The Public Eye Page #13

SAL:

Whoops... Anyway, Portifino's such a

half-wit he figures with the middle-

man dead he's free to sell the stamps

to somebody else. By this time, he's

met Farinelli, so he goes to him.

Never mentions Spoleto. The a**hole.

He signed his death warrant. End of

story.

He throws up his hands with finality, gets out of the chair.

BERNZY:

Wait a second. Didn't they lose the

source? The inside man?

SAL:

They tortured him first, got the

name of the source.

BERNZY:

Who's they? Who killed him?

SAL:

Who knows. Everybody was after this

guy.

BERNZY:

Who killed him?

SAL:

Farinelli.

Bernzy paces, cogitates.

BERNZY:

So Farinelli gets the name and kills

him. Which means Spoleto doesn't

know the name till you tell him.

Sal goes to the ice-box. He blinks nervously.

SAL:

Yeah, I guess so.

BERNZY:

Gee, Sal:
isn't Farinelli gonna be

upset about that?

SAL:

(getting a bottle

opener from the drawer)

Who knows?

Bernzy reaches into his pocket, takes another print of Sal,

tosses it into the drawer.

BERNZY:

'Who knows'? You're not stupid. What's

Spoleto gonna do to protect you?

Sal snatches the picture from the drawer, stuffs it in his

pocket.

Bernzy takes out another print, wedges it between the salt

and pepper shakers.

BERNZY:

What's Spoleto gonna do?

SAL:

(snatching up the

photo)

Would you stop?! I told you what I

know.

Bernzy drops a print to the floor.

Sal is about to retrieve it, but sees it's futile. Bernzy is

already holding another print.

BERNZY:

Is Spoleto gonna assassinate

Farinelli? Is that it?

SAL:

(softly, resigned)

No. It's worse. Much worse.

BERNZY:

Tell me, Sal.

Sal sinks back into the kitchen chair, drops his face into

his hands.

BERNZY:

Tell me.

Bernzy flips another print; it flutters to the floor, lands

at Sal's feet, where he stares down, head in hands.

Sal mutters two words into his hands. We don't hear them,

they're lost...

But Bernzy seems to hear them. His face grows keen.

BERNZY:

What?

Sal looks up angrily, filled with self-disgust.

SAL:

A massacre, you son of a b*tch, a

massacre! Spoleto's gonna wipe out

Farinelli's whole gang -- all my

paesan -- and I'm gonna tell him

where and when.

Bernzy stares at Sal with astonishment as he slowly takes a

seat across from him. He is silent. This is more than he

bargained for. Eventually he speaks, quietly.

BERNZY:

I need to know where and when too,

Sal. You're gonna tell me where and

when too, okay?

SAL:

(disbelieving)

Whaddo you wanna know for? If you're

thinkin of goin' to the Feds, they

just wanna cover this up.

Bernzy is thinking. Sal shouts.

SAL:

Whadda you wanna know for?!

Bernzy looks up. A beat. Then:

BERNZY:

I wanna take some pictures.

CUT TO:

INT. BERNZY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Bernzy is hunched over his portable typewriter, pecking away.

He pulls the page out of the matchine -- a single-spaced

letter -- and reads it, mumbling and pacing.

He sits back at the desk, signs the letter, takes up an

envelope (beneath which Kay's photo still lies on the desk),

puts the letter inside, and seals it. On the envelope he

writes:
MR. ARTHUR NABLER, BEEKMAN APARTMENTS, then TO BE

OPENED IN THE --

At which point the telephone rings.

BERNZY:

H'lo?

(he listens)

Awright, don't move: I'm coming.

CUT TO:

INT. KAY'S HOUSE - NIGHT

Kay, in a bathrobe, visibly shaken, opens the door, and Bernzy

comes in. He takes her by the arms.

BERNZY:

What happened? What'd he do?

He backs her deeper into the foyer, back toward the imposing

staircase.

KAY:

He was here with three men... thugs...

and he kept asking --

He eases her onto the stairs, where they sit --

KAY:

-- "Who's the source, Kay? Who's the

inside man?"

BERNZY:

Did he hit you?

KAY:

(she shakes her head)

He says that comes next time.

BERNZY:

It's bullshit. He knows the name.

Sal told him. He just wants to know

if you know. You're trouble if you

know... You don't know, right?

KAY:

No! I didn't even know what he was

talking about!

BERNZY:

(penitent)

I know, I know, I didn't mean that...

Lou had no right t'do this thing to

you. He didn't deserve you. He didn't

know what he had -- he didn't --

Bernzy draws up short when he realizes what he's saying,

what boundary he's crossed. A beat. He clear his throat.

He digs in his pocket and takes out the picture of the gray

eminence on Spoleto's porch.

BERNZY:

Know this guy?

KAY:

Thatcher White. He comes to the club.

He's a big lawyer in Washington.

BERNZY:

He was the Governor of Philadelphia.

He had cabinet posts in two Republican

administrations. He has an honorary

post at the Office of Price

Administration.

KAY:

(joking)

He my partner, too?

When Bernzy says nothing -- merely puts the picture away --

she realizes it's true, realizes how big this thing is.

KAY:

(frightened)

My God.

BERNZY:

Don't worry about it. They're finished

when I get the pictures. They're all

a bunch of bums when I get the

pictures.

KAY:

Pictures of what, Bernzy?

CUT TO:

INT. MOVIE HOUSE - NIGHT

OPEN ON the screen, which shows a newsreel about the War

effort. It is strong stuff -- Nazis on the march, smudge-

faced G.I.'s in foxholes, coffins of Americans, draped with

the flag.

Bernzy sits alone in the giant movie house -- but he looks

anxiously up the aisle -- expecting somebody.

The newsreel concludes with a fervent pitch for fuel

conservation:
"Remember, every gallon you save could mean

the life of a boy Over There."

As the cartoon comes on, Sal slinks into the theatre, takes

the seat next to Bernzy's.

SAL:

Farinelli takes all the boys to dinner

every so often. He's takin' us Friday.

That's when he's hit.

BERNZY:

Where? What time?

SAL:

Dinner's at eight. I get up to take

a leak at 8:
15. Spoleto's men come

in a minute later.

BERNZY:

Where?

SAL:

I don't know where, yet. We never

do. He always calls us around 6:30,

the day of the dinner.

(with bitter irony)

F'r safety... It's usually some little

family place or other. In Little

Italy.

BERNZY:

(wincing)

Fam'ly?

SAL:

Don't worry. He takes the whole place

over f'r the night.

BERNZY:

Call me as soon as you hear on Friday.

Even before you call Spoleto.

SAL:

(shaking his head)

Spoleto's lieutenant's gonna be with

me when the call comes. But he'll

leave right after. Then I call you.

BERNZY:

Don't fail me, Sal.

We see the cartoon on the screen: some creature gets blown

up with dynamite, or has a safe fall on his head.

CUT TO:

INT. BERNZY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

We are on the door as Bernzy's key scratches in the lock. He

comes in, wearily, closes the door behind him. He is startled

when he hears a voice behind him.

VOICE:

H'lo, Bernzy.

Bernzy swings around, startled.

A figure sits in the darkness, at Bernzy's desk. He switches

on the light. It's Arthur Nabler.

NABLER:

I came to apologize for the other

night.

Bernzy looks at his desk: Nabler's hat sits over the spot

where the letter is (or was) lying.

NABLER:

The crazy thing is, I'm in love with

Miss Hixon.

BERNZY:

Yeah. I kinda figured... You didn't

by any chance --

Nabler lifts his hat off the envelope: it's torn open, now.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes