[LtBroccoli]

Lake Hiawatha



A Screenplay by Lt. Broccoli

Author’s Note:  This story is fictional.  All persons and places are made up.  The events did not take place, nor ever take place in this world.  This story contains descriptions of rape, violence, bigotry, going to church, forced cannibalism, drug use, and sexual violence involving minors.  The author does not condone any of those activities.  Any and all sexual activity taking place in this story was performed by actors over the age of 18.

This story is a continuation of the Harbor City Universe and features many characters and events that take place in other stories.  Please see my page in the Author’s section for links to those stories.  They are not required reading but do illuminate the backstory.

This story was written in a screenplay format and was modified for viewing on this forum.  It is also very long.  This will be split into several parts to facilitate ease of reading and the 10,000 word limit per post.

Many of the acts depicted in this story could land yo ass in prison.  Don’t fucking do’em!



Part 1
Fade In:

EXT. GEORGE’S BACKYARD  - DAY
In a suburban backyard, a barbecue takes place. Several young children run around playing in the yard. Older children and teens hang around another picnic table. About a dozen men and women sit around another table under a sunshade.

Manning the grill is GEORGE LEWIS, a bald white man in his late 40’s with a little bit of a gut. He’s dressed in a pale blue polo shirt, cargo shorts, running shoes, and blue and green Harbor City Whalers ball cap. George throws a couple meatless burger patties on the side of the grill.

Walking over to the grill carrying two beers is XAVIER HARRISON. Xavier is a large black man, easily standing 6’4” and could be confused for a football lineman. Xavier wears a green polo shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Xavier hands George a beer and takes a look at the grill.

XAVIER
(shouting)
What’s that?

GEORGE
Veggie patties.

XAVIER
(shouting)

Who’s the veg head?

GEORGE
I don’t know, this many people there’s bound to be one.

George takes a sip of beer.

GEORGE
When you getting that hearing aid?

Xavier looked at George for a moment, making sure he heard him right.

XAVIER
(shouting)
Hearing aid? Another week or two. What, don’t like a large black man yelling at you all the time?

George and Xavier laugh. They each have a sip of beer.

XAVIER
(shouting)
Thanks for inviting us.

GEORGE
No problem, dude. Glad you guys could come.

George looks over at the table under the sunshade and sees his wife, LIZ LEWIS, a white woman in her mid-40’s with brown hair and glasses. She’s dressed in yoga pants and a t-shirt with a funny graphic about cats on it.

Next to Liz at the table sits SERENA HARRISON, a good looking younger black woman in her mid-20’s. She’s similarly dressed in yoga pants and a t-shirt. Her shoulder length hair is tied back with a scrunchee. As Liz and Serena chat, a little black girl about 4 years old, TATIANA HARRISON, runs over to them. The little girl says something to Serena. She grabs the little girl’s hand and gets up, walking to the house.

Xavier takes a hard look at Serena’s ass as she walks near them.

XAVIER
(shouting)
Thank God for yoga pants.

Serena shakes her head.

SERENA
You’re loud enough to wake the dead.

TATIANA
I gotta pee, Mommy.

XAVIER
(shouting)
Love ya, babe.

Serena and Tatiana walk into the house. George laughs. Xavier turns back to George at the grill.

XAVIER
(shouting)
How long you think on the burgers?

GEORGE
I don’t know, first batch will be ready in about 10 minutes.  You can wait.

Xavier looks around the yard, sipping his beer.

I/E. CARLY’S CAR - DAY

CARLY GRASPPER, A young brunette woman with blue eyes drives a late model silver Toyota Camry.  She’s looking through the windshield, trying to find an address.  Beside her in the passenger seat sits DEREK BOGGS.  They’re driving through a residential area, in what looks like a nice suburb.

DEREK
Y’know, you could’ve used GPS.

CARLY
No, I couldn’t.

DEREK
Bullshit, you gotta smartphone.

CARLY
It’s not that.

The car comes to a stop sign.  Next to it is a street sign.  One direction says Terrace View Drive, the other direction says Terrace View Court.  Carly hits the turn signal and turns the car right onto Terrace View Court.

DEREK
Then what?

Carly turns to look at Derek briefly before putting her eyes back on the road.  Derek is a good-looking man with short, dirty blonde hair.  His blue eyes are concealed by aviator sunglasses.  Derek is rocking the couple-day stubble and a ‘Harbor City Whalers’ blue and green hoodie.  His light blue jeans and white sneakers cap off the ensemble.

CARLY
It’s just, it’s complicated.

DEREK
Well, care to make it uncomplicated?

CARLY
I’m new here.  Not just at work, but to this city, this town, everything here.  I just moved down her last week.  I don’t know anything about Harbor City, but now, now I have to know everything.

DEREK
So...

CARLY
So, that’s why I’m not using my GPS.  Could I get to George’s place without thinking?  Yes, about twenty minutes ago.  But I need to get a feel for this city, and you know what the best way is to get that feel?

DEREK
Get lost on the way to a barbecue?

Carly turned to Derek and glared at him, then back at the road.

CARLY
It’s to explore.

DEREK
That’s a fancy word for getting lost, right?

CARLY
If we’re so lost, then what’s that?

Carly pointed to a nice post-colonial looking house with the address 1066 Terrace View Court.  Several cars filled the driveway and parked in front of the house, including a couple unmarked Ford Police Explorers.

DEREK
Drug deal gone bad?  George brought work home with him?

CARLY
It’s the right place.

EXT. GEORGE’S FRONT YARD - DAY

Carly parks her car on the street behind a newer SUV.  The two get out of the car and walk toward the house.  Derek lets Carly take a step ahead, partly because he’s her plus one, and partly to check her out.

Carly’s long, brunette hair is straight, pulled back into a ponytail.  She’s petite, maybe 5’ on a good day.  She’s dressed in a pair of jean shorts that end right at the top of her pale legs.  She wears a green and yellow ‘Humdinger Hornets’ hoodie.  Black and white checkered Vans adorn her feet.  Her purse is a little larger than one might expect for a young girl.

Derek pulls his eyes off her legs when she catches him checking her out.  She stops and stares at him until he looks up.  He knows he’s busted.  She shakes her head and laughs as they keep walking.

EXT. GEORGE’S BACKYARD - DAY

Carly and Derek circle the house, and are greeted by the smell of food grilling.  George and Xavier stand by the grill.

XAVIER
(shouting)
Oh, shit, look who’s here!

George turns, seeing Carly and Derek.

GEORGE
Welcome, drinks are in the fridge, help yourself.  X, can you get me two clean plates?

XAVIER
(shouting)
Sure, send the black guy to go do kitchen work.

GEORGE
(laughing)
Dude, shut the fuck up and get some plates.

XAVIER
Yes massa.

GEORGE
Mother fucker.

George keeps his eye on the grill as STEVEN, one of George’s neighbors come over.  Steve is a middle-aged man, dressed like he just came from the golf course.  George looks up and sees him stop on the other side of the grill.

STEVEN
Everything okay?

GEORGE
Yeah, everything’s fine.  What’s up?

Before Steven can say anything, Xavier returns with the plates in one hand.  Behind him, Derek and Carly emerge from the kitchen, both with bottles of beer in hand.  Steven looks at the three, but his attention goes to Carly, the very young looking woman drinking a beer.

STEVEN
Umm, is she old enough to drink?

George looks to Carly and smiles.

GEORGE
Hey Carly, Justice Jones would like to see some ID.

CARLY
Really, I’m getting carded at your barbecue?

Carly shakes her head, and pulls a wallet out of her purse.  She opens it and flashes the contents in front of Steven’s face.  His eyes go wide.

It’s a police badge.

GEORGE
Justice Steven Jones, let me introduce you to Officer Carly Graspper, Chester County Police Department.  She’s one of my two newbs.  Just transferred down from Humdinger with the new Chief.

Carly put her badge back in her purse and extended her hand.

CARLY
Please to meet you, Justice.

Steven grabs her hand and shakes it.

STEVEN
Oh, please, call me Steve while we’re here.  I, I’m sorry, I didn’t know.

CARLY
It’s okay.  When I met George, he thought I was 12.

GEORGE
She took down that psycho Marine on the train earlier this week by herself.  Derek there is from rail, helped her bring him in.

Steven was shocked, but in a good way.

STEVEN
Impressive.  Is Derek the other new member of your unit?

George shook his head.

GEORGE
No, that would be Black Mountain standing next to me.

Xavier looked quizocally for a moment, then put the plates and his beer down.  He extended his hand to Steven.

XAVIER
(shouting)
Officer Xavier Harrison.  Good to meet you, sir.

Steven jumped back a bit, scared a little by the large screaming black man in front of him.

STEVEN
Likewise.  If you don’t mind me asking, what’s with the yelling?

Xavier squinted at the judge, then looked at George.  George cupped his hand and quickly tapped it over his own ear twice.  Xavier nodded.

XAVIER
(shouting)
A little deaf, sir.  Flashbang went off next to my ear a couple months back, right ear’s been kinda messed up ever since.  Should be getting a hearing aid soon.

STEVEN
(shouting)
Okay!  Good to meet you, son.  We’ll catch up soon.

Xavier and Steven stop shaking hands.  Steven walks back to the table with most of the adults around it.

EXT. GEORGE'S BACKYARD - DAY INTO NIGHT

Time passes.  Dinner is served, everyone has a good time, little kids run around, the older kids hang out.  George introduces Carly and Derek to the crowds.  The high school boys hit on Carly, but she shoots them down. 

It’s getting dark, and one by one more and more people leave until only a handful remain.  George, Liz, Xavier, Tatiana, Serena, Carly, Derek, and five more kids.

Caleb is a 16-year-old boy and George and Liz’s oldest.  He’s about George’s height at 5’9”, but has dark hair like Liz.  He’s in very good shape for his size.  He’s laid back, usually sticking around the edge of the conversation, waiting to say something.  He’s wearing gym shorts, Nike Air Jordan’s, and a black hoodie with a small Nike logo on it.

Charlotte, or Carly for short, is a 10-year-old girl with long red hair and brown eyes.  She is George and Liz’s youngest.  She’s just a hair under 5 feet tall.  She has a precocious air to her, paying attention to everything around her.  She’s wearing a pink zip-up hoodie, gray jeggings, and a pair of white sneakers.

Jenny is 14, with dirty blonde hair that’s more brown in the colder months.  She has braces and blue eyes.  She’s really pretty when she smiles and is growing into a beautiful young woman.  She was wearing shorts and a tank top that showed off her well-developing breasts until she threw on a blue sweatshirt.

Vincent is 13 and is George’s nephew.  He has a head full of light brown hair and blue eyes.  He’s tall for his age, already standing more than 6’ tall.  He’s gangly, like he’d be the right height for his weight if he were a foot shorter.  Like Caleb, he’s wearing shorts and a hoodie with a pair of Nike Air Jordans.

Emma is 6, a pretty little blonde girl with blue eyes like her brother Vincent.  She is George’s niece.  She’s a head shorter than Charlotte, but dressed similarly in light grey jeggings, a t-shirt, and a pink jacket.

When everyone else has left, the group take the party inside.

INT. GEORGE’S DINING ROOM - NIGHT

A large dining room table extends off of the kitchen.  The walls of the room are warm earth tones.  A china hutch sits in one corner.  Several portraits adorn the wall.  Most of them are of the family in holiday portraits or of the children from picture day.  There’s a couple pictures of George and Liz from their wedding day, and baby pictures of Caleb, Carly, Vincent and Jenny.  Next to the pictures of Vincent and Jenny are a couple pictures of George and his family at a wedding on a beach.  All of the men are wearing light, short sleeved beach shirts and chinos.  The woman in the picture looks a lot like George, but with light brown hair that has been kissed by the sun.  In the pictures, she is very, very pregnant.  Her husband is a tall, lanky man that is obviously Vincent’s dad.  One group picture shows George standing in the spot normally reserved for the father of the bride.

George, Xavier, Carly, and Derek sit around an oval, dark wood table.  In the background, Liz and Serena talk in the kitchen, each holding a drink.  Liz has a glass of wine while Serena holds a hard seltzer.  The kids can be heard from the adjacent living room watching a movie.

George sits at the ‘head’ of the table, with Xavier to his right.  On George’s left sits Carly, with Derek right next to her.  The cops sit around the table, telling war stories.

CARLY
So, I had just started a shift on my new team.  I was assigned to catch child molesters in the park.  They picked me because, well...

GEORGE
You look like a kiddie fucker’s wet dream?

CARLY
I wouldn’t put it THAT way, but yes.  When dressed the right way, I look very young.  There was a rash of attacks and abductions in Humdinger and they needed someone to go undercover.  I was volunteered for the job.  I’m on the job less than a week and we get a big break.

Carly takes a sip of beer before continuing.

CARLY
I bust a perp who was trying to pull me into the woods for a little private time.  We bust him.  While he’s in the box, some very high-priced lawyer shows up.  Like, this guy couldn’t count high enough to pay the retainer.  Something was fishy, so he leaves but we put a tail on him.  We track him back to some swanky hotel.  We bring him back in a couple days later when he tries another move in the park.  Son of a bitch didn’t learn his lesson.  By this point, we have that hotel under surveillance.  He never goes back.  Once he gets bailed out, same lawyer, we find him the next day floating in the river.  Turns out the hotel was ground operations for a pedophile slave ring, and this guy was one of their recruiters.  I get used as bait to get in, and as soon as I’m in the club, the officers downstairs do their raid.  Big problem though, I’m buck-ass naked.

DEREK
What?!

CARLY
Yeah, naked as the day I was born.  They stripped me and were getting ready to do whatever the hell they were gonna do when the alarms go off.  I have to fight my way out, disarm two guards, and run through the hallways looking for the mastermind of this whole operation.  And, like I said, I’m naked.  Not like I could hide a gun anywhere.

GEORGE
How in the fuck did this happen?!  That’s like every OpSec rule gone right out the window.

CARLY
It gets better.  I find the woman leading this whole job.  It’s the mayor’s Chief of Staff.  And he was in on the whole thing.

XAVIER
(shouting)
No fucking way!

CARLY
Way.  That’s why we moved down here.  Do you have any clue how many bridges you burn when you bust the Mayor balls-deep in a 13-year-old boy on the eve of announcing his bid for Governor?  Even with all the evidence in the world, there were so many of his allies that were going to make life a living Hell for us.  So, when Captain Cartier accepted the position in CCPD of Deputy Chief, he asked me if I wanted to join him.  My bags were packed before he finished the sentence.

XAVIER
(shouting)
Damn!  What about you, Derek?  Any good stories from life on the T?

Derek takes a drink of his beer.

DEREK
Nothing like that.  Most of what I see on transit are drunks on the bus, crazy people off their meds, or the occasional flasher.  That ex-Marine was one of our biggest cases of the year, just glad it was Carly he went after.  Gotta be honest, never saw a pussy judo flip before.

CARLY
Well, it had the virtue of having never been tried.

GEORGE
They teach that move down at Parris Island, X?

XAVIER
(shouting)
No, sir, they do not teach pussy fu at Basic. 

Xavier takes a drink, then looks at George with a little more focus.

XAVIER
I gotta ask.  How did you know I was a Marine when you first met me?  I never told you but you somehow knew.

George took a sip of his glass of red wine.  Just as he’s about to speak, he takes another sip.

GEORGE
Well, you carried yourself like ex-military.  That’s pretty obvious, most cops are ex-military nowadays but SWAT is almost exclusively ex-Special Ops.  You weren’t round around the middle or bitching about hemorrhoids, so that hat ruled out Air Force.  You didn’t introduce yourself as Seal, so that ruled out Navy.  That left Rangers or Marines.  I thought Rangers for a minute, but I caught a brief glimpse of your necklace.  Although, calling a HOG’s Tooth a necklace doesn’t do it justice.

CARLY
A what?

Xavier pulled a small green string out of his shirt.  Hanging on the string was a bullet, pulled out of the casing.

XAVIER
(shouting)
HOG’s Tooth.  They say...

Xavier takes a drink and then adjusts to his inside voice.

XAVIER
They say that every sniper has a bullet with their name on it.  This one here says Xavier Harrison.  I took mine in Fallujah.  He was 150 yards out when I found him.  One of us wasn’t going home that day, and I made damn sure it was him.  Squad I was overwatch for found him with an extra hole in his scope and eye.  Last thing he saw was a 7.62 round up close and personal.  The HOG stands for Hunter of Gunmen.

GEORGE
After seeing that, and how you have a photographic memory and are better at judging distances than any man has a right to, that meant sniper, and a damn good one.  By process of elimination, I figured Marines.  But one question.  Were you going up against Star Wars stormtroopers?  How in the fuck did they not hit yo’ giant ass?

George and Xavier laugh.

CARLY
Okay, we’ve told our stories, George.  What about you?  What’s your big case?

GEORGE
We don’t need to go there.  It’s kind of a long story.

CARLY
C’mon.  I told you how I was naked and arrested the Mayor.  Least you can do is tell us about one of your cases.

GEORGE
They’re all kind of fucked up, and I’m not nearly drunk enough.

DEREK
Has to be better than Martha the Lizard Queen holding a bus driver hostage with an epipen.

GEORGE
Well, there is a case X and I are working on, if it’s what we think it is, it could be the biggest of my career, could account for a couple hundred attacks over the last decade.  It’s-

George is cut off when the front door of the house opens.  Kids yell from the Living Room.

EMMA (O.S.)
Mom!

ANGIE (O.S)
Hey!

CHUCK (O.S)
What, no love?

JENNY (O.S)
Hey Dad.

ANGIE and CHUCK HARTMAN enter the Dining Room.  They are the couple from the beach wedding.  Angie is a very good looking woman with brown hair with blonde highlights and blue eyes.  She’s about 5’7” tall with a figure that doesn’t quit.  She’s dressed in a little black cocktail dress.

Her husband Chuck stands well over 6 feet tall.  His hair is short and gray, along with his beard.  He looks out of place wearing a suit and tie.

Emma follows her parents into the Dining Room.  George stands up and hugs Angie.

GEORGE
You’re looking good tonight.  I didn’t know we had a dress code.

ANGIE
Hey bud.  How many you have?

GEORGE
Just a few, you?

ANGIE
Same.

GEORGE
Hey Chuck.

CHUCK
Sup.  How were the kids?

GEORGE
They were amazing.  Emma tried to perform surgery on the neighbor’s dog, now they have a cat.

EMMA
DAD!  Uncle George is fibbing!

CHUCK
You sure about that?

Emma gives her dad a dirty look, then he smiles and hugs her.

CHUCK
I’mma get a drink, you want one hun?

ANGIE
Some wine.

Chuck enters the kitchen, Emma dragging along on him.

GEORGE
What’s the occasion?

ANGIE
Work thing for Chuck.  One of his clients had some big party.  Was a lot of fun, great chance to get out.  What about you guys?

Angie grabs a chair and pulls it up to the table, in between Carly and George’s seats.  Carly squeezes back, letting her in.

GEORGE
Oh, you know, just shooting the shit.  Work stories.

ANGIE
All cops?

GEORGE
Yep.

George turns to the people around the table.

GEORGE
Everyone, this is my cousin Angie, might as well be my sister.  Angie, this is everyone.  The tall lanky guy is her husband Chuck.

ANGIE
Hi.

CARLY
I’m Carly, Carly Graspper.  Just started working with George.

Angie and Carly shake hands.

ANGIE
Good to meet you.

DEREK
Derek Boggs, Transit Police.

ANGIE
Hello.

Derek and Angie shake quickly.

XAVIER
(shouting)
Xavier Harrison, I’m George’s new partner.  Sorry, little deaf.

Angie jumped back, then laughed and shook his hand.

ANGIE
Good to meet you.

Chuck returned to the Dining Room, carrying a glass of red wine for Angie and a beer for himself.

CHUCK
Here ya go.

ANGIE
Thanks.  It’s a porkfest.

Chuck’s eyes looked around the table, catching the reference.

CHUCK
Okay.  I’ll be in the kitchen talking with Liz.

Chuck leaves the room, keeping his eyes on everyone at the table.  Angie gives him a smile, letting him know she’ll be okay.

ANGIE
Sorry, he gets weirded out when he’s in a roomful of cops.  Brings back bad memories.

DEREK
What kind of memories?

GEORGE
He grew up in Veneto.

DEREK
Ah, okay.

Xavier nods in understanding.  Carly looks confused.

CARLY
Veneto?

DEREK
It’s um, uh, it’s...

XAVIER
(shouting)
It’s one of the roughest ghettos in Harbor City.  Pretty rough place for a white boy to grow up.

CARLY
Wait, go back, you’re cousins, but her kids call you Uncle George?

GEORGE
It’s, a bit of a long story.

CARLY
What’s the short version?

George takes a sip of wine.

GEORGE
Short version, we’re both only children who grew up a block away from each other.  Both of our families were, let’s just say-

ANGIE
Pieces of shit.

GEORGE
Yeah, pieces of shit.  Her dad and my dad were brothers, Grandma was an abusive narcissist and they picked up on her tricks.  They continued the cycle until they both joined a religious cult in the 90’s, dragged our families into it.  We both got away, but they shunned us.  We had to rely on each other to survive and pretty much the only blood family either of us has left.

XAVIER
(shouting)
Is that why you studied that Dark Triad thing?

GEORGE
It started as that, but expanded from there.  Part of me thought if I could figure out how a sociopath thinks, I could figure out my parents.  Instead, I learned how to put bad guys in prison and left them to rot in their own mess.

George takes a sip of wine.

GEORGE
So, Ang, how was the party?

ANGIE
It was great.  I met some new people there, including Chuck’s GC.

CARLY
GC?

ANGIE
General Contractor.  We own Hartman Construction, and we’re on a big job right now.  You ever heard of Pharma?  They’re a pharmaceutical company out of Australia.  They’re building their new North American HQ here in Harbor City, and we have the contract for everything happening below ground.

CARLY
Everything?

ANGIE
Everything.  Sewage, foundation, electrical conduits, all of it.  Really big contract.  Tonight I met some of his co-workers like the General Contractor, some guy named James.  He’s an Aussie, wasn’t as big of a dick as described but Chuck said he’s an acquired taste.  They started talking about Bo- a mutual friend of theirs.

GEORGE
Mutual friend?  I already don’t like him.

Angie shakes her head, then takes another sip of wine.

ANGIE
It’s not like that.  I don’t think.  They were talking about holidays on the lake.  Which, by the way, he said we can use any of the lake houses at any time.  We could all stay for the weekend.

George gives his cousin a look that could kill.

GEORGE
You know how I feel about him.

ANGIE
C’mon, the kids would love to spend the weekend up there.  My kids would love to have their cousins come up to visit their Uncle Bob.

GEORGE
I don’t trust that son of a bitch as far as I could throw him, I don’t care how many lake houses he has now.

XAVIER
(shouting)
Oh, hol up, is this the Asshole up by the lake?

ANGIE
You’ve already told your partner about what happened?

GEORGE
No.  Just that there’s an asshole I don’t like up by Lake Hiawatha.

ANGIE
It’s been a long time, can’t you let this go?

GEORGE
No.  Not really.

ANGIE
I’ve forgiven him, and he hurt me a Hell of a lot more than he hurt you.

GEORGE
I should’ve been there to keep that from happening in the first place.

ANGIE
Seriously?  You hate him because you couldn’t protect me?  You hate him because he’s my ex?

GEORGE
No.  I hate him because he’s a liar, a thief, a rapist, and a murderer.  The fact that he’s your ex-husband is just icing on the hate cake.

ANGIE
What about Chuck?

GEORGE
What about him?

ANGIE
You don’t hate him like that.  He did the same shit that Bob did, but you don’t hate Chuck.

GEORGE
Chuck’s a good husband and an even better father.  You straightened his ass out.  If you hadn’t, I’da shot him myself.

The other three cops at the table are staring mouths agape at what they’re seeing.

CARLY
Okay, you need to tell us what’s going on.

GEORGE
Sorry, it’s a long story, and I’m not nearly drunk enough to tell it.

Xavier gets up out of his seat and walks into the kitchen.

XAVIER (O.S)
(shouting)
Hey Liz, where the booze at?...George won’t tell a story unless he’s drunk...Yeah, some asshole named Bob.

George cringes, hearing X yell from the other side of the kitchen.

XAVIER (O.S)
(shouting)
Might need more wine, too.... Hi Chuck, I’m Xavier... What about Bob?...He’s your brother?...Yeah, I think George really hates him....What about that union?  Oh, shit, did you say First Union?...What’s that got to do with this?...Ask George.  Okay.  Thanks Chuck, thanks Liz, Luvya babe.

Xavier returns, carrying a bottle of wine, a bottle of scotch, and few rocks glasses.  He places the glasses on the table and pours a little into each glass before sitting down.

XAVIER
(shouting)
No more excuses George, we want a story.

George grabs the glass and takes a sip.  Everyone else at the table takes one as well.  George sighs in resignation.

GEORGE
Fine.  But like I said, it’s a long story.  The reason why I hate this guy named Bob so much ties into the biggest case of my career, involves Angie and a few friends, and by the time it was all said and done, had a casualty count well into the fifties.  It ruined any shot I had with the FBI, and buried any chance that Angie’s parents would ever speak to her again.

George takes a long sip of wine.

GEORGE
You want a story?  Here’s the story of how I helped take down First Union Holy Church.

INT. GEORGE’S KITCHEN - NIGHT
Liz and Serena stand in the kitchen as Chuck looks through the fridge for a beer.  He finds what he’s looking for and opens it, then takes up position in the kitchen across from Serena and Liz.

LIZ
How was the party?

CHUCK
Not bad.  Always feel weird at these fancy parties, like I’m pretending to be someone I’m not, y’know?

Liz nods.  Chuck takes a sip of his beer.  Liz turns to Serena

LIZ
Oh, Serena, this is Chuck.  He’s basically my brother-in-law.

CHUCK
Nice to meet you.

Chuck extends his hand to Serena.  She takes it and they shake.

SERENA
You too.

CHUCK
So what do you do?

SERENA
I’m a nurse.  You?

CHUCK
I’m in construction.  Wife and I run an excavation company, do pretty much anything involving dirt, shit, and rocks.  So what kind of nurse?

SERENA
ICU nurse.

CHUCK
Cool.

SERENA
You not hanging out with the other guys?

CHUCK
Nah, not a big fan of cops.  Besides, it sounds like they goaded him into telling a story.

LIZ
Which one?

CHUCK
The big one.

Liz shakes her head.  Serena looks puzzled.

SERENA
Wait, which story?

CHUCK
The First Union story.

SERENA
I’m sorry, you said First Union?  You mean-

CHUCK
Yep.  One in the same.

SERENA
Shit, I wanna hear this.

Serena makes her way over to the edge of the kitchen by the dining room so she can get a better vantage point.

INT. GEORGE'S DINING ROOM - NIGHT
George looks around the table at everyone’s faces.  X and Derek are shocked.  Carly is confused, and Angie is resigned to whats about to happen.  Serena is leaning against the doorway to the kitchen.  George waves her over.

GEORGE
Might as well pull up a seat, could be here for a while.

Serena grabs a chair and squeezes in next to Xavier.

XAVIER
You were on the First Union case?

George nods.

XAVIER
Fuck.

CARLY
Wait, what’s First Union?  It sounds like a bank.

XAVIER
Nah, it was a church.

ANGIE
More like a cult.  Take the worst aspects of Christianity, Scientology, and Jonestown, but without the good taste to commit suicide.

GEORGE
The story starts in 1995.  My part in this starts in 2003.  That’s where I pick things up, and I’ll flash back to previous events when I found out about them.  Everything I tell you tonight stays here.  I’m not proud of everything that happened.  I was either involved in everything directly, investigated it, spoke to those involved, or pieced things together.  There’s too many names to change, and those not already dead or in jail are dealing with their own demons.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT BULLPEN - DAY
The year is 2003.  A younger, fitter man with a head of red hair and a clean-shaven face enters the Detectives Bullpen.  It’s a series of desks where various police officers do their work.  The man in his late 20’s is wearing a dark suit with a white shirt and a blue tie.  This is a younger George Lewis.  He walks over to an office in the middle of the bullpen.  It has a glass door on it which reads Daniel Smith, Captain.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Back in 2003, I had just graduated with my PhD and was assigned to the Sex Crimes department.  I was transferred over from Homicide where I’d spent the previous year.  Before that, I was on Vice for a year.

George knocks on the door.  No answer.  A hand taps him on the shoulder, he turns.  There’s a light-skinned black woman with shoulder length hair standing behind him.  This is JANELLA JENKINS.

JANELLA
Excuse me, who are you and why are you looking for the Captain?

GEORGE
George Lewis, transfer from Homicide.  You?

George extends his hand and she takes it.  Her expression is blank as she reads him.

JANELLA
Janella Jenkins, Sex Crimes.  Welcome to the 9th Circle of Hell.  I’m your new partner.  C’mon, I’ll show you around.

Janella leads George around the office, checking out various places like the evidence area, files, and such.

XAVIER (V.O.)
Wait, Cappy was your partner?

GEORGE (V.O.)
X, shut up and let me tell the story.  Anyway, I worked with Janella on several cases, but no one really should ever want to work investigating pedophiles all day.

George is working on a computer, but a closer look shows that he’s actually browsing for a new job with the FBI.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I had just graduated with a Doctorate in Criminal Psychology, I was ready to move on with my career.  I’d applied to a few jobs in other fields, but at the time I really wanted to go to the FBI.  Even had an interview.  But then things started getting a little weird.

Time passes.  George and Janella are sitting at their desks across from each other, reviewing case files that were unloaded earlier in the day.  Janella is lost in concentration reading a file when George notices her ‘working face.’

GEORGE
You see something?

JANELLA
I swear I’ve read this report before.  Here, tell me if this sounds familiar.  “Hillside Police Department received an anonymous tip that a juvenile girl was molested and raped by clergy at a local church.  When officers arrived at the house of the alleged victim, the parents claimed that they never made any allegations.  Police declined to follow up further.”

Janella looked up and faced George.

GEORGE
That sounds very familiar.  Is that the same case file from last month?

JANELLA
No, last month’s file was a boy.  No, wait, last month was a boy and month before was a girl.

GEORGE
Three months straight with the same type of complaints that all went nowhere?  And that’s just what we’ve seen.

George gets up from his desk and heads to the file cabinet.  Janella follows him a step later.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Keep in mind, this was in 2003, back in the days of stone tablets and when dinosaurs ruled the Earth.  Most of our files were not digitized yet.

George starts flipping through the filing cabinet, looking for a group of files.  Janella looks over his shoulder.

JANELLA
What are you thinking?

GEORGE
This doesn’t make sense.  And neither does this filing system.  Is this by date, by precinct?  Here it is...

George pulls out a series of folders.  Case files from Hillside Police Department.  He holds about two dozen of them in his hands.

GEORGE
All the cases handed to us by Hillside PD for the last year.  Notice something unusual right off the bat?

JANELLA
Why are there so many?

GEORGE
Exactly.  Hillside is an Upper Middle Class to Upper Class neighborhood.  Hillside PD covers a few boroughs that range from slightly shitty to gated.  Even then, there’s only like 30,000 people in that town.  Why are there so many unresolved sex cases?

George takes the folders and the two of them sit back down.  George splits the pile in two.

JANELLA
We’re looking for other cases that fit this pattern?

GEORGE
Yep.  Anonymous claim of underage sexual assault by church members.

George and Janella skim through the files.  Out of the more than 2 dozen they looked through, 10 of them fit the pattern.  They put those ones to the side.

JANELLA
10.

GEORGE
That’s just the last year.

JANELLA
Not year, 6 months.  We don’t have any of those reports from early last year.  First claims came in shortly before Christmas last year and have been pretty steady ever since.

George sat back in his chair and did the math in his head.

GEORGE
So about every other week, our tipster is calling Hillside PD claiming that a priest diddled a kid.  No mention of the church in the report, but every time the officers showed up, the parents said ‘no, and go away.’  Was it the same cop for each visit or different ones?

JANELLA
Different ones.  You thinking they were spiked?

GEORGE
Not if they were all different reporting officers.  There’s something else here.  Feel like taking a drive?

George stood up and grabbed his keys, coat, and flip phone.  Janella grabbed her stuff and the pair left the bullpen.

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
George is driving an unmarked green 2002 Ford Crown Victoria police car.  Janella rode shotgun.  They’re driving through suburban areas.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We went on a drive to follow up on these reports.  I gotta say, I miss those Crown Vics.  The Explorers are nice, but those Crown Vics have a special place in my heart.

EXT. SUBURBAN FRONT YARDS - DAY
George and Janella visit ten different houses.  Most of them have no one at home.  The few that do have someone home tells them that they don’t know what they’re talking about.

At the next to last house, George and Janella walk down the driveway back to their car when George stops and notices a Lexus in the driveway with temporary tags on it.  He marks down the license plate before getting in the Crown Vic.

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
George starts the car but instead of pulling out, he enters the license plate of the Lexus in the squad car computer.

JANELLA
What are you thinking?

GEORGE
Something’s not right.  And not just the whole no one is home and those that are are telling us to politely fuck off.

The screen comes back, showing that the car was purchased by the owners of the house.  George went back through the previous address, pulling up the vehicles owned.

GEORGE
Hmm...

JANELLA
What Hmm?

GEORGE
Last house has a brand new Lexus, too.  Can you look up the last couple houses, see what cars they each own?  I’m gonna drive to the next house.  It’s on the edge of Hillside in one of the rougher parts of the town.  Used to be a trailer park.  Parts of it are being developed but not too fast.

George drove while Janella went through the computer, marking down her findings.

JANELLA
Well, your hunch was sort of right.  Every one of those families just bought a new car, but not all Lexuses. Or Lexi.  What’s the plural of Lexus?

GEORGE
Rich fucks?

JANELLA
There are a Rich Fucks of Lexus, but some houses had other vehicles.  Every one of them has a car or truck with temp tags or a new registry on it.

GEORGE
Don’t suppose it shows the dealer who sold the cars?

JANELLA
Nope.  You have a way of finding that out.

GEORGE
Probably.  We’re almost at the next house.

George drove the Crown Vic down a back road, stopping in front of a small group of trailer homes.  They stop in front of one trailer that is in pretty good condition for a double wide and has three cars parked in front of it.  Two of them are late model sedans in various stages of repair, and one of them is a newer Chevy Silverado 2500 Duramax.

GEORGE
We need that license plate number and the dealer.  What’s the plate frame say?

JANELLA
Batey Automotive Group.

GEORGE
Let’s circle back, I’ve got a feeling.

George revisited the houses they went to earlier, looking for the new cars.  Each of them either had a license plate frame or a decal from Batey Automotive Group on it.

JANELLA
You’re on to something, George.  What is it?

GEORGE
We have 10 houses that each had anonymous claims of child sex abuse, 10 sets of parents denying anything happened, and 10 households each with a brand new or new to them vehicle in the driveway, all from the same dealership.

JANELLA
You think they were bought off with the cars?

GEORGE
Maybe.  We’ll need to look at the financials, but the one that was the biggest red flag was that pickup.  That was a Silverado 2500.  Diesel.  That shit ain’t cheap.  $100 that truck is worth more than that trailer.  They could have possibly saved up or bought it for work, but that trailer screams shitty credit.  Plus, they had two other beaters in the driveway.  But we’ll see what the financials say.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT BULLPEN - DAY
Time passes.  George and Janella sit at their desks, looking over the financial records from the owners and their vehicles.

GEORGE (V.O.)
It took a few days and some convincing, but we were able to get some basic financial records.  We had the title and lien info from the DMV, and tax records from the owners.

GEORGE
This doesn’t add up.

JANELLA
What, 10 people each paying off their brand new cars free and clear 4 months after purchase doesn’t seem normal to you?

George glares at Janella as she mockingly smiles back.

GEORGE
The pickup driver’s truck costs more than he makes in a year, but the loan was paid off within 4 months.  A couple of them I could see this making sense, but look at some of these families.  Why buy a car and swallow that depreciation when they could lease and write it off?  Buying is a stupid financial move because the tax rules for leasing are better.  The people that could afford to buy them are smart enough not to, and the ones dumb enough to pay them off right away shouldn’t have the money.  And they were all financed through the same bank, Hillsdale Financial.

JANELLA
Lay out what you’ve got so far.

George leaned back for a moment, before leaning forward and reengaging Janella.

GEORGE
We’ve got some nasty priest diddling kids at a church.  He gets caught, makes a deal with the parents.  He’ll leave little Timmy or Tammy alone going forward and buy their silence with a new car.  Someone finds out about this deal and goes to the cops, but the parents are already bought off.  Someone from Batey signed the paperwork and worked with someone from Hillsdale to finalize the loans.  But why wait four months?

JANELLA
Finance deal or a spliff?

GEORGE
Huh?

JANELLA
If the dealer had some special going on where they could get financing bonuses, they don’t get paid on those if the loan gets paid too fast.  Last car we bought, dealer begged us to not pay off the loan before 3 months because of the special interest rates we got.  He made a couple grand that way.

GEORGE
So they wait for months and then pay off the loan, and pocket the money on the backend.  Hilldale pays off the loan, but who pays Hillsdale?

JANELLA
The church.

GEORGE
The church.  And there’s a strong likelihood that the person on the loans at Hillsdale and the one calling the shots at Batey on these deals go to that same church.

JANELLA
Good, now which church?

George and Janella each look through the tax records they have, seeing if anyone claimed any charitable deductions to a church.

GEORGE
No, no, no.  Here, got one.  That church is...

George’s voice trails off.  He stares at the tax form in front of him, his face going slack.

JANELLA
The church of?

GEORGE
FUHC.

JANELLA
The Church of Fuck?

GEORGE
No.  Well, yes.  Maybe.  F U H C.  First Union Holy Church.  And, yeah, fuck is right.

George shook his head.

JANELLA
What’s wrong?

GEORGE
Long story short, I used to go to that church.  My parents dragged me to that place at least twice a week every week until I was 16 and was old enough to be ‘too busy’ with work.  Fuck, I shoulda seen this coming.

JANELLA
Was it really that bad?

GEORGE
When I confronted my parents and told them I didn’t believe in their God anymore, they chose their cult over their only child.  We haven’t spoken more than a few words here and there in almost 5 years.  There’s hundreds of reasons why I’m an Atheist, but at the top of that list is the shit they pulled and taught.  They teach this thing called Prosperity Gospel.  It takes the worst elements of the Greed-is-Good 80’s and ties it in with the most hypocritical teachings from the Bible to convince their followers that Jesus wants them to be greedy, selfish, sloven, lust-filled fuckers and that anything they do is okay because they’ve already been saved, as long as they keep paying to help the ministry.

JANELLA
I, I don’t know what to say. 

Janella thinks for a moment before continuing.

JANELLA
Does finding out that this church could be connected to some child abuse allegations make you think this is more or less likely to be true?

GEORGE
More.  Definitely more.

JANELLA
Why’s that?

George took a sip of coffee. 

GEORGE
The leadership is a cult of personality built around a family of narcissists and sociopaths who love to use their holier-than-thou personas to attack anyone and anything in the church they don’t like, and are so good at it they can turn parents against children and vice versa.  Leader of the cult is, or at least was, the Reverend Charlie Daniels.  He used to go by Charles back in the 1970’s back when he was a used car salesman, but was too much of a sleaze-ball for that profession.  One day he claimed that he had a vision, and decided to become an Evangelical preacher.  He changed his name to Charlie to draw in people who thought he was the country singer.  Perfect rubes for his con.  He started playing fast and loose with the teachings and the rules but his shtick stuck and drew in a lot of high-rollers that bankrolled his church, and even more people who wanted to be rich and saved above all else.  His family runs basically every part of the church and in the last 20 years they’ve grown to be one of the largest churches in the state.  The nexus of wealth and power rests with the Daniels family.  His wife, Susan, is the quintessential schemer.  Machiavelli would be proud.  They have twin sons, Jason and Jacob.  I went to school with them.  Two faced manipulative shits who grew up surrounded by so much dysfunction and abuse they see people only as toys.  Then they’re Natalie.  Think Queen Bee Psycho that would be equally at home in a prison yard commanding the inmates or in a royal court spreading gossip.  They could easily afford private school, but wanted to appear down to earth and humble in that regard, but really Charlie is shrewd.  He used their experiences as the ‘proof’ he needed to build his own private school.  They’re pulling in more money from that school each year than they do in donations, but have to spend enough of it to look legit.  That’s why Saint Hilary’s has become such a powerhouse in sports recruiting recently.

George stopped to take another sip of coffee.

JANELLA
That doesn’t answer the child abuse allegations.  You think they’re capable of that?

GEORGE
Possibly.  Wouldn’t be surprised.  There were rumors, back when I went there, that Reverend Charlie had his favorite sheep in the flock, and he was very hands on with the children’s Sunday School program.  Nothing definitive.  Plus, and this is very speculative, but I once heard a story about how they would pick a specific girl or boy to be their ‘chosen one.’  This chosen one would never be the same after spending time with the Daniels family.  I knew one of these girls, she even lived with me for a short time, but never talked about what happened.  Then one day, she disappeared.  Only a couple people knew where she went.  The scale is crazy, but with as big as the church has gotten, I put nothing past them.

George looked at the tax records again, taking a hard look at the names.  He looked up Janella, locking eyes with her.

GEORGE
What’s the play?  What do we have?

Janella looked at the stacks of folders in front of them before responding.

JANELLA
Not enough, that’s what he have.  10 shady financial deals involving new cars, all tied to anonymous tips about child abuse where the possible common factor is that they all go to the same church.  And since we were shot down by the parents at each house, it’s unlikely they’ll answer any questions if we come back.

GEORGE
That leaves verifying they belong to the church and verifying the claims.  First part can be done any Sunday morning, if we knew who we were looking for.  The second part...

George grabbed his keys and stood up, getting his stuff.

JANELLA
Where we going?

GEORGE
Hillside PD.  I want to talk to the cops that worked these reports and the dispatcher that recorded these claims.  I wonder if there’s anything we can gleam from them.

JANELLA
Let’s go.

George and Janella grab their stuff and head out.

INT. HILLSIDE PD - DAY
George and Janella are inside a small suburban police station, talking to several officers.  An older man seems to be in charge.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We talked to the officers at Hillside PD, at least the couple that were in the office.  We heard the same story from each of them.  They’d get this report of child abuse, show up, and nothing.  It wasn’t until we talked to the secretary, a woman named Anna, that we got some more info.

George and Janella are sitting around a small table in a break room, talking to an older woman in her 60’s.  This is ANNA.  She’s holding a cup of coffee with both hands.

ANNA
I’m not sure how much more I can tell you about those leads that the officers didn’t tell you.  She’s always so nice over the phone.  Even if what she’s saying is so horrible, what she’s accusing the church of doing.

GEORGE
She?

ANNA
Oh, yes.  It’s a woman, young woman.  Never leaves a name, never a phone number, and every time we try to trace her number, it goes somewhere crazy.  Never the same number twice.

GEORGE
Are they local numbers?

ANNA
No, no.  They’re all over the country, but it’s always the same voice.  Too bad she uses the non-emergency line, those calls aren’t recorded like the 911 calls.  Otherwise I’d let you listen to her voice.  So sweet, but so full of pain and paranoia.

GEORGE
How do you mean?

ANNA
She sounds like she’s trying to say something important, something meaningful, but she’s afraid to say it out loud.

JANELLA
Almost like she’s trying to lead you somewhere and hopes you’ll see it once you’re there.

ANNA
When you put it that way, it makes sense.

GEORGE
The reports that we saw never mentioned a church by name.  Was it First Union?

ANNA
Yes, it was.  At least we assumed as much. 

GEORGE
Wait, she didn’t mention the church by name either?

ANNA
No, hun.  They’re the biggest church around, everyone knows that the people she named go there.  We never had to put the church name in the report.  It wasn’t needed.

JANELLA
Did she ever mention the clergy members by name.

ANNA
Nope, but it’s not like there’s a long list of hundreds of names to go through.  But it didn’t matter, none of the parents would even let us talk to their kids.  They said these were all lies and to leave them be.

GEORGE
Is that church still run by the Daniels family?

ANNA
Yes, they do.  They’ve been going strong for a long time now.  Ever since they started their television show, they’ve been even bigger stars in their corner of the world.

GEORGE
They have a TV show now?

ANNA
Yes hun.  They record a few services a week, air them on Christian Broadcasting Network.  They have a full production company and everything.  They produce so much they’re syndicating out some shows.  They hire on outsiders to do the tech work, but almost every decision is made by the family.

George finishes his coffee and pulls a card out of his wallet.  He grabs a pen and writes down a phone number on the back.

GEORGE
Ms. Anna, can you do me a favor?

ANNA
What is it, hun?

GEORGE
Next time she calls, and there will be a next time, can you give her this number?  It’s my cell phone.  Could you do that?

George hands her the card.  She smiles and slides it away.

ANNA
Sure thing.

GEORGE
We have to get going.  Thanks for the time, ma’am.

ANNA
Anytime.

George and Janella stand up to leave.

[LtBroccoli]

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
George and Janella drive back to the precinct.

JANELLA
What are you thinking?

George sits quietly for a moment, thinking as he drives before responding.

GEORGE
Anna’s a part of that church.  One of the parishioners.  I don’t think she believes or wants to believe the accusations, and I wonder if she’s burying something.  As soon as I gave her my number, I knew that she’s gonna give it to her church elders.  Then again, if this informant is as paranoid as Anna says, she might be too afraid to speak openly.  But that’s not what’s bugging me.

JANELLA
What is it?

GEORGE
Why the paranoia?  Why make nearly a dozen accusations and not once let your voice be recorded?  Why only call on the non-emergency line?  Why not call 911?

JANELLA
She knows the calls are recorded.  If she knows that, then she’s afraid someone will recognize her voice.

GEORGE
And if she’s afraid of being recognized, then she knows, or at least believes, that someone either in the police force or the church would recognize her.  She knows that someone on the police force would share that call with the Daniels family.  They’d tear it apart until they found out who she was, and would track her down.  Which leads to the next part, the spoofed phone numbers.  She’s hiding her numbers to protect herself.  She either has some spoofing tool, a bunch of burners from across the country, or is some phone phreak genius.

JANELLA
But if she’s going to all this trouble, why go through Hillside PD if she thinks they’re in on it?

GEORGE
Most of the parishioners live in the surrounding suburbs.  Hillside, Ambrose, Hillside Estates, that’s where most of them live.  Ambrose has its own police force.

George’s eyes go wide with realization.  He immediately turns on his turn signal, indicating a left turn.  Janella looks at him as he turns the car into a side street.

JANELLA
Where are you going?

GEORGE
Ambrose PD.  I’ve gotta feeling.

George does a three-point turn and drives at a clip down blind turn back roads.  Janella looks more than a little nervous.

JANELLA
What’s the rush?

GEORGE
Since we’ve worked together, I’ve never seen a file from Ambrose.  When I lived there, people always complained about how the cops were too lazy.  Turns out they’re understaffed.  Heavily understaffed.  They have 4 full-time officers and 4 part-timers they share with a couple other townships.  We never see any reports from them because they’re too far behind on their work.  But the officers in Ambrose don’t get the kind of support or tax money or gifts those in Hillside get.  They don’t have time to give a shit about some church in Hillside.  So if we want unredacted reports, we go to Ambrose.  Our tipster has called there, I’ll bet on it.

EXT. AMBROSE PD - DAY
The Crown Vic pulls into the parking lot of a small municipal building and parks by a side door.  George and Janella exit the car.  The door says “Ambrose Police Department”.  George and Janella enter.

INT. AMBROSE PD - DAY
The entryway is poorly lit and cramped.  A main reception desk sits empty.  At the back of the room sits a second desk.  A man in his late 30’s sits behind a desk, dressed in a blue police uniform.  He looks like he hasn’t slept in a week, and his receding hairline is outlined by the dirty blonde hair on his head.  His name is JON.

George and Janella walk toward the desk.  He barely looks up, eyes filled with contempt.

JON
What can I do for you?

George and Janella pull out their badges and show them to Jon.

JANELLA
Detective Janella Jenkins, Chester County Police Department.  This is my partner, George Lewis.

Jon looks at the badges for a moment, then stands up on wobbly legs.

JON
Officer Jon Good, Ambrose Police.

Jon extends his hand, George and Janella take turns shaking it.  Jon steadies himself with his left hand on the desk.

JON
What can I do for you?

GEORGE
We’re following up on some calls, and we had some questions.

JON
Look, I don’t.  I don’t have the time to send those case files over.  I know we’re supposed to send you county mounties our extra caseload.  We don’t have the staff for that.

Jon’s voice raises a bit.  George lowers his, and moves his right hand up and down slowly, palm down, almost as if he’s soothing a child’s head.

GEORGE
It’s okay.  We’re not here to bust your balls on that.  Y’all are short staffed.  Always have been, always will be.

Jon’s shoulders relax a bit, then he sits down.  He motions for George and Janella to sit, but there are no chairs.  George sits on Jon’s desk while Janella takes up a relaxes pose.

JON
What kind of case?

GEORGE
Ever get any calls on the non-emergency line about child abuse cases?  Specifically sexual in nature and involving clergy?

JON
Oh, you mean the kiddie fucking priests over at First Union?  I got a call or two about those.

George and Janella looked at each other, then back to Jon.

GEORGE
Yeah, that’s exactly what we’re looking into.  How many-

JON
We’ve had a couple calls about that in the last few months.  Same woman each time calls them in, mentions that she has information that a child was sexually abused by at least one of the priests over at First Union Holy Church.  No name on the tip, different phone number each time.  She names a different kid, sometimes goes into detail about the types of sex acts performed but sounds pretty disturbed about them.  Which I’m glad she is, cause that’d be kinda fucked if she wasn’t.  We take the info, then go to the house.  Either no one is home when we check, or the parents are tight-lipped about the whole thing.  But there’s something else, too.

GEORGE
What’s that?

JON
The kids.  They’re not all kids.  Not anymore.

JANELLA
What do you mean?

JON
When this woman calls in, she has the details of what happened, but doesn’t always give us the right time.  One time I talked to a kid that corroborated what happened, but it was so long ago he wasn’t a kid anymore.  Shit happened back in the early 90’s.  He was like 10 or 11 when it happened, no he’s in his early 20’s.

GEORGE
Mind if we see those files?

JON
Nah, I’ll get those for you.  But, mind doing me a favor?

GEORGE
What is it?

JON
I can’t leave the desk unattended.  It’ll take me a few minutes to get that.  Plus, we have some files for you to take back to Harbor City.  You watch the desk for a few minutes, I’ll get you what you want.

GEORGE
Sure.

Jon stands up from the desk and walks a crooked line back through a door behind his desk.  George motions for Janella to take Jon’s chair, but she waves him off.  George moves around the back, and is taken aback by the smell of booze coming from this side of the desk.  George returns to his spot at the front of the desk.

At least a half hour passes before Jon returns, a stack of files in his arms.  A ‘Chain of Custody’ form sits on top of the stack.

JON
Here.  Sign.

George grabs a pen off of the desk.  He can almost taste the whiskey on Jon’s breath.  George signs the form.  He pulls out a card and writes a number on the back of it.

GEORGE
Thanks.  Here’s my card.  If our tipster calls back, give her this number.

JON
Yeah.

George grabs the stack of folders.  Janella steps forward to help him as Jon controls his fall back into his seat.  By the time George and Janella get to the front door, Jon is snoring in his chair.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT BULLPEN - DAY
George and Janella are back at their desks, going through the files from Ambrose PD. 

GEORGE
Half of these don’t belong to us, the other half are piss-poor at best.  We have a few folders related to this case, but they’re pretty sparse.  Still more than Hillside gave us, or did.

JANELLA
How is it that a drunk is more helpful in this case than the nice old church lady?

GEORGE
Drunk doesn’t give a shit anymore.  He just wants to punch out, drink, and sleep.  He doesn’t seem like the type to protect a corrupt church.

George flips through a file and stops.

GEORGE
Here it is.  Brandon Calhoun, age 25.  Anonymous tip reported that Brandon was taken by the clergy of First Union Holy Church to the residence of one Charles Daniels.  There, Brandon, age 11, was forced to perform oral, vaginal, and anal sex on an underage girl who was 10-years-old.  He was threatened by Charles Daniels and the eldest children of Charles with violence towards him and his parents if he did not perform with the girl.  The elder Daniels recorded this with cameras.  This was not the first nor the last time he was forced to perform in such a way.  He later discovered that the name of the girl was either Darcy or Marcy or Stacy or Lacey.  She was also a member of the church.  He performed with her a few more times, always in front of a crowd.  He also reported other incidences of rape by the Daniels family and their friends where Brandon was both the victim and assailant.  These attacks continued until he stopped going to the church in 1994 at age 14.

George looked up at Janella.

GEORGE
That’s some pretty damning shit right there.

JANELLA
Any mention why this didn’t go anywhere.

GEORGE
Says here that the victim declined to press charges, and due to the Statute of Limitations, no action could be pursued.  Victim wanted to put this chapter behind them and move on.  There’s a note in the file that mentions Brandon’s issues with drugs and alcohol over the past several years.  They’re worried that even if they could go to trial, his testimony might be brought into question.

Janella looked at George for a long, hard moment before speaking.

JANELLA
Let’s say you’re piecing this case together.  What do you need, where do you go next?

George took a sip of coffee, then thought for a moment.  He took another sip before talking.

GEORGE
I need victims, witnesses, and evidence.  Brandon’s statement talks about being filmed in front of a crowd.  We need the crowd and the girl he filmed those scenes with.  If those tapes still exist, we find out who made them and nail their asses to the wall.  If the owner is different from the maker, we put the screws to him something fierce until he flips.  Also, we have a potential cover up involving multiple parties.  That’s conspiracy.  We can go after Batey and the bank quick, but without the crimes they’re covering up, all we’ve got is money laundering and some other financial crimes.  But we need proof.  As far as next steps, we need to put our names out there, flash our hand that we’re looking into something.  We did that with the visits and the cards earlier today.  My guess is that we’ll get something from the church before too long.

GEORGE (V.O.)
My guess was right.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT BULLPEN - DAY
Time passes.  A few weeks have passed since the last conversation.  George and Janella arrive at their desks for the day when the Captain, DANIEL SMITH, steps out of his office.

