BACK LIL03 23' LIL SHERLOCK episode: burglaries INT MORNING WIDE: STOREFRONT DETECTIVE OFFICE JUNIOR (sits at his desk dressed in business suit with feet on desk as Lily enters from upstairs, smiles) Good morning, Lily. LILY Junior?! I think I must be in some sort of time warp. It's 8 o'clock in the morning and your in the office already. And you're wearing a suit. What's up? (sits) JUNIOR (smiles) I'm giving you a ride to school today. LILY (stands) What?! JUNIOR I knew you'd love it. LILY I don't love it! Is this your way of getting rid of me?! Because if you registered me for school, the people at Juvee Hall will see my name in the public records and I'm toast! JUNIOR So be it. LILY Please tell me this is a joke! Please tell me you didn't register me for school and ruin everything! HOLLIS (enters from upstairs) How is Junior going to ruin everything? LILY He registered me for school! Do you know what that means? HOLLIS It means you're going undercover. LILY (not listening) If he registered me for school, the people at Juvee Hall will see my name in the public records and I'm toast! JUNIOR So be it. HOLLIS Junior, stop it. JUNIOR She had it coming. She cut off my source of income. I could be at a bass fishing tournament today. But nooooo! I had to work today, because SHE cut me off! LILY What's going on? Is this a joke? He didn't really register me for school today, did he? HOLLIS No. I did. LILY Mr Hollis! HOLLIS You didn't hear what I said, did you? LILY What did you say? HOLLIS I said you're going undercover. LILY But you registered me for school. That means... HOLLIS It's a private school. Your name will not appear in the public records. LILY (sits) Oh. JUNIOR Had you going there, didn't I? You had it coming. You cut off my income, you pay the price. LILY So, what am I undercover for? HOLLIS Fairfield Academy is being blamed for a series of residential burglaries. LILY I don't get it. Why would a school be blamed for residential burglaries? HOLLIS All the burglaries were at the homes of students at the school. A couple of the families are talking about suing the school for aiding and abetting the burglaries or at least for a breach of privacy. LILY So, the parents think a teacher or a staff member at the school helped the burglars? HOLLIS That's what they're alleging, but so far it's all speculation. The head master at the school hired us to get out in front of this before they get slapped with a law suit. LILY So, I'm going undercover as a student. HOLLIS And Junior is going undercover as a substitute teacher. LILY (laughs) Now that's funny. JUNIOR That's not funny! I have my teaching credential! LILY You're kidding. HOLLIS It was his mother's idea. She was a teacher. It took him six years to earn a four year degree. JUNIOR Surely, you didn't expect me to go to school when there was six feet of packed powder on the ski slopes! HOLLIS He never intended to teach school. It was just his way of avoiding work. As soon as he graduated, he talked his mother into letting him work here. And the beat goes on. LILY So, while I'm eves dropping on the students, Junior will be doing the same for the teachers. HOLLIS (looks at watch) Speaking of that. You've got to get moving. I layed out your school uniform on your bed. (points up) LILY I have to wear a uniform?! HOLLIS If you want to see Tyler Chamberlain. LILY (runs to stairs) Tyler Chamberlain goes to that school?! INT MORNING TWO-SHOT: JUNIOR'S CAR (Lily is now dressed in school uniform) JUNIOR (turns car) Here we are. (looks around, steers car) There it is: faculty parking. LILY (sinking out of sight) Junior! You should have dropped me off a block away! JUNIOR (parks car) Why? (turns toward Lily) Where did she go? LILY (now on the floor) I'm down here. JUNIOR What are you doing down there? LILY If people see the new teacher with the new student, they'll get suspicious. You go into the school first. JUNIOR Oh. Yeah. (exits car) See you after school. (closes door) EXT MORNING CLOSE-UP: FAIRFIELD ACADEMY FACULTY PARKING LOT LILY (opens door, sneaks out) I wonder if there's a different entrance. (closes door, revealing Tyler's knees) TYLER I'll show you. LILY (gasps, stands) Tyler Chamberlain?! TYLER Speaking. LILY Ah, um, ah. I like your television show. (smiles) TYLER You told me that the last time you saw me. LILY What are you doing in the faculty parking