Copycat Page #4

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M.J.

Right.

And she starts to go...

QUINN:

We're gonna have a bunch of clapped

out old hippies blissing on the

Grateful Dead! Sleeping in the

park, smoking dope and sticking

tulips up their ass.

M.J.

(exiting)

Good.

CUT TO:

INT. SQUAD ROOM - DAY

This large room is very busy, many officers at work. Known

sexual offenders have been rounded up. False confessors add

to the crowd. Detectives who are not dealing with these

people are making and taking calls. At this desk, a tall

intense looking Detective, NICCOLETTI, interrogates a false

confessor, a man who looks like a businessman...

NIKKO:

Harvey, I don't want you in here no

more, making false statements...

CONFESSOR:

They are not false. We pay for

city government like this, you

don't even care about the truth?!

I killed her in the bathtub.

NIKKO:

Why?

CONFESSOR:

Because she was dirty, a dirty

girl!

NIKKO:

How? How did you do it, Harvey?

HARVEY:

With a knife?

NIKKO:

Good guess, but not good enough.

Get the f*** outta here...

He has stood as M.J. passes coming from Quinn's office. He

falls into stride with her through the crowded scene... He

is sweaty and sniffs his armpits as a matter of general

hygiene checkup...

NIKKO:

What am I wasting my time with this

sh*t for?

M.J.

Because it's your job, that's all.

NIKKO:

Not what I meant; why me?

M.J.

(cutting)

Maybe it's something you did in

this life, Nikko...

It has the flavor of a spoiled intimacy, an unfinished

argument... He pantomimes she got him with a poison dart.

NIKKO:

Got me. That really hurt! You...

Ruben joins them; Nikko stifles and turns away...

M.J.

(to Ruben)

Get Mercer to run the medical,

dental, legal bills, laundry and

dry cleaning receipts, extermin-

ators, mailmen, grocery and

drugstore deliveries, handymen,

plumbers...

RUBEN:

It's mostly done, they got nobody

in common, the three of them... No

mutual friends -- the Landlady says

nobody was ever there, she never

saw her with anybody.

They are approaching PACHULSKI'S desk. PACHULSKI is on

phone. Pachulski is looking at M.J., grinning...

PACHULSKI:

(into phone)

Yes, ma'am, I know. You can't talk

her right now... because she's

busy, she's all tied up.

(sotto to M.J.)

Deep Throat's back.

He hits the speaker phone...

FEMALE PHONE VOICE

This is the third one. You've got

a serial killer here. When are you

going to start warning people?

PACHULSKI:

(whispering)

Fourteen calls from this broad.

And she ain't stupid.

M.J. signals for GIGI to trace the call. Takes the phone,

switches off the speaker...

M.J.

Who is this?

INT. HELEN'S OFFICE - DAY

HELEN on phone

HELEN:

Who is this?

M.J.

Inspector Halloran, Homicide. I'm

in charge here.

PACHULSKI:

(amused)

Ask her about the moon bike.

M.J.

I'm really interested in your

ideas. The moon bike. What is

that?

HELEN:

What is wrong with you people?

The first two, I thought he might

be on a lunar cycle because they

were 28 days apart, but obviously

not. This new one is only two

weeks.

Pachulski is delighted at the joke he's played on M.J., M.J.

not so much... Gigi signals they're getting it.

HELEN (cont'd)

You want to joke about moonbikes?!

M.J.

No, ma'am. This is no joke. And

neither is tying up telephone lines

to police with crank calls while

people in trouble are trying to get

through for help.

HELEN:

You're calling me a crank?

M.J.

Do you have any evidence to report,

ma'am? Do you know any of the

victims...

HELEN:

I think this is number three...

M.J.

(over her)

That's an opinion, not evidence...

Gigi hands her a slip of paper... M.J. reads it... glares

at Pachulski who is still laughing. M.J. knows the name on

the slip of paper...

M.J.

(covers the phone)

Helen Hudson. Get Ruben back

here?

As she turns back to the phone...

CUT TO:

INT. HELEN'S LIVING ROOM - DAY

HELEN, now wearing slippers and shorts with the same T-shirts

she slept in, is standing behind the living room curtains

looking down at the street. She hears a code knock, then a

key turns in the lock. She moves to greet ANDY her

assistant and friend. ANDY is laden down with groceries and

mail. HELEN immediately reaches a hand up to touch his

face...

HELEN:

Where were you? Don't tell me.

It's just under seventy, right? The

sun is strong but the air is dry

and fresh...

ANDY:

Would you please get your hands off

my face, Tallulah? What happened

to the newspaper?

He withdraws a popsicle from the bag, offers it to her.

When she rejects it, he takes it for himself.

HELEN:

I got it myself... I couldn't wait.

ANDY:

Well! Aren't we the daring one?

What's morbid and ghastly enough in

the news to make Doctor Helen set

foot outside her door? The antenna

is gone off her car again. I had

no music, all the way to the

market. Let me find a garage for

it?

They're in the kitchen area; Andy unpacking stuff...

expensive goodies...

HELEN:

I've told you:
I can't afford to

garage it.

ANDY:

Are you kidding? You buy enough

gourmet junk every week... most of

which rots... to garage a fleet of

stretch limos.

HELEN:

I had the dream again.

(beat)

And I got another call. This time

he spoke. He said "You and me, you

and me."

ANDY:

A little heavy breathing is what

most of us yearn for. Forget it.

HELEN:

He whispered, but it was him! I

know it was him!

Andy now stops to address this seriously...

ANDY:

He can't phone you unless the

warden gets an okay from you. Did

you give him an approval?

HELEN:

Andy? When a three-year-old says

there's a monster under the bed,

you don't say 'forget it'. You

look under the bad.

(beat)

I'm three years old. Call the

prison.

Her fear is so palpable, she is so nakedly vulnerable it

breaks his heart. He puts his arms around her.

HELEN:

Oh God. I'm really crazy.

ANDY:

When was the last time you washed

your hair?

HELEN:

(shaky, but trying)

Monsieur Andy, disapproves of my

coiffure?

ANDY:

Monsieur Andy can smell your

coiffure. And guess what else?

He pats her thighs... she walks to the window as he talks...

ANDY:

Cellulite. What do you say I

blindfold you and take you to the

gym. Aerobics with housewives...

HELEN AT WINDOW:

HELEN:

Andy?

Andy has heard this tone before: panic attack alert.

ANDY:

Here we go again.

ANGLE AT WINDOW TO INCLUDE THEIR POV OF STREET

In a parked car a man is reading a newspaper that hides his

face. Behind him is parked a slightly beat up red Saab.

HELEN:

You parked right behind him. The

one I noticed earlier. I didn't

say anything, I thought he'd leave.

Just take a look.

ANDY:

Oh my God! Help! HE'S READING A

NEWSPAPER!

HELEN:

But earlier, he was staring up

here. Please, Andy.

ANDY:

Okay. You win. 'Dirty Harry'

coming up.

ANDY leaves the apartment.

EXT. FRONT DOOR OF HELEN'S BUILDING - DAY

The heavy old industrial door is pushed slightly open, ANDY

peers out, sees:

ANDY crosses behind the car and then sneaks back, coming

up to Driver's side window, surprising the Driver.

THE NEWSPAPER DROPS: IT'S RUBEN.

ANDY:

Excuse me, but would you mind

explaining why you're watching the

lady upstairs?

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