| San Francisco: A man washes windows of an ice cream truck. Jarod approaches | ||
| Jarod | I would like a double-dip vanilla with granola sprinkles, please. | |
| Ice cream man | Truck ain’t open. | |
| Jarod | Uh – I have cash money. | |
| Ice cream man | It’s seven-thirty-”in the freakin’ morning. Why don’t you try the Waffle House? | |
| Jarod | Considering the iron, calcium, and lactose in the ice cream, the carbohydrate value of the cone, and the fiber content of the cone, one could, in reality, receive more nutritious ingredients in one -œTasty Surprise- than in an entire bacon and egg breakfast. | |
| Ice cream man | Are you some kind of nut? | |
| Jarod | No. I just like ice cream. | |
| Ice cream man | Yeah… | |
| San Francisco, a busy street. Jarod eating ice cream. Sees a man posting posters on telephone poles. Poster: -œHave you seen my daughter? Picture of beautiful blond teenager wearing an angel pendant. Jarod watches the man get into his BMW, takes down a poster, throws away his ice cream. |
||
| Jarod | Taxi! | |
| San Francisco, a Victorian-style house. Jarod, with a police detective’s badge, walks into a girl’s bedroom with the man who hung up the poster. |
||
| Mr Bracken | I don’t understand. The police looked through my daughter’s room already. What did you say your name was? | |
| Jarod | Waxman. Detective Jarod Waxman. | |
| Mr Bracken | The other officer said a teenager missing less than forty-eight hours wasn’t going to be a high priority case. | |
| Jarod | We…reconsidered the situation. [Looks around daughter’s room, which is decorated with angels.] Was there anything out of the ordinary going on in your daughter’s life before she disappeared? Something bothering her? | |
| Mr Bracken | My wife passed away three years ago, cancer. | |
| Jarod | Jarod: I’m sorry. | |
| Mr Bracken | And it’s been hard for me, but not like it’s been for Jessie. She just barely turned fifteen. She was at an age when a girl really needs her mother. And I guess I just didn’t have the answers that she needed. | |
| Jarod | Maybe she went away with a friend, someone from school. | |
| Mr Bracken | Jessie’s shy. She doesn’t have much of a social life. I don’t know, it’s like she just vanished into thin air. | |
| Jarod | She seemed to have a special interest in angels. [Picks up a book.] |
|
| Mr Bracken | Yeah. When her mother passed away, Jessie started collecting them, reading books about them-”that one’s her favorite. | |
| The Power of Angels, by Dean Magno. [Jarod leafs through book, finds a page-marker, a picture of a large, red demon carrying a white-clad, yellow-haired angel.] |
||
| Jarod | Have you see this before? | |
| Mr Bracken | No, never. | |
| [Jarod turns it over, reads the back.] | ||
| Jarod | “Gates of Hell.” | |
| Mr Bracken | That’s Jessie’s handwriting. You’ve got to help me. My daughter’s life is in your hands, Detective. | |
| San Francisco. Sign over a building: -Hall of Fame Wax Museum.- Inside in a work room, rows of wax heads on shelves, and Jarod working on another with a blank face. An old man with a beard and a cane enters with a bowl. |
||
| Mr Kleinman | A man with no face? It reminds me of a young man I recently hired to help restore a broken-down old wax museum. | |
| Jarod | Mr Kleinman, I didn’t even hear you come in. [Places wax head in a wooden box.] |
|
| Mr Kleinman | Ah! A gift? For a friend? | |
| Jarod | More like… a message. | |
| Mr Kleinman | Ah. Uh-”I brought you a snack! | |
| Jarod | Ooh! I hope it’s ice cream. | |
| Mr Kleinman | Better. A delicacy. Alcatraz oysters. These little beauties you can find only in San Francisco Bay. Go ahead. Eat. Enjoy. Jah. [With an unconvinced look, Jarod tips an oyster into his mouth, wincing.] Eh? |
|
| Jarod | Mmm. They’re very good! | |
| [Mr. Kleinman laughs. Jarod sniffs the liquid in the oyster shell and picks up a card that says, Beware of strangers bearing gifts.] | ||
| Jarod | You know what? This just might do the trick. [Drips some of the liquid onto the card.] |
|
| Mr Kleinman | You are a very strange young man, Jarod. | |
