Lord of Illusions Page #9

Billy hurries away.

CUT TO:

INT. HARRY'S HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

Harry lies on his bed, dozing. The CAMERA CREEPS IN on him.

DOROTHEA (V.O.)

... I want somebody who can find

out what Philip saw in those damn

cards...

Harry frowns in his semi-doze.

DISSOLVE TO:

FLASHBACK - QUAID'S ROOM

BUTTERFIELD:

Ever watched a man die?

The image darkens, and fades up a beat later on Quaid.

QUAID:

Please... I wasn't there... Ask

Pimm.

BUTTERFIELD:

Pimm's dead. Jennifer Desiderio's

disappeared...

BACK TO:

INT. HARRY'S HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

Harry is still asleep.

CUT TO:

FLASHBACK - QUAID'S ROOM

QUAID:

I'm not afraid to die. There's

something terrible... coming

home...

A long silence.

SUDDENLY, a telephone RINGS.

BACK TO:

INT. HARRY'S HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

HARRY sits up, shocked awake.

HARRY:

Sh*t!

He picks up the receiver.

HARRY:

This is D'Amour.

CUT TO:

INT. SWANN'S MANSION - DOROTHEA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

She sits up on her bed, dressed in a silk robe, and nothing

else, drinking a SCOTCH, talking on the phone. The primary

source of illumination is the massive T.V. set in the wall

opposite the bed.

DOROTHEA:

Harry... I know it's late.

INTERCUT PHONE CONVERSATION

There should be a subtle eroticism pervading this exchange.

Both of them on beds, in different bedrooms. Each aroused by

the other's voice, and frustrated not to be able to see and

touch them.

HARRY:

That's okay.

As he speaks, Harry scrawls Jennifer Desiderio on the title

page of the Gideon's Bible beside the bed.

DOROTHEA:

How did it go today?

HARRY:

I went up to the Magic Castle. You

were right. He didn't have a lot

of fans up there.

CUT TO:

INT. SWANN'S MANSION - KITCHEN - NIGHT

Valentin, on the kitchen PHONE, is listening in.

DOROTHEA (V.O.)

They were jealous of him.

HARRY (V.O.)

Why? Because he had you?

BACK TO:

INTERCUTTING:
HARRY - DOROTHEA - VALENTIN

DOROTHEA:

He... didn't have me.. I told you-

HARRY:

You didn't marry him for love.

DOROTHEA'S BEDROOM

She's a little uncomfortable now.

HARRY:

So why did you marry him?

DOROTHEA:

That's my business. Harry.

HARRY:

Just curious.

(a beat)

Back to business. Ever heard of a

man called Nix?

(silence)

Dorothea?

DOROTHEA:

Yes... I'm here. And no. I don't

know the name.

HARRY:

What about Jennifer Desiderio?

DOROTHEA:

It doesn't ring a bell. I have to

go.

HARRY:

Okay. I'll keep digging.

DOROTHEA:

(uneasy)

Yes. You do that.

She puts down the phone, and swallows a mouthful of scotch.

She's shaking. She gets up. Paces the room. Then she picks

up the phone again.

INT. HARRY'S HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

On the pad beside the bed, Jennifer's name, surrounded by

Harry's doodles. The phone RINGS.

CUT WIDE:
The room is empty.

EXT./INT. QUAID'S OFFICES - STAIRWELL - NIGHT

The Tarot Card and Crystal Readings sign is dark now. Harry

heads up the stairs, past the PHOTOGRAPHS, to the door of

Quaid's Waiting Room.

It has been locked and taped by the police. Harry has come

prepared. He takes out a small crowbar and levers off the

locks.

INT. QUAID'S OFFICES - WAITING/FORTUNE TELLING ROOMS - NIGHT

Harry enters, FLASHLIGHT on. He crosses the Waiting Room and

enters the Fortune-Telling Room where Quaid died. On the

TRACK -- a remote, eerie presence -- we hear Quaid's SOBS,

Miller's SHOUTS, and, as Harry's flashlight illuminates the

blood-spattered table:

BUTTERFIELD (V.O.)

If you watch very closely, you can

sometimes see the soul escaping.

