BACK ROOKIE04 23' 1 1/2 ROOKIES: episode: armored car hoax EXT MORNING WIDE: ART MUSEUM ENTRANCE (A luxury sedan parks at the curb followed closely by an armored car, Agent exits from the driver's side of the luxury sedan as an armed guard exits from the rear of the armored car carrying a locking, zippered bank pouch, Agent opens passenger door and offers hand to Victim and helps her out of the car, all three enter the museum) INT MORNING WIDE: ART MUSEUM GALLERY (Director, with back turned to entry, speaks inaudibly and motions broadly at the necklace display case to the janitor, then whisks him away with the back of his hand, janitor exits) AGENT (enters frame with Victim) Mr Bixby? DIRECTOR (turns) Yes? AGENT My name is Phillip Newman. (offers business card) I'm from Indemnity Insurance Company. I spoke to you on the phone about moving the Romanoff necklace to a safer place. DIRECTOR (takes card) Oh, Yes. But, as I said, the necklace is quite safe right here. (to victim, approaches) Mrs Mansfield, are you sure you want to remove the Romanoff necklace? AGENT And as I said on the phone, the necklace was stolen right from under your nose. Now, it belongs in a bank vault. DIRECTOR (to Victim) But we just upgraded our security systems as the police suggested. We now have alarm sensors and closed circuit cameras on the roof. This building is virtually impenetrable now. VICTIM Oh. Ah, I was unaware of that. It sounds as if my necklace is safe here now. AGENT It's up to you, Mrs Mansfield. It's your necklace. But, in light of the fact that the Romanoff necklace has been stolen three times in three weeks, my company could not accept the liability for its loss unless it is moved to the bank vault as planned. VICTIM Oh, dear. Well, perhaps, then, it would be better if we moved it. DIRECTOR (forces smile) Very well, then... (raises hand to signal janitor, who enters frame and opens the display case and removes the black velvet bust containing the necklace and offers it to Director, who removes the necklace and inserts it into its carrying case and offers it to Victim.) It's seems almost sinful to hide from public view one of the most beautiful pieces of jewelry ever made by man. So, Mrs Mansfield, if you ever want to display it here again, I'm sure we could safely accommodate you. VICTIM (takes case) You're very kind. Thank you for being so understanding. I'm sure this is just a temporary thing. As soon as the police catch the mastermind behind these robberies, we'll offer the necklace for display again. (offers the case to Agent, who offers the case to the guard, who slips it into the lock-pouch, zips it, and locks it, then draws his pistol, Agent motions guard toward the exit, Agent and Victim exit behind guard) EXT MORNING WIDE: ART MUSEUM ENTRANCE (The guard exits the building followed closely by Agent and Victim, Guard enters the back of the armored car whose engine is still idling at the curb, while Agent opens the passenger door and helps Victim enter car, then Agent closes the door and moves toward the rear of the car) INT MORNING WIDE: CAR OUTSIDE ART MUSEUM ENTRANCE (view out the back window shows Agent entering passenger door of armored car. Armored car pulls away from the curb as Agent closes the door) VICTIM (sees Agent in armored car as it drives by, to self) Where are they going?! They don't even know where my bank is! Who's going to drive me.... (gasps, pulls cell phone from purse, pokes 9 1 1, puts phone to ear) Yes, I'd like to report a robbery. (pauses) Yes, my insurance company and the armored car company stole my necklace! EXT MORNING WIDE: ART MUSEUM ENTRANCE (Laura kneels near the open door of the car as Victim sits sideways in the seat) VICTIM ...but as soon as I got into the car, Phillip Newman, the insurance man, got into the armored car and rode away in it. How can the insurance company and the armored car company do such a thing?! LAURA I don't know how to tell you this, Mrs Mansfield, but I don't think Phillip Newman works for the insurance company. VICTIM (offers card) But he gave me his business card. It was from the Indemnity Insurance Company. How could he... LAURA Anyone with a computer can print any name and any company logo on a business card. VICTIM Oh, no! You mean, I've been duped again?! LAURA That's the way it looks. There is noone named Phillip Newman who ever worked for Indemnity Insurance company. And this car was stolen from a driveway in your neighborhood early this morning. (Mother's car, with Katie in the passenger seat, passes by and parks at the curb ahead) KATIE (exits car carrying backpack) Thanks, Mom. (closes door, shouts, approaches Laura) Hiya, Sis. (bends to see who's in the car) Hi, Mrs Mansfield. I was going to ask you what kind of case we're working on, but I think I already know. (pulls out latex gloves) Sis, Mom told me that an armored car was involved. Where is it? LAURA It was abandoned just two blocks away. VICTIM Abandoned?! Why would the armored car company abandon their own truck?! LAURA Well, just like the insurance company, the men in the armored car were not real employees. They stole the truck early this morning. They probably stole the uniforms too. VICTIM So, we have no idea who robbed me?! LAURA For now. But Katie is here to help. KATIE I think we know who the mastermind is. VICTIM You mean Lucifer Snidely? (both nod) I was such a fool to trust him. LAURA Don't be so hard on yourself. He got rich by