| Jarod | [putting the card in the box with the head] Not half as strange as the people I’m sending this to. |
|
| Mr Kleinman | Jarod, are you sure you wouldn’t want to stay upstairs? | |
| Jarod | [looking around at all the heads] Actually, I spend a lot of time alone. It’s sort of nice to have the company. |
|
| Mr Kleinman | Ah. | |
| Jarod | Mr. Kleinman, have you ever seen anything like this before? [Gives him the picture from Jessica’s bedroom.] |
|
| Mr Kleinman | [gasping]: Mein Gott! [Sits down abruptly.] Where did you get this? | |
| Jarod | A man I know is searching for his daughter. You have seen it. | |
| Mr Kleinman | Jah. [Pulls up his sleeve, revealing 7534 tattooed on his arm.] I have seen it. | |
| Jarod | You’re a Holocaust survivor. | |
| Mr Kleinman | Members of the SS wore similar symbols on their uniforms. Devils! Demons! | |
| Jarod | This man, he’s worried for his daughter’s safety. | |
| Mr Kleinman | Oh, he should be. He should be scared to death! [Hurries out of the room.] |
|
| San Francisco, nighttime, Goth scenes, with Jarod superimposed over them, trying on Goth clothing, makeup, jewelry, walking among the nightlife, showing Jessica’s card to a bouncer, going into a building labeled Gates of Hell. Inside, an ornate building, loud music, strobe lights, young people in Goth clothing dancing, performing sleight of hand. Jarod stares at a well-built, pretty girl with multiple piercings, tattoos, and black leather clothing. |
||
| Girl | Didn’t your mother tell you it’s rude to stare? | |
| Jarod | I hardly knew my mother | |
| Girl | See something you like? | |
| Jarod | I’m confused. Doesn’t all that… hurt? | |
| Girl | That’s the idea, Slick. | |
| Jarod | So you enjoy… self-inflicted pain. | |
| Girl | You’re screwing with my head, right? | |
| Jarod | Actually, I’m looking for someone. A young man, a magician. | |
| Girl | [glancing at multiple magicians in the room] Throw a rock, babycakes. [Jarod shows her Jessica’s card.] Yeah, I’ve seen Hawk handing these out to a select few. He’s holding court in the back room. You can’t miss him. |
|
| Jarod | Thank you. | |
| Girl | And when you’re finished playing games with the Bird Man, come back. I’ll show you a real magic show. | |
| Jarod | That would be enjoyable. Thank you. | |
| [Jarod walks through crowd of dancers to the back room, where Hawk, a handsome, charismatic young Black man in black jacket and white lace, is speaking to crowded room. Around a round table sit Gretchen Dalton, Duppy Demetrius, Leslie Johnson, and Scott Schofield.] | ||
| Hawk | Most people can’t comprehend the very world they inhabit. They exist, but they don’t experience! They look but they never see. I believe that there are portals, windows to the body, mind, and spirit. Given the perfect exchange of energies, these windows can be opened, passed beyond. I look at you – I look into you. [Gretchen, laughs happily. He kneels beside her, strokes her face.] And I see tremendous sorrow. Emptiness. [He places his hand on her skin.] I want you to think about what was taken from you. Imagine in your mind’s eye the cause of your suffering. |
|
| Gretchen | I-”I don’t… | |
| Hawk | Shh. Trust me. I want you to think about the object of your pain. Can you see it? | |
| Gretchen | Yes. | |
| Hawk | I offer you this gift, with all my love. [He removes his hand. Written across the skin of her bare chest is the name Clare.] |
|
| Gretchen | Oh, oh my God! How could you-” | |
| Hawk | Who was Clare? | |
| Gretchen | She’s my-”my twin sister… | |
| Hawk | And where is she? | |
| Gretchen | She was killed in a car accident… when we were two. But how could you know that? | |
| Hawk | Simple. Your heart told me. | |
| Duppy | Tell us again about the Angel’s Flight. | |
| Gretchen | What’s the Angel’s Flight? | |
| Jarod | It was a dream the great Houdini had repeatedly throughout his life. | |
| Hawk | Or a nightmare, as some believe. | |
| Jarod | Houdini felt, give the power of angels, he could break free from the boundaries of earth and soar in the heavens like a god. But unfortunately, he wasn’t, and when he died, his dream died with him. | |
| Duppy | Hawk says the Angel’s Flight is attainable. | |
