Devil in a Blue Dress Page #20

115.

137 CONTINUED:
137

Miller and Mason are waiting outside their car at the curb.

They come over.

MILLER:

You got some mighty powerful

friends up there... mighty

powerful. But, see, we got a

problem.

Easy listens disinterestedly.

MILLER:

(continuing)

With the Chief sealing these things

up like this, it doesn't do much

for the morale of the men who've

been working on these cases.

MASON:

Yeah. Makes 'em feel like sh*t.

MILLER:

There's a guy who's been callin' on

the phone. And we're pretty sure

that he was up there with McGee.

MASON:

A... uh... colored guy... sounds

kinda dumb...

MILLER:

(correcting)

Not very bright... But he said you

accused him of the murder. And he

swears you were up there, too...

MASON:

In fact, he's out and out pointing

the finger at ya.

MILLER:

How about a name?

MASON:

He'd do it to you...

Easy waits to make sure they're finished, and...

EASY:

Sorry, fellas. But I gotta go.

He starts away.

116.

137 CONTINUED:
(2) 137

EASY:

(continuing)

Why don't you go back to the

station and, uh... wait around for

my call.

MASON:

You son-of-a-b*tch... You watch

yourself, you hear! Don't you even

spit on the f***ing sidewalk... I

better not even--

Mason's voice fades under.

EASY (V.O.)

It might be the last moment of my

adult life spent free was walking

away from City Hall.

138 EXT. EASY'S HOUSE - DAY 138

A NEWSPAPER HEADLINE reads: "Carter Back In Race."

The subheading reads: "Quiet Civic Leader Returns As

Flamboyant Teran Quits."

EASY (V.O.)

The paper treated the mysterious

flip-flop like it happened every

day. And I could tell that Matthew

Teran wouldn't spend a day in

jail... Back in the second section

of the paper was a small article

about an unidentified man found

dead, slumped over the steering

wheel of a white Cadillac just

north of Malibu...

FURTHER BACK, we see that Odell is reading the newspaper,

nursing a can of ale.

EASY (V.O.)

It scared me to think about a world

that could kill a man like DeWitt

Albright... What could a world like

that do to me?

ODELL:

Hey, Easy, where's your car?

Easy looks up from pulling weeds.

117.

138 CONTINUED:
138

EASY:

In the shop... I'm havin' it fixed

up a little.

ODELL:

Yeah. Man can't get no decent job

in this town without a car.

EASY:

Shoot. I ain't studyin' no job.

ODELL:

Ain't thinkin' 'bout no job? How

you gonna live?

EASY:

I'm gonna go to work for myself.

Take a little money I got saved up

and go into real estate... Start

fixin' up folks' gardens again...

and do a few favors on the side...

Favors for friends.

ODELL:

What you talkin' 'bout, 'favors'?

EASY:

Well, like a woman offered me

thirty dollars to go track down her

husband for her.

ODELL:

You talkin' about private

investigatin' or somethin'... You

could get in trouble doin' that.

Easy keeps working.

EASY:

Like a man once said to me, Odell:

'Walk out your door in the morning

and you're already in trouble'...

It's just how you're mixed up in

that trouble that counts.

Easy gets up and turns on the water hose.

EASY:

(continuing)

Odell?

ODELL:

Yeah, Easy...

118.

138 CONTINUED:

(2) 138

EASY:

If you got a friend that does bad

and you still keep him as your

friend, even though you know what

he's like... Do you think that's

right?

ODELL:

All you got is your friends,

Easy...

Easy starts to nod, but then spots

THE WOODCUTTER:

hovering over a rosebush in a neighbor's yard across the

street, his shears ready to cut.

EASY:

(calling out)

Get out of that yard!

(to Odell)

Bastard cut down two of my trees.

Easy picks up a rock and sails it. Odell comes off the

porch and does the same. Then a neighbor from across the

street joins in.

THE WOODCUTTER ambles off toward another block, leaving

Easy, Odell and the neighbor gathered in the middle of the

street.

139 UP THE BLOCK 139

a man with a pony is setting up a camera. A few children

have gathered, and more are running over from other parts of

the neighborhood.

The man props up a hand-painted sign, "Cowboy Pictures -- 15

Cents," and lifts the first customer onto the pony

positioning a cowboy hat on the child's head.

140 BACK TO SCENE 140

Another neighbor joins Easy and company, and they continue

to laugh and talk, looking up from time to time to wave at

friends in passing cars.

EASY (V.O.)

I thought about what Odell had said

about friends and it made sense to

me...

(MORE)

140 CONTINUED:

119.

EASY (V.O.) (CONT'D)

Odell goes to church every Sunday,

so he would know... Later on, he

challenged me to a game of

dominoes. And what'd he do that

for? We got to talkin' 'bout Texas

and fooled around and drunk almost

a quart of whiskey... And I forgot

about Daphne Monet, DeWitt Albright

and Carter and them... And sat with

my friend, on my porch at my

house... and we laughed a long

time...

FADE OUT.

THE END:

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