DANIEL
Jenkins, Lewis, in here.

Lewis and Jenkins approach Smith’s office.

INT. CAPTAIN SMITH’S OFFICE - DAY
Captain Daniel Smith, a heavyset balding man with a mustache, sits behind a messy desk, just getting back into his seat.  The walls are covered in various commendations and awards for the precinct and division.   

George and Janella sit down in chairs across from the Captain’s desk.

DANIEL
Here.

Daniel passes a manila envelope over to Janella.

JANELLA
What’s this?

DANIEL
That came in late yesterday, delivered from some fancy law firm, letter’s inside.  It’s a deposition from one Natalie Daniels.  Name ring a bell?

GEORGE
I know her.  Natalie Daniels, early 20’s, daughter of Reverend Charlie Daniels of First Union Holy Church.

JANELLA
We haven’t talked to anyone at the church directly about this investigation.  We’re not even sure there’s much there, why did she send in a deposition?

DANIEL
That’s what I wanted to know.  Me and a couple of the boys from night shift watched this last night after it came in.  The letter gives a quick version of events, but the short of it is that she’s claiming that she was attacked and raped and would like us to investigate it, and any and all communication going forward involving Natalie or the Daniels family should go through their attorneys.

JANELLA
That doesn’t make sense, they’re not suspects.  We don’t have a crime yet.

GEORGE
It makes a little sense.

Daniel and Janella look at George.

GEORGE
They’re a family of narcissistic sociopaths.  I don’t put anything past them, including projection or just trying to muddy the waters.  Cap, you saw it, what was your impression?

DANIEL
I thought she was full of shit.  She couldn’t keep her story straight, and just bounced around all over the place.  One minute she’s raped in a camp, another in a hotel room, another it’s some random bedroom, another is a living room.  The events don’t make sense either, the attackers change, it’s a goddamned mess.  It’s an hour of your life you won’t get back.  Watch it and let me know how much this screws up your investigation.

George and Janella get up and leave, closing the door behind them.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT BULLPEN - DAY
George and Janella walk through the bullpen and go into a conference room.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
George and Janella sit at one side of a conference table.  They insert a VHS tape into a videotape player and press play.  On the screen, NATALIE DANIELS, a gorgeous woman in her early to mid 20’s, sits at a table in a conference room.  She’s dressed in a conservative suit, and her straight blonde hair comes down past her shoulders.  Her blue eyes contrast with her skin, and her makeup is subdued.  It’s not like she needed much to begin with.

NATALIE
My name is Natalie Daniels, and I’m 24 years old.  I reside in Hillside Estates, and I work with First Union Holy Church.

George watches the video, and blinks.

INT. THE ZONE - DAY INTO NIGHT
George opens his eyes, he’s in an amorphous room.  It’s dark except for a spinning light highlighting some action 20 feet in front of him.  George walks forward to get a better look.

GEORGE (V.O.)
A little background on how I work.  When I’m investigating a crime, I go into The Zone.  It’s where I see everything that happened, where I put myself in the scene, where I go to tear apart the stories and events to get to the truth.

As George gets closer to the action, the lights swirl and change.  Loud music picks up, climaxing into a cacophony of noise.  His attention is drawn to a voice as snippets leak through the music.

George sees a young woman, laying on a bed.  It’s Natalie.  She’s naked, bound to the headboard of a bed.  She’s very good looking, with a full bosom that’s at least a 34C cup and a smooth, toned body.  A man whose face is obscured is laying between her legs, thrusting into her.  She’s crying.

NATALIE (O.S)
He pulled my shorts and underwear off.  He began to rape me as three women in masks helped him.

George looks up, and sees three young women, all naked, wearing party masks.  They help the man assault Natalie.  The lights around the scene have a slightly brown tint to them, and what sounds like rock music plays overhead.

The lights spin and twist.  The room changes.  Natalie now lays on a bed, bound and gagged in a hotel room.  The lights have a purple tint to them.  Hip hop music leaks out a little bit from the mix of music.

NATALIE (O.S)
They lied to get me in the room, told me that we were there to help families in need.  I was forced to strip for a camera, then tied down.  My friend was attacked first.  She was raped by almost a dozen guys.  Black, white, Mexican.

George looks at the bed again.  Another woman is tied on the bed, being raped by several men of different races.  Natalie now sits upright in a chair, watching the events and struggling.

NATALIE (O.S)
It was a cheap hotel in Veneto.  We were lost, no idea how to get there.  Once the gang bangers were done with their fun, they forced me to join in.

Natalie is dragged to the bed and forced at gunpoint to have sex with an unnamed young woman.

The lights flash again.  A hint of red is in the air.  Natalie is held down on a couch.  She’s dressed in a t-shirt and jeans.  One man holds her hands down while the other cuts her clothes off.

NATALIE (O.S)
They held me down as they cut my clothes off.  I tried to scream, but they slapped me.  Again and again.  I saw the train go past.  After cutting off my panties, the first one shoved them in my mouth.  He pushed himself into me.  The train went past again.

George looks out the window, seeing a train move past.  The sound of classical music permeates the air.  He looks down at the couch again, but something is off.  It looks like Natalie, but not quite.  He looks to the rest of the living room and sees Natalie, sitting in a chair across the room, watching her own rape.  He can hear jazz music in the background.

The lights flash again.  Everything is bathed in a blue light.  He looks around.  Two men, nearly identical to each other, are fucking Natalie at the same time.

NATALIE (O.S)
I prayed and prayed for them to stop.  Why aren’t they stopping?  Why isn’t Mommy helping.  Help, Mommy, HELP!

George looks around the room.  It’s not a room, but a set.  It’s supposed to look like a bedroom, but not quite.  A little girl’s bedroom.  George looks around, and sees Natalie standing by a camera, hidden behind the lights.  He walks over to her and turns around.  Natalie is watching two men, nearly identical men, rape a young woman, possible a girl that looks like Natalie.  George hears electronic music in the air.

The lights flash, the scenes mix, one into another into the next.  There’s no rhyme or reason, they’re all mixing together into one loud, bright mess.

GEORGE
STOP!!!

Everything freezes.  George looks around.  For the first time, he sees it. 

Four lights.  Four songs.  Four stories.  Four attacks.

He blinks.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
George opens his eyes.  The deposition is almost over.  Janella took notes, but they’re all over the place.  George looks down at his notes.  They’re a mess.  The only thing he can make out is the number 4.  There’s a knock at the door, right before Captain Smith enters.

DANIEL
So, crazy huh?

JANELLA
Her story sounds like a mess.  Just one complete-

GEORGE
Four.

JANELLA
What?

GEORGE
Four.  Four stories.

George turns to Janella and Captain Smith.

GEORGE
I need 5 more notepads, 4 pens, and a pencil.  The pens need to be different colors.  I’ll take a marker if we can’t get enough pens.  I need to watch this a few more times.

Everyone sits in silence for a moment.  George stops the tape and rewinds it.  George has a look on his face that was sheer determination and focus.  Captain Smith leaves, then comes back a moment later with a small stack of notepads and several pens and pencils.  George sets up the supplies on his desk and starts the tape again. 

The video plays.

George blinks.

INT. THE ZONE - DAY INTO NIGHT
George is back in The Zone.  The music and lights are back.  The scenes of brutality are back.  The only difference is George.  He looks calmer, more focused and relaxed.

GEORGE (V.O.)
It took until I finished the deposition the first time, but I realized that she was playing us with her story in a story routine.  She told us four different attack stories.  I had to unpack them.

George walks to the action.  All of the scenes are clumped together, the music is blaring a loud, jumbled mess.  George grabs and pulls at parts of the scenes and moves them around, separating them into four stories.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I saw four different stories.  I spent the next several hours peeling them apart, like I was going through a car crash to see who was involved.

He pulls the camp attack and everything with a brown, sepia tone off to one part.  The man, the young women in masks, the cabin, all of it.  As George pulls it away from the rest, the color desaturates around him and the rock music stands out by itself.  It’s some alternative music from the 90’s.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The first scene was the camp attack.  Her story was that she was raped by a man and three women.  She didn’t give any names, which was odd.  No location, either.  I’ve seen more than enough crime scenes to know how unusual this was.

Next up, he peels the purple away from the jumbled mess.  The motel room, the gang-bangers, the people watching, and the two Natalies.  He drags all the purple items until the light desaturates and the music settles into some rap from the mid-90’s.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Next up was a multi-racial gang-bang, but something was off from her story.  I noticed it when listening to her and her point of view shifted.  She started the attack on the bed, but it shifted to where she was watching everything until she was forced to join in.

George grabs all of the items in red light and pulls them off to the side.  The couch, the two men, a Natalie on the couch being raped and another Natalie sitting in a chair.  He grabs the window and sees a train going past, but he can’t place the type of train.  The red lights desaturate and the jazz music fills the air.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The third scene was a home invasion.  Once again, something was off.  She started the story as if she was the one being raped, but again, she had too many details that didn’t fit.  She said she kept seeing the train go past, but she was being held down on a couch.  How could she see out the window?  The only way that story made sense was that she was watching it.

Last up was the blue light.  All that was left from the pile.  George looks at the scene in front of him.  Two men, nearly identical, are raping a younger, much younger version of Natalie while grown-up Natalie watches from a distance.  Electronic music fills the air as the lights return to normal.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Finally, the bedroom that wasn’t a bedroom.  She wasn’t the victim, a young girl was.  She watched this and tried to pass it off as if she was the little girl. 

George stepped back from the scenes and took a long, hard look.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I knew that Natalie was very manipulative and displayed tendencies toward the Dark Triad.  To her, lying was as easy as breathing, but what if her lies had a basis in reality?  Narcissists love to retell stories they heard or saw and make them the victim.  And if she’s telling these stories, she had a reason.

George blinked.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
George is back in the conference room, looking at his notes.

GEORGE (V.O.)
My problem was now two-fold.  Figure out how much of her bullshit was true, and dive into her twisted mind to find out why she picked these stories.

Time passes.  Captain Smith and Janella knock on the door before entering.

DANIEL
George, you almost...WHAT THE FUCK?!

Daniel and Janella see the wall is covered in pieces of notebook paper, each written in different colors.  The pieces of paper are held up by pushpins and strings are tied between the different sections of the stories.  George looks at the wall, barely acknowledging their entrance.

GEORGE
I gotta take over this room for a while.  Welcome to the First Union Murderboard.  It’ll look nicer after a while, I worked with what I had on hand.

George turns to the door.

GEORGE
Please, sit.  I’ll walk ya through it.

Captain Smith and Janella sit down, taking in the chart along the wall.

GEORGE
So, I’ve just spent the last few hours watching Natalie’s deposition over and over, taking notes along the way.  I’ve got good news and bad news, which do you want first?

JANELLA
The bad news.

GEORGE
The bad news is she wasn’t completely lying, so we can’t nail her for submitting a bullshit deposition.

DANIEL
What’s the good news?

GEORGE
She just admitted to a shitload of crimes.  She just doesn’t know it yet.

Daniel looks at George like he just grew a second head.

JANELLA
I’m sorry, what?

GEORGE
It gets kind of crazy, but I just pulled apart all of her stories.  She described 4 sexual assaults.  The first in the deposition was a rape that took place in a camp or cabin of some kind.  She was attacked by a group that consisted of one man and three women around her age.  She didn’t say any names, locations, or times, but I get the feeling she’s hiding their identities.  She implied that this took place within the last couple years, but that doesn’t feel like it lines up either.

George points at the notes in black ink.

GEORGE
That’s this first set of notes, in black ink.  Now, the second attack-

JANELLA
Wait, if she knows, why didn’t she say who they were?

GEORGE
I’m getting to that.  The second story is in the purple ink, thanks for that.  That was a gang-rape in a Veneto motel that she either witnessed or was told second-hand.  She started off acting like it was her story, but it’s not.  Her point of view shifted too much, but it was the only one she gave a location and identified as many of the perpetrators as possible.  She even admitted to being forced to take part herself, which tells me that whoever told her this story was in the room where it happened.

George moves to the third series of notes, written in red ink.

JANELLA
She mentioned a train a few times in her story.  Veneto doesn’t have a train system.

GEORGE
The train is part of the third story, a home invasion she took part in as one of the invaders.  I don’t think it took place in Harbor City.  She mentioned seeing a train go past multiple times during this rape.  What kind of train travels past houses or apartments that often?

DANIEL
An L.

JANELLA
What about the T?  There’s some places it’s above ground.

GEORGE
Possibly, but the way she described the rest of the outside scene was cold, dreary, and flat.  Tell me you found a flat part of Harbor City and I’ll call you a dirty liar.  I want to say this might be more Midwest than anything, and about the only city in the Midwest that has an elevated train is Chicago.  Maybe Detroit, but it wasn’t here.

JANELLA
So she took part in this attack?

GEORGE
And the fourth one, too.  That’s in blue ink.  A bedroom that wasn’t a bedroom, and cries of a little girl begging for mommy and praying for help.  And two men that were nearly identical raping said girl.

Janella’s eyes lit up.

JANELLA
You said that Natalie had identical twin brothers.

GEORGE
Exactly.  And we saw from that one statement earlier, and from other reports, that the Daniels family has access to a television studio and supposedly has one built into Reverend Charlie’s house.

JANELLA
But why these stories?

George thought for a moment before speaking.

GEORGE
Natalie is a master manipulator.  I don’t doubt that she’s trying to do that here.  Their family works on plans within plans within plans.  I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s using this to go after her enemies.

DANIEL
So you’re telling me that this woman pieced together the craziest deposition ever to come to this department, and it was all some great masterpiece in manipulation to hurt people?

GEORGE
Yep.

DANIEL
Do you even know how crazy that sounds?

GEORGE
Preposterous.  It’s one of the craziest things I’ve looked at, and I work here.

Captain Smith leans back in his chair.  Janella looks at the board.

JANELLA
Where do we start?

Daniel looks at her like she was nuts.

GEORGE
The only one of these attacks that has a time or a place we can get to is the motel gangbang in Veneto.  I say we go check it out tomorrow.

JANELLA
Cappy, your thoughts?

DANIEL
I’m not buying it yet.  Do a little work on this, but this isn’t your highest priority.  Just see if there’s anything to work with.

JANELLA
Will do.

GEORGE
Cool.  Something we’ll need to tear apart is who is her enemy in each of these stories.  She picked these for a reason.  We need to figure out those reasons.

DANIEL
Come up with some ideas, and how this all works together.

[LtBroccoli]

INT. GEORGE'S DINING ROOM - NIGHT
Back to present day, George takes another sip of wine.  He looks around the table at everyone listening.

GEORGE
Now, before I go any further, I need to say that this isn’t all completely only my story.  See, while then-Detective Jenkins and I were wrapping things up for the night and getting our ducks in a row for a visit to Veneto the next morning, SOMEBODY at this table had a rather important night.

George is staring at Angie.

GEORGE
And her story ties directly into this one, starting now. 

ANGIE
Do you really have to?

GEORGE
Yes.  How else am I going to explain how this shitshow turns into a clusterfuck without explaining how I got involved because you were involved?

ANGIE
Just don’t be a dick about it.

GEORGE
No promises.

INT. ALPHA OMEGA MARKETING - DAY
A trendy office space in downtown Harbor City, overlooking the bay.  It was a converted cannery and still has a very industrial feel to it.  Several desks sit in an early idea of an open concept workspace.

In one desk sits ANGIE LEWIS.  She’s younger 24 years old, and is dressed in a business casual sweater and slacks.  Her clothes are fashionable for the time.  Her hair has more of its natural curl to it. 

GEORGE (V.O.)
Angie sat at her desk doing marketing shit when one of her friends from work came over.  Carol or Candace or Constance.

ANGIE (V.O.)
Sherri.  Her name was Sherri.  And what do you mean marketing shit?  Do you even know what that means.

GEORGE (V.O.)
You find ways to separate people from their money.

ANGIE (V.O.)
Listen, I’ll tell this part of the story, you pick up in the morning.  Deal?

GEORGE (V.O.)
Deal.

ANGIE (V.O.)
It was April 2003.  I worked at Alpha Omega Marketing down on the Main Shore.  It was my first grown-up job out of college, and I’d been there a few years.  I was working on a marketing package for one of the local hospitals.  Pretty routine stuff.  It was a Thursday, and I remember that I was off that Friday.  They started some 9x9 schedule, and I was looking forward to a nice, quiet day off of doing nothing except sitting in my apartment, wearing sweats, and watching TV.  That’s when Sherri asked if I could do her a favor.

Sherri, a taller, skinny woman dressed similarly to Angie, walks over to Angie’s desk.  Angie’s head is glued to her computer screen.

SHERRI
Hey Angie, got any plans tonight?

ANGIE
Does nothing count as a plan?

SHERRI
Listen, are you free tonight?

Angie looks up.

ANGIE
Why?

SHERRI
So, I met a guy.  He’s a friend of a friend of a friend kind of thing, and asked me out.  But, I’m a little nervous because I’ve only met him once, and I tried telling him I was little nervous but instead I blurted out something about him bringing a friend and I’d bring a friend and I was gonna ask Lindsey but she’s working tomorrow and doesn’t want to go out and I’m sorry but could you do me a big favor and be my wingman tonight?

ANGIE
I’m not really looking to date anyone, and I don’t need set up with anyone.

SHERRI
It’s not that.  I’m not trying to set you up on a date.  It’s just, you know.  I swear I’ll make it up to you.  Just one or two drinks, then we all go our separate ways.  Please?

Angie shakes her head in resignation.

ANGIE
Fine.  Where is it and when?

SHERRI
It’s at 9PM at Scorchers, out in Pleasantview.  Thank you so much.

Sherri gives Angie a quick hug.

EXT. SUBURBAN ROADS - NIGHT
A late model blue Ford Taurus drives down a road to a strip mall with a series of restaurants in it.  One of them is a place with a gawdy sign that says “SCORCHERS”.  Flames are drawn all over the building, with cartoons of chickens running around on fire.

ANGIE (V.O.)
Pleasantview is out in the sticks, so I made Sherri drive us out there.  Least she could do for dragging us out there.  When I first heard the name I thought it was a gay bar.  Turns out it was a bar and restaurant that specialized in hot wings and spicy food.  Not exactly the kind of place I’d pick for a first date, but it wasn’t my choice.

Angie exits the car, dressed in a nice black blouse, knee-length skirt, and black heels.  Sherri is dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans, heels, and a black and white blouse.  The pair of women walk into the restaurant.

INT. SCORCHERS - NIGHT
Angie and Sherri make their way to the bar on the left side of the restaurant.  The place is crowded and loud.  Hockey and basketball play on the TV’s above the bar.  Angie leans in to Sherri.

ANGIE
Where are they?

SHERRI
He said they’d be at the bar.

Sherri looks around and spots a young man, maybe 21 or 22, wearing a black short-sleeved button-up shirt.  This is TODD.  He waves, catching her attention.

SHERRI
There, let’s go.

Sherri leads Angie over to the bar.  They walk over, making their way through the crowd.  They get close to TODD.  Sherri and Ted give each other an awkward hug.

TODD
Thanks for coming.

SHERRI
Never been here before.  Where’s your friend? 

TODD
He’ll be right back, he went to the bathroom. 
(to Angie)
Hi, I’m Todd.

Sherri turns to Angie.

SHERRI
Todd, this is my friend-

CHUCK
Angie?

Angie turns.  Standing behind her, from the direction of the nearest bathroom, was a very tall and lanky man with dirty blonde hair and a goatee.  He smiled, looking down at Angie.  She hesitantly smiled.

ANGIE
Chuckie?

CHUCK
Just Chuck nowadays.  Howya doing?

TODD
I guess they know each other?

SHERRI
Maybe.

ANGIE
Doing great, you?  What are you doing here?  Haven’t seen you since...

CHUCK
Yeah, it’s been a long time.  I’m here for a friend, playing wingman.  You?

ANGIE
Same.  Wingwoman, but same thing.  How’s Granny?

Chuck shrugs a bit.  Angie’s voice drops as a look of concern grows across her face.

ANGIE
What’s wrong?

CHUCK
She’s, she’s had some rough times recently.  She had a cancer battle last year that almost took her, but she kicked it’s ass.

ANGIE
Hey, she’s still going.  Next time you see her, tell her I said hi, I miss her.

CHUCK
Definitely. 

Chuck looks and sees Sherri and Ted standing behind Angie, confused.

CHUCK
You with them?

Angie turns and sees them looking at her and Chuck hitting it off.  Chuck laughs.

CHUCK
Let’s get a table.

A beat.

Chuck, Angie, Todd, and Sherri sit around a table in the restaurant part of Scorchers.  Each of them have a beer in front of them.  Chuck and Todd sit on one side, Angie and Sherri are directly across from them.  Sherri and Ted are talking, flirting, and having their own conversation as Angie and Chuck catch up.

CHUCK
So, how’d Sherri rope you into this?

ANGIE
She asked at the end of the work day.  You?

CHUCK
Same.  After lunch he asked if I could do him a favor.

ANGIE
He works with you?

CHUCK
Sort of.  For me.  He’s one of young guys on my crew.  What are you doing these days?

ANGIE
I work for a marketing company, Alpha Omega.  I mostly make brochures for hospitals.  You?

CHUCK
I’ve got a real shitty job.

ANGIE
I’m sorry.

CHUCK
No, it’s great.  I run an excavation company.  A lot of our business is installing and replacing sewer lines.

Angie laughs, and grabs her beer.  Chuck grabs his.

ANGIE
That is a shitty job.

She puts her beer down, her hand brushing against Chuck’s.  He tentatively grabs hers. She doesn’t pull back.  She smiles.  He smiles back.

Time passes.  Sherri and Ted go to the bar, then leave Scorchers.  Chuck and Angie spend most of the night at their table, drinking beers and eating wings.

ANGIE (V.O.)
We spent most of the night catching up.  We talked about everything.  Well, almost everything.  What was supposed to be one or two beers turned into quite a few more.  As it was getting late, I didn’t realize how drunk I was until we got up to leave after midnight.

EXT. SCORCHERS - NIGHT
Angie’s having a hard time standing up straight.  Chuck holds her up while they walk to his pickup truck, a lifted green 2001 Chevy Silverado quad cab.  He’s not the most sober person in the world, but compared to Angie, he’s right as rain.  He walks her over to his truck.

CHUCK
If you want, I can drive you home.

ANGIE
(drunk)
Naw, I live in Main Shore, there’s a lot of cops in the way.  Besides, don’t you live nearby?

CHUCK
How about we go and hang out for a bit?

ANGIE
(drunk)
Your place is closer than mine.  I just need to rest for a bit.  Who knows, maybe we’ll think of something else to do.

Angie leans in for a kiss.  Chuck deflects it, but she finds his mouth.  They make out for a minute before he helps her into his truck.  After getting her in the seat, he closes the door.  By the time he’s in the truck, she’s passing out.

EXT. 2236 RIVER BLVD - NIGHT
Chuck’s truck pulls into the driveway of his house in Veneto.  He exits, then helps Angie out of the truck and into the house.

INT. 2236 RIVER BLVD - NIGHT
Angie stumbles into the house.  Chuck helps her up a flight of stairs and down a hallway.

INT. CHUCK’S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Chuck helps Angie into his bedroom.  It’s a small bedroom, decorated with old posters of cars, trucks, and sports figures from the 90’s.  A very nice computer sits on a desk in the corner.  Chuck’s bed takes up good portion of the small room.  Once she’s inside, he leaves, making a quick trip to the bathroom.

Angie falls onto his bed, then pulls herself up.  She takes off her shoes, then undoes her skirt and takes off her blouse and bra.

By the time Chuck returns, Angie is only wearing her panties.  She tries to give him a ‘come hither’ look, but as drunk as she is, it comes off rather sloppy.

Chuck freezes at the door.  On the one hand, here’s a beautiful woman naked on his bed down to fuck.  On the other, she’s drunk as a skunk.  He looks like he’s in physical pain.  He shakes his head.

CHUCK
Fuck.

Chuck kicks off his shoes and unbuttons his shirt.  He sits on the bed.  Angie tries to undo his jeans, but he stops her, grabbing her wrists.

CHUCK
Angie, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but not tonight.  Not like this.

ANGIE
(drunk)
What does that mean?  You don’t like me like that?

CHUCK
You are very drunk.

ANGIE
(drunk)
Is it Bob?

CHUCK
No.  Maybe a little, but no.  It’s that...

ANGIE
(drunk)
What?

CHUCK
I’m not gonna tell you how often I dreamed about you, but I don’t want you to have any regrets.  Not like this.  Let’s just sleep on this tonight.

Angie starts crying, Chuck pulls her in for a hug.  After a minute, she stops crying and they kiss again.  He lays down on the bed, and they continue making out.  Eventually, she puts her head on his chest, hugging him.  The two lay in silence, holding each other.

ANGIE
(whispers)
Thank you.

CHUCK
For what?

ANGIE
For not being an asshole.  Not talking about Bob.  And not being an asshole.

Chuck kisses her on the head.  A minute later, she’s snoring on his chest.  He falls asleep right after.

INT. CHUCK'S BEDROOM - DAY
The sun is up, light is shining through the open window in Chuck’s bedroom.  At some point throughout the night, Angie and Chuck ended up under the covers, sleeping in a spoon position, with Chuck as the big spoon.

ANGIE (V.O.)
As a parent, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve woken up and things were awkward.  It’s just a way of life.  But in my pre-mommy days, this was the most awkward wake-up of my life.

Chuck wakes up, the smell of coffee filling the air.  He opens his eyes, focusing on the doorway.  Two men stand in the doorway.  The taller one is PAUL, skinny, rough, and hair starting to fall out.  He’s in his mid 30’s and looks like he’s ready for a long day of hard labor.  The shorter man is GARY.  Similar look except his hair is almost completely gone.  Both men hold a cup of coffee, looking at the scene on the bed.

PAUL
(singing)
The best part of waking up.

GARY
(singing)
Is pussy on your cock.

PAUL
C’mon fucker, wake up.

Paul grabs the covers and pulls them off, exposing Chuck and Angie, still wearing some clothes.

GARY
Time to work mother fucker!  Let’s go, we’re burning daylight.

Chuck looks up at the two.  Angie moans, then turns her head to Paul and Gary.  It’s then when the two recognize who she is.

PAUL
Oh, shit, Angie?

GARY
Angie, is that you?

Angie’s eyes go wide as she sees the two men in front of her.  She screams.  Chuck grabs a sheet and covers her.

CHUCK
Fuck off, go downstairs!  I’ll be down in 5.

Angie looks around the room, gathering her senses.

CHUCK
You okay?

Angie nods.

ANGIE
Yeah.  Wasn’t expecting that this morning.  Oh shit.  Did we-

CHUCK
Fuck?  No.

Angie sighed.  Then looked nervous and spoke.

ANGIE
I didn’t mean it like that.  Just-

CHUCK
It’s okay.  You wanted to last night, but you were wasted.  Let’s get dressed.

EXT. 2236 RIVER BLVD - DAY
Chuck and Angie stand on the front yard, both dressed.  Chuck is in some work clothes while Angie wears the same clothes she had on the night before, plus a spare hoodie that Chuck let her borrow.  Paul and Gary have climbed into the truck, waiting for Chuck to wrap things up.

Chuck holds Angie’s hands in his.  She looks up at him, even in her heels.

CHUCK
You sure you’re gonna be okay?  I can give you a lift, no problem.  What am I going to do, write me up for being late?

Angie chuckled.

ANGIE
I’ll be fine.  Besides, I’m not sure if I want to be in the truck with those two this morning.  It’s already been kind of awkward with them.

CHUCK
You sure you don’t need a ride?  Cabs don’t like coming out this way.

ANGIE
I’ll be okay.  I can get a ride.  I used to live here, I know this place.

Chuck steps a little closer.

CHUCK
How about this?  I’ll drop off Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber, then I’ll call you.  If you still need a ride, I’ll give you one.  Sound cool?

Angie nods.  Chuck leans down and kisses her.  She kisses him back.  Someone hits the horn on the truck.  Chuck turns.

GARY
Let’s go Fucker!

CHUCK
Fuck you!

Chuck turns back to Angie.

CHUCK
I’ll call ya in a bit.

He gives her one more kiss before leaving.  Angie watches as he gets in the truck and they leave.  She sits on the porch, thinking of how crazy things are.  She pulls out her cell phone and makes a call.

ANGIE
Hey, it’s me.  Can you do me a big favor?

GEORGE (V.O.)
Is this where I’m taking over?

ANGIE (V.O.)
Yes, your turn.


INT. VENETO PD - DAY
It’s early morning in the Veneto Police Department.  Several police officers hustle about.  For a small town on a Friday morning, it’s busy.

George and Janella stand by a receptionist’s desk, and are pointed to an office down the hallway.  They walk past a homeless man in his 30’s in a wheelchair.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We didn’t have much to go on, except a crazy story and a place.  Veneto.  I’ve had some previous dealings with the place as did Janella, but it’s always good to get the lay of the land before jumping in and swinging your dick around.  Never know who you’ll hit unless you ask.

INT. OMAR HASKINS’S OFFICE - DAY
George and Janella sat in two chairs opposite a black man in his 40’s in a police uniform.  He had Lieutenant’s bars on his collar.  Even sitting down, he seemed tall.  This was LIEUTENANT OMAR HASKINS, VENETO PD.

A secretary entered the room, bringing in 3 cups of coffee.  Each of the officers took a cup.

OMAR
So, when my secretary said we had some county mounties from downtown coming in early today, I was a little confused.  What can we do for you today?  Officers?

JANELLA
I’m Janella Jenkins, this is my partner George Lewis.  We’re from the CCPD Sex Crimes Unit.

OMAR
Damn, that’s some rough shit.  I’d rather be on riot duty for five years straight than have your job for a month.  I’ve seen a little bit of what you deal with, that shit gives me nightmares.

GEORGE
It’s, kinda fucked.  But I look at the bright side.  When we do our jobs, we put the worst of the worst in a box for a very, very long time.

OMAR
True dat.

Omar takes a sip.

OMAR
What brings you to the town that Harbor City tries to forget?

JANELLA
This is going to sound pretty crazy, but we’re investigating some serious crimes and one of them had a connection to Veneto.  Problem is, we don’t have much to go on, and we were hoping we could get the lay of the land before we traipse all through your town.

GEORGE
We don’t want to fuck anything up you’ve got going on.  Last thing you need is us going to a motel to ask questions about a gang rape while you’ve got undercover working a drug bust there.

Omar nods.

OMAR
That’s very thoughtful of you.  Fortunately, we don’t deal with too many drug busts in this town.  I don’t give a flying rat’s ass about the small time weed dealer, I want to nail the fucker that’s selling Vicodin and causing our OD rates to go through the roof.  But I get your point.  What’s the case?

George pulled a picture out of a folder.  It was Natalie Daniels, taken from the deposition.  He hands it to Omar, who looks at it closely.

GEORGE
Have you ever seen this woman around here?  Her name is Natalie Daniels.  She’s one of the scions of First Union Holy Church, and recently she submitted a deposition that included accusations of a gang rape in a motel here in Veneto.

Omar shakes his head and hands the photo back.

OMAR
Sorry, don’t recognize her.  And I would need some details to try to narrow this down.  It’s not that we don’t get rape cases around here, it’s just that very few of them are ever reported, even the craziest ones.

GEORGE
This one might fit that category.

George pulls a note out of the folder.

GEORGE
According to the accusation, there was a gang rape involving at least 2 women but less than 4, there were several male assailants of various races all wearing different gang colors, and at least 1 man who was forced to watch then participate.  The women were lured down to this motel in Veneto after volunteering at a local soup kitchen.  They delivered meals to the poor living in the motel, then were tricked into the motel room where the women were forced to strip in front of a camera while a white guy made them talk to a camera, giving their names and addresses.  Then the whites, blacks, and Mexicans took turns raping one of the girls.  Not much happened to the other girl, but it sounds like she was relatively spared.  This would’ve happened at some time in the last ten years.

George slid the note over to Omar, who took a closer look at it.

OMAR
Why 10 years?

GEORGE
Natalie is 24.  If she was younger, she would’ve made a point to say so.  But she’s not exactly the most reliable witness I’ve ever had.  It almost sounds like she was told this story, but the details were too weird to think it was made up.  And if was made up, we can bury it now and get on with other work.

Omar looked at the note carefully, focusing on one section.

OMAR
Are you sure about this whole ‘every race raped me’ part?

GEORGE
Not sure her about her being the victim, but the race part seems to fit the whole narrative.  Why?

OMAR
Our gangs hate each other.  Really hate each other.  There was a short time in the mid-90’s where they all got along, but that ended when various leaders got busted or shot.  We had two years of peace from 95 to 97, then all Hell broke loose.  You sure about this race part?

JANELLA
We think that part is accurate.

Omar reached under his desk and picked up three binders and a map.  He unrolled the map, which covered his entire desk.  He checked the binders, then placed them on three different sections of the map.  One binder read ‘16 South’, another read ‘43SK’, and the last one, the one in the middle of the map read ‘2236’.

OMAR
Let me give you a quick rundown of Veneto’s gang war history.  Back in the day, we’re talking the 70’s, this was a rough neighborhood, but it was mostly white.  The Italians, the Hungarians, the Irish, and Russians all vied for different parts of the Vice around here.  They carved out little niches.  Starting in the 70’s, white people left and blacks and latinos moved in.  The whites kept feuding with each other while the blacks stuck together and the Mexicans stuck together.  For the most part, the blacks stayed down here, south of 19th street.  The Mexicans stayed north of 40th street.  The blacks formed a gang called 16 South, the Mexicans 43SK, 43rd Street Krew.

Omar points to the two binders at the ends of the map.

OMAR
The whites, on the other hand, were screwed.  They were trapped on both ends and those that could leave left.  That left a bunch poor white trash, hillbillies, old widows, and kids without dads.  The old white gangs tried to pull together, but they were pretty fucked by then.  Late 80’s and early 90’s, the map looks like this.  Whites in the middle trying to survive and keep the peace.  Eventually, that’s where 2236 comes in.

George flinches.  Janella notices.

JANELLA
What’s 2236?

OMAR
The remnants of the old white gangs went underground.  All that were left were their kids and a few old people giving instructions.  Eventually, there were only a handful left.  You can’t take part in a gang war when your gang consists of 6 soldiers, a couple girls, and a few retirees in wheelchairs.  But they became peacekeepers of a sort.  We looked the other way if it was gang on gang violence as long as no one died, but these guys would make sure it never came to that.  They became the U.N. of gang warfare in the 90’s.

Omar took a sip of coffee, then opened the 2236 binder.  The first page showed a mugshot of a woman from the 1970’s.

OMAR
It’s called 2236 because that’s where Granny lives.  And her grandchildren, real and otherwise.  2236 River Blvd.  Granny, also known as Anna Maria Cartucci, is a firecracker and a half.  She was one half sweet little grandmother, one half murderous psychopath.  Her husband died in the 80’s, and her boys are either dead or serving life sentences.  She raised her grandchildren pretty much on her own.

Omar flipped the page.  It showed a mugshot of a skinny man with black hair, a skinny mustache, and a rat tail haircut.  A more recent mugshot shows the same man, but with more wear and tear on his body.

OMAR
Speaking of grandchildren, here’s Vincent Cartucci.  Goes by Vinny.  34 years old but he’s fallen on some hard times.  Been busted for everything from GTA to Possession with intent to Attempted murder.  He was a serious badass who wouldn’t mind pistol whipping someone if they crossed him.  He’s having some rough times now.  Opioids.

Omar turns the page again, showing a tall, lanky man’s mugshot.

JANELLA
What do they-

OMAR
I’m getting to that.  Next up is Charles Hartman, aged 27.  He’s Vinny’s half-brother, but all the parents are out of the picture.  Goes by Chuckie or Chuck.  He’s the only member of the 2236 crew without a felony charge as an adult.  Busted him for possession a few times, simple assault.  He’s calmed down now for the most part, works a lot and takes care of Granny.

Omar turns the page.  Two men are featured on this page.  One is a brunette male about 5’11” and one is a blonde man about 5’6”.

OMAR
Paul Jefferson Damato and Gary Milhouse Spencer.  Paul and Gary, brothers from another mother.  Both aged 37.  Served time for assault with a deadly weapon and vehicular homicide when they ran over a dealer that moved in on their territory and beat his homie into a coma.  They’ve been accused of everything from assault to theft to rape to hosting an underground fight club.  They’re two of the sickest fucks I know.  But the last one takes the cake.

Omar turns the page.  George recognizes the picture immediately.  It’s the mugshot of a man with longer brown hair, blue eyes, and a goatee.  A second mugshot shows that he’s put on a little weight.

OMAR
This man is the worst of the bunch.  His name is-

GEORGE
Robert Kuntzmann.

OMAR
You know him?

GEORGE
A little.  It’s a long story.  I’m sorry, please continue.

OMAR
Robert Earl Kuntzmann, 34 years old. Just goes by Bob. He’s been in and out of jail several times.  His most recent stint was for bigamy of all things, but that’s only because he beat the murder and rape charges he faced.  Curb stomped a pretty boy who got a little mouthy at a bar, then raped the boy’s girlfriend on the hood of their car while he bled to death.  He’s been accused of jury tampering.  I have a dozen murders I can attribute to him, but most of them are justifiable or he has enough wiggle room to get out.  The fact that he was convicted for bigamy just makes me laugh my ass off.  It’s like Capone with the taxes.

Omar takes a sip of coffee.  Janella does the same.  George tries to remain calm, but looks like he’s ready to rip Bob’s picture out of the binder and set it on fire.

JANELLA
What would they have to do with the gang rape in a motel? 

OMAR
Hold on one second.

Omar flips through the binder a few pages, as he does, he goes past a few more mugshots, this time of young women.  George recognizes them.

GEORGE
Whoa, could you go back?

OMAR
In a minute.  Here it is.  Back in August 1995, we had gang peace.  For the first time ever, 43SK and 16 South’s leaders got along.  I wouldn’t have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes.  I followed up on the rumors, and here’s what I heard.

Omar leans in and reads an old note, closely.

OMAR
“According to sources, PD, Paul Damato, was seen driving around high ranking members of both 43 and 16 throughout the day of Saturday August 12.  Leadership of both gangs were seen riding together in Paul’s ‘busted ass van.’  The van was seen parked outside of the Roadside Motel throughout the entire night.  In the late evening, a group of well-dressed white kids exited a van from VBC.  Veneto Baptist Church.  The group consisted of 2 girls, 1 boy, and 1 man, escorted by what looked like PD and GS, Gary Spencer.  An unidentified black male assumed to be from VBC was with them.  Everyone disappeared into a second story room for the remainder of the night.  Leaders were driven back by PD after a couple hours while GS rode back with the kids in the VBC van.”

JANELLA
Holy shit.

OMAR
Unfortunately, I can’t verify any of this anymore.  My source on this died with a needle in her arm years ago.  She was pretty consistent with the info, until heroin took her ass.

GEORGE
That’s...literally the scene Natalie described. This just went from a wild goose chase to something significant.

OMAR
Two problems.  This was 1995, past the statute of limitations.  Also, that motel changed hands a few times since, it’s now a Best Western.

GEORGE
Still, it’s a starting point.  The case is kind of crazy.

OMAR
You said you knew Bob from before.  Mind telling me how?

GEORGE
Mind showing me those other mugshots?

Omar pauses for a moment.

GEORGE
I saw the mugshots of 3 girls in that binder.  I know that they were underage at the time, and we can’t do anything with that info.  You show me what I think I already know, and I’ll show you why I hate Bob so much.

Omar nods.  He flips back to the mugshots of three beautiful girls.  George sighs.

OMAR
These were taken in early 1996.  We got a call about a party nearby where a fight broke out between some girls.  We brought them in, their parents wanted nothing to do with any of them.  They spent most of the night in lockup.  All charges were later dropped as a ‘simple misunderstanding.’  These girls basically lived at 2236 and in a nearby apartment from 1995 to 1999.  First girl was Stacy Daniels, 16 years of age.  Her story was kind of messed up.  Genius level talent and intellect, but was living in Veneto until she won emancipation from her parents.  Next girl was Jennifer Tibault.  17, hung out extensively with the 2236 crew.  Her and Stacy left around the same time.  Rumor has it they were a thing.  Last girl was Angela Lewis.  17, reportedly Bob’s main squeeze for a while.  They were a thing on and off for a while, but eventually she wised up and got out.  I’ve seen Jen show up a few times in the last couple years, but that’s it.  After 1999, they stopped showing up. 

Omar took another sip of coffee.

OMAR
So, I told you about them.  How did you know about them?

GEORGE
Do those records show who posted bail?

Omar looks at the mugshot records.

OMAR
Bail posted by...George Lewis, employed by Chester County Police Department.

GEORGE
Yep.  Angie’s my cousin.  All three of those kids come from nice backgrounds and have parents that chose their church over them.

OMAR
First Union?

GEORGE
Yep.  For a while they were staying with me, but would also disappear elsewhere.  That elsewhere was apparently 2236.  Stacy and Jen left the city together, Angie went to Harbor City U and graduated a couple years back.  She’s doing pretty well for herself, now that she’s out of this mess.

JANELLA
Can we get some copies of this?  Not just the 2236, but the other binders too?  If the part about the attack at the motel was correct, then the perps are in there.

OMAR
Sure thing.  Give me a few minutes, and I’ll get you what I can.

Omar gets up and grabs the binders with him. 

A beat.

George’s phone rings.  He looks at it, furrowing his brow.

GEORGE
(to phone)
Hello?  Hey...Sure, what is it?...Yeah, I’m at work, I should be able to in a little bit.  What’s the address?...22WHAT?...Yeah, I’m still here.  I’ll be there in a few minutes, I have to wrap up some things here...Yes, I’m goddamned mad...Not about needing the lift, where you’re at.  I’ll see you shortly.

George hangs up the phone.

GEORGE
(muttering)
I’m gonna fucking kill her.  I’m gonna fucking kill her, then him, then make it look like a fucking accident.

JANELLA
What’s wrong?

GEORGE
We have to make a little detour when we leave.

Omar returns to his desk and sits down with a sigh.

OMAR
My secretary is making copies for you, should be just a few minutes.  I really hope this helps. I’d love to get them on something we can prove.

JANELLA
I take it you’ve had it with them around here.

OMAR
That doesn’t begin to describe the half of it.  You know what my greatest dream is?  It’s not winning the lottery or sleeping with a supermodel, it’s getting everyone in these binders out of my town for good.  I don’t care if they’re in jail, dead, or just move, I want them gone.  Then, I’ll have a day where I am bored.  100% bored.  The perfect day for a cop.

All three of them smile.

GEORGE
I take it that there’s some things you know but can’t prove?

OMAR
Absolutely.  For example, you see that homeless guy in the wheelchair on your way in?

George and Janella nod.

OMAR
His name’s Travis.  Back in the summer of 1995, he got handsy with a girl in the park.  Some men stopped him, and one of them shot him.  We arrived on the scene and he was bleeding from the gut.  Bullet severed his spinal cord, put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.  Only witness was the little girl, who was busy kicking Travis in the head while he bled. 

JANELLA
Tough kid.

OMAR
It’s Veneto, we don’t fuck around with that here.  Now, I heard a report about two white guys that matched Paul and Gary’s description entering the park before the gunshot and leaving right after.  I also have a littering ticket for them from River Patrol.  Shortly after the shooting, they were stopped in the river for throwing trash overboard.  All River Patrol found were some mechanical parts like screws and springs, could’ve been from anything.  We know they took Granny’s boat, the Ballbuster Deluxe.  Her husband named it after her before he died.  I know those two shot Travis.  I know they committed attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, destruction of evidence, and illegal use of firearms, but all I can prove is that they littered.  If you can help them not be my problem anymore, I’ll be forever in your debt.

There is a knock at the door.  The SECRETARY opens the door.

SECRETARY
Everything is ready, sir.

GEORGE
Thank you very much, Officer Haskins.

JANELLA
Yes, this was a great help.

OMAR
Like I said, get them out of my hair, and it’s worth it.

The three shake hands.  George and Janella leave.

EXT. 2236 RIVER BLVD - DAY
Angie sits on the steps of the porch.  She’s looking at her phone.  There’s an icon on it she’s not familiar with, it looks like an envelope.  As she’s about to play around with it, the door opens behind her.  She turns and sees GRANNY.  Granny looks old and a little frail, but dragged herself outside on her walker.

GRANNY
Angie?

Granny moves a little closer to Angie.  Angie smiles when she sees the old matron, then gets up and gives her a hug.

ANGIE
Hey Granny.  You doing okay?

GRANNY
I’m fine.  What brings you around?

ANGIE
I... came to see you.

GRANNY
Bullshit.  Tell me it’s not Bob.

ANGIE
No, it’s not Bob.

Granny sighs.

GRANNY
Good.  You deserved better than him.  I love him, but he can be a real piece of shit sometimes.  C’mon, let’s sit.

Angie helps Granny over to a porch swing, then helps the old woman sit down.  Angie sits next to her.

ANGIE
You’re looking good.

GRANNY
Pumpkin, don’t bullshit a bullshitter.  I look like shit.  I feel like shit.  And the only reason I’m still alive is I’m too stubborn to die.

ANGIE
I wouldn’t say that.

GRANNY
It’s okay.  Cancer tried twice in the last 3 years to kill me, and failed.  It’s not the first time someone tried to kill me, and won’t be the last.

Granny grabs Angie’s hand.

GRANNY
Now, why are you really here?

ANGIE
I, last night, I...

GRANNY
Spit it out Pumpkin, I don’t want to die of old age waiting for you to tell me that you fucked Chuckie.

Angie looks incredulous at Granny.

GRANNY
Please, I heard you two come in late last night.  You were so drunk you slammed into the wall a couple times and didn’t notice it.

ANGIE
I didn’t fuck Chuck.  Not that I didn’t try to, but we didn’t.

GRANNY
Y’know, he’s not mine by blood, but I love Chuckie like one of my own.  In the last few years, he’s done more to take care of me than even himself.  He works all day and spends most of his time alone with me.  He’s a good egg.  Just needs to get away from his brothers.  They’re a bad influence on him.  Was this a one-time thing, or...?

Angie shrugs.

ANGIE
I don’t know.  First time I’ve seen him in years, and we just clicked.  And I’m the dumbass that didn’t make sure that I got his number before he left.  He said he has mine, and that he’d call in a little bit, but I’m not holding my breath.

Granny squeezes Angie’s hand tighter, then pats it with the other one.

GRANNY
I’ll make sure he calls you.  Besides, I know he’ll call you.  You’re wearing his lucky sweatshirt.

Angie looks down at the hoodie she’s wearing.  Black, blue, green, with a Harbor City Whalers logo on it.  She smiles.

ANGIE
Why didn’t he wear this a couple weeks ago against the Rangers?

The two laugh.

GRANNY
I’m not gonna tell you what to do, but you should really give him a chance.  He’s a lot better than the other grandson of mine you were with.  It’s not even a fair fight.

An undercover Crown Vic pulls up in front of the house.  Granny looks at Angie.

ANGIE
That’s my ride.

GRANNY
Your cousin giving you a ride?

ANGIE
Yep.

GRANNY
He still with CCPD I assume?

ANGIE
Yep.  Made detective a couple years back.

GRANNY
You take care, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.

ANGIE
Doesn’t take much off the list.

The two laugh.  Angie gives Granny hug.

ANGIE
Thanks Granny.  I love you.

GRANNY
I love you too.

George exits the driver’s spot of the Crown Vic.  Angie climbs down the steps.  George opens the back door for her.

GRANNY
(smiling and yelling)
CHOKE ON A DICK, PIG!

GEORGE
(smiling and yelling)
GET FUCKED, GRANNY!

Angie shakes her head, then ducks as she climbs into the back seat of the unmarked police car.  George closes the door behind her.  He looks back to Granny, sitting on the porch, giving him the finger.  He blows her a kiss, then climbs into the driver’s seat.

[LtBroccoli]

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
George sits in the driver’s seat of the unmarked cop car.  Janella is in the passenger’s seat.  Angie sits in the back behind George.  A stack of folders sit opposite of her.

George puts the car into drive as Angie looks around.  It’s been a long time since she’s been in this part of Veneto.  He is absolutely, eerily silent as he drives the first few blocks.  Janella turns toward Angie, waving at her through the barricade between the front and back seats.

JANELLA
Hello.  I’m Janella.  Janella Jenkins, CCPD.  George is my partner.

ANGIE
Hi, I’m Angie.

JANELLA
So, how do you two know each other?

GEORGE AND ANGIE
Cousin/Brother...Sister/Cousin.

George takes a deep breath, then lets it out.  Angie leans forward as George tries to get himself under control.

ANGIE
By birth, we’re cousins.  But we’re more like siblings.  I’m sorry Janella, you’ll have to forgive Georgie.  He gets a little worked up when my ex is involved.  Even if he’s not in the same county.

JANELLA
Georgie?

GEORGE
I have one question, and one question only.  Are you back with Bob?  Cause if so, I swear to fuck, I will turn around, go back, and shoot him myself.

ANGIE
No.  I’m not back with Bob.  I haven’t seen Bob in a few years, and he wasn’t even there.

GEORGE
You shitting me?

ANGIE
No.

George looks in the mirror, then at Janella.  She nods.  George lets out another long-held breath.

GEORGE
Okay.  So why the fuck were you at his house doing the ride of shame?

ANGIE
I had a date last night.  No, not with Bob.  It wasn’t even my date.  I went on a double date with a co-worker who was a little weirded out about seeing this guy by himself, so it turned into a double date.  I went to support my friend, and her date brought his friend and boss.  Chuck.

JANELLA
Chuck?

GEORGE
You mean Chuckie Hartman?

George turns the car down a side street, driving past Veneto Baptist Church.  He keeps driving.

ANGIE
It’s just Chuck now.  He’s not the same lanky, perverted, annoying jerk he was back in the 90’s.  He’s grown up, he’s more mature, and he has responsibilities.

JANELLA
Chuck’s related to Bob?

ANGIE
Sort of his little step-brother.  It’s a long story.

GEORGE
Well, we’re in Veneto and you live on the Main Shore.  We’ve got time.

Angie looks around the car and sees the folders sitting next to her.  On the top one she can make out the label ‘43SK’.  The one underneath it she can see ‘22’.  The rest is covered up by the folder on top.

ANGIE
Why the sudden interest?

GEORGE
Well, not that’s any of my business when my little sister ends up in a house full of convicted felons after a night of drinking.

ANGIE
Fine.  If you must know, we spent the whole night talking.  We met at Scorchers in Pleasantview and talked for a few hours.  1 beer became a 6-pack and a couple shots.  Sherri, my friend from work, left with her date Todd, and Chuck and I stuck around until closing.  He lived a lot closer to where we were than where I live, so we came here. 

GEORGE
D’ya fuck him?  Not that it’s any of my business.

ANGIE
No, it’s not your business, and no, I didn’t fuck him.  In fact, I tried to.  I really fucking tried to.  I haven’t been laid in months, it’s been almost a year since I’ve had even a halfway decent date, and here is this cute guy who’s into me.  After a few drinks, I thought ‘hey, might as well.’  Well guess what he did.

GEORGE
What?

ANGIE
Nothing, that’s what.  I’m lying there, naked on his bed, and he says he doesn’t want to take advantage of me while I’m drunk.  And we spent the rest of the night cuddling until we fell asleep.  That’s it.  Name one guy who would be that upstanding to turn down a drunk, naked, horny woman on his bed.  You can’t.

Angie starts to tear up a bit.

ANGIE
(crying)
And you know what’s really stupid?  I left without getting his number.  Finally meet a guy who’s not a complete jerk, and my stupid ass doesn’t even get his phone number.

George looks at Janella, motions for a Kleenex.  Janella hands one to Angie.

GEORGE
I’m sorry Ange.  I overstepped.  You’re right, I get really pissed off with anything involving your ex.  So, getting a call that you needed a ride from his crib, I was already in a bad place to begin with, and that just set it off.  I’m sorry.

Angie wipes away some of her tears.

ANGIE
Apology accepted.  You’re still a dick, though.

GEORGE
Copy that.

The car drives through Veneto, past an old motel.  Angie looks around at the folders on the seat and sees the roundabout way they’re driving through Veneto to get back to the highway.

ANGIE
What were you guys doing in Veneto?  You have a stack of folders over here with the names of Veneto gangs, we’re driving around this town like we’re tourists, and you picked me up a few minutes after I called asking for a ride.  You had to be nearby, and these folders say you’re working a case.

Janella and George exchange looks.

GEORGE
We can’t go into details about anything that may or may not-

ANGIE
Bullshit, you’re working something, and it might be something big.  Considering you know Chuck’s last name and his address, you were briefed on them.

GEORGE
You know I can’t tell you any details.  But, you answer a couple questions for us, and I’ll let you make whatever connections you want.  Deal?

ANGIE
That’s not much of a deal.

JANELLA
George, what are you doing?

GEORGE
Detective Jenkins, we have in our backseat someone who is uniquely qualified to give us an insight into the various aspects of this case.  Someone with intimate knowledge of the inner workings of 2236 and other things of interest.  Janella, you want to know how Mr. Robert Kuntzmann thinks and works?  Who better to ask than the former MRS. Robert Kuntzmann?  Angela Marie Lewis, who from 1997 to 1998 was Angela Marie Kuntzmann.

Angie is pissed.  Janella is shocked.

JANELLA
Wait, when you said he was your ex, you meant-

ANGIE
Ex-husband, yes.  We married in February 1997 and were divorced in August 1998.  No, it wasn’t some whirlwind romance or I was knocked up, we got married so he could help with student loans.

JANELLA
Huh?

ANGIE
I’m going to try to make the story short.  My parents cut me off after high school.  We had a big falling out due to some crazy drama from the cult they belong to.

JANELLA
Wait, your parents are in a cult?