Harry is spooked. He starts to search the room, opening

cabinets and drawers. Quaid's hordes of mystical bric-a-brac

are stashed everywhere. Boxes of crystals, religious

statues, elaborate cards, incense, etc.

He pulls open a drawer, and notices that a rosary is wedged

in a niche at the base of the drawer. He pulls the drawer

out, empties its contents on the table, and examines it.

Using the crowbar, he forces the drawer apart. It has a

false bottom.

HARRY:

(smiles)

Yes...

In the secret compartment, some papers and an address book.

He flicks to "D."

HARRY (CONT'D)

Desiderio...

There it is. Jennifer Desiderio, and an address. He pockets

the book. Then, sensing a presence behind him, he pulls out

his gun and whirls around, his flashlight beam revealing --

-- Valentin!

HARRY (CONT'D)

What the f*** are you doing here?

VALENTIN:

Looking for you. I tried the

hotel.

HARRY:

Why'd you come here?

VALENTIN:

You're a detective, with no clues.

Where else are you going to look?

I'm going to keep this brief.

(he takes out an envelope)

Here's thirty thousand dollars.

HARRY:

What for?

VALENTIN:

A ticket home,

HARRY:

You didn't hire me. She did.

If she wants me off the job, I

want to hear it from her.

VALENTIN:

She doesn't want to see you. She's

had enough pain. Enough churning

over the past. She wants it all

left alone.

HARRY:

Left alone? Somebody's been

murdered.

VALENTIN:

Yes. It's regrettable

HARRY:

F*** regrettable! I want to know

why.

VALENTIN:

What for? You need to stay busy?

HARRY:

(a confession)

I like to know why things happen.

VALENTIN:

Why people die?

(shakes his head)

Give it up, D'Amour. Go home.

HARRY:

No.

Harry crosses to the door, brushing past Valentin.

VALENTIN:

Don't try and see her, D'Amour.

Just leave her alone. Let her

heal.

He glances back at Valentin.

HARRY:

Lock up, will you?

CUT TO:

EXT. ST. LUKE'S SANITORIUM, PASADENA - DAY

ON THE ADDRESS BOOK, in Harry's hands.

Harry looks up - with some surprise - not at a house but at a

building, the sign on which reads, "St. Luke's Sanitorium".

INT. ST. LUKE'S SANITORIUM - DAY

The place is bland and functional throughout, the walls

decorated with sun-faded reproductions of great paintings.

Nothing disturbing. Harry is talking to D.A. TOFFLER -

black, fortyish, softly spoken - and a Nurse.

TOFFLER:

Jennifer's only ever had one

visitor.

HARRY:

A Mister Quaid?

TOFFLER:

Right. And he's dead, isn't he? I

saw it on the news. Jennifer

doesn't know. And frankly, this

isn't the best tine for her to be

told.

HARRY:

I won't say anything.

INT. ST. LUKE'S SANITORIUM - CORRIDORS AND WARD - DAY

Toffler excorts Harry through -the place. There are

distressing scenes on every side. Nothing melodramatic no

screaming, no fits. Just a subtle, pervasive air of despair.

Blank, empty FACES in blank, empty rooms.

TOFFLER:

Jennifer's been with us four years.

She was coming on nicely.

But just the last month or so,

she's worse than ever.

HARRY:

What's her problem?

TOFFLER:

She has no real grip on reality.

HARRY:

(a joke)

Does anybody?

TOFFLER:

(deadly serious)

Oh yes. We have to agree what's

real and what's not. That's what

holds us together.

HARRY:

And what does Jennifer think's

real?

They've come to french windows, which are wide open. Sitting

outside in the sun is Jennifer, with her back to us.

TOFFLER:

(quietly)

Jennifer thinks the Devil's coming

for her.

(louder)

Jennifer?

Jennifer turns. She looks terrible.

EXT. ST. LUKE'S SANITORIUM - GROUNDS - CITY STREET - DAY

Harry and Jennifer walk amongst the flower-beds, with the

Nurse keeping a watch from a discreet distance. Throughout

the scene we HEAR the SOUND of earth being dug, which

steadily gets louder as they walk.

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