| Hawk | Close enough to touch. I suggest we assemble again at midnight for a reading session. Go with the angels. | |
| [Everyone files slowly out, whispering about Clare, leaving Jarod, Hawk, and Kessler, an impassive, stocky young man.] | ||
| Jarod | They seem to be very… loyal. | |
| Hawk | I offer them something they need. Something their worlds have denied them. | |
| Jarod | Magic? | |
| Hawk | Love. | |
| Jarod | My name is Jarod. I hear you have a great gift-”the ability to touch people. | |
| Hawk | And you desire this gift. | |
| Jarod | I wish to learn. From the best. | |
| Hawk | And why should I open myself to a stranger? | |
| [Jarod, with a challenging look, goes to the table, takes salt, pours it onto the table, bends down, blows it away, leaving the word LOVE behind on the table.] | ||
| Jarod | The perfect exchange of energy. | |
| Hawk | Kessler will show you the way. | |
| [Kessler writes an address on a napkin.] | ||
| Kessler | Midnight. | |
| Jarod | You don’t seem to share Hawk’s believe in the power of angels. | |
| Kessler | Excuse me? | |
| Jarod | When the subject of Angel’s Flight came up, you seemed rather… uncomfortable. | |
| Kessler | Midnight. [Leaves] | |
| [Jarod takes out a red notebook, opens it to the poster about the missing girl.] | ||
| Jarod | Where are you, fallen angel? Where are you? | |
| The Centre, Blue Cove, Delaware. Broots enters a busy atrium carrying a large box. Miss Parker and Sydney are walking toward him. |
||
| Miss Parker | Don’t even talk to me, unless it’s good news. | |
| [Broots shakes his head, turns away.] | ||
| Miss Parker | Broots. | |
| Broots | You’re not going to be happy. It’s not good news. | |
| Miss Parker | Any sign of Jarod? | |
| Broots | It’s like he vanished into a black hole. | |
| Miss Parker | Kind of like your personal life? | |
| Broots | Oh, tell me about it. | |
| Sydney | [looking over at where Mr. Lyle is sniffing cigars with an Asian woman and a man holding a bottle of wine] That’s odd, isn’t it? |
|
| Miss Parker | What, the girl? | |
| Sydney | The cigar. Lyle doesn’t smoke. | |
| Broots | Oh, yeah, well, that’s a gift. [They stare at him.] Jerry, the guy with the glass eye who works down in Transportation-”well, he told me that Mr. Lyle is expecting some Centre hotshot from the West Coast. |
|
| Miss Parker | Marble-eye Jerry give you a name? | |
| Broots | Not that I can remember. | |
| Miss Parker | [Tugging at Broots’ bright green shirt] That makes him about as worthless as this shirt, doesn’t it? What, did Don Ho have a garage sale? [WalKs away to the elevators.] |
|
| Broots | Don Who? | |
| Sydney | The box: what’s in it? | |
| Broots | Oh, yeah! Miss Parker, this box is for you! | |
| Sydney’s laboratory. Miss Parker opens the box to reveal the blank wax head. | ||
| Broots | Well, that’s something you don’t see every day. | |
| Miss Parker | -œBeware of strangers bearing gifts.- | |
| Broots | Oh, I bet it’s from Jarod. | |
| Miss Parker | Gee, you think? | |
| Broots | Maybe he’s talking about Lyle? | |
| Sydney | Cigars and champagne? | |
| Miss Parker | Maybe. What are you up to now, Jarod? | |
| San Francisco, nighttime. Stage makeup, Jarod in full Goth outfit painting something, boxing it up with a card, studying up on sleight of hand. He goes to a decrepit warehouse, finds a locked door with a grotesque gargoyle. |
||
| Hawk | Welcome, my friends, to the midnight session. Let us begin. | |
| [Hawk stands in a pentagram surrounded by occultist symbols, Gretchen Dalton, Duppy Demetrius, Leslie Johnson, and Scott Schofield sitting around the edges, others gathered outside the circle of light. He puts out his hand to Leslie.] | ||
| Hawk | Please, stand. [He pulls a coin out of her hair with a simple sleight-of-hand trick.] Common, I know. Read the date on this coin. |
|
| Leslie | Nineteen-ninety-four. | |
| Hawk | Nineteen hundred and ninety-four. That has special meaning for you, doesn’t it? | |
| Leslie | Yes. | |
| Hawk | Why? | |
| Leslie | Because that’s the year my mother died. | |
| Hawk | Turn the coin over. | |
| [The back of the coin reads, I luv you Puppy. Mom.] | ||
