Copycat Page #19

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PETER. HE WALKS AWAY INTO THE NIGHT. FAR FAR AWAY SIRENS

BEGIN TO SOUND -- THEY'LL BE TOO LATE.

CUT TO:

INT. INTERVIEW ROOM - NIGHT

NIKKO sits, numb. If possible, NIKKO is more devastated than

M.J. She speaks to NIKKO, but does not look at him.

M.J.

Quinn will be here any minute. What

are you going to say?

NIKKO:

Christ. I didn't lock the f***ing

drawer! You spend twenty years

thinking some perp's gonna whack

you... you'll crash your car... but

what happens is, you f***

yourself...

(a chocked laugh)

You can't imagine how many times I

saw you two... your head together,

I wish him dead. Every time...

Want to hear something weird? I

feel like I'd give my life to bring

him back.

M.J.

You're in terrible trouble, Nikko.

NIKKO:

Who gives a f***? In all the years

I never seen you cry.

(beat)

You loved him.

M.J. looks away.

M.J.

Who gives a f***?

QUINN enters to find his two senior officers in tears. Pays

no attention to Conrad.

QUINN:

Nikko. My office? M.J., I wanna

see you later.

Nikko stands, and he and Quinn exit. M.J. SITS STARING INTO

HER MISERY.

CUT TO:

INT. GAY NIGHTCLUB - NIGHT

Very crowded with a generally young clientele. Big dance

scene. A number of men wear 70's costume... an occasional

bit of drag.

ANDY and HAL dancing... ANDY with great abandon. HAL seems

to need a break. He leads a good-naturedly protesting ANDY

back to their table. They find a stranger sitting there.

IT IS PETER.

CUT TO:

INT. QUINN'S OFFICE - NIGHT

M.J. ENTERS AND CROSSES TO HIS DESK.

On his desk lie a badge and a gun -- Nikko's. M.J. is

looking at them as

QUINN:

(nothing her look)

He's on temp leave with pay. I

talked the Commissioner out of no

pay.

M.J. pulls her badge out and puts it down in front of Quinn.

M.J.

You want mine, too? You take his,

you take mine. I'm the one f***ed

it up...

QUINN:

So I'm maybe gonna lose three good

cops? You f***ed up on this

occasion, but don't be so hard on

yourself. There's something I want

you to think about. The book says

if you use your gun, use it to

kill, that's what it's meant to do.

You tried to pick this punk off

with fancy shooting, to keep him

alive. To what end? You're not

willing to kill, you can't be a

cop. Go get drunk. I am.

CUT TO:

INT. HELEN'S OFFICE - NIGHT

Helen is lying wide awake. THE PHONE RINGS. HER ANSWERING

MACHINE -- SHE CAN HEAR IT CLEARLY IN THIS LOFT APARTMENT...

ANDY (V.O.)

If yo dialed carefully you've

reached your dream number. Now,

you know what to do.

(beep)

"THE POLICE" SINGING "YMCA" IS HEARD!

INT. NIGHTCLUB PAYPHONE NEAR THE MEN'S ROOM

PETER IS THERE ON A PAYPHONE: HE NOW HOLDS UP A WALKMAN

TAPE RECORDER TO THE MOUTHPIECE... PRESSES A BUTTON...

INT. HELEN'S BEDROOM

HELEN'S OWN VOICE IS HEARD. ECHOING THROUGH THE LOFT SPACE

FROM THE OFFICE. "YMCA" HEARD IN B.G. Helen leaps out of

bed and runs down the hall, as:

HELEN (V.O.)

... their compulsion is less about

sex than it is about control.

Power. Action. Release from

passivity. Albert DeSalvo, Bianchi

and Buono, Berkowitz, Dahmer...

Dahmer killed his first victim

because the boy just wanted to go

home. Bundy said he wanted to

master life. And death...

She has reached the machine: she picks up the phone...

HELEN:

Peter Kurten!

INT. CLUB PAYPHONE - NIGHT

PETER HANGS UP THE PHONE, SLIPS THE TAPE RECORDER IN HIS

POCKET AND TAKES A FEW STEPS TO THE MAIN FLOOR OF THE

NIGHTCLUB. OVER HIS SHOULDER WE CAN SEE: ANDY AND HAL

DANCING. Andy is wearing a bright and distinctive jacket.

CUT TO:

INT. HELEN'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

A new guard, FRED, is letting M.J. in. FOR THE FIRST TIME,

HELEN IS GLAD TO SEE HER. As M.J. walks down toward her...

HELEN:

You were right! He knew me! He

went to my lectures. He recorded

them! Listen to this...

She is too full of her own shock to wonder why M.J. is here

at this hour and to notice the state M.J. is in... she has

turned back to the answering machine and hits the play

button, M.J. standing beside her... She also has the text of

the lecture on her computer screen:

ANSWERING MACHINE

...Action. Release from passivity.

Albert DeSalvo, Bianchi and Buono,

Berkowitz, Dahmer... Dahmer killed

his first victim because the boy

just wanted to go home. Bundy said

he wanted to master life. And

death...

AND THE MUSIC FROM THE NIGHTCLUB BLARING IN THE B.G.

Helen has turned and now sees M.J.'s condition. SHE STOPS

THE TAPE...

HELEN:

What happened to you?!

M.J.

Ruben's dead. So stupid, a cop

thing, a crazy kid and a buncha

dumb mistakes... I'm sorry...

because you and he...

Tears start again, just running down, no sobs, but she can't

will them away. She brushes at them angrily...

M.J.

I just thought it was so --

unprofessional. Of you both!

HELEN:

He felt sorry for me. It was so

nice to flirt. He was a darling

man.

M.J.

A man? I thought he was a boy.

(bursting out)

This last Christmas was the

happiest Christmas I had in the

last ten years... you know why? It

was the first Christmas in six

years I was not in love. Son of a

b*tch married men! Who cares about

marriage, the bed just gets crowded

and noisy?!

HELEN:

You're exhausted. Let me get you a

brandy.

M.J.

Where's the john? Let me clean up

this mess, and get back to work.

Helen has stepped to her brandy decanter; M.J., too dejected

to move, sits, staring now at the only thing to stare at: the

computer screen.

HELEN (O.S.)

Who's the married man?

M.J.

What does it matter? This guy, you

checked your course records, who

signed up?

Helen returns with the brandy. M.J. holds it, doesn't drink,

just stares at the computer screen, emotionally dead...

HELEN:

The University computer is down for

maintenance, but I've been going

through my own notes...

M.J.

(her voice is dead)

Look. There's the order: you

wrote it:
DeSalvo, Bianchi &

Buono, Berkowitz and Dahmer. It's

going to be Dahmer next. Which

means he'll kill a man.

With an effort of will M.J. moves to the phone, putting the

brandy down.

HELEN:

Yes. Dahmer! And after that...

M.J.

(dialing)

Bundy. That's the last one in your

speech...

HELEN:

Maybe you should...

M.J.

I'm working on it! It's what I do.

(into phone)

Quinn...Halloran. I'll wait.

(to Helen)

Where's Andy, can we get some

coffee in here?

HELEN:

(she's going through

records)

Out. Where does he go? Nowhere.

What does he do? Nothing.

CUT TO:

EXT. BAYSIDE RESTAURANT - BELVEDERE OR SAUSALITO - DAY

A BRIGHT LOVELY DAY, PEOPLE DINING AND DRINKING IN THE SUN,

on a deck that faces the Bay and San Francisco's towers

beyond. Young people, drinks in hand, dressed to go to a

summer wedding, mingle and laugh and chatter. A young woman

stands leaning back against the wooden rail, her back to the

Baby. A young man faces her, talking, laughing. HE LEANS

CLOSE TO WHISPER IN HER EAR AND SHE LEANS BACK, DRAWING HIM

CLOSER TO HER -- SEXY! AS HE WHISPERS HE CAN SEE OVER HER

SHOULDER INTO THE WATER BELOW.

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