Copycat Page #13

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HELEN:

Why should I trust you?

M.J.

Because I'm all you've got.

RUBEN HAS BEEN GIVEN NEWS: BIG PROBLEMS. MEN AND WOMEN ARE

GETTING UP, PUTTING ON HOLSTERS, ETC., MOVING OUT...

HELEN:

How could you...

M.J.

(out of patience)

I like the real smart Helen Hudson

a lot, I'm Goddamned sick and

tired of the hysterical little

girl, Helen. You asked your way in

-- I don't forget that. You've got

a nickname around here -- "Deep

Throat" from all the phone calls, I

wonder if you know that. Go take a

xanax, I've got to got to work.

CUT TO:

INT. HELEN'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

HELEN, her police scanner sounding distant tinny cries in

the night:
Helen holding the phone, digesting that...

SCANNER (VARIOUS VOICES)

987... Carol Meany, call your

home? We have... don't step on

me, damn it! Go to channel 8...

Code Red -- Homicide at 16th Avenue

and Horgan, woman dead in car. Can

we have homicide? All units go to

channel 5. Leave channel 3 clear

for homicide... etc.

EXT. HELEN'S STREET - NIGHT

A MAN parks a car. He gets out. He is dressed entirely in

black. Glancing around to be sure he is not observed, the

MAN moves to cars, banging them hard with his hand until he

SETS OFF A CAR ALARM. He trots silently to HELEN'S side of

the street and merges into the dark side of her building.

THE ALARM GOES INFURIATINGLY ON. A light comes on in an

upstairs window...

INT. HELEN'S HALLWAY - NIGHT

BURT, the cop on guard, marginally irritated by the car

alarm, looks up briefly, then returns to his magazine.

CUT TO:

EXT. RICHMOND DISTRICT - NIGHT

CAR WHERE A WOMAN HAS BEEN SHOT DEAD. KLIEG LIGHTS PAINT

HER FEATURES A BLEAK WHITE ON BLACK. M.J. and RUBEN work

the scene along with the CRIME TECH CREW.

One of the TECH GUYS holds up a bullet.

TECH GUY:

Pulled this out of the door, it's

bigger than a .38; it's a .44 or 9

millimeter.

CLOSE:
M.J. is crawling along the floor, looking at

everything she can find -- gum wrappers, hobby pins, loose

change, etc. She lifts her head and finds the car radio and

tape player right in her face.

M.J.

Was this on? When you found the

car was the tape player on or off.

COP (V.O.)

It was on, auto-reverse, over and

over.

M.J. has rubber gloves on. She switches on ignition and the

tape player starts: ABBA. A phone rings...

ON RUBEN standing beside the car; he answers his phone...

RUBEN:

Yeah?... I can't talk now...

What?... No. There's no sexual

assault, it's a drive-by, a woman

in a car, it's not him.

(mouths to M.J.)

Helen.

M.J. still pissed at the earlier phone call, turns away,

dismissively...

HELEN (V.O.)

It's a woman shot in a car?

RUBEN:

Yes. I have to go...

HELEN:

She on the passenger side?

M.J.

(shouting to be

heard)

Helen, hang up, let Ruben get on

with his work...

HELEN:

What's that music. It's Abba. I

can hear it. It's Abba.

RUBEN:

What's Abba?

M.J.

Bunch of Swedish women. You're too

young.

Dread clouds HELEN'S face. She is calling up databases,

screens scrolling across her computer monitor.

HELEN:

Don't hang up!

RUBEN:

What?...

HELEN:

Listen to me. Is there a gas

station nearby?

RUBEN look around, sees a gas station across the street and

further down the block...

RUBEN:

Yes.

HELEN:

Is there a phone booth there?

RUBEN:

They all have one...

HELEN:

Go and look for a note.

RUBEN hands the phone over to M.J.

RUBEN:

She wants me to check the phone

booth for a note.

M.J.

Helen... excuse me, we...

ON HELEN'S SCREEN IS THE FACE OF BERKOWITZ... SHE CALLS UP

ADDITIONAL FRAMES SHOWING SCENES OF HIS CRIMES.

