Copycat Page #8

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INTERCUT WITH HELEN: APPALLED.

CUT TO:

ANDY LIES WITH TV ON, NAKED, GIVING HIMSELF A PEDICURE. HE

HAS EARPHONES TO MUFFLE THE TV SOUND. From the dark spaces

of the loft there

ECHOES A SCREAM OF SHEER TERROR FROM HELEN! After a beat from he

realizes, tears off the earphones and bolts into the

darkness...

CUT TO:

EXT. HELEN'S APARTMENT HOUSE - NIGHT

POLICE CARS DRAW UP IN FRONT, DOUBLE PARKING. M.J. and Ruben

jump out and walk, fast, toward the building... (Shot from

same high angle -- the secret watcher's POV -- from which we

saw M.J. and Ruben leave after their first visit.)

INT. HELEN'S HALLWAY

AS HER DOOR IS OPENED, by Andy. Ruben and M.J. enter...

ANDY:

She's in the office...

INT. HELEN'S OFFICE

The computer glow, the unfinished chess game still up, and

the RED-HEADED WOMAN'S joyful face on the other. HELEN SITS

IN A CHAIR WITH HER BACK TO THE SCREEN, ROCKING BACK AND

FORTH, suppressing her fear by sheer will. M.J. and Ruben

enter with Andy... they look at the face on the computer

screen... (this is the only light in the room).

HELEN:

That's the face of the next one

he'll kill.

She hasn't looked at them or the computer... SHE ROCKS...

M.J.

How do you know that?

HELEN:

(can't look at it)

Look at the bottom of the screen.

You see the icon with the arrow

pointing left? Click on that...

twice.

RUBEN (FROM A MISSPENT YOUTH IN VIDEO ARCADES) expertly

maneuvers the mouse and clicks on the icon as instructed.

NOW THE ANIMATED COLLAGE PLAYS BACKWARD! IN TENTH OF A

SECOND STEPS WE SEE THE IMAGE OF THE RED-HEADED WOMAN MERGE

BACKWARD THROUGH THE DISTORTED IMAGES AND BECOME

THE DEAD WOMAN IN THE BATHTUB.

M.J. AND RUBEN REACTING, LIGHTED BY THE GLOW FROM THE SCREEN.

M.J.

How did you do that?

HELEN:

That computer's wired into

INTERNET.

RUBEN:

He's hacked into her Internet

address. He's a hacker.

HELEN:

(rocking, rocking)

He can get into my computer any

time he likes! This is exactly the

kind of thing I didn't want to have

happen.

M.J.

Can you make a copy we can show on

our computers?

HELEN:

It's too big a file to copy to a

disk.

RUBEN:

You got a tape backup, yeah, here

lemme copy it on tape...

M.J.

Why would he send this to Helen

Hudson...

HELEN:

It's a game they like to play.

Berkowitz -- "Son of Sam" -- hung

around the crime scene, talking to

the cops. This one's probably

watching you, laughing at you.

RUBEN:

Let me get a little action started

here.

M.J. nods to him to get along... He calls on his cellular

phone while simultaneously working the computer...

M.J.

I'm going to put a guard on your

door.

HELEN:

One officer already got killed

trying to protect me. Please, just

take it all away. Leave me alone.

M.J.

He won't.

RUBEN:

Look at this...

THE COMPUTER SCREEN HAS A LEGEND ON IT:

NOW YOU SEE ME...

As they watch, it is replaced by:

NOW YOU DON'T...

AND THEN IT FADES TO BLACK... Helen goes to the machine and

maneuvers with mouse and keyboard.

HELEN:

It's gone. The file's not here.

(to Ruben)

What did you do?

RUBEN:

I just started it copying to tape,

but the tape never ran. It just

did that...

HELEN:

(respect)

He's brilliant. This one is

brilliant.

M.J.

We'll show that to...

HELEN:

Show what? It's gone. He wrote a

self destruct virus into the code,

so it would only play until we try

to copy it. Then it erased itself.

Gone...

(beat)

Do you remember what you saw?

