Devil in a Blue Dress Page #16

91.

102 CONTINUED:
102

EASY (V.O.)

The pictures were burnin' a hole in

my pocket... I had no doubt that

Albright had killed McGee... and

that he had done it for Matthew

Teran... But Teran hadn't known who

killed Coretta. I was sure of

that, too.

103 EXT. EASY'S HOUSE - NIGHT 103

Easy's car pulls up and he gets out and looks around

cautiously before starting up the walkway.

EASY (V.O.)

(continuing)

For the first time I hated walking

up to my house... I still didn't

know if I could go to the police.

But Albright was liable to be

showing up in a few hours asking

about Frank Green. I was thinking

I oughta forget the girl and leave

town, back to Houston or Galveston

where they didn't know me too good.

Easy gets to the door, still literally looking over his

shoulder, and hears the phone RINGING inside. He unlocks

the door and bursts in.

104 INT. EASY'S HOUSE 104

He races through the dark living room and into

105 INT. BEDROOM 105

And picks up the phone but the dial tone DRONES on the other

end.

EASY:

Sh*t! Damn!

He whacks the nightstand with the receiver, dying with

frustration. And SOMETHING MOVES in the dark. He lunges

and grabs

DAPHNE MONET:

and pulls her into the light, then sits down onto the bed

before the shock can knock him down.

DAPHNE:

Are you all right?

93.

105 CONTINUED:
105

Easy shakes his head in disbelieving relief and she reaches

to touch the bump on his forehead.

DAPHNE:

What happened?

EASY:

Your boyfriend, Frank Green, threw

a surprise party for me.

DAPHNE:

I'm sorry, Easy...

He pulls away.

DAPHNE:

(continuing)

Easy, Coretta's boyfriend, Dupree,

got out of jail today. And...

DAPHNE EASY:

(continuing) (he joins her)

I need you to help me You need me to help you

find him. find him.

Easy shakes his head, amused, and lights a cigarette.

EASY:

--I already have the pictures...

Daphne stiffens, as if from an electrical shock, and then:

DAPHNE:

Easy, I paid seven thousand dollars

for those pictures. They belong to

me.

EASY:

Oh yeah? Matthew Teran may have

somethin' to say about that.

DAPHNE:

Easy, you wouldn't dare.

EASY:

Try me. Who killed Coretta?

DAPHNE:

I don't know -- I'll pay you for

them. I'll give you a thousand

dollars.

EASY:

You gave Richard seven.

94.

105 CONTINUED:
(2) 105

DAPHNE:

Okay, I'll give you seven.

EASY:

Where'd you get seven thousand

dollars from?

DAPHNE:

Never mind. I'll give it to you.

Easy, please. They're very

important to me.

EASY:

Coretta's life was important to a

few people too. What's say you

tell me who killed her?

DAPHNE:

Easy, honey, I don't know.

EASY:

'Honey?' Do Frank and Carter

really fall for that stuff? Come

on... You and Todd Carter have a

fight and all of a sudden he

doesn't wanna be mayor no more...

You leave, he's worried but he

can't even get his buddies in the

police department to help him find

you... And now you wanna buy some

pictures of Teran. Why? 'Cause

he's got some dirt on you.

She gets up and walks away.

DAPHNE:

Easy, why don't you just take the

money!

EASY:

Is that what Frank told Coretta?

She whirls around to face him.

EASY:

(continuing)

Was she being too nosy? Or was she

just being Coretta and trying to

bargain up the price?

DAPHNE:

Easy, please. How much do you

want?

95.

105 CONTINUED:
(3) 105

EASY:

Tell me. Is Frank your husband or

your pimp?

SMACK! She swings and open hand across his face, and SMACK!

He returns the gesture, sending her back onto the bed...

He picks up the phone and dials "O."

DAPHNE:

Easy, put the phone down.

EASY:

Why don't you try screaming again?

'Cause I bet police like white

women with Negro boyfriends who

hijack trucks...

DAPHNE:

Easy, please.

She reaches for the phone and he pushes her away.

EASY:

I bet they like pimps, and whores,

too, who scam rich white men like

Carter runnin' for mayor.

DAPHNE:

Easy, please, put it down...

EASY:

And I'm sure they like it when

these white girls tell their

colored men to lay low 'cause they

killed a woman over some pictures

of another rich white man.

She gathers herself, just as:

OPERATOR'S VOICE

Number please...

DAPHNE:

(soberly)

Frank is my brother.

Easy is about to speak, but then stands still.

OPERATOR'S VOICE

Number please?

He hangs up.

96.

105 CONTINUED:
(4) 105

She looks away, worn out, tired.

DAPHNE:

We have different fathers. Mine is

white... Frank doesn't even know

that Todd and I broke up. So far

I've kept him out of all this.

She gets up and takes Easy's cigarettes and taps one out.

DAPHNE:

See, Coretta's the only one out

here in L.A. besides my brother who

knew about me...

(she lights up)

And about a month ago she took a

job working for, of all people,

Matthew Teran. She made friends

with one of the girls in the office

who told her that she'd heard that

Teran was a pedophile. And Coretta

got carried away and told her that

Todd Carter was engaged to a

colored woman. She was sorry and

didn't think it would get to

Teran... but it did and he got a

hold of my birth records.

EASY:

Who killed her, Daphne?

Daphne exhales smoke and brushes hair out of her face

ignoring the question.

DAPHNE:

(continuing)

Todd and I broke up and I paid a

guy for the pictures of Teran. But

somehow Coretta got them.

EASY:

Who killed her?

DAPHNE:

It was an accident. Coretta and I

were still mad at each other. I

mean, she threatened to sell Teran

the pictures.

EASY:

Who killed her goddammit!?

97.

105 CONTINUED:
(5) 105

DAPHNE:

I just asked Joppy to go over and

put a scare in her... It was an

accident.

FLASHBACK:

106 INT. KITCHEN - CORETTA'S HOUSE 106

Joppy points a finger in Coretta's face, backing her against

the counter. She grabs a knife from a rack of dishes left

out to dry.

DAPHNE (V.O.)

Joppy said she pulled a knife and

tried to dump hot water on him...

She swipes at Joppy and he backhands her against the

stove... She struggles to grab a pot of boiling water, but

he wrests it from her and slings her across the room against

the counter, her head striking the tile on the way down.

107 BACK TO SCENE 107

Daphne looks down at her hands.

She stubs out her cigarette and sits on the bed.

DAPHNE:

God, I didn't mean to hurt

anybody... It's just that with the

pictures I can--

What?

again?

EASY:

Marry Carter? Be white

DAPHNE:

Don't judge me, Easy! Do you think

I like pretending that I'm someone

else? Do you know how I've been

treated by people, colored and

white, when I've tried to live as a

colored woman in a colored

community. Do you have any idea

what any colored man whose ever

been with me has had to go through?

Don't you dare judge me!

She sees Easy hesitate and she stands up.

DAPHNE:

(continuing)

Come on, Easy. Help me.

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