| Leslie | She… she used to call me her puppy. | |
| Hawk | Yes. She’s with you. [Whispers in her ear.] She’ll always be with you. |
|
| Leslie | Thank you. | |
| [Applause. Hawk stretches out his hands to accept it.] | ||
| Kessler | I see you found your way. | |
| Jarod | I wasn’t sure which way to go. [Reaches out to touch the locked door.] |
|
| Kessler | Obviously not that way. | |
| Jarod | Tight security. Protecting magic secrets? | |
| Kessler | Hawk likes to keep his personal life… personal. I suggest you join the others. The reading’s already started. | |
| Jarod | Can I ask you something? | |
| Kessler | If I said no, would you walk away? | |
| Jarod | Probably not.[Pulls out Jessica’s card.] Look familiar? |
|
| Kessler | Where did you get that? | |
| Jarod | I like to keep my personal life… personal. | |
| Kessler | You don’t want to miss the session. | |
| Jarod | Of course not. | |
| Hawk | Your name? | |
| Scott | Uh… Scott. | |
| Hawk | Stand up, Scott. It’s alright. I won’t bite. [Scott, clutching backpack, stands up.] You can put that down. [Scott puts it down, walks to center of pentagram. Hawk walks around him.] You’re new here. |
|
| Scott | Yes. | |
| Hawk | You’re nervous. | |
| Scott | Little bit. | |
| Hawk | And you’re also bleeding. | |
| Scott | Bleeding? | |
| Hawk | [putting his hand on Scott’s chest]Inside. You were betrayed, hurt by someone you trusted, someone you loved. | |
| Scott | I don’t know what you’re talking about. | |
| Hawk | Yes, you do. [Puts one hand around the back of Scott’s neck, the other on his forehead.] It’s alright. It’s alright. We love you. [Whispers of agreement from the others. Scott gasps as Hawk’s hand touches his forehead. Hawk holds him tightly.] You couldn’t believe it when it started. You wanted to scream, but you were afraid, confused. |
|
| Scott | Please don’t. | |
| Hawk | You were so young, vulnerable. It was like a nightmare, the way he came at you, so much anger. | |
| Scott | I can’t do this. | |
| Hawk | You thought if you closed your eyes it would stop, but it didn’t stop, did it, Scott? It got more violent and angry. | |
| Scott | No… no… | |
| Hawk | You’re afraid to tell anyone, afraid to say the name, terrified that no one would believe you. | |
| Scott | I was afraid. | |
| Hawk | You were only a boy. [Pulls him out of the circle of light.] And he was so powerful, so terrifying. |
|
| Scott | I wanted him to stop hitting me… I wanted to say his name… | |
| Hawk | I know you did. [Pulls him up to a full-length mirror, the others following.]And now you can. Now you can say it for the entire world to hear. |
|
| Scott | I can’t … | |
| Hawk | Say it. | |
| Scott | I can’t. | |
| Hawk | Say it, Scott! Say it and end the nightmare forever! | |
| Scott | I can’t! I can’t… | |
| Hawk | Shh. It’s alright. I’ll say it for you. [Removes his hand so Scott can see his forehead in the mirror, with the glowing word DAD written across it.] It was your father. It was your father who beat you, Scott. |
|
| Scott | [covering the word, sobbing]I never wanted it to happen. | |
| Hawk | I know you didn’t, Scott. I know you didn’t. You don’t have to be afraid anymore. | |
| [The others rush to Scott, surrounding him, whispering soothingly. Hawk stands aside.] | ||
| Jarod | You should try that on me. | |
| Hawk | Maybe I will. | |
| Jarod | You think you helped him. | |
| Hawk | Everyone has secrets. Demons they keep hidden. And sometimes if you don’t stop them, they eat you alive, a piece at a time. What about you, Jarod? What kind of demons are you hiding inside? | |
| [Jarod looks uncomfortable. Hawk walks around him and begins to walk out.] | ||
| Hawk | That’s all for tonight. Mr. Kessler will collect your offerings. | |
| The Centre, Miss Parker’s office. Broots is opening another box, next to the blank wax head, which now has ears. Sydney comes in. |
||
| Sydney | Another rush delivery from Jarod? | |
| Broots | Yeah, number three. | |
| Miss Parker | Great, now your boy’s yanking my crank on an hourly basis. | |
| Sydney | Jarod never plays these games without substantial motivation. | |