ANGIE
Might as well be.  First Union Holy Church.  The whole place is rotten from the core to the head.  I didn’t want to play nice with them and go this new school that First Union was setting up, but they refused to sign my student loan paperwork unless I went.  I agreed, but at the last minute registered at Harbor City U.  The student loans and bills were already paid, George helped me out a lot my Freshman year, but it was putting a lot of stress on him.  When it came for tax time, I couldn't renew my FAFSA as an independent even though my parents cut me off.  Only way to get enough student loans to pay for college was to either join the Army, have a kid, or get married.  I made a joke off-handed to Bob about this, and he said “What are you doing tomorrow?”  Lousiest proposal ever.

George turns the car onto the Beltway on-ramp.

GEORGE
What she conveniently skipped over was how Bob got in the story in the first place.  Her and Bob had been dating on and off for a couple years.  Started when she was 16.  He was 26.  Some real R-Kelly shit going on there.

ANGIE
Like you’ve said before, age of consent in this state is 16.

GEORGE
Just cause it’s legal doesn’t make it right.  Especially when I find out my little sister is dating a drug dealing gang banger.

JANELLA
Wait, how did you end up dating him?  You grew up in Hillside near George, no where near Veneto.

ANGIE
Back in high school I spent a summer up at a bible camp, up by Lake Hiawatha.  It’s run by First Union.  I ran into him up there.  He had a cabin up there on the lake.  I snuck out of the camp, looking for anything to do, hoping that I’d misbehave so much they’d have to send me home.  Instead, I met Bob.  We hung out a bit, next thing I know, we’re sort of dating.

GEORGE
Code for fucking like rabbits.

ANGIE
Anyway, I thought it was just a summer thing, but we stayed in contact.  I had my license, so I’d come down to Veneto to visit him, or we’d meet somewhere in the middle.  We dated on and off.  Sometimes it was great, others it sucked.  One moment he’s a sweet teddy bear, next he’s threatening to kill someone or beating the shit out of a guy.  Gotta be honest, seeing a grown man beat up someone for you was pretty thrilling.  But he changed after we got married, like this suddenly changed our roles.  Like, I’m supposed to cook and clean now even though I’m going to school full time and he’s working when he feels like it.  He’d get really jealous about me hanging out with any guys after class.  He was never like that before.  Eventually, I told him it wasn’t working out.  We had a few big fights, one of them got a little out of hand.

GEORGE
Out of hand?  He threw a fucker out a second story window.

ANGIE
That fucker deserved it!

GEORGE
Well, let’s just say the shit hit the fan when a bunch of mail showed up at my apartment addressed to Angela Kuntzmann.

JANELLA
Your apartment?

ANGIE
I was staying with George through most of college.  At least, that was my permanent address.  I lived with Bob and Granny for a bit, but there was never enough privacy.  It’s a small house and if Vinny wasn’t being a dick then Chuckie was being an even bigger dick.  Then there was Granny.  She’s interesting.  She loves me, she loves Bob, but hated us together.  Especially after we got married.  Well, after I was officially an independent student, we no longer needed to stay married.  We separated in June 1997, tried to make things work over the next few months, but by October I knew it wasn’t going to work out.  I filed for divorce but he refused to sign the papers.  I tried giving them to him, delivering them to him, he refused to sign.

GEORGE
He kept pulling this hiding and bullying bullshit.  So I called up a buddy that does process serving and asked him to meet up.  I put on my blues, and we served the fucker.  Right in the middle of his kid’s birthday party.

JANELLA
WHAT?!

GEORGE
Baby momma was kinda pissed when Daddy got served divorce papers at their kid’s first birthday party.  Considering he married her a few months before he married Angie.

ANGIE
I swear, I had no clue about her or their kid.

GEORGE
Not the most fucked up birthday party I’ve been to, but definitely in the Top 5.  Had to pepper spray the clown on the way out when he tried to smash a bottle over my head.

ANGIE
That was Chuck.

George laughs.

JANELLA
No one pressed charges?

GEORGE
Considering I just dropped a nuke on that party, it got ugly quick.  We got the fuck out of there in a heartbeat.  Aside from his boys, no one there even knew about Angie.  They thought it was some sick joke until they looked at the paperwork and saw the original marriage license between Bob and Angie.

JANELLA
Omar said that he served time for bigamy.

GEORGE
That was probably it.

ANGIE
Only times I saw Bob after that were in court to finalize the divorce.  That was August 1998.

JANELLA
What about until 1999?  Heard that you would hang out around there until then?

ANGIE
It wasn’t just me.  Things got kinda weird after high school.  I had two friends that I stayed with, Jen and Stacy.  On and off from 95 to 99, we lived in Veneto.  Jen was one of my classmates, and had a lot of problems at home.  She only graduated because someone would drive her to school from 2236 every morning until she got her own car.  Stacy, she went to Hillside High.  She was a year behind us but graduated early and got emancipated at 16.

JANELLA
How?

ANGIE
That’s her story to tell.  She had a really fucked up life before she got out of there.  Her and I went to HCU.  I studied Business and Marketing, she was in the Dance and Acting program.  She earned a full scholarship, maintained a 4.0 and even an MFA by the time she left in 1999.  Went to New York after that, was on Broadway for a bit.  Jen and Stacy were, well, they were lovers for years.  They were even talking about going on a trip one day to get married as soon as it was legal.

Janella looked like she wanted to change the subject.  George kept driving down the highway.

JANELLA
Can you tell me a little about the rest of the 2236 crew?

ANGIE
A little.  By the time I was involved, it was only 5 people.  Bob, Vinny, Chuck, Paul and Gary.  Vinny is Granny’s actual grandchild.  Bob’s parents were out of the picture early, and Granny basically adopted him.  Vinny’s a jerk, but he’s our jerk.  Was a big partier as a kid, finally settled down a while back but got injured on a construction job.  Now, he’s struggling with painkillers.  Chuck is Vinny’s little step-brother.  Vinny’s mom married Chuck’s dad, but they disappeared as soon as Chuck was old enough to take care of himself.  Paul and Gary, not sure how those two ended up in the mix.  One day they weren’t there, next they were, like they’d always belonged.  Those two are like twins, always thinking alike.  Paul and Gary work with Chuck in his construction company.  Bob, well, he wasn’t around.  Don’t know, didn’t ask, don’t care.

Angie’s phone makes a beeping sound.  She pulls it out of her purse.

GEORGE
You texting now?

ANGIE
What do you mean?

GEORGE
That sounded like a text alert.  My phone has them.  They’re nice, but not worth the cost.

ANGIE
I know, right.  Like, I have unlimited minutes, and texts cost 10 cents each.  Just call me.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Yes kids, there was once a time where people WANTED to talk on the phone and text messages cost money.

Angie played around with her phone for a minute until she got to the message section.

ANGIE
Baconton, backton, Cull Toon Tyl Jet.  What the fuck is this?

GEORGE
Lemme see...

Angie passes the phone to Janella who passes it to George.  He takes a quick look, then hands it back.

GEORGE
Back in town, See You Tonight, Talk To You Later, JT.  Whoever JT is, they’re back in town and will see you tonight.

ANGIE
How?

GEORGE
I have some sources that use texts.  Real pain in the ass, but it’s developing into its own language.  Hey, wasn’t-

Angie’s phone rings.  She doesn’t recognize the number, but she answers it.

ANGIE
Hello?

CHUCK  (O.S)
Hey, it’s Chuck.

Angie’s voice lightens as she smiles.

ANGIE
Hey.  So, this your number?

CHUCK (O.S)
Yep, one of them.  You okay?  You get a ride?

ANGIE
Yeah, I’m fine, I called my cousin, he gave me a lift.

CHUCK (O.S)
That’s the cousin that’s a cop, right?  Granny called, said a one-time stopped by and you climbed in.

ANGIE
What’s a one-time?

GEORGE
You’re in it.  Undercover cop car.

CHUCK (O.S)
Newer term.  Look at the cops once to acknowledge them, but not more.  Looking too much draws attention.

ANGIE
Oh, okay. 

CHUCK (O.S)
I’m really glad to hear that you’re okay.

ANGIE
Thanks.

I/E. CHUCK’S TRUCK - DAY
Chuck is sitting in his green Chevy Silverado in a fast food parking lot.

CHUCK
Listen, I was wondering, what are you doing tonight?

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
Angie sits in the back of the Crown Vic.

ANGIE
You asking me out?  I thought guys were supposed to wait a few days, some weird macho guy code.

I/E. CHUCK'S TRUCK - DAY
Chuck squirms in his seat.

CHUCK
Well, normally yeah, but there’s exceptions for amazing and beautiful women you’ve known for a while.  Plus, it’s more of a guideline.

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
Angie’s smiling wide now.

ANGIE
Yes.  Meet at my place, say, 7PM? 

I/E. CHUCK'S TRUCK - DAY
Chuck grabs a pen and paper.

CHUCK
Yeah.  What’s your address?

ANGIE (O.S)
823 Largeman Street.  Apartment 205.

CHUCK
823 Largeman, 205.  Got it.  That’s right on the Main Shore, right?

ANGIE (O.S)
Yeah.  I’m like a block from the action.

CHUCK
You okay if we meet there, then walk to dinner?  There’s a great Peruvian place a few blocks away.

ANGIE (O.S)
Juanita’s?  Been wanting to try that for a while.

CHUCK
Great, I’ll see you at 7.

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
Angie’s grinning from ear to ear.

ANGIE
I’ll see you tonight.

GEORGE
Is that Chuck?

ANGIE
Yeah.

GEORGE
(yelling)
Treat her like a lady or you’ll be one!

Angie cringes a bit at George’s comment.

CHUCK (O.S)
That was George, right?

ANGIE
George says hi.

I/E. CHUCK'S TRUCK - DAY
Chuck makes sure he has the address right, and writes down her number just to be sure.

CHUCK
I’ll see you tonight. 

ANGIE (O.S)
Bye.

CHUCK
Bye.

Neither of them hang up.  They laugh.

ANGIE (O.S)
You didn’t hang up.

CHUCK
You didn’t either.

GEORGE (O.S)
Oh for fuck’s sake, you’ll see each other in a few hours, just hang up!

ANGIE (O.S)
Bye.

CHUCK
Bye.

Chuck hangs up the phone.  He fist pumps the air a couple times.  After a couple deep breaths, he makes another call.  The phone rings a couple times before another man in his thirties answers.  It’s BOB.

BOB (O.S)
Barrietta’s Brothel and Bakery, we got the best buns in town!

CHUCK
Sup fucker!

BOB (O.S)
How’s my favorite faggy brother doing?

CHUCK
I don’t know, I haven’t talked to Vinny in a couple days.  Getting your quota of bear dick up in the woods?

BOB (O.S)
You know what they say, fuck the goats by the cliff so they push back.

The two men laugh.

BOB (O.S)
What’s going on?

CHUCK
I’m giving you a heads up, so you don’t hear it from anyone else first, I gotta date tonight.

BOB (O.S)
Well, it’s about time you came out of the closet.  What’s his name?  Is he a hairdresser or a dancer?

Chuck laughs.

CHUCK
Nah, dude.  I only suck dick for work. 

BOB (O.S)
C’mon, it’s not work if you love what you do.

CHUCK
Yeah.  Giving you a heads up before you hear from anyone, I got a date.

BOB (O.S)
So?

CHUCK
With Angie.

Bob is silent for a minute.  His tone drops when he comes back.

BOB (O.S)
Oh.

CHUCK
I ran into her last night at the bar.  We were both wingmen for our dates, we got to talking, she came over.

BOB (O.S)
You fucked her?

CHUCK
Nah, she was too fucking drunk.

BOB  (O.S)
Pussy.

CHUCK
Anyway, I wanted to tell you before word got around.

BOB (O.S)
Shit, how many people know?

CHUCK
You, me, Paul, Gary, Granny.

BOB (O.S)
Fuck.  I don’t like this.

CHUCK
I wasn’t asking for permission, I was informing you of what was happening.  It’s been a few years and she was two ex-wives ago.

BOB (O.S)
This is happening whether I like it or not?

CHUCK
Yeah.

BOB (O.S)
When did you grow a pair?

CHUCK
I don’t know.  Maybe when I saw an amazing woman at the bar and said she’s worth pissing everyone off over.

BOB (O.S)
Don’t hurt her, don’t fuck it up like I did.

CHUCK
There’s no way I could fuck it up THAT bad.

BOB (O.S)
Fucker.  Tell Granny I said hi, I’ll be back soon.

CHUCK
Later dude.

BOB (O.S)
Later.

Chuck hung up the phone.  He started the truck and drove off.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
George and Janella sat in the conference room, going through the various folders.  They made copies of what they got from Veneto PD.

GEORGE (V.O.)
After dropping off Angie at her place, Janella and I went back to the office.  We had a lot to unpack, and a lot to fill in on our murderboard.

Janella spread out the various photos of the 2236 crew, then took the photos of Bob, Chuck, Paul, Gary, and Vinny and tacked them up on the wall around ‘MOTEL’.  She put a notecard at next to it that said ‘8-12-95’ and another one that said ‘Roadside Motel/Best Western’.

JANELLA
So, we’ve got a date, a location, and assailants.  What we don’t have is evidence and victims.

George looked at some of the notes for the Motel attack.

GEORGE
From what I could gather, there were at least 4 white guys in the attack but no mention of the kids from First Union or the men with them.  2 girls, 1 boy, 1 white man, 1 black man.  I’m going to make a crazy assumption here.  The black man was from Veneto Baptist Church, probably an assistant pastor or something.

JANELLA
(sarcastic)
Gee, really?

GEORGE
The people at First Union act like Veneto is like going to Rwanda.  Almost all of the black people in that church came from Costa Rica or Haiti or one of those islands.

George walks to the board and takes a look at the informant’s story, then at the pictures.

GEORGE
Gary and Paul were there.  That’s confirmed.  The victims were the 2 girls and 1 boy.  The part that gets weird from the deposition is that Natalie’s point of view changes from one of the victims to one of the people watching, but she described seeing a second girl have sex with a boy.

JANELLA
Something feel strange about that?

GEORGE
Very.  Look at how many assailants there are.  You’ve got enough blacks and latinos to fill a minivan, 4 members of 2236, and at least 2 men tied down.  How many dicks we got?  Like, 10, 12?

JANELLA
At least.

Janella gets up and walks to the board next to George.

GEORGE
The white guy told her the story.  He’s probably one of her cousins.

JANELLA
What makes you say that?

GEORGE
They were doing soup kitchen work.  That implies a church trip.  You think a bunch pearl-clutching racist-ass crackers would send their precious little children down to Veneto without adult supervision?  Nah, they’d send at least 1, maybe 2 pastors.  And taking a field trip in the middle of the night, one of those pastors made the trip.

JANELLA
And since almost every member of FUHC is a member of the Daniels family...

GEORGE
That meant one of her male relatives, likely a cousin or brother, told her what happened.  And since she left in the part where she was forced to rape the one girl after everyone else, that tells me the cousin had sloppy 15ths.

JANELLA
Why?

GEORGE
Guilt, blackmail, just to fuck with them.  Each of these attacks mentioned cameras except for the Midwest attack.  Best way to keep the pastor quiet would be threaten him with video of him raping one of his parishioners.  He goes to the cops, that video ends up in our hands or in the news.

JANELLA
Makes sense.  Now what about the gang members?  How many and who?

GEORGE
Omar said they had peace for a couple years after this attack.  I’m picturing leaders and 1-2 lieutenants.  Tops.  And would need to be pretty even.  One group sends 2, the other sends 5, no way it works.  We could probably look through those files and get the names of the leaders, probably narrow down who was who.

JANELLA
Question.  Angie and her friends went to First Union.  How much do you think they knew?

GEORGE
I don’t know.  But they were never welcomed by the church elders when they came back from camp.  They would talk in hushed tones about getting even, and Stacy, well, it doesn’t take a PhD to tell she had a fucked up childhood.

JANELLA
What do you mean?

GEORGE
She never relaxed around me.  I don’t know if I ever saw her relax around anyone except Jen.  Never once let her guard down.  At first I chalked it up to her being a lesbian in a very conservative town, but looking back there might’ve been more to it.  Getting emancipated is pretty damn hard, and her parents are well-to-do.  She convinced a court that she would be better off working as a waitress in Veneto than living in an affluent community.  I know a little about what happened, but never saw the court records.  Stacy never made a move without thinking it through 3 different ways.  Looking back, she had ammo.  One of the happiest days I saw of hers was when she moved to my place.  Her parents had no clue where she was, and no way of tracking her down.

JANELLA
Know what I’m thinking?  I think she was abused.  Badly.  Didn’t that one report from Ambrose say that the girl’s name from those videos was something like Stacy?

George nods.  Janella points to Stacy’s photo on the murderboard.

JANELLA
I think that Stacy was this Stacy.

As George and Janella look at the board for another moment, George’s phone rings.  He pulls it out and looks at the number.  Blocked.  He answers it.

GEORGE
Hello?

The voice sounds like it’s going through a modulator or changer of some kind.

VOICE (O.S)
Is this Detective George Lewis?

GEORGE
Yes, it is.  Who’s this?

VOICE (O.S)
I received your message from Ambrose PD.  We need to meet.

GEORGE
Agreed.  When?

VOICE (O.S)
Now.  Between 15 and 20 minutes from now, be at the Dancing Goat coffee shop on the 4th floor of the Ross Tower.  Come alone.  When you get there, order a Spiced Chai tea with soy and an Oatmeal Cranberry cookie.  I’ll know it’s you from that order.

George’s nods his head.

GEORGE
It’ll be a stretch to get there in time. I’ll leave as soon as I hang up.  Whom I looking for?

VOICE (O.S)
You’ll know when you get here.  Clock’s ticking, Detective.

The voice on the phone hangs up.  George looks at it for a moment, then grabs his stuff.

GEORGE
I gotta go.  That was the woman that called in those tips. 

JANELLA
What’d she say?

GEORGE
Come alone.  Meet at Dancing Goat right away.  She knows me.

JANELLA
How?

GEORGE
She knows my order.

JANELLA
I’ll look through this stuff and see if I can get us a peek at Stacy’s emancipation record.

GEORGE
Cool, back in a bit.

George exits the conference room.

EXT. HARBOR CITY DOWNTOWN - DAY
George runs down the streets of Harbor City, cutting in, around, and between groups of businesspeople, lawyers, shoppers, pedestrians, and everyone else walking on the sidewalks.

He arrives at the Ross Tower, a steel and glass skyscraper.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I didn’t have much time to think about what the voice said, but three things struck me.

INT. ROSS TOWER - DAY
George runs through the lobby, bypassing the security desk and making his way to the large escalator.  He bounds up the steps two at a time, making up great time and skipping two floors of steps.

GEORGE (V.O.)
First, she hid her voice with some piece of tech.  She was afraid of being recognized.

George gets stuck on the escalator behind a group of office workers taking up the whole width of the treads.  George checks his watch.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Second, she knows me.  She knew my favorite drink and cookie at my favorite coffee shop chain.  There wasn’t a very long list of women that knew that about me.

The workers clear out.  George walks quickly to the edge of the food court where a coffee shop stood by itself with some private tables.  The sign above the door said “Dancing Goat Coffee”.  A picture of a goat drinking coffee was on the front window.

INT. DANCING GOAT - DAY
George approaches the counter.  There’s a barista behind the counter.  George places his order and scans the place.  It’s pretty empty, with only two other customers.  One is a middle-aged man reading a newspaper.  The other is a woman wearing a sweatshirt, ballcap and sunglasses.  She sits with her back to the wall.  George walks past her table.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Third, she just called in a tip.  Not to me, but to Ambrose PD.  Which means she has new information.

WOMAN
Please, sit.

George sits down across from her, placing his food on the table.  She looks down at her coffee.

WOMAN
I know you don’t like sitting with your back exposed, but I need to keep an eye on things.

George takes another look at her.  He smiles.

GEORGE
It’s good to see you again, Jen.  I’ve missed you.

The woman smiles a bit.  She takes off her sunglasses.  This is JENNIFER TIBAULT, Angie’s longtime friend and someone George has known since she was a child.  Her long, curly hair is pulled back and stuffed into her sweatshirt hoodie jacket, still mostly concealed by her hat.

JENNIFER
Same.  I didn’t want to make it too hard for you, George.  You’re smart, but not that smart.  DOCTOR Detective.

George chuckles before straightening his face.

GEORGE
You know I have tons of questions, but I have to open up with this one?  Have you called Hillside PD recently with one of your tips?

JENNIFER
I called them yesterday.  Why?

GEORGE
Keep them out of the loop, I think they’re corrupt.  Might just be incompetence, but I don’t trust them.

JENNIFER
Why?

GEORGE
We followed up on 10 calls to Hillside and a couple to Ambrose.  The only one worth a shit was the call to Ambrose.  Everyone from Hillside clammed up before we got there and was paid off.

Jen is shocked but quickly recomposes.

JENNIFER
Think it’s all of them or just a few?

GEORGE
Not sure.  Secretary seemed like she was in close with the church.  This also answers my next question, why call the non-emergency line instead of 911.  You knew the tapes would end up in the hands of the Daniels’ family and they’d figure out it was you.

Jennifer nods.  She reaches into her hoodie and gives George a DVD.

JENNIFER
Here.  It’s what I started with.

GEORGE
What is it?

JENNIFER
Something terrible.  A lot of something terrible.  But it has information, too.

GEORGE
What kind of information?

JENNIFER
Names, places, dates.

George takes the disc and stuffs it into his jacket.

GEORGE
Next question, how’d you get this?

JENNIFER
I’ve picked up a thing or two over the last few years.  Did you know most people don’t put a password on their computer?  And those that do, it’s usually something simple like password or computer.

GEORGE
So ya hacked this?

JENNIFER
Maybe a little.  But a lot of it is freely available.  I pulled a copy of a website for survivors of sex abuse from the hands of the clergy.  There’s an entire section dedicated to First Union.  If you can find who runs it, it’ll answer a lot more questions you’re having.

GEORGE
Like what?

JENNIFER
Like what happened all those years ago, like why we left town...

GEORGE
Like why three white girls from an affluent community with seemingly perfect lives ended up happier living in the ghetto than they ever were at home with their families?

JENNIFER
Exactly.

George takes a sip of his tea.

GEORGE
Do I have to ask who’s after you?

JENNIFER
Should be pretty obvious.

GEORGE
Pretend I’m an idiot for five minutes.

JENNIFER
Pretend?  I thought that was normal.

Jen gets George to laugh.  She cracks a smile, but only briefly.

GEORGE
Seriously, what happened.  Last time I saw you, you were moving with Stacy to New York.  What happened?

JENNIFER
We moved, lived, loved, found work, but people from the church found us.  We moved again, and again, trying to stay ahead of them.  We got sloppy in Chicago.

INT. THE ZONE - DAY INTO NIGHT
George stands in the corner of a loft apartment in Chicago.  He can see skyscrapers in the background.  An elevated train passes by.

JENNIFER (O.S)
This was a few months ago, maybe six.  I was expecting Stacy to come home any minute.  I made her favorite dish, ratatouille.  She had a series of auditions for some stage work and hooked up recently with a dance troop.  There was a knock at the door.  It was her normal knock, but sounded a little off.  I opened the door, thinking maybe she had her hands full.

Jen walks out of the kitchenette area.  She’s dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt.  She’s happy, smiling.  Jen unlocks the internal locks.  The door bursts open as soon as she turns the knob.

JENNIFER (O.S)
They came in quick.  Too quick.  I tried to run to the bed, but they caught me.  There were four of them.  I didn’t know who the three men were, but I recognized the woman right away.  Natalie.

Jen tries to run but is caught by one of the three men.  All three of them are wearing suits and overcoats.  She looks at them.  They men look pretty similar.  Brunette, dark eyes, clean shaven, between 5’8” and 5’11”.  They’re followed in by Natalie Daniels.  She wears a long coat which covers her form.

JENNIFER (O.S)
She instructed the first man to bring me back to her, dragged me face to face.  She said she had plans for Stacy but didn’t give a shit about me, but that this was payback.  She slapped me as hard as she could across the face, then spit on me.  She told the man that he could have his fun with me while they waited for Stacy.

The man drags Jen over to the bed and throws her on it.  Before she can move, he punches her over the back, chest, and face over and over.

JENNIFER (O.S)
He just beat the shit out of me, punching me and slapping me over and over again.  Over and over.  During this time, he took his pants off and grabbed my sweats.  When I didn’t spread for him right away, he punched me again, this time in my stomach and vagina.

He strips Jen, stripping her between strikes.  Once she stops fighting, the man plunges into her, raping her.

INT. DANCING GOAT - DAY
George snaps out of the zone, sees that Jen is crying.  He grabs her hand and squeezes.

GEORGE
(softly)
Take as much time as you need.

Jen takes a few more breaths.

JENNIFER
Sorry, this is really hard to get through.

GEORGE
I understand.

George blinks.

INT. THE ZONE - DAY INTO NIGHT
George is back in the loft.  The man rapes Jen as she tries to protect herself.

JENNIFER (O.S)
I know it was only a few minutes, but it felt like hours, days.  During this, the door opened.  Stacy came home.

Stacy opens the door, but is immediately grabbed by the two remaining men in the living area of the loft.  She’s thrown on the couch.

JENNIFER (O.S)
I heard her scream.  Natalie said something about payback and getting away for the last time.  She sat on a chair, overlooking the action on the couch.  They, they...

George walks over to the action on the couch.  He sees the two men strip Stacy’s workout clothes off of her.  Natalie sits on a chair, watching as one man holds Stacy’s hands above her head while the other pulls his pants down and rapes her.

GEORGE
They attacked her too.

JENNIFER (O.S)
Yes.  I put my attack out of my mind as much as I could to focus on what was going on out there.  I heard Natalie make some sick joke about how Stacy should be used to this by now, asking her cousin or brother or whoever it was how tight the dyke felt. 

George sees a sick, sadistic smile on Natalie’s face.  He pauses the action in the zone and sees the train through the window.  This scene now all makes sense.

GEORGE
What happened then?

JENNIFER (O.S)
Well, promise you won’t turn me in for this.

GEORGE
I promise.

George turns back to Jen’s attack.  Her rapist is finishing up inside of her.

JENNIFER (O.S)
There’s a reason I ran to the bedroom.  That’s where I kept my gun.  Fully loaded.  Under my bed.

Jen’s rapist cums inside of her, then pulls out.  He kneels on wobbly legs as she rolls off of the mattress and lands on the floor.  As he pulls his pants up, he gets off the bed and walks toward Jen.  He has a look of pure hatred in his eyes.  He gets a clear view of Jen...

Holding a Glock 9mm, pointed right at him.

Jen pulls the trigger.  BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!!

The first shot hits the man in the chest.  The second, his head.  The third shot misses, flying through where his head would’ve been, if he wasn’t falling to the ground.

Natalie turns to the bed.  The two men with her in the living area do the same.

JENNIFER (O.S)
I shot my rapist twice.  As I stood, I saw he wasn’t moving.

Jen gets to her feet, gun pointed in front of her at the men raping her lover.  She takes aim and fires.  BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!!

JENNIFER (O.S)
I’m not a great shot.  I think I hit one of them in the shoulder.

The man who was holding Stacy takes a bullet in his shoulder.  The other pulled out as fast as he could and dropped to the floor.  Natalie saw Jen fire at her compadres, then turn towards her.

Jen pulled the trigger again.  BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!!  BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!! CLICK CLICK CLICK

Bullets fly past Natalie as she runs for the door.  She takes cover on the floor as they whizz past her head.  Once the shooting stops, Natalie turns.  Jen moved back to her nightstand, grabbing something.  Natalie didn’t see what it was, and didn’t wait to find out.  She ran for the door and opened it as Jen reloaded and took aim.

By the time Jen had a bead on Natalie, she and the men with her had left.  Jen collapsed on the couch, beaten and naked.  Stacy held her.  The two cried as the door stayed open.  After a while, two police officers arrived on the scene.

JENNIFER (O.S)
We were in illegal housing, and most people don’t pay attention to what happens next door, but I just unloaded a gun in an apartment.  I killed a man.  I killed a man who raped me, and shot another man.

George sees the two women give their statement to the cops.

JENNIFER (O.S)
I told the cops what happened, and it was pretty obvious that it was self-defense.  Still, we moved the next day.

George blinks.

INT. DANCING GOAT - DAY
George is back in the Dancing Goat.  Jen is on the verge of tears.

GEORGE
I’m, I’m so sorry.  No one should ever go what you went through or had to do.  If it’s any consolation, you did what you had to do to save yourself and Stacy.  And don’t beat yourself up on the shooting, that’s pretty good odds for someone not trained.  It’s pretty good for someone who is trained.

Jen laughs a little as she wipes away a tear.

JENNIFER
I’m just pissed I didn’t get that bitch.

GEORGE
Well, if you did, you might’ve saved me a headache or two.  What happened after that?

JENNIFER
We didn’t feel safe anymore, so we left.  Stacy’s going under an alias in the city she’s at now.  I knew that as soon as they attacked us, they won’t stop until we’re dead or they’re dead.  I came back here to start the war that ends them.  She can’t be safe until Natalie and her family dead or in jail.

GEORGE
They hurt her from early on, didn’t they?

Jen nods.

JENNIFER
It’s Stacy’s story to tell, but what they did to her was disgusting and despicable.  Everyone in that family earned a special place in Hell for what they did to her and all those other kids.  The fact that she’s as good as she is today is a testament to how strong she is.  I wish I was half as strong as her, but I’ve also lost count of the number of times she’d wake up from a nightmare or have a flashback and she’d cry for hours in my arms.  They’re going to suffer for what they did to her.

George and Jen sit at the table for a long moment.  He’s still holding her hand.

GEORGE
What’s the next step?

JENNIFER
I don’t know.  I’m in and out of town right now.  I won’t call Hillside PD anymore, I’ll go straight to you.  I’ll call that number when I’m in town or we need to meet.  If you need to get a hold of me, there’s a puzzle in a file on that disk.  Give it a call from a payphone when you figure it out.  If the voicemail talks about a floral shop, you’ve got the right place.  As far as your investigation, what do you have?

GEORGE
It’s kind of a shitshow right now.  We have them pretty good for a bunch of financial crimes like money laundering, but are just building a case against them for sex trafficking and other crimes.  They tried throwing us for a loop with a crazy deposition, but it was even more crazy than I thought.  Natalie told a story that was an amalgamation of 4 attacks.  1 of them was you and Stacy in Chicago.

JENNIFER
That bitch.

GEORGE
Each of her stories aimed to hurt someone.  My job is to figure out who, how, and why.  All the while tying a whole bunch of dirty shit back to them.

JENNIFER
Check out that disk, I think it will help.  I’ll call you once a week every Friday for a check-in, but if things go crazy it’ll be sooner.  Until later.

GEORGE
Later.

George stands up, taking his tea and cookie with him.  He looks around.  No one was watching him or followed him.

[LtBroccoli]

EXT. HARBOR CITY DOWNTOWN - DAY
George walks through downtown Harbor City, at a much slower pace than he traveled earlier.  He seems lost in thought as he carries his tea in one hand, and clutches the DVD case in his pocket with the other.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I now knew who my informant was, and why she was doing what she was doing.  I also knew I couldn’t tell anyone about this, outside of Janella.  I’d known Jen for a long time, she was Angie’s best friend growing up, but the last few years changed her.  As much as I believed her, I needed to verify what she told me, as best as I could.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT BULLPEN - DAY
George is on the phone, taking a call.

GEORGE (V.O.)
While Janella worked on getting Stacy’s emancipation files, I spent the day calling various numbers in Chicago.  Turns out that Jen’s story was corroborated.  I spoke to the detective working the case, they had a John Doe with a hole in his chest and one in his head who wore a nice suit and found right after having sex.  He said the two women were tight lipped and gave false ID’s.  I told him that the perp might be from Harbor City, and asked for the pics and prints.  They emailed over what they had.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
George stands at the murderboard, pinning a picture of a big man with a receding hairline under a section titled ‘CHICAGO’.  Janella enters the room holding a folder, and closes the door.  She sees George at the board.

JANELLA
What’ya got?

GEORGE
Alexander Petrovsky, aged 29.  Until an hour ago, a John Doe in Chicago.  Wound up in their morgue after a case of acute lead poisoning following a rape in a home invasion.  Also confirms my source’s story.

JANELLA
Whose the source?

George points at Jen’s picture.

JANELLA
Her?

GEORGE
This doesn’t leave this room, I will never write down who it was.  She has a grudge and a half, and it’s well-earned.  She confirmed the Chicago attack took place in Chicago.  Back in November, Natalie brought three members of the church with her.  They’ve been chasing Stacy and Jen for years.  They caught up to them in Chicago.  They were going to make it look like a home invasion turned murder and likely pin it on Stacy.  What they didn’t count on was Jen sleeps with a gun under her pillow.  After Mr. Petrovsky raped Jen, she rolled off the bed and grabbed Mr. Glock.  She put 1 in his chest and 1 in his head.  Jen then stood up and unloaded at the two men raping Stacy and at Natalie.  She said she hit one of the men in the shoulder.  After she was empty, she went back to reload as Natalie and her crew ran out.  Cops came, took their statements, then left.  Jen and Stacy moved the next day.  Detective I spoke to said that the women gave fake names and were in illegal loft housing.

JANELLA
What do we know about him?

GEORGE
Not much.  Just a big guy that was last seen a few months back.  Missing Persons had a report called in from his mother back in November after he disappeared.  Single, a couple brothers and one sister.  His sister is married to the Daniels’ family.  He was arrested once for a drunk and disorderly back in the 90’s when he picked a fight in a bar.  He used to work as a bouncer before going into personal security for First Union.

JANELLA
Personal security?  Their thug.

GEORGE
Exactly.  What did you get?

JANELLA
I have Stacy’s emancipation court records.  It was pretty cut and dry for the most part.  June 1996, final decision was made by the court to grant her emancipation from her parents and that she be recognized as an adult from that point on.  She provided tax stubs from a waitress job and a construction company as well as an agreement on a lease in an apartment in Veneto.  Landlord was Anna Marie Cartucci.

GEORGE
Granny?

JANELLA
Yep.  Most interesting part of the case isn’t just that her parents didn’t dispute it, but they testified on her behalf.  Judge wrote in his notes that he felt that the parents were being coerced into agreeing to this, but they denied under oath any such pressure.

GEORGE
So the Child Court system sided with a known gangster in their ruling?

JANELLA
They didn’t have a choice.  The parents, Matthew and Diana Daniels, said that she was more than capable of taking care of herself.

There was a knock at the door.

GEORGE
Come on in.

The door opens.  A short, chunky man with reddish brown hair pushes a cart with a computer, monitor, and speakers into the room.

ADAM
You order a computer?

GEORGE
Yes, thanks Pete.  Anywhere on the table, as long the monitor faces away from the door.

Adam shakes his head and starts setting up the computer.

JANELLA
What’s up with that?

GEORGE
My friend gave me this.

George picked up the DVD.

JANELLA
What’s on it?

GEORGE
Not sure.  They said a lot of something horrible.

Adam moves the desktop and monitor onto the table, and fishes some cables under it.

JANELLA
You tried playing it already?

GEORGE
Yeah, it didn’t work.  I put it in the DVD player and it sounded like cats fucking in a garbage disposal.

ADAM
It’s a data disc, that’s why?

GEORGE
Excuse me?

Adam climbs up from under the table.

ADAM
Your friend gave you a data disc that wasn’t formatted for autoplay in a video player.

GEORGE
And that’s why Pete here is installing this new PC.

ADAM
Adam.

GEORGE
Huh?

ADAM
My name’s Adam, not Pete.  No one in our office is named Pete.

GEORGE
I’m sorry.  I’ve been calling you Pete for the last few months.

ADAM
Yeah, I know.  Every time I tried to correct you, you moved on to something else.

Adam continues hooking up the PC, setting up the monitor, speakers and connecting the network cable.

GEORGE
Listen, I’m sorry Pe...Adam.

ADAM
And I’m sure as Hell not Pedro or Pietro.  Do I look like a Pedro?  Call me Adam, call me IT Guy, call me Mr. Finnegan, Call me Asshole, but don’t call me Pete or Pedro.  Got it?

George shakes his head.

GEORGE
Sorry Asshole.  Got it.

ADAM
Push the button.

George pushes the power button, the computer goes through the power-up process.

Time passes, Adam sets up the computer, then leaves.  George loads the disc into the computer and launches the file explorer.  Janella sits next to him.

GEORGE
Looks like this disc is loaded.  I’ve got tons of files.  Some video clips, text files, spreadsheets, pictures, you name it.

JANELLA
Let’s go through it and catalog.  I’ve got a bad feeling of what’s on here.

GEORGE
You and me both.

George and Janella go through the files on the DVD.  They create a file keeping track of the file names and what they contain.

GEORGE (V.O.)
One of the worst parts of our job is going through evidence collection.  Nothing good happens in the Sex Crimes division.  Whatever you click on, it’s always worth than you thought.  This was no exception.  There hours and hours of videos that we went through that day just to catalog them.  Almost each and every one of them was some form of child porn.  Young girls and boys, teens, multiple combinations.  By themselves, with each other, with men, women, animals, all of it.  Most of the kids were white, but there were too many of other nationalities and ethnicities to just chalk up to coincidence.  The bulk of the videos were on good quality cameras for the day, and looked like professionally shot and edited.  The settings changed, but over time we picked up that these were set dressings.  These were shot on a soundstage.  The rest seemed like they were shot in various locations, like a beach or a hotel or the woods.

Time passes.  Several days later, George and Janella finish their work.

GEORGE (V.O.)
It took us the better part of 2 weeks go through all of that stuff.  Not only were there tons of videos, but still pictures as well.  Then there were the documents.  Most of this looked like it was from the computer of someone close to the church.  In the meantime, we found some more information about the motel attack.

INT. THE ZONE - DAY INTO NIGHT
George walks around the motel room.  He’s carrying pictures around the room, attaching them to the faceless people.  As the picture touches the faceless, the person changes shape and becomes them.  He puts the pictures of Gary and Paul on their faceless representations, changing into their likenesses.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We figured that there were two members of 16 South in the attack.  The leader in the summer of 1995 was Lamar Jenkins.  His top guy was his cousin, Dwayne.  Their descriptions matched with the parts of Natalie’s deposition that weren’t trash.

George touches Lamar and Dwayne’s pics to their bodies.  They appear in the scene.

GEORGE (V.O.)
43SK sent three people that night, 2 guys and a girl.  There was a random woman who answered the door, then took part in the attack.  Our best guess was that the leader was Pedro Rodriguez and his family, Manuel and Gabriela.  Their descriptions lined up pretty well, too.

George touches their photos to their faceless representations.  Pedro, Manuel, and Gabriela come to life.

GEORGE (V.O.)
As much as I wanted to nail Bob to the wall for this one, I couldn’t.  He didn’t match the descriptions of the two remaining men.  One was too damn tall, and the other too skinny.  They fit Vinny and Chuck pretty well.

George touches the pictures to Vinny and Chuck.  They take shape.

GEORGE (V.O.)
That left me with three major problems.  First, we still didn’t have the identities of the victims, or assumed victims.  Second, even if we do, there’s not much we can do with it, this happened far enough outside the S.O.L. that even if we could prove it, we can’t take it to court.  And third, I had a pretty good hunch that Angie was dating a guy that took part in this.

CARLY (V.O.)
Wait, I’m lost on something.

George blinks, leaving the Zone.

INT. GEORGE'S DINING ROOM - NIGHT
Back in the dining room, George looks over at Carly.

GEORGE
Yes, Carly?

CARLY
I’m a little lost.  You spent all this time putting together an investigation into a bunch of crimes you couldn’t convict based off a deposition from a crazy lady?

George took a sip of wine.

GEORGE
Yes.

CARLY
Why?

GEORGE
Here’s the thing that I understood with Natalie at the time.  And I don’t know if she knew this ahead of time or not, wouldn’t surprise me if she did.  She was a master manipulator.  As soon as the church caught wind of our investigation, they had several ways they could go.  Apply pressure to bury it, threaten us with lawsuits, many things.  They tried to muddy the waters and project their crimes.

CARLY
Why?

GEORGE
Good question.  Narcissists love to project their failures on those that they think hate them.  This is why you see them accuse their enemies of something horrible.  That way, when they get accused back and there’s proof, they can say “Look, they’re just copying us.  You can’t believe them.”

CARLY
So you think she did that to distract you?

GEORGE
Absolutely.  They were hoping that we’d chalk this whole thing up to a wild goose chase, but she used this as a weapon to go after her enemies.

CARLY
Huh?

GEORGE
Don’t worry, I’m getting there.  As well as how deep this rabbit hole goes, and how it went from a shitshow to a clusterfuck.  Where was I?  Oh yeah.

EXT. VENETO BAPTIST CHURCH - DAY
George and Janella exit their Crown Vic in the parking lot of a modest church recently repainted.  The white walls were contrasted with black lettering that read ‘Veneto Baptist Church’.  They entered the front door.

GEORGE (V.O.)
By the time we wrapped up our cataloging, we had a ton of incriminating evidence, but couldn’t use any of it yet.  We had videos of child rape, but couldn’t identify the children, the rapists, or the locations.  So we were back to our original leads, dealing with the Motel Attack.

INT. VENETO BAPTIST CHURCH HALLWAY - DAY
The detectives make their way through the church, looking for anyone who might be there.  The offices are locked.  Eventually, they hear some noises come from the Rec Center.  They go that way.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We needed to see how this whole thing tied together, and try to wrap up the loose ends on the Motel Attack.  What does a gang rape in a no-tell motel have to do with a child sex ring, a murder in Chicago, and a bunch of money laundering and fraud?  For that, we went to Veneto Baptist Church and talked to their pastor, Reginald Vance.

INT. VBC REC CENTER - DAY
George and Janella enter the VBC Rec Center from the main church.  It’s a large, spacious room with vinyl floors, high ceilings, and several tables set up around the room.  A small kitchen sits off to one side.

An older, heavier black man wearing a button up shirt and jeans carries a small stack of chairs.  It is PASTOR REGGIE.  Several other young black youths follow him, carrying tables and chairs behind him.  The older man stops when he notices George and Janella.  He puts the chairs down, then turns to those following him.

PASTOR REGGIE
Okay, keep doing what you’re doing, I’ll be right back.

Pastor Reggie walks over to the detectives.  They approach him and meet in the middle of the floor.

PASTOR REGGIE
Excuse me, what could I do for you?

Janella pulls out her badge and shows it to him discreetly.  George follows suit.

JANELLA
I’m Janella Jenkins, a detective with Chester County Police Department.  This is my partner, George Lewis.  Are you the pastor here?

PASTOR REGGIE
Reginald Vance, I’m the pastor in charge around here.  What’s going on?  Is someone in trouble?

JANELLA
I hope not.  We have some questions?  Can we go somewhere more private?

PASTOR REGGIE
Sure, follow me.

Pastor Reggie turns to the youths behind him.

PASTOR REGGIE
Don’t dawdle, keep going.  Start setting the tables up.  You know what to do.

The three of them walk back into the church.

INT. PASTOR REGGIE’S OFFICE - DAY
Pastor Reggie sits behind a nice, well maintained desk.  Pictures of Reggie with various people adorn the desk and walls.  Some of them are of famous and semi-famous people, but the ones in the biggest and nicest frames are of little kids and their parents, who look a lot like Reggie.

PASTOR REGGIE
What can I do for you officers?

JANELLA
How long have you been the pastor here?

PASTOR REGGIE
Since the 80’s.  I think, maybe 82 or 83.  Why?

JANELLA
We have some questions about some events that took place a few years ago.  First, do you recognize any of these people?

George hands over a folder.  Reggie opens it and shakes his head.  It contains the mugshots of the 2236 crew, Lamar and Dwayne from 16 South, and Pedro, Manuel, and Gabriela from 43SK.  It also includes pictures of Natalie, Angie, Jen, and Stacy.

PASTOR REGGIE
Yeah, almost all of them.  Not too sure about the Mexicans, though, except for Gabby.  But I know them. Haven’t seen the girls for a long time.  What did they do this time?

JANELLA
That’s what we’re trying to find out.  You’ve been here for a while.  Remember anything about the summer of 1995?  Preferably August.

Pastor Reggie sits back and thinks.

PASTOR REGGIE
That was a long time ago, there’s some days I don’t remember what I had for lunch.

GEORGE
Remember any work done with First Union up from Hillside?

Pastor Reggie nods his head.

PASTOR REGGIE
Oh, that.  That rings a bell a little.  One of my fellow pastors, I think it was Tyrell.  He came to me one day and said that it might be a good idea to get help with one of our kitchen nights from other churches, and he recommended First Union.  I hate working with them, but we need all the help we could get, so I said go ahead.

JANELLA
Why’s that?

PASTOR REGGIE
First Union has a, well, I was told from an early age not to say anything bad about someone without proof.  So I’ll leave it at that.  But I had a bad feeling that something was up when I saw Gary in the early afternoon.

JANELLA
Gary?  Gary Spencer?

PASTOR REGGIE
Is that his last name?  Never knew.  I should’ve called everything off then and there, but it was too late and too many people were counting on us.

GEORGE
What happened after that?

PASTOR REGGIE
I don’t know what he did or what he was planning, I didn’t want my church involved.  But sometimes you need to make a deal with the Devil to serve the Angels.

GEORGE
I’m not completely sure I follow.

PASTOR REGGIE
Look, detectives.  We’re one of the poorest areas in Chester County.  Probably the poorest, but since 90% of the people living here are black or hispanic, we don’t get the kind of help we should.  We run a food kitchen open to the public every night from Thursday to Sunday.  We feed anywhere from 150 to 200 people every night.  It costs us a lot of money to keep this going.  So much that we can’t afford to do it, but too many people depend on us to quit.  We’re spending all of the money we get in donations on food.  We don’t have enough for basic maintenance, so I made a deal with Gary.  I wouldn’t get in the way of whatever crazy stuff he did as long as nothing bad happened to any of my kids, and he and his crew would redo our rec center.  We’d only pay for materials, he’d have to pay a few of my flock and train them on the job.

GEORGE
The deal with the Devil?

PASTOR REGGIE
Yes.  I’m not proud of it, but we’re not like First Union, and I’m glad for that in so many ways.

JANELLA
Do you remember anything else from that night?

PASTOR REGGIE
Too much.  A vanful of kids and a couple preachers came down from First Union that afternoon and we put them to work.  After dinner, Gary, who was talking in the most outrageous hillbilly accent, convinced a few of the older kids to go with him down to the Roadside Motel to deliver meals.  Him, Tyrell, one of the preachers, and I think 2 or 3 kids went with them.  They came back a few hours later, all shook up.

JANELLA
Shook up?

PASTOR REGGIE
Yeah, like they saw things they didn’t see before.  The one girl was acting like she was high as a kite.  It was late and everyone was falling asleep watching some movies anyway, so she was taken to one of the offices and went to sleep there.  Tyrell’s office I think.  Well, two grown men and one zonked out teen girl, the lights out, a locked door, and grunting and groaning and crying, and I’ll let you guess what they did to her that night.

Janella and George are shocked.  Reggie is pissed.

GEORGE
What happened after that?

PASTOR REGGIE
Tyrell calmed me down, said this was a problem that required a ‘Gary solution.’  I’m not sure what he did, but I only saw those two men once more, and it looked like one of them had a new set of teeth.

GEORGE
By any chance do you remember their names?

PASTOR REGGIE
No.  They started with the same letter.

GEORGE
Probably J.  There’s like 10 cousins that all start with J.  It’s kind of weird, to be honest.  Did anyone say anything about what happened at the motel, or ever talk about those kids?

PASTOR REGGIE
Not directly.  Never in my presence.  I heard that two of those kids got married a few months after.  The three kids, two girls and a boy.  Blonde girl, brown haired girl, and a boy with a deep tan that was a little on the ...

Pastor Reggie tilts his hand back in forth and scrunches his face.

PASTOR REGGIE
You know what I mean?

GEORGE
You thought he was gay?

PASTOR REGGIE
Yeah.  Really gay.  Now that we’re talking about it, I remember the blonde girl and the gay boy got married a few months after they came down here.  Gary and them were here working when the news broke.  They joked about sending them a toaster for a wedding gift.  I only saw those preachers a few months later out and about.

GEORGE
Do any of the girls in those pictures match the ones from that night?

Pastor Reggie takes another look at the pictures.

PASTOR REGGIE
Never seen this blonde before, not in person.  She looks like someone from that church, though.  Probably saw her on TV or something.  As far as Bob’s girls go, haven’t seen them for a while.

GEORGE
Bob’s girls?

PASTOR REGGIE
That’s what I called them.  This one...

He holds up Angie’s photo.

PASTOR REGGIE
She was connected by the hip to him.  She’d bring her friends down every so often and they’d do work in the rec center.  The other two were pretty good for office work.  The pale one, this one...

He holds up Stacy’s photo.

PASTOR REGGIE
She did an amazing job with organizing files and cleaning up how we worked in the office.  The other one was a whiz with computers.  Then again, I can barely check my email.  Haven’t seen them for a while.

George nods.

JANELLA
You mentioned Tyrell a few times, does he still work here?

PASTOR REGGIE
Sometimes.  He comes around on the weekends but spends most of his time working at Soaring Pines Rehab.  He’s a counselor there, helping people deal with addiction.  Who better to help junkies kick the junk than a former junkie who’s been through it?

GEORGE
Anything you can tell us about the other people?

PASTOR REGGIE
Not much.  I haven’t seen Lamar or Dwayne in a while, not sure if they’re still alive.  Don’t know about the Mexicans too much, and Gabby hasn’t come around for a while.  Anything else I can help you with?

George and Janella look at each other, Janella nods.

GEORGE
You mentioned that you didn’t like working with First Union.  Mind telling us why?

PASTOR REGGIE
A little.  What do you know about them?

GEORGE
I grew up in their church.  They’re why I’m an Atheist.

Pastor Reggie is taken aback by that, but nods.

PASTOR REGGIE
Well, let’s just say if it were just their attitude about how helping those who need it is like some game for getting into Heaven, I could deal with that.  I could even deal with the rampant holier-than-thou attitude that comes from their prosperity gospel crap, but let’s just say that there’s rumors floating around about how horrible they really are.

JANELLA
What kind of rumors?

PASTOR REGGIE
The worst kind.  Rumors involving kids being forced to, well, what I’ve heard is pretty disgusting.  But it’s all rumors, probably just backroom talk designed to make them sound worse than they are.  I never put much weight behind it until one day I saw Jen going through some files, looking for names and addresses.  She was looking for specific people that she says ‘had to pay.’  It wasn’t for her, she said.  I assumed it was for Stacy, then.  Those two...

GEORGE
Yeah, they were.

PASTOR REGGIE
Thought so.  Still, two of the best girls I’ve ever had helping out around here.  Anything else I can help you with?

George and Janella stand.  Janella gives Pastor Reggie two of her cards.

JANELLA
If you think of anything else, about that night or anything else involving First Union or what we talked about, please call us.  And the other is for Pastor Tyrell, when he gets back in.

PASTOR REGGIE
Will do.  Have a good day.

JANELLA
Thanks, you too.

GEORGE
Thanks for your time.

The three shake hands.  George and Janella walk out of his office.

[LtBroccoli]

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
It’s the next day.  George drives the Crown Vic on a country road.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Our talk with Pastor Reggie uncovered more than we expected.  Not only did we get confirmation of the events of the Motel Attack, but we now had another assault to look into featuring members of the Daniels Family.  We didn’t have the names we needed.  That was the next step.  That, and try to find out what we could about First Union.

INT. FIRST UNION HOLY CHURCH LOBBY - DAY
A large, ornate entrance greets those that enter First Union Holy Church in Hillside.  Artwork and murals adorn the walls, stained glass color the scene as though it was a painting.

Detective Janella Jenkins stands at a desk, talking to a secretary with a large, tall hairstyle.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Janella and I decided that we had to split this up and move quick.  One of us had to talk to members of the church, the other had to visit the camp up by the lake.  If we were lucky, one of us would get something.  Considering my past with the church, we agreed that she would talk to the church while I drove up to Lake Hiawatha.

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
George drives through the country.  There’s a sign that says “Lake Hiawatha 53 Miles”. 

GEORGE (V.O.)
It was a long shot, but it was our best shot.  We had videos of them assaulting kids, but most of them obscured the assailants.  They either wore masks or had blue dots over their faces.  We could figure out that most of the men were the same handful and a few women were involved, but that was it.  No one had tattoos, only a few scars, and these were old videos from before HD came around.  I hoped that we could get a lead on the victims of the Motel Attack, maybe a little something for the Camp Attack and identify some locations used for the videos in the woods.

George blinks.

INT. THE ZONE - DAY INTO NIGHT
George is in the Zone.  The music is mid-90’s hip-hop.  He’s in a office in a church.  It’s small, it’s night.

A young woman, maybe late teens, lays on a cot.  She has brunette hair.  She’s dressed in conservative clothes, and looks like she’s already had a rough night.  Two men are in the room with her.  They look similar to each other.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I used the drive up to piece together the newest attack and try to answer a question that plagued me.

George walks around the room.  The girl is tired and unresponsive, almost catatonic.  The first man starts rubbing her ass.  She does nothing.  He goes further, sliding his hand up her skirt and pulling her panties and pantyhose down.  A moment later, he’s naked.  He pushes her skirt up and starts fucking her on the cot.

GEORGE (V.O.)
This new attack wasn’t part of the original plan.  At least I don’t think so.  It seemed like it was opportunistic.  These men, and I use that term loosely, took advantage of the situation.

The first man finishes fucking the girl.  He pulls out, and makes room for his relative.  The new one does the same, raping the girl as she cries on the cot.

George looks around the room.  It was a hot day in August.  Very hot, and VBC didn’t have air conditioning.  He looks up, and sees a transom open at the top of the window.  It goes straight up to a tree with a perfect vantage point.  He walks to the wall, then passes through it.  Outside, he looks around.  Dozens of Gary’s stand around.  One’s smoking a cigarette next to the window, another is listening, another is recording this on a hand-held mic, another is in a tree taking pictures, another is staring in the window but seeing nothing.  George scratches out all of Gary’s that could be seen or make noise nearby.  He’s left with one in the tree and one leaving a recorder behind.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Pastor Reggie didn’t mention that these guys got their ass kicked that night, and if he thought Gary raped that girl in his church, he would’ve said so.  He doesn’t like Gary, so he wouldn’t protect him.  But everything I’ve heard about him indicates he has a plan and makes contingencies.  What would be the contingency here?  Get proof of their misdeeds and use it later.

George reaches across the Zone and drags the Motel room to him.  He stretches a string from the girl in the office to the one on the bed being gang raped.

GEORGE (V.O.)
That led to the question that plagued me.  It was one of simple math.

George counts the people in the Motel room.  Each one he counts, a lit number appears over their head.  Vinny is 1, Chuckie 2, Paul 3, Gary 4, Lamar 5, Dwayne 6, Pedro 7, Manuel 8, Gabriela 9, Tyrell from VBC 10, Preacher from FUHC 11, Gay Boy 12, Brunette Girl 13, Blonde Girl 14.

GEORGE (V.O.)
14 people.  3 victims, 2 bound males that were ‘forced’ to partake in the action.  That leaves 8 men and 1 woman as assailants.  That’s a lot of dick for two women.  Why was one of them spared?

George sees the Gay Boy and the Blonde Girl off by themselves on one bed.

GEORGE (V.O.)
This is the part that doesn’t make sense unless there’s a reason.  8 guys down to fuck and there’s a piece of ass there waiting for them to take.  Why didn’t they?  Why leave one girl, presumably a rather naive and innocent girl, to be raped repeatedly while the other gets off scot free?

George watches the events unfold.  The Gay Boy and the Blonde Girl clumsily have sex.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Pastor Reggie said he heard those two got married a few months later.  Considering how conservative First Union appears to be, my guess is she got knocked up either this night or soon after and they married to save face, or some other reason.  But why?  It would be so much cheaper for this girl’s parents to pay for her abortion across state lines, say that she had a case of food poisoning, and stay home from school for a few days.  Why go through with keeping the kid and getting married at a young age?  Hell, I don’t even have their age yet.  I’m assuming they’re between 16-18.

George looks around the Zone and finds Natalie, staring at the scenes with anger.

GEORGE
Who’s the enemy here?  Who hurt you?  Who embarrassed you?  Who crushed your fragile ego?

Natalie says nothing as she walks away, throwing one last glare of anger at the girls on the bed.

George catches the look.  He blinks.

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
George continues to drive down the country road.  He’s wearing a dark blue suit.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I had to find out who those girls were, and their relationship to Natalie.  That would answer my questions.

EXT. CAMP HIAWATHA - DAY
It’s a sunny yet slightly chilly day up at the lake.  Several log cabins stand near each other.  A large sign that says ‘CAMP HIAWATHA’ stands in blue and white paint in the middle of the entrance.  George pulls the Crown Vic into a parking space by a building that says ‘MAIN OFFICE’.

George enters the building.

INT. CAMP HIAWATHA MAIN OFFICE - DAY
George stands at the desk, talking to a young woman wearing a baby blue polo shirt.  They talk for a moment before George leaves.

GEORGE (V.O.)
When I first arrived, it was late in the morning on Friday, but early enough that I arrived and no one there was there from the 90’s.  The young woman told me that her boss would be back after lunch in a couple hours.

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
George drives down the road a ways to a series of shops. 

EXT. E&B’S BISTRO & BAIT - DAY
The first one is a General Store, the next one is ‘E&B’S BISTRO & BAIT’, the third was a retro-looking diner named ‘HARRY’S’.

George pulls into the lot in front of E&B’s.  He gets out and thinks twice before going in.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I didn’t have anything to do, so I asked about somewhere to get some lunch myself.  She directed me to a place called E&B’s.  I really should’ve asked what kind of place it was.  But I figured what the hell, I might be pleasantly surprised by the quality of sandwiches and coffee served at a bait shop.

INT. E&B'S BISTRO & BAIT - DAY
George enters the peculiar restaurant.  On one side is an outdoor’s shop with ammo, arrows, live bait, hunting supplies, nature supplies, and clothes.  The other side is a small deli counter and an coffee setup.  A young man, tall and blonde with styled blonde hair, takes his order.  This is BRANDON.

George orders his food and sits down at one of the tables.  BRANDON delivers it to him.  He speaks with a noticeable lisp.

BRANDON
Here you go, sir.

GEORGE
Thank you.

BRANDON
If you need anything, I’m Brandon.

Brandon walks away.  George takes a bite and is amazed.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Though the list of bait shops I’ve had sandwiches at is quite limited, I have to say that that was the best Ham & Swiss I’ve had outside of the day after Christmas.  And the Spiced Chai was damn near perfect.  I took my time and enjoyed myself, eventually looking at my notes.

Brandon walks back over to George’s table, giving him a free refill on his Chai.

GEORGE
I, didn’t-

BRANDON
It’s okay.  Free refills out of season, plus, it’s really slow today anyway.  So, what brings you up to the lake?  If you don’t mind me saying, you don’t look like much of a camper.

GEORGE
It’s a work thing.  Probably a wild goose chase, but that’s my job.

BRANDON
So whatya do?

GEORGE
I’m a cop.

BRANDON
Really?  You new to the Sheriff’s department?

GEORGE
No, I came up from Harbor City.  Chester County Police Department.

Tyler motions to the chair opposite George.

BRANDON
You mind?

George motions for Brandon to sit.  The younger man does so.  George extends his hand after wiping it with a napkin.

GEORGE
I’m George.  George Lewis.

Brandon accepts it.  The shake was firmer than George expected.

BRANDON
Brandon Washington.  I’m the B in E&B’s.  My partner’s the E.

GEORGE
The E’s for...

BRANDON
Eric.  My partner.  Boyfriend really, but partner doesn’t freak out too many people around here, though everyone around here knows us, and knows that if they try anything, well, we’re by the lake and you see all the other supplies in the building?

GEORGE
They’d be pretty stupid to screw with you.

BRANDON
Yep.  So, what brings a cop three hours north from Harbor City, right as the camping season is about to start?

GEORGE
I can’t go into too many details, but I’m trying to uncover the identities of a few potential campers, and see when others went here.  It’s a lot harder to say no to a cop face to face than it is over the phone.

BRANDON
If there’s anything I can do to help, I went there when I was kid.  Met my Eric there.  I was a camper he was a counselor.

George tilts his head a little.  Brandon realizes how bad what he said sounds.

BRANDON
Oh no no, not like that.  We didn’t start dating until years later.  We met at a club downtown, Achilles.  We caught up, started dating, then eventually moved up here.  My parents were furious when I came out, but they’ve gotten used to it.  I think deep down they knew for a while, just didn’t want to admit it.  Eric has a story about how when his grandpa caught him with gay porn, his grandpa tried to toughen the queer out of him by making him spend a week felling trees and chopping wood.  He’s still gay, but can make the gayest log cabin ever.

The two men laugh at the joke.

BRANDON
If all this gay talk is too much-

GEORGE
It’s okay, I had lesbian roommates.

BRANDON
That’s interesting.

GEORGE
They were my sister’s best friends.  Even if I thought about barking up that tree, I knew one of them since she was a little kid.  That would’ve been a little too weird.  So, he does the bait shop side and you do the food?

BRANDON
Pretty much.  We can each fill in for the other, but I’m much better in the kitchen than he is.  He’s out doing a supply run right now, will be back this afternoon.  So, who is Detective George looking for?

George takes a sip of his Chai.

GEORGE
I’m trying to confirm what years, if any, a woman named Natalie Daniels went to this camp.

Brandon shirks back at the mere mention of her name.

BRANDON
Her?

GEORGE
I’m also trying to find out if there were other campers here that would’ve been her friends, friendly, or were under her thumb.  Possibly two girls and a boy, late teens to early 20’s, the boy would’ve given off gay vibes but he ended getting married a few months later.

BRANDON
Chad.

Brandon’s voice drops a tone.

GEORGE
Chad?

Brandon takes a deep breath, then talks, trying to hold back some tears.

BRANDON
Chad Swanson.  Sorry.

GEORGE
It’s okay, I’m sorry for bringing it up.

George hands Brandon a clean napkin.

GEORGE
He was important to you, wasn’t he?

Brandon nods.

BRANDON
Ever hear those cliche stories about how gay boy goes to camp not sure how he feels about girls and boys, just to have his first gay moment at camp with another boy?  Well, Chad was my moment.  He was my first kiss, first real first crush, first, well, let’s just say we learned a lot about each other.  Then Natalie got involved.

GEORGE
What did she do?

BRANDON
Thundercunt blackmailed him, made him do her bidding in camp.

GEORGE
I’m sorry, Thundercunt?

BRANDON
That was the nickname one of the other girls gave Natalie.  She made quite a few enemies.  Anyways, Chad was scared shitless, he was afraid his parents would kill him.  And being gay in the 90’s was tough enough.

GEORGE
When was this?

Brandon thinks for a moment.

BRANDON
I was a Freshman, graduated in 1999, so summer of 1995.

George’s eyes flash wide.  1995.  He hid his reaction after a second.

GEORGE
1995?  So Natalie was blackmailing Chad?

BRANDON
Yeah.  It was pretty sad, too.  He didn’t want to hurt anyone, least of all Stacy.  Stacy is Natalie’s cousin, but she was, well, let’s just say she was flying the rainbow flag in private.

GEORGE
This is one of those small world moments, but I know Stacy.  She’s an old roommate of mine.

BRANDON
Oh my God!  That is so crazy!

GEORGE
Yeah, she needed a place to crash for a while, and I had the room.

BRANDON
Thank you.  It’s hard to find allies sometimes.

GEORGE
She was a friend of my sister.  Well, cousin.  Long story.

BRANDON
Who was that?

GEORGE
Remember Angie Lewis?

BRANDON
She’s your cousin?  Next time you see her, tell her I said hi and good job ripping that bitch’s hair out.

GEORGE
Wait, what happened?  She never told me this story.

Brandon is in a much better mood than earlier.

BRANDON
So, Natalie tried outing Stacy, real dick move.  In the middle of the chow hall, she starts calling Stacy a dyke, a whore, a slut, a carpet muncher, all of it.  Stacy’s crying, Eric is in the back of the hall holding back Stacy’s girlfriend from stabbing the bitch, and here comes Angie.  She leaps over a table, jumps on her, and starts punching the shit out of Natalie.  They start scratching and pulling, Angie grabs a chunk of Natalie’s hair and pulls it out.

GEORGE
Holy shit!

BRANDON
I know, right.  Counselors are pulling them apart, Angie’s waving Natalie’s hair saying “You want this, bitch, come’n get it you fucking cunt!”  She was ready to kill a bitch right then and there.

GEORGE
That’s...That’s Angie.

BRANDON
Next few weeks were rough for them, but then we had the session break.  Chad went home with Melissa and Michelle.  I stayed up here, finished out the year.

GEORGE
Whose Melissa?

BRANDON
Melissa Crawford.  Now, Melissa Swanson.  Michelle, I forget her last name, something with a B I think.  Wait, what’s the name of the President from West Wing?

GEORGE
Um, not sure.  I haven’t seen it.

BRANDON
Her last name is his.  I remembered when I saw an episode and that rang my memory.

GEORGE
I’m gonna take a wild guess.  Melissa is blonde and Michelle was a brunette?

Brandon thinks for a moment.

BRANDON
Pretty sure, yeah.  Yeah, now that you mention it, Michelle had this very curly hair, Melissa’s was more wavy.  They were cute girls, but, not my type.

Brandon chuckles.

BRANDON
So, what happened to Stacy?  What about Jen and Angie?

GEORGE
Well, Stacy and Jen moved to New York.  Stacy went to Julliard after Harbor City U, Angie’s living downtown, does something with Marketing.

BRANDON
That’s good.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Look, I’m allowed some omissions and lies.  No reason to destroy his good mood by telling him I’m investigating their rapes.

BRANDON
But yeah, that was my first year at camp.  I came up a couple more times before my parents finally caught the hint that I wouldn’t bring home a daughter-in-law unless it was for a green card or insurance.

GEORGE
Did Natalie come to camp any other years?

BRANDON
Not as a camper, no.  Only 1995.  She might come up for a couple days here and there to recruit for a mission of theirs, but not much else.  She said she ‘had too much fun’ her first year and wanted other kids to have her spot.  If you ask me, she hated it once Chad left.  She didn’t have anyone left to bully around.  I think she got her ass kicked one night.

GEORGE
Got her ass kicked?

BRANDON
Yeah, one night she’s all fire and brimstone indignant, the next, all meek and humble.  Even apologized for everything she did to Stacy.  Wouldn’t be surprised if Angie broke her foot off in her ass.

GEORGE
That would not surprise me in the least.

The doorbell chime rings.  Another customer comes in.

BRANDON
Duty calls.  Eric’ll be back in an hour or two if you want to ask him anything.  Nice talking with you.

Brandon goes to the counter and goes back to work, getting this customer a coffee, sandwich, and a can of worms.

GEORGE (V.O.)
As I sat there thinking about what Brandon said, I realized several things.

George leaves 2 $20 bills on the table for his bill, along with his card and cell phone written on the back.  He waves as Brandon works.  Brandon waves back.

EXT. E&B'S BISTRO & BAIT - DAY
George walks to his car and climbs inside.

GEORGE (V.O.)
First, how much most of my job comes down to random encounters.  I got more information from a lunch conversation than I would’ve gotten from a day of digging through files in a bible camp.  Assuming I could even get to them.

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
George sits in the driver’s seat and grabs his notepad.  He quickly writes down everything Brandon told him.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Second, I now had the names of the kids from the Motel Attack, and how they were connected to Natalie.  Chad, Melissa, and Michelle were her stooges.  They had a close enough connection to justify why Natalie chose this story, and if she was blackmailing Chad for being gay, what better way to tell her to fuck off than getting married and having a kid?

George writes more notes.  Through the back window of the Crown Vic, a rusted-out powder blue 1984 Chevy C10 Silverado goes down the street.  George catches a glimpse of it in the rear view mirror.

He turns.  By the time he does, the truck is gone.  He shakes his head, then breathes.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Next, I know when Natalie was a camper there.  1995.  I knew she was there that year, but didn’t know about any other years.  This means that if the camp attack took place, it would be 1995.

George checks his cell phone.  He has two missed calls from Janella.  He finishes writing his notes.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Finally, I’ve got a good lead on what happened up at the camp.  Natalie and Angie fought something fierce, and Jen and Stacy were involved.  How, I’m not sure.  But the way Natalie chased them down for years tells me she wanted revenge.  I’d ask why she didn’t chase down Angie the same way, but I had two good suspicions on that.  Her cousin was a cop, and her ex-husband was, well, Bob.

George dials Janella.  It rings twice before she answers.

GEORGE
Hey, I’m on speaker in the car by myself, what’s going on?

INT. FIRST UNION HOLY CHURCH LOBBY - DAY
Janella stands in a corner of the room, talking on her phone.  She’s watching a man in his 30’s, with his arm in a sling, talking to a good-looking woman in her 20’s.  The man is JONAS DANIELS.  The woman is NATALIE DANIELS.  They look over at Janella for a moment, then turn and leave into another room.

JANELLA
Oh, you know, loads of fun down here in Harbor City.  How’s things on your little field trip?

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
George pulls the car into drive and backs out onto the road.

GEORGE
Interesting.  I have names.  Can I say them freely?

INT. FIRST UNION HOLY CHURCH LOBBY - DAY
Janella nods, watching the action down the hallway.

JANELLA
Go ahead.

GEORGE (O.S)
Chad Swanson, Melissa Crawford, Michelle last name of the President from West Wing.

JANELLA
Bartlett.

GEORGE (O.S)
I guess, I don’t watch much TV.  Chad and Melissa got married, she’s the blonde.  Michelle is the brunette and the victim from the Motel and the office rapes.  Chad is queerer than a $3 bill, but straight enough to knock up Melissa.  This all took place in 1995, and Natalie was a camper up here.

JANELLA
Source?

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
George drives down the street, turning toward the camp again.

GEORGE
Former camper up here, runs a sandwich shop and hunting supply place with his boyfriend, husband, partner, whatever the term is nowadays.  Says Chad was his first love.  His partner was a counselor here that year, I’ll try to talk to him later.  Anything down there.

JANELLA (O.S)
Just crickets.

GEORGE
Nothing?

INT. FIRST UNION HOLY CHURCH LOBBY - DAY
Janella watches down the hall, Natalie and Jonas are out of view.

JANELLA
Nothing.  They do a lot to make nothing happen.  More runaround than I’ve seen in a long time.  I’ll check the guestbook or something to get a registry, see if any of these names are present.  But I did get a look at her and another man.

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
George approaches the camp and parks the car.

GEORGE
Who Natalie?

JANELLA (O.S)
Yep.  And someone with a sore shoulder.  Think his name is Jonas.

GEORGE
Jonas Daniels.  Natalie’s cousin, I think.  When I was last there, he was pretty high up.

INT. FIRST UNION HOLY CHURCH LOBBY - DAY
Janella keeps her eyes open, but no one else is in the hall.

JANELLA
He appears so.  Each time someone in a fancy suit comes out of a door, they stop, consult each other, then turn around and go back.  I’ll see what I can do before I get asked to leave or die of boredom.  I’ll call you later.

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
George stops the car.

GEORGE
Same here.  I’m going to try one more time with the camp office, then maybe walk around.  I was only up here once before today, and it was a quick stop.  I want to get a lay of the land.  Later.

INT. FIRST UNION HOLY CHURCH LOBBY - DAY
Janella looks at the floor and wall, sees a bunch of dedication stones.

JANELLA
Same here.  Later.

Janella looks around, sees that no one is nearby.  She gets the camera on her phone to work, and starts taking pictures of all of the dedication stones she can find.  She goes in closer for some stones with interesting names.  DANIELS, BATEY, CRAWFORD, BARTLETT, LEWIS, etc.  She writes down some more names before moving on.

[LtBroccoli]

EXT. CAMP HIAWATHA - DAY
George gets out of the Crown Vic.

Time passes.

George returns from the camp’s main office.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Just as I figured it would be, the office was a dead end.  The manager had only been there for a couple years and they didn’t keep any records older than 3 years onsite.  Everything else was kept back at the HQ.  When I asked where those were, I was told it was the FUHC business office.  This will be very important later on.

George walks around the camp, looking at how things are laid out.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I wasn’t surprised at all by the runaround.  This is par for the course when doing police work.  We wouldn’t need subpoenas if people gave us what they were trying to hid.

EXT. LAKE HIAWAHTA WOODS - DAY
George finds a path and walks down it.  This path seems to meander down towards the beach.  He follows it.

GEORGE (V.O.)
To be honest, I just wanted to kill some time that day.  I drove three hours up to the camp, waited around for another couple hours to get a no, and had another three hour drive home.  How bad would it be to take a quick walk around?  I’ll be back at my car in fifteen minutes.

The path splits.  One goes straight down to the beach and a boat dock.  The other heads to a cabin.  George saw through the brush a vehicle parked and heard a generator running. 

EXT. CABIN - DAY
He walks toward the cabin.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I saw that the neighbor was home.  Maybe they might be able to answer some questions about their bible-camp-owning neighbors.  Once I got through the clearing, that’s when I noticed it.

George looks and sees a truck.  He almost ignores it completely until he takes a second look.  It is a rusted out, powder blue truck.  A 1984 Chevrolet C10 Silverado.  George takes a look at the truck again, and again.  He recognizes the license plate.

George knows the truck.

GEORGE
Fuck.

George unholsters his service pistol, a Glock 17 9mm.  He checks the ammo and racks a shot.  His finger is on the trigger, activating the safety.  He grabs his badge with his left hand, flipping it open over his hand so he can hold his weapon with two hands.  He scans the environment.

GEORGE (V.O.)
As soon as I saw that truck.  I knew I was in for a long day.  I recognized that truck as soon as I saw the rusted out body, the blue paint, and the license plate.

George approaches the cabin.  The generator is on, George’s heart is beating a mile minute.

GEORGE (V.O.)
It wasn’t just that I had a beef with him, or he had a beef with me, but I knew this man was dangerous with a capital D.

George gets to the front door.  He knocks on it, shave-and-a-haircut style.  Nothing happens, but George can hear a radio playing inside and some footsteps.  He keeps his eyes peeled as he knocks again, in the same style.

GEORGE
(shouting)
Robert Kuntzmann, I know you’re here!

George listens for something.  He hears movement behind the door.

GEORGE
(shouting)
Open up Bobby, I recognize that piece of shit truck of yours from anywhere!

George hears some movement as the floorboards creek.

GEORGE
(shouting)
I didn’t come all the way up here just to stand on your porch.

He sees the shade from the window by the front door open slightly.

GEORGE
(shouting)
Do we talk this out or shoot this out?  Either way, I got shit to do.

The window closes.  A latch on the door unlocks.  It opens slightly.  George keeps his pistol aimed and ready.  He knows that the man behind the door is also armed.  The door opens a little further.  The man behind the door holds a sawed-off shotgun in his right hand, pointed to the ground.  George slowly points the gun off to the side.  He finally gets a good look at the man.

GEORGE
Detective George Lewis, Chester County Police Department.  I need to ask you a few questions.  Mind if I come in?

George smirks at Bob.  Not a friendly smirk, but a ‘fuck around and find out’ smirk.  The man glares at him, but keeps the barrel of the shotgun pointed to the ground.

He stands around 5’11” with dirty blonde hair down to his shoulders. He has a goatee and mustache with just a touch of gray around the temples and a few strands in his facial hair.  His blue eyes are cold, filled with contempt.  He’s dressed in an unbuttoned flannel shirt, jeans, and boots.

This is BOB KUNTZMANN.

BOB
Fuck do you want?

GEORGE
Hello to you too, asshole.  What can you tell me about the summer of 1995?

BOB
I can tell you to go fuck yourself you fucking pig.

GEORGE
Such foul language, you suck your daddy’s dick with that mouth?

BOB
Just making your sister cum with it.  Last time I checked, this ain’t Chester fucking County.  So fuck off.

GEORGE
You hurt my feelings so much.  I’ll ask again, August 1995.  Do you have enough brain cells left to remember it?

BOB
I remember how good Angie’s cunt felt on my cock.  How she was more of moaner than a screamer.

Bob moves the shotgun a little bit.  George sees the movement and immediately raises his pistol, aiming right at Bob’s head.

GEORGE
Don’t.  This ends with both of us shooting each other and bleeding out up here.  You put yours down, I put mine down.

BOB
You first.

GEORGE
Fuck you.

BOB
Your sister.

GEORGE
You put yours down first.

BOB
Why? Cause you’re the pig.

GEORGE
Yeah.  I’m the cop with the pistol pointed at your face.  And which is faster, your right arm, left arm, eyes, left hand, and trigger finger, or my trigger finger?  Choose wisely.

Bob stares daggers at George as he raises his left hand and leans down, putting his shotgun safely down on the ground.  George takes a step back, and points his pistol back down at the ground.

BOB
There, happy?

GEORGE
No, but it’s a start.  I’ve got some questions.  Mind if I come in and we talk about it?

BOB
Yeah, I fucking mind.  I don’t want you in my place, and if this is about some shit that took place 8 years ago, get fucked.  There’s this thing called the Statute of Limitations.  Nothing you could pull up will do anything other than waste your time.

GEORGE
Why is it that every lowlife piece of shit suddenly becomes a grad of Columbia Law School anytime a cop is nearby?

BOB
One of us has to know the fucking law.  I ain’t telling you shit.  Why you gotta bust my balls, and what the fuck you doing up here?  All this way up here because I fucked your cousin, sister, whatever?  Get fucked, hard.

GEORGE
How long you been up here?  I pull up the property records, how long would it take me to tie you to this place in the mid-90’s?  Like what 5, 10 minutes?

Bob takes a slightly more aggressive stance.  He takes a half-step forward.  George backs up a full step, pistol raised a bit.

BOB
You know what, fuck you.  You wanna waste time with me, fine.  Waste your god damned time.  But you’re smart.  Figure out how much time you spend chasing after my ass, and how many kids are getting fucked next door because your butthurt over me fucking your sister.

George flinches for a moment.

GEORGE
What are you talking about?

BOB
You mean bigshot cop can’t smell a crime under his nose?  While you’re coming after me, how many kids you think are getting roped into their sick shit?  You don’t have a fucking clue what they’re up to.

George looks at Bob, reading him.

GEORGE
What do you know about First Union?

BOB
Who said shit about First Union?

GEORGE
You ain’t a fish, don’t play coy.  Let’s sit down and talk about this.

BOB
How about fuck you.

GEORGE
Fine.

George takes a deep breath, then shows Bob that he’s pointing his pistol toward the ground.

GEORGE
Put your gun back in your house, slowly.

Bob grabs his shotgun in the middle of the weapon.  He can’t fire it from this position.  He leans inside his cabin, and puts the gun down.  He comes back outside.

George puts his pistol in his holster.

GEORGE
Let’s take a walk.  You tell me what you know about First Union and their kiddie porn empire.

EXT. LAKE HIAWATHA WOODS - DAY
Bob and George walk through the woods.  They maintain a distance of about 2 yards.  Each time Bob slows, George slows to stay next to him.

BOB
Really?

GEORGE
You can walk in front of me, you can walk besides me, but I damn sure will not let you walk behind me.

BOB
Like I should trust you behind me.  What was that you said about me?  “You’d shoot me and make it look like an accident?”  Seriously, fuck you if you think I’ll let you behind me.

The two men try to walk side by side down the path.

GEORGE
Think we’re far enough away from them to talk?

George points in the direction he thinks the camp is.  Bob laughs

BOB
Fucking city slicker.  The camp’s that way.

Bob points another direction.

BOB
And yeah, we’re far enough away.

Bob sits on a large rock.  There’s nothing for George to sit on, so he makes the cop stand.

GEORGE
What do you know?

BOB
I know you’re a real fucking dick.  I know I was in jail for a few months because of you.  I know that as hard as it is to believe, I loved Angie and wanted to stay with her, and she made me a better man.  And I know a lot about First Union and their sick shit.

George looks around him, trying to find a place to sit or lean up against.  He gives up after a moment and talks.

GEORGE
Alright, let’s clear the air.  We hate each other.  That’s never going to change.  You broke Angie’s heart, you went all crazy psychopath after the marriage, and when she tried to go back to normal, you just shut her off.  You vanished like a ghost, and did it so bad I had to hire a process server to serve you your divorce papers.  I knew you were at a birthday party, but I had no idea it was your kid, or that you were dumb enough to marry her while married to Angie.  That’s the part that really amazed me.  Everything I’d heard of you painted you as some mastermind, someone not to be fucked with, and here you were, getting screamed at by your baby momma cause your wife wanted a divorce while your other wife found out.  So go ahead, cry me a fucking river.

Bob stands up and gets in George’s face.

BOB
Fuck you.  You think I planned any of that shit?  I got drunk at a bar one night while Angie was busy with class, went home with an ex and the bitch took the rubber off.  I find out she’s pregnant and tried to do the right thing.  I’m getting ready to tell Angie, and she drops this bomb on me about her student loans.  Next thing I know, we’re getting married the next day.  Next thing I know the psycho is trying to ruin my life, and I did the dumbest thing I’ve ever done, and I got a long list of dumb shit I done.

GEORGE
So what, you treated Angie like shit cause your OTHER wife stressed you out?  Fuck off with that shit.  You weren’t there every night as she cried herself to sleep.  You weren’t there as she blamed herself for your stupid ass yelling at her.  She deserved better than you.

Bob pushed George in the chest.  George pushed him back.  Bob grabbed George’s jacket and punched George in the head.  George raised his left hand to block Bob’s hooks and lays into Bob’s stomach with a few elbows.  Bob grapples George and the two fall to the ground, George tripping Bob.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I don’t know who swung first, and it doesn’t really matter.  I was SOL and PWF.  Shit outta luck and pretty well fucked.

The two men roll on the ground, trying to gain advantage.  Bob lands on top and punches George in the ribs several times.  George takes a defensive position before driving an elbow into Bob’s sternum.  Bob coughs.  George takes the opening and gets a few more elbow strikes into Bob’s rib cage.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Bob had me by 70, maybe 80 pounds, he’d been in a few more fights than me, and was dirty.  I had training and experience from arresting people over the years.  Plus, I learned a few dirty tricks over the years.

Bob grabs George by the tie, pulling his head off the ground.  George grabs Bob’s hair and headbutts him.  Both men stagger, but George headbutts him two more times until Bob rolls off of George.  George tries to get up, but Bob gets in a kneeling position.  He throws a couple more punches.  He yells out at on each punch he lands on George’s head and chest.

BOB
Fuck you!... Fuck you!... Fuck... YOU!!!... This one’s for prison!

George raises his knee as hard as he can right into Bob’s nuts.  The larger man wheezes and rolls off in pain.  George grabs a handful of dirt and rocks and throws it in Bob’s face.  As Bob is stunned, George judo tosses him and gets him into an armbar, putting a lot of stress on Bob’s shoulder.  George pulls back, Bob screams.  George kicks Bob in the chest with his heel.  One of the kicks causes an audible crack.

GEORGE
ENOUGH!!!  Tap or I take your fucking arm with me!

Bob tried to roll out of position but George kept with him, eventually ending with the smaller cop kneeling on Bob’s back, his knee in Bob’s left shoulder, pulling the arm back.  Bob slapped the ground with his free hand.

BOB
I’m done!

George lets go and rolls off of Bob.  George lays up against a tree stump.  Bob rolls over and sits down, holding his shoulder.  Both men are covered in dirt and bruises.  They breathe heavily, and are in a lot of pain.

GEORGE
You broke a rib.

BOB
So did you.

The men sit for another moment, trying to catch their breath.

GEORGE
They raped Jen and Stacy.

Bob looks at the cop with shock.

BOB
What?

GEORGE
They...

George points to where he thinks the camp is, signifying First Union Holy Church and the Daniels Family.

GEORGE
They raped Jen and Stacy.  They tracked them to Chicago.  They were gonna kill Jen there and do knows who knows what with Stacy.  Jen shot and killed her rapist.

BOB
You sure?

GEORGE
Chicago PD has a John Doe on a slab with two extra holes in him that was identified as hired security for the Daniels family.  Jen told me what happened, and how they got out.  Natalie was there, talking about revenge.

BOB
Of course that bitch was there.  Why didn’t you fucking open with this?

GEORGE
What, and miss a chance to pay for dry cleaning?  Owww.

Bob laughs at George’s pain, then instantly regrets it.

BOB
We tell each other what we know, we work together.

GEORGE
I’m too fucking tired to fight this.  I’ve been banging around this case for months and all I got for certain is a money laundering case, but there’s so much more.  These are some sick fucks.  What do you know?

Bob reaches into his flannel and pulls out a pack of smokes.  They’re smashed, but smokable.  He pulls one out and lights it with a lighter that was in the case.  He coughs after he lights it.  He takes a light inhale, just enough to not cause too much pain.

BOB
Right after you answer one question.  Why.  Ow, shit.  Did you know I was here when you came up to the lake today?

GEORGE
No.  And I didn’t know where your cabin was.  She never told me you were this close to the camp.

BOB
You didn’t know?

GEORGE
I knew you were here, I didn’t know you were this close, until about 20 seconds before I knocked on your door.  It all clicked into place and made sense.

BOB
Really?  How’d you think we met?

GEORGE
She said through a friend of a friend, and only recently.  She wasn’t exactly parading around the fact that she was 16 and fucking a 27-year-old.

BOB
26.

GEORGE
Like that makes a huge difference.

George groans. 

BOB
You know 16’s legal in this state?

GEORGE
Legal don’t make it right.  But it all made sense as soon as I saw that piece of shit in your driveway.  What was more likely, that you had this land before First Union launched their bible camp back in the 90’s, or you just happened to buy this land after randomly connecting with your soon-to-be wife in some downtown club?  That means, you were here from the beginning.  You were here in 1995, and you were here when this saga started.

BOB
Yeah.  But why give a shit about the past like that?

George thinks about it for a moment as he changes position.  He grunts a little.

GEORGE
Jen’s going to war.  The church hurt her and Stacy, and she’s not resting until that family is either dead or in jail.  She doesn’t care if she’s a casualty, as long as Stacy is safe and can live a normal life.  She spent the last few months gathering names of victims.  Problem is, Hillside Police is in the church’s pocket whether they know it or not.  She called in 10 reports in a few months to the non-emergency line to avoid call recording, but the secretary spiked the calls and they went to dead ends.  By the time they ended up on my desk, they were cold.

BOB
Explain that part.

GEORGE
I’m in Sex Crimes for the county.  Most PD’s in Chester County are supposed to send us their files they couldn’t close or don’t have the time or resources to investigate.  Hillside PD is one of them.  They have 90 days to send them to us before we go asking for them.  They usually send them to us at day 89 just to comply.  Well, First Union had 89 days to pay off their families, and they did each time.  They bribed them with brand new cars from Batey Lexus.  Had help from a bank in Hillside.  First Union approached the families, offered them a payoff which included a new car.  Dealer finances through Hillside First, deal gets paid off after a few months to collect their spliffs and financing deals, but the people never made more than one or two payments.  The church paid the banks which paid off the cars.  So far to the tune of at around half a million.  But they forgot Ambrose.

BOB
What about Ambrose?

GEORGE
They don’t give a shit about the church their in the PD.  We intercepted the info Jen called in, got a case file from them where a kid named the church, members of the family, and said that he was forced to perform in child porn films for them.  But one young man with psych and drug issues from years of abuse doesn’t make a great case.  We kept digging around, trying to find what we could when we got the craziest deposition in history.  It was so crazy the only one who bought it was me.

BOB
What’s so crazy about it?

GEORGE
Natalie Daniels submitted an hour long deposition about how she was repeatedly raped and attacked.  Thing is her story shifted so much she sounded like she was nuts.  But I read through her bullshit and saw it wasn’t one story, but four.

BOB
You believe something she said?

GEORGE
No, not at face value.  But you remember how manipulative she was?  Of course you do, that’s why were involved with so much shit.  Well, she’s even worse now.  It was almost a perfect mix of projection, storytelling, and psychological abuse to make any claims against her seem nuts but when torn to pieces each one attacked someone who either hurt her or slighted her.  That leads me to question how much she knows about me and how much she was manipulating me in this.

BOB
Fuck you going on about?

GEORGE
She knew that I was working the case.  Secretary from Hillside definitely gave her team my card with my number.  So she crafted a story with four attacks in it.  First one was a gang rape in a cabin, a man and three women raped her in some type of camp.

George pays close attention to Bob’s reaction.  Bob doesn’t give too many clues, but winces.  It could be the pain...

GEORGE
Second attack was a weird ass story in a motel in Veneto.

Again, same reaction.

GEORGE
Third one turned out to be Natalie’s point of view of watching Stacy’s rape in Chicago.  It cut off right before Jen killed her attacker and shot Natalie’s cousin or brother or whatever.

BOB
Jen was always a shit shot.

GEORGE
Could’ve saved us a lot of fucking time.  Oww.  Last attack I don’t have details on, but it sounds like one of the videos they shot in their studio.  Two men that look identical to each other raped a girl, and Natalie watched off camera.

BOB
Her brothers.  Some shit that starts with a J.  Jason, Jacob, Jalen, something.  Think it was Jason and Jacob.  We beat the shit out of one of them, threatened the other around the 4th of July.

GEORGE
You were the man in the first attack, and probably planned the second one.  Too weird to not have your prints on it, but as soon as I saw your truck, I knew why you weren’t in the Motel Attack.

BOB
Why?

GEORGE
You were up here raping Natalie that night.  And you had help.  The last piece clicked together when I saw your truck.  Your cabin is too damn close to the camp to not have at least one camper get curious and explore.  How long did it take for you to meet Angie?  A week, two weeks?

BOB
About two weeks.

GEORGE
And you being you, and Angie being 16 and looking for a place to get away and escape, you offered her a place to party.  She told Jen about it.  Give her a short time and Jen meets a girl she has feelings for but is looking for a private place, and picks your cabin for a little rendezvous, and that’s how Stacy gets involved.  I’ve got $20 that says the Gas, Grass, or Ass rule applies to your party pad.  How am I so far?

Bob nods, slowly.

BOB
You got all that in 20 seconds?

GEORGE
It doesn’t take long when the puzzle fits.  Given how much Angie and them hated Natalie, and how much of thunderous cunt Natalie was and still is-

BOB
Thundercunt.  Not thunderous.  Just Thundercunt.

GEORGE
After a little conversation with a very friendly clerk and part owner of a very interesting bistro and bait shop-

BOB
You mean Brandon?

GEORGE
Yeah.  Very nice kid.  He gave me the lowdown on what happened that summer, who the kids were in the Motel Attack, and how one morning Natalie looked like she got the shit kicked out of her overnight and even apologized for outing Stacy.  Since Natalie is a narcissist and incapable of ever truly apologizing, that told me she was being shamed into it and was afraid of something else happening.

George takes a moment and readjusts his position, suppressing a groan.

BOB
Say it.  I need to hear you say it.

George blinks.

INT. THE ZONE - DAY INTO NIGHT
George stands in a cabin.  He sees a blonde woman on the bed, bound to the bed.  This is Natalie.  George places her picture on the faceless body.  It becomes Natalie.

George puts Bob’s picture on the faceless man.

GEORGE (O.S)
You.

George puts Jen’s picture on the first faceless woman in a mask.

GEORGE (O.S)
Jen.

George puts Stacy’s picture on the second faceless woman.  She takes her form, her face obscured by a mask.

GEORGE (O.S)
Stacy.

George pauses before the last faceless woman.  He knows who it is, but doesn’t want to admit it.  He forces himself to do it.  He puts Angie’s picture on the last faceless woman.  Angie takes her place.

GEORGE (O.S)
Angie.  You four beat up and raped Natalie Daniels, on your bed, in your cabin, and filmed it.

The action plays out.  Bob forces himself into Natalie as the girls move the camera around.  They swap places, each one tormenting and deriving pleasure from the girl on the bed.

George reaches behind him, and pulls the Motel Attack scene towards him.  The two scenes play side by side.

GEORGE (O.S)
While you were attacking Natalie, your boys orchestrated the most fucked up peace summit in gang history by inviting them to gang rape a white girl.  The girl, Michelle, was one of Natalie’s friends.  The other two kids were Melissa and Chad.  Chad was gay.

BOB (O.S)
Stacy called him ‘gayer than a unicorn buttfucking a rainbow.’

GEORGE (O.S)
Still, someone got a sick kick out of making the gay kid fuck the blonde girl all night.  She was spared from the attack.  A few months later, those two were married.  My guess is a shotgun wedding after a pregnancy test had a plus on it.  Why?  That’s a good question.

BOB (O.S)
When you figure that one out, you’ll know why Natalie was using Chad.

George pulls the Church Office Attack scene over to him.

GEORGE (O.S)
After everyone went home, Gary went back with the kids and the two preachers that he rode over to the Roadside Motel with.  Tyrell from VBC and one of the J cousins from First Union.  As soon as the J’s were alone with Michelle, they raped her in her drugged state.

The action plays out in the office.  Michelle cries while being violated, but that’s about it.

GEORGE (O.S)
I assume she was drugged back at the motel after her attack.  Don’t want a teen girl who was violated so thoroughly talking, but can’t kill her, so dope her up, say she was tired, and put her in a room by herself.  Except her own pastors decided to use her like a sex toy.

George spins the scene around to see outside of the building, finding Gary recording what happened.

GEORGE (O.S)
Gary took the initiative and got himself some blackmail material. 

George makes a hand flourish, bringing forth a meeting from a few months after when Pastor Reggie is talking to one of the J cousins, probably Jonas.  Jonas looks like he just had some serious dental surgery and some facial bruising.  Reggie notices Jonas’s new teeth.

GEORGE (O.S)
At some point in the intervening months, Jonas had an accident that required him to get new teeth.  Something tells me one of your boys were involved with that, too.

George hears clapping coming from over his shoulder.  Bob walks in, mockingly clapping.  He looks different, like he didn’t just get into a fight.

George blinks.

EXT. LAKE HIAWATHA WOODS - DAY
George is back in the woods.  Both men look like they just fought a few minces ago.  Bob claps while smoking a cigarette.

BOB
Good job, detective.  Must’ve really hurt to realize your sister is a rapist.  But that’s a very black and white view.

GEORGE
What’s the grey?

Bob chuckles, then groans in pain.

BOB
I gotta stop doing that.  Here’s a question for ya?  How much do ya know about Stacy and what she went through?

GEORGE
Not enough.  I know whatever nightmares she lived through were enough to make her and her friends follow this path.  I suspect that she was abused as a kid, probably sexually.

BOB
Doesn’t even begin to describe it.  You’re right, on almost everything.  I did it.  I fucked Natalie, and those girls helped me.  I’ll say it was my idea.  Not that you can do anything with this.  But about Stacy, you don’t know the half of it.

GEORGE
Then please, enlighten me.  And don’t give me this whole ‘her story to tell.’  I just need a small clue to start.

BOB
It is her story, and she does tell it.  You’re right about the video.  We shot video and took pictures of Natalie’s attack to humiliate her if she ever got out of line.  When I went to watch the video, the first few minutes was Stacy, giving a confession.  She admitted to what we were about to do, and named names of everyone who hurt her, and how.  She talked about how she was molested by her uncle since she was 8, how she was raped by him on her 10th birthday, how she was forced to fuck anyone and anything her uncle Charlie said to, including dogs.  She was forced to fuck other kids, fuck adults, everything.  She named everyone in that church, associates, even some politicians at the time.  She went scorched earth, nuked this from orbit.  She made sure that if she went down and this video came to light, that she would take everyone down with her.  She turned a gang rape video into a suicide bomb.

GEORGE
Where’s the video?

BOB
Not that easy.  I know of a copy that is in a very, very safe location.  But there’s other copies out there.  You find that, you’ll also find more videos recorded since then by these sick fucks.

GEORGE
I told you my side.  Now tell me yours.

BOB
You already know most of it, you figured it out.  I first heard of this church when I met Angie.  Yeah, she came over first.  Her parents sent her up here because she dared to have sex with her boyfriend.  If only they fucking knew what happened that summer.  Fuck, if only they cared.  Angie’s parents are pieces of shit.

GEORGE
Yep.  They’re my aunt and uncle, fuck’em.  They chose a cult over their daughter.

BOB
Angie brought Jen over, but Jen already knew the rules.  You want to party, we party right.  Jen was sent her by her stepmom and dad so they could go on a summer vacation and write it off as a charitable mission trip.  F.U. was running a pretty big fraud for that.  I thought they were bad before I met Stacy just like you said.  Jen brought her up for some quiet time when I wasn’t supposed to be there.  I didn’t push things with Stacy, she was on edge as soon as I got there, and said the most fucked up thing I ever heard.

GEORGE
What was that?

BOB
We talked about sex after we had a little party time.  I didn’t fuck Stacy, she didn’t want to, but Jen was willing.  Stacy starts talking about how every time she has sex with a guy it gets weird, then she starts talking about having to blow the camera guy to keep them quiet, then she realized what she said.  She told us what she went through.  She then told us who it was leading this shit.  Reverend Charlie Daniels.  Natalie’s dad.  Stacy gave some details, I offered to kill the fucker and his family.  I mean, who wouldn’t when they hear that shit?

GEORGE
Difference is when you say it, it can happen.

BOB
I have a reputation to maintain.  Now, she was honest but this whole story was Baskin Robins 31 flavors of fucked.  You want to believe it but-

GEORGE
But it’s so fucked it’s outside the realm of normal fucked and needs special fucked-goggles to perceive.

BOB
Yeah.

GEORGE
I’m a detective in the Sex Crimes division.  That’s literally my job.  What most people call FUBAR I call Tuesday.

BOB
Well, we believed her when we found proof.  We got our hands on Natalie’s journal when she was out of town for a weekend, and raided some of the files from the office.  Natalie knew about Stacy’s abuse and made fun of her for it.  She wrote about how now that she was too old for most of the good movies, but they could make a big payday ‘killing the dyke bitch on film.’  That’s when we went to war.  We protect our own.

GEORGE
Explain.

BOB
Ever hear of Asymmetric Warfare?

GEORGE
Not really.

BOB
Never fight a fair fight.  Always fight a fight you can win, and if you can’t win, don’t fight on their terms.  Hurt them in ways they never expect.  Use their strengths against them.  Think guerrilla tactics or terrorism.

GEORGE
Makes sense.  How else do five white men in the middle of Veneto keep the peace between two of the biggest and most violent gangs in Chester County.

BOB
Exactly.  Me and Jen wargamed this shit.  We were afraid of what they would do to Stacy, so struck first, and in a way that guaranteed that Stacy would be left alone long enough for her to escape.  That meant destroying Natalie.

George pushed himself up into a standing position.  He stood in pain, holding his side.

GEORGE
Now that we know that 3 of the 4 scenes she described happened, that leaves the fourth.  Two men, likely her brothers, raping a girl.  Why include that?  Who is she trying to hurt?

BOB
What do you mean?

GEORGE
Every scene she had people she wanted to hurt.  You, the girls, me by finding out about them, Chad, Melissa, Michelle.  Who is she trying to hurt and why?  There’s three people in it.  Her brothers, assuming that’s them, and the little girl.  But the girl seemed inconsequential.

BOB
You think it’s her brothers?

GEORGE
Wouldn’t put it past her.  She’d give Machiavelli a hard-on with her skills.  She wants to hurt them, maybe sees them as preventing her from taking the throne of the family dynasty?  Maybe revenge for something they did?

BOB
They probably fucked her once they found out she wasn’t cherry.

GEORGE
How do you mean?

BOB
Just a rumor, but I heard that Natalie was saving herself for marriage, like some royal princess or to seal a major deal.  Once that was no longer possible, she lost her value as trade bait and she’d be ‘unclean’ or ‘tainted.’  Once that happened, there was nothing stopping the guys in that family from fucking her brains out.  Wouldn’t be surprised if that happened.

GEORGE
She probably wanted revenge on her family, hoping she could somehow thread the needle between villain and victim, come out of this mess smelling like roses.  She’d bury her family for a TV Movie of the Week deal.  The Preacher’s Daughter who survived a sex trafficking ring.  She did what she had to do to survive.

Bob takes the last drag on his cigarette before putting it out.

BOB
What makes you think that?

GEORGE
I have a PhD in Criminal Psychology.  I literally wrote a book about how those in the Dark Triad, people with strong tendencies toward narcissism, sociopathy, and Machiavellianism, how they think, lie, create stories, and what their tells are when they lie.  I wrote the book on her next move.  The bigger the problem, the bigger the lie.  But that doesn’t answer the question where they get the girls.

BOB
Kids.  Not just girls, but boys too.

GEORGE
Good point.  There’s only so many family members they can exploit, and paying off parishioners gets expensive and messy.  Jen passed on a disc of videos, and there were quite a few minorities on there.  Consider those crackers think Veneto is Rwanda, it tastes like trafficking.

BOB
They have missions down in Costa Rica.  They build churches and orphanages.

GEORGE
And orphanages mean orphans, which means no parents to go to the authorities when their kid disappears.

BOB
They get the kids across the border, bring them up here for a stop-over, showing them how great the church is, then ship them out of town.  Maybe they shoot some videos here, some down at Charlie’s house, some in other places.

GEORGE
And whose gonna look for a handful of black orphans in the middle of nowhere?  They signal how much great work they’re doing, probably take the kids on a trip, then once they’ve served their PR purpose, use them in their videos, sell them, and move on to the next crop.

Bob stands up.  George helps him up.  At first Bob hesitates, but hurts too much to fight it.

BOB
That’s a pretty calm way of saying turn them into child sex slaves, fuck’em, and kill’em.

GEORGE
I have to disassociate on this job.  If I don’t, I’ll swallow a bullet.  That’s how fucked this job is.  When should we keep eyes on this place?

BOB
You didn’t hear this from me, but I figure late May, early June.  Then again around early July.  They love making a big deal out of the 4th up here.

GEORGE
You know, if those kids crossed state lines, this is Federal.  That means FBI.  The fact that they’ve been able to do this for so long up here tells me that they either have a friend or two up high, or no one is paying attention.

BOB
Probably both.  Just do me a favor.  If the feds show up, give me a heads up so I’m not here that weekend.  I’d rather not be around when Uncle Sam busts some heads.  I wouldn’t mind watching, just I got business interests I’d like them to stay away from.

GEORGE
No promises.  They do what they do.

BOB
I got some stuff that can help your case.  Not here.  I’ll get them to you.  You’ll know they came from me.

GEORGE
Thanks.  Next time, let’s just skip the fight and go right to the part where go after a common enemy.

BOB
Agreed.  I’m getting too old for this shit.

Bob and George walk back toward Bob’s cabin, side by side but a few feet apart.

[LtBroccoli]

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
George drives the Crown Vic back to Harbor City.  He’s wearing a pair of sunglasses to cover his growing black eye.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The drive home was uneventful, except for two things.  One, Janella called me after she left the church saying she wanted to meet and Liz called me, telling me that Angie was coming over for dinner.  I really wasn’t in the mood for any bullshit that night.

XAVIER (O.S)
(shouting)
Whoa, hol up!

INT. GEORGE'S DINING ROOM - NIGHT
George looks at Xavier, who has a what-the-fuck look on his face.

GEORGE
What?

XAVIER
(shouting)
Y’all just gonna gloss over that shit?  Like, y’all just dropping that bomb about your sister and moving on?

GEORGE
Mutha fucka, I’m telling that story, keep ya panties on.

Angie looks around the table, very self-concious of how they view her at this moment.  Chuck and Liz are in the doorway.  He smiles at her and nods.  She speaks up.

ANGIE
Listen, I know this hard to explain, and Georgie’s doing a good job of this, but that was like 25 years ago, and the shit we did we did for a good reason.  It’s hard to explain-

CHUCK
We fucked up some people before they killed one of ours.  We were at war, they just didn’t know it yet.

GEORGE
If we didn’t put this shit behind us, none of us would be here right now.

CHUCK
Yeah, but that was one awkward as fuck dinner.

INT. OLD HOUSE LIVING ROOM - EVENING
Inside of a living room of a craftsman style house with tan walls, a younger LIZ LEWIS sits on a couch, holding a 4-month-old baby boy.  This is BABY CALEB.  Liz is disheveled, looking like she hasn’t slept in days, showered in weeks, and shit since the stone age.  In other words, just like a brand new mom.  Next to her on the couch is Janella, who is making cooing sounds at little Caleb.

CHUCK (V.O.)
We’d been dating for like a month, and we talked about me meeting her brother and his family.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Wait, this ain’t your story.

ANGIE (V.O.)
He was there for a bit before you showed up, let’em tell it.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Fine, but when I get back in this story, I take over.

CHUCK (V.O.)
And I’ll check yo ass when you fuck it up.  Now, where was I?  Oh yeah, we decided to come visit Liz, George and little Caleb.

There is a knock at the door.  It then opens before anyone can say anything.  It’s Angie.

ANGIE
We’re here.

LIZ
We?

Liz turns to the door.  Angie walks in, carrying a couple two liters of soda and some food in a bag.  Behind her is Chuck.  He has two large pizza boxes and a smaller box on top.  Once he gets in, Angie closes the door behind him.

ANGIE
Hey Liz.  Janella, right?

LIZ
Hey, who’s this?

ANGIE
Liz, this is Chuck.  Chuck, this is Liz, and Janella.  Chuck’s my boyfriend.

Chuck nods.

CHUCK
Hi.

ANGIE
We’ll put this on the table.

Angie walks around like she almost lives here.  Chuck follows her, unsure of what to do.  The two women on the couch look at each other, then back at Caleb.  Chuck looks at the two women on the couch.

CHUCK (V.O.)
I had no clue who they were.  That Angie knew them made me a little more at ease.  Right up until that black lady opened her mouth.

SERENA (V.O.)
What’s her being black got to do with it?

CHUCK (V.O.)
Shit, I didn’t know her name, but there were three people on the couch.  A white lady, a black lady, and a baby that looked a hell of a lot like the white lady.  Angie knew the white lady like they were best friends or sisters.  I assumed that was Liz.  No clue about the other one.  Anyway, we put the food down and Angie starts getting plates.

Angie grabs a stack of plates and some cups.  After a moment she goes to the couch.  She gives Liz a hug then grabs Caleb.

ANGIE
How’s my little man doing?  You giving mommy a hard time?

LIZ
He’s real cranky today.  Watch out, he’s teething.

Chuck comes over to formally introduce himself.

CHUCK
Hi, I’m Chuck.

LIZ
Liz.

They shake hands.  Liz is ready to eat.  Chuck turns to Janella.

CHUCK
I’m Chuck.  Angie’s boyfriend.

JANELLA
Janella.  Jenkins.  I’m George’s partner.

Chuck looks like he saw a ghost.  His hand almost goes limp while shaking.

CHUCK
Oh, so...

JANELLA
Yes, I’m a cop.  Stopped by to see George when he gets in, but might as well hang out and see the little cutie, too.

ANGIE
She was in the car when you called that first day.

Janella laughs a little.

JANELLA
I promise I won’t shoot you unless you do something to deserve it.  Now, I smell pizza.

The go to the table at the edge of the living room.  Liz sits in a chair next to Caleb in a high chair.  Angie helps her get Caleb’s bottle ready.  Janella sits at one end of the table.  Chuck picks a spot next to an empty seat at the head of the table reserved for George.

About 20 minutes pass.

Everyone sits around the table eating their dinner.  The mood is lightening when the outside door opens.  In comes George, looking like shit.  He gets about three steps into the house before everyone sees and stares at him.

He wears a pair of sunglasses.  His suit is covered in dirt, his shoes are scuffed, the sleeve on his suit jacket is torn, his tie is ripped, there’s blood on his shirt.  He walks with a limp.

Liz jumps out of her seat.

LIZ
OH MY GOD, ARE YOU OKAY?!  WHAT HAPPENED?

JANELLA
You okay?

LIZ
WHAT HAPPENED?

GEORGE
I had a slight difference of opinion with someone at work.

LIZ
DON’T PLAY AROUND, WHAT HAPPENED?

GEORGE
I’m fine.  Interview went a little sideways.

CHUCK
Dude, you need something?

ANGIE
How bad?

GEORGE
You think this is bad you should see the other guy.

George laughs at his own joke, then groans and holds his side.

GEORGE
I shouldn’t joke, I broke a fucking rib.

George moves gingerly to the table.

CHUCK
What you need?

GEORGE
4 Vitamin I and a Guinness. 

Angie goes down the hall for a moment and returns with a bottle of ibuprofen.  Chuck goes to the kitchen and grabs a beer.  He returns with an opened beer.  George takes 4 of the little orange pills and a large swig of beer.

GEORGE
Thanks.  Pizza, I’m starving.

Everyone looks at him like he’s nuts.

GEORGE
I’ll go to the hospital later.  Nothing else is broken, and I’ve had worse.  Not for a long time, but I’ve had worse.

Liz sits down for a moment before Caleb makes a mess.  She gets up to clean it.  George looks over to Angie and Chuck.

GEORGE
(whisper)
We talk when he goes to bed.

CHUCK
By the way, I’m Chuck.  If ya hadn’t figured it out yet.

GEORGE
Hi.  Almost didn’t recognize you without the clown makeup.  How’s things going?

CHUCK
Well, it’s been 10 seconds and you haven’t maced me yet, that’s a good start.

GEORGE
Pepper spray, not mace.  There’s a difference.  One is a chemical irritant.  The other can be used on wings if you’re brave enough.

George chows down.  Eventually everyone gets back to eating.

INT. OLD HOUSE LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Time passes.  It’s after dinner, and Liz is upstairs putting Caleb to bed.  George yells up the stairwell.

GEORGE
(shouting)
Hey hun, I’m gonna show them the workshop, be back up in a bit.

LIZ (O.S)
Okay.

George motions to everyone else in the room to go downstairs.  Angie moves to help George, but he waves her off.  She gives Chuck a look, and he gets near George.  Angie leads the way downstairs, followed by Janella, then Chuck, and finally George.  They walk towards the basement.

INT. OLD HOUSE BASEMENT - NIGHT
The basement is old and exposed foundation block with a small concrete slab.  A bunch of boxes are pushed off to one side.  A workbench with various tools sit under the best light in the basement.  There’s a chair by the workbench and a couch across from it a few feet away.  A few feet from the boxes sits a 1993 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide, disassembled and built of mismatched parts.

Angie makes her way down the steps first, followed by Janella and Chuck.  The taller man is playing spotter as George walks slowly down the steps.  Once he’s on the slab, he makes his way over to the bench and sits down.  He motions for everyone else to sit down.  George takes a few shallow breaths, wincing in pain.  Angie and Chuck stand by the couch, Janella is hanging out in between them.

ANGIE
Georgie, you need to go to the hospital.

GEORGE
I know.  Broke at least one rib, I’m sore all over, and I look like shit.  But like I said, you should see the other guy.  Speaking of the other guy, your ex-husband throws a pretty decent right hook.

ANGIE
WHAT?

JANELLA
WHAT?

CHUCK
Huh?

JANELLA
What are you doing?

ANGIE
What the fuck, George?

George looks to Janella.

GEORGE
They’re in the shit now, I’m bringing them in, they need to know a little.  Besides, they got some questions to answer.

George looks at Angie and Chuck.

ANGIE
What the fuck is going on?

GEORGE

Please, sit.

He waits for the young couple to sit on the couch.  Janella looks just as lost as everyone else.

GEORGE
Ever heard of Queen for a Day?

Angie looks confused, but Chuck nods.

CHUCK
Yeah.  Isn’t that when you’re about to snitch and you tell them all the shit you’ve done?  They won’t use it against you, but if you lie and fuck with them-

GEORGE
They’ll fucking ruin you.  Well, let me tell you all how my day went. 

George adjusted his seat, trying to ease the pain.

GEORGE
Janella and I are working a case.  A pretty big case.  You’re not gonna get all the details cause we still got work to do, but you two got volunteered to help.  See, I took a drive today.  Janella, she stayed local to get what info she could here in Harbor City while I went north to Camp Hiawatha.  That place ring a bell?

Angie’s face goes white with recognition and fear.

ANGIE
That’s...

GEORGE
That’s the bible camp owned by First Union Holy Church, the place you went to camp in 1995.  The place where you met Bob.  See, you never told me the truth about when you met him.  You said he was on the lake and you snuck out pretty far.  You knew I’d lose my shit if I ever found out how close he was.  You were right.  When that mail came to my place with his last name, I was skeptical that you just met him a few months ago, but I didn’t push it further.  Then you told me that you met him a couple times up at the lake, a long hike away.

ANGIE
George-

GEORGE
I’m not done, not even close.  So, imagine my surprise when after getting stonewalled by the staff at the camp, I decide to go for a walk, get a lay of the land, and I walk to the neighbor’s camp.  The neighbor, less than a half mile from the camp, that owns a piece of shit, rusted out, powder blue early 80’s pickup truck.  Bob’s pickup truck.  Needless to say, things didn’t go so well.

ANGIE
I, it’s-

GEORGE
Just let me cut to the chase, please.  After an armed standoff, we took a little walk. I let my anger get the best of me, and next thing I know we’re having a pretty rough fight in the woods.  Honestly, we needed that.

JANELLA
You needed that?

CHUCK
It’s a guy thing.

GEORGE
Exactly.  We cut through all the bullshit in record time, and all it cost us were some broken ribs, a concussion or two, some black eyes, possibly a dislocated shoulder, some broken fingers and knuckles, and some blood.  Most of that will heal without any intervention.  Where was I?

CHUCK
You beat the shit out of each other.

GEORGE
Right.  Now, none of this shit leaves this room.  After that, we got to talking.  You see, Janella and I are working on a case.  Possibly a big case.  And you two dragged into it by one of the main targets.

CHUCK
Who?

GEORGE
Who owns Camp Hiawatha?

Chuck shrugs his shoulders.  Angie responds flatly.

ANGIE
First Union.

GEORGE
Exactly.

JANELLA
You sure you wanna do this?  Maybe it’s the head trauma talking.

George turns to Janella.

GEORGE
They were involved back in 1995.  Both of them.  I can confirm 3 of the 4 from the deposition, and I have verification of some of the stuff I was told by the informant. I also have the names we were looking for, and most of the why. By the way, the staff there said all of the records for the camp were kept at the church headquarters here in Chester County.

JANELLA
Here?

GEORGE
Yeah.

George turns to Angie and Chuck on the couch.  He focuses on Chuck.

GEORGE
I know what both of you did on that Friday night in August 1995.  Chuck, what you, Vinny, Paul, and Gary did with 43SK and 16 South to that girl Michelle, more or less what happened with Melissa and Chad, and what those dickbags from First Union did to Michelle once she was back in Tyrell’s office.  I know that Gary pretended to speak with the shittiest southern accent all night, and that you guys filmed the whole thing and took pics.  I know that one of the dickbags got his ass kicked so bad a couple months later he got his teeth knocked out.  And I know that Melissa and Chad got married, mostly because of what you guys did to her.

George turns toward Angie.

GEORGE
And you, Ange, I need to know why.  I’ve got a good damn feeling, but I want to hear why you, Jen, and Stacy joined Bob in beating and raping Natalie Daniels.

Angie looked like she saw a ghost.  Janella is shocked, almost too shocked to speak.  Almost.

JANELLA
You mean-

GEORGE
Yeah.  Two big things happened up by the lake today.  Obviously, getting my ass kicked was one of them, but the other is I had the most delicious Ham & Swiss sandwich of my life, and it was at a bait shop.  Highly recommended food.

JANELLA
A bait shop?

CHUCK
E&B’s.  Gay couple owns a bait shop and bistro up there.  They make their own mustard, mayo, everything.

JANELLA
Are you sure you should be talking about food at a time like this?

CHUCK
Just saying, great food.

GEORGE
It’s okay Nella.  Anyway, I talked to Brandon.  Turns out he went to camp with Angie et al.  His boyfriend, husband, partner, whatever the term is, was a counselor named Eric.  Ring a bell Ange? 

Angie’s barely paying attention at this point.

GEORGE
Anyway, Brandon tells me some names.  Turns out Chad was his first love, and was being blackmailed by Natalie to be a total asshole to Stacy.  He also gabbed about a fight in the mess hall where a certain young woman in this room jumped over a table, beat the shit out of Natalie, and ripped a chunk of her hair out after Natalie outed Stacy.  Meanwhile, Jen was being held back from stabbing the bitch with a butter knife.  Then, one Sunday morning Natalie’s walking around looking like death warmed over and even apologized for what she said.  That bitch never apologized for anything in her life, never will.  So that tells me someone really fucked her up, and fucked her up good.  Someone hurt her so thoroughly she suffered a narcissistic death.  How’m I doing so far?

Angie bends over, face in her hands as she starts crying.  Chuck consoles her.

GEORGE
You see, it was such a weird story with the way it played out in her deposition, but it was the only one that didn’t shift her point of view.  Out of four stories she told, this was the only one she didn’t lie about who was attacked.

CHUCK
What stories?

Angie sobs on the couch next to Chuck.  He turns back to her.

ANGIE
I’m sorry.  I’m sorry. 

CHUCK
Shhh, it’s okay, let it out.

GEORGE
Like I said, we’re working on a case...

George describes the case to Angie and Chuck.  Chuck is paying attention more than Angie, who is letting 8 years of pent-up guilt out at once.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I went through it all.  Well, almost all of it.  I kept names of other victims out of it, and didn’t tell them who my informant was.  Not that I needed to hide that, they figured it out shortly.  I went through the random cases, Hillside PD being corrupt, the money laundering, the fancy cars, the human trafficking to the bible camp, the tons of videos, Natalie’s deposition, Jen and Stacy’s rape, all of it.  Janella added in the parts from earlier in the day at the church with Jonas’s shoulder in a sling.

GEORGE
I got some questions.  I feel like I know like 80%, but it’s that last 20% which will be the hard part.

ANGIE
I’m, I’m sorry.  What we did...

CHUCK
We did it because we had to.  We were at war.  They were gonna kill Stacy if we didn’t send a message.  We didn’t do this shit cause we were bored, one of our family was at risk.

ANGIE
Please, Georgie, please don’t hold this over me, please don’t push me away.

CHUCK
It’s okay, hun, I’m here.

GEORGE
Ang, I’m not even mad at this point.  I’ve gone through all five stages of grief on the way home over this.  I had a 3 hour drive to think about this.  I’m not gonna judge you by the worst night of your life.  I still love you, and always will.

Angie leaps off the couch and hugs George.  He moans in pain.  She doesn’t let go.  Chuck gets up and pulls her off of him.

CHUCK
(to George)
I ain’t hugging your ass.

GEORGE
Don’t want you to.  Now, I got two questions.  What crazy shit did you pull with Chad and Melissa at the motel?  And what’s this about Stacy’s confession?

CHUCK
Mind if I get something out of my truck?  It’ll explain it.

George points through the garage door.  Chuck goes into the next room.  The outer door opens.  A moment later, it closes.  Angie grabs George’s hand instead of hugging him.  He nods.

Chuck returns carrying a box of papers.  George points to Janella, and Chuck gives her the papers.

JANELLA
What’s this?

CHUCK
That’ll answer your questions about Chad and the girls.  Back in the day, Stacy and Jen copied some files from the church.  They also made a copy of Natalie’s journal.  She was a sick bitch then, and just got worse.

GEORGE
Why did you have those?  Today, of all days.

Chuck takes a deep breath.

CHUCK
Bob called me this afternoon.  I wasn’t gonna say anything, I didn’t want to freak anyone out, and he sounded pretty fucked up.  Drunk, stoned, all of it.

GEORGE
What time?

CHUCK
Like 3PM or so.

GEORGE
He self-medicated by then.  Go on.

CHUCK
Anyways, he asked me to bring this stuff to you.  Said to give it to you.  I asked if he was high, he said yeah.

Angie looks hurt by this.

CHUCK
Hun, I’m sorry.  I had no clue about the fight, the work, none of it.  We were talking about coming and meeting them anyway, it all worked together.

Chuck grabs her by the shoulder, then the two hug.

CHUCK
I’m sorry hun.  I don’t wanna fuck this up.  I, I...

Angie kisses him.

ANGIE
Now might not be the best time, but yeah, me too.

Janella puts the box on the workbench and grabs a folder named Chad Swanson.  She looks through it.

GEORGE
Now, tell me about the confession.

ANGIE
What confession?

CHUCK
Stacy’s nuke list.

ANGIE
Oh, THAT.  I wouldn’t call it a confession, but I never saw it.

GEORGE
What do you know?

ANGIE
You know we recorded...what we did.  At some point in the day before it, Stacy wrote down the names of everyone who ever hurt her and recorded it.  Anyone who hurt her, how they hurt her, all of it.

CHUCK
I never saw it, but I heard of it.  There were a couple copies made.  Bob has one, Vinny had one, but not anymore.  If anyone else has a copy, maybe Jordan.

GEORGE
Who’s Jordan?

CHUCK
Don’t know, really.  He’s some kind of photo and video nerd.  Jordan’s not his real name, though.  Always wore a Michael Jordan jersey or Bulls stuff.  Never saw him in anything else.  Bob hated taking stuff out of house, but none of us had a clue how to do that shit, so he went to Jordan.  I think he was local.  White guy, shorter and fatter than me.

George looks up to Chuck’s full height.

GEORGE
That’s like everyone in Harbor City.  But it’s a start.

Janella’s eyes go wide reading the file on Chad.

JANELLA
Holy shit!

George quickly turns to Janella.  He immediately regrets it.

GEORGE
What?

JANELLA
Chuck, is this accurate?

CHUCK
Copied straight from the filing cabinets of the camp, verified several ways.

GEORGE
What?

JANELLA
Get this.  For some reason, the church had the families give their financial information.  Chad Swanson’s parents are Roland and Roda Swanson.

GEORGE
THEM?!

JANELLA
Yeah.

ANGIE
Who?

GEORGE
Two of the biggest tax attorneys in Harbor City.  Specialize in cleaning the books of criminal organizations, but have clients all over the city.  Name a bad guy, they do their taxes, and do a very good job, too.

JANELLA
Chad’s parents left him 3 accounts each worth $5 million.  They were to be payable upon adulthood to him, his wife, and first child born in wedlock.

GEORGE
15 million dollars.  Holy shit.

CHUCK
They wanted grandkids, and Chad was gay.  Like really, really gay.  He didn’t even want to do it for the money.  But Natalie was going to blackmail him into getting married, have sex a couple times, then she’d get knocked up by someone else and have the kid, collecting the money.  Then, she’d drive Chad to kill himself, and collect all the money.

GEORGE
So that’s why Melissa was left alone.  She was Chad’s for the night, but it didn’t end there.

CHUCK
We gave him a choice of girl.  If he didn’t choose, they’d both be gang raped and he’d watch.  Whichever one he chose, she was safe.  Melissa had a big crush on him and they were already friends.  That left Michelle to her fate.  She’s the only one I feel sorry for in this mess, especially after those dipshits raped her at the church.

Janella looks through some more of the files in the box.  They include financial documents, letters, and a photocopy of a journal.

JANELLA
I’m not sure how much of this we can use, but it helps build the case.

CHUCK
So, what now?

JANELLA
Now, it’s late and people need to get some sleep.  George needs to go to the hospital tomorrow.

GEORGE
We need to talk to those three, Melissa, Chad and Michelle.  Then we need to find out what we can about the Costa Rica missions, track down the webmaster for that survivor’s site, get the feds involved to check out the incoming flights, rustle up some victims, get our hands on these videos without blue dots covering the faces of the perps, identify them, find this Jordan character, and see how the informant-

ANGIE
Jen.

GEORGE
I don’t-

ANGIE
Your informant is Jen.  The only people who knew about Stacy’s Nuke List were Bob, Jen, Stacy, Me, the boys, and whoever Jordan is.  None of those guys would ever snitch out to you, Bob held out his copy, Stacy’s probably hiding somewhere in plain sight, and I didn’t tell you about it.  That leaves Jen.  Considering she’s good with computers, it all adds up.

GEORGE
No one outside of this room can ever find out what she’s doing.  She’s in danger.  But we need to figure out how she got her information, and where.  Nella and I saw shit that can’t be unseen, and it has to stop.

Angie nods.  George gives her a half hug.  She hugs him more, then pulls back when he winces.

ANGIE
You gonna be okay?

GEORGE
I’ll be fine.  Not my first rodeo.  Besides, I saw child birth a few months back, this is nothing.  Might need a hand getting up the stairs, though.

CHUCK
Here, I’ll spot ya.

GEORGE
Thanks.

George gets up and gingerly walks over to the steps.

CHUCK
Speaking of lending a hand, let me know if you want one with those projects.  Angie said you like to tinker, but didn’t say you had a 911 in the garage.  85 or 86?

They slowly walk up the steps.

GEORGE
86.  Good eye.  It’s a hobby at this point.  Why spend a lot of money buying your dream car when you save money buying it a piece at a time.

CHUCK
And seven times as much in new tools, replacement parts, and time spent?

GEORGE
Exactly.

The crew walk up the steps.

EXT. HILLSIDE ESTATES GUARD HOUSE - DAY
On a bright, sunny Saturday morning, the Crown Vic pulls up to a guard station at a gated community.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We waited until Monday to visit Chad and Melissa.  I went to the ER the next morning.  1 broken rib, a few bruises, a concussion, and I pissed blood for a couple days.  The black eye was in full force by Monday morning.

George pulls up to the guard tower.  He flashes his police badge.  The guard refuses to open the gate.  George continues to hold the badge in front of the guard house window.  The guard opens a window.

GUARD
Identification please.

GEORGE
I’m holding it.  Chester County Police Department.

GUARD
I said Identification.

George checks to make sure he’s holding both his police badge and official work ID.  He is.

GEORGE
It’s here, in my hand.

GUARD
I need a state issued ID, not a work ID.

George puts the car in park, then opens the door.  He climbs out, getting face to face with the guard. 

GEORGE
Look.  Detective George Lewis, Chester County Police Department.  See the badge?

GUARD
I have my rules.

George pulls a pair of handcuffs out of a pocket on the back of his belt.

GEORGE
See the cuffs?

George takes off his sunglasses, showing off a huge black eye.

GEORGE
See the shiner?  I got that from someone who is pissing me off a Hell of a lot less than you are right now.

GUARD
Unless you-

George puts a little more bass in his voice.

GEORGE
Unless you want to spend the night in county lockup with an Obstruction of Justice charge on your record, I’d suggest you open the gate.  I am not in the mood to take any shit from some mall guard, rent-a-cop playing little tinpot dictator wannabe.

GUARD
I need-

GEORGE
You need to know that we are on official police business.  If you continue to get in our way, I will arrest you right here and now.  As far as whom we’re visiting, it’s Nunya.  Nunya Goddamn Business.  Are you going to open the gate, or do I ram it, back up, and arrest you for scratching my paint job?

The guard reluctantly opens the gate.  George gets back in the car and puts it in drive.

GEORGE
Thank you.

George drives through the now-open gate.

EXT. SWANSON RESIDENCE - DAY
The Crown Vic pulls up in front of a French Country style home.  It is large, easily 6 bedrooms and 9,000 square feet.  The yard is perfectly manicured and the trees and shrubs are perfectly pruned.  From the outside, the house is perfect.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We pulled up to the residence of Chad and Melissa.  This place was huge. It was bigger than my last four places combined.  Back then, it must’ve cost half a million, easy.  Nowadays, the GDP of a small island nation in the South Pacific.

George and Janella approach the door.  George rings the doorbell.  A moment passes before a kid with dark hair and brown eyes opens the door.  Before the kid can say anything, a woman yells from inside

MELISSA (O.S)
(shouting)
Dammit C.J., don’t open the door, only Mommy and Daddy open the door.  Got it?

A blonde woman with blue eyes walks forward.  She’s young, 24 or 25.  She’s carrying a baby on her hip, probably about a year and a half old, and another infant in her arms, about 7 or 8 months.

MELISSA
I don’t have time for whatever you’re selling.

George holds up his badge.

GEORGE
Mrs. Swanson, I presume?

MELISSA
Yes...

GEORGE
I’m George Lewis, Chester County PD.  This is my partner, Janella Jenkins.  Is, is your husband home?  Is this a good time?

MELISSA
No to both.  It’s never a good time.  What’s this about?

Two kids yell in the background.

GEORGE
We’re investigating some events that took place a few years ago in Veneto.

Melissa’s stance changed, nearly frozen.  She shakes out of her stupor quickly and waves the two cops inside.

MELISSA
Come on in, excuse the mess.

INT. SWANSON RESIDENCE - DAY

The foyer looks amazing, with marble floors and white walls.  It opens up to a living area which opens up even further.  Two kids, the boy from earlier and another girl close to him in age play in the family room.  Melissa sits on a very expensive looking couch around a table. 

MELISSA
C.J., Kayla!

The boy and girl run over.

C.J.
What Mom?

MELISSA
Take Sydney to the play room.  Just, go play for a few minutes.

KAYLA
Okay Mommy.

The two kids drag their little sister along with them to a play area in the next room.  Melissa turned back to the cops as the infant starts to cry.

MELISSA
Did you two want anything?

GEORGE
No, we’re good.

JANELLA
You’ve got your hands full and then some, we’re okay.

MELISSA
(to the baby)
Who’s a fussy buddy?  You getting hungry?

The baby, KAYDEN, nods a little in that way that only a mother understands.

MELISSA
Lunch time, buddy.

Mindlessly, Melissa unbuttons her shirt and uncovers her left breast.  A moment later, she’s shoving the baby’s face onto her tit. 

MELISSA
If this bothers you-

George waves off.

GEORGE
Oh, no.  I have a 4-month-old at home.

MELISSA
Good.  I’m starting to wean Kayden here, but he still prefers the tap.  Little punk is a chewer, though.  What’s your kid’s name?

GEORGE
Caleb.  He’s just starting to teethe.

Kayden gets a good latch and feeds.  Melissa points to a coffee cup on the table that is just out of reach.  Janella pushes it over to her.

MELISSA
Thanks.

She takes a sip.

MELISSA
You want to ask about something that happened in Veneto a few years ago?

GEORGE
Yes ma’am.

MELISSA
How far back are you talking?  Because something happened, but it was more than a few years ago.  What does this have to do with my husband?

GEORGE
From what we understand, he was there too.

Melissa takes a drink of her cold coffee.

MELISSA
You’re asking about what happened back in the Summer of 1995?

George and Janella nod.

MELISSA
I’ll answer a couple questions, but I have one.  Why now?  Why, after all these years, you’re finally coming around?

GEORGE
To be honest, we just heard about it.  We only recently had anything to work with.

MELISSA
Nothing after 7 and a half, almost 8 years.  That’s a long time.  I’ll see what I can do.  Where do you want to start?

GEORGE
How did you end up at the Roadside Motel?

Melissa thinks for a moment.

MELISSA
Someone approached the church we went to about setting up a mission to help a sister church in Veneto run an open kitchen for the night.  First Union Holy Church.  Pastor Jamie asked a couple of us if we’d be interested.  I was going to say no, but Chad volunteered.  I said yes, then Michelle said yes right after.  We drove down in one of the vans with other kids, worked for a bit, then one of the pastors working with the Veneto church brought up an idea about going to distribute meals at a motel.  Then things went to shit.

GEORGE
How so?

MELISSA
Well, when I say went to shit, we were kidnapped, stripped, and my best friend was raped by a dozen guys while I was forced to have sex for the first time.  All the time they filmed it and took pictures.  Does that count as going to shit?

George nods.

MELISSA
It was some seriously sick shit.  We were tricked to go to a certain room, then pushed in.  They held us at gunpoint, forced us to strip, then tied us each to a bed.  Then, that one pastor from earlier came in with Chad and told him to choose one of us to fuck and knock up while the other was raped.  If he didn’t... well, there were a dozen guys and two of us.  You do the math.

GEORGE
I think I understand.

MELISSA
I mean, it’s not like I got off completely scot free.  Chad was, well, he was having performance issues for a bit, and that pastor gave me a choice to help Chad fuck me but I had to blow two guys.  One was a big black guy, and the other was Pastor Jonas.  Jonas Daniels, he and Jamie were brothers.  Jonas came with us to the hotel.  They made Jonas fuck Michelle.  Then back at the church, while I’m having a nice quiet moment with my new boyfriend, Jonas and Jamie raped Michelle.  Guess they needed to make sure they got their piece of ass.

George and Janella share a look.

GEORGE
Jamie and Jonas Daniels?

MELISSA
Yes.  And they didn’t stop that night.  Oh, no, they kept using Michelle.  They each fucked her two more times that weekend alone.  And who knows how many times over the next few months.  It got so bad that she had a nervous breakdown.

JANELLA
You seem relatively calm about this whole thing.

MELISSA
Well, several years of therapy, a loving and caring husband, and 4 crazy children helps with coping.

JANELLA
Mrs. Swanson, how old are you?

MELISSA
Just call me Melissa, and I’m 25.  The kids, well Chad Junior is 7, Kayla is 5, Sydney is 19 months, and Kayden here is 8 months.  We married a few months after that night, shortly after we found out about C.J.  And if the next question is how do two kids that married in high school afford this place, it was a wedding gift from his parents.  They live right down the street.

GEORGE
So they gave you this house for a wedding gift?

MELISSA
Yeah.  Among other things.  Roland and Roda, they’re nice people who work with lousy people, but they were workaholics.  They barely had time for Chad growing up, and didn’t make time for any more kids.  They wanted a bigger family and grandkids, so they set up, well, listen, I don’t want this to sound like I was gold digging.  I fell in love with him before I knew anything about the trust funds.  I was carrying his baby and agreed to marry him before I found out about the trust funds.  I didn’t know about the trust funds until after the wedding, and I only knew about the one and thought it was a lot less.

GEORGE
Mind telling us about the trust funds?

MELISSA
Well, his parents wanted grandchildren.  Badly.  And they thought, well, they thought he needed some motivation.  So they set up three trust funds, each worth $5 million.  One payable to him, one to me, and one to C.J. upon his birth inside of wedlock.  I thought there was one for $500,000.  But that much money, it’s crazy.

GEORGE
With that much, how do you stay level-headed?  It has to be tempting to just go nuts.

MELISSA
Chad works as a financial advisor, so we’re pretty well invested.  We live off of the interest and reinvest what we don’t use.  We’re also buying a couple properties here and there, but I have no time to do anything right now.

GEORGE
I have to ask, why...

MELISSA
Why did his parents think he needed motivation to fuck a girl?

GEORGE
That’s one way to put it.

Melissa takes another sip of coffee.  Then another.

MELISSA
Listen, Chad is a wonderful man.  He’s a loving, caring husband, an amazing father, a gracious lover, it’s just, well, he’s Bi.  He really gives off a gay vibe, but it’s because he’s so caring and empathetic that everyone thinks he’s gay.  He’s not, not completely.  I mean, it’s not like we’re banging like rabbits, but we try to maintain a healthy sex life.  It’s just, he likes guys too.  We have arrangements in place, but for the most part we’re just making it day to day.

GEORGE
You have a way of getting a hold of Michelle?

Michelle points to a cell phone on the table.  George hands it to her.  She scrolls through it for a moment, then turns it to George.  He writes down the number.

MELISSA
Here.  Michelle Bartlett, that’s her number and her current address.  We still talk from time to time, but I’m busy with the kids and she’s going to school

George finishes writing the information down, then pulls out a card and gives it to her.

GEORGE
Thank you very much for you time Melissa.  If you need anything from us, or think of anything else, feel free to reach out.

MELISSA
Will do.  Do you mind showing yourselves out?  I’m kind of stuck here.

GEORGE
No problem.  Thank you again.

They shake hands as George and Janella get up and leave.  They close the door behind them.

EXT. SWANSON RESIDENCE - DAY
George and Janella walk back to the Crown Vic, get in, and leave.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I have to say, I didn’t expect what I got from Melissa, but a lot of therapy, medications, and a few bucks might do that to a woman.  Here’s a woman who was 25 years old with 4 kids.  While most women should be in college partying or just starting their careers, she’s having a whole family.  Found out about the anti-depressants later on, but no big deal really.  That little baby grew up, is pretty decent at hockey.  I usually see the Swanson’s at the semi-annual massacre at the hands of St. Hilary’s hockey team.

EXT. MICHELLE’S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY
The Crown Vic pulls up to an apartment building in Collegetown.  George and Janella walk up after parking the car. 

GEORGE (V.O.)
The info Melissa gave us was a little out of date. Her number was disconnected and she’d moved twice since the address she gave us from 6 months back.

It is a three-story secured building with a locked door and intercom.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Her building was mostly for grad students and post-docs.  It was the type that advertised how secure it was, with locked doors and stuff.

George looks at the buzzer listing, finds ‘M. Bartlett’ listed at apartment 204.  He hits the buzzer.  A voice comes over the intercom.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Melissa’s interview was rather straight forward and helpful, wasn’t difficult to get her attention.  Michelle...

MICHELLE (O.S)
Go away!!!

GEORGE (V.O.)
Not so much.

George looks at Janella.  They buzz again, but answer.  After a minute, they sit back and wait.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Funny thing with a building that has security, it’s only as strong as the weakest element, and that element is people.

One of Michelle’s neighbors, a young Asian man carrying a ‘HCU Med’ backpack, opens the door from the inside.  George grabs it.  The young man turns to say something, but George shows him is badge.  The young man nods and leaves, letting George and Janella enter.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Just flash a badge and they’ll let you in.

INT. APARTMENT HALLWAY - DAY
George and Janella walk down the hallway, stopping in front of Apartment 204.  George has his badge ready in his left hand.  He knocks with his right.

MICHELLE (O.S)
(shouting)
GO AWAY!

GEORGE
Miss Bartlett?  We’d like to ask you a couple questions.

MICHELLE (O.S)
(shouting)
IF YOU DON’T LEAVE, I’M CALLING THE COPS!

GEORGE
We’ll save you the trouble, We’re already here!

One lock unlocks on the door.  It opens slightly, still connected by a couple chain locks on the inside.  George can barely make out a face on the other side.  He holds his badge and ID in view of the door crack.

GEORGE
George Lewis, Detective, Chester County Police Department.  Are you Michelle Bartlett?

MICHELLE
I told them already I’m not taking my site down.  I don’t care how much they threaten me, I have rights.  Now go away!

Michelle closes the door.  George knocks again.  The door stays closed.

GEORGE
Listen, I’m not here with computer crimes or whatnot or know anything about that website.  I’m here looking for Michelle Bartlett.  If you aren’t here, talk to your Super about changing the name on the buzzer.  If you are, we’d like to ask you some questions.  Your name came up as a victim in some crimes that we’re investigating.  We talked to Melissa earlier today, she pointed us in your direction.

The door opens another crack.  Michelle peers out.

MICHELLE
This isn’t about the website?

GEORGE
I don’t know what website you’re running.  I’m here about an attack that took place in Veneto, followed by a series of subsequent attacks against you by Jamie and Jonas Daniels.

The door closes again.  Several chain locks are removed before the door is opened again.  George lowers his voice to a low, soft level.

GEORGE
May we come in?

Michelle motions them in.

INT. APARTMENT 204 - DAY
It is a small, studio apartment.  One light is on over the ‘bedroom’ section of the room, where a desk sits.  Two computers sit on the desk.  A third computer, a laptop, sits on the dining table in the ‘kitchen’ area.  A couch and two chairs are off to the side.  The couch is covered in papers.  Michelle grabs a stack of them and moves them.  George and Janella offer to help, but Michelle knows where she wants them.  She pulls a chair from the table over to the couch.

Michelle is dressed like a mess.  Her brown hair is loosely pulled back into a scrunchee, her t-shirt looks like it hasn’t been changed for several days, and her zip-up hoodie has seen better days.  Her workout shorts haven’t seen a workout in who knows how long, and her legs haven’t seen a razor in weeks.

MICHELLE
Are you sure this isn’t about my website?

George adjusts his sunglasses, then takes them off.  He’s forgotten that he has a black eye.

GEORGE
I don’t know what website you’re talking about.

Michelle looks at his face and recoils a bit.

MICHELLE
You okay?

GEORGE
Sorry, yeah I’m fine.  Interview went a little south last week.  We’re here to ask you some questions about a series of attacks against you from the past.  You can tell us about the website later if you want.

Michelle chuckles.  The chuckle devolves into a crying which breaks into a mix of sobs and laughter.  George and Janella give each other a quick glance.

JANELLA
Is everything okay?

Michelle tries to compose herself, but isn’t doing a good job of it.

MICHELLE
Amazing.  Frigging amazing.  Coming up on 8 years, and of all weeks, you pick THIS WEEK to finally ask me about my own personal Hell.

George looks around the apartment, then at Michelle, and pieces everything together.  The mess, the papers, the lack of hygiene, the stress, the books strewn about, piles of notes and notebooks, more highlighters and paperclips than an office building, and a pile of dishes that has grown it’s own civilation.

JANELLA
What’s this week?

GEORGE
Is this Defense Week?

Michelle nods.

GEORGE
Good luck.  What’s your thesis on?

MICHELLE
It’s on how social settings online can affect sexual abuse survivors, and how these virtual support groups work to help them heal.

GEORGE
Masters or Doctoral?

MICHELLE
Doctoral.  Counseling Psychology.

GEORGE
Good luck.  Criminal Psychology last year.  Dr. Vandersloot is a pain in the ass and likes a good fight.  Dr. Alexander is a stickler for details.  And Dr. Prylock doesn’t want to be there.

Michelle looks at George, then has a look of recognition.

MICHELLE
Did you TA for Vadnersloot a couple years ago?

GEORGE
A semester.  Were you in that class?

MICHELLE
Yeah.

Michelle’s mood lightens up. 

The three spend a long time talking with Michelle.  George and Janella takes notes as Michelle describes everything she went through.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Once Michelle opened up, it all came out.  She described the attack in Veneto, how Gary, who called himself Pastor Mitch, suggested going to the motel.  She talked about how they were ambushed in a room on the second floor right by the stairwell.  They were held at gunpoint, forced to strip for the camera, then tied up.  A bunch of gang bangers, all wearing masks, came in and everyone waited for Chad.  She described how the biggest of the black guys raped her first, then the rest of them took turns on her, raping her every way possible.  But the worst of the attacks came later on.

INT. THE ZONE - DAY
George stands in a new section of the Zone.  The scenes are fuzzy, but they fly past in rapid succession.  Each one involves Michelle being physically abused.

GEORGE (V.O.)
When they left the motel, she was drugged to keep from coming out of her catatonic shock.  While back at Veneto Baptist Church, she woke up to someone climbing in her cot with her.  She heard Jamie and Jonas Daniels, then felt them inside her.

The scene of the attack in Tyrell’s office shifts to another one, this one in the back of the First Union travel van.  This one showed her unconcious, bent over one of the rear seats, her skirt pushed up around her waist and her panties down around her ankles. One of the Daniels’ Family fucked her from behind while another used her face.  The two switched positions after a while.

GEORGE (V.O.)
On the way home from the church, when it was just Michelle left, Jamie offered her a drink of hot chocolate.  She felt drowsy after a few minutes.  When she came to, her vagina and throat were sore.  She wanted to go home, but they had other plans.

The scene shifts again.  Michelle lies naked on a bed.  Five men surround the bed while another person, an older woman, lays on the bed, straddling Michelle’s face.  Eventually, all of the men took turns fucking Michelle however they wanted.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Jamie and Jonas took her back to Reverend Charlie’s house.  That’s when all of them fucked her.  She wanted to struggle, but she was still reeling from the affects of the drugs.  Reverend Charlie was mad that he “didn’t get to pop her cherry” but settled for fucking Michelle in the ass and cumming in her mouth.  They were joined by Mrs. Daniels, Samantha, who enjoyed making Michelle satisfy her, and their sons Jason and Jacob.

The attacks fly past in a blur.  Various combinations of men, boys, women, and girls.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Over the next couple months, she was raped more times than she could count.  She was pimped out to members of the church, friends, even some local politicians.  They made her fuck other boys her age and younger, and even some girls on film.

The scene shifts to one of Michelle tied up, standing in the middle of a room.  She has a gag in her mouth.  Behind her is a blonde woman holding a cat’o’nine tails whip.  The woman beats Michelle mercilessly.  George steps around.  It’s Natalie.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The worst of it were the beatings.  Michelle thought Natalie was her friend, but Natalie took extra pleasure in torturing and raping Michelle.  While the men used Michelle for their pleasure, Natalie only wanted to elicit pain.  Whippings, piercing her nipples and clit with needles, using gator clips and binder clips, electrocuting her, she took perverse pleasure in administering pain.

The scene changes.  Michelle is at home, in a bathtub.  She’s passed out, a bottle of pills lying by the edge of the bed.  Two older people, her parents, run in.

GEORGE (V.O.)
All this happened over two months.  By mid-October, she couldn’t handle it anymore and tried to kill herself.  She OD’ed on Zoloft, which was prescribed to her mom.

The next image.  The doctors are trying to talk to Michelle’s parents, but they can’t believe what they heard.

GEORGE (V.O.)
After being admitted for a psych eval, the doctors told her parents she was pregnant and that she miscarried.  In actuality, she wanted an abortion and the doctors lied on her behalf.

Two police officers, wearing Hillside PD uniforms, leave her room.  Michelle’s in tears.

GEORGE (V.O.)
She reported her rapes, but the cops from Hillside didn’t even bother taking notes.  Even her own parents didn’t believe her until one day her dad received a package in the mail.

Michelle’s father looks at a series of photos and listens to a tape of Michelle’s rape at the hands of Jamie and Jonas.  A moment later, Michelle’s father confronts Jonas and hits him in the face with a tire iron, knocking out his teeth and breaking his jaw.  Jonas lays on the ground, bleeding.  Her father is pulled away and arrested.

GEORGE (V.O.)
A little birdie sent Michelle’s father a package.  Someone spied on them at VBC and recorded Jamie and Jonas raping her.  That sent her father into a rage and he literally beat a man with a tire iron.  The whole thing was swept under the rug, because Charlie didn’t want his part in this coming out.  Some kind of agreement was reached.  The Bartlett’s never came back to First Union, and they’ve been left alone for the most part.

Michelle slowly recovered, then went to school.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Michelle for her part went on to make chicken salad out of chicken shit.  She’s about to complete her Doctorate in Counseling Psychology and has an internship lined up to work with sexual abuse survivors at a women’s shelter.

George blinks.

INT. APARTMENT 204 - DAY
George is back in the apartment.  Michelle is calm, more or less.  She just told her story, and looks both tired and relieved.

JANELLA
Did you ever try reporting these attacks again?

MICHELLE
Not really.  Each time I’d go to the cops anywhere else, they’d say go to Hillside.  I’d go to Hillside, they’d either laugh at me or threaten to arrest me for filing a false report.

JANELLA
If you had another option, would you file a police report?

MICHELLE
I’d love to, but I’ve got a lot going on and I’m already facing legal problems because of my website.

GEORGE
What’s up with your website?

MICHELLE
I run a website for survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of people in authority.  Cops, clergy, coaches, teachers, parents.  What I went through in Veneto was horrible, but there’s a special kind of violation that occurs when it’s done by someone who is supposed to protect you.  I have an entire section devoted to churches.  First Union has its own page.

George grabs a second notepad out of his jacket and thumbs through it in a hurry.  Janella knows what he’s looking for.

JANELLA
How does it work?

MICHELLE
It’s just a website.  It’s a web forum.  People create an account, they post, they reply to posts.  I have to moderate some things, but for the most part it’s just people talking about their trauma.

JANELLA
What do you moderate?

MICHELLE
Mostly removing names and addresses.  Recently, some people posted their stories on how they were attacked by the church.  Some as young as 6.  Well, I have to moderate it when people post their ‘evidence.’  Then there’s some sick trolls.

JANELLA
A troll?

MICHELLE
Assholes.

JANELLA
Gotcha.

MICHELLE
Reason I’m so on edge is that someone joined the website and figured out who some of these people were and went to the police.  I’m getting harassed by First Union and being threatened with a Defamation lawsuit if I don’t shut down the site.

JANELLA
It’s not defamation if it happened.

George finds what he’s looking for.  He shows Michelle the website URL.

GEORGE
Is this your site?

MICHELLE
Yes.  You said you didn’t know about it.

GEORGE
We didn’t.  This came up in what I thought was a different investigation.  The person who reported these crimes to the local police also reached out to us.  Those calls what started the ball rolling.

Michelle puts her face in her hands.  George lowers his voice, softening it.

GEORGE
Would you be willing to come down to the station with us?  File a report, start a case, make this official.  That way when First Union sends their lawyers, you give them the case number and the courts will stop them.

Michelle looks at herself.

MICHELLE
Give me a few minutes.  I, I kind of stink.

GEORGE
Take your time.

Michelle grabs a few pieces of clothing then jumps into the shower.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT BULLPEN - NIGHT
It’s later that evening back at the precinct.  George and Janella sit at their desks.  Michelle Bartlett sits in a chair next to both of them.  The two detectives work diligently taking her statement and correcting all of the details.

 GEORGE (V.O.)
That night, we took the very soon-to-be Dr. Bartlett’s statement.  Case number CC20030519SC00235.  This would become the official case number for the People versus First Union Holy Church.  They say that an avalanche starts with a single snowflake.  No one would know looking outside, but on May 19th, 2003, it snowed in Harbor City.

[LtBroccoli]

INT. GEORGE'S DINING ROOM - NIGHT
George took a break to finish his wine.  Xavier gladly refilled it.  George nodded thanks.

GEORGE
So, something to keep in mind was that Cappy and I had a feeling we were on something big, but nothing like what happened.  Have I ever described the difference between a shitshow and a clusterfuck?

Xavier, Carly, and Derek shake their heads.  Serena looks a little confused.  Liz, Chuck, and Angie nod their heads. 

GEORGE
Well, a shitshow-

CALEB (O.S)
A shitshow is a lot of a bad thing, but it’s only one bad thing.  A clusterfuck is a lot of bad things, interacting with each other making things even worse.

Caleb walks into the dining room.

GEORGE
Language, you little shit.

CALEB
I’m just getting a drink.

GEORGE
Just, go, hurry up.

Caleb walks into the kitchen to grab a couple drinks for him and the kids.

CALEB
Anything interesting?

GEORGE
Just keep an eye on the other kids.  This isn’t exactly a children’s story.

CALEB
Is it the First Union story?  We talked about that in school in law class.

GEORGE
Watch the kids.

Caleb walks to the family room, but stops within ear shot of the of dining room.

GEORGE
What part of-

CALEB
I’m watching them, and I’m in the family room.  Technically correct is still correct.

GEORGE
Little mother... Like I was saying, we expected a shitshow.  Instead we got a clusterfuck.

George takes a sip of wine.  Carly takes a sip of her drink too.

CARLY
Wait.  You keep talking about how corrupt Hillside PD was.  Don’t you live in Hillside?

GEORGE
I’m getting to that, but I gotta get there first.  Now, up until this point of the story, almost all of it was just basic police work.  There’s a few parts going forward where it wasn’t so much police work.  I gotta make a disclaimer.

DEREK
A disclaimer?

GEORGE
Yeah.  Everything happened as far as I know as I tell it.  I either did it, saw it, made it happen, or investigated it.  There’s a few things that I heard second or third hand or there’s just enough leeway to not look into things further.

DEREK
Huh?

GEORGE
It’s the ‘Don’t-arrest-my-brother-in-law’ clause.  Shit got kind of crazy for a couple years, and some bad things happened.  Like Chuck said earlier, we were at war, we just didn’t know it yet.

CARLY
Was it really that bad?

XAVIER
(shouting)
Yeah, it was.  I wanna get’em drunk enough to tell this.

[LtBroccoli]

More of the story is yet to come.  This is what I've edited and formatted in the last couple hours.  I'll have more tomorrow but what was posted so far is over 50k words per MS Word's counter.  A lot more is to come.  This is maybe 40% of the story so far.

[LtBroccoli]

INT. CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT BULLPEN - DAY
Time passes.  A small parade of people come down to the station.  Mostly young men and women.  All of them with a tie to First Union Holy Church.

GEORGE (V.O.)
So, investigations take a while.  We had a case file, and a statement.  Over the summer of 2003, we took a few more statements, mostly from people that were members of Michelle’s website.  Most of these stories were consistent.  Rampant abuse at the hands of the Daniels family, most of them taking place years prior, and at the time outside of the Statute of Limitations, but there was a pattern.  A lot of them reported that their attacks were filmed.  So that means someone, somewhere had copies of these children being attacked.  That also meant that someone worked on making them.  Which meant a video crew.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
George and Janella sit in the room, cataloging the various videos they were given.  A look around the room shows the murderboard has filled in.  A new section titled ‘Perps & Vics’ shows the various children from the videos.  Still photos of the kids are tacked to the board.  Those that were in multiple videos are gathered together.  The adults they’ve had make statements are on the board.  Those that have been identified in videos are placed with them.  A similar treatment is given to the perpetrators, even though most of their faces are covered in one way or another.  They’re broken up into ‘Fat Old Guy’, ‘Skinny Old Guy’, ‘Limp Dick’, ‘The Oh-Jays’ for the cousins that start with J, and ‘Granny Hubbard’.  Very few of the perps can be identified from these videos, save one muscular guy with a barbed-wire tattoo around his right arm.  He’s known as ‘Douchebag Lifter’.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We noticed some patterns with the videos.  It almost seemed like there was a batting order for the girls.  Fat Old Guy, who we assumed to be Reverend Charlie, would usually fuck them first.  Then, one of the J’s, then the rest of the J’s, and other random family members.  The main exceptions to this were if someone brought the kid in directly, or the kids were filmed with each other.

George looks at the wall, feeling like he missed something.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Like I said, we needed to find who edited these, who shot these, who uploaded these.  This required talent and training.  Narrow that down to the people that could be trusted or threatened to keep quiet, and that meant they had to be close.  So that was an avenue to follow.  Fortunately for us, we had an inside track on that info.

George and Janella watch a couple episodes of First Union’s masses recorded from television, paying close attention to the credits.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The best place to start was with the crew that worked recording the daily mass.  And boy, were there a lot of people.  There were close to 30 people just to shoot a simple church mass.  Audio people, Director, Technical Director, VTR, Chyron, Camera, Grips, they had the same crew more or less every day.  I still don’t know what a Best Boy is, but it’s not an actual boy.

They’re poring over a list of names, cross referencing them with any previous crimes.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We figured that whoever worked the kiddie films had to be there for a while.  There’s no way they’d risk the whole enterprise on the newbies, so people that were in for a few episodes were put to the side.  We focused on the main crew, about 10-15 people that were there all for almost every episode.  If they missed a couple weeks for vacation or something, they still counted.

The detectives watch a video of some behind-the-scenes footage of an episode being shot.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Getting pics and video of the crew was surprisingly easy.  Students at the local film school shot a documentary on the making of an episode of their mass, and they got most of the crew on film in either candid moments or on-camera interviews.  What was even better was that this was a well-made show with graphics which laid out names and jobs.  That made my job so much easier.

George posts two pics of a bald man with a lot of muscles and a pic of him running a camera in a short-sleeve shirt, showing off his barbed wire tattoo.  The same tattoo that matches ‘Douchebag Lifter’.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We identified Douchebag Lifter as Jesse Hickenbottom.  Had a couple priors for simple assault.  Looks like he was an angry drunk.  That at least told us we were on the right track, but we couldn’t get much further until we found the uncovered faces.  That meant finding the raw videos.

EXT. FIRST UNION HOLY CHURCH - DAY
Jesse Hickenbottom, a taller bald white man in very good physical shape, leaves the church and walks to a white Jeep Wrangler.  He climbs in, starts up the vehicle, and leaves.

Down the street, George sits in the Crown Vic.  He watches the Jeep Wrangler leave.  After a moment, he pulls out and follows at a safe distance.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We put a tail on Jesse, kept an eye on his activities.  He was a freelance camera operator who shot at First Union twice a week then would shoot whatever sports team was playing that night.

EXT. CHARLIE DANIELS ESTATE - DAY
On the edges of Hillside sits a magnificently large house.  More of a mansion than anything else.  It looks like it was straight from Antebellum Georgia.  Several laborers work the grounds, as well several armed security.

Jesse’s Jeep drives up to the gate and pulls into the estate after the gate opens.  He used some kind of key card to get in.

On top of a nearby hill, George watches Jesse enter the property via binoculars.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Jesse had a pretty normal life, except for Thursdays.  Every Thursday, unless he was working a sports game, he’d go to the Daniels’ Estate.  He’d drive in early in the day, and wouldn’t leave until late at night.

Time passes.  Several cars come and go, almost all of them brand new luxury cars.  The few vehicles that aren’t new match those from the Church parking lot where Jesse parks for work. 

George takes pics of each person as they enter and leave with a long telephoto lens.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Several people would come and go each Thursday Jesse was there.  Most of them were Charlie’s family.  Wife Samantha, twin sons Jason and Jacob, daughter Natalie, nephews Jamie and Jonas.  Then were the VIP’s, like Richard Batey of the Batey auto group, Councilman Francis Danvers, various members of the church.

A white passenger van from First Union Holy Church drives up to the house.  George gets pics of the van, license plate, and tries to get one of the driver.  The van pulls up to the house.  One midde-aged woman and a younger woman exit the van, followed by 6 children.  Two of them were boys, 3 girls, and one he couldn’t tell.  They varied in ages from about 9 to 15, from what he could tell.  One of the girls and both boys were white, the others were black.  George took pictures of the whole season, and noticed that the security took tighter positions as the kids were brought inside.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I couldn’t directly confirm it, but that day was likely one of their filming days.  Several family members, VIP’s and crew onsite at this very large house that supposedly has it’s own TV studio, and several kids brought in as talent.  It was like a well-oiled machine.  As soon as the van pulled up, security went to work.  They took up positions around the kids.  I’m guessing they’ve had a couple incidents in the past.

Time passes.  Several hours later, cars leave.  George gets as many pics as he can of them leaving.  People, plates, whatever he can.  Eventually the children are loaded back onto the van, but one of them is missing.  One of the girls, a black one around 11 or 12 is unaccounted for.  The van soon pulls off.  Shortly, more vehicles leave.  Only a few members of the crew and the Daniels Family vehicles remain.

GEORGE (V.O.)
After most of the guests left, the van filled up with five kids.  It arrived with six.  That math tells me one of the kids didn’t go back on that van and was either in that building still or secreted away in one of those vehicles.  I didn’t see any kids get in the other cars, but I didn’t catch everything either.  Eventually, the crew left and I had to make a decision that night.  Do I stick around and wait for the family to come out, or leave with the crew.

George gets into his Crown Vic and leaves, not turning on his lights until he’s well out of the sight of the house.

GEORGE (V.O.)
As tempting as it was to stick around, it was too risky.  I must’ve driven a mile with my lights out just to get away.

The Crown Vic pulls onto a street before the lights turn on.  After a few turns, George drives away.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I had all the cars that were there and who they were registered to by the end of the next day.  Many of those names were the crew members from the show, others were Charlie’s family, and others were friends and various VIP’s, like City Councilman Danvers.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
George is in the conference room the next day, putting copies of pictures up on the murderboard.  He steps back and looks at the mess of pics, thumbtacks, and string.

GEORGE (V.O.)
It was a mess, but things were coming together.  We had something, but not enough to identify.  It could’ve been anything from a video production meeting to a friendly dinner to a meeting of the Order of the Royal Water Buffalo for all we knew.  We needed more.  We would get more, but not right away.

Time passes.  George gets an email from Jen.  It’s a link to a posting from Michelle’s website.  He reads it, writes down some information, then grabs his coat.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I kept getting info from Jen.  Sometimes it was links to videos that leaked on the net or stories from other sites.  Most of it was links to posts from Michelle’s website.  Instead of calling in to Hillside PD, she’d email me directly.  Janella and I would then go to their house and interview the victim and their families.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT BULLPEN - DAY
George and Janella sit at their desk, taking another witness statement.

GEORGE (V.O.)
By the end of 2003, we had a dozen formal complaints against First Union Holy Church.  Almost all of them were too old to do anything with as far as the rapes go, but we had other charges building.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
George and Janella stare at the murderboard, looking at Stacy’s picture.  A note under it says ‘Confession?’

GEORGE (V.O.)
Meanwhile, we still needed to get into Charlie’s house, we still needed paperwork from the church, and we needed Stacy’s confession.  I felt we could make the case work without it, but having a jury hear the story of a girl who was raped by her uncle for her tenth birthday would put the nail in the coffin.

Janella spun in her chair to another part of the murderboard.  On it were several Hillside PD officers, including their Chief and Assistant Chief.  She took a deep breath.

GEORGE (V.O.)
While we tackled those things, we also uncovered a hornets nest in Hillside.  Their police department received generous contributions from First Union Holy Church.  Large enough that it could make it look like they looked the other way when a crime was called in against the church.  We hoped we were wrong on this and that it was just shitty police work, but the fact that every single person we talked to had a report spiked by Hillside was too much for coincidence.  We took the unusual step of subpoenaing the state for Hillside PD’s tax records.  For the most part, everything looked clean, until we dug a little deeper.

George and Janella pore over tax records and purchase records from CCPD’s vehicle department.  The tax records consistently show that Hillside paid more money to Batey Ford for their police cruisers than CCPD paid to their local Ford dealer for the same cars.  A lot more.

GEORGE (V.O.)
It was a similar scheme to what First Union did with the victims, but with a twist.  Hillside would order a police cruiser for one amount, let’s say 40k.  They would then order it outfitted for another 40k.  That’s 80k for a Crown Vic prepped for duty.  Not too crazy, but it was a solid 30k more than we were paying per car.  We checked with other municipalities, same thing.  They’d pay maybe $50k for a fully loaded police car.  Why was Hillside paying Batey $80,000?

George and Janella look a few more tax forms and registration information for Hillside’s cars.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Turns out they weren’t.  First Union would donate to Hillside, Hillside would buy from Batey at $80,000 per car, Batey would pay Ford $50,000 and cut the Chief a check for $30,000.  That check would get deposited into the station’s accounts but would be withdrawn at $1,000 a week for various expenses and petty cash.  But the department never claimed any of that.  That might not sound like much, but they’d buy 5 new cars each year.  That’s $150,000 they were embezzling.  And I’ll let guess which bank they were using for their accounts.

CARLY (V.O.)
Hillsdale Financial?

