Killing Hour - Lisa Gardner [173]
EXT. GOLDEN GARDENS PARK - WOODS - INTERCUT
Sarah looks up, goes still. A FIGURE lies on the beach. A blanket of loopy seaweed covering it. Gnats and flies buzzing over it.
Sarah, transfixed, nears the still figure on the sand.
She reaches down, pulls off the blanket of seaweed.
It is a dead SEA LION – one blank eye staring up. Sarah takes it in. RAIN begins to fall.
Even here, on this beach, she is unable to escape these broken, sad bodies. The exhausting knowledge that life doesn’t care. It is indifferent.
Sarah’s CELL PHONE RINGS, startling her–
SARAH
(into phone)
Yeah, Linden here.
Off this–
CREDITS ROLL
END TEASER
ACT ONE
EXT. DOCKS - DAY (CHYRON: “DAY ONE”)
A CAR drives down the industrial docks of downtown Seattle. In the distance, through the now heavy rain, the Space Needle, the gray downtown skyline, the waters of Lake Union, all under a breathtaking, brooding sky. A city of contrasts, light and dark, sun and fog, where rain falls eight months of the year. A city surrounded on all sides by waterways, ocean, lakes. Stark beauty and dark underbelly.
The car pulls up to a crime scene. In her sweats and a raincoat, Sarah exits her car in the now intense DOWNPOUR, chomping NICACHEW. A UNIFORM guards the entrance of an abandoned factory, keeping a bunch of LOOKIE LOOS – sullen emo teens and a bug-eyed crackhead – at bay.
SARGEANT (O.S.)
Back behind the tape. Yeah, you heard me.
A Lookie Loo – male, pierced - catches Sarah’s eye. She holds his baleful stare.
Sarah ducks under the crime scene TAPE, met by a SARGEANT –40s, grizzled, ex-boxer’s battered face—
SARGEANT (CONT’D)
Sarah, sorry ‘bout this. Lieutenant said you were on call so–
SARAH
Where’s the body?
SARGEANT
Conveyor shed. Homeless guy found her coupla hours ago. Jane Doe… No ID, wallet. Coroner’s en route. You’re the first one here.
(beat)
You gotta go up the stairs, follow the ramp, you’ll find her. You want me to walk ya through?
SARAH
No. I’m good. Thanks.
They stop in front a steel door. Sargeant opens it revealing a dark hallway, stairs– He gives her BAGGIES and a FLASHLIGHT over–
SARGEANT
You’re outta here, what? Friday?
SARAH
Nope. Today.
With a smile, she enters…
INT. FACTORY - CONTINUOUS
… Heads up the stairs. Suddenly, the steel door slams shut, plunging her into darkness. It’d be easy to turn back but that’s not Sarah’s style. Instead, she turns on her flashlight – flickery, iffy.
Ahead of her, a ramp tilting up into blackness. Trash, graffiti everywhere. Rain pelts the tin roof, pigeons coo. She’s used to silent, secret places like this. Forges on.
Her light catches a dark SMEAR on one wall. Blood. Below it, a pile of trash. Baggie in hand, Sarah sifts through. Pulls out a sharp deboning KNIFE. Bags it.
Trains her flashlight on a faint trail of BLOOD. Leading to the top of the conveyor shaft, a room. Something in there…
INT. FACTORY - BACK ROOM - CONTINUOUS
A large OBJECT, like a side of beef encased in plastic, hangs from a hook. Sarah slowly reaches up, rips it off–
LIGHTS snap on, revealing a group of middle-aged male DETECTIVES in PARTY HATS, clutching a CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE,
Laughing at what’s hanging on the hook: a BLOW UP DOLL. Red mouth around a fake SPLIFF, San Francisco baseball CAP on its head, written across its torso: “BON VOYAGE SARAH”.
OAKES
(singing)
Hey, hey… For she’s a jolly good fellow! For she’s a jolly good…
SINGING DETECTIVE
For she’s a jolly good fellow…!
They warble off key, the others clapping, hooting, blowing noise makers. They tease Sarah.
OAKES
Get her a glass…
Sarah laughing now, much loved, overwhelmed by it all…
EXT. ESTABLISHING AERIAL SHOT - CHINNTENDEN LOCKS - DAY
The waterway connecting Lake Union with the vast Puget Sound. Through the RAIN–
INT. SARAH’S CONDO - DAY
Sarah enters, BLOW UP DOLL under arm, rain coat sopping. Takes in the sterile, empty condo. Packing boxes everywhere.
SARAH
Rick? Are you still here…? Rick…?
As she moves through the barren rooms CAMERA FOLLOWS. Someone watching, closing