| Miss Parker | It’s a head made of Sterno. What is it this time? | |
| Broots | Wow. Another giant leap into the Twilight Zone. [Holds up wax eyes and nose.] |
|
| Miss Parker | [grabbing it from him] You were saying something about motivation? | |
| Sydney | Substance, Parker. And there’s another note/ .[Pulls note from box.] See no evil. |
|
| Broots | In the box with the ears, the note was, Hear no evil. | |
| Miss Parker | Anything else on the identity of Lyle’s mystery arrival? | |
| Sydney | Nothing on the grapevine. | |
| Miss Parker | [plastering eyes to the wax head] Well, at least we have Mr. Potato Head. |
|
| Broots | Cool. | |
| San Francisco, the warehouse, nighttime. Jarod breaks in, uses lock picks to open the locked door. A room full of occult images, and a desk with a computer. Jarod gets on the computer, opens a file called Followers. It contains images of Gretchen, Leslie, Scott, and Duppy, with information on each one, including Gretchen’s sister and Scott’s abuse. There is a file on Jessica Bracken which says, -Notes: Mother committed suicide. |
||
| Jarod | I finally found you, Jessica. | |
| [Jarod searches the desk, finds a box full of jewelry and money, including Jessica’s angel pendant. Jarod looKs disturbed and angry. He leaves, observed by Hawk and Kessler.] | ||
| Hawk | Kill the son of a bitch. | |
| San Francisco, daytime, an outdoor coffee shop. Mr. Bracken and Jarod (in neat suit and tie) sitting at a table over coffee. |
||
| Mr Bracken | I was excited to get your call, even if it was a bit cryptic. You found something out about Jessie? | |
| Jarod | I’m still working on the case. Mr. Bracken, you told me that your wife passed away from an illness. | |
| Mr Bracken | That’s right. | |
| Jarod | That’s not what really happened, is it? Look, I want to help you find your daughter, but we’re running out of time. If I’m going to help you, you’re going to have to tell me the truth. | |
| Mr Bracken | Sarah was vibrant-”she was so full of life. Then she got sick. All that life just slowly drained out of her. She tried to take the treatment, but…it was too late. I don’t know why she went out on that roof-”I don’t know…what she was thinking when she jumped. The police found her body in the alley the next morning. She was still clutching her angel pendant in her hand. | |
| Jarod | And that’s how Jessie became obsessed with angels. | |
| Mr Bracken | Yeah. I’m sorry… I should have told you the truth. I just, uh, I didn’t think that it would… Find my little girl! Detective…please. She’s all I have left. | |
| The Centre, Miss Parker’s office. Miss Parker adds a mouth to the wax head. |
||
| Broots | -œSpeak no evil.- | |
| [Sydney, Miss Parker, and Broots back away to examine the face.] | ||
| Sydney | Anybody recognize him? | |
| Broots | Yeah, he kind of looKs like Gilligan. | |
| Miss Parker | Gilligan? | |
| Broots | Yeah, you know. The Skipper and the Professor and Mary Ann and-”and Ginger | |
| Miss Parker | Oh, you grew up in a trailer park, didn’t you? | |
| Broots | No, I did not. It was a mobile home. | |
| Miss Parker | It’s obvious Jarod is trying to keep us busy chasing Mr No-Name’s identity while he skips along free as he pleases. The question is, why all the effort. | |
| Sydney | What about the notes? | |
| Miss Parker | Jokes without punch lines. | |
| Sydney | Maybe a warning. | |
| Miss Parker | [examining a grease or water stain on one of the cards] What is that? |
|
| Broots | [looking at other cards]It looKs like a water stain. | |
| Miss Parker | [sniffing it, makes sound of disgust] It smells like low tide. |
|
| Broots | [sniffing the others] Wow! They all smell the same. |
|
| Sydney | Maybe Jarod’s just dropping breadcrumbs. | |
| Miss Parker | [giving card to Broots]Have these cards analyzed. | |
| Broots | Okay. | |
| [Miss Parker and Sydney lean down to examine the head.] | ||
| Miss Parker | Who are you, pal? | |
| San Francisco, in the workshop of the wax museum. Jarod examines Jessica’s pendant, her picture, a newspaper article about her mother’s death. In her photograph, Sarah Bracken wears the same pendant. Jarod sighs and tosses aside the red notebook, picKs up a book.] |
