It's been one of those days.

                              DR. ZIEWZIC
                        (she snaps her rubber glove)
                    Shall we get down to it, then?

     Dr. Gross wheels the gurney over to the morgue bank and slides open a
     drawer.  The shape under the plastic seems too small to be human.  To
     the side of it is a large bump, presumably the head.  The two pieces of
     cadaver are slid onto the gurney and wheeled under the lights.  A
     stainless steel bucket is placed under the gurney's outlet pipe.  Dr.
     Ziewzic fiddles with a microphone hanging above the body, she taps it
     and it gives off the proper static.

                              DR. ZIEWZIC
                        (for the microphone)
                    This is Dr. Matilda Ziewzic,
                    assisted by Dr. Frederick Gross.
                    It's Oct. 28, six fifteen p.m.  We
                    are joined by Lieutenant Vincent
                    D'Agosta of the NYPD, Special Agent
                    Pendergast of the FBI and a police
                    photographer.  Let's see what we've
                    got.

     They pull off the sheet and D'AGOSTA swallows hard, closes his eyes to
     keep his stomach in check.  The photographer goes green, but is
     determined not to clutch this time.  PENDERGAST leans closer, totally
     impassive.  He puts on a small pair of wire rim glasses, assumes an
     expression much like a man reading a menu in a restaurant.

                              DR. ZIEWZIC
                    Caucasian male.  Age about 27.  Blond.
                    Height well I can't give a height
                    because Mr. Beauregard has been
                    decapitated.  The state of the body
                    is such that other identifying marks
                    are out of the question.  There are
                    numerous lacerations proceeding from
                    the left anterior pectoral downwards
                    through the sternum and terminating
                    in the abdomen.  This is a massive
                    wound, two feet long and a foot
                    wide.  The head has suffered severe
                    trauma and the occipital portion of
                    the calavarium has been crushed and
                    removed.  It almost looks like...

                              DR. GROSS
                        (beat)
                    A bite.

     Ziewzic turns to Pendergast.

                              DR. ZIEWZIC
                    What are we talking about here?

                              PENDERGAST
                    Someone who makes the Hacksaw
                    Murderer look like Mother Teresa.

                              DR. ZIEWZIC
                    Right.
                        (back to work)
                    The entire brain appears to have
                    been extracted.  May I see it,
                    please?

     Gross passes over a grey, watery mass that sits in a stainless steel
     pan.  Ziewzic studies Beauregard's brain, or what's left of it...

                              DR. ZIEWZIC
                    Curious.  There's something missing.

                              PENDERGAST
                    The thalamus and the hypothalamus,
                    perhaps?

                              DR. ZIEWZIC
                        (looks up, surprised)
                    Yes.  Two organs the size of a walnut
                    have been removed with what looks
                    like surgical precision.

                              D'AGOSTA
                    What happened to them?

                              PENDERGAST
                    If you don't mind a suggestion, you
                    might try a saliva test.

     Ziewzic, Gross and D'Agosta look at Pendergast.  The photographer is
     staring at the wall, silently mouthing multiplication tables to keep
     from woofing all over the place.

                              D'AGOSTA
                        (incredulous)
                    Saliva test?  You mean, you think
                    someone ate part of the brain?

                              PENDERGAST
                    Correct.

     A long moment of silence, then... Zwiezic uses a swab for the saliva
     test, puts the result in a petrie dish.

                              DR. ZWIEZIC
                    Okay.  One saliva test.  Now... let's
                    look at these lacerations.  They
                    start wide and then converge.

                              D'AGOSTA
                    Long fingernails?  Scratches?

                              DR. ZWIEZIC
                    Too extreme.  Perhaps some kind of
                    weapon.  I'm now probing the wound
                    and... there's a piece of foreign
                    material deep in the muscle, lodged
                    on a rib.  Photograph.

     The photographer gathers his courage, steps forward with D'Agosta and
     Pendergast.  Zwiezic rinses the object off in a beaker of sterile
     water.  It turns brownish red.  She holds it up.  They all stare in
     astonished silence.  D'Agosta swallows.

                              D'AGOSTA
                    Sweet Jesus.

                              DR. ZWIEZIC
                    It's a claw.

     The photographer's flash goes off.

                                                       DISSOLVE TO:

     EXT. STREETS - NIGHT

     A black and white heads uptown.