Witness Page #4

---

CUT TO:

BENCH:

Little Samuel watching Book, back to crowd of police,

as Book questions an old black CUSTODIAN.

BOOK:

You found the body?

CUSTODIAN:

Uh uh. Not me, daddy,

I just reported it. It was

the kid.

BOOK:

What kid?

30 CONTINUED:30

CUSTODIAN:

How'n hell do I know what kid?

The kid in the funny black

threads.

TIGHT SHOT - SAMUEL

Worry-eyed, still staring straight ahead. Then his

eyes move suddenly to his left.

BOOK'S LEGS - SAMUEL'S POV

coming in at full stride, then stopping.

SAMUEL:

He doesn't raise his eyes...just looks at the legs.

And, slowly, the legs begin to bend at the knees. We

see Book ' s belt buckle, then his big pistol in its

holster, then his face. He stares at Samuel for a

moment, then...

ANGLE - BOOK

as his face breaks into a big grin, and...

BOOK:

Hi, kid.

RACHEL:

immediately alarmed, intervening.

RACHEL:

What do you

want of my son?

THE SCENE:

as Book takes out his wallet, displays his shield.

BOOK:

I'm a police officer. I'm going

to have to talk to the boy.

What's his name?

RACHEL:

Samuel. Samuel Lapp.

30 CONTINUED 30

RACHEL:

then, quickly)

But what happened here is none of

his affair. My sister is expect-

ing me . . . our train is leaving

soon.

BOOK:

There'll be another train.

(turns to Samuel)

The man who was killed tonight was a policeman,

Sam. It's my job to find out who did it.

I want you to tell me everything you

saw when you went in there.

SAMUEL:

(stammers)

I saw him.

BOOK:

Who'd you see?

Sam looks at his mother.

BOOK (CONT'D)

Who'd you see, Sam? The man on

the floor?

SAMUEL:

No . . . I saw the man who killed

him.

Book stares at him in surprise, speaks over his shoulder

to Carter.

BOOK:

Anybody know about this?

CARTER:

I didn't even know about it.

BOOK:

(back to Sam)

Okay, Sam. Can you tell me what

he looked like?

SAMUEL:

(groping, touching his

clothes and pointing at Carter)

He was . . . like him.

BOOK:

(nods)

Black . . . I understand. What

else, Sam?

A beat, then Sam crosses quickly to Carter, Book's rather slightly built partner:

SAMUEL:

Not Zwartich, like him -

Book frowns, puzzled:

BOOK:

Try that one again, Sam -

Samuel gives his mother a helpless look; exasperated,

Rachel intervenes with Book. She glances at Carter:

RACHEL:

May I talk to you?

ANGLE:

As Rachel takes Book aside, and in a low voice:

RACHEL (CONT'D)

Zwartich . . It's the way we say

. . . dwarf.

(glances at Carter)

Not like him . . . very big.

Book nods, starts to turn back to Sam. Just then a

commotion o.s. catches his attention.

31 OMITTED 31

31A BOOK'S P0V - ONCOMING COPS31A

It's Capt. TERRY DONAHUE, Chief of Homicide, striding

past the crowd of journalists and TV crews . .. brushing

off reporters' questions and snapping orders to the

aides he's got in tow:

BACK To SCENE

As Donahue comes on Book:

DONAHUE:

(to aides)

Close it all down . . . I want a man

on every exit . . . I want the lab in here

now !

(to Book)

And I want to talk to you, Captain.

ANGLE:

As Book steps aside with Donahue . . . In the b.g.

Rachel moves protectively to Samuel's side.

BOOK:

All right, talk.

DONOHUE:

This is homicide - not Internal

Affairs! So why are you behaving like

you own this case?

BOOK:

We were running Zenovitch . . .

That's all I can tell you. But

I want it, Terry.

(then)

I've got a call into Schaeffer.

RACHEL/SAMUEL

They can't help but watch the confrontation between

Donahue and Book . . . although they're keeping the

volume down, it's obviously intense and angry:

Rate this script:4.0 / 1 vote