Knives Out Page #6

EXT. FRONT PORCH - NIGHT OF PARTY

Walt and Jacob sit on the porch, Walt with a cigar, Jacob

with his phone. Marta trots through, saying goodbye.

LIEUTENANT ELLIOTT (V.O.)

Walt was smoking a cigar on the porch

with his son. He saw her leave and

drive off, and noted the time -

midnight.

Walt glances at his watch. Midnight.

INT. RICHARD AND LINDA'S GUEST ROOM - NIGHT OF PARTY

Linda with a pillow over her head.

LIEUTENANT ELLIOTT (V.O.)

Fifteen minutes later, Linda is woken

for the third and final time. By

someone coming down the stairs.

CREAK CREAK CREAK! Linda wakes. You've gotta be kidding me.

EXT. FRONT PORCH - NIGHT OF PARTY

Walt, still smoking with Jacob, spots Harlan through the

glazed glass, coming down the stairs in the foyer.

LIEUTENANT ELLIOTT (V.O.)

Harlan. Who came down for midnight

snacks, which Walt tried to

discourage.

WALT:

Dad, go to bed!

Through the glazed glass, Harlan goes back up the stairs.

LIEUTENANT ELLIOTT (V.O.)

This is at 12:
15. Based on this, the

medical examiner determined time of

death to be between 12:15 and 2am.

As Walt was finishing his cigar,

about 12:
30, Meg came home. She went

straight to bed. Walt and Jacob

turned in shortly after that.

Meg pulls up, trots past Walt and Jacob and inside.

35.

INT. JONI AND MEG'S GUEST ROOM - NIGHT OF PARTY

Meg stirs, wakes. Joni is asleep.

LIEUTENANT ELLIOTT (V.O.)

Sometime later that night,

undetermined but possibly near 3am,

Meg woke up because the dogs were

barking outside. She used the

bathroom and went back to bed.

EXT. PATIO - DAY

Elliott snaps the notebook closed.

LIEUTENANT ELLIOTT

And that's it. Everyone's stories

matched, every movement accounted

for.

BLANC:

There is no other staircase up to

Harlan's rooms?

Blanc scratches that same spot on the side of his neck.

LIEUTENANT ELLIOTT

No. Just the creaky one.

BLANC:

And Linda is certain another trip on

it would have woken her? Hm.

LIEUTENANT ELLIOTT

You've got a bad rash there.

The spot on his neck. Blanc seems intrigued by this.

BLANC:

Do I? Interesting.

LIEUTENANT ELLIOTT

not interesting

(

)

Yeah. Interesting.

TROOPER WAGNER:

So I guess we can rule out Ransom, he

wasn't there. And Marta, Harlan was

alive after she left. But Meg got

home during the time of death window.

36.

LIEUTENANT ELLIOTT

Except it was a suicide. Harlan hit

both carotids, he took no chances,

and the significant splatter patterns

are unbroken. Meaning nobody was

near him when it happened. It's

basically impossible for anyone but

Harlan to have cut his throat.

BLANC:

Physical evidence can tell a clear

story with a forked tongue.

LIEUTENANT ELLIOTT

What?

BLANC:

And as we've seen this morning, all

people can lie. Well. Almost all.

INT. LIBRARY - LATE AFTERNOON

Marta in the chair. She shifts, uncomfortable.

Blanc, Elliott and Wagner in their normal places.

BLANC:

Ms. Cabrera, we've kept you waiting

all afternoon because I wanted to

hear from you last. I wanted to have

the entire picture of the evening in

my head. Your piece of it is at its

very center. So please, take your

time. You took Mr. Thrombey upstairs

at 11:
30. And left at midnight.

Think very carefully. And with as

much detail as possible, tell us what

happened in that half hour.

Marta is very still. A moment of silence. Blanc flips his

silver dollar into the air.

She does not say a word, but in that moment while the coin

hangs in the air we FLASH BACK with her to:

INT. HARLAN'S BEDROOM - NIGHT - FLASHBACK

The night of the party. A clock on a nightstand: 11:32.

