The Dark Knight Page #5

BLAKE:

I didn't want to bother you up

here, but they're looking for you.

GORDON:

What's the problem, son?

BLAKE:

Congressman Gilly's wife's been

calling. He hasn't made it home

from the Wayne Foundation event.

GORDON:

That's a job for the police?

BLAKE:

Sir, I've been a cop for a year and

I've only logged half a dozen

arrests. When you and Dent cleaned

the streets you cleaned 'em good.

Pretty soon we'll be chasing

overdue library books.

Gordon smiles at this. Blake looks at his stack of files.

BLAKE:

But here you are. Like we're still

at war...

GORDON:

Old habits.

17.

BLAKE:

Or instinct.

GORDON:

What's your name, son?

BLAKE:

Blake, sir.

GORDON:

You have something you want to ask

me, Officer Blake?

BLAKE:

It's that night. This night, eight

years ago. The night Dent died.

GORDON:

What about it?

BLAKE:

The last confirmed sighting of the

Batman. He murders those people,

takes out two SWAT teams, breaks

Dent's neck...then just vanishes?

GORDON:

I'm not hearing a question, son.

Blake shifts uneasily. Then looks at Gordon.

BLAKE:

Don't you want to know who we was?

Gordon turns to look at the broken searchlight. He brushes

his fingers across its rusted shell.

GORDON:

I know exactly who he was. (Turns

to Blake.) He was Batman.

Gordon walks past Blake, heading for the stairs.

GORDON (O.S.)

Let's go see about the

Congressman's wife...

18.

INT. EAST WING, WAYNE MANOR - MORNING

Alfred takes his tray into the bedroom. The bed is empty.

ALFRED:

Master Wayne?

Alfred's voice echoes through the vast mansion. No reply.

INT. STUDY, WAYNE MANOR - MOMENTS LATER

Alfred hits three notes on the piano. The bookcase opens.

INT. ELEVATOR SHAFT - CONTINUOUS

Alfred descends into the caverns beneath Wayne Manor.

INT. BATCAVE - CONTINUOUS

Alfred walks through the arches as the stone floor starts to

lower, becoming a ramp. At the bottom, Alfred is level with

a series of dark slate obelisks - a bridge over the water to

where Wayne sits at a computer atop a massive slate cube.

ALFRED:

You haven't been down here in a

long time...

WAYNE:

Just trying to find out more about

our jewel thief. I ran her prints

from the photos she handled -

Wayne pulls up a mug shot - a fat, male armed-robbery

suspect.

- but she was wearing someone

else's fingerprints. She's good.

ALFRED:

She may be. But we have the trace

on the necklace.

WAYNE:

We do, so I cross-referenced the

address she went back to with

police data on high-end

B-and-E's...

Wayne hits a key. A photograph of the Maid appears.

Selina Kyle. The databases are full

of close calls, tips from fences...

19.

Newspaper headlines appear -

THE CAT STRIKES AGAIN, POLICE SUSPECT 'CAT' BURGLAR IN JEWEL

HEIST.

WAYNE:

She's good, but the ground is

shrinking beneath her feet.

ALFRED:

We should send the police before

she fences the pearls.

WAYNE:

She won't. She likes them too much.

And they weren't what she was

after.

ALFRED:

What was she after?

WAYNE:

My fingerprints. There was printer

toner mixed with graphite on the

safe. Gives you a good pull, and

it's untraceable.

ALFRED:

Fascinating. Maybe you should

exchange notes over coffee.

WAYNE:

Now you're trying to set me up with

a jewel thief?

ALFRED:

At this point, sir, I would set you

up with a chimpanzee if I thought

it would bring you back into the

world.

WAYNE:

There's nothing out there for me.

ALFRED:

And that's the problem. You hung up

the cape and cowl, but never moved

on. You won't get out there and

find a life. Find someone -

WAYNE:

(BITTER)

I did find someone, Alfred.

20.

ALFRED:

I know. And then you lost them.

That's part of living, sir. But

you're not living - you're waiting.

Hoping for things to go bad again.

Wayne says nothing.

Remember when you left Gotham?

Before all this. Before Batman.

Seven years you were gone. Seven

years I waited. Hoping that you

wouldn't come back.

Wayne looks at Alfred. Not understanding.

Every year I took my holiday. I'd

go to Florence. There's a café by

the Arno... Any fine evening I

would sit there and order a Fernet

Branca...

INSERT CUT:
Alfred seated in a café sipping his drink...

I had a fantasy. I liked to imagine

that one day I'd look across the

tables, and see you. Sitting there

with your wife. Perhaps some kids.

You wouldn't say anything to me, or

me to you, but we'd both

know...that you'd made it. That you

were happy.

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