Knives Out Page #4

INT. SMALL STUDY - DAY OF PARTY

Harlan showing Richard photos on a laptop. Long lens

photos, of Richard kissing a woman who is not Linda.

Richard glares at it, Harlan turns an old baseball over in

his hands.

RICHARD:

This is none of your goddamn

business, Harlan. Stay out of my

marriage.

Harlan holds up a sealed small envelope with flowery

embroidery, "L" written on the front.

HARLAN:

I know my daughter. She'd want to

know. I've put it all in this letter

to her, tomorrow she gets it.

RICHARD:

I'm warning you once, don't

do this like hell -

HARLAN:

She deserves to know, you're

going to tell her!

Harlan slams the baseball down on the desk.

HARLAN (cont'd)

You tell her or I will!

INT. LIBRARY

Back to Richard. He grins, snaps his fingers.

RICHARD:

Yes. I know - yes, ha. So. Harlan

decided to finally put his mom in a

nursing home. Which Linda always

opposed. And I was going to wait

till we were back home in Boston to

tell her, so there wouldn't be a

whole scene, but Harlan wanted me to

tell her then. That was it. Sorry.

Forgot.

BLANC:

It happens.

Joni in the chair.

JONI:

The house?

22.

BLANC:

Early. Richard said you were there.

JONI:

I was. At the house early.

BLANC:

To see Harlan?

JONI:

To see Harlan. Yes.

Joni stops, smelling something in the air. She's about to

ask about it but -

BLANC:

What were you seeing Harlan about?

JONI:

It was just a mix up with the payment

for Meg's tuition.

BLANC:

I'm sorry to press, what kind of mix

up?

Joni hesitates, we FLASH BACK:

INT. SMALL STUDY - DAY OF PARTY

Harlan at his desk, toying with the same old baseball. This

is a thing he does at his desk. Joni standing, arms crossed.

JONI:

The school hasn't got the check yet,

I don't know why Alan didn't mail it

HARLAN:

Alan didn't mail it because he caught

a discrepancy. Alan's office has

been wiring tuition directly to the

school, as per your request. But

Phyllis's office that handles your

yearly allowance has been wiring the

tuition money directly to you as

well. As per your request. You've

been double dipping Meg's tuition,

stealing from me. A hundred thousand

dollars a year. For the past four

years.

23.

Harlan shows Joni a letter from his business manager, with

transaction receipts attached.

JONI:

Harlan. I don't know how this mix up

happened but

Harlan opens his ledger, hand writes a check.

HARLAN:

I'm writing this tuition check, then

that is the last money you or Meg

will get from me.

JONI:

Heh. Harlan come on

HARLAN:

Joni this money has propped you up,

and kept Meg in a Peter Pan state of

perpetual nonsense majors. I know

it'll hurt but it's for the best.

Joni's speechless, her face frozen. Harlan puts the

baseball down and detaches the check, holds it out to her.

HARLAN (cont'd)

My mind's made up.

INT. LIBRARY

Back to Joni. She shakes her head.

JONI:

Just a money wiring issue. With the

office at the school. So I had to

ask Harlan to cut a check for this

semester. No big deal.

BLANC:

Ah. Just checking - ha, check-ing.

Blanc is incredibly pleased with this pun.

LIEUTENANT ELLIOTT

Why don't we take a breather.

24.

INT. FOYER - DAY

Joni comes out into the foyer from the library, obviously

rattled. She pulls it together quick when Linda comes down

the stairs.

LINDA:

Joni. You haven't seen Richard have

you?

JONI:

No, I was just in with the - no.

INT. SMALL STUDY

LINDA (O.S.)

Richard!

Alone, Richard waits very still for Linda's footsteps to

walk away, then when he knows she's not coming in he

furtively rifles through desk drawers, finding various

ridiculous ephemera. He finds a small locked drawer,

jimmies it open with a letter opener.