Off screen we hear Marta leading Harlan up the creaky

stairs.

37.

MARTA:

Up up up up - you got it?

HARLAN:

I got it. Up up up I got

it.

Marta enters the room, and behind her we see Harlan keep

climbing up the narrow stairs to his office.

MARTA:

Up up nooooo no not tonight, no

straight to bed tonight it is soooo

late c'mon. Harlan. Harlan!

She grabs a med kit from the bedroom and follows him,

exasperated.

INT. HARLAN THROMBEY'S STUDY - NIGHT - FLASHBACK

Harlan sits, setting up a GO board. Marta enters.

MARTA:

It's late, I had champagne

no no no

HARLAN:

It's my birthday, we are -

You had one glass - we're

not breaking tradition on my

birthday.

Marta puts two vials and a pill box on the GO board. She

pulls out two plastic wrapped hypodermics.

MARTA:

Take your goddamn medicine and go to

bed.

HARLAN:

If you're going to put that vile sh*t

in me you will have to earn it. On

my birthday.

playing it up

(

)

Eighty fifth. So old. Soo olddd

MARTA:

Alright old man. 8x8 game.

She sits and they start clacking white and black stones on

the board.

HARLAN:

Why can't I beat you at this

game?

Oh uh huh.

MARTA:

Because I'm not playing to

beat you, I'm playing to

build a beautiful pattern.

They play fast, and Marta is obviously winning.

38.

HARLAN:

Elder abuse. I'm calling the AARP.

MARTA:

Don't make me get the belt.

HARLAN:

It's basically over. My only hope is

that an earthquake will strike. But

what are the chances -

Harlan starts shaking the table with his knee. He looks

around, startled. Marta just stares at him, deadpan.

HARLAN (cont'd)

Get under a door frame!

He tips the whole table and the GO board and med vials and

syringe and med kit fall to the soft rug. Things spill out

of the kit. A mess. Marta just shakes her head.

MARTA:

Meds then beds.

HARLAN:

Fair.

She retrieves the vials and loads a syringe from one of

them. Harlan rolls up his sleeve revealing a pre-inserted

catheter. He crosses to close the room's only small window.

HARLAN (cont'd)

Ugh, Walt's smoking a cigar on the

porch. Nasty things.

MARTA:

How was tonight?

She hooks the syringe up to the catheter and slowly injects

him bit by bit while he talks.

HARLAN:

Tonight was... good.

MARTA:

Because I know you weren't looking

forward to it.

HARLAN:

No. But I did it. Cut the line on

all four of them. It was not easy.

This goddamn fortune.

(MORE)

39.

Sometimes I think, everything I've

HARLAN (cont'd)

given my family, I've done, maybe

without knowing it, maybe, to keep

them beneath me. I should have

what... maybe, I don't know.

Encouraged Walt to write his own

stories, not just be a caretaker of

mine. Like you said I should. Been

a father, not just a provider, to

Joni. Like you've also said. I

should have been kinder to Linda.

And Ransom.

Harlan takes a curved ornamental dagger from a display

mount, turns it over in his hands.

HARLAN (cont'd)

Jesus there's so much me in that kid.

Confident, stupid, I dunno.

Protected. Playing life like a game

without consequence, till we can't

tell a stage prop from a real knife.

He stabs it into the desk, sharp and real. Leaves it there.

HARLAN (cont'd)

I don't fear death. But god I'd like

to fix some of this before I go.

Close the book with a flourish. I

guess we'll see.

MARTA:

I guess we will. Hey. Old man.

You've had a long day. Let's do

drugs.

She loads the second syringe from the second vial.

HARLAN:

Is that the good stuff?

MARTA:

Yeah but just a tiny bit.

HARLAN:

Send me to lala land. Why did I wait

till my mid eighties to become a

morphine user, this stuff's the best.

She pulls the needle from the second vial... then sees the

label. Freezes. Blinks at it.

40.

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