The Insider Page #11

MARK STERN:

What do you mean compelled?

LOWELL:

(seriously)

I mean compelled by a Justice Department,

state courts, be a witness. That would

cut through any confidentiality

agreement, wouldn't it?

MARK STERN:

Yeah...

DEBBIE DELUCA:

What does that do?

LOWELL:

What do you mean, what's it do?

DEBBIE DELUCA:

What I mean is, like, how does it cut

through the confidentiality agreement?

LOWELL:

Because he has to reveal it in a court of

law. It's on record, it's out. It's no

secret anymore. So how can they restrain

his speech or retaliate? It's out in the

world...

MARK STERN:

(nods)

If you could engineer it into the court

record, you might have something. They

would have a helluva time trying to

restrain his speech then, wouldn't they?

Pause.

JOHN HARRIS:

(still skeptical)

Yeah, but what venue? And where does he

get - does he have killer attorneys?

LOWELL:

I don't think he's got any attorneys.

MARK STERN:

He's gonna need attorneys who aren't

afraid of risking years of litigation.

And millions of dollars of their own

dough in legal costs...

LOWELL:

What do you say, Mike? What do you

think?

MIKE WALLACE:

(pause)

Even if he gets the defense team, will he

go for it?

INT. A HIGH SCHOOL CAFETERIA, LOUISVILLE - DAY

MRS. WATSON

...you're awfully overqualified, Dr.

Wigand.

The aftermath of a high school lunch. Tables, covered with

litter, as far as the eye can see. And we see Jeffrey

sitting with a formidable Black Woman in her mid-fifties, the

High School Principal, CYNTHIA WATSON, drinking cups of

coffee...

WIGAND:

(after a beat, awkward)

I'm trying to...start a new career... I

believe I could be a good teacher...

She's quiet. She senses this applicant has a lot on his

mind.

MRS. WATSON

Let me give it some thought...

WIGAND:

(selling)

...and not a lot of companies in the

health-care field hire ex-tobacco

scientists.

She nods, studying him. They get up.

INT. THE WIGANDS' HOUSE, LOUISVILLE - DAY

The house is nearly empty. Liane, arms folded across her

chest, is quietly standing in the empty living room. Jeffrey

comes down the stairs...

WIGAND:

That's it...

And it's quiet. And Liane holds herself, overcome...

LIANE:

(beat)

That's where our babies were born...

Debbie took her first steps, right

there...in the grass.

And they're quiet.

LIANE (CONT'D)

I didn't plan on this...

Liane looks at him, afraid. And as he moves to hold her.

WIGAND:

Hey, hey, hey, c'mon. C'mon. We can

make this work for us. Okay? It's

just...it's a smaller scale.

Simpler...easier...more time. More time

together. More time with the kids. More

time for us, okay? It's just... Can you

imagine me coming home from some job

feeling good at the end of the day? This

is gonna be better. This is gonna be

better.

And instead of this downturn turning them against each other,

it brings them closer together. And as they stand in the

empty house...

INT. THE WIGANDS' NEW HOUSE - DAY

We see unpacked boxes in the small 1970's kitchen. Country-

western music is playing on a radio. And we see Liane busily

putting things away in a cabinet. And, then, stops and looks

out the window. She tightens a knob on a cabinet. There's a

moment of domestic peace for her as she sees...

EXT. THE WIGANDS' NEW HOUSE, THE BACKYARD - DAY

Jeffrey with the Girls in a part of the backyard, kneeling in

the dirt, planting a vegetable garden, putting in some small

tomato trellises. We see the house, now. It's a small, one

story. Deborah sees her mom and waves. It's an image from

the 1950's post-war boom. Liane waves back from behind the

pane of glass...

INT. WIGANDS' HOUSE #2, BEDROOM - LATE NIGHT

Jeffrey's asleep on his side next to Liane, her back to him.

His arm is draped over her, protectively. There's a sound.

He turns. And he sees Barbara in her nightgown, standing in

the doorway...

WIGAND:

Hey, baby. What's wrong?

BARBARA:

(terrified, whispers)

What's that outside, Daddy?

WIGAND:

Did you see somebody or did you hear

them?

BARBARA:

I heard them.

WIGAND:

Where?

BARBARA:

In the backyard.

Fast, soundlessly, he's out of bed into old moccasins and

trousers...

INT. THE WIGANDS' HOUSE, BASEMENT - LATE NIGHT

Jeffrey goes into a corner of the basement, around the corner

from the furnace, where his "office" is now. Unpacked boxes

are on the floor. He fumbles with the combination lock on a

small gun safe, lifts the lid, taking out a hand gun.

Barbara followed him.

WIGAND:

Sit at Daddy's desk, okay? Why don't you

just sit up at the desk. Get out some

paper and draw me a picture, okay? What

are you gonna draw me, baby? An animal,

something like that? You stay down here

until Daddy gets back...alright, Barbara?

You stay down here.

He keeps it hidden from Barbara. He goes up the stairs.

EXT. WIGANDS' HOUSE #2, BACKYARD - LATE NIGHT

It's still. He steps further out onto the lawn with its dark

shrubs and small tree in the corner.

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