15 Minutes Page #5

ROSEANNE (ON T.V.)

So you slept with your son's wife!

What's that all about?

FATHER (ON T.V.)

I take full responsibility for sleepin'

with my daughter in law. I had low self

esteem, I thought I had to compete with

him.

Emil reaches for his dictionary.

EMIL:

(mutters)

Self-esteem? Self-esteem??

He flips through his dictionary to find the meaning of self

esteem.

FATHER (ON T.V.)

Losin' my job and everything, caused my

behavioral disorder.

(turns to his son)

Forgive me, Kirk. Let me hug you?

The audience boos. Roseanne mediates...

Oleg - fresh from the shower with wet hair - sits on the bed

in his skivvies - staring into the videocamera's LCD screen -

rewinding Milos' murder. We see it now for the first time -

as he rewinds it. Oleg watches - a bottle of cheap vodka

between his legs. Emil, looks up from his dictionary. He's

wearing Milos' Rolex.

Tamina's jewelry - her brushed gold necklace and pearl

earrings - are in front of him with Daphne's wallet. Emil

looks up - Oleg is holding his videocamera.

EMIL:

(Czech)

Turn that f***ing thing off!

OLEG:

(Czech)

I'm not filming. I'm watching Milos

die. It's just like a move but realer.

Emil grabs the videocamera.

(Czech)

Don't break it! Don't break it!

EMIL:

Speak English!

OLEG:

(English)

You said speak Czech!

EMIL:

How you erase this?

OLEG:

I'll do it. Don't hurt my camera!

Emil tosses the camera back to Oleg who drops his vodka

bottle in order to catch the camera. Oleg, holding the

camera like it's gold, goes to the dresser and puts it away.

Emil starts to go through Daphne's wallet.

EMIL:

Stupid, Milos. I didn't want to kill

him.

(noticing)

What's this?

Emil found the last card in the wallet. It's pink with a

picture of a busty globe. Printed in the middle is - WORLDLY

ESCORTS - and a number.

EMIL (CONT'D)

Worldly escorts?

Emil picks up his dictionary and begins to flip the pages -

finding the meaning of worldly. He gets up and dials the

number. A soft, SEXY VOICE answers. Soft music in the

background.

SEXY VOICE:

Hi?

EMIL:

Hello?

SEXY VOICE:

Are you looking for companionship?

Oleg, who's listening, moves to Emil.

OLEG:

Whore?

EMIL:

I'm homesick. You have Eastern European

girl? A Czech girl?

SEXY VOICE:

Matter of fact, I have a lovely Czech

girl.

EMIL:

I take her. Send her!

EXT. FIRE STATION 91 - NIGHT

Korfin's car pulls up to the station - as a fire engine is

returning.

JORDY:

Now that you know him, maybe you can get

extra work in the next movie they make

about him.

KORFIN:

Yeah?

JORDY:

Maybe you can be his stand-in.

INT. FIRE STATION 91 - NIGHT

The men are pulling off their equipment - coming down from

the high of fighting a fire. Korfin and Jordy walk toward

the TV room. The TV is on in the background. We can see

Nicolette interviewing Eddie. He holds up the paint can.

CHIEF DUFFY (O.S.)

What the hell is that?? You gave Eddie

Flemming the evidence?!

They turn. DEPUTY CHIEF FIRE MARSHAL DECLAN DUFFY - the head

of the arson squad - comes over. Duffy's tough, Irish and

very political.

DUFFY:

(pointing to the TV)

Who did cause and origin?

JORDY:

Who do you think, Chief?!

DUFFY:

Then why didn't you talk to the

reporter?

JORDY:

'Cause we got more important things to

do, like finding out who did it.

They walk to the back of the station and start up the stairs.

DUFFY:

Don't you guys understand? It's all

about image. The better we look the

more money I get to pay you guys

overtime.

KORFIN:

Yeah, right.

DUFFY:

What was that, Korfin?

KORFIN:

I said, yeah, you're right, Chief. As

soon as we get somethin' we'll let you

alert the media.

DUFFY:

You do that, wiseguy. Now let's solve

this thing before Eddie Flemming does.

They all head upstairs.

INT. ARSON SQUAD ROOM - DAY

The Chief, Jordy and Korfin enter. There are posters of

pyros, arsonists and terrorists on the walls. GARCIA - a

Puerto Rican investigator - looks up from his desk.

GARCIA:

Hey guys, I got your torch. He just

gave a full confession.

A scruffy, unshaven white man sitting across from Garcia,

turns. He is MAX, a pyromaniac in his 40's with a freshly

scratched cross etched in his forehead. He craves attention.

MAX:

It's my fire! Screw homicide. I'll

tell you guys everything!

Jordy moves to his desk with Korfin. They sit across from

each other. Duffy keeps going to his office, not even

bothering to stop.

JORDY:

What's that on your forehead, Max?

That's a nice attention getter.

MAX:

Yeah, I'm religious. I'm not an Atheist

like you! Now, are you guys gonna

arrest me, or not?

JORDY:

How did you start the fire this time?

MAX:

I used an accelerant.

JORDY:

Yeah? What kind?

MAX:

(to Jordy)

Hey, by the way, I'm really sorry about

your wife leavin' you.

KORFIN:

Max.

MAX:

(continuing)

...Yeah, and with your old man dying

last year you - what's it? Just you and

the dog now?

KORFIN:

Max!

MAX:

Does it feel bad - I mean the new guy

your ex-wife's seeing - I hear he's a

big shot downtown.

Jordy pops out of his seat.

JORDY:

That's it! You're outta here.

Jordy pulls Max by the collar - pushes him down the aisle.

MAX:

That's it. I'm suing.

KORFIN:

Get in line.

Korfin takes over - throwing him out. Jordy turns to Garcia

who is laughing.

JORDY:

What's so funny. How does he know so

much about me? Who tells him my life

story?

GARCIA:

He hangs around downstairs. The guys

talk to him. He's a joke...

JORDY:

He's no joke! One day he's gonna

graduate from trash can fires and do

something big.

GARCIA:

Okay. Okay. We'll ban him from the

station.

INT. KING EDWARD HOTEL ROOM - TV SET - NIGHT

As the "Top Story" logo is splashed across the screen,

accompanied by a catchy TV THEME, Robert Hawkins introduces

America's highest rated 'news magazine' show.

ROBERT HAWKINS:

Good evening, I'm Robert Hawkins and

this is Top Story. Tonight we bring you

an exclusive interview with Stephen

Geller - who horrified the nation two

years ago when he went berserk and

murdered three clerks in a Manhattan

shoe store. But now, Mr. Geller's

claim, spoken softly and articulately,

is that he is the victim. According to

Mr. Geller, the events of that fateful

day were not his fault but were the

fault of his psychiatrist. Hard to

believe...watch.

EMIL (O.S.)

Louder.

VIDEOCAMERA SLOWLY ZOOMS OUT and PANS over to Emil, sitting

on the hotel bed watching the TV. He looks at us.

EMIL (CONT'D)

Louder.

Oleg's hand reaches in front of the lens - turning up the

volume. The scene cuts back to Stephen Geller being

interviewed by Robert Hawkins and his camera crew. He's

sitting on the front lawn of a mental institution in a paint

stained shirt. A showing of his artwork is displayed in the

background. Patients peruse the paintings of weird

dysfunctional faces that avoid eye contact. One of the

paintings depicts Eddie Flemming and Leon Jackson.

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