Devil in a Blue Dress Page #15

JUNIOR:

Hattie had me take him out to his

car. And he say he give me ten

dollars to drive him home.

Mouse is busy working a toothpick between his front teeth.

MOUSE:

I know you took that.

JUNIOR:

Hell, yeah. Then he asked me about

that white girl you was askin'

everybody about at the club. And I

told him I seen her with Coretta...

What the hell I care if he know?

EASY:

You tell him but you won't tell me.

JUNIOR:

I don't like your ass, Easy. And

he gimme fifty dollars.

EASY:

(disbelievingly)

Fifty dollars? Just to tell him

you seen her with Coretta?

JUNIOR:

Naw. To deliver a letter.

Easy is stopped for a moment.

EASY:

What letter?

86.

93 CONTINUED:
(4) 93

JUNIOR:

How should I know? He just said to

give it to her.

EASY:

And you knew where she was?

JUNIOR:

I didn't say that! I give it to

Coretta to give it to her the next

mornin'!

EASY:

You 'spect me to believe that? Why

would he trust you to give it to

the girl if it was worth fifty

dollars?

JUNIOR:

'Cause he had to blow town, fool!

Easy stops to make the connection.

EASY:

Why?

JUNIOR:

He didn't say!

EASY:

(after a moment)

You better be tellin' the truth.

Let's go, Raymond.

He and Mouse get up.

JUNIOR:

I'm tellin' the truth. I ain't

killed nobody. That man was alive

when I left him!

Easy opens the door, looking back at Junior, who's still

going on and walks out.

94-95 OMIT 94-95

96 INT. EASY'S CAR - DUSK 96

Compton looks a lot like Texas, with unpaved streets and

little country-styled houses set back away from the road

behind vegetable gardens and chicken coops and small sheds

with a horse or a cow tied up.

87.

96 CONTINUED:
96

Easy and Mouse pull into the gravel driveway of a little

house and are met by the usual barking dog you find in the

country -- part Spaniel, part Shepherd, and some kind of

Retriever. It dogs Easy and Mouse's heels as they get out

of the car.

97 EXT. DUPREE'S SISTER'S HOUSE - DUSK 97

They notice the light in the front window go out and the

shade pull back slightly as they walk toward the front door.

Moments later the door opens and the dark figure of Dupree

Brouchard appears.

DUPREE:

(to the dog)

Go on. Go on in the back.

The dog obeys and Easy and Mouse walk up the walkway.

Hey, Dupree.

you.

EASY:

Been trying to call

DUPREE:

Yeah, Easy! Cops just let me out

today. My sister gone to work and

I didn't feel much like talking...

Raymond...

MOUSE:

Hey, big man! Them pigtails I

smell?

DUPREE:

Yeah. Lula Mae made some 'fore she

went to work.

Dupree ushers them in.

98 INT. DUPREE'S SISTER'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - DUSK 98

Dupree's face under the kitchen light shows two swollen

black eyes from a brutal police "questioning." His eyes are

heavy with liquor and tears glisten down his cheeks.

DUPREE:

Why somebody wanna kill her like

that? Why?

EASY:

I don't know, Dupree... I don't

know...

88.

98 CONTINUED:
98

Dupree pours rye whiskey into a water glass in front of

Mouse, who swallows half the shot without looking up from

his plate of food.

Easy declines when the bottle comes his way, feeling the

pressure of time running out.

EASY:

Did Coretta ever say anything to

you about a letter she was keeping?

DUPREE:

Letter? What kinda letter?

EASY:

For that white girl...

DUPREE:

Naw. But I know it was on account

of her that Coretta got killed.

Easy rears back in his chair with keen interest and Mouse

looks up from his pigtails.

Dupree takes a drink and his eyes narrow in anger.

DUPREE:

(continuing)

Everything between Coretta and that

Daphne was always such a damn

secret... I mean that ole girl

didn't think nothin' about two-

timin' on Frank... She probably

'innerduced' Coretta to one of them

ole guys she knew... And when he

came to the house after Coretta...

