Red Riding Page #10

PAULA O/S

...Two little dickie birds sitting

on the wall...

Eddie can see Paula - playing the child’s game...

PAULA:

One called Peter and one called

Paul. Fly away Peter. Fly away

Paul...

Eddie comes into the child’s room. Untouched. Pink bedspread.

Teddies and dolls. Childish drawings. Photos on a corkboard.

Smiling Jeanette Garland. And Paula playing with her little

daughter who isn’t there...

PAULA:

Come back Peter. Come back Paul...

She speaks without looking at Eddie.

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PAULA:

When she was a baby, I’d lie awakeat night and wonder what I’d do ifanything happened to her; lyingawake, seeing her dead. And I’d runto her room and I’d wake her up andI’d hug her and hug her and hugher. And when she never came home,

all those terrible things had come

true...

Eddie’s arms go round her. He kisses away her tears. Shesinks into his arms. He rocks her gently.

87 INT. DEWSBURY CREMATORIUM, CREMATOR - DAY 87

Flames burst up around a coffin. Everything turned to ash andsmoke. Just like Eddie’s dad.

88 EXT. DEWSBURY CREMATORIUM - DAY 88

Eddie smokes outside the Chapel of Rest. MOURNERS file out,

draw coats round themselves, put up umbrellas, spark up.

GEORGE GREAVES:

Good piece by Hadley, wasn’t it?

EDDIE:

Bit on the panegyric side Ithought.

GEORGE GREAVES:

Oh, aye... s’pose... Barry would’veappreciated it...

EDDIE:

I doubt it.

Eddie sees BJ’s skinny figure. He’s watching from a long wayoff. BJ clocks Eddie watching him, turns away and vanishesfrom sight...

Eddie heads for his Viva... He stops short. Leaning against ared Jaguar parked alongside is Dawson’s henchman, Jason KingMoustache. Trouble. Jason pulls Eddie’s hand off his car doorhandle. A big solid man emerges from the red Jag. JOHNDAWSON.

*

*

JOHN DAWSON:

Come for a spin in the Jag, Mr.

Dunford?

EDDIE:

And why would I want to do that?

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JOHN DAWSON:

I was a great admirer of your late

colleague. Such a waste...

(sticks out a paw)

John Dawson.

Eddie glances back at the SUITS emerging from the chapel.

JOHN DAWSON:

F*** the Press Club wake, eh?

(Eddie shakes his paw)

Champion.

89 INT/EXT. RED JAGUAR / THE BRADFORD ROAD - DAY 89

Eddie sits in the back of the Jag with John Dawson. Jason

King drives. DAWSON’S DRIVER follows in Eddie’s car. Down the

Bradford Road:
black bricks, saris, BROWN BOYS playing

cricket in the cold.

JOHN DAWSON:

This nation’s in f***ing chaos with

it’s hung parliaments. A year ago

they were going to bring back

rationing. Now we got inflation at

f***ing 25 per cent! The country’s

at war, Mr. Dunford.

Everything run-down, closed, obsolete. John Dawson sighs at

it all - continues his running commentary on the world of

Yorkshire 1974 that drifts past.

JOHN DAWSON:

The government and the unions, the

Left and the Right, the rich and

the poor. Then you got your enemies

within; your Paddys, your wogs,

your n*ggers, your Gypos, the puffs

and the perverts, even the bloody

women. They’re all out for what

they can get. Soon there’ll be nowt

left for us lot. Time to turn the

tide...

EDDIE:

Not a Labour man, then.

JOHN DAWSON:

Course I bloody am! Tory c*nts have

out-priced themselves. Your Labour

man will always do a deal.

EDDIE:

Like the West Yorkshire Police...

Eddie, playing poker. Dawson calling his bluff.

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JOHN DAWSON:

Trouble with your generation is you

know nowt. You lot never fought a

bloody war. I did my National

Service protecting fat c*nts like

what I am now fighting the f***ing

Mau Maus!

EDDIE:

I heard the stories.

JOHN DAWSON:

Yeah? Well they’re all true.

Including the bit about cutting off

c*cks. It was Cowboys and Indians.

Like now.

90 EXT/INT. THE KARACHI SOCIAL CLUB / RED JAGUAR - DAY 90

The red Jag followed by Eddie’s Viva approaches a large

detached building. A sign over the former textile factory:

THE KARACHI SOCIAL CLUB.

JOHN DAWSON:

Do you know the Karachi? It’s a

place where men can talk. A

businessman like myself and an

officer of the law can get together

in a less formal setting so to

speak.

They pull over opposite the Karachi Club with Eddie’s car

behind. They get out.

JOHN DAWSON:

You going to continue our late

friend’s crusade against local

corruption, Mr. Dunford?

EDDIE:

What makes you ask that?

JOHN DAWSON:

Me and Barry had a very special

relationship most of the time.

Mutually beneficial it was.

EDDIE:

In what way?

JOHN DAWSON:

I’m in the fortunate position to be

able to occasionally pass on

information that comes my way.

Certain officials sticking their

fingers where they shouldn’t. That

kind of thing...

(MORE)

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(shoot his cuffs)

Like the cut?

JOHN DAWSON (cont'd)

Dawson shows him the label: “Dunford’s”.

JOHN DAWSON:

Top man, your father. Knew how tocut his cloth. Solid. Dependable.

Earned bugger all, mind...

Dawson puts his big mitt on Eddie’s shoulder.

JOHN DAWSON:

That’s not you, is it, Mr. Dunford?

You’re more like me. We like to

f*** and make a buck and we’re not

right choosey how. Isn’t thatright? Drop by Saturday lunchtime.

I got something might interest you.

Dawson heads towards the Karachi Club with Jason King. He

pauses - turns back.

*

JOHN DAWSON:

And, Mr. Dunford? My wife is a veryunwell woman. Speak to her againand it won’t be your hand that getssmashed.

The driver who took Eddie’s car tosses the keys at him andfollows the big man and Jason King. Eddie is left with his

Viva.

*

91 INT. THE PRESS CLUB -EVENING 91 *

Eddie. Into the Press Club. The same smirking faces. The samegames. The same drinks. His is already on the bar before hegets there.

BET:

See Jack’s leader?

Bet slaps down a copy of the Yorkshire Post evening edition.

“CATCH THIS FIEND”

byJACK WHITEHEAD

CHIEF CRIME REPORTER & CRIME REPORTER OF THE YEAR

EDDIE:

Yeah, ta very much, Bet.

Eddie necks the scotch and gulps the beer. Hits the spot.

EDDIE:

Give us another.

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BET:

Ziggy was in, love - looking for

you.

EDDIE:

You what?

BET:

Puff with orange hair. He’s *

outside. *

91A EXT. ALLEY OUTSIDE PRESS CLUB - EVENING 91A *

Eddie out into the evening. Lights coming on. Shadows filling *

corners. He hears a light voice singing “Ashes to Ashes”. He *

sees a slight figure waiting in the alley. It’s BJ clutching *

a Hillard’s carrier bag. *

EDDIE *

Didn’t I see you at the funeral? *

BJ *

Couldn’t come in... We’ve seen *

things, you know... *

EDDIE *

I’ll bet you have. *

BJ *

F*** off! I know people! I’ve *

sucked the c*cks of some of the *

greatest men this country has! *

EDDIE *

A boy should have a hobby. *

BJ *

Listen, don’t let me keep you. *

EDDIE *

OK, all right. I’m sorry. *

(nodding at the carrier *

bag) *

Been shopping? *

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