GEORGE (V.O.)
Exactly.  Now, we didn’t know who was signing the paperwork at both places, and we were thinking of setting up a sting operation, but they beat us to the punch.

INT. HOUSE IN HILLSIDE - DAY
In a nice house in the neighborhood of Hillside, a green pickup truck pulls into the driveway.  Two men exit the truck, wearing work outfits, wearing hats, and carrying toolboxes.  One of the men is Chuck.  The other is George.

GEORGE (V.O.)
One of the families that filed a report with us told us that one of the elders from the church reached out to them about handling their recent concerns.  The mother called us, and we saw this as a great opportunity to catch them in the act.  Problem is, they lived on one of those streets where all the neighbors are constantly in their business.  So what business won’t draw too much attention?

CHUCK (V.O.)
The sewer business.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Dude, I was hoping they’d guess.

CHUCK (V.O.)
Sorry.

The two men get to the door.  Chuck knocks.  The mother opens the door.  They enter.

GEORGE (V.O.)
That’s okay.  But yeah, a police car or some obviously fake company parking a white van down the street would be pretty obvious.  But a licensed plumbing company running a sewer cam inspection to check for a blockage, that’s an easy one to explain for the neighbors.

INT. HOUSE IN HILLSIDE LIVING AREA - DAY
The mother directs Chuck to the basement while George stays upstairs.  He pulls some hidden camera equipment out of his toolbag and proceeds to set it up in the living room and dining room areas.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I asked Chuck if he could lend us a hand with this.  Over the previous few months, I’d seen him more and more.  It’d been a while since I accused him of a crime or pepper sprayed him, and he was starting to grow on me.  Like one of those weird fungal rashes that doesn’t go away.

CHUCK (V.O.)
(sarcastic)
You’re so sweet.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Anyway, I asked Chuck if he could help us out on this.  If any neighbors got too snoopy, they’d look up Hartman Construction and see that they do a ton of things and are a real company.

INT. HOUSE IN HILLSIDE BASEMENT - DAY
Chuck and the mother are downstairs.  He inspects the pipes and steps out.  A moment later, he comes back with a large briefcase on wheels.

CHUCK (V.O.)
I think she was a little confused that I was there to actually run the sewer cam, but it worked out.  I got paid for the work, her pipes were in good condition, and I even got a referral from her for one of their neighbors for their sewage pipe backing up into their basement.  Good for me, bad for them.  Sewer pipe broke a couple places under their foundation heading to the street.  Had to dig up most of her basement, put in new pipe, put a new slab in.  Wasn’t cheap.

SERENA (V.O.)
How much?

CHUCK (V.O.)
Today, that’d be 25.

SERENA (V.O.)
25 hundred?

CHUCK (V.O.)
25 thousand.

SERENA (V.O.)
Oh my God!

CHUCK (V.O.)
Well, to be fair it wasn’t a typical job.  The builders skimped on the pipes so that made it harder, plus they did a straight shot from middle of the house to the street.  I had to redo the entire system, and move it to the side of the house to bypass the old pipe as it also went under the driveway.  I probably saved them about 5 grand that way.  Now, they have a sewage system that will outlive their kids and a basement that won’t flood unless Noah comes back.

INT. HOUSE IN HILLSIDE LIVING AREA - DAY
George finishes up installing the hidden cameras and tests them.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Hey, I know sewage is very interesting, but can we get back to the story of taking down one of the largest child sex trafficking rings of all time?  Anyway, we set up some security cams out of view that would record anything that happened.

George and Chuck leave the house.

Time passes.

The mother and her husband welcome three men representing First Union Holy Church.  Two of them were younger and one was older, probably in his 50’s.  The younger were Jamie and Jonas Daniels.  The older man was unidentified.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I shouldn’t have been surprised by how blatant they were.  The men used a bunch of euphemisms to describe what happened to the child in question, but they proposed that they make this whole mess disappear.  The parents would not go to the cops, sign an NDA, and deny that anything happened.  They would offer the parents $30,000 in cash and a brand new car worth up to the same amount.  That’s a lot of money, but for their part the parents negotiated it up to $50,000 each.  First Union agreed.

EXT. BATEY LEXUS - DAY
The mother and father stroll a Lexus dealership on a chilly sunny day in February 2004.  Their salesman helps them look at several cars before they settle on a 2004 GX470 SUV.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We talked to the parents the next day.  We had the church for several more crimes including offering a bribe and witness intimidation.  They agreed to wear a wire for us.  They knew that the church was up to some evil and they couldn’t put a price on their child’s safety.  They knew that they would keep doing this and worse.

INT. BATEY LEXUS - DAY
The mother and father sit in the Owner’s office going over the final paperwork.  The dealership owner, RICHARD BATEY, goes over the final paperwork.  The mother wears a jacket with an onyx broach on it.  This broach is actually a hidden camera.  The father has a portable recorder in his coat.

GEORGE (V.O.)
They got everything for us.  They got Richard Batey giving the spiel on how this would work, how he had a friend at Hillsdale Financial that had signed the paperwork, how a donor from the church was stepping in as strawman to cover the expenses.  The paperwork was done in a few minutes.  It took them longer to pick out a color then for Batey to commit a dozen crimes.  And the couple had all of the paperwork.

The mother and father sign the paperwork and Richard Batey gives them the keys to their new car.  They all shake hands.

EXT. HOUSE IN HILLSIDE - DAY
A few days pass.  Chuck’s truck is back in their driveway, parked behind a silver Lexus GX470.  George and Chuck are back.  The mother lets them in.

INT. HOUSE IN HILLSIDE LIVING AREA - DAY
The mother gives George the original copies of the paperwork.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Which they gave to us.  I believe this became People’s Exhibits 343-365, but don’t quote me on that.

INT. CHESTER COUNT DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE - DAY
George, Janella, Captain Smith and a couple other police officers sit on one side a large conference table in a classically decorated conference room in the District Attorney’s Office.  Across from them sit several men and women.  Leading this meeting is ADA STEVEN JONES.  It’s a younger version of Judge Jones.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Now, we felt we were building one hell of a case, but none of that means anything if we can’t get it in front of a judge or if the DA’s office tells you to pound sand.  We needed to make sure that when the shit hit the fan, we were ready to go.  Which meant bringing in the DA’s office.  We had a pretty good relationship with most of them, but we needed a ballbuster for this.  We needed to be sure that we had the best lawyer in the state.  We needed Steven Jones.

STEVEN
Captain Smith, normally your department is begging me to take on a dozen cases each month.  This month, only a handful.  Is something going on?

DANIEL
We’d like to talk about that after this meeting.  Right now it’s on a strictly need-to-know basis.

STEVEN
And this is something that you feel the DA’s office doesn’t need to know?

DANIEL
Not everyone, sir.  We’d like to talk to you in private, in our HQ.  When do you have availability?

STEVEN
We can come over-

DANIEL
No, not we.  Just you, sir.  We have to be very careful who we bring in on this.

Steven looks around at his side of the table.

STEVEN
I trust these men and women implicitly Captain.

DANIEL
That’s good.  If you think this is ready to move forward, then bring them in.  Otherwise we need to be very careful until we’re ready to move.

Steven leans forward, taking in each of the police officers on the other side.  He looks at Captain Daniel Smith closely.

STEVEN
What are we looking at?

Daniel looks to George and Janella.  Janella motions for George to talk.

GEORGE
Well sir, it’s a shitshow.  We’re gonna piss off a lot of people.

STEVEN
How many and how high?

GEORGE
I can’t give an exact number here.  We don’t have an exact number yet.  We can show you when you come to visit.  As far as how high, well, to quote one of our informants, “higher than giraffe pussy.”  Sir.

Daniel and Janella shake their heads a little.  A couple of people on Steven’s side of the table chuckle.

STEVEN
You think it’s that big and that crazy that you can’t talk about here, in front my most trusted staff members?

GEORGE
Yes sir.

JANELLA
Yes sir.

DANIEL
I stand by my detectives.  They’ve been working on this case for about a year.  It’s the biggest I’ve seen in my career.

Steven looks shocked at Captain Smith’s comment. 

STEVEN
Okay, let’s see what you have.  I’ll see you this afternoon.

DANIEL
Thank you sir.  I recommend you eat before getting there.  There’s a lot of horrible they’ll go through.

The meeting continues on.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT BULLPEN - DAY
Later that afternoon, ADA Stephen Jones arrives in the Bullpen.  Captain Smith escorts him to the conference room.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
The door opens.  George and Janella are standing in the room waiting for ADA Stephen Jones.  Once Jones and Captain Smith are in the room, Captain Smith locks the door behind them.

Steven takes a look at the room.  Three large corkboards cover the walls.  Hundreds of pictures, screen captures, documents, and notes are tacked to the boards.  Hundreds of pieces of string of various colors tie all of it together.  A computer with two monitors sits on the conference table, next to a television cart.  His jaw drops open as he takes in the view.

The board on to his left says ‘FUHC POWER STRUCTURE’ and lists the names, pics, and descriptions of each member of First Union Holy Church, Camp Hiawatha, the production company used for producing their television shows, their business organization, and the like.

The board to Steven’s right shows a collection of people associated to the church, their roles in how they’ve helped First Union or benefitted from working with them.  This includes Richard Batey, Hillside Police Department, and Hillsdale Financial.

The main board is broken into several sections.  The far left section covers the four attacks Natalie described in her deposition. ‘Cabin 1995’, ‘Veneto Motel 1995’, ‘Chicago 2002’, and ‘Unknown Date/Time/Vic’.  The next section lists the various attacks on children they have videos of including screenshots of the victims and those of the perps.  ‘Douchebage Lifter’ has a picture of Jesse Hickenbottom next to it.  Several pictures of grownups are on the victim side of the board, including a few that have school pictures from when they were attacked. Three of them are connected by string to the screenshots of the attacks.  The next section outlines the money laundering and payoff operations that Hillside PD and Batey Lexus took part in.  There’s a final section that shows George’s photos of the day he followed Jesse to Charlie Daniel’s estate.  A note grabs Steven’s attention in that section.

STEVEN
(reading)
Where’s number six?  What the...

GEORGE
Six kids entered the house.  Five came out.

Steven looks around the board again, and sees a couple notes with question marks.  ‘Confession?’, ‘Jordan?’, ‘Video Source?’  He backs up against the door, trying to take in the whole scene.

It’s the Murderboard to end all Murderboards.

STEVEN
What am I looking at?

GEORGE
Short, short version.  A shitshow.

JANELLA
You might want to pull up a seat, this could take a while.

George and Janella walk the ADA through the case, piece by piece, starting with the spiked reports from Hillside PD to Natalie’s deposition to investigating those crimes to Michelle’s website and the informant to the more than a dozen statements they’ve taken from victims and their families to the money laundering, the dirty cops in Hillside PD, the financial fraud with Hillsdale Financial, the bribery and extortion, the witness intimidation, the child sex trafficking, the kiddie porn, all of it.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We walked Steven through the investigation from beginning to end.  Once we finished up, I believe his assessment was succinct.

After a couple hours George, Janella, and Captain Smith sit on side of the table.  Steven stands, arms slightly crossed and stroking his chin.

STEVEN
You were wrong, George.  This isn’t a shitshow.  This is a clusterfuck waiting to happen.  On one hand, you have enough to bury half the people on this board for years, but there’s too many questions for the other half.  This is too big as it sits, but it has too many moving parts.  You need all or nothing.  What are those three big questions?

George looks at the board, seeing the attorney point to questions by the video attack.

GEORGE
According to our sources, one of the assailants from the cabin attack, then a 15-year-old girl, recorded a confession for what she was about to do.  But she listed names, places, and dates of those who assaulted and raped her over the years.  From what we’ve been told, she listed about 20-30 names, including Reverend Charlie Daniels, his sons, and further men, women, and animals associated to the church.

STEVEN
I’m sorry, animals?

GEORGE
Dogs, specifically.  Some sick fuck got a kick out of watching a rottie fuck a 12-year-old girl.  If we get that confession, it sets the stage for the culture of abuse.  The other two big questions are how the informant got their hands on these videos and who is Jordan.

STEVEN
Who is Jordan?

GEORGE
We believe that Jordan is the nickname of a photographer or videographer located in or near Veneto.  According to sources, he was the editor for the various videos that were made during the early attacks.  If anyone has a copy of the confession, it would be him.

STEVEN
Why call him Jordan?

JANELLA
He is, or was, a huge Michael Jordan fan.  To the point that he always wore a Jordan jersey or Chicago Bulls gear.

GEORGE
We’re thinking of reaching out to Veneto PD again, see if they have any information on him.  If not, we’ll have to keep our ear to the ground there.

STEVEN
And the video source?

GEORGE
Our informant implied that they got this off of someone’s computer.  Sh-they made a joke about how most people don’t use passwords on their computer.  We don’t know whose computer that was, or how they got access to it.

STEVEN
That hurts your case.  Until you get those three things, I can’t move forward.  Then after you get those, we need to verify what you have.  Even then, how would you proceed?

Steven looks at the three cops.  They all look at each other.  They motion to George.

GEORGE
Well sir, we figure that once we answer those questions, the next move would be a search warrant on the Daniels’ Estate.  To get that, we’ll flip Jesse Hickenbottom.  We have proof that he was in the videos, proof that we works at the church, and proof that he was at the estate the same time those kids were brought in.  We can’t bring him in for just this, we need something else, like a DUI or possession charge, or anything to get him in the box.  Once he’s here, we can flip him.

STEVEN
Why so high up to start?  Why not take down a corrupt police department or an auto dealer first?

GEORGE
Because if we go there, First Union will cover their tracks.  They’ll destroy tapes, move them around, completely change their opsec.  If we go after them, we’ll scare the shit out of everyone else below them.

Steven thinks for a long moment, then shakes his head.

STEVEN
If this doesn’t work, we’ll be flipping burgers next week, you know that?

The cops nod.

STEVEN
If this does work, you’re unleashing a tsunami on everyone in this town.  You implicated a city councilman in a child sex ring.  This needs to be air tight before we continue.  Is there anything that could screw this up?

GEORGE
Possibly me.  I grew up in that church.  I left it more than 10 years ago.  My cousin is one of the sources, and her and her current boyfriend were...involved in two of the attacks that are beyond the Statute of Limitations.

Steven looks at George like he’s crazy.  Captain Smith speaks up.

DANIEL
Detective Lewis saw something in this case when no one else did, and has been forthright with us every step.  His cousin was a minor when she took part in the cabin attack, and both her and the boyfriend are willing to turn states evidence and have assisted us in this case.  The boyfriend provided us with cover to successfully pull off the undercover operation.

STEVEN
As if this wasn’t complicated enough.  What about when the defense brings up your past with them or your cousin?

GEORGE
Then I tell the truth.  I left the church when they strayed from Jesus’s teachings and spread this message that greed is good and it doesn’t matter if you’re a good person or not on this world, as long as you’ve proclaimed yourself saved once, you have a Get out of Hell card for the rest of your life.  I find that to be personally repugnant.  As far as my cousin, she was abandoned by her parents when she questioned the leadership of a church that would willingly hurt girls for their own enjoyment.  I took her in when no one else would.  What she did was reprehensible, but her behavior since then has been exemplary, unlike the woman who lied to the police and tried to pass off other women’s rapes as her own.

Steven thinks long and hard about his next words.

STEVEN
Air. Fucking. Tight.  Got it?

GEORGE
Clear as crystal.

Steven stretches.  He pulls a couple cards out of his chest pocket and a pen.  He writes his personal cell phone number on them.  He gives each of them his card.

STEVEN
This is going to either put us in this city’s history books, or completely destroy us.  Keep me in the loop.  When you’re ready to move and need warrants, call me directly, I don’t care what time it is.

GEORGE
Yes sir.

STEVEN
At what point do we bring the state or the Feds in?

DANIEL
Your call.  That’s above my pay grade.

STEVEN
Well, let’s see how much longer you have a pay grade.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Steven wasn’t exactly excited about what we were looking to do, and that’s a good thing.  It’s why we picked him.  Another DA would’ve said it was too much work, or we needed to move right away, or would’ve spiked the whole thing because we screwed with their country club memberships or would’ve updated their resume.  But Steven grasped the gravity of what we were doing.

EXT. VENETO PD - DAY
George and Janella park the Crown Vic outside of the Veneto Police Department.

 GEORGE (V.O.)
But, we still had a lot of work to do.  We needed the video source, the confession and Jordan.  Out of those three, we figured a human was a lot easier to find than a video tape, so we’d start there.

INT. VENETO PD - DAY
George and Janella enter, looking for Officer Omar Haskins.  They find him and go to his office.

INT. OMAR HASKINS'S OFFICE - DAY
The detectives sit at Omar’s desk, across from the black officer.

GEORGE (V.O.)
What we didn’t know at the time, was that finding one would find us all three, and that we weren’t the only ones looking for him.

OMAR
Long time no see detectives, what can I help you with today?

GEORGE
We’re looking for Jordan.

OMAR
Jordan, who?

GEORGE
We don’t know.  We’re pretty sure Jordan is his nickname.

JANELLA
He’s probably a photographer, videographer, something like that.

GEORGE
We’re pretty sure Bob used him for his video and photo work.

OMAR
Jordan?  Anything else?

GEORGE
He was called Jordan because he always wore a Michael Jordan jersey.  Probably a white guy, but not sure.

Omar leans back and thinks for a moment.

OMAR
Sorry, doesn’t really narrow it down too much.  You just described half of the people in Veneto in the 90’s.  As far as photographers go, there’s a few here and there but no one really sticks out.  Sorry.  But if I come up with something, I’ll let you know.

GEORGE
Thanks.

George and Janella get up and Omar shakes their hands.  As Omar holds George’s hand, he changes the subject.

OMAR
Also, I don’t want to pry, but I’ve noticed that your cousin spends a lot of time with Chuck nowadays.

GEORGE
Yeah, they’re kind of a thing now.

OMAR
Thought so.  Whatever she’s doing, it’s working.  I haven’t had to deal with any shit from his place for a while.  Even Vinny and Granny are quiet.

GEORGE
How much trouble-

OMAR
Can that old lady cause?  A lot.  She’s killed a few people in her life, I just can’t prove it in front of a jury.  They say the good die young.  That bitch’ll live to 190.

George laughs.

OMAR
If I hear anything, I’ll let you know.

The detectives leave the office.

EXT. VENETO STREETS - DAY
George and Janella walk down the streets of Veneto.  Even in street clothes, the way the walk and talk scream ‘5-0’.  Each time they approach a store or doorway, people scatter away.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We hit a wall.  If anyone knew who this Jordan guy was, they weren’t talking to us.  It took us all of 45 minutes to see we weren't’ going to get anywhere pounding the streets.  We needed a different route.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
George sits at the conference table desk, composing a text to Jen’s secret phone number.  It’s one very short sentence.  “Jordan?”

GEORGE (V.O.)
I didn’t want to depend on Jen for this, but I asked her what she knew.

Time passes.  He receives a reply.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I was surprised when she responded so quickly.

George looks at his phone.  ‘Goat 20.’  He responds back ‘K’.

GEORGE (V.O.)
To think, that used to cost 10 cents.

INT. DANCING GOAT - DAY

George is in line at the Dancing Goat coffee shop.  Three people are in line in front of him. As he’s waiting in line, someone taps him on the shoulder.  He turns.  It’s Jen.  She points to the table she occupies.  They walk over and sit down.  She’s already ordered his Chai and cookie.

George takes a look at Jen.  She looks haggard, like she hasn’t slept in days.  She keeps her head down, hat in place to cover her face from everyone else in the store.

GEORGE
Are you okay?

JENNIFER
I’m fine.

GEORGE
You look like shit that hasn’t slept for a week.

JENNIFER
Closer to two.  They’re starting to get nervous.  They think someone’s looking for them, and I think they know it’s me.

GEORGE
If you need help, we’ll protect you.

Jen shakes her head.

JENNIFER
I can’t do what I need to do from your protection.

GEORGE
And what’s that?

Jen looks around, then slides a disk over to him.

JENNIFER
I’m taking them down.

He grabs the disk and her hand, squeezing it.

GEORGE
WE’RE taking them down.  We’re close, but we need a few more pieces to the puzzle.

Jen doesn’t pull her hand away right away.  A small smile cracks her lips.

JENNIFER
Most of what you’re looking for is on this disk.  They’re bringing in more kids this summer from their orphanages in Costa Rica and Mexico.  They’ll stay with foster parents who each get first crack at them for the expenses of taking care of them.  Then the kids will be moved to the camp.  Most of them sold from there and shipped off to who knows where.  They’ll make videos with them here to use as a sales pitch.  Once the kids leave the camp, no one will ever hear from them or ask about them again.  I’m gonna stop them this time.

GEORGE
How?

JENNIFER
They’re planning on bringing those kids up to the states in the next couple weeks.  Once they do, they’ll schedule a day for their ‘training videos’ and then get ready to move them up to the camp once they’re sold.  They’re gonna do this in a few waves.  There’s a couple times where activities overlap.  One group will be making movies at the house, another transporting and taking care of the sale.

GEORGE
And if we have enough to execute a search warrant on the house while they’re on the road up to the camp...

JENNIFER
They’ll be caught with their pants down in more ways than one.

GEORGE
Before I can do that, I need three things.

JENNIFER
They’re on the disk.  Jordan’s address.  His brother used to be a party animal back in the day, Jordan took the place over after the cops showed up one too many times.  They’re glad that he’s quiet, meanwhile he’s a sick fuck himself.  He worked for a lot of ‘niche’ porn producers back in the day, most of the time keeping copies for his own use.  Bob went to him a few times over the years.  Can’t exactly take a roll of pics like these to Kodak to print out.  He probably has a copy of Stacy’s confession, and if you get his computers before he nukes them, you’ll get some other stuff, too.  But he’s the stupid kind of paranoid.  He’ll rig his servers and hard drives with tons of physical security but forgets to put a password on his desktop.

GEORGE
That’s where the files came from?

Jen nods.

JENNIFER
Like I said, most people don’t bother with local passwords.

Jen checks her watch.

JENNIFER
I have to go.  Take care, George.

GEORGE
You too.  If you ever need anything, call me.

Jen stands up and gives George a hug.  He can feel how stressed she’s been.

JENNIFER
Thank you.  For everything.

She lets go and leaves.  He can see her wipe a couple tears from her eyes.  George pockets the disk and takes his Chai and cookie with him.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
George loads the disk into the computer and opens the files.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Like before, this disk contained a bunch of documents, video files, and some pictures.  But this time it included pictures and files from the missions First Union ran in Mexico and Costa Rica.  Most of these were files on the orphans, but there were also some financial records as well.  They showed how much each person donated to the church for their mission trips.  That money was then used to fund these operations.  This is when I noticed something.

George looks closely at an Excel spreadsheet listing names and account figures.  A couple of them call people by pet names like ‘Honey’, ‘Uncle Larry’, ‘Bebe’, ‘Me’, and the like.  The account numbers lined up with those from other files.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Most of the names were real names, but a few were pet names.  Now granted, almost everyone has an Uncle Larry, but I looked through other places to narrow this down.  The numbers matched with a different spreadsheet.  That told me two things.  First, two different people worked on this.

George pulls up the other sheet and matches the ‘Honey’ name to Raymond Lewis.  ‘Me’ matches Shelly Lewis.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Second, Angie’s parents were involved.  That’s when it all clicked into place.

George stares at the spreadsheet in front of him.

INT. THE ZONE - DAY
George looks around the Zone.  He’s in an office in a furnished basement, one he’s been in many times before.  It’s Angie’s Childhood Basement.  There’s a small desk with a computer sitting on it.

GEORGE (V.O.)
There were two ways I could see Jen getting this.

George looks to his left.  Jen walks into the basement, walking straight over to the computer.  She sits down and attaches a portable hard drive.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Back then, I was leaning toward her sneaking in to Uncle Ray’s basement, logging on, and taking all of the files.  That would explain a few things, but she’d have to keep sneaking into their house.  She had a key from back in the day, but still it’s risky.

George spins around to his right.  Jen sits at a coffee shop, staring at a laptop screen while drinking a coffee.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The more likely option was that she snuck in there once but when she was in she set up a mail rule that auto forwarded the contents of their mail folder to a hidden address.  Why break in a hundred times when you can do it once and set up a machine to do it for you?  This is what came out in the trial.  Every mail Ray sent or received for 3 years was sent to Jen.  She saved her address in his Inbox as McAfee Backup Protocol.  It was in place when he moved computers and he mailed himself all of his documents.

George blinks.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
George is back at his desk, staring at the computer screen in front of him.  He’s been staring at the same spreadsheet for several minutes.

GEORGE (V.O.)
It’s not every day you find out your aunt and uncle are involved on the paperwork side of an evil child sex cult.  Hell, I didn’t know if they knew the full extent of what was going on, but if they were involved up to this point, I had to assume they knew something.  Even if it was just doing the books for the mission trips, they’d have to realize something was up.  They were seeing how much some of these families were donating to build churches and orphanages in Costa Rica.  How many churches does one island nation need?

George goes through the disk and finds a file named ‘23-45-23.txt’ and opens it.  There were a series of times and numbers.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Jen gave me Jordan’s address.  Well, his IP address that is.  Several of them.  I had no clue what I was looking at.  I wasn’t that good with computers back then.

Time passes.  Adam, the IT guy, knocks on the door and comes in.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Adam, the IT guy I kept calling Pete walked us through IP addresses, how they worked, and what they do.

Adam give a lesson to George and Janella, drawing pictures on a whiteboard while he teaches them the basics of computer communication.

GEORGE (V.O.)
He walked us through what Jen gave us.  We had a series of trace routes and pings.  Jordan was sloppy sophisticated.  VPN’s were still pretty new back then, so he wasn’t hiding his traffic.  Eventually it all came back to him.

[LtBroccoli]

EXT. VENETO STREETS - DAY
George and Janella are back on the streets of Veneto.  Several tall rowhouses stand together in groups of 5, lined up and down both sides of the street.  The even side of the street has businesses at street level.  One of the buildings has a large ‘This Space For Rent’ sing on it.  Across from it stands more rowhouses.

GEORGE (V.O.)
A quick subpoena to the cable company narrowed his address down to a block.  The 1200 block of River Blvd.  About 10 blocks away from where Bob grew up.

George and Janella meet with the landlord of the empty building outside.  He opens the door for them and they walk inside.

INT. 1200 RIVER BLVD - DAY INTO NIGHT
Over the span of several days and nights, George and Janella take up residence in the abandoned building in a third floor apartment.  It is poorly equipped, barely live-able, but has a perfect view of the rowhouses across the street.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We rented a vacant apartment and stayed there for a couple weeks, staking out the rowhouses.

The detectives stake out the building across the way.  They have recording equipment set up, cameras with telephoto lenses, binoculars, the whole deal.  They watch as people enter the building across the street.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Stakeouts are not fun.  They’re very boring.  It’s like watching paint dry but without the satisfaction of putting on a second coat.  Eventually, we found something.

Janella looks at the street through a pair of binoculars when she sees a fat white man with a receding hairline who wore a Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan jersey.  She motions for George to come over and start shooting pictures.  He does so, almost tripping over himself.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We were pretty sure we found Jordan.  He was a fat, balding white guy that looked out of place in the rowhouses.  I only saw him walk for half a block, but he kept to himself.  He carried a large bag of takeout from McDonald’s in one hand and a couple large drinks in the other.  To be honest, I had no clue if that was all his or he had someone living with him.

The man in the Jordan jersey walks to the front door of 1201 and opens it.  A moment later, he closes it.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We had a good idea that this was Jordan, but needed more proof.  We had reason to believe this was his home.

George is on the phone, looking out the window through the blinds as he talks.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We decided to confront him when he next went outside.  Our guess was he had to leave sometime.

EXT. 1201 RIVER BLVD - DAY
A slightly taller white man wearing a dark red Harbor City Storm Starter winter jacket from the mid 90’s with the hood drawn up over his head walks down the street.  He notices that a window across the street has a blind drawn slightly open that wasn’t like that before.  He stops for a moment, pulling his phone out.  He doesn’t say anything, he just looks like he’s taking a phone call.  He continues walking to the end of the street, where he turns right, away from the building with the sketchy window blinds.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We guessed wrong.  We weren’t the only ones looking for him.

The man turns down an alleyway behind 1201 River Blvd.  Once he’s out of sight, he hops a fence behind 1205 River Blvd and goes to the backdoor.  He opens the screen door and jiggles the door open.  He enters.

INT. 1201 RIVER BLVD ROWHOUSES - DAY
The man in the crimson jacket quietly closes the door behind him.  He’s in the kitchen of the ground floor apartment.  He walks through the kitchen and into the hallway.  There are two people sitting in the living room, too high to notice what’s going on.  The man opens the basement door and goes down the steps.  He pulls a palm-sized flashlight out and uses it to light his way.

He walks down the steps then makes a left.  The basement is filled with discarded boxes and junk.  A blanket hangs on a string along the wall.  The man pulls the blanket back, revealing a whole to another basement.  He walks through.  This basement is just as messy as the last, and also has another blanket on it.  He moves that one out of the way, showing a door, he opens that door.

The last basement is dimly lit.  Several computers hum in the background as fans run at high speed to keep the air moving.  The man closes the door behind him.  It’s a hidden door with a small bookcase attached to it.  Several videotape cases line the shelves along the walls.

The man puts his flashlight away and climbs the steps.  His right hand is back in his coat pocket.  He puts gloves on as he makes his way through the basement.  He traverses the steps, avoiding any area that squeaks.  He passes the first floor, which is neat and proper, like it belongs to a quiet old lady.  He continues, going past the second floor and all of the rooms there.  He keeps going, until he’s all the way to the top floor.  The door is closed.  He opens it with his left hand, right hand in his pocket.  An audible CLICK is heard from his jacket and another from the door as he opens it.

The man in the jacket looks in.  He sees the man in the Jordan jersey, sitting with his back to the door.  The man enters.  He walks quietly, making sure to avoid any creaks.  He sees that the man in the Jordan jersey is wearing headphones.  The man sees the screens and focuses on the main one.  It’s child porn.  Pretty bad stuff.  He grabs something with his left hand.

It’s a garrote.

Two steps to go.  The fat man at the computer is too engrossed on what’s happening on the screen.

One step.  He senses something is wrong, like the floor just shifted.

It’s too late.  The man in the jacket wraps the garrote around the fat man’s neck.  He struggles, trying to remove the pressure on his neck.  He flails wildly, hoping to hit someone, anyone.

He can’t breathe.  He tries to kick his chair free, but the man in the jacket has position behind him.  The fat man tries one last time, reaching for something on his desk.  He can’t reach it. 

The man in the jacket puts more pressure on the fat man.  A crunching sound is heard as his windpipe is crushed.  The fat man goes limp.  The man in the jacket holds the position for another minute, just to be sure.  He puts the garrote back in his pocket and confirms that the fat man is dead.

The man in the jacket pushes his hood back.  It’s BOB!

Bob looks around the room and finds an empty bookbag.  He grabs it, then throws a couple things in it, like some clean clothes.  Bob then pulls a small notepad out of his coat and looks at the list. 

He ransacks the place looking for a few things in particular.  He grabs a stack of hard drives and tapes from a box labeled ‘Bobby’s Camping Adventures.’  He leaves two tapes behind.  One labeled ‘Opening Cabin 8/12/1995’ and another labeled ‘White dude at the Motel’.  Then, he rips the tag off of the box.

Bob goes down to the second floor and goes through the converted bedrooms.  The first is a darkroom where several pictures are developing.  He looks at them, none of them have anything to do with him or his crew.  He leaves them.  In the next bedroom, he finds a bunch of film, developed pictures, and equipment.  He goes through his shopping list and grabs the folders labeled for everything he’d paid the fat man to do.  He throws the rest of this in the bag, leaving the rest behind.

He goes down to the basement and checks his list.  It says ‘Pippen’ and ‘Grant’.  Bob looks at the desktop towers.  Each of them is named after a different member of the 90’s championship Chicago Bulls.  He finds the PC’s labeled ‘Pippen’ and ‘Grant’, and pulls the side panels off them.  He pulls the hard drives out of those machines without shutting them down.  4 drives from each machine, 8 drives in total.  The bag is getting heavy, but he carries on, going back upstairs.

At the top floor, he checks to make sure that the fat man is still dead.  Still dead and died with a hard-on watching child porn.  Bob takes one last look around the room.  He knows that the fat man left some cash lying around and after a minute he finds his lockbox.  It’s locked.  He doesn’t have time to screw around with it here.  He looks for another bag and finds a large bag of McDonald’s food.  It’s still warm.  Bob empties the food from the bag and puts the lockbox in it, carrying it in a way so that it won’t tear the bag or draw attention.  He grabs a Big Mac and takes it with him.

Bob leaves the house, heading down the steps all the way back to the basement.  He goes through the secret passage, closing the door behind him.  He goes back through the rest of the secret passages, closing the blanket doors behind him until he’s back in 1205.  A quick trip up the steps past the drugged-out junkies, and he’s out.

EXT. 1201 RIVER BLVD ROWHOUSES - DAY
Bob gets outside and checks to see that the coast is clear.  It is.  He jumps the fence again, carrying his loot with him.  He cuts up the block through the alleyway, away from that janky window back on the main street.  Halfway up the alley, he opens up the Big Mac and eats it. 

Down the street, he runs into a lady walking down the street.  He passes her a folded $100 bill and a note.

INT. 1200 RIVER BLVD - DAY
About two hours have passed.  George and Janella keep their eyes on the rowhouses across the street, waiting for Jordan to come out.  No movement, no one came in or out.  Suddenly, the police scanner catches their attention.

DISPATCHER (O.S)
Any available unit, I have a 10-42 at 1201 River for Martin Beskowitz.  A neighbor called in, saying she hasn’t seen or heard anything from him in a few days.

George and Janella look at each other.

JANELLA
Wellness check?

GEORGE
We just saw him.

JANELLA
Go down, I’ll call Omar.  Martin Beskowitz was the name.

George grabs his coat, badge, and gun belt.

GEORGE
Downstairs in 2, I’ll call Jones.

Janella calls Omar.  It rings for a moment, then Omar answers.

OFFICER (O.S)
Car 11, acknowledged, en-route.

JANELLA
Omar, it’s Jenkins, you’ve got a 10-42 on 1201 we have eyes there...We think it’s Jordan.  George’ll be downstairs in a minute, we’re getting a warrant but can you delay them for a minute?...Thanks...See you in a few.

Janella hangs up the phone.

Meanwhile, George is running down the steps, cell phone in hand, calling ADA Steven Jones.

GEORGE
(shouting)
Come on, come on...JONES, LEWIS, COUNTY.  SEARCH WARRANT, 1201 RIVER BLVD. VENETO!  MARTIN BESKOWITZ, WE THINK HE’S JORDAN!...ASAP, VENETO PD’S ON THE WAY FOR A WELLNESS CHECK!

George runs out the door, almost knocking it off the hinges when he gets to street level.

EXT. 1200 RIVER BLVD - DAY
George is on the street outside of the building across the street from 1201 River Blvd.  He sees a police car coming from down the street.

GEORGE
(shouting)
20 MINUTES HERE?!, THANK YOU!

George hung up the phone.  He saw the Veneto PD car turn on it’s lights and siren down the street, clearing traffic.  George pulls out his badge and runs across the street.  He waves his badge as the police cruiser comes a stop in front of him.  A police officer gets out of the car.

OFFICER
Excuse me, what’s going on?

GEORGE
You’re here for a 10-42?  Martin Beskowitz?

OFFICER
Yeah.

GEORGE
George Lewis, Chester County PD, we’ve had eyes on this building for the last week.  A search warrant’s on the way.  We think we saw him walk in a couple hours ago.

OFFICER
Wait, what?

GEORGE
Long story.  There’s a search warrant on the way.

OFFICER
Listen, one of the neighbors called in a welfare check, said she hadn’t seen him in a few days.

GEORGE
Did she say which neighbor?  Cause for the last week all we’ve seen was a man who works graveyard at 1209 who is asleep right now, no one in 1207, some junkies in 1205, and a vacant apartment in 1203.  The only sign of life was a fat guy wearing a Michael Jordan jersey carrying Mickey D’s a couple hours back walking upstairs until you showed up.

The officers’ radio crackles.

DISPATCHER (O.S)
11, please respond.

The officer speaks into his mic.

OFFICER
This is 11.

DISPATCHER (O.S)
Be advised, we just received a fax from Harbor City D.A.’s office, search warrant is being executed for 1201 River.  County’s had an ongoing stakeout for the last week.  Commander Haskins is on his way to the scene.  County detectives should be on the scene shortly.

OFFICER
Dispatch, 11.  County’s on scene.  Do we know who called in the welfare check?

DISPATCHER
Jane Doe.

OFFICER
Copy.  ETA?

DISPATCHER
En-route, any minute.

OFFICER
10-4.

The officer hung up the mic, then turned to George.

OFFICER
Okay, mind telling me what this is about?

GEORGE
Ever hear of Jordan?  Photo and video guy, does editing photo work for illegal porn.

OFFICER
Vaguely.

GEORGE
We believe this man is him and this is his place.

From across the street, Janella exits the building.  The officer turns, surprised that anyone was even in there.

GEORGE
It’s okay, she’s with me. 

As Janella crosses the street, another Veneto Police car pulls up.  Omar Haskins and a woman officer exit the car.  Omar’s carrying a folded piece of paper.  He hands it to Janella.

OMAR
I believe this is yours.  Gotta say, this is the first time I’ve done this for County.  What’s the plan?

George and Janella give each other a quick glance.

JANELLA
It’s your welfare check.  If he doesn’t answer, we go in.  Do what you can to keep him alive, but if he’s already dead, he’ll still be dead when CSI shows up.  Don’t touch anything that doesn’t deal with him directly.  We good?

OMAR
We good.  Let’s go.

George motions to the officer.

GEORGE
After you.

The officer takes up position with his hand on his weapon.  George, Janella, the woman officer, and Omar draw their pistols.  The officer knocks a few times.

OFFICER
(shouting)
Veneto Police.  Mr. Beskowitz, are you in there?  We’re here to see if you’re okay.  Your neighbors are worried.

Nothing.  Omar directs the woman officer to go to the car.  She comes back with a small battering ram.  She hands it to the original officer.  George pounds on the door, loudly.

GEORGE
(shouting)
CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT, WE HAVE A WARRANT TO SEARCH THE PREMISES!  BE ADVISED, WE ARE COMING IN!

The officer swings the battering ram near the locks.  The door breaks off of the hinges.

INT. 1201 RIVER BLVD ROWHOUSES - DAY


The house is dimly lit.  The first officer enters, weapon drawn and sweeps the premises.  George follows him in, with Janella, Omar, and the woman officer.  George pulls a small flashlight out and turns it on in his left hand.  He puts his left hand under his right hand, the one with the gun in it, and sweeps through the first floor.

GEORGE
(shouting)
MARTIN BESKOWITZ, JORDAN, WHATEVER YOUR FUCKING NAME IS, WE HAVE A SEARCH WARRANT!  DO NOT DO ANYTHING FUCKING STUPID!

George searches the first floor.  Living room, kitchen, bathroom, nothing.  No sign of Jordan.  The officer goes down the basement steps, Omar on his 6.

OMAR
Holy shit!

GEORGE
What’ya see?

OMAR
Bunch a computers and tapes, no people, coming back up!

George looks to the woman officer and hand signals to her to guard the door.  She complies.  Everyone else heads upstairs to the second floor.  They get to the top of the steps and open the first door.  George sees that it’s a darkroom.

GEORGE
(shouting)
Lights out!  Darkroom, pics developing!

George kills the flashlight and checks carefully around the room.  No sign of Jordan.

OMAR (O.S)
Photo storage, no people.

JANELLA (O.S)
Bathroom, empty.

OFFICER (O.S)
Steps to the attic.

George gets up and follows the officer.  He turns his flashlight back on.

GEORGE
Darkroom is empty, on your ass officer.

They walk up the steps.  The officer is a couple steps ahead of George.

OFFICER
(shouting)
THIS IS THE POLICE, WE HAVE A SEARCH WARRANT!

The officer opens the door at the top of the steps.  He looks around the room.  There’s a person sitting in a chair in front of a computer.

OFFICER
(shouting)
POLICE, STAY WHERE YOU ARE, HAND WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!  I SAID RAISE YOUR FUCKING HANDS!

George goes up the steps behind the officer, scanning the room from side to side as he enters.  The officer heads straight to the chair.

OFFICER
(shouting)
FOR THE LAST TIME, HAND WHERE I CAN...FUCK!

The officer is close enough to see the truth.  The man in the chair is dead, eyes open and tongue sticking out.  A thin line marks his neck.

George gets to the officer.  The man in the chair is dead.  Strangled, still wearing his headphones.  George puts his ear up against them, hearing the sounds of sex and screaming.

The officer grabs his microphone.

OFFICER
Dispatch, 11.  We have a 10-54 at 1201 River.  3 officers onsite with 2 county detectives, we’ll need CSI, coroner, and whatever County needs for this case.

George holsters his pistol and puts a rubber glove on his right hand.  He touches the body, moves the arm with minimal resistance.

GEORGE
Body’s still warm, rigor hasn’t set in.  Looking at a couple hours, 3-5 tops.

George stands up and looks at the place and takes a quick inventory.  Janella and Omar come up the steps.

OMAR
What do we got?

GEORGE
Body, warm, pliable.  Cause of death likely strangulation.  He struggled a bit but was caught by surprise.  He had headphones on, likely watching illegal porn.  Perp got all the way up to him before he knew he was here.  I’m assuming the perp is a man due to the strength needed to put this much pressure and the upward angle.  If it were a woman, especially a smaller one, she would’ve had to get on top to finish him off.  Place was robbed after he was killed, and whoever did it knew what they were looking for.

OMAR
You got all that in a few seconds?

OFFICER
What about the porn?

GEORGE
Illegal, most likely violent and child-based, probably from his own collection.  He’s wearing headphones watching porn on the top floor of an almost completely abandoned building.  He doesn’t want to take the chance anyone hears this and comes over, too many questions for him.  He’s pitching a tent in the afterlife but his pants are still on.  That tells me he didn’t get down to business yet, and there’s uneaten food on the table.  So he got home, started a meal, put on porn because why the fuck not, and before he could rub one out, someone snuck up here and gave him a Columbian Necktie.  Garrote, very narrow.  Like I said, a big guy, strong.

OFFICER
But-

George walked over to the computer and hit the mouse.  The screen lit up with the visuals that matched audio.  A man raped a girl who couldn’t be more than 11 years old, as two more men held the girl down.  George pulled out a notepad and wrote down the time code on the video and looked at the controls.  The officer was visibly shaken.  Omar and Janella had walked up behind the officer.

OFFICER
What the fuck?

OMAR
I didn’t get a chance to tell you, these two are from Chester County Sex Crimes Unit.

George looks through the playlist and writes down the times, doing some quick math.  A little poke around the history confirms what he was thinking.

GEORGE
If my math is right, he’s been dead about 2 hours.  Assuming he got home, ate a little, then turned on the porn, he was killed at some point after the playlist was started.  Total runtimes come to a little over 2 hours.  That lines up with the body.

George presses the spacebar, pausing the video.  He looks at the officer, who is obviously distressed at the video.

GEORGE
I sincerely hope this is the worst thing you ever see on this job.

JANELLA
2 hours give or take.  How did he get in?  Or out?  We were watching this door like a hawk.  No one other than this guy came in.

George remembers the back door.  He saw it a few minutes ago.  It was locked with a chain from the inside and the porch looked dangerous at best.

GEORGE
I want to rule out back door.  Chain lock on the inside and that porch was sketchy.  We sure we covered every way in or out?

JANELLA
Front door, back door was locked.  Unless he can walk through walls or Scotty beamed him up. 

Omar points to a wallet on the table.

OMAR
Whoever killed him left this guy’s wallet.

GEORGE
Let’s wait till CSI tags it.  Besides...

George walks over to a series of photos and memorabilia along the wall.  He sees a couple pictures that grab his interest.  One is of the victim shaking hands with Michael Jordan.  Another is a signed photo right next to that one.  George reads the note on the signature.

GEORGE
“To Martin, keep failing and failing.  That’s how you’ll succeed.  MJ.”

George turns back to the other officers.

GEORGE
CSI’s gonna confirm that our victim is Martin Beskowitz, known throughout the illegal porn community as Jordan.

JANELLA
So our perp teleported in, snuck up behind Martin as he was about to have his post-lunch jerkoff, choked him with a garrote, then what?

GEORGE
He rolled him for specific things.  He was looking for, something.  Something or several somethings.  He grabbed a couple other random things, but he was clean about the job.  He wasn’t here to destroy, the fact that the darkroom is still in use tells us that.  He had specific things he was looking for.  Once he found them, he took them, maybe one or two other things, and a burger from Mickey D’s.  Probably a Big Mac.  And he used that bag to carry some of his haul.

OMAR
How?  Why?

George points to the food on the table.

GEORGE
Martin came in carrying a big ass bag of food and two large drinks.  He had enough for two meals.  He finished one drink, one fry, and one Big Mac.  There’s another fry and drink, but no burger.  It could’ve been something else, but people don’t usually mix Big Macs with other large sandwiches if they’re having a Fat Guy Meal.  They’ll double up on one type of sandwich.  So our perp grabbed a bunch of stuff, probably stole a bookbag or duffle bag, had so much that it couldn’t all fit in their first bag, so they took the Mickey D’s bag for the overflow and grabbed a burger to go.  That tells us another thing.

OFFICER
What’s that?

GEORGE
He’s killed before.  He’s killed so often that not only was he not freaking out on the crime scene, but he still had an appetite after taking a life.  And he was methodical.  He came up here, killed Martin, went through the house, got everything he needed, came back up here, did a little freelancing, ignored the dead body, saw a Big Mac and said “I’m lovin’ it” then left.  Once he left, he convinced someone in the neighborhood to call in a welfare check. 

OMAR
That part seems a little crazy, like why do all this shit then draw attention like that.

George looked around the room.  He remembered the photos in the storage room, how only certain things are missing.  Then he remembered the man on the street.

GEORGE
FUCK!

OMAR
What?

GEORGE
WE FUCKING SAW HIM!  JANELLA, REMEMBER THAT GUY A FEW HOURS AGO IN THE HARBOR CITY STORM JACKET FROM THE 90’S?  THAT’S OUR KILLER!

JANELLA
Him?

GEORGE
Yeah.  He’s our killer.  He walked down the street, stopped right before the doorway, pulled out a phone, then went down the hill away from us.  He knew someone was watching.  He wants us to find something.  We find what’s missing, we have our fucking killer.

The officer’s mic crackles.

OFFICER
This is 11.

SANCHEZ (O.S)
It’s Sanchez downstairs in the basement.  You need to check this out.

OFFICER
Who’s on the door?

SANCHEZ (O.S)
County’s got a small army of nerds showing up and we have a few of our own securing the scene.  You guys need to get down here now.

George and the rest make their way downstairs.  As they head down to the first floor, Janella breaks off to give directions to those on the first floor.  George, Omar, and the Officer arrive downstairs.  There’s a series of computers, all labeled with names.  Two of them have the cases opened and pieces missing.  Several bookcases of videotapes line the walls from floor to ceiling.  Omar walks forward.

OMAR
What is it Sanchez?

SANCHEZ
Sir, I came down here after backup arrived.  That’s when I noticed a couple things.  First, two of these machines are damaged.  Second, I think I know how the perp got in and out.

GEORGE
How?

Sanchez points to a bookcase that’s slightly different from the others.  It’s smaller, and has more space between it and the one next to it.

OMAR
What are we looking at?

SANCHEZ

Sir, I think that’s fake.  There’s hinges there, along the case.

GEORGE
What?

George shines his flashlight on the side of the bookcase.  They’re door hinges, bending in.

GEORGE
We have to figure this out.  We need CSI down here before we break anything.

SANCHEZ
Sir, now that I think about it, I think I remember this place.  This used to be a big party block back in the day.  We’d come in one house, then go through the basements to get to the next house to party.  It confused the cops long enough to get to cover.  I mean-

OMAR
We were all young once, Sanchez.

SANCHEZ
That’s not all sir.  Like I said, two of these machines were damaged.  The hard drives are missing.  They were just yanked out, like someone who didn’t have a clue did this.  The computers are still running.

George turns and goes to the machines.  He notices that out of the nearly dozen PC’s down here, only two were attacked.

GEORGE
He didn’t care if he damaged them or didn’t know.  But he knew which ones to go after.  That says he had intel.  This was a heist, not a robbery.  Killing Martin was tying up a loose end.

A few minutes pass.  Someone from CSI comes down and documents the door.  George then looks for a trigger or handle or something to open it.  He finds a false case and pulls it, opening the door.

GEORGE
Let’s go.

George, Sanchez, and Omar walk through the dark basements, weapons drawn and lights out.  They get to the next wall and push a blanket out of the way.  They look at the stairwell. It’s half collapsed.  But there’s another blanket along the wall.  He pushes it out of the way, leading to another opening to the next basement.

GEORGE
Next one.

George can see that someone was in here recently.  He follows the path over to the stairwell.  They climb the stairs.  Two junkies are passed out on a couch in the living room.

OMAR
Did you see anyone leave here today?

GEORGE
Negative.

OMAR
Backdoor then.

The three cops head to the back door.  It was loose.  They open it.  There’s trampled weeds and grass in the back yard.

GEORGE
You were right, Sanchez.  He used the tunnel.  What does that tell you?

SANCHEZ
Sir?

GEORGE
What does that tell you about the perp?

SANCHEZ
He’s local.  He knows the place, knows the victim, knows the streets well enough to not draw too much attention.

GEORGE
And if he knew that we were watching him from across the street, he’d go up the street, not down.

OMAR
Any chance he got sloppy and threw out that Big Mac container?

GEORGE
Worth a look.

Time passes.  The police swarm over the building, backyard, and alleyway looking for clues.  CSI people take hundreds of photos of Martin’s house, cataloging everything.  They bag and tag hundreds of pieces of evidence, including the multiple computers.  Thousands of video tapes, photos, and disks are collected and removed.  The work goes on late into the night.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Well, like I said, we were looking for the video source, the confession, and Jordan.  By finding Jordan, we found the other two.  It took us weeks go through all the videos he had, but each and every one that Jen provided us came from his servers.  As far as the confession goes...

One of the CSI’s take a photo of a box containing only two tapes.  The box, unlike the rest of them, is missing a label on the front.  The CSI waves George over.  After a couple more photos, he grabs the tapes and hands them to George.  One says ‘White Dude at Motel’.  The other says ‘Opening Cabin 8/12/1995’.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The killer left it for us.

George looks at the tapes.  He blinks.

INT. THE ZONE - DAY INTO NIGHT
George is back in Martin’s room.  The balding fat man is oblivious as a man walks up behind him, garrote in hand.  The man slips the wire around Martin’s neck and pulls it taut.  George pauses the attack and moves close.  The man behind Martin a faceless man.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I knew right then and there, as soon as I saw those two lone tapes in an unlabeled box who killed Martin Beskowitz.  Omission of evidence is a type of evidence.  Lack of evidence can be evidence itself.  Out of everything that was neatly organized and packed away, only this box didn’t have a label.  The label was removed, and it’s contents emptied.  The two remaining tapes were Stacy’s confession and likely film of Jonas raping Michelle.  I mean, why not, right? 

At first he puts Gary’s picture on the faceless man, but it doesn’t work.  Gary is too short for the marks on the neck.

GEORGE (V.O.)
That meant a member of 2236.  Since Chuck was at work and Vinny was back in rehab, that left Bob, Gary, and Paul.  Gary was too short to be the killer.

Next, he tries Paul.  Paul is almost the right height, but lacks the strength to pull it off this smooth.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Paul was the right height, but not as strong.  He was lanky, not thick.  This needed a strong man that was of above average height.

Finally, he puts Bob’s picture on the faceless man.  He fits perfectly.

GEORGE (V.O.)
By process of elimination, it was Bob.  It also didn’t hurt that Paul and Gary had great alibis that day.  They were with Chuck the whole time, working on installing a new sewer line for Woodcrest Police Department.  It took 10 seconds to verify that they were there all day.

George unpauses and watches Bob kill Martin.  He blinks.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
George and Janella go through the evidence collected from Jordan’s house.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We hit the motherlode.  Not only were there many videos for First Union, but there was enough there to close and convict over a hundred others in the area.  And, he was hosting this thing called BitTorrent where he was sharing stuff with thousands around the world.  We’d use his haul for years to put so many sick fucks behind bars.

Time passes.  Adam returns, giving a report on what was found and what appeared to be missing.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The only thing more interesting than what was found was what was missing.  There were 8 missing drives on two of his backup machines, an entire box full of tapes, a stack of DVD disks, several photos of folders and film, and a couple files from Jordan’s main desktop.  Everything was cataloged, but the file keeping track of this was remotely edited from his computer after he was killed.  Whatever was stolen was wiped away.

Adam attaches a capture card between a tape player and the computer.  After setting it up, he helps the detectives capture ‘White Dude in Motel.’

GEORGE (V.O.)
Out of the files that vanished were the contents of these two tapes.  The first one, ‘White Dude in Motel’, was what we figured it was, a cut of Jonas in the Roadside Motel fucking Michelle and Melissa sucking his dick.  My guess is this was cut from the master tape to keep Jonas in line.

They copy the files, rewind, and move to the next tape.  ‘Opening Cabin 8/12/1995’.  The tape starts, showing an empty chair for a few moments in a cabin.  Walking into frame was STACY DANIELS.  She was much younger than before, probably about 15.  Her hair was long and wavy.  She wore a white ‘CAMP HIAWATHA’ t-shirt.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Here it was.  Stacy’s confession.  It was worse than I’d ever imagined.  I don’t cry that often on this job, I’m far too damaged and jaded for that, but this got to me.  Here was a young woman that I cared for, that I provided for, that I tried to protect when she lived with me, telling anyone who might listen the living hell she went through.  It took all I had to not drive over to the Daniels’ Estate right then and there and shoot some mother fuckers in the face.