lot? TYLER I've been assigned to show you around the school. (points, begins walking around school to front entrance) LILY (catches up, smiles) Really?! TYLER Mr Hollis didn't tell you? LILY Maybe he did. But I don't remember anything he said after he said your name.... (covers mouth) You must think I'm a blithering idiot. TYLER Actually, I think you're one of the smartest people I've ever met. I really looked forward to seeing you again. That's why Mom and I asked for you. LILY You did?! You asked for me!? I don't understand. TYLER Ours was the first house to get burglarized. Mom was the first one to suspect that the school was the connection to all the burglaries. When she talked to the Head Master about it, Mom was the one who recommended the Hollis Detective Agency because you rescued me from the kidnappers. LILY I hope you didn't tell anyone about me, did you?! TYLER No, my mother warned me not to tell anyone that you were the one who rescued me. She said that you were wanted by the police. Is that true? LILY (nods) I'm an orphan and I ran away from Juvee Hall. But Mr Hollis hired a lawyer to make him my legal guardian. But that's not my worst problem. TYLER What could be worse than being wanted by the police? LILY I don't have a detective's license, so, I couldn't legally do the detective work on your kidnapping or the "Back-Door-Bank-Robber". TYLER "Back-Door-Bank-Robber"?! You solved that one too?! That was you?! LILY (finger to lips) Please, Tyler, if anyone finds out about that, Mr Hollis could lose his license! TYLER My lips are sealed. (pantamimes the zipping of his lips) LILY So, tell me about these burglaries. Besides the school, what do they all have in common? TYLER The burglars seemed to know when the family will not be home. LILY So, the first thing people thought was the families tell the school when they're taking a vacation. TYLER Exactly. LILY But you hired us to investigate. So, you obviously don't think the school is involved. TYLER The school COULD HAVE been involved in our case, because Mom and I told them that we were going to Hollywood for two days. But a couple of the other families were burglarized on one of those Monday holidays when everyone was out of school. LILY How does that clear the school? TYLER Most of the families stayed home on those Mondays because one or both parents didn't have the holiday off. But somehow the burglars knew which families would leave town for the weekend. (school bell rings) (offers three text books and three notebooks) We're running a little late. Here are the books for your first three classes. Your first class is in Room 114 right here. (points) I'll meet you outside the room right after class. INT MORNING WIDE: FAIRFIELD ACADEMY HALLWAY LILY (exits classroom, looks both ways, smiles when she sees Tyler coming, opens mouth to speak) GIRL1 (sings) Hey, Tyler. TYLER Hey. GIRL2 (sings) Hey, Tyler. Thanks for the email. TYLER Hey. Your welcome. (smiles) Hi, Lily. LILY (smiles nervously) Hi, Tyler. TYLER (points down hall, turns) This way. LILY Tyler, what are the students saying about the burglaries? TYLER You ask a dozen kids, you get a dozen different suspects. LILY What do you think? TYLER I think the alarm company might be involved. LILY The alarm company. That sounds like a good place to start. Why do you think they might be involved? TYLER So far, all of the burglarized houses have the same alarm monitoring company. The alarm monitors would be the first ones to know if the alarms on the houses are turned on and off and which ones haven't had any activity all day. So, they would know which houses are probably empty. LILY (pulls out cell phone, texts Hollis) I'll put Mr Hollis on it right away. TYLER You make me feel like a full fledged detective, just like you. LILY (looks around, finger to lips) Tyler! TYLER Oh, sorry. I was just saying you seem to have a knack for... this business. I mean, you... (looks both ways) flattened those... (whispers) kidnappers. Why are you asking me about my working theory? LILY One of those girls back there thanked you for your email. I was thinking that maybe the burglars got their inside information from your emails. TYLER I wish it was that easy. LILY What do you mean? TYLER That girl who thanked me for the email... I never emailed her. LILY But how... TYLER The movie studio has staff people who answer