||
| Jarod | -œA History of Fallen Angels.- Fallen…angels. | |
| Memory flashback | ||
| Duppy | Hawk says the Angel’s Flight is attainable. | |
| Hawk | Close enough to touch. | |
| Mr. Bracken | I don’t know why she went out on that roof-”I don’t know…what she was thinking when she jumped. | |
| San Francisco, a rooftop. Jarod in Goth clothing walKs around, looking, finds tracks leading to a set of steps up to a ledge. He looKs down several stories. Jarod back on the ground, looking around, finds blood, goes inside, goes down a service elevator, follows blood, finds Jessica in white, bloodied, unconscious or dead, covered loosely with a tarp. |
||
| Jarod | Jessica. | |
| Kessler | [cocking gun, sticking it in Jarod’s back] I hoped you were smarter. Why couldn’t you just walk away and let this thing finish? |
|
| Jarod | The same reason that you couldn’t sit at that table with Hawk and talk about Angel’s Flight. He did this, didn’t he? What happened? Jessie Bracken didn’t have enough to offer? Or she found the computer files that Hawk keeps on the others? The wealthy, disenfranchised young people that were recruited off the streets by you. That’s the game, isn’t it? Dazzle them with magic, and then take them for every penny you can. | |
| Kessler | I told Hawk that we should just cut and run, but it was never only about the money for him. Angel’s Flight was just the last act of the play. I swear sometimes the guy really thinks he’s going to fly. | |
| Jarod | What happened to her? | |
| Kessler | [still pointing the gun, shaking] Hawk flipped out a couple of days ago, and Jessie heard us talking about the scam. I just though he was going to talk to her-”I never thought he’d kill her! |
|
| Jarod | He didn’t. | |
| Kessler | What? | |
| Jarod | She’s still alive. Give me the gun and help me get her out of here. | |
| Kessler | Hawk… I… | |
| Jarod | If you let her die, there is no magic in the world that is going to save you. Now, give me the gun. | |
| Kessler | All she wanted was somebody to care about her, somebody to watch over her. | |
| Jarod | [pulling out the angel pendant and holding it up]Somebody did. Now, give me the gun. | |
| [Kessler gives him the gun. Jarod hurries to pick Jessie up and carry her out. She looKs like the angel carried by the demon on her card.] | ||
| San Francisco. Jarod and Kessler work together, researching Hawk’s police record, working on magic tricks, faking Jarod’s murder by Kessler, testing the effects of a high fall on a dummy. |
||
| The Centre, Miss Parker’s office. | ||
| Broots | Miss Parker, not only has Jarod topped off Mr. Potato Head with a nice hairpiece, I just found out that the stains on the card were made by oysters. | |
| Sydney | Oysters? | |
| Broots | Uh huh. | |
| Miss Parker | What are you saying? Jarod was a sloppy eater? | |
| Broots | The residue was left by a very specific shellfish, found only in the San Francisco Bay. | |
| Sydney | I think Jarod wanted us to find him. | |
| Miss Parker | San Francisco is a big city. | |
| Broots | Well, I started thinking about the head Jarod left. So I scraped some of the wax, and I had it analyzed. It is used almost exclusively for the construction of human replication. | |
| Sydney | Wax museum. | |
| Broots | Touché, Syd. So, I called the Frisco area and found one defunct wax museum. And when I called, this is what I got. [Activates a small tape recorder.] |
|
| Jarod’s voice | Hello, Sydney, Broots, and, as always, Miss Parker. I assume since you’re listening to this recording you’ve figured out my current location. I realize things got a little fishy along the way, but you realize timing is everything in the run-for-your-life business. I won’t keep you longer than necessary. I realize you have a plane to catch. I just ask two things. First, bring along the wax head; I think you’ll find it enlightening. And second, don’t forget to buckle your seatbelts! Happy landings. | |
| Sydney | Good work, Broots. | |
| Broots | [pleased]Oh, thanks, Sydney. | |