being a good liar. KATIE You want me to process the car? LAURA Yes. The perp was driving. (points) The crime lab guys will process the fingerprints. but I'd like you to look for trace evidence first. KATIE (rounding the car) Roger that. (jump cut: Victim has left the car, Laura enters frame, bends, talks to Katie who is kneeling on the street while bending an looking through her hand-held microscope at the car's carpet) LAURA Katie, the crime lab guys just arrived. Have you found anything? KATIE Yeah. Just a sec. (looks at picture on cell phone screen, then at the microscope repeatedly) Sis, you're not going to believe this, but this piece of hair on the carpet is from a goat. LAURA You're right. I don't believe it. Mrs Mansfield said that the perp was clean cut and he spoke like a college graduate. It's highly unlikely that he's a goat farmer. Maybe the goat hair was left there by the owner of the car. KATIE Well, it's goat hair alright. But I don't think it's from the car's owner either. LAURA Why not? KATIE You said this car was stolen from Mrs Mansfield's neighborhood. There are no goats up in Forest Hills. LAURA Okay, then, we'll just set this aside for now. Let's turn this car over to the crime lab guys and process the armored car. (exits frame) KATIE (follows) I'm going to freak out if I find an ostrich feather in it. INT MORNING CLOSE-UP: ABANDONED ARMORED CAR (Katie scans the driver's side carpet with her microscope while Laura talks on the cell phone outside) LAURA Okay, thanks for your time. (pockets phone) Well, it's confirmed. All of the armored car employees showed up for work this morning. That means that none of them could have been in on this robbery. So, without the insurance company employees, that leaves us with no suspects. You got any leads, Katie? KATIE I've got two so far. LAURA I'm listening. KATIE These carpets were vacuumed clean before the truck was stolen. So, the only trace evidence was left by the perps and the perp left two items of trace evidence. LAURA Fire away. (pen to paper) KATIE Salt. LAURA Salt? Did you say salt? KATIE But if this doesn't make sense to you, it didn't make sense to me either until I found a fish scale. LAURA A fish scale? KATIE (nods, points) On the driver's side. LAURA And what do you make of that? KATIE Where there are fish scales there are... LAURA Fish? KATIE And where do fishermen go to catch fish? LAURA The ocean? How does that explain the salt? KATIE (pokes the screen of her cell phone) The two guys who stole this truck were fisherman, who get their shoes wet with ocean water and when the ocean water dries, it leaves behind... LAURA Sea salt! I think we have a lead! Now, if we can somehow link these... fishermen with Lucifer Snidely,... KATIE I already did. Lucifer Snidely owns a forty-foot fishing boat named the "Roman off". LAURA Oh, now, that's too easy. But, he's too smart to hide the Romanoff necklace on a boat named "Roman off", isn't he?. KATIE Yes, but he might have used the boat to get the necklace out of reach of the city police department. (offers cell phone) Here. I just dialed the Harbor Master. LAURA (takes phone) Yes, this is Officer Laura Archer with the police department. We'd like to check on the status of a luxury fishing boat named the "Roman Off". You did? It just left the harbor? Did you happen to notice the direction it went after it left the harbor? Don't be sorry, you've been very helpful. Thanks for your time. (offers phone) The boat is on its way out to sea. Destination unknown. KATIE (takes phone, pokes screen) Maybe I can narrow the possibilities. LAURA You're not hacking into a government database are you? KATIE Not really. LAURA That was a yes or no question. KATIE (still poking screen) Well, then, no. I didn't hack into a government database.... this time. LAURA I don't like the way that sounds. KATIE Well, I already had the username and password from the last time I hacked it. LAURA (sighs) Katie. Alright, I'll apologize to them later. What are you looking for? KATIE The islands offshore are inside the county lines. I'm looking in the county records for a house or condo on one of the islands. Bingo, we have a winner! (shows screen) Lucifer Snidely owns five acres with two buildings on one of the islands. (exiting frame) Let's ask the harbor patrol if we can borrow a boat. LAURA Wait a minute. We don't even know if that's where the boat is going. KATIE (reenters frame) Yes, we do. LAURA And how do we know... for sure? KATIE The goat hair. LAURA The goat hair. KATIE From the stolen car. LAURA (shakes head) I'm sure that makes sense to you. But explain it to a lay person why a goat hair from a stolen car tells us that Lucifer Snidely's fishing boat is going out to his island house. KATIE I just read in the Sunday paper that there are goats on Snidely's island. Lots of them. It said the first settlers on that island brought goats with them. But the goats got out of their pens and ran wild all over the island. Goats will eat anything. And they're overpopulating. So, the food that used to feed the wild animals is now being eaten up by the goats. LAURA So, there's goat hairs all over the island. (pauses) So, the guy who stole the neighbor's car probably lives on the island. Maybe he's the caretaker for Lucifer Snidely's island home. KATIE How can we get there? LAURA (pauses) I don't know if we can. Technically, the islands are inside the county but outside of the city. That puts