Frequency Page #18

JOHN:

Ten? No. I remember this case. Three.

He killed three women.

SATCH:

What're you talking'? You know better

than anybody, John. You've read this

file a thousand times.

John fixes on the file. Then slowly reaches for it. It's

filled with police and forensics reports. And PHOTOS. Crime

scene shots of 9 DEAD WOMEN. Linked by TWO gruesome details -

they were all GARROTED, wrists bound with GLASS TAPE.

John turns over the last PHOTO and his heart stops...his

universe crashing down on him.

CLOSE ON THAT PHOTOGRAPH: A MURDER VICTIM. GARROTED. GLASS

TAPED WRISTS. JULIA SULLIVAN.

JOHN:

No.

INT. SULLIVAN HOUSE - JOHNNY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT - 1969

Julia is at the door watching Frank tuck Johnny in. Johnny

wears his Mets' cap and cradles his baseball glove. He's in

that exhausted/excited kid moment before sleep sets in.

FRANK & JOHNNY

(very soft)

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack...I

don't care if I never get back...

Johnny's eyes close.

JULIA:

Boy is he excited about the game

tomorrow.

FRANK:

He ain't the only one.

INT. SULLIVAN HOUSE - KITCHEN - LATER

Marvin Gaye plays from the HI-FI. Frank grabs a beer, as

Julia comes in -- putting on her coat while taking her keys

from a hook. She's wearing her nurse's uniform.

JULIA:

I'm off.

FRANK:

(turning to her)

Wish you weren't.

JULIA:

(stepping to him)

Do you know how much I love you?

Frank takes her in his arms. Starts to move her to the

music.

FRANK:

Yeah, actually I do.

They kiss. And dance. And kiss. And dance. He starts to

slip her coat off. She laughs and wriggles away from him.

Naughty boy. And she is out the door.

EXT. SULLIVAN HOUSE - NIGHT - 1998

John pulls in past SAMANTHA'S CAR as she comes out the back

door with the Teddy Bear and other stuff she left behind.

John gets out of his car, clutching the 'Nightingale' file.

his eyes are red, swollen by tears and booze.

SAMANTHA:

John, are you all right?

The answer is no. He looks terrible, as haunted as any man

could possibly be. He doesn't mean to, but he snaps --

JOHN:

What are you doing here?

Samantha jumps, frightened.

SAMANTHA:

Ellen said you were working. I just

wanted to pick up the rest...

John turns, lost and ashamed. Sam walks to her car and

starts to cry.

INT. SULLIVAN HOUSE - STUDY - CONTINUOUS

John enters, plunks the Nightingale file on the desk.; He

stares at the FAMILY PHOTOGRAPH on the wall.

JULIA IS MISSING. A look of loss in Frank and John's faces.

John fingers the Nightingale file. A nightmare.

He hits the ANSWERING MACHINE BUTTON to hear Samantha's

halting message. As that plays...

INT. SULLIVAN HOUSE - KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS

John steps to teh counter and pours himself a stiff

Bushmills. Turns and steps back into...

INT. SULLIVAN HOUSE - STUDY - CONTINUOUS

John collapses in the chair. Stares at the words carved in

the desk - I'M STILL HERE CHIEF. He rubs his fingers over

the smooth carving...his eyes going to the radio.

A quiet moment. John slowly puts his hand on the squawk,

leans into the mic...

JOHN:

Dad, you there? Can you here me?

(silence)

Dad? I need you to be there.

A long beat. The hum of static. And then...

FRANK (O.S.)

(through radio)

Right here, Chief. Sorry I lost you last

night. Damn thing keeps cutting out.

JOHN:

Dad...Dad... There's... I need to...

INTERCUT FRANK AND JOHN.

FRANK:

Are you alright"?

JOHN:

(sipping Bushmills)

Something happened, something...

FRANK:

What? Johnny, what's wrong?

JOHN:

It's Mom.

FRANK:

What? What is it?

JOHN:

She's not here.

FRANK:

Whatta you mean she's not here?

JOHN:

She...she died. It's like it just

happened.

FRANK:

She just died, your mother just died?

JOHN:

No Dad, it happened a long time ago, a

long time ago for me.

A dreadful moment of silence.

FRANK:

When?

JOHN:

October 22, 1969.

FRANK:

Jesus Christ...that's...ten days from

now.

(beat)

How?

Silence.

FRANK (CONT'D)

Johnny, I gotta know.

Long beat. You could hear a f***in' pin drop.

JOHN:

She was murdered.

Eerie silence as John's words hang in the air.

FRANK:

Murdered? Why?

JOHN:

There was this case. A serial. He

murdered three women, all nurses, between

'68 and '69. The papers called them the

Nightingale Murders. They never caught

him. But the killings just stopped.

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