| Miss Parker | But let’s not polish each other’s doorknobs quite yet. Get the jet fired up. We’re going to California. | |
| Broots | Yes, ma’am. | |
| Miss Parker | Broots? | |
| Broots | Yes, ma’am? | |
| Miss Parker | Don’t wear that shirt. It makes me nauseous. | |
| Broots | [looking down at his yellow polyester shirt]Yes, ma’am. | |
| Miss Parker | [defensively, catching Sydney’s eye]It does! | |
| San Francisco, nighttime. Sam the Sweeper bursts into the wax museum’s workroom, gun at the ready, followed by Miss Parker, Mr. Kleinman, Sydney, and Broots. |
||
| Mr Kleinman | I have told you: he is gone! | |
| Miss Parker | Sweep it. | |
| Sam | Yes, Miss Parker. | |
| Mr Kleinman | Was that a gun? Who are you people? | |
| [Miss Parker looKs at the angel and demon books Jarod has left. Broots examines the wax heads.] | ||
| Sydney | You were saying that Jarod helped you remodel the museum. | |
| Mr Kleinman | Kleinman: An artist he is, sent here by the angels. | |
| Miss Parker | So I see. | |
| Mr Kleinman | He redesigned the movie star exhibit, the Presidential Study, and my Rose Robe. And he even added a new display. Jarod calls it … Centre of Shame. | |
| Miss Parker | Show me. | |
| [Mr Kleinman leads them down a hallway lined with red velvet curtains.] | ||
| Mr Kleinman | I have no idea what it is supposed to mean, but something tells me you will. | |
| [He switches on a light. The display is three wax figures with the heads of Broots, Miss Parker, and Sydney, their wrists in chains, standing in a pillory.] | ||
| Broots | [laughing] Hey! It’s us! | |
| Sydney | Incredibly lifelike. | |
| Miss Parker | It just gets weirder and weirder. | |
| [Standing next to the imprisoned three is a headless man in a monk’s robe holding a bell-pull. Miss Parker grabs the wax head from Broots and inserts it into the figure’s neck. As she does, it clicks into place.] | ||
| Broots | Uh oh. This can’t be good. | |
| [The three figures with their necks in the wooden pillory fall forward until they are parallel to the floor. The wax man pulls the bell-pull, and a guillotine falls, severing the three heads so that they fall into three straw-lined baskets. Everyone watches in shock.] | ||
| Mr Kleinman | I’ll be damned. | |
| Broots | We just witnessed our own execution. | |
| Miss Parker | Let’s get out of here. | |
| [They leave, Broots making sure to take the wax head.] | ||
| San Francisco, nighttime. Hawk, in long black cloak, is on the rooftop Jarod investigated, with the crowd of his followers, including Gretchen, Duppy, Leslie, and Scott. They are all giving money and jewelry to Kessler.] |
||
| Hawk | Welcome to the Angel’s Flight. As I look at you all tonight, I’m filled with divine energy. The belief in the possibility of the impossible-”that faith is what separates the leaders from the followers, the enlightened from the blind, the gods from the mortals. With your strength and spirit, all things are possible.[He goes up the steps to the ledge and activates a button with his boot. A red light shines on him as he stretches out his hands like wings. His foot looKs for something that isn’t there.] | |
| Jarod | Looking for your safety line, Hawk?[He throws it to the ground.] | |
| Hawk | Jarod! | |
| Jarod | You seem surprised to see me. | |
| Hawk | I saw the shirt. Kessler shot you. | |
| Jarod | Ah, ah, ah! The first rule of magic. Never believe what you see. | |
| Gretchen | Hawk! What’s going on? | |
| Jarod | It seems our friend Hawk here isn’t exactly the magic-man he pretends to be. You want to tell them, or should I? | |
| Hawk | [quietly] Go to hell. |
|
| Jarod | You first. [He hands papers to the group.] |
|
| Duppy | What’s that? | |
| Jarod | It’s you! And you…and you. It’s all of you. Go ahead, take a look. Hawk had a personal file on each and every one of you. He knew who you were, who you are, where you’re from, how much you had to offer. [Holds up a handful of jewelry.] He knew your deepest fears, your darkest secrets. He knew you better than you knew yourselves. And in return for his amazing insights, you gave him whatever you had of value. And why not? He saw into your souls, right? |
|
| Scott | Why? | |
