Hope Falls Season 2 - Eagle Valley (11 page)

"When did you want me to do it?"

"When night it at it's highest. I think tonight should do nicely, don't you?"

Sophie smiled. "I'm going to enjoy this."

"Of that, I have no doubt." Howard replied.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO: EAGLE VALLEY HOUSE: BACK STAIRWELL ZOOMS IN ON
ERIN
'S FACE. SHE IS HIDING IN THE SHADOWS OF THE STAIRWELL, LISTENING TO SOPHIE'S EVERY WORD.

She knew that bitch was up to no good.

She wished she had been able to hear the other side of the telephone conversation. Sophie was up to something;
Erin
just wished she knew what.

Erin
berated herself. She was a Private Investigator. She normally had more facts than she did now. All she knew was their faces, but not the facts. There was something going on beneath the surface here. There had been tragedy. She could see that.

And where was Miriam? She had expected to find the woman in the house with the others, her employer said she should be here. But now to find out that Miriam was missing and presumed dead? What happened to her?

And what was Dragon's Cove?

One thing was for sure: Sophie was doing someone else's bidding. Could it be Howard? She hoped that Susan was able to shed some light on what was really going on here. She needed answers and needed them fast

She watched as Sophie slipped out the back door of the house and into the backyard. Steeling herself,
Erin
followed her to see what she was up to.

It looked as if Sophie was making her move.

EXT: EAGLE VALLEY HOUSE: BUSHES

Betty sat in her car, sipping a coffee.

She had the house bugged at the point, so there was no need for her to sit outside in the bushes with night approaching. Howard had phoned and it looked as if things were going to go down tonight. She was glad she had thought ahead.

It was hidden down the road a ways behind a few trees. She was hidden from view but could see the house perfectly.

Betty jerked forward and spilled coffee down her front when someone rapped at her door. She sighed when she saw who it was. She rolled down the window and smiled. "You scared me half to death!"

Those were the last words she spoke. A long barreled black gun fitted with a silencer slid through the car window and fired off three quick shots.

Betty was dead before her body hit the driver's side door.

Chapter Twenty Four

INT: EAGLE VALLEY HOUSE: LIVING ROOM

"So," Cleo said, "You are Derrick's brother." She did not bother to disguise the sarcasm in her voice.

"I know it's hard to believe." Madder said.

"That's putting it lightly."

"There's no need for sarcasm."

"I'm not being sarcastic." Cleo reached for her mug of tea and took a sip to steady her nerves.

"How do I know you're who you say you are?"

"I have proof if that's what you're asking."

"Smart man."

"So they tell me."

Cleo let some of her impatience snap to the surface. "Look, why don't you just tell me why the hell you're here."

"I should of that would have been obvious. I want to see my brother." Madder reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a photograph. In it, there was a boy that was clearly Madder holding a child that looked very much like Derrick.

"We were separated." Madder said. "After our parents died. We were both so young." Madder looked away for a moment, real emotion showing on his face. "Do you mind, Ma'am," he said, not looking at her. "Do you mind getting Derrick so I don't have to say this twice?"

Cleo closed her eyes for a second to sense the air around her. There were secrets inside of him, but he was telling the truth. Sighing, knowing that his coming brought trouble, she went to the doorway.

"Derrick!

They waited in silence. After all, what could Cleo say? The man was clearly Derrick's brother, but there was something else at work here.

There were ulterior motives at work and Cleo had a mind to figure them out.

Derrick arrived in the living room looking disheveled and upset, but was shocked when he looked into the room. A man, a man who looked almost like him, was sitting across from Cleo. Derrick stared at the man in silence.

Then Derrick saw the picture in Madder's hand. He bent forward and took it softly from Madder's fingers. He stared at it, rubbed his thumb over the picture as if it contained a genie.

"I used to have this picture." Derrick said. "Or a picture like this. It wasn't of me though." He looked at Madder, finally. "It was of you."

Madder stood and the approached each other. Cleo could see the differences, the subtleties, but aside from color of hair and other small things, they were undeniably brothers.

They embraced and held on to each other, a piece of the past regained.

Whether it was regained for good or evil, they had yet to find out. Cleo sighed. Yet another piece to the puzzle, one she had no hope of solving.

INT: DARKNESS

WE SEE SUSAN'S FACE SURROUNDED BY SHADOW. THERE IS A LITTLE LIGHT WHERE SHE IS AND WE CAN SEE VAGUE OUTLINES OF HER SURROUNDINGS. THERE ARE BARS AROUND HER AND DARKNESS. BUT ON THE FLOOR IN FRONT OF HER…

SUSANS EYELIDS FLUTTER AND SHE OPENS HER EYES, SITS UP SLOWLY WITH A HAND TO HER HEAD. SHE LOOKS AROUND HER SLOWLY AND THEN NOTICES THE SCRIPT PAGE…..