my emails. And they only give out information about my public appearances. The weekend we went to Hollywood, it was to shoot a screen test for my first movie. For security reasons the email staff never mentions anything about when or where we do our shooting. LILY Well, that kills my theory. INT NOON WIDE: FAIRFIELD ACADEMY LUNCH ROOM (Lily is eating alone at a table near the food line as Tyler comes off the line with a tray of food) GIRL3 (sings) Hey, Tyler. TYLER Hey. GIRL4 (sings) Hey, Tyler. TYLER Hey. (smiles) Hi, Lily. (sits across from Lily) LILY (smiles nervously) Hi, Tyler. (nods toward girls) Fans or girl friends? TYLER I don't have time for girl friends. Say, I have another idea about the burglaries. LILY Fire away. TYLER When people go away for vacation, they usually call the newspaper and stop delivery. LILY Another good lead! (pulls out cell phone, texts Hollis) TYLER If you want, I could follow up to see if the kids know anything about it... LILY Better not. Let Mr Hollis follow up. If the kids see you with me, then they see you asking questions about the burglaries... TYLER I see where you're going with this. I'll let the detectives do the detective work. LILY (pockets phone) It's a good lead. Mr Hollis should be able to confirm it before school is out this afternoon. Keep the leads coming, Detective Tyler! EXT AFTERNOON WIDE: FAIRFIELD ACADEMY MAIN ENTRANCE (Tyler stands on stairs as two girls exit school and pass by followed by Lily) GIRL5 (sings) Hey, Tyler. TYLER Hey. GIRL6 (sings) Hey, Tyler. TYLER Hey. (smiles) Hi, Lily. LILY Hi, Tyler. (Lily and Tyler stroll to parking lot) Say, I looked at your website and your Facebook page during computer class. TYLER You'd better be careful of that. Mr Campbell will send you to the office if he sees the internet on your screen without permission. LILY I was careful. Do you update your own web pages? TYLER No. It's the same thing as the emails. The movie studio has full time employees who update those pages. Why were you on my Facebook page? Were you writing me a love letter? LILY Tyler! You're embarrassing me! No. I... I... now you've got me flustered. Why was I on your facebook page? Um. Oh, because I was looking for indicators that you were leaving town to go to Hollywood. TYLER I could have saved you the trouble. The studio's staff have a policy of never giving out my private information. LILY Well, there's another theory shot down in flames! (looks around) Where on earth is he?! TYLER Who? LILY Junior! He left without me! (pulls out cell phone, pokes buttons) I wonder if he... TYLER I'll save you the trouble. LILY (pokes button) What? TYLER I saw Junior hitting on my social studies teacher this afternoon. I'll bet he gave her a ride home instead. LILY I should have known! He was supposed to be gathering intell about the burglaries! (pokes buttons on phone, to phone) Mr Hollis, have you heard from Junior? He left without me! (sighs) He never told me! I never heard a word from him all day! That so-called SOURCE of his... Tyler just told me that Junior was hitting on her. It had nothing to do with the burglaries. Did Junior come up with any real leads on the burglaries today? I didn't think so. No, thank you, Mr Hollis. I'll just take the bus home. Okay, I'll check my text messages. See you at home. (pokes buttons, reads screen) TYLER Sorry about your ride. (points) My mom is here. She'd love to give you a ride. Come on. (turns, walks) LILY (distracted reading messages, turns and catches up with Tyler, points to phone) Mr Hollis eliminated the alarm company as a suspect in the burglaries. TYLER How? LILY He said that the burglar alarms went off at all of the houses that were burglarized and the police were called right away. TYLER I see. If the alarm company was in on the burglaries, the burglars would have disabled the alarms or the company would have delayed calling the police. LILY That's what Mr Hollis said. (pokes button on phone, read screen) TYLER What about the newspaper deliveries? LILY (points to phone) Mr Hollis said that half of the victims didn't stop their newspaper deliveries on the days of the burglaries. They had friends or neighbors pick up their papers while they were out of town. TYLER So, what are we left with? LILY (pauses) Tyler, what did the burglars take from your house? TYLER My Ipod, my PSP, the old cell phone I used