George captures the video and verifies that the file works.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT BULLPEN - DAY
It’s the next day.  ADA Steven Jones arrives with another attorney, a woman named LISA SANDERS.  She’s around 30, dressed sharp, and looks like she’s ready for a fight.  Her gentle looks are offset by the way she carries herself.  The two walk over to Captain Smith’s office.  A moment later, the door opens.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I called Steven to let him know what I had.  He made an appointment to come over the next morning.  He brought someone new with him.

DANIEL
Jenkins, Lewis!

George and Janella get up and walk over to his office.  They walk in.

INT. CAPTAIN SMITH'S OFFICE - DAY
Captain Daniel Smith sits behind his desk, looking more stressed and haggard than usual.  George and Janella enter his office, closing the door behind them.  Steven Jones sits in one chair, next to the woman.  The Captain looks directly at his detectives.

DANIEL
I’m going to name my next ulcer after you two.

JANELLA
Excuse me?

DANIEL
Steven?

Steven stands up, Lisa follows him.

STEVEN
This is Lisa Sanders, AUSA.  She’s going to be working this case from a slightly different angle.  We’ve been asked to read her in.

Lisa extends her hand to the detectives.  They each take turns shaking it.

LISA
Lisa Sanders.

JANELLA
Detective Janella Jenkins.

GEORGE
George Lewis, CCPD SCU.

LISA
My client would like information on the Electric Ladyland case.

GEORGE
Who is your client?

LISA
The United States of America.

STEVEN
Miss Sanders is a Federal prosecutor.

LISA
Electric Ladyland is the code phrase we picked for this case.  And yes, I know it’s a Jimi Hendrix album title.  Shall we get started?

GEORGE
One question first.  What church do you go to?

Lisa and Steven look taken aback by his query.

LISA
I don’t see what that has to do with this, but I’m Jewish.

GEORGE
Good.  Wanted to make sure you weren’t a possible target of this investigation.  No offense intended.  What do you know so far?

LISA
ADA Jones has brought me up to speed for the most part.  He mentioned that you had some sort of confession already and that you were going to show us it this morning.

GEORGE
Sort of.  It was recorded back in ‘95 by one of the church’s victims right before she assaulted the daughter of the man that raped her when she was 10.  She gave over 30 names of men, women, and animals that used and abused her.  Who they were, what they did, how they did it.

LISA
I’m sorry, she was about to do what?

GEORGE
It’s a long story.  Let’s go look at the murderboard.

LISA
Murderboard?

GEORGE
I don’t know what the feds call it, but I call it a murderboard.  Here, I’ll show you.

The officers and attorneys exit Captain Smith’s office.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT BULLPEN - DAY
The five of them walk through the bullpen and into the conference room.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
George opens the door, and lets everyone enter before closing the door.  Lisa takes a look around the room.

LISA
Impressive.  We usually call this a chart, but most of our cases don’t look like a crazy person trying to prove that JFK was killed by a robotic ninja dressed as a time-traveling tiger trying to hide the Moon Landing hoax from the Illuminati.

GEORGE
Yeah, we might need a bigger room before it’s all said and done.  Need to make sure Hollow Earth is represented, too.

Lisa looks at him like he’s crazy. 

LISA
Wait, there’s more than just this?

GEORGE
Oh yeah.  We’ve just started to unpack everything on Jordan’s computers.  Looks like he had years worth of videos from First Union on his drives.  A lot more than our informant gave us.  We can probably identify about 15-20 victims even before we do a deep dive.

LISA
Wait, rewind real quick.  Who’s Jordan?

JANELLA
Martin Beskowitz, aka Jordan because he was a huge Michael Jordan fan.  He’s the creep we found dead in Veneto sitting on top of a treasure trove of illegal videos.

STEVEN
Speaking of Jordan, any ideas on his killer?

Janella walks over to the board and points at Bob’s picture.

JANELLA
Robert Earl Kuntzmann, of Veneto.  Goes by Bob.  De facto leader of the 2236 crew.

STEVEN
I remember him.  What makes him the primary suspect?

JANELLA
Lack of incriminating evidence and motive and he fits the profile.  He’s a cold-blooded killer that worked with Jordan in the past and knows the area intimately.

GEORGE
As we’ve been going through Jordan’s stash, we’ve found a metric assload of terrible things, but something is missing.  There’s nothing related to 2236, aside from two videos. The first one from the Roadside Motel attack where Jonas Daniels raped Michelle Bartlett and orally raped Melissa Crawford now Swanson under duress.  The second is the one we’re going to watch, Stacy’s confession.

STEVEN
So what you’re saying is there’s a big Bob-shaped hole in the evidence locker.

JANELLA
Exactly.  As soon as we saw that hole, we had 5 primary suspects.  We ruled out 4 of them right away.  Vincent Cartucci was in a halfway house, he’s dealing with a pretty bad drug addiction.  Chuck Hartman, Paul Damato, and Gary Spencer had a really shitty alibi.

GEORGE
They were at Woodcrest PD replacing a sewer line.  We followed up with them, they verified that all three of them were there all day.

LISA
That’s not a ...oh.  Shitty alibi.  Cute.

STEVEN
Anything that ties him to this?

JANELLA
Nope.  No prints, no witnesses, no footage, no physical evidence.  We saw a white man walk up to Jordan’s residence, stop, answer a phone call, and keep walking around the time we calculated the time of death, but he wore a jacket and had the hood up.  He walked out of sight and vanished behind the building.  But he knew about the party tunnels.

LISA
Party tunnels?

GEORGE
There were some holes in the basement walls of the rowhouse between them for easy access.  One of the officers on the scene reported that when she was a kid they’d enter in one house, use the tunnels to go to another, party there, then escape through the tunnels if the cops showed up.  This felt like one of those badly kept secrets that everyone in the town knew but no one told us about.

STEVEN
Think anyone else was in on it?

George stands for a moment.  His voice drops a tone as he speaks.  He points at Jen’s picture on the board.

GEORGE
Probably.  He most likely had assistance from her, Jennifer Tibault.  She’s very good with computers, likely had access to Jordan’s internal network, and knew where everything was.  We suspect that she edited Jordan’s big ass spreadsheet he used to keep track of everything and nuked the local backup remotely before the welfare check was called in.  She’s also our informant.

STEVEN
I’m sorry, she’s your informant?

GEORGE
Yes sir.  All the videos she gave us were direct copies of Jordan’s files, but just a sampler.  She knew where to go, what to grab, and how to grab it.  Anything extra Bob took was on him.

STEVEN
Think we’d have enough to bring her in?

GEORGE
Speaking as a cop, no.  As her friend, definitely not.  I don’t think you’d get a conviction.

Steven crosses his arms and strokes his chin.

STEVEN
What makes you think that?

GEORGE
Think about it.  She’s an accomplice to killing a pedophile.  Not only did she get him killed, but got him killed in such a way that we can now take down hundreds if not thousands of them around the country on child porn charges.  All the defense would have to do is portray her as someone fighting to do what the cops didn’t do for years and anyone on that jury with a kid would say she’s not guilty.  Even harder to do if we can’t nail Bob at the same time.  And we don’t have so much as a fingerprint or shoeprint putting Bob at the scene.

Steven nods.

STEVEN
I agree.  There’s already media outlets praising Martin’s killer.  Jen’s story gets out with everything she’s gone through, she’ll have a Lifetime movie of the week based on her before we can spell her name on the arrest warrant.  Bob will kill again.  As long as he sticks to killing bad guys like Martin, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.

LISA
WHAT?

STEVEN
The minute he screws up, I’ll sign the arrest warrant myself.  So, George.  This confession you promised us?

George motions for everyone to take a seat around the computer.  George presses play, activating Stacy’s video.

INT. BOB’S CABIN - DAY
It’s a hot summer day in August 1995.  The cabin is lit from the sunlight coming in from the outside.  A chair sits empty in front of a camera.  Walking into frame from the right is a young STACY DANIELS.  She’s fifteen and beautiful with long wavy brown hair and a dancer’s body.  She’s wearing a white t-shirt that says ‘CAMP HIAWATHA’ in light blue lettering.  The same color blue matches her shorts.

Stacy takes a deep breath and looks down in her lap.  She holds some notes slightly out of the camera’s view.  Another breath to calm her nerves and she opens her mouth.

STACY
Hello.  To whomever is watching this, my name is Stacy Daniels.  I’m 15 years old, and I reside at 83 Hillside Terrace in Hillside Estates, just outside of Harbor City.  I’m up here at Camp Hiawatha, a religious camp run by the leaders of First Union Holy Church, located in the suburbs Harbor City.  The actions that you are about to see on this video are mine and mine alone.  No one coerced me.  No one forced me to do what you’re about to see.  You will likely see sexual acts that are illegal.  This is not the first time I’ve been on camera performing illegal sexual acts, and I’m afraid it won’t be the last time.  But this is the first time I’m doing so of my own will.

Stacy takes a breath before continuing her speech.

STACY
From the time I was 8 years old, I was sexually abused, raped, beaten, and tortured by those closest to me, my own family.  I was groomed from a young age to be a plaything for the men in my family.  That family is the Daniels family, the leading family at First Union Holy Church.  The man directly responsible for those actions, the first one to rape me, was my uncle, the Reverend Charles Daniels.  The first time he forced me to do anything sexual I was 8 years old.  My father, Matthew Daniels, drove me over to my uncle’s house under the pretense of playing with my cousins at a sleepover.  He dropped me off at the house on a Friday night and picked me up on Saturday morning.  During the night, Charles, whom I still called Uncle Charlie, had stripped me out of my pajamas and molested me.  Throughout the night, he forced me to stroke his penis until he ejaculated on me.  When I tried to tell my parents about this, they refused to listen.  I was brought back to Uncle Charlie’s house an average of once of a month for the next year and a half, each time the behavior escalated.  What started as giving handjobs and light molesting soon escalated to giving and receiving oral sex for not just him, but others in the family, including his other brothers, his sons, nephews, and cousins, and close friends.  This list, which includes well over 30 men and boys, will be read at the end of the video.

Stacy took another breath and looked down at her notes, composing herself.  She looks back up at the camera.

STACY
The first time I was raped vaginally was the weekend after my tenth birthday.  After a small birthday party, my parents tricked me and instead of taking me to the weekend getaway to Disneyland they promised, took me instead to Uncle Charlie’s new house.  He and his family had recently moved into a 12-bedroom mansion.  Included in this house was a section not originally on the plans.  Through the study on the first floor, there is a bookcase.  That bookcase hides a door.  The door is activated by pulling on the copy of Atlas Shrugged located on the third shelf, approximately 8 books in from the left.  This secret door leads to a hallway with several rooms.  Most of these rooms are small bedrooms and a bathroom, but the three rooms of import are the studio, the control room, and the dungeon.  The studio is a room that is large enough to be used as a small television recording studio.  The control room is used for operating camera equipment.  The dungeon is used for various torture scenes.  I was brought down to the studio by Jason Daniels, Charlie’s son.  By this point my parents had left.  Jason directed me through the studio to a bed sitting in front of several bright lights and a couple cameras.  He asked me some questions about me, like my name, age, height, and weight.  After asking those, he asked if I knew what was going to happen today.  I said no, this was a surprise.  They then asked if I knew what sex was, and if I had ever had a guy put his penis in me.  The exact word they used was pee-pee.  I said no.  Uncle Charlie entered the room, along with Jason’s twin brother Jacob.  They sat on the bed next to me and around me and began kissing me, molesting me, and undressing me.  Before too long, I was naked.  After stripping them and performing oral sex on them, I was tied up to the bed and Uncle Charlie licked my vagina until I orgasmed.  It was afterward that he climbed between the bed, lined his penis up with my vagina, and began to rape me.  A ten-year-old girl cannot and will never be able to consent to having a grown man fuck her.  After Charlie, Jacob and Jason both took their turns.  Before the session was over, I was raped nearly a dozen times by those three and forced to give blowjobs to the two men operating the equipment.  I later came to discover that the two men were also members of the church, Roger Martz and Larry Allensworth.

Stacy pauses, nearing the edge of a breakdown.  She takes several deep breaths until she regains her composure.

STACY
At an average of at least once a month since then, until this summer started, I have been sent to the Daniels house and forced to perform sexually on camera.  Those acts have included oral, vaginal, and anal sex with more than 30 men, boys, women, girls, and even animals.  Their depravity knows no bounds.  I have been gang raped on several occasions, forced to perform lesbian acts with family members, beaten and whipped in the dungeon, and forced to partake in similar acts against others.  There were times that they would force me to have sex with other children, and if we didn’t perform the way they wanted, we would be beaten for not following directions.  The most degrading of these instances was being tied up and forced to have sex with their guard dog, a Rottweiler named Roman.  It’s been more than 5 years since the rapes began in earnest.  The only reason I haven’t killed myself yet was because of my fleeting faith and fear of eternal damnation, and a growing sentiment from a line I once heard in a Clint Eastwood movie, ‘Don’t give the prick the satisfaction.’  If it were not for that, and if I thought for a second that anyone would actually investigate these monsters following my death, I would’ve slit my wrists years ago.  Instead, I sit her tonight, about to dole out a small sliver of revenge.  It is my hope that one day justice rains down on the Daniels family for what they’ve done to me and other children.  Tonight, I’ll settle for a little revenge.

Stacy takes a few deep breaths before reading off of the list in front of her.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
Watching the video, George stands at the back of the room, watching the reactions of those in the room.  Janella’s taking notes, occasionally wiping tears out of the corner of her eyes.  Lisa is shocked at what she’s seeing and hearing, covering her mouth to stifle gasps.  Steven tries to maintain a stoic posture, but even he’s getting upset.  George tries to keep it together as he watches this for the second time.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Stacy described all of it in the only way she could.  So matter of factly that it almost sounded boring.  She listed 30 names in this video.  She talked about Uncle Charlie and his sons raping her for the first time.  She talked about how Jamie and Jonas would take turns double teaming her.  She talked about how for her cousin James’s 18th birthday they made Stacy toss his salad while he fucked another girl.  She described how an old man she called ‘The Weatherman’ kept calling her Sophie as he raped her ass.  She talked about the times she was tied down over a wooden box so Roman, the family Rottweiler, could mount her for Uncle Larry’s enjoyment.  She listed the hotel room where she was sent to with another girl as entertainment for a former city councilman and his wife.  She talked about the whippings, the beatings, all of it.

INT. BOB'S CABIN - DAY
Stacy looks at the camera as she finishes off the list.  She’s on the verge of a complete and total breakdown, but holds things together just long enough to get to the last page of her notes.

STACY
Finally, as I wrap this up, here’s a special message for Matthew and Diana Daniels.  Mom and Dad.  I say this from the bottom of my heart.  Fuck you.  You knew what was happening.  You knew what Charles was like.  I told you what they did to me, but you still took me over there.  You violated the most sacred trust, that between a parent and child.  Your one job was to protect your child from evil, and instead you hand delivered me right into it.  As soon as I am legally able, I will separate myself from you and we will never have anything to do with each other again.  I will never step foot in this town, and if I ever return, it will be to watch everything you valued more than me burn to the ground.  I will celebrate the deaths of everyone in this family by dancing on their graves.  Matt, Di, you had one job and you failed.  I hope you each die slow and painful deaths, alone, surrounded by complete strangers, haunted by the thought that the person who should love you the most, your own daughter, is praying for your suffering to continue so that you can live through just a fraction of what you did to me and what you let happen to me through your own inaction.  A real parent would’ve beaten the shit out of the man that their 8-year-old accused of molesting her, or had shot him or went to the cops.  They wouldn’t keep driving her over there.

Stacy cries an ugly, gut wrenching cry that only comes from releasing more pain than any girl should ever know.  After a full minute of crying, she stands up and stops the video.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
The video stops.  The room is silent for a long moment.

LISA
(whispers)
My god.  There’s...

JANELLA
Yeah.  This is what we’re up against.

Steven composes himself, wiping tears from his eyes.

STEVEN
What do you need George?

George thinks for a moment, looking at the board.

GEORGE
We need to prove part of this at least.  I need to track down Stacy and verify this.  That’s not gonna be easy, she’s gone to ground.  We need to verify the parts of the confession regarding the secret rooms, which means flipping Jesse Hickenbottom.  And we need to correlate those names.  We can’t go directly to them with this yet but we can see who is still alive and whatnot.  Once we corroborate this, we need to act.  Not just at the house, but the church and the camp all at once.

LISA
You think they’ll try to destroy evidence once they know we’re on to them?

GEORGE
Absolutely.  Did you see the amount of security they had for a van full of six kids?  No doubt in my mind they’ll have an office fire the moment we move against them.

Lisa turns to Steven.

LISA
The camp is outside of your jurisdiction.  My side will take care of that. 

STEVEN
Agreed.  We’ll coordinate when the time’s right.  Assuming that we can put this on them.

JANELLA
I assume some deals will be on the table.

STEVEN
First one to flip gets to walk.  Second gets a slap on the wrist.  After that, they die of old age in prison.

GEORGE
As much as we’d like to bring in everyone ourselves, I’m definitely okay with sending anyone we need to over to FPMITAP.

LISA
Huh?

GEORGE
Federal Pound Me In The Ass Prison.  Hasn’t anyone seen Office Space?

They look at George with blank expressions.

[LtBroccoli]

INT. GEORGE'S DINING ROOM - NIGHT
George sips his wine, taking a pause from the story for a moment.

GEORGE
Now, keep in mind we were just getting to April 2004.  The investigation was going full-bore.  We knew at some point no matter how hard we tried to keep a secret, First Union would find out about the investigation.  Our best hope was surprise, but we couldn’t rely on it forever.  We needed to act fast.  But I had one really ugly task in front of me.

XAVIER
(shouting)
Finding Stacy?

GEORGE
Yep, finding Stacy.  Stacy is brilliant.  Like, genius level, makes me look like an idiot who eats paste stupid.

CARLY
Well...

GEORGE
Haha.  No, but whatever she puts her mind to, she does.  She graduated early, was emancipated from her parents at 16, earned a full ride to HCU, completed her Bachelors and Masters in under 4 years, then taught at Julliard while picking up work on various shows.

DEREK
She in anything I might’ve heard of?

ANGIE
Maybe.  She was in Cats, Chorus Line, Book of Mormon for a bit, oh, Hamilton.  Also a bunch of TV shows and music videos.

DEREK
What?

ANGIE
Yeah, she’s pretty good.  She’s a gypsy.  She goes from troupe to troupe, doing whatever she wants.  As she’s gotten older, she’s taken on more choreography work.

GEORGE
But finding Stacy wasn’t easy.  She didn’t want to be found.  I didn’t know what state she was in, let alone what city.  She changed her name when she moved to New York because she wasn’t legally required to post the notice of the new name here.  She was going by a stage name at this point anyway, and that’s how I found her.  I could’ve asked Jen or Angie, but I didn’t want to put them in that position until I needed to.

XAVIER
(shouting)
How did you track her down?

INT. CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT BULLPEN - DAY
George sits at his desk, looking at a website about drag queens and kings in New York City.  Several men fabulously dressed as women and women smartly dressed as men populate his computer screen.  Janella walks up behind him, slapping him on the shoulder.

JANELLA
(joking)
Something you want to tell me you’re hiding?

GEORGE
I think I’m close.

JANELLA
To coming out?  How’s Liz going to handle this?

George looks at Janella with a ‘fuck you’ look.  Janella laughs.

JANELLA
Nah, what have you got?

GEORGE
I think I’ve found Stacy.  She’s hiding out with a troupe of drag queens up in New York.  Looks like some of her friends from when she was there a couple years ago before her and Jen fled.  After they left Chicago, she went to ground, only popping up here and there.  My guess is she made her way to New York by car, sold it in Buffalo, made her way to NYC by bus, then basically disappeared.  I tracked down her agent and discovered that she is available for bookings but is very selective at this point.  I’ve seen her picture a couple times on this page.  Most recent one is... here!

George clicks on a photo of Stacy, her hair cut short, face plastered in makeup and sparkles as she wears a very tiny dance outfit.

GEORGE
According to this, the pic was taken a month ago in Chelsea.  She was helping prepare a dance number for some drag shows coming up this weekend.  My guess is they’re still working on it and will have rehearsals somewhere.  I just have to figure out where.

JANELLA
When do you leave?

GEORGE
You don’t want to come?

JANELLA
And miss all this?

Janella waves her hands, showing off the bullpen.  They both have a short laugh.

GEORGE
I’m leaving in a couple hours.  I’ll take the Crown Vic, drive up there, stay overnight, look for her until I find her.  Hopefully not too long.

JANELLA
Hope so.  We have a lot to do down here.

George goes back to the computer and writes down some details.  Janella walks through the office.

EXT. NEW YORK CITY - DAY
The next day, George is in New York.  It’s a warm day in May 2004, and he’s dressed in a suit walking around various neighborhoods in the city until he gets to Chelsea.

GEORGE (V.O.)
New York was definitely not my scene.  I called an old friend that worked on NYPD, asking for some advice.  Basically, he said don’t be a dick, try not to pick a fight, and relax.  Then he said ‘Go Fuck Yourself’, which is New York for ‘Have a nice day.’

EXT. BODY AND SOUL DANCE - DAY
George walks down a busy street in the Chelsea area of New York City to a dance studio called ‘Body and Soul’. It’s a storefront on street level with the steel shutters drawn. As George approaches, he can hear music coming in from behind the shutters.  He pushes on the door and it opens.  He walks in.

GEORGE (V.O.)
It took a bit of doing, but I found Body and Soul.  I called Stacy’s agent before I left Harbor City and was told that this was one of the spots she frequented between shows when she was in town.  Even that took a lot of convincing to get out of the old lady.

INT. BODY AND SOUL DANCE - DAY
The dance studio is one large, open space.  Hardwood floors make up the entire surface.  Three walls of mirrors surround the floor.  Two large dancing poles stand offset from the center of the room.  Several pieces of silk hang from the raised ceiling. 

As George enters, he sees a class full of women and men sitting around watching a young woman dance on one of the poles.  She’s in her early 20’s and dressed in workout gear appropriate for dancing.  She moves gracefully up and down the pole, supporting herself with her legs as he moves.

Another woman approaches George.

DANCER
Excuse me, this is a private class.  We’re not open for walk-ins.

GEORGE
I’m sorry to intrude, I’m looking for someone.

DANCER
I’m going to have to ask you to leave.

George pulls out his badge and shows it discreetly to the dancer.  He lowers the volume of his voice.

GEORGE
Ma’am, I’m looking for someone.  I’d tell you what her name is, but I don’t know what it is right now.  I know a couple of her names from the past, but I don’t know if I can trust you with them.

DANCER
That’s not NYPD.

GEORGE
No, Chester County Police Department.  Know where Harbor City is?

The dancer nods.

GEORGE
That’s Chester County.

Over the dancer’s shoulder he sees the instructor of the pole dancing class dismount.  For the first time, George sees her face.

It’s Stacy.

GEORGE
I think I know who I’m looking for.  That teacher over there, the one that just got off the pole.

DANCER
Who, Carlotta?  She’s in the middle of a class, you have to wait, and only if she’s willing to talk to you.

George thinks for a brief moment.

GEORGE
Tell her I’m George, and it’s about her Great Aunt Matilda.

DANCER
What happened?

GEORGE
It’s a long story, I probably shouldn’t tell it.

DANCER
Is she okay?

GEORGE
Who Matilda?  Yeah, she passed away recently and I was hired by the estate to finalize some inheritance work.  I really shouldn’t talk about it, my bosses don’t like us taking side work that takes us out of state, but hey, I get to charge for a weeks worth of work for 15 minutes of actual work.  Then spend the rest of the week hanging out in the Big Apple at their expense.

DANCER
Cops do that?

GEORGE
Sometimes.  We need some way to pay the bills.  I’ll make more money on this week than I would the rest of the month, but I only get paid if I talk to her.

DANCER
Gimme a minute.

The dancer walks off and talks to Stacy.  Stacy looks at George and freezes for a moment.  He nods.  Stacy addresses the class.

STACY
I’m sorry, something just came up that I have to take care of, I’ll be back in a few minutes.

Stacy walks off and grabs a towel to wipe off the sweat.  She walks over to George.

GEORGE
Hi.

STACY
Hi.

GEORGE
Someplace we can talk in private?

STACY
Yeah, this way.

Stacy leads George down a hallway into an office.

INT. BODY AND SOUL DANCE OFFICE - DAY
The office is small and cramped.  Piles of papers cover the desk.  A harsh fluorescent light fills the room.  Stacy walks in, George follows her.  He closes the door.  She slaps him once across the face, then again the other way.  Before he can say anything, she hugs him and starts crying.  He hugs her back.

GEORGE
You really know how to give a man mixed signals, Stace.  Or should I use Carlotta.

She lets go of the hug, wiping a few tears from her eyes.

STACY
That’s Jen’s grandmother’s name on her mom’s side.  She died when she was young.  How did you find me?

GEORGE
Cops find people that don’t want to be found.  You don’t want to be found.  That is literally my job.

George looks for a chair to sit in.  Stacy sits on the only chair in the office.  George pulls up a stack of milk crates and sits on those.

STACY
No, seriously, who told you I was here?

GEORGE
No one.  I tracked you down myself.  I didn’t ask Jen or Angie or anyone else where you were.  I’ve spent the last few weeks looking for you.  You aren’t easy to track.  After Chicago I saw that you drove to Buffalo, sold your car there.  You hopped off the grid there but I didn’t think Buffalo was your scene.  Then I remember all those times we talked about hiding in a crowd.  Where could you fit in and be one of the crowd?  That, plus you still have friends in New York that would kick some ass to protect you, I focused here.  That, and I called your agent to see if you were accepting bookings.  For a woman that gets paid selling your services, she sure didn’t want to give you up.

STACY
I might need a new agent then.

GEORGE
She was tough.  Wouldn’t tell me shit unless I booked you for some production.  By the way, I have no idea what silk dancing is, but I had to pay for two days worth of lessons.

Stacy laughs.

STACY
Jen told me she was working with you last time I talked to her.  She sounded tired and stressed. 

GEORGE
She’s fighting a war by herself.  I’m helping where I can, but we have to do things a certain way to make a difference.  What did she tell you?

Stacy takes a deep, cleansing breath.

STACY
She told me she told you about Chicago, about how it looks like you’re starting an investigation into...them.  And if you went to all this trouble to find me...

GEORGE
We found the confession.  The one you recorded in Bob’s cabin before, well.

STACY
How?  How did-

GEORGE
Jen pointed us to a pedophile nicknamed Jordan.  Bob used him back in the day to edit his movies and develop his photos.  We were staking out Jordan’s place when Bob paid him a visit and killed him.  Bob took all of the stuff Jordan made for him except two important tapes.  One was something from the Motel, and the other was your video.

Stacy grabs her face in her hands and starts crying.

STACY
Who saw it?

GEORGE
That I know of?  Me, my partner, our boss, and two prosecutors.  I came up here to prove that this was real, not some production or anything else like that.  And, if you’re willing, testify in court when this goes to trial.

STACY
When?

GEORGE

Yeah.  This case is no longer an if but a when the shit hits the fan.

STACY
No, I meant when do you need me?

GEORGE
Oh, that.  I don’t know yet.  It probably won’t be until next year at the earliest.  We’re building a case and are looking executing some warrants before too long, but the whole process takes time.

Stacy cries a little harder.  George moves next to her and consoles her.

STACY
All these years.  All these years.  Finally.  I don’t care what happens to me anymore, as long as those fuckers burn.  They can show the whole tape to the jury, as long as they’re in the jail cell next to me.

GEORGE
Oh, no.  We don’t have the video of Natalie’s attack, just the confession.

STACY
What?

GEORGE
Bob took it.  At least, I assume he took it.  Jordan made a copy of the confession and kept it.  Bob left it behind after he killed Jordan.

STACY
You mean?

Stacy hugs George again.

GEORGE
We still have some stuff to do, and this is the part that’s gonna suck.  I need to ask you some questions regarding your statement.  Mind if we go through that?

STACY
No, let’s do this.

George sits back down and takes notes as he and Stacy talk about her taped confession.

GEORGE (V.O.)
She backed up everything she said on the video, and filled in all the gaps.  It wasn’t easy for her, but she told me everything she could remember.  I had to jog her memory for a couple names here and there, but she filled in everything.  She gave me over 30 names and descriptions, and everything that happened.  She also filled in the gaps that happened in Chicago, how they found out they were being followed a couple years earlier, and even answered a question I had about them getting arrested in Veneto back in the 90’s.

STACY
We were arrested for underage drunk and disorderly because we beat the shit out of a girl who called me a dyke whore.  Throwing a bitch face first into a window didn’t go over too well.  The girl declined to press charges when they found out who we were, so the charges were dropped.  We invited her over to a party a little while later to show no hard feelings, but she never showed.  She thought Chuckie was too much of a desperate pervert.  Now, I heard a rumor that Angie and Chuckie are dating?

GEORGE
Not just dating, they’re pretty serious.  He’s grown up a lot and is...not a horrible person.

STACY
George?

GEORGE
Ok, he’s actually a pretty good guy.

CHUCK (V.O.)
Hah, I knew it!

GEORGE (V.O.)
Dude, I’m telling this part of the story.

STACY
Really?  How serious?

GEORGE
Pretty serious.  I wouldn’t be surprised if pops the question before too long.  They started looking at houses together.  I think they’re in this for the long haul.

STACY
I hope they have the good sense to make sure to invite me. 

GEORGE
You’re at the top of the list.  Probably above me.

Stacy grabbed a piece of paper and a pen.  She writes some stuff down on it.

STACY
Here.  Protect this with your life, don’t give it to anyone until after this mess with the church is over.  It has a name, address, email, and phone number that I monitor.  Save it under a fake name if you have to, but remember that it’s me.

GEORGE
Will do Carlotta Johansen. 

STACY
When do you have to head back?

GEORGE
Tonight, tomorrow at the latest.

STACY
Let’s have one night where the world’s not trying to kill us.

GEORGE
Deal.

EXT. NEW YORK CITY - NIGHT
George and Stacy spend a night on the town.  They get some dinner at a pizza place, walk around, even go to a dance performance.  At the end of the night, they say goodbye and George heads to the hotel.

GEORGE (V.O.)
It was good to have a night where the world didn’t completely suck.  I came back to Harbor City the next day.  Though, to be fair, I did grab some bagels, cheesecake, and pizza to go before leaving downtown New York.

EXT. HARBOR CITY DOWNTOWN - NIGHT
A white Jeep Wrangler drives down the streets of Harbor City late at night.  It’s having a hard time keeping a straight line, swerving back and forth.  The Jeep runs a stop light, almost causing an accident.  As the vehicle goes down the next block, a police car pulls out from a connecting street.  It sees the white Jeep and turns on it’s lights.

GEORGE (V.O.)
When I got back home from New York, I just wanted to spend time with Caleb, eat some dinner, maybe a little pickle tickle with Liz.  Nothing much.

The Jeep pulls over.  The driver is a bald white man in pretty good shape, dressed like he was coming back from the bar.  It’s Jesse Hickenbottom, and he’s drunk as fuck.  A police officer walks up to the car beside him.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I was asleep for an hour, maybe two when I got the call that city had Jesse Hickenbottom in custody.  It took a bit of doing, but we were able to convince City to bring Jesse over to County for interrogation.

INT. INTERROGATION ROOM B - NIGHT
Jesse Hickenbottom, a bald white man in good physical shape sits at the interrogation desk.  His left hand is handcuffed to the table.

INT. OBSERVATION ROOM B - NIGHT
In the Observation Room, two officers from the Harbor City Police force stand by the one-way mirror.  Their names are SMITH and PASCAL.  Officer Smith an older black man with greying hair and a mustache.  Officer Pascal is a younger white man with a short buzzcut.

There’s a knock at the door.  It opens before the officers can say anything.  It’s George and Janella.  Neither of them look like they had enough sleep.  George carries two folders and two cups of coffee.

JANELLA
Officers.  Thank you.

Janella extends her hand to shake theirs.  Smith goes first.

SMITH
Officer Harold Smith.

PASCAL
Nick Pascal, HCPD.  We were the arresting officers.

JANELLA
Janella Jenkins, this is my partner George Lewis.  Chester County Police Department, Sex Crimes Unit.

GEORGE
Thanks for bringing him in.

SMITH
SCU?  What did this guy do?

GEORGE
A lot of bad shit.  Heard it was a DUI?

SMITH
Yeah.  He was down on Ross weaving all over, ran a red light.  He blew a 0.14 BAC.

PASCAL
We’ve got him dead to rights for the DUI.  What did he do that’s so bad that?

George chugs the first cup of coffee.  He takes a sip from the second cup after throwing the empty cup in the trash.

GEORGE
To be honest, I’d rather not tell you.  I’m not trying to be a dick, but he’s the first small fish in a very big pond, and I’m gonna flip his ass.

PASCAL
Listen, sir... he’s ours.

Smith shakes his head.  Janella does the same.  George looks at Pascal.

GEORGE
Officer Pascal, I’m too tired to sugar coat this shit.  Here.  Look.

George opens the folder, letting Pascal see a couple of the screenshots of Jesse raping a pre-teen girl.  Pascal looks like he’s about to throw up.  George closes the folder.

GEORGE
I’m sorry that I had to show you that, but I can’t let this opportunity pass us by.  Detective Jenkins and I have worked this case for over a year and can’t risk it all falling apart because Mr. Clean in there was too drunk to drive home.  I’m going to go in there, and I’m going to flip him on the largest child porn and sex trafficking ring on the East Coast.  Why?  Because he didn’t want to take a taxi home.

PASCAL
I’m, I’m sorry.

GEORGE
It’s okay, you didn’t know.  No one should ever have to see this shit.

PASCAL
Could we-

SMITH
My partner and I would like to watch.

JANELLA
Nothing leaves this room.  Understood?

SMITH
Yes ma’am.

PASCAL
Yes ma’am.

GEORGE
You say anything about this to anyone, I will ruin your fucking lives.  You will spend the next 40 years working a job where you’ll ask every customer if they’d like fries with that.  Got it?

Pascal nods.  George takes a breath, then walks out of the room.  A moment later, there’s a knock on the interrogation room.

INT. INTERROGATION ROOM B - NIGHT
Jesse looks up and sees George walk into the room.  He’s carrying a couple folders and a cup of coffee.  George sits down, dragging the metal chair, making it screech across the floor.  He puts the folders down on the table.  George looks at Jesse.  He can see part of the bald man’s tattoo underneath his clubbing shirt.  George looks at the folders, then takes a long, long sip of coffee before putting it down.

GEORGE
Ahhh.  That really hits the spot.  Gotta love coffee.  Nothing else quite like it, don’t you agree Mr. Hickenbottom?

Jesse says nothing, just stares at the coffee?

GEORGE
You want some, don’t you?  Has anyone given you anything to drink since we’ve been here?  No, of course they haven’t.  You know who gets coffee?  The good boys and girls of the world.  Have you been a good boy?

Jesse stares at George, not saying anything.

GEORGE
I know, I know. You won’t say shit.  You just want to sit here, at 5 in the morning on Saturday, May 16th 2004, inside of the Chester County Police Department, and just hope this was all a bad dream.  That a minute from now you’ll wake up, and this will go away.  If you don’t talk, I can’t hear how drunk you are, right?  Makes sense.  Except for one little problem.

George leans in very, very close to Jesse.

GEORGE
I don’t give a flying fuck about you driving drunk.  I’m here for something else.

George leans back in his chair and takes another sip of coffee.

GEORGE
How do you take your coffee, Jesse?

JESSE
Cream and sugar.

GEORGE
Good choice.  This stuff’s pretty nasty.

George nods to the mirror.

JESSE
Look, I don’t know what you want.  I made a mistake.

GEORGE
Which mistake?  I could think of a few.

JESSE
I don’t get what you’re getting.

George points to Jesse’s right arm.

GEORGE
That’s a nice tattoo there, where’d you get it?

Jesse looks at his arm, his tattoo is slightly visible under his short sleeves.  He pushes up his sleeve, exposing the barbed-wire tattoo on his right bicep.

JESSE
This?  Inkadat Special over in Collegetown.

GEORGE
It’s nice.  I’ve been thinking of getting one.  You know how you can help me?  Help me narrow down which tattoo I should get.

George opens the first folder.  He shows Jesse a picture of Jesse’s tattoo, taken a couple hours ago when he was processed.  George’s voice goes up a couple notes, showing excitement.

GEORGE
You like this one?  What about this next one, I think this next one is really nice.

George shows Jesse a picture of him running camera from the documentary, showing his tattoo in full view.

GEORGE
I like this one as well, but I can’t decide.

The next picture is a zoomed in shot of Jesse’s tattoo.

JESSE
What the Hell are you-

GEORGE
I’m not done, I’ve got one more.  Tell me, which tattoo is the best?

George shows Jesse a screenshot of him fucking an obviously underage girl doggystyle.  She’s crying, and there’s a big blue dot where his face should be.  Jesse’s face is obscured but the girl’s is not.  Neither is Jesse’s tattoo.  Upon closer inspection, it’s the same picture that the blown-up pick of his tattoo came from.

George looks at Jesse’s face as he sees the last picture.  All color runs away, his eyes go wide.  George’s voice is still that higher pitched excitement.

GEORGE
Tell me, which one do you think is best?  Personally I can’t make a decision.  It’s between the second one where I see you with that tattoo and a lower third graphic spelling out your name and job title and the fourth one where you’re raping a little girl.  Though, to be fair, her crying does distract from the scene.  I mean, how can I appreciate the artwork on your right arm over her cries as you defiled her?  I guess some people don’t have an appreciation for art, know what I mean?

Jesse doesn’t say anything.  He doesn’t look up from the pictures.

GEORGE
Jesse, you still with me?  Earth to Jesse, please respond!

He looks up, his lip quivering.  Fear crosses his face as he knows he’s fucked.

GEORGE
You know, I might’ve used too many euphemisms, metaphors, and analogies.  Let me simplify this.

George points to the first picture.  His voice drops in pitch, becoming a steady, slightly menacing monotone.

GEORGE
This is you, two hours ago.  They took a picture of your tattoo.  It matches the second picture which came from a documentary about working on the masses shot at First Union Holy Church.  The third pic is a zoom-in of the fourth pic, which is a screen capture of one of the many, many films I have of you fucking little girls.

George looks back at Jesse.

GEORGE
On a scale of 1-10, how fucked do you think you are right now?

Jesse says nothing.  He’s visibly shaking, on the verge of a breakdown.

GEORGE
I asked you a question, how fucked do you think you are?

Jesse still says nothing. 

GEORGE
Well, I have about 20 videos of you fucking little girls.  I can prove it’s you in all of them.  Each one them is easily half a dozen crimes including aggravated sexual assault of a minor.  20 years each.  Times 20 videos, you’re looking at 400 years, and with as egregious as these are, no way the prosecutor doesn’t push for consecutive sentences instead of concurrent.  Know what that means?  That means instead of serving all of them at once, you do one at a time.  Best case scenario, you die of old age in prison.  Worst case...well, you know what they do to kiddie fuckers in prison?

Jesse’s shaking, just seconds away from an anxiety attack.

GEORGE
Do I need to tell?

Jesse drops the picture.  He drops his head into hands and starts crying.  George lets him go for a minute.

GEORGE
You have three options.  Do you know what they are?

Jesse’s crying on the desk.  George is unamused.

JESSE
No.

GEORGE
Option 1, you plead guilty and pray for mercy.  Spoiler alert, don’t expect it.  Option 2, you take your chances at trial and hope that the state makes a major error.  I wouldn’t bet on that happening.  You interested in hearing what Option 3 is?

JESSE
Yes.

GEORGE
Option 3.  This is where you help me help you.  You help me by telling me everything you know.  You tell me about First Union, the Daniels’ Family, the girls, all the stuff that happens at the estate, who visits there, who makes these films, who edits them, who stars in them, who watches them, what happens to the kids afterwards, all of it.  You give me everything, and this disappears.

Jesse looks up at George.

GEORGE
Understand me? 

Jesse nods.

GEORGE
Then tell me, what is Option 3?

JESSE
I help you, you help me?

GEORGE
Yep.  You see, I can only make this deal for one person, and you’re that lucky person.  I know what you’ve been doing at First Union, there’s no reason to lie to me.  I know you’ve visited the estate at the same time as some high level VIP’s.  I know you were there recently at the same that a van from the church dropped off 6 kids but only 5 left.  I know you were there.  Want to see the pics, or is my word good enough?

Jesse keeps crying on the desk.  He raises his head.  He’s a mess.  George continues speaking in a soft, unsettling monotone.

GEORGE
So, which is it?  Plead, take your chances, or help us.

Jesse thinks for a moment before talking.

JESSE
(crying)
I don’t want to go to prison.

GEORGE
I know, no one wants to go to prison.  You have three options, and only one of them gives you a chance to avoid prison.  You know what you need to do.

JESSE
Option 3.  I’ll tell you everything.  Just please, keep me out of prison.

George nods.

GEORGE
I’ll do what I can.  Ready for that coffee now?

Jesse nods.

Time passes.  George, Jesse, ADA Steven Jones, and an attorney representing Jesse are in Interrogation Room B.  They’re going over Jesse’s story, finalizing all of the details of his cooperation agreement.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Jesse flipped like a pancake.  To be honest, I could’ve done it faster or played some games with him, but I was tired and just wanted to nail this fucker.  And did we ever.  He gave us everything.  He told us how they operated, their shooting schedule, who the crew members were, where the footage was kept, how they organized the vault, their equipment, that is was still Atlas Shrugged that opened the secret door, how they got paid, all of it.  Every Thursday except once a month Jesse and several of the crew would show up to the Daniels’ Estate for a shooting day.  They’d bring kids over from the church to be the actors and entertainment.  One of the Daniels’s would make a list of what they wanted to see or what their clients wanted.  Usually it was pretty straight forward stuff, fuck a girl here or there, fuck a boy there, make the kids fuck each other.  Sometimes, they’d have guests that would come over, usually for a fee or some big favors that were owed.  Other times, shit got weird.  He described a few scenes where they had to work with dogs or other exotics.  It gets too messy.  Then there were the torture sessions.  Most of the time these were saved for the orphans, but if someone wanted to use one of the kids in the church, they could for a fee.  The snuff films were reserved for the orphans, though they tried to limit those to very special occasions or high ranking VIP’s.  It’s very hard to do pull off safely and dispose of the bodies completely.  We didn’t even know about that, but we weren’t going to stop him in the middle of his story.  As far as payment, everyone on the crew was paid handsomely to stay quiet but they were also paid in whatever they wanted to indulge in.  He normally ran the camera but also edited and did chyron at times.  When we asked how the church affords to pay them so much, he told us how much they were making per video.  Tens of thousands for specialty video.  Then there were the girls.  They’d sell the victims down the line.  If they got bored of them or used them up, they’d sell them to child slavers.  Most ended up in brothels around the world, but others, usually the black kids from Costa Rica, would be beaten and killed within a month of arriving.  He even gave us the schedule for their next couple months, even recommended the perfect day to move in.

JESSE
June 10th.  You should go to the Estate on the 10th.

GEORGE
Why’s that?

JESSE
I won’t be there that day.  I’m taking that day off.  Reverend Charlie won’t be there, either.  One shipment of girls is going up to the Camp, meeting some buyers up there.  Reverend Charlie will be out of town, finalizing a deal to take the TV show national, like Saddleback or 700 Club.  It’ll be a light shooting day, small crew with a few B-listers.

GEORGE
B-listers?

JESSE
You know, the Somewhat Important People.  Ones that paid for the experience, but don’t get the full treat, or they’re new and not completely trusted yet.

GEORGE
Like coupon day?

JESSE
Yeah, sort of.  And Brian’s gonna be there.

GEORGE
Who’s Brian again?

JESSE
Brian Caspar.  He was supposed to edit my tattoo out of all of those videos.  Fuck Brian.

GEORGE
Fuck Brian.

Jesse sips a cup of coffee and eats some fast food breakfast.  George sips on yet another cup of coffee.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Bringing in Jesse at this time wasn’t expected.  We knew that at any moment the church would get wind of him being here and helping us.  Hell, we told him to continue doing what he was doing to keep from arising any suspicion.  We were 3 weeks out from the day he suggested.  A lot can go wrong in 3 weeks.

INT. APARTMENT 204 - DAY
Dr. Michelle Bartlett sits at home on a Sunday afternoon when she hears a knock on the door.  She’s startled.  She grabs a pistol she keeps in the top drawer of the kitchen cabinet before going to the door.   She stands behind the door, looking through the peephole.  She sees a man through the door, holding a piece of paper with a camera dangling around his neck on a strap.  He knocks again.

MICHELLE
Go away!  You’re trespassing in this building!

SERVER (O.S)
Dr. Bartlett, I need to see you.

MICHELLE
Whatever it is, leave it at the front door.

SERVER (O.S)
Dr. Bartlett, I’m a process server.  Please open the door so I can give this to you so I don’t have to have the cops come over and do this.

MICHELLE
I have a gun, you try anything I will shoot you!

SERVER (O.S)
Fine.  All I need to do is hand you this, I take a picture, and I leave.  Can you open the door just a crack?  I’ll be gone in a minute or I’ll have to bring the cops in to finish this.

Michelle opens the door slightly.  She’s holding the gun, pointing it at the Process Server.

MICHELLE
Do what you’re here to do and leave.

SERVER
Dr. Bartlett, you’ve been served.  I’m sorry, have a nice day.

The Process Server hands Michelle the letter, then raises the camera and takes a picture.  He turns and leaves.

Michelle opens the letter, and collapses against the wall, crying.

GEORGE (V.O.)
First Union sued Dr. Bartlett for Libelous Defamation of Character.  The church was trying to shut down her website and they claimed that she was responsible since she owned the website where their alleged victims were making these, and I quote, ‘blatantly malicious and falsified statements.’  She called us about it immediately.  We met with her the next day.

INT. CAPTAIN SMITH'S OFFICE - DAY
Michelle sits in front of Captain Smith’s desk.  She’s flanked by AUSA Lisa Sanders and ADA Steven Jones.  George and Janella take up position along the wall behind them.  There’s a knock on the door.  A man and woman, both in their early 30’s, stand in the opposite corner behind Lisa.

DANIEL
Come.

The door opens.  An older gentleman dressed in a tailored suit enters the room.  His name is FREDERICK BAIRD.

FREDERICK
I’m looking for... looks like this is the right room.

Frederick squeezes in.

DANIEL
Sorry for the small meeting place.  Our conference room is, in use.

Daniel looks at George and Janella.

GEORGE
It’s taken on a life of it’s own.  We might need to knock a wall down at this point.

DANIEL
No.  Make due with the room you took.

LISA
Wait, your murderboard’s even bigger this time?

George nods, laughing a little.

GEORGE
Yeah, it’s obnoxiously large.  Rappers are renting it out to use in music videos.

DANIEL
Enough.  Everyone, introductions.  I’ll start.  Captain Daniel Smith, CCPD SCU.

GEORGE
Dr. George Lewis, Detective, SCU.

JANELLA
Janella Jenkins, SCU.

FREDERICK
Frederick Baird, Attorney at Law, I’m Dr. Bartlett’s representation in her libel case.

STEVEN
Assistant District Attorney Steven Jones.

LISA
Assistant US Attorney Lisa Sanders.

Lisa nods to the man and woman behind her.

JACKSON
Special Agent Jackson Carpenter, FBI.

ERIN
Special Agent Erin Kingston, FBI.

Michelle looks around the room, awed by the names and titles.  Then it’s her turn to talk.

MICHELLE
Oh, um, Doctor Michelle Bartlett.  I’m the one getting sued.

Frederick looks around the room.

FREDERICK
I’m sorry, could someone fill me in on what’s going on?  This looks like it’s a little bigger than a defamation case.

DANIEL
Dr. Bartlett was the first victim to lodge an official complaint against First Union Holy Church and the Daniels family.  She hosts a website where at least 2 dozen other victims have since come forward to us.  This fed into an investigation that Detectives Jenkins and Lewis were already working on regarding reports of sexual abuse by the clergy and elders at First Union.  Through their work they uncovered, well, a lot.

FREDERICK
How much?

JACKSON
We’re here.

DANIEL
We’re looking at everything from mail fraud to human trafficking to child porn to murder to selling mattresses with the tags ripped off.  But this lawsuit throws a wrinkle in things.

FREDERICK
I spoke with my client briefly this morning.  It sounds like a bullying tactic by the church to shut her up.  I’d like to file a motion to dismiss with prejudice.

STEVEN
Agreed. I’m worried about the timing.  We’re working on plans that if they hear about them will...

GEORGE
Completely ruin our surprise party.

George winks badly at Steven.  He nods back.

STEVEN
Yeah, surprise party.  We have a date for the party, so we need to make sure this filing happens on or after.

FREDERICK
I was over at the clerk’s office.  We pulled Judge Reynolds for a preliminary hearing, 10AM on the 10th of June.

George and Janella look at each other in shock, then at Steven and Captain Smith.

GEORGE
Mr. Baird, how long do those hearings take?

FREDERICK
They’re pretty short, usually just a few minutes of formalities.  If we’re running on time, probably 15-20 minutes.

STEVEN
Push it back to after lunch.  I’ll talk to the clerk today, get this pushed to the afternoon.  What time do the festivities start that day?

GEORGE
Party tent opens at 11 that day, clown and pony should be there by 1.

JACKSON
Beach toys will be ready about the same time.

JANELLA
Pretty sure I can get the wine by then.

STEVEN
And I’ll give the guest of honor the party invite.  It is a surprise for them after all.

Dr. Bartlett looks around the room.  She understands something just happened.

MICHELLE
All I heard was a lot of coded phrases about something happening that day.  Is it safe to assume I probably shouldn’t know what’s going on that day?

STEVEN
If all goes well, this part of your legal troubles will disappear.  You’ll enter into a whole new world of craziness after that, but if things work right, it will no longer be a secret.  And Judge Reynolds will have no choice but to dismiss your case.

FREDERICK
I’ll prepare my motion to dismiss, we’ll present it during the hearing.

Frederick moves forward to Michelle and puts his hand on her shoulder.

FREDERICK
Michelle, these next couple weeks will be very stressful.  It is important that you try to relax, don’t let the world smother you, and just focus on the day to day.  I’ll make sure that the Daniels family rues the day they did this.

MICHELLE
Thank you.

[LtBroccoli]

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
George, Janella, Steven, Lisa, Captain Smith, and Special Agents Erin Kingston and Jackson Carpenter huddle around the table in the confernce room.  The murderboard is even more obnoxious and crammed than it was before, following the information Jesse provided.

GEORGE (V.O.)
May 17th, 2004.  That was the day we met with Michelle and her lawyer in the Captain’s office.  It was also the day we figured out our plan with the Feds.  I have to say I really enjoyed working with them.  They were efficient, thorough, and went straight to the point.

A section of the murderboard is renamed ‘Electric Ladyland’.  On it, there was a note that said ‘Release Date 6-10, 1PM’.  Below that were four columns.  They were labeled ‘Crosstown Traffic’, ‘Long Hot Summer Night’, ‘House Burning Down’, and ‘All Along the Watchtower’. 

GEORGE (V.O.)
Since the Feds picked the name Electric Ladyland, we ran with that.  We coordinated our plans to execute all three search warrants at the same time, during Michelle’s preliminary hearing.  I loved that Steven came up with that idea.  Nothing like a big ‘Fuck You’ in the middle of a courtroom to set the stage.  The only downside we found out was that Reverend Charlie and his children would likely be out of town, leaving most of the work in the hands of various cronies.  Well, beggars can’t be choosers.

The ‘Crosstown Traffic’ section contains information pertaining to First Union Holy Church.  Who should be there, where their files are located, what to expect, number of people, and Janella’s name at the top of it.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The first section was ‘Crosstown Traffic’, that was the church itself.  At first I was going to lead it, but it was decided that Janella would take this part.  Remember how the manager at the camp said that they kept all of the records at the church?  This was enough for us to get a warrant.

The next section labeled ‘Long Hot Summer Night’ showed pictures of Camp Hiawatha.  The pictures were detailed, showing a layout of the facilities, all the ways in and out, proper locations to scout the camp.  There was even a mark for the neighbor’s hunting tree stand that overlooked the camp.

GEORGE (V.O.)
‘Long Hot Summer Night’ was the camp itself.  The FBI was going to take the lead here.  It was way out of our jurisdiction.  Captain Smith would tag along, but Special Agents Carpenter and Kingston would take point.  The Feds had eyes on this place for a while.  They knew everything, including Bob’s daily routine.  They had interest in him for a few things he did, but for the most part he was below their radar and was surprisingly helpful to them.  I was shocked by that, but then again if he saw a way to take down First Union, he’d sign a deal with the Devil to fuck them over.  We discussed getting a message to him to get him out of the way that day, and I volunteered for this one.  I would ask Chuck to call Bob the morning of the raid and have him tell Bob that it would be a really good idea to get lunch at either the Bistro or Larry’s Diner.

The third section was labeled ‘House Burning Down’.  It showed pictures of the Daniels’ Estate, blueprints, info on the hidden sections, the vault, all of it.  George’s name was at the top of the list.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I was in charge of ‘House Burning Down.’  This was the raid on the Daniels’ Estate itself.  This would be the most dangerous one, in my opinion.  If something went wrong in any of these, it would probably be here.  This was more of a planned military strike than a door-knock.  We’d have to get through the gate, through the door, through security, through the house, and to the hidden area before they’d have a chance to destroy anything or escape.  Fortunately SWAT and some FBI agents were at my disposal for this.  I felt confident, but I always look for how things can fall apart.  It’s part of my nature.  It’s what makes me good at this job, I see the worst case scenario and figure a way how to survive it.

The final section was ‘All Along the Watchtower’, and showed details of Dr. Bartlett’s lawsuit.  The attorneys would be there in full force.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The final section was ‘All Along the Watchtower.’  The attorneys picked the best song for themselves.  They said it was because it was near the end of the album, but they just wanted the cool song.  The plan was that as soon as each of us had breached our targets and had some success, we’d call or text Steven or Lisa, whomever each of us reported to.  Once they had confirmation, they’d drop the bomb on the lawyers for First Union.  Like Fred said, they would rue the day.