Inside - the small pink envelope Harlan threatened him with

in his flashback. He rips it open, pulls out the card

inside.

It is blank.

Richard almost laughs. Drops it onto the desk.

RICHARD:

Son of a b*tch.

He spots Harlan's old baseball. Grabs it, spitefully chucks

it out the open window.

EXT. SIDE OF HOUSE - DAY

Blanc, Elliott and Wagner stroll long the wide lawn beside

the house. Blanc ignites a long thin cigar.

LIEUTENANT ELLIOTT

Maybe I'm a victim of my own

expectations.

(MORE)

25.

But when the great Benoit Blanc

LIEUTENANT ELLIOTT (cont'd)

knocks on my door, I expect it's

going to be for something... if not

extraordinary, at least interesting.

This is an open and shut case of

suicide.

checks watch

(

)

And Benny we're at the point where I

need to know what we're doing here.

Blanc notices the OLD BASEBALL lying in the grass. He picks

it up idly.

BLANC:

The method, throat slit. Typical of

a suicide?

LIEUTENANT ELLIOTT

Dramatic. Which tracks. The guy

lived in a CLUE board.

INT. FOYER

Marta sits alone, across from a portrait of Harlan. Muffled

voices out on the patio. Cigar smoke drifts by outside.

She creeps over to the glass door. Puts her ear to it.

LIEUTENANT ELLIOTT (O.S.)

You ask me to drag all these good

people back for questioning, go over

it all again, I don't get it. This

is a pleasant family with the usual

quarrels but no possible motives for

murder - where are you going?

At that moment, BLANC's face appears right next to Marta's

staring right at her through the distorted glass. She yelps

and falls back.

EXT. PATIO

Blanc opens the glass door. Marta steps back sheepishly,

but with a warm nod Blanc beckons for her to join them.

BLANC:

Harlan Thrombey's nurse, Marta...

MARTA:

...Cabrera

26.

BLANC:

Marta Cabrera.

TROOPER WAGNER:

Miss Cabrera, we'll be with you soon,

if you'd just wait -

BLANC:

Miss Cabrera, I did a little poking,

you're hired on a part time basis as

a registered nurse, yes?

MARTA:

Yeah, I don't work for a VNA. Harlan

hired me directly.

BLANC:

You're paid a flat rate for how many

hours a week?

MARTA:

Fifteen.

BLANC:

And how many hours a week do you

actually work?

MARTA:

It... depends.

BLANC:

Many more than 15. Yes. Why?

MARTA:

I started at 15, but slowly he...

needed more help.

BLANC:

Medical help?

MARTA:

He needed a friend.

Blanc smiles at the girl, genuinely touched.

BLANC:

Does having a kind heart make you a

good nurse? Or do people assume your

heart is kind because you're good at

your job? I'm musing, you don't have

to answer that.

beat

(

)

And you cared for him...?

27.

MARTA:

I did. I cared for him. I never

really had a relationship with my

dad, I guess in a way Harlan -

BLANC:

Sorry, how long did you care for him,

I meant?

MARTA:

Five years.

LIEUTENANT ELLIOTT

Blanc.

BLANC:

Yes. Marta we were just discussing

possible motives in the family. I

suspect Harlan has told you much

unfiltered truth about each of them,

and also that you are not the type to

betray his confidence, so I'd like to

know if you are a good liar?

MARTA:

No. No, ha. I have a thing where I

physically, I actually... I'm sorry

this is gross, if I even think about

telling a lie I start to throw up.

BLANC:

Really? Is Richard having an affair?

Marta is stunned. She FLASHES BACK TO:

EXT. PATIO - DAY - FLASHBACK

She reads, Harlan sits at his laptop, heavy with sadness.

HARLAN:

Why do men instinctively pull at

loose threads on their parachutes?

MARTA:

What?

Harlan spins his laptop towards her - the Richard photos.

EXT. PATIO - DAY

Back to our scene. Marta looks queasy, tries to stall.

28.

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