HELEN:

She was listening to Abba in her

parked car when she was shot with a

Bulldog .44.

M.J. reacts:
the scene of what Helen is saying hits her

hard. This is repeating the pattern of yet another

killer...

M.J.

Tony!

The techie who pulled the bullet out of the door turns...

M.J.

Let me see the slug outta the door!

He pulls a baggie out his pocket and hands it to her...

RUBEN RUNNING across to the gas station. He's alone now,

the blazing lights of the crime scene recede.

EXT. HELEN'S BUILDING - NIGHT

A small annoyed crowd has gathered around the are whose

alarm is still shrieking.

INT. HELEN'S HALLWAY - NIGHT

BURT finally gets up, goes to window, sees situation,

decides to go and fix it.

EXT. CRIME SCENE - NIGHT

M.J. still on phone to HELEN. She's just got the bullet out

of the baggie; Tony stands watching.

M.J.

What's that siren?

HELEN (V.O.)

One of those goddamned car alarms.

What's going...

M.J.

Ruben's gone to look... It's banged

up but it looks like a .44. It's

Son of Sam. Is it Son of Sam?

HELEN:

Look in the crowd. He liked to

hang around and watch the cops at

work...

EXT. SHELL STATION - NIGHT

Closed. RUBEN at the phone booth.

A note lies on the shelf, handwritten in felt-tip pen. He

puts on a rubber glove, picks note up by one corner.

CRIME SCENE:

RUBEN has taken phone back from M.J. He is reading the note

to HELEN. M.J., agitated, stands by.

RUBEN:

"Police:
let me haunt you with

these words:
I'll be back."

M.J. notices that there is writing on the other side of the

note. She forces RUBEN'S gloved hand to turn note over.

RUBEN:

Hold on a minute, Helen...

By this time M.J. has seen that this part is addressed to

HELEN. M.J. takes phone from RUBEN, forcing herself to

sound casual.

M.J.

Helen, Ruben's going to drop by.

He's got some questions.

She hangs up, RUBEN is already on his way. M.J. calls a

number...

M.J.

Answer me!!...

EXT. HELEN'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

The beeper on Burt's belt is beeping, but his head is under

the hood of the car where the car alarm is blaring. He

can't hear the beeper...

BACK TO CRIME SCENE:

M.J. ends the call, yells to another Detective.

M.J.

I need a unit at 19809 Lorenda

Drive. Tell them to approach code

2 and wait for instruction. Find

the goddamn officer supposed to be

on security. Ruben's on his way.

He'll go in alone.

SHE TURNS AND SEES:

BEHIND YELLOW CRIME SCENE TAPE THE NIGHT IS FULL OF THRILL

SEEKERS AND CURIOUS. WHICH OF THEM MIGHT BE THE KILLER?

THE GUY IN THE BACK OF THE CROWD WHO FOR NO APPARENT REASON

SUDDENLY BEGINS TO RACE ALONG BEHIND THE ONLOOKERS? THE MEN

WHO DUCKS TO TIE HIS SHOE WHEN A PHOTOGRAPHER SHOOTS A

PICTURE?

INT. FRONT DOOR OF HELEN'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

The horn blares across the street, (O.S.). No one notices

the MAN at HELEN'S door, swiftly fiddling the lock with a

ring full of burglars' keys and picks.

INT. HELEN'S BATHROOM - NIGHT

HELEN is putting on makeup (Ruben is coming). A small but

alarming noise at the front of the loft. She listens

carefully, and moves to the door looking down the hall

toward the front door. It is OPEN" Burt is not there!

She hesitates a moment, then turns off the lights and

sprints for the front door, to escape.

INT. LIVING ROOM

THE MAN IS PULLING A BALACLAVA UP OVER HIS FACE. AS HE HEARS

HER HE STEPS TO THE...

INSERT:
TELEPHONE

A HAND IN A FINE LEATHER BLACK GLOVE LIFTS THE RECEIVER OFF

THE HOOK.

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