CUT TO:

INT. POLICE HQ CORRIDOR - DAY

M.J., RUBEN, QUINN, MAYBE OTHERS OF HIS STAFF STRIDE

PURPOSEFULLY DOWN THE CORRIDOR, CAMERA MOVING WITH THEM...

For a moment we won't know who Quinn is talking about...

QUINN:

He's on the phone calling me like an

insurance salesman soliciting my

business, for Christ's sake. I

didn't tell him the three most

over-rated things in life are young

p*ssy, regular exercise and the

F.B.I.

M.J.

Oh, maaaaan?!

QUINN:

What? I talk like a cop, this is

the way I talk. I can't believe

this guy. Saks. He's a Deputy

Assistant Director of the F.B.I.

"Let me help you!"

M.J.

We could use a little help.

QUINN:

With the F.B.I. there's no such

thing as a little help. They bury

you with help. Explain to me about

this virus, no don't tell me about

the virus. Thing is, you saw it,

the pictures.

They pass through a door into a ROOM where the homicide team

sit waiting... M.J. goes right into a briefing...

M.J.

We saw it. The unknown target is

kneeling, she's gardening. Red

hair, high cheekbones, mid-

thirties, height I don't know,

she's not overweight, she's

zofting... She's in front of a

house that looks like...

CUT TO:

EXT. MARINA HOUSE - LATE DAY

As she is speaking, her description becomes V.O. as we SEE

police cars and an ambulance drawn up IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE

SHE IS DESCRIBING...

M.J. (V.O.)

... the Marina area, there was

earthquake damage repair on the

house it looked like, a little

garden. The light was late

afternoon. Say about cocktail

hour. He was bringing out drinks,

margaritas by the look. So we got

a house facing west, on the east

side of the street. Full sun, so

there's no high trees or buildings,

residential both sides.

SUSAN SCHIFFER and her crew arrive, leaping out of their van

with their equipment, a makeup woman ADJUSTING SUSAN'S

MAKEUP AND HAIR RIGHT THERE IN THE STREET...

CUT TO:

INT. MARINA HOUSE - DAY

M.J. and Ruben, Quinn, etc., trying to calm and/or question

the HUSBAND, who is in shock. He is the man we saw bringing

drinks.

HUSBAND:

Stupid goddam s-stupid p-poker

game! Always have to s-stay until

Phil makes a c...comeback. Am I

stuttering?

The husband's voice follows QUINN and others as another COP

leads them toward the back of house.

DOOR TO BEDROOM. QUINN AND RUBEN have stopped just inside

door. M.J. forced to peer around them.

M.J.'S POV:
On the bed, the RED-HEADED WOMAN'S body is

propped up against the headboard, her knees up, her head

fallen onto a shoulder: her pajama top has been ripped open

and pushed up. Knotted around her neck is a pink scarf tied

in a huge bow under her chin. On her feet, secured between

her toes, is a commercial flyer advertising the Festival of

Love. It is brightly printed with red hearts. It has been

hand-lettered:

HELL IN THE FESTIVAL OF LOVE

CUT TO:

EXT. FESTIVAL OF LOVE IN GOLDEN STATE PARK - NIGHT

CAMCORDER capturing the audience of a ROCK CONCERT in full

blast, in GOLDEN GATE PARK. The audience, mostly young,

some in 70's costume, sit and loll around on blankets. Most

seem to have some variety of refreshment... liquid or rolled.

The CAMERA records the unsteady progress of a lovely YOUNG

GIRL, weaving her way through the blankets and the bodies.

She suddenly becomes aware of the camera being aimed at her.

She stops, strikes a comically seductive pose and gives a

big, gorgeous smile. FREEZE FRAME.

CUT TO:

INT. HELEN'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

ANDY answers the door. M.J. and Ruben...

ANDY:

She just got to sleep. Do you have

to tell her about it now?

M.J.

Tell her about what?

ANDY:

(mock admiration)

Gaahhd! What a cop! You busted

me!

(real)

The new one, in the Marina.

(to their reaction)

She has a police radio scanner.

It's always on. She turns it off,

and then she has to turn it on

again. She's obsessed. She can't

not listen to it, but she can't

listen to it, so she makes me

listen to it.

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