before I got my Iphone, some video game DVDs and the money my grandma sent me for my birthday. LILY That's all? No computers? No televisions? No TIVOs? TYLER No. LILY That's odd! TYLER My Mom thought so too. We just bought a brand new 60-inch television. But the burglars didn't even try to pull it off the wall. LILY Very interesting. TYLER What do you think? LILY (pauses) I think kids did it. TYLER Why? LILY Two reasons: First, all of the burglaries are within about a mile of each other. That means the burglars were on bikes or on foot. That means they're too young to drive a car or truck. That means they had to take things they could carry in their pockets or under their jackets. TYLER And the second reason? LILY They took things kids like. They can easily sell the stolen goods to other kids at school or to neighbor kids. TYLER You could be right. But that brings us back to the question: how did they know we wouldn't be home? LILY (pauses) Facebook and Twitter? TYLER But my Facebook page doesn't give out that kind of information. LILY They don't. But SOMEBODY in your school might. TYLER (pauses, snaps fingers, points) Brittany Caldwell! LILY Keep talking. TYLER She's the school's gossip columnist. She blogs about everything and everybody! LILY I think you might have something there! Did you say you have an iPhone? TYLER Yes. Why? LILY You have access to the internet. Can you look up her blogs? TYLER (pulls out phone, pokes screen) Sure. (offers screen) Here she is. LILY Do you have the ability to do a word search on her blogs? TYLER Sure. What words? (readies) LILY Try the word vacation. TYLER (pokes screen, reads) Holy socks! The last three victims! (points) Vacation. Vacation. Vacation! LILY I'm interested in victims that haven't been robbed yet. TYLER (reads, shakes head Nothing more recent here. LILY How about the key words for YOUR burglary. TYLER We weren't on vacation, so, of course we're not listed here. We were out of town on business. (excited, pokes screen) out... of... town... LILY Now you're thinking like a detective! TYLER Here's the rest of the victims! Out of town. Out of Town. (points) Here's her blog on my trip to Hollywood! Out of town! LILY Any out-of-towns who haven't been robbed yet? TYLER Yes. Brittany blogged about two families who are out of town TODAY. (points) This family is at a funeral. (points) This family is visiting a sick grandmother. (They approach Gwen's minivan) GWEN Hi, Lily! It's nice to see you again! LILY Hi, Mrs Chamberlain. It's nice to see you too. TYLER Mom, can you give Lily a ride home? GWEN Of course! LILY I changed my mind. GWEN It's not an inconvenience, dear. LILY What I mean is, I think we have a break in the burglary case. GWEN You do? LILY Yes. Can you give me a ride to your neighborhood? GWEN My neighborhood? Sure. Why? (Tyler and Lily enter van) LILY Because your neighborhood is where all the burglaries happened. INT AFTERNOON WIDE: GWEN CHAMBERLAIN'S MINIVAN LILY (holds phone to ear) Come on, Junior! TYLER Why are you calling Junior? LILY (clicks off phone) He turned his cell phone off. It's going to voice mail. (contemplates) TYLER Why are you calling him? LILY Huh? Oh. According to that girls blogs, there are two families away from home today. I want Junior to stake-out one of the houses tonight while I stake-out the other. TYLER I could do a stake-out, couldn't I, Mom? GWEN I'm not so sure. You have homework. TYLER Mom! LILY It's no problem really. According to the pattern, the burglaries all happen after dark. We have plenty of time to do homework. TYLER That means we get to do surveillance, just like real detectives! GWEN Tyler! That could be dangerous! LILY It's just surveillance, Mrs Chamberlain. We both have cell phones. We'll just call the police as soon as the burglar shows up. INT NIGHT WIDE: STOREFRONT DETECTIVE OFFICE (Lily enters) HOLLIS (points to television) Lily, come look. Our burglary case is on the evening news. LILY I know. The news vans were at the crime scene when I left. HOLLIS The reporter said that the burglar was a student at Fairfield Academy, just like you predicted. LILY Yeah, but I kept my name out of it. HOLLIS He said that the burglar got his inside information from another student's blog, just like you predicted. LILY Yeah, but I kept my name out of it. HOLLIS He said that Tyler Chamberlain made a citizen's