| Jarod | Money! Unfortunately, not all of you were so easily led. [He pulls out Jessica’s card and lays it on the ledge by Hawk.] That’s why he killed Jessie Bracken. She stumbled onto your computer room, discovered your little scam. And that’s it. She had to go. So you dragged her up here, and you threw her off the roof. |
|
| Hawk | You can’t prove anything. | |
| Jarod | [holding up Jessica’s pendant] Can’t I? The next time you toss someone off a building, you better make damn sure you clean up after yourself. So, you still think that you’re worthy to fly with the angels, Hawk? Or is this just the pathetic curtain call of a half-baked magic show? What are you waiting for? Divine intervention? |
|
| Hawk | [smiling, spreading out his arms]My final gift to you. [He falls backward off the roof.] | |
| Kessler | [rushing with everyone to the ledge] Son of a bitch! You killed him! |
|
| Jarod | Ah, ah, ah! Remember what I told you! The first rule of magic: never believe what you see. | |
| [He activates a light, which reveals Hawk down on the ground struggling out of a huge inflated landing pad.] | ||
| The Centre, Sydney’s laboratory. The wax head is in its box on a table. |
||
| Miss Parker | I hate to say it, but Jarod has me stumped this time. | |
| Sydney | There must be something that we’re not seeing. | |
| [A man in blue and black catches an elevator. His face is not shown.] | ||
| Broots | Eyes, nose, ears, mouth: it all seems to be there. | |
| [The man walKs down a corridor.] | ||
| Broots | See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. I don’t know what it means, but it gives me a bad feeling. [He closes the box as Mr. Lyle enters.] |
|
| Mr Lyle | Good, you’re all still here | |
| Miss Parker | Where else? | |
| Mr Lyle | As you may or may not know, the Triumvirate has decided to become more hands-on in the pursuit of Jarod, and in an effort to protect the integrity of that pursuit, an element has been added to act as a safeguard or a safety net, if you will. | |
| Miss Parker | Why don’t you just say it: a new player? | |
| Mr Lyle | You can think of him as a one-man internal affairs division. Mr Cox? | |
| [The man in blue and black enters. He is short, handsome, smiling, and very distinctively dressed. He is the living image of the wax head.] | ||
| Miss Parker | Cox? | |
| Mr Cox | It’s with an X. I hope we get to know each other better in the coming days. | |
| Miss Parker | No doubt. | |
| Mr Lyle | I hate to be rude, but we really have to leave if we’re going to make that next appointment. | |
| [They leave. Miss Parker stares at Sydney and Broots. Broots is squeezing Sydney’s shoulder. Miss Parker opens the box with the wax head.] | ||
| Broots | That answers that. | |
| Sydney | Brings us to the bigger question: who is Mr Cox? | |
| Miss Parker | Jarod already answered that. [Memory flashback to the guillotine severing the wax Miss Parker, Sydney, and Broots heads.] He’s the Grim Reaper. |
|
| San Francisco, daytime, a hospital. Jarod meets Mr. Bracken as he pushes a much-bandaged Jessica in a wheelchair out of the hospital |
||
| Jarod | Hi. | |
| Mr Bracken | Hey, Detective Waxman, I was hoping we would see you again. | |
| Jarod | Well, I was on my way out of time, and I thought I would stop by and say goodbye. You look good. | |
| [Jessie smiles.] | ||
| Mr Bracken | The doctor says it’s a miracle she wasn’t killed. | |
| Jessica | My dad says that you saved my life. I don’t know how to thank you. | |
| Jarod | [grinning] Seeing you sitting there smiling is thanks enough. |
|
| Mr Bracken | They said the man who did this confessed to running the scam all over the country. It’s good to know he won’t be hurting anyone else’s children. | |
| Jessica | Detective, I know it’s not the same as saving your life, but I thought maybe you’d like to have this. [She gives him the angel pendant.] It helped keep me safe. I hope it will do the same for you. |
|
| Jarod | I’ll keep it close. Thank you. | |
| Mr Bracken | Bye. | |
| Jarod | Bye. | |
| [Jarod looKs at the pendant with a smile as they walk away. Pan to white statue of an angel. Fade to black.] | ||
