JFK Page #43

LOU:

I'm onto Ferrie's Cuban paymaster,

Eladio del Valle, in Miami. I gotta

get him in, boss. I need more men -

I can't even pull the teams to watch

Ferrie... This is our case!

Numa rushes in with a young investigator, Williams -

displaying a miniature microphone.

NUMA:

HOLD IT, CHIEF...

JIM:

(to Lou)

You just need some sleep, Lou. It

won't look so bad when...

Numa makes violent signals to shut up - not to talk - sticking

the microphone in front of Jim. Williams searches the walls

for the bug. Numa signals everyone outside.

GARRISON'S MAIN OFFICE

The staff comes out into the office

with Him, disturbed.

JIM:

What the hell is...

NUMA:

Williams found this in your office...

We think the conference room is also

bugged. And maybe the phones. The

whole place needs debugging.

The whole staff from the conference room reacts. Jim looks

stunned.

JIM:

I don't believe it!

SUSIE:

Bugging the District Attorney's office

of New Orleans! It's outrageous!

Sharon has been standing there trying to get Lou's attention.

SHARON:

It's urgent for you, Mr. Ivon.

Lou goes to the phone.

NUMA:

Well, believe what you want, boss,

but we got to be more careful. All

these new volunteers, any one of

them could be...

JIM:

Okay, you handle it, Numa. I don't

have time for this nonsense.

(to the hidden mikes

loudly)

We've obviously got the bastards

worried now. I'm going to Washington.

Everyone laughs, but the camera goes to the look of shock on

Lou's face as he holds the receiver. They all look over at

him; feeling the bad news before they hear it.

LOU:

Dave Ferrie's dead. The body was

found at his apartment two hours

ago.

Jim's look says "There goes the case."

OUTSIDE FERRIE'S APARTMENT - FRENCH QUARTER(1967)

Jim and his staff storm into the area, which is cordoned off

by police.

Members of the press are all over, yelling questions at Jim.

JIM:

(to chief police

officer)

This case is in our jurisdiction. I

don't want anyone from a Federal

agency in here without an explicit

Federal court order. You got that,

Hank?

(Hank looks at him

weirdly)

NEWSMAN 10

Was Ferrie murdered, Mr. Garrison?

Do you have any leads?

INSIDE FERRIE'S APARTMENT

The apartment is filthy and sinister. Hundreds of mice squeal

in their cages, upset by the invasion of men and light.

Nothing seems to have been washed in years. There is an

accumulation of furniture, college pennants, photos of young

boys in training, books everywhere, ammunition, guns, a piano,

maps, fake college degrees on the walls. Ferrie's naked

body lies on the couch with a sheet over it. He is unwigged,

his eyebrows unpainted, false teeth next to him. Jim studies

the corpse as the coroner comes alongside.

JIM:

What's it look like, Nick?

CORONER:

I don't see any violence, Jim. Heart

attack, maybe an aneurysm. Looks

like natural causes.

Jim picks several empty, capless medicine bottles on a table

next to the sofa and looks at them. Lou and Bill come over

with a typed suicide note.

BILL:

It's addressed to no one and no

signature. "To leave this life is,

for me, a sweet prospect. I find

nothing in it that is desirable and

on the other hand, everything that

is loathsome."

LOU:

Pretty flowery for Dave Ferrie.

The words from the note hang there weirdly, as Jim paces on

into the apartment, one of them medicine bottles in his hand.

The music grows, and a sinister feel of danger and death

pervades the atmosphere. Then the sounds drop away.

FERRIE'S BEDROOM

Jim hands Lou the medicine bottle.

LOU:

Proloid?

JIM:

I took it once for a low thyroid

condition...

(he walks away)

It raises the metabolism, Lou.

(pause)

Did David Ferrie strike you as the

kind of person who had a low

metabolism?

LOU:

I'd say the opposite - hypertension.

CLOSET IN FERRIE'S APARTMENT

Jim runs an eye through Dave's closet, cluttered with shabby

jackets.

His eye falls on a neat but faded lace and satin, some sort

of garment of priestly origin, he takes it in his hand.

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