(starting to break)

...he found out she wasn't that

kinda woman... Cops said she fought

him... aw my Gawd... fought him

'cause she wouldn't have nobody but

me-e-e...

He buries his face into his hands and Easy throws a sad but

frustrated look to Mouse.

DUPREE:

(continuing)

Aw Gawd, I can't even go to

sleep... 'cause I can still see her

face that mornin' 'fore I went to

work...

(MORE)

89.

98 CONTINUED:

(2) 98

DUPREE (CONT'D)

Junior had been by and just left

the house... and she came runnin'

out to the car carrying her

bible... And she said, 'Keep this

for me, baby.'

Easy and Mouse exchange looks.

apart.

JACKPOT! And Dupree falls

DUPREE:

(continuing)

Police won't even let me go near

her house. So it's the only thing

I got left from her. It was a

sign... I know it was a sign,

'cause she was so religious...

MOUSE:

It's all right, big man... it's all

right...

And he pours Dupree a half glass of rye.

99 THE BOTTLE - LATER, NIGHT 99

Barely a "corner" of whiskey lies at the bottom and

DUPREE is snoring like a buzzsaw, sound asleep.

MOUSE squints into his glass, wondering why it's empty, and

looks down the length of the kitchen leading into

100 THE BEDROOM - NIGHT 100

Drawers are pulled out on the dresser, and Easy is rifling

through another until he pulls out a bible. He fans the

pages, finding

THE LETTER:

already opened.

two more.

BACK TO EASY:

His fingers pull out a photograph and then

His excited face goes sick, and he silently mouths:

EASY:

Holy shi-it...

90.

100 CONTINUED:
100

EASY (V.O.)

I was as nauseated from fear as I

was from what I saw... Pictures of

a much younger Matthew Teran and

children... innocent, helpless,

naked children...

101 KITCHEN 101

Easy hurries in holding up the letter.

EASY:

I got it. Come on, I think that

girl is gonna call again.

MOUSE:

That Dupree is a good man, but he

sure can't hold his liquor.

Easy grabs his coat off a chair and starts to put it on,

stuffing the letter in his coat pocket.

EASY:

You got your sails up pretty far

too, Raymond.

MOUSE:

You callin' me drunk?

EASY:

Well, you been puttin' it away

along with him and--

MOUSE:

If I was drunk could I do this?

And in less than a heartbeat he has pulled that long-

barreled pistol and is aiming it at Easy's forehead.

MOUSE:

Ain't a man in Texas can outdraw

me!

EASY:

(forced calm)

Put it down.

Go on.

MOUSE:

And he puts the gun back in his shoulder holster.

91.

101 CONTINUED:
101

MOUSE:

Go for your gun. Let's see who

gets kilt.

EASY:

I don't have a gun, Raymond.

on, let's go.

Come

MOUSE:

You fool enough to go without a

piece then you must wanna be dead.

He lays the pistol on the table then draws a .32 automatic

from his waist, this time cocking the hammer, the muzzle

only inches from Easy's head.

Easy can tell from the glazed look in Mouse's eye that

instead of seeing him, his friend is glaring at some demon

he carries around in his head. So he stands stock still.

EASY:

(quiet, soothing)

Let him go, Raymond... He done

learned his lesson. If you kill

him then he won't have got it.

MOUSE:

He fool enough to call me out and

he ain't even got no gun? I'll

kill the motherf***er.

EASY:

Let him live, Raymond, and he be

scared whenever you walk in the

room.

MOUSE:

Motherf***er better be scared. I

kill a motherf***er. I kill him!

Easy stares down the barrel of the gun for a long moment

until Mouse blinks, then nods and lets the pistol fall down

into his lap. His head on his chest, he's sound asleep.

Easy takes the gun and puts it on the table with the other.

Then walks to the doorway and turns out the light.

102 INT. EASY'S CAR - NIGHT 102

The dim street lamps of Easy's neighborhood streak past as

Easy scans the streets and sidewalks, wary for anybody who

might be staking him out.

Rate this script:3.7 / 3 votes