EXT. CHARLIE DANIELS ESTATE - DAY
Jesse’s white Jeep Wrangler drives to the front gate.  He enters a security code, 2550, and the gate opens.  He drives through the gate and to the parking area for employees and regular guests.  On his dashboard sits a digital camera hidden under a ballcap.  It faces the driver’s window.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We had a little over 3 weeks before we executed the warrants but still had work to do.  One was getting as much intel as possible.  That’s where Jesse came in.

Jesse parks the Jeep and takes his cellphone with him.  The Jeep is parked so that the driver’s door faces the employee entrance.  He walks up to the door, opening it with a traditional key.  He enters.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The great thing about flipping a witness is that once you get past their hangups about betraying their friends and co-workers, they’re yours.  Especially when you outline in the cooperation agreement that if they don’t give you everything, they will spend the rest of their lives in prison.

INT. CHARLIE DANIELS ESTATE - DAY
Jesse walks down the hallway that leads to the Servant’s quarters and main kitchen.  No one else is in the hallway as he walks down it.  He has his cell phone in his hands, looking like he’s in a text conversation.  Instead, he’s taking pictures.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We told Jesse that we needed to see the vault, the production studio, the equipment, and the secret door.  We needed to know how to get in once we got there.

At the end of the hallway, Jesse turns left into a library.  There’s a bookcase halfway along the back wall, under a mounted Boar’s head.  Jesse walks up to the bookcase, and pulls on the copy of ‘Atlas Shrugged’. The bookcase swings open.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Jesse gave us the code to get in the building, directions to the secret area, and confirmed that the activator was ‘Atlas Shrugged’.  Really, is anyone surprised that a narcissistic leech on society that preaches the prosperity gospel that greed is good and helping others is means to an end that can usually be ignored would pick an Ayn Rand book as the key to his secret, self-made empire?  Even if I didn’t know about it beforehand, I’d probably pick it first.

INT. SECRET AREA - DAY
Jesse enters the Secret Area.  There are several doors lined up along a dimly lit corridor.  Each of the 6 rooms has a number on it, 1-6.  Odds are on the left, even on the right.  After #5 are two more rooms, labeled ‘IT’ and ‘Vault’.  After #6 are two rooms, ‘Bath’ and ‘Suite’.  A closed door opens, and there are two rooms flank the small room.  The left says ‘CR1’ and the right says ‘CR2’.  In front of that are two double doors with a red light over top of them.  A sign next to light says ‘LIVE SET WHEN LIT’.  The light is off.  Jesse enters, taking pics and looking like he’s texting the whole time.

GEORGE (V.O.)
This place was a fully laid out brothel and production suite.  First thing you see going down the hallway were 6 private rooms.  Next to that, a bathroom, a production suite, a vault and IT room.

There’s a large TV studio with two cycloramas along the walls.  The room is an ugly shade of green from top to bottom.  Even the floors are this shade of green.  There is a large divider spread out, splitting the room in half.  On the left half, a couple men work on setting up cameras and props, dressing the studio. This studio looks like it’s being dressed for a scene in a school.  On the left half, another man sets up bondage equipment.  Jesse goes to the left, checking the cameras.  These are really nice cameras, capable of shooting in HD quality.  They are not cheap.  Jesse checks them, and takes a couple pics.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The TV studio was fully professional, and they even had HD cameras.  I found out during the trial that each of those camera bodies sold for $50,000.  They had 6 of them.  That doesn’t even count the lenses.

After checking the cameras, Jesse goes into CR2.  It is a fully-equipped control room with a wall of monitors, several VTR machines, a graphics generator, audio monitoring, a multicam switcher, lighting control, the works.  Jesse checks to see that the equipment works as he ‘texts’ on his phone.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Everything they had was top of the line.  I’m glad to say that most of this went to a good cause after all hell broke loose.  A lot of this equipment was donated to a local TV station that ran children’s educational shows and to a certain local film school that helped out with a documentary that was entered into evidence.

Jesse enters the Production Suite.  It hosts two AVID editing machines running on Mac Pro computers and a few other Mac’s running Final Cut.  One of the machines is in use by a man editing a film captured from one of the private rooms.  Jesse ‘texts’, getting a grainy shot of the man working.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The fact that they were so matter-of-fact about what they were doing was very disturbing.  Then again, when I worked Homicide, I got so used to seeing dead bodies that I would have lunch in the morgue with the coroner waiting on reports.  Those were the perfect days for salad, by the way.

Jesse goes to the IT Room and Vault.  The vault contains rows upon rows of Betamax tapes, then newer DigiBeta tapes and HDCAM tapes.  The IT Room had several servers and stacks of drives in boxes.  Jesse took pics of all of it.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The IT cave and vault held a treasure trove.  We had them with these pics.  Even if we raided and they cleaned house before hand, we’d have them for destruction of evidence.  They had no way of getting out of this.

Time passes.  Jesse’s locks down the camera positions in the first studio.  The set is dressed for a parody of a school.  In the second studio, he walks over quietly.  It’s a live set.  It is brightly lit, even though it’s supposed to look dark and dreary.  Two men run two of the three cameras.  In the middle of the set, a young girl, maybe 15 at the most, is strapped naked to an X-frame.  She has a gag in her mouth and clips and a chain hanging from her nipples.  A small weight hangs from the chain.  A muscular man in his 40’s and a fit woman in her 30’s are on set with the girl.  Both are dressed in bondage gear that conceals their face.  Jesse quietly takes a pic from the shadows.

GEORGE (V.O.)
On the day Jesse gathered this evidence, two films were made.  One was a wealthy couple beating and raping a girl that looked like their daughter’s best friend.  The other was a scene of a couple kids misbehaving in class and being taught a lesson.

Jesse enters CR2, taking up position behind the Director, who was also running the board.  Only two people were in the room beside Jesse at this time.  The Director who was running most of the equipment and making the calls to the camera guys, and someone running audio.  The Director notices Jesse.

DIRECTOR
Check my time left on VTR 4&6.

JESSE
Got it.

Jesse goes to the stack of Video Tape Recorders and reads the displays.

JESSE
22 left on 4, 25 left on 6

DIRECTOR
Copy.

Jesse takes a couple pics.  The men working are too busy to notice anything.

GEORGE (V.O.)
He got us the pics of the staff working, too.  Most of them were the core crew from working on First Union’s television show.  This confirmed what we thought. 

Jesse walks out of the room and puts his phone away.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Now, the part that you have to remember was that this was all the way back in 2004.  Cell phones with cameras were still pretty rare.  Texting was a new thing.  Nobody thought twice about cameras that could take pictures and video.  It just wasn’t common, and anyone that did worry about it was usually crazy to begin with.  We were still a few years away from the iPhone.  So no one thought twice about Jesse taking pics.  One person asked him later on what he was doing, and he said he was texting, that he just signed up for a new phone that gave him 3000 texts for $10.00 a month.  They just shrugged and made fun of him for texting.

EXT. CHARLIE DANIELS ESTATE - NIGHT
After a long day of work, Jesse gets in his Jeep and leaves.

EXT. WALMART PARKING LOT - NIGHT
In a Walmart parking lot across town, a white Jeep Wrangler pulls up next to a crimson Crown Vic.  Jesse gets out of the Jeep, then climbs in to the Crown Vic.

INT. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - NIGHT
Jesse sits in the passenger seat as George sits in the driver seat.  Jesse hands George the phone.  He plugs it into a cable that’s hooked up to a laptop.  He downloads the contents of the phone onto the laptop.

GEORGE (V.O.)
After work, we met across town in a Walmart parking lot.  Far enough away from Hillside that no one should be there, and common enough to think he’s doing a drug deal, and no one would question that there.  He gave us the names of those working, who was doing what, everything.  He couldn’t get a lot of pics of the school scene as he was operating the camera, but he did get a couple of one of Brian Caspar getting a blowjob from a 12-year-old boy.  I really sensed a lot of anger from Jesse about Brian.

JESSE
I fucking hate Brian.  No matter what happens to me, he goes down worse.  Fuck, even if I die, I’ll die happy knowing he died first.

GEORGE (V.O.)
He really didn’t like the guy.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
The whole gang plan the final pieces of the search warrant raids.  They’re joined by a Sergeant on the SWAT team and two more FBI agents.

GEORGE (V.O.)
As we approached the 10th, we had a lot to cover.  We went through the plan a dozen times just to make sure that nothing went wrong.  We kept eyes on the targets to make sure that no one caught wind of anything.  Steven was able to get Dr. Bartlett’s hearing moved back a couple hours, and we had all of our ducks in a row.  Those last few days were a pain, but like Tom Petty said “Waiting is the hardest part.”

INT. GEORGE'S DINING ROOM - NIGHT
George finishes his glass of wine.  Xavier is there with a refill.  Everyone is hanging on his story at this point.

GEORGE
Now, while this was going on, life continued on like normal.  Chuck and Angie were looking at some property to build a house, Vinny was in and out of a halfway house, and Liz was up to her eyes with Caleb.  It was during this time that Chuck asked if we could meet one day during lunch.  This was good since I needed to ask him for a favor anyway.

INT. SCORCHERS - DAY
Inside of Scorchers, Chuck sits in a booth, looking at the menu.  George approaches and sits down.

GEORGE
Sup?

Chuck lowered the menu.  He looked nervous and fidgety.

GEORGE
What’s going on?

CHUCK
Um, uh, I’ve...

GEORGE
Dude, what’s up?

CHUCK
Listen, I’ve, I’ve gotta ask you something, and it’s really hard.  I’m trying to find the words.

GEORGE
Oh..kay.  Do you need to try it as a knock-knock joke?

Chuck looks at George for a moment.

CHUCK
Knock-knock.

GEORGE
Who’s there?

CHUCK
Guy who wants to marry your sister.

George flinches for a moment.

GEORGE
Guy who wants to marry my sister who?

CHUCK
Me.

GEORGE
Shouldn’t you ask her this question?

George sits there for a moment, not saying a word.  Chuck fills the silence.

CHUCK
You’re not just like a brother to her, you’ve also been like a father, too.  You’re the only family that’s stood by her over the years, and you mean the world to her.  And she means the world to me.  Things are getting pretty serious and we love each other.  We’re building a house soon and talking about having kids.  I mean, this is it.  I know we haven’t always gotten along, first couple meetings we got off on the wrong foot, but you know me, you know what I’m like now and how much I’ve grown and changed.  I run my own company, I can more than afford to provide for us, I’ve been beyond loyal to her, and she’s the one I want to grow old with, and her me.  I mean, it’s like, I don’t know, just-

GEORGE
Okay.

CHUCK
Okay.

GEORGE
You had me at the knock-knock joke.

CHUCK
Really?  Then all that-

GEORGE
Was what we call Interrogation Tactics 101.  Shut up and let the other guy dig themselves a hole.  Remember that when you’re a dad.

CHUCK
Does that really work?

GEORGE
Do you know how many times I’ve gotten a confession just from staring at the spot right under a man’s right eye?  Enough that we take bets on how long it takes to crack a man.  Fastest was 4 minutes but he had a lot to say.

CHUCK
So, that’s it?

GEORGE
That’s it.  If you need to hear the words, you have my blessing to ask her, but it’s ultimately her decision.  She could do a lot worse than you.

CHUCK
Cool.  Thanks.

GEORGE
Don’t hurt her.  You hurt her, I’ll shoot you myself and make it look like an accident.

Chuck laughs.  George smiles a little.

GEORGE
Besides, I have a favor to ask.  I don’t want this to be a quid pro quo thing, so it’s unrelated to that last thing.

CHUCK
Oh...kay.  What’s the favor?

GEORGE
I’m going to need you to call someone.  I can’t call them, and I can’t tell you when until the day I need you to call them.

CHUCK
Who?

GEORGE
Your older brother, the one that lives up by the lake.

Chuck tilts his head in confusion.

CHUCK
Bob?

GEORGE
Yeah.  My last conversation with him, well, didn’t turn out so well.  But he asked for one favor.  A heads-up in case things get crazy up by the lake.  Some friends are showing up soon, and it might be a good idea if he wasn’t at his cabin when they showed up.

CHUCK
What friends?

George writes out “F B I” with his finger on the menu.  Chuck’s eyes go wide.

GEORGE
They’re not after him, but given his...history, let’s just say that he’s not comfortable around them.

CHUCK
What do you need me to do?

GEORGE
Coming up soon, I’ll call you to relay a message.  Something like he should get lunch at the bistro or the diner that day and hang out for a while.  Just make sure he understands that he shouldn’t hang out at home that day.

CHUCK
Got it.  So what you getting?

George looks at the menu.

GEORGE
I don’t know, how are the boneless wings?

CHUCK
They’re chicken nuggets tossed in buffalo sauce.  Not bad.  Not great, but not bad.

GEORGE
I’ll try those.  You know as soon as you pop the question, everyone will ask you a hundred questions from when is the wedding and how long till you have kids?

CHUCK
I know.  Granny’s asked a hundred times when she’s getting a great-grandchild.  Oh, she said Hi and Go Fuck Yourself.

GEORGE
How is she still alive?

CHUCK
I think the Reaper’s afraid of her.  Only explanation at this point.  He’ll only show up when he has backup.  Even then, he knows he’s in for a fight.

The two laugh.

GEORGE (V.O.)
It was nice to have a moment to get back to normality.  What did I screw up?

CHUCK (V.O.)
Nothing, that was pretty spot on.  I thought you said something about how Caleb was already calling me Uncle Chuck at that point.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Nah, that was a few weeks later I think.  Caleb couldn’t pronounce Ch very well, so it came out like F’s.  Funny as hell watching a toddler run across the room screaming “UNCLE FUCK UNCLE FUCK!”

CALEB (V.O.)
That story again, Dad?

GEORGE (V.O.)
I told you to... stop interrupting.  Where was I?  Oh right, the shitstorm was about to become a clusterfuck.

[LtBroccoli]

EXT. LAKE HIAWATHA WOODS - DAY
In a small clearing near Lake Hiawatha, Captain Smith stands around a table with an overhead map of the lake, focusing on Camp Hiawatha.  With him are FBI Special Agents Carpenter and Kingston.  Several other FBI agents are in the area, going through equipment checks and finalizing plans.  Four large, black, unmarked Armored Rescue Vehicles and a black Humvee are parked nearby.

GEORGE (V.O.)
It was June 10th, 2004.  The day rolled around more or less on schedule.  ‘Long Hot Summer Night’ started early in the morning.  Captain Smith couldn’t risk someone finding out why he rented a hotel nearby, so he drove up to the lake at 02:Fucking Early.  I told him if he had time or needed coffee, stop by the bistro.  He thought I was pulling his leg about a bait shop having great food, but he was absolutely floored.

Special Agents Carpenter and Kingston lay out the battle plan for the last time to the agents.  Captain Smith stands back, observing.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Normally the FBI would reach out to local law enforcement for assistance, but their investigation found out that the Sheriff for Hiawatha County was on the church’s payroll.  He made a nice bit of scratch to turn the other cheek.  That meant no assistance from the local yokels.  But, it’s not like the FBI wasn’t used to this kind of work.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT BULLPEN - DAY
Janella Jenkins talks with a handful of officers and two FBI agents attached to the case.  They finalize their plans for the church.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Janella had ‘Crosstown Traffic’ ready to roll easier than most of us can figure out what we’re getting from Taco Bell.  She had everything down and knew everyone’s job as well as they knew it.  The church should be relatively empty by that point.  The post-prod meeting would be over and most of the staff in the church would be in other sections like the day care.  The office should only have a secretary and manager.  Even still, they needed to be careful.  Never know when the admin will try to stab you with a letter opener.  And yes, I’ve seen it happen.

INT. CCPD SWAT BRIEFING ROOM - DAY
In a large briefing room, 30 men and women sit in a conference room facing 4 men sitting at a table and 1 man standing at a lectern.  SGT. THOMPSON of SWAT gives the briefing.  At the table, George sits next to an FBI agent, an FBI analyst, and a member of the evidence collection team.

GEORGE (V.O.)
‘House Burning Down’ was my most stressful operation to date.  We were executing a search warrant against a house with enough security to that it could be classified as a military strike.  We knew the Daniels’ family for the most part wouldn’t be there, but he had only a little clue about the security.  We knew the personal security staff carried AR-15’s and that there were a dozen of the high ranking ones on the payroll.  We knew some would travel with the family to Colorado, but that left who knows how many back at the house.  We figured anywhere from 2-10 armed guards.  Plus, who knows what was inside.  People react kind of crazy when you execute a warrant at their place of work and they’re in the middle of a dozen felonies.

INT. CHESTER COUNT DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE - DAY
ADA Steven Jones and AUSA Lisa Sanders finalize their plans and make sure all of the paperwork is complete.  They each carry three envelopes with them.  Steven smiles at Lisa as the two flirt a little.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The lawyers had ‘All Along the Watchtower’ ready to roll.  Their job was simple.  Go to court, wait for the phone calls that we breached the targets, give the First Union lawyers copies of the search warrants, and watch their heads implode.  I would’ve given real money to see this.

EXT. LAKE HIAWATHA WOODS - DAY
Special Agents Carpenter and Kingston check their watches.

ERIN
Everyone listen up, T-minus 1 hour to breech, finish up your prep work.  Do what you have to do, get wheels up in 30!

Captain Daniel Smith sent a text.

DANIEL
(text)
Have you ever been

INT. CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT BULLPEN - DAY
Janella’s phone beeps.  She looks at it and sees the message from Captain Smith.

JANELLA
Let’s go.

Janella’s group grab their stuff and head to the door.  Janella types 10-4 and hits send.

INT. CCPD SWAT VEHICLE - DAY
George is surrounded by fully armed SWAT officers.  He’s wearing a bullet-proof vest and a long coat overtop, even though it’s the middle of June.  He’s tense, even though the men in the truck with him look a little relaxed.  Everyone copes a different way.  Sgt. Thompson sits across from George.

George’s phone beeps.  He checks the messages.

GEORGE
T-minus 1 hour, Sarge.

George replies to the message, then makes a call.

THOMPSON
Alright everyone, pack up and be ready to leave in 10.  Hillside is a 40 minute drive, 15 with the sirens.  You know the deal, we drive like normal until we’re close enough to surprise them.

EXT. EMPTY LOT - DAY
On an empty lot in the suburbs north of Harbor City, an earth mover is making short work of a small forest, knocking trees over with ease.  A pickup and a large towing vehicle with a modified flatbed sit on the pathway where a residential street will go in a few months.  The pickup says ‘HARTMAN CONSTRUCTION’ on it.

Chuck oversees the work that Paul and Gary are doing knocking down dozens of trees when his phone rings.

CHUCK
Hello?

GEORGE (O.S)
It’s go-time.  Make the call.

CHUCK
Got it.

George hangs up.  Chuck scrolls through his phone for a moment.

INT. BOB'S CABIN - DAY
Bob sits in his cabin, smoking a joint and looking out the window.  He’s relaxed, lounging around in a pair of jeans.  His phone rings.  He looks at the caller ID.  It’s Chuck.  He lets it ring a couple times before he answers and puts it on speaker.

BOB
What’s up Chuck, bleegh! Haha, sup?

CHUCK (O.S)
Yo, bro, what you doing for lunch today?

BOB
Nothing, just hanging out, why?

CHUCK (O.S)
You should really go out for lunch today.  I heard there’s a couple nice, quiet places nearby.

BOB
Nah dude, I don’t wanna drive.  I just took my medicine.

CHUCK (O.S)
No, you REALLY want to go out for lunch.

BOB
What you talking ‘bout Willis?

CHUCK (O.S)
Look.  I’m delivering a message.  You should go anywhere.  Now.  Because something’s gonna happen in an hour.

Bob straightens up and looks at the phone.

BOB
Who sent the message?

CHUCK (O.S)
Someone who hates you.  Last time you two saw each other, you beat the shit out of each other.

BOB
That mother fucker.

CHUCK (O.S)
Yep.  He’s giving you a heads up that something’s coming and that you should get some lunch.

BOB
Ah’ight, I’ll get some lunch.  Thanks bro.

CHUCK (O.S)
Later.

Bob hangs up the phone.  He grabs his shirt, shoes, wallet, and keys, then leaves.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY COURTHOUSE - DAY
In the lobby of the courthouse, Dr. Bartlett and her attorney, Frederick Baird, enter through the main doors and head to a lobby where they check in.

INT. CHESTER COUNT DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE - DAY
Steven and Lisa’s phones beep.  They both look at them, after getting the same message.  They each reply, ‘10-4, heading to courthouse.’  They get up.  Steven holds the door open for Lisa.  She shakes her head playfully at him before they leave the office.

EXT. E&B'S BISTRO & BAIT - DAY
Outside of the Bistro, Bob pulls in to the parking lot in his 1984 Chevy Pickup.  He exits the truck and enters the Bistro.

INT. E&B'S BISTRO & BAIT - DAY
Behind the Bistro counter, Brandon is making some food.  He sees Bob come in.

BRANDON
Oh hey, long time no see stranger.  Whatchya having?

BOB
Hey Brandon.  Eric around?

BRANDON
No, he’s doing a supply run.  What can I getya?

BOB
I’ll go with a club sandwich and chips with an iced coffee.

BRANDON
Lotsa cream lotsa sugar?

BOB
Same as always.
Brandon works on making Bob’s lunch.

BRANDON
So, what brings ya in today?  Don’t usually come in on Thursdays.

BOB
I gotta feeling that I might not want to be around the camp today.

BRANDON
Oh?  Care to enlighten me on what’s going on?  This have to do with all the FBI agents that have been hovering around the camp?

Bob’s eyes go wide with surprise.  They were already red from the weed.

BOB
What...

BRANDON
Please, hun.  A half-dozen clean-cut men and women wearing bad suits driving black SUV’s with US Government license plates came through a couple times.  They acted like they were just passing through, but they weren’t.   I noticed them, but then I notice everything.  It’s my job to keep quiet about rumors unless it concerns me.  You eating inside or outside hun?

BOB
Outside.  If anything happens, I wanna watch.

Brandon goes back to work on Bob’s food.

EXT. LAKE HIAWATHA WOODS - DAY
Captain Smith and Special Agents Carpenter and Kingston make a final walk around of the 4 armored FBI vehicles.  Daniel Smith makes a last minute adjustment on his bullet-proof vest.  They do a quick confirmation that everything is good to go, then hop in the black Humvee.  Captain Smith and Special Agent Jackson Carpenter climb in the back while Special Agent Erin Kingston gets in the passenger seat.  An FBI agent in full armor drives.

ERIN
Okay, let’s roll.  Hit it.

The black Humvee pulls out of the clearing, followed by the 4 armored vehicles.  Captain Smith sends a text from the back.

DANIEL
(text)
Long Hot Summer Night en-route.

INT. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY

Janella Jenkins rides shotgun in the Crown Vic she normally shares with George.  Another officer from CCPD is driving today.  She receives a text from Captain Smith.  She replies.

JANELLA
(text)
Crosstown Traffic 5 minutes out.

EXT. INDUSTRIAL PARKING LOT - DAY

In an industrial parking lot a few minutes away from the Daniels’ Estate, 3 SWAT vans, half a dozen marked and unmarked police cars, and two black Chevy Suburbans sit in a parking lot.

INT. CCPD SWAT TRUCK - DAY

Inside one of the SWAT vehicles, George sits, trying to calm himself.  Sgt. Thompson sits across from him, saying a little prayer to himself.  He then looks to George.

THOMPSON
You ready?

GEORGE
No. Still do it anyway.  You?

THOMPSON
As ready as ever.  I hope this is overkill.

GEORGE
Me too.  Me too.

George receives a text message.  It’s Janella.  George types on his phone.

GEORGE
(text)
House Burning Down, Code 3

George looks up from his phone to Sgt. Thompson.

GEORGE
Let’s go.

THOMPSON
Alright, let’s do this.  Code 3.

EXT. INDUSTRIAL PARKING LOT - DAY

All of the vehicles that have lights and sirens turn them on.  One marked police car and one Suburban take the lead, followed by the SWAT trucks.  The one George is in is first.  They haul ass out of the parking lot.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY COURTHOUSE - DAY

In the courthouse, Dr. Bartlett and her attorney Mr. Barnes sit in the lobby outside of their scheduled courtroom.  ADA Jones and AUSA Sanders sit nearby.  A clerk speaks up from his desk.

CLERK
Docket number 5687341, First Union Holy Church versus Dr. Michelle Bartlett.

Michelle and her attorney stand up and walk toward the courtroom.  As she’s about to enter, three men lean over to Frederick.  They are the lawyers from First Union Holy Church.  The lead attorney, HAROLD SCHUMACHER, speaks.

HAROLD
Come on, Freddie, last chance.  You tell your client to pull the site, issue a public apology and say this whole thing was a big lie and we won’t ruin her.

Frederick looks at Harold, and puts on the biggest smile he can muster.

FREDERICK
Harold, you’re gonna rue this day for the rest of your miserable fucking life.  Not only is your client full of shit, but that sounds a hell of a lot like extortion.  Now, if you’ll excuse me.

Frederick turns on his heels and enters the courtroom, behind Jones and Sanders.  The prosecutors take up seats in the front row right behind the Defendant’s desk.  Fred enters and stands next to Michelle.  He pats her on the shoulder.  Steven Jones sends a text.

STEVEN
(text)
I’m in the Watchtower.

EXT. E&T'S BISTRO & BAIT - DAY
Bob sits outside of the bistro, eating his sandwich and drinking his coffee when an unmarked black Humvee tears down the road toward the camp at breakneck speed.  Right behind it are 4 large armored vehicles.  Brandon rushes outside, wiping his hands on his apron.

BRANDON
What the hell was that?

BOB
Trouble.

From their vantage point, they can see the first car turn down the road to Camp Hiawatha.  The other vehicles follow.

EXT. CAMP HIAWATHA - DAY
The black Humvee pulls into the Camp right in front of the main office.  Special Agents Jackson Carpenter and Erin Kingston exit the Humvee, followed by Captain Smith.  The other vehicles follow.

A group of campers swim in the lake while another group of people run off into the woods.  Counselors try to round up the children while Jackson heads to the main office.  Jackson approaches one of the Counselors, looking for whomever is in charge.  He finds a manager and gives them a copy of the warrant.  The manager is dumbstruck.

Several men at the edge of the camp see the action and run off into the woods.

Jackson asks where the kids are that just came up from the church, the manager points to a building out past the edge of the camp.  Agents converge on the camp.  They find a cabin full of 4 drugged girls, all apparently dark-skinned Costa Ricans.  Outside of the cabin, they see some motion in the woods.  It’s the men that ran.  They call for backup.

Half a dozen agents in tactical gear converge on the cabin and run after the men in the woods.  It looks like the running men are going to get away, until they turn and see 2 K-9 units hot on their tails.

Captain Smith grabs his phone and sends a text.

DANIEL
(text)
Long Hot Summer Night is good, found girls arresting perps, getting docs.

EXT. FIRST UNION HOLY CHURCH - DAY
Janella Jenkins pulls up to First Union in the Crown Vic.  They’re followed by 4 marked CCPD police cars, two more unmarked Crown Vics and two black Chevy Suburbans.  Everyone gets out of their cars. Two officers stay back to cover the front.  Janella leads everyone else into the lobby.

INT. FIRST UNION HOLY CHURCH - DAY
Shock and awe as Detective Janella Jenkins enters the lobby of First Union Holy Church, flanked by several police officers and FBI agents.  She makes a path for the main office, located right off of the main lobby.  A man in a very nice suit sees them coming his way and runs down a hallway. 

Janella turns into the office and announces that they have a warrant to search the premises.  The secretary behind the desk goes white as a ghost.

The officers make their way through the office, telling everyone to get away from their computers and files.  Janella finds the PA system.  She gets one of the women in the office to activate it.  Janella announces that the police are here for a search warrant and that everyone should remain calm.

One of the officers gets into a foot chase with the man in the nice suit.  It’s Jamie Daniels.  Jamie almost got away, but gets tackled as he reaches the door to the parking lot.

The day care is a scene of chaos as teachers try to keep the kids calm.  In the hallway past them, several staff members run down the hallway.  They’re being chased by FBI agents.

EXT. FIRST UNION HOLY CHURCH - DAY
Two men that were working in the rear of the building book it for the parking lot.  They hop in their cars drive off.  Just as they’re about to get out of the parking lot, one of the police cars blocks their exit.  One of the cars slams right into the front right side of the police cruiser.  Cops get out and arrest the man.

INT. FIRST UNION HOLY CHURCH - DAY
The situation is starting to come under control.  Janella pulls out her phone and sends a text.

JANELLA
(text)
Crosstown Traffic is good.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY COURTHOUSE - DAY
Dr. Michelle Bartlett and Frederick Baird sit at the Defendant’s desk.  The lawyers for First Union Holy Church sit at the Plaintiff’s desk.

Steven and Lisa sit in the front row.  Their phones buzz a couple times as the judge enters.  Everyone rises.

STEVEN
(whispers)
One more.

EXT. CHARLIE DANIELS ESTATE - DAY
Three guards patrol the estate grounds.  Two walk around the yard while one is stationed near the front gate.  They’re relaxed, about as relaxed as one can be carrying an AR-15 while on guard duty.

Off in the distance, they hear sirens.  A lot of sirens. Those sirens are getting louder and louder.  The guard by the street sees the first sing that Hell comes for them. 

A marked police car with its lights and sirens on drives up the road to the house, followed by a black Chevy Suburban.  They pull slightly past the entry to the house.  Behind them, a SWAT armored vehicle with a battering ram approaches the front gate.  The PA from the SWAT van crackles to life.

GEORGE (O.S)
CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT, WE HAVE A WARRANT TO SEARCH THE PREMISES!  OPEN THE GATE NOW OR WE WILL OPEN IT FOR YOU!

The gate stays closed as the first SWAT vehicle approaches the gate.

GEORGE (O.S)
CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT, WE HAVE A SEARCH WARRANT!  LAST WARNING, OPEN THE GATE!

The guard closes to the gate was not expecting this today.  He snaps out of his stupor and drops his gun as he waves his hands frantically, getting their attention.  He makes it to the gate right before the van gets there.  He pushes a button on the inside, opening the gate.  The other guards are now close enough to see what’s going on.

The first SWAT van drives up to the front door of the house.  The second SWAT van circles around to the Servant’s entrance.  The third van circles the house and goes to the rear entrance.  The fourth van takes up position halfway between the gate and the front door.  All of the officers exit their vehicles in perfect formation.  Squad get to each of the doors, ready to breach their doors.  The radios fill with a cacophony of codes indicating they’re ready to move.  George exits the SWAT van, flanked by Sgt. Thompson and an FBI agent.  They run to the front door.  George has a letter in his right hand and a bullhorn in the left.  He pounds on the door with his right hand and screams into the bullhorn.

GEORGE
CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS, WE HAVE WARRANTS TO SEARCH THE PREMISES!  WE’RE COMING IN!

THOMPSON
Go!

The SWAT officers use a hand-held battering ram to smash open the front door.

INT. CHARLIE DANIELS ESTATE - DAY
The SWAT teams pour into the house from their breach locations.  They go room by room, scaring a dozen staff members and bringing everyone into a communal area.  George and the FBI agent arrive.

GEORGE
Who’s in charge here?  Where are the owners?

An older gentleman, BRYCE, hesitantly raises his hand.  George waves him forward.  He walks forward, terrified by what’s happening.

GEORGE
Who are you and where are the Daniels Family?

BRYCE
I’m, I’m, My name is Bryce.  I’m the Head Butler.  The family proper is out of town.

GEORGE
Are you in charge?

BRYCE
Yes, yes I am in charge of the staff?

GEORGE
Here.

George hands him the letter he’s carrying.  The FBI agent does the same.

GONZALEZ
Special Agent Hernando Gonzalez, FBI.  Search warrant.

GEORGE
Detective George Lewis, Chester County Police Department, we have a warrant to search the premises.  How many people are here?

BRYCE
It’s just the staff and the guards.

GEORGE
How many?

BRYCE
Um, three guards plus us.  A dozen, maybe 15. 

GEORGE
Are you including the people in the secret area behind the bookcase in the library?

Bryce’s face goes white.

BRYCE
Um, um...

GEORGE
Don’t fuck with me, Bryce.  You have damn near 30 cars in the parking area and 15 people here.  I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt for that one, but you bullshit me one more god damned time and you and everyone here goes down for the sick shit they do back there.  Now, tell me.  How many?

Bryce doesn’t say anything fast enough for George.

GEORGE
Too bad.

George walks past goes to the staff.  He pulls a pair of handcuffs from a pouch on his belt.

GEORGE
Since Bryce here won’t be helpful, that means you all pay for his failures.  First one of you to tell me how many people are in the back area earns a get out of jail free card.  The rest get a pair of these shiny bracelets and a trip to the shittiest hotel in town.  Now, how many people-

BRYCE
I don’t know, I swear!  I didn’t count them!

George turns back to Bryce.

GEORGE
Give me an estimate.  How many kids, how many crew, guests?

Bryce takes a moment to catch his breath.  He’s on the verge of a panic attack.

BRYCE
About 6 guests, maybe 6 crew, and about that many kids.  I’m not sure, I didn’t see everyone come in.

George pats Bryce on the shoulder and softens his voice.

GEORGE
Thank you.  Can you walk to the library or do you need to rest.

Bryce bends over to catch his breath.  One of the cooks jumps up to help Bryce without thinking about the several guns pointed at him. George puts his hands out.

GEORGE
Whoa, whoa. You, come, slowly.  Walk with Bryce.

The cook helps Bryce through the house as they walk to the library, the one with the secret door.

George, FBI Agent Gonzalez, Sgt. Thompson, and two officers walk to the library.  They meet two squads of SWAT officers primed and ready to go.

THOMPSON
Expect at least 2 dozen possible hostiles and 6 kids, maybe more.  Remember the layout.  3 bedrooms on each side, right has a bathroom and production suite, left IT and a vault.  Two control rooms with hidden corners and two shooting studios.

George looks to Bryce and the cook.  He puts his cuffs away and pulls out his pistol.

GEORGE
Can they hear us in there?

BRYCE
No.

COOK
No, insonorizado.

George looks for a moment, trying to remember his Spanish.

GONZALEZ
Soundproofed.

COOK
Si.

GEORGE
Gracias.

George walks up to the door, bullhorn in left hand, gun in right.  He grabs the top of the book ‘Atlas Shrugged’ with a couple fingers on his left hand.  The book leans forward.  A CLICK is heard and felt, followed by the door opening.

INT. SECRET AREA - DAY
The door to the Secret Area opens.  The hallway is not well lit.  The sounds of sex and crying can be heard at the door.  The first SWAT unit enters and takes a quick check.  George stands behind them with the bullhorn.

GEORGE
CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT, WE HAVE A WARRANT TO SEARCH THE PREMISES!  STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING, KEEP YOUR HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM, DON’T DO ANYTHING STUPID!  KEEP CALM!

The SWAT team opens the first two doors, to rooms 1 and 2.  Both are empty.  The next officers open the doors to rooms 3 and 4.  Screams are heard from both rooms.  Same thing with 5 and 6.  The next group of SWAT officers go down the hallway.  They enter the vault and IT room.  No one was in there.  Someone was taking a shit in the bathroom and wearing headphones.  The production suite had two men inside it.  Both surrounded immediately.  CR2 was empty.  CR1 had two men in it, the Director and Audio engineer.  Their hands went up as soon as the door flew open.  A couple SWAT officers made it to the studio, George hot on their heels.  Nothing moved in the studio to the right.  They saw several men to the left, with a couple girls.  George yelled into the bullhorn.

GEORGE
CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT!  PUT YOUR HANDS UP AND KNEEL ON THE FLOOR!

George got a good look at the scene.  Two men and two girls were completely naked.  The two girls, one black about 11 and a white girl with red hair that was about 9, stood in the middle of the room.  The three men still dressed were around the back of the room.  One ran behind a curtain on the far left wall.  The other two pulled out pistols.  The first man, ran to the white girl and grabbed her, pointing the gun at her head.  The second opened fire on George and the SWAT officers.  George and one of the SWAT officers in front him hit the ground.

THOMPSON
SHOTS FIRED, SHOTS FIRED!

The SWAT officers opened fire on the guy with the gun.  George dropped to the ground, a pain coming from his left arm.  The officer in front of him groans in pain before making his way to his knees.  He grunted, then looked at the situation.  The naked men and the black girl lay on the floor, face down.  The man with the gun to the girls head.  SWAT take position around him.  George stands, his arm hurting.  He draws his gun on the man holding the girl hostage.

GEORGE
Stay calm, everyone.

The man holds the gun to the girl’s head.

BRIAN
Back off or I blow her fucking brains out!

The girl cries harder.  She’s about 9 or 10, comes up to chest height on her.  George takes quick inventory of the room.  One man is missing, likely hiding behind the curtain.  Three naked people are taking up space.  Sgt. Thompson and two of his best have beads on this man and can take him down in a heartbeat.  The other man with the gun is bleeding out on the floor from a chest shot.  Thompson calls into his radio.

THOMPSON
Shots fired, officers hit, subject down, hostage situation in the studio.  Down the hall to the left.

George softens his voice, keeping his gun aimed at the hostage taker.

GEORGE
What’s your name?  What’s your name?

BRIAN
Brian.

GEORGE
Okay Brian.  What’s your friend’s name over there?

Brian glances quickly at his friend bleeding on the floor, but keeps the gun to the girl’s head.  He looks back at George.

BRIAN
He’s also Brian.

GEORGE
Okay Brian.  Here’s what’s going on.  Your friend is hurt, bad.  We can’t help him while you hold that little girl.

BRIAN
I’m not letting her go!  Not until I’m away from here!

The girl cries and coughs as he chokes her, his left arm around her throat.

GEORGE
Brian, that’s not gonna happen.  You know we can’t let you leave.  Not like this.  There’s 50 cops and FBI agents here.  You think they’re gonna let you just walk out?  No.

Brian looks around the room, gun still at the girl’s head.

GEORGE
Look at me, Brian.  Even if you get out of the building, there’s a dozen cop cars in the parking lot and a chopper nearby.  They’ll track you down and this will end badly, and your friend over there will die.  Is this how that Brian wants to go out?  A gut shot where he bleeds out on a TV studio floor?

Brian is beyond nervous.  He’s petrified.  Sweat pours down his forehead.

GEORGE
How long you think you can hold that gun against that girls head?  You’re sweating.  These lights are bright and hot.  How long till that sweat gets in your eyes?  30 seconds, a minute tops.  Know what they’ll do if you’re still holding that gun and you flinch?

The realization strikes Brian.  He begins hyperventilating.

GEORGE
You’re only way out of this Brian is to drop the gun.  If not, Other Brian will die.  Do you want that to happen?

BRIAN
You won’t hurt me?

GEORGE
You shoot her you die next, and I’ll make sure you suffer.  You put the gun down and let her go, we won’t hurt you.

BRIAN
Promise?

GEORGE
I promise.  Tell me what you’re gonna do.

Brian breathes rapidly for a moment, the sweat getting into his eyes.

BRIAN
I’m putting it down.

Brian awkwardly drops the gun.  He then lets go of the girl.  She runs right up to George.  Brian falls to his knees as the SWAT officers approach him.  Another SWAT officer enters and checks Other Brian.  He calls for an ambulance and administers first aid.  George points to the curtain.

GEORGE
Someone check that curtain, one got away.

Four more officers made their way to the curtain.  A moment later they return, dragging the third crew member that tried to run.  George turns his attention to the girl.

GEORGE
Shh, it’s okay, it’ll be okay.  What’s your name?

ALY
Aly.

GEORGE
It’ll be okay, Aly.  Here.

George takes off his coat and wraps her in it, covering her up.  As he took his coat off, he noticed his left arm hurt like a son of a bitch.  He points to the other girl.

GEORGE
Someone help that girl, cover her up.

One of the officers goes to the black girl on the floor, giving her their coat.  Sgt. Thompson comes over to George, looking concerned.

THOMPSON
George, you need a medic.  Now.

GEORGE
What?

George finally sees his left arm.  The entire upper arm of his white dress shirt is covered in blood.

GEORGE
Fuck.  Don’t tell my wife.  Please don’t tell her.

THOMPSON
That’s your call.  Ambulance will be here in a minute.

George’s eyes go wide.

GEORGE
Shit, I gotta call someone.  Quick, what did we find?

THOMPSON
A vault of child porn.

George gets up to run, but Aly won’t let him.  George tries to leave, but she’s hanging on him.  He pulls out his phone and writes a text.  He presses send, but isn’t sure if it went through.  He then rewrites it and gives it Thompson.

GEORGE
Fuck.  Here, take this.  As soon as you’re outside, press send.  If you don’t get a response, call Steven Jones, he’s in the Top 5 contacts, and tell him I said “House Burning Down is the Motherlode.”  He’ll know what I’m talking about.  Go! Go!

Thompson runs full speed out of the Secret Area.

INT. CHARLIE DANIELS ESTATE - DAY
Sgt. Thompson runs full speed through the house, holding George’s cell phone.  He runs past the staff, spin moves around an officer escorting a john out of the building, and plows right through one of his officers lollygagging in the hallway.

THOMPSON
Sorry!  Get back to work!

He jumps over the remnants of the door in the main entryway as he makes his way outside.

EXT. CHARLIE DANIELS ESTATE - DAY.
Thompson runs another 100 feet to clear the house before he presses Send.  No response.  He tries again.  No message.  He goes to the phone’s main screen to Contacts and finds “STEVEN JONES”. He presses Send.  The phone rings.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY COURTHOUSE - DAY
In the courthouse, JUDGE REYNOLDS sits at his bench.  Everyone in the courtroom sits.  The lawyers for First Union Holy Church make their opening statement.

HAROLD
Your Honor, our client, First Union Holy Church, has suffered irreparable and nearly incalculable damage to their reputation and standing in the community due to Dr. Bartlett’s libelous website and the baseless accusations.  We seek full monetary compensation, as well as demand that her website be shut down, a list of the identities of those making these baseless claims, a full and public retraction of her claims.

Steven and Lisa’s phones buzz.  Then they buzz again.  They check their phones.  They both received the same message twice.

GEORGE
(text)
HBD is teh motherlod

They look at each other in confusion for a moment.  The Judge clears his throat.

REYNOLDS
Make sure your cell phones are turned off in my courtroom.

STEVEN
I’m sorry Your Honor.

Judge Reynolds looks at Steven.

REYNOLDS
You seem very familiar.

STEVEN
We’re here regarding this case, Your Honor.

REYNOLDS
Defense, do you have anything...

Steven’s phone rings.  It’s George.

STEVEN
I’m sorry Your Honor, I need to take this, it’s regarding this case.

REYNOLDS
You have one minute, and no further outbursts.  Defense, when you’re ready.

Steven answers his phone, whispering into it.

STEVEN
George?

THOMPSON (O.S)
No, Sgt. Matt Thompson, SWAT.  You Steven?

STEVEN
Yes.  Where’s George?

THOMPSON (O.S)
Medics are checking him out and he has a traumatized 9-year-old girl hanging on him.

STEVEN
What?

THOMPSON (O.S)
Hostage situation, he was shot in the arm, he’ll be fine.  He asked me to send you a text but I don’t know if it worked.

STEVEN
George was shot?

THOMPSON (O.S)
Surface wound, he’ll be fine.  Don’t tell his wife, he’ll do that.

STEVEN
What’s the message?

THOMPSON (O.S)
House Burning Down is the mother load.

STEVEN
Copy that, 10-4.  Thank you, and tell him to call me when he gets a chance.

THOMPSON (O.S)
Will do, Thompson out.

Steven hangs up the phone.  He nods to Frederick, then turns his attention to the Judge.

STEVEN
I’m sorry for the interruptions, Your Honor.  That was directly involving this case, we hope it’s the last one for the rest of this hearing.

Judge Reynolds looks at the lawyers in the front row for a moment then turns his attention to the desk in front of them.  Lisa pulls out her phone and sends a text.

LISA
(text)
There must be some kind of way out of here, said the joker to the thief.

REYNOLDS
Defense.

FREDERICK
Your Honor, my client would like to file a motion to immediately dismiss this case with prejudice.  The Plaintiff said that these claims are libelous and defamatory.  A statement cannot be libelous or defamatory if the statements are true.  There is enough merit in my client’s claims that the Chester County Police Department opened an investigation into First Union Holy Church over a year ago.  Case number is CC20030519SC00235 for the records for the court.  My client, Dr. Michelle Bartlett, was the first of many, many victims to come forward and give statements to the police.  In the last year plus, their investigation has grown to include Camp Hiawatha, several members of the Daniels family, and several of their associates.  Many clients came forward to the police thanks to Dr. Bartlett’s website, and First Union is trying to extort my client into silence.

The lawyers for First Union talk in a huddle.

HAROLD
Your Honor, this is preposterous.  The defense is clearly making up a vast conspiracy of nonsense.  If this investigation is so vast, then why are we just hearing about it now?

FREDERICK
It’s called good police work.  It happens when you don’t pay off cops with bribes.

REYNOLDS
Enough!  Mr. Baird, do you have anything to back up your claims?  You said many claims of abuse. How many is many?

Frederick turns to the two lawyers behind him.

FREDERICK
Your Honor, I believe the two prosecuting attorneys sitting behind me could better answer your questions.

REYNOLDS
Prosecuting attorneys?  You two, come forward.

Steven and Lisa stand up and approach the bench.

REYNOLDS
Mr. Baird called you two prosecutors.  Please, identify yourselves for the court.

STEVEN
Your Honor, my name is Steven Jones, I am an Assistant District Attorney representing the People of Chester County.

LISA
Your Honor, I am Assistant United States Attorney Lisa Sanders.  I represent the People of the United States of America in this matter.

HAROLD
This is outrageous!  Nothing more than some hair-brained attempt to-

REYNOLDS
You will be silent!  Mr. Jones, Ms. Sanders, is there any credence to what Mr. Baird has said in my courtroom?

STEVEN
Yes, Your Honor.

REYNOLDS
And how many other people have filed complaints?

STEVEN
At least 25, Your Honor.

The judge’s jaw drops.

REYNOLDS
25?  And that’s just from the defendant’s website?

STEVEN
Yes, Your Honor.  Those are only the people who filed official complaints with Chester County Police Department’s Sex Crimes Unit in the last 13 months and were referred to them through Dr. Bartlett’s website.  Many of them were children when they were attacked and have since grown up, but quite a few of them occurred well within the Statute of Limitations.

LISA
This doesn’t include the numbers from the Federal investigation, either.

REYNOLDS
This is Federal, too?

LISA
Yes, Your Honor.  Several of the alleged crimes we’re investigating them for cross state and international borders.  We’re working with the local authorities on this matter.  As far as to why the legal representation for First Union Holy Church, the Daniels Family, and Camp Hiawatha have not been notified of the investigation, we have reason to believe that if they were notified too soon, they would’ve destroyed evidence and posed a flight risk.  That’s why we waited until today to notify them that...Your Honor, we request permission to approach the Plaintiff’s desk.

REYNOLDS
Why?

LISA
So that we can officially serve them with their copies of the search warrants that are currently being executed as we speak.

The judge simply waves them over.  He is bewildered.  Steven and Lisa approach the Plaintiff’s desk.

STEVEN
On behalf of Chester County, here you go.  The search warrant covers the church and the Daniels’ Family Estate listed at the address on the paper.  From what I understand, several arrests have already been made and at least one of our officers was shot.

LISA
And on behalf of the United States of America, here’s the search warrant for Camp Hiawatha.  Have a nice day.

The two lawyers walk back to in front of the judge.

REYNOLDS
These crimes you’re investigating, is it safe to assume that they are major crimes related information gained from the defendant’s website, and that the Plaintiff is attempting to silence criticism against them?

LISA
Yes, Your Honor.

STEVEN
If the court would like, we will provide them with the case numbers involved, but considering that this is currently an ongoing investigation, there’s not much we can give the targets of the investigation in this matter.

The judge turns toward the Plaintiff’s desk.

REYNOLDS
Mr. Schumacher, it seems like you’re going to have your hands full with much more than a lawsuit against a critic.  Your client is looking at complete and total ruin, and pursuing this matter in the face of everything which has just been brought before us sounds like a grievous misuse of the courts.  I side with the Defendant and grant their motion to dismiss this case with prejudice.

The judge slams his gavel down.  Harold sits at his desk, dumbfounded about what just happened.  Steven and Lisa congratulate Frederick and Michelle, who hugs everyone involved.  They leave the courtroom, with Frederick hanging back.  He approaches Harold.

FREDERICK
What was it I said a few minutes ago about you ruing this day?  I hope your client can afford a good attorney.

Frederick walks out of the courtroom.

INT. GEORGE'S DINING ROOM - NIGHT
George sits back down at the table, a toilet filling can be heard in the background.  He sits down at the table, a fresh glass of wine sitting in front of him.

GEORGE
Now, something to keep in mind was that from this point on, there’s no hiding our intentions.  We just pulled off one hell of an operation.  The FBI broke up a child sex trafficking ring using the bible camp as a cover.  We had every financial record for the church and how their donations were being distributed, and collected more videos than a chain of Blockbuster stores.  There was something like 20-30 arrests that day.  The only thing we didn’t get were the main members of the Daniels’ family.  The only one we popped was Jamie, Natalie’s cousin.  He was released on bail.  The rest of the family were still hiding out in Colorado, but we knew they had to come back soon for their TV show.  But we also knew that they’d try something.  We just didn’t know how dirty they’d play.  And they didn’t know how dirty we’d fight.

George takes a sip of wine.

INT. HARBOR CITY GENERAL HOSPITAL - NIGHT
George sits in a chair in a hospital room next to Aly, who wears George’s overcoat and a hospital smock.  They’re playing a card game.  George’s left arm is wrapped in bandages.  His dress shirt is long gone, but he’s still wearing his white t-shirt, though the left sleeve was cut off due to the blood.  Some dried blood was on the inside of the shirt.

There’s a knock at the door.  It’s Aly’s parents.  They rush in and nearly smother the girl with hugs. 

GEORGE  (V.O.)
The little girl, Aly, wouldn’t leave my side the entire day.  She was a tough little cookie who just had the worst day of her life.  Medical exam proved what we suspected.  I called her parents, they were shocked as hell to find out that Aly was even down in Harbor City.  She was supposed to be at the camp the whole summer.

The parents and George talk.  He tells them the basics of what happened and they break down.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Her parents genuinely didn’t have a clue how this happened.  After a little digging, they told me that Aly’s uncle, the wife’s brother, was a Deputy with Hiawatha County Sheriff’s Department.  The Sheriff recommended the camp to the family.

EXT. LAKE HIAWATHA WOODS - DAY
A Sheriff’s SUV drives through the woods near Lake Hiawatha.  It drives down a path, then turns down a driveway.  It parks.

GEORGE (V.O.)
From what was discovered over the next few days, the Sheriff thought that his deputy, Ryland Holmes, was getting too close to finding out about his relationship with the church.  Ryland didn’t have any kids of his own, but had a niece that he absolutely adored, Aly.

EXT. BOB'S CABIN - DAY
The Sheriff’s SUV parks next to a rusted-up powder blue 1984 Chevy Pickup.  Out of the SUV comes DEPUTY RYLAND HOLMES.  He’s a good-looking man in his 30’s, and carries himself with an air of respect and authority.  He puts his large Sheriff’s hat on as he exits the car and walks to Bob’s door.  He knocks on it.  Bob answers.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The Sheriff had the brilliant idea that if he hurt Aly and threatened to do it again, he’d keep Ryland in check.  The Sheriff made three mistakes.  First, he no longer had the church covering his ass.  Second, overplayed his hand.

I/E. LAKE HIAWATHA WOODS - NIGHT
On a backroad in the woods at night, a Sheriff’s SUV slowly drives around a blind corner.  A deer dummy stands in the middle of the road.  SHERIFF HENRY BUFFORD hits the gas and the horn.  He drives right into the deer dummy.  It’s made of steel and concrete, and his SUV slams into it.  The push bars take the brunt of the accident, but it causes the Sheriff to lose control and drive right into a tree.  The airbags deploy.  Just as Bufford regains his senses, his door opens.  A man dressed in all black hits him with a tonfa, a police baton.  Two more men dressed in black drag the Sheriff out of the SUV.  Once the Sheriff is on the ground, two more men dressed in black show up.  Five men are beating the Sheriff to within an inch of his life.

After a long ass-whooping, the men throw the Sheriff into the back of a powder-blue pickup truck.  Bob’s pickup truck.  Bob’s in the driver’s seat.  Two men hop into the cab with Bob and take off their masks.  It’s Paul and Gary.  In the bed, the other three men continue to beat Sheriff Bufford.  One of them takes off his mask.  It’s Ryland.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Third, he underestimated how much Ryland loved Aly and what he’d do to anyone who hurt her.

EXT. BOB'S CABIN - NIGHT
Bob’s truck pulls up to the dock by his cabin, near his 25 foot fishing boat.  The men get out, dragging the Sheriff with them.  They climb in and leave the dock for a night cruise on the lake.

EXT. LAKE HIAWATHA - NIGHT
The boat makes it’s way to the middle of the lake.  The Sheriff is bloody and beaten.  The remaining men in masks help Ryland and Gary tie the Sheriff’s feet to one end of a long rope and his hands to another.  Once secured, Ryland spits in the Sheriff’s face and punches him in the stomach one more time.  The men throw the Sheriff overboard in front of the boat.  Bob gives a signal to Paul by the rear engines to tilt them up out of the water.  Gary and Ryland walk the rope down the length of the boat, keel-hauling the Sheriff.  Once the Sheriff cleared the end of the boat, they tied the ends of their ropes to the cleats on the aft of the boat.  Another signal from Bob and the engines were back in the water.  The boat cruised around the lake for the next hour, dragging the Sheriff’s body behind them.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Sheriff Henry Bufford’s body was discovered the next morning.  His death was reported as a fishing accident.  Later on, I asked Ryland, off the record, about what happened.  He stuck to his story, but mentioned that Bufford got what was coming.  I didn’t push further.  I kept in touch with the family for a while, talk to Aly from time to time.  She still has that coat, patched up the bullet holes when it started to fray.  She’s a tough little girl, and an even tougher woman.