Susan shook her head and looked again. Another script page. And here of all places. Wherever HERE was. "Hello?" Her voice echoed back at her.

She heard a rustle in the darkness around her. "Is there someone there? I know there is, please answer me!"

There was the sound of laughter, soft and deep.

"Please!" Susan had spied the bars in front of her and her panic was beginning to reach new levels. She had no idea where she was, her head hurt, her mother was unsafe,
Erin
would go with her questions unanswered and that bitch Sophie was in the house with her Derrick.

Except that he was never his. She shook her head again, trying to clear it. She needed to focus. FOCUS Susan, she thought. Gotta stay on top of things here.

"Pick up the page." A Voice said from the darkness around her.

The voice had an electronic quality to it, as if it were being distorted. It didn't sound real to Susan.

"Please," She tried again. "I'll do anything you want, anything."

"Pick up the page." The voice said again.

Clearly, she had no other choice. Slowly, Susan reached forward and plucked the page from the cage floor.

Chapter Twenty Five

INT: THE DARK CAGE

Susan picked up the sheet of paper. It was a blue color and it sent a shiver down her spine. She tried again.

"Please, whoever you are, please don't do this."

"I won't tell you again, Susan." The voice said. "Read the page."

With shaking hands, Susan put the page into the small amount of light that was filtering into her cage and read:

INT: CAGE

[SUSAN LOOKS AT THE PAGE PLACED ON THE GROUND IN FRONT OF HER. SHE PICKS IT UP AND GLANCES AT IT AND THEN BACK INTO THE SHADOWS. SHE CALLS OUT TO HER CAPTOR WITH A SHAKING VOICE]

SUSAN: Please! Please let me go, I'll do anything you want, anything you ask.

VOICE: You must pay for your sins of the past.

[THE VOICE ANSWERS HER FROM THE DARKNESS. THE VOICE IS MUDDLED, ELECTRIC SOUNDING. THERE IS NO HINT TO HER CAPTORS GENDER]

SUSAN: What sins? What are you talking about?

VOICE: They want to hurt you. I wish to keep you safe.

SUSAN: Who wants to hurt me? Who? What are you talking about?

VOICE: They wish to kill you for your sins. I want to keep you safe from them.

SUSAN: Are you talking about Howard?

[THE VOICE DOESN'T RESPOND, EXCEPT TO LAUGH SOFTLY, THE LAUGHTER SOUNDING LIKE BROKEN GLASS]

* * *

Susan looked up from the page. The blue color of it frightened her. Her captor was writing his own soap opera! Where he was the star. The other script page from a few nights before flashed back in her head.

FLASH!

Susan scanned the page quickly once, then a second time. She felt her breath growing shallow in her chest; She felt as if the world was closing in around her. There was only one page, but it seemed as if it would take forever for the words to sink in. With a shaking breath, she read the pages a third time

* * *

INT: HALLIWELL KITCHEN,
EAGLE VALLEY
NEW MEXICO

[SUSAN reaches toward the blue pages with a shaking hand. She clutches them to her chest, quickly, as if they might burn her. She looks around the kitchen, it's walls feeling as if they were moving slowly inward.]

SUSAN: Who left these here?

[Silence greets her. SUSAN tires speaking again]

SUSAN: Hello?

[She puts a hand to her throat, her nightgown low cut, revealing the shadow of cleavage]

SUSAN: Won't someone answer me?

[Dark laughter comes from the shadows around her]

SUSAN: Please, is someone there?

YOU ARE BEING WATCHED

FLASH!

She knew in her heart that whoever wrote the first note had written the second. That that person had taken her. For what purpose, she didn't know. The second page had said that he wanted to keep her safe from her sins. What sins did she have? What sins had she committed?

The pat three years had been hell for her, for Derrick, for her mother. All because of sins made against them. She thought briefly of Miriam and felt her chest tighten. She would not crumble now. She would not break down.

"Hello?" She said out loud.

All that answered her was silence.

Susan made a noise deep in her throat that sounded like a growl. Whoever this guy was, he had pissed her off and she would make him regret it. Howard couldn't send his goons after her and not expect a fight.

She looked around her prison. She had to think of a way out of here.

Chapter Twenty Six

EXT: EAGLE VALLEY HOUSE

Erin
followed Sophie out the back door of the house.

Sophie's red hair looked copper in the setting sun and she looked almost angelic.
Erin
knew there was nothing angelic about Sophie. Quite the contrary. The woman was a bitch and had a cold heart to do what she did in front of Susan.