arrest. LILY Well, I think I'll go to bed now. (turns) HOLLIS It wasn't really Tyler who made the arrest, was it? LILY (stops, doesn't turn) How do you know? HOLLIS Because the cops took the poor kid to the hospital after they made the arrest. LILY (turns) It wasn't my fault, Mr Hollis. I told him not to run. But he ran anyway. HOLLIS Tell me what happened. LILY We had a plan all worked out, but, you know how things are. They don't always go as planned. EXT NIGHT WIDE: STAKE-OUT HOUSE BUSHES LILY (faint buzz, pulls out phone, whispers) This is Lily. EXT NIGHT SPLIT-SCREEN: ALTERNATE STAKE-OUT BUSHES TYLER (whispers) This is so cool! I'm doing surveillance! Just like a real detective! LILY Do you see anything yet? TYLER Not a thing. How about you? LILY Nothing yet. Surveillance isn't all that exciting. (sound cue: twig breaks) Hold on! Someone is coming! TYLER (turns) I'll be there in a minute! LILY (sneaking to corner of house) No. Stay put. It might be nothing. (sound cue: breaking glass, alarm sounds for remainder of scene) Tyler. This is it. The burglar is here. Hang up the phone and call 911. (peaks into windows) TYLER (runs) I'm on my way! LILY Tyler! We promised your mom that we would just call 911 when we saw the burglar! TYLER I'm not missing this! I'm on my way. LILY Tyler! TYLER According to the cops, the burglar always breaks a window to get in, but he always exits the house by the back door. we'll nail him when he comes out. LILY Tyler! (running, pokes phone, phone to ear) Yeah, I'd like to report a burglary in progress... INT NIGHT WIDE: VICTIM'S HOUSE (Alarm sounding, Matthew, holding flashlight, enters kid's bedroom, opens drawer, pulls out hand-held game, pockets it, opens drawer, pulls out DVD, pockets it, explores shelves, pockets iPod. Opens drawer of night stand, pockets cell phone and two flash drives. Pops open DVD drawer in computer, pockets DVD. Exits bedroom, turns toward back door, shines light on Lily in the open doorway, gasps) LILY I'm sorry. I can't let you leave until the police get here. (closes door behind her) (Matthew turns, exits frame running) (Jumpcut to front door. Matthew turns corner, flashes light on door, illuminates Lily) I'm placing you under citizen's arrest. Don't run again. (Matthew exits frame running) (Lily exits frame in opposite direction) I told you not to run! (jump cut to open door to kitchen. Matthew approaches. Lily jumps into doorway, jumps, grasps door frame, kicks Matthew in chest with both feet, he tumbles backward in a somersault over a tea cart spilling the contents noisily) What part of DON'T RUN didn't you understand? (Matthew, scrambles to his feet, exits frame running) (Jump cut to back door. As Matthew approaches, Lily sends a skateboard into his path, he steps on it and feet slip out from under him, he grabs a doyly and pulls it off a nearby tabletop, pulling its nicknacks down on top of him, finally a big vase smashes noisily. Red and blue blinking lights appear in the windows.) TYLER (enters back door, shines light on Matthew) Looks like I'm too late. LILY You're just in time to make a citizen's arrest. (exits frame stealthily) TYLER I know him! That's Matthew Dawson. He goes to my school! (looks around) Where did she go? (shrugs, turns to Matthew) Matthew Dawson, I'm placing you under citizen's arrest. INT NIGHT WIDE: STOREFRONT DETECTIVE OFFICE LILY The important thing is that we cleared Fairfield Academy of all responsibility. Right? That's what they paid us for, right? HOLLIS Lily, I don't know how you do it. But the Hollis Detective Agency always comes out smelling like a rose whenever you're involved. (points to television) Tyler Chamberlain gave us all the credit for solving the case ON CAMERA. Our phone has been ringing off the hook. (phone rings, Hollis reaches) Go to bed. You have school tomorrow. LILY I don't go to school. HOLLIS You do now. Fairfield Academy gave you a full scholarship. LILY (runs up stairs singing) I get to go to school with Tyler Chamberlain! HOLLIS (picks up phone) Hollis Detective Agency. �2013 Bob Snook. Conditions for use: Do not sell any part of this script, even if you rewrite it. Pay no royalties, even if you make money from performances. You may reproduce and distribute this script freely, but all copies must contain this copyright statement. http://www.bobsnook.org email: [email protected] BACK |