them under a different jurisdiction. (pulls out cell phone, pokes screen) KATIE Legally, we can pursue a fleeing suspect. LAURA (cell phone to ear) Yeah, Sarg, this is Laura Archer. We have reason to believe that the three perps who stole the necklace are fleeing by boat to one of the offshore islands. Do we have to seed jurisdiction to the county sheriff's? We can? ...if we are pursuing a fleeing suspect? So, how do we pursue? The department doesn't have any boats do we? (nodding several times) Okay!. On our way! KATIE How are we getting there? LAURA The sarg is getting us priority on one of the departments helicopters. INT MORNING TWO-SHOT: POLICE HELICOPTER IN FLIGHT (Katie and Laura, wearing float-vests and headsets, sit in front of three SWAT officers) KATIE Who are these guys with the big guns? LAURA It's the entry team in case we need to use force to get into Snidely's house. KATIE That reminds me. We'll need a search warrant to get into the house, won't we? LAURA The sarg said we won't need a warrant if we can catch them fleeing with the bank pouch in hand. KATIE Do we know who they are? LAURA Yes. The driver of the armored car wiped off all the fingerprints, but the driver of the stolen car left two fingerprints behind. He's an ex-con who's on Snidely's payroll as a caretaker of his island home. I have his picture on my phone. (shows phone screen) We're going to arrive at the island ahead of the perps and land out of sight. Then we're going to position ourselves on the hill above the house and try to identify the perp when he steps off the boat and arrest him before he gets to the house. KATIE If not? LAURA If we see him entering the house with the bank pouch, we can legally pursue him into the house without a search warrant. EXT MORNING WIDE: HILL ABOVE SNIDELY'S ISLAND HOUSE (SWAT1, flanked by two other SWAT troops, lies in the tall grass and aims his rifle toward the dock as Snidely's luxurious fishing boat approaches the dock) (POV: SWAT1 sees the two perps from the armored car, now wearing other clothing, jump off the boat and moor both ends to the dock) SWAT1 Boat registration number is confirmed. This boat is the "ROMAN OFF". KATIE (crouching behind the SWAT team in the weeds with Laura, quietly) He's not going to shoot the perps, is he?! LAURA No. The rifle scope is a high powered telescope. He can use it to identify the perps. (shows cell phone screen) SWAT1 (POV: sees a third perp step off the boat carrying the bank pouch and walk toward the house) We have a match on the perp's mug shot AND the bank pouch. Are we go for arrest? KATIE Wouldn't it be nice if Lucifer Snidely was in the house? We could arrest him too. LAURA (smiles) Great idea! (to SWAT1 while poking cell phone, puts it to ear) Hold off on the arrest for a moment, Lieutenant. (to phone) Yes, may I have the number of Lucifer Snidely Industries, please? Yes, thank you. (pause) Hello. Yes, this is Laura... Anderson... with Indemnity Insurance company. I need to get Lucifer Snidely's signature on an important contract. Is he in? Do you happen to know where he is? (smiles) Yes. I'm well aware of his island house. No. Listen, don't bother him out there. This contract is important but it's not urgent. I'll get his signature... ...tomorrow morning. Good. Thank you. (pockets phone) Guess what! KATIE Lucifer Snidely IS on the island! LAURA (nods) He took his private helicopter to the island this morning. KATIE And if we catch him in the same house with the stolen necklace... LAURA We put him in the slammer! SWAT1 Time is running short. The perps are almost at the house. Are we go for arrest? LAURA Negative. Stand down. SWAT1 Why? What's going on? LAURA Change of plans. We're pretty sure that the mastermind of these robberies is inside the house. So, we want to give them time to deliver the pouch to the mastermind before we close in. SWAT1 So we can catch him red-handed. Understood. Squad, stand by. KATIE I can hardly wait! LAURA All you're going to do is wait. KATIE What do you mean? LAURA I promised Mom that I would keep you out of harm's way. If I return you home with so much as a scratch, our partnership is over. KATIE But... LAURA Katie, it's not negotiable. You will wait outside the house until all the perps are in handcuffs and until I call you inside. Do you read me, PARTNER?! KATIE I read you loud and clear, Killjoy! EXT MORNING WIDE: SNIDELY'S ISLAND HOUSE BACK DOOR (Katie waits alone between the door and a window, looking stealthily into one, then the other) SWAT1 (shouts afar, muffled) Police! (sound cue: loud thud and crunch of front door hardware rattling back door and window) Police! Let me see your hands. Police! Let me see your hands. Get down on the floor. Now! (Katie pulls her head away, leans against the wall next to the back door) (sound cue: running footsteps) (back door flies open, Katie sticks out her foot as Snidely runs out the door, tripping him, he sprawls on his face and moans, she runs over and sits on his back) KATIE You're under arrest. You have a right to remain silent... LAURA (exits house with pistol drawn) I'll take it from here, Sis. (cuffs Snidely, rolls him on his side, sits him up) You're under arrest for four counts of grand theft. You have a right to remain silent. You may have an attorney present during questioning... SNIDELY Save it. I know my rights. KATIE Hey! I know this guy! This is Lucifer Snidely! SNIDELY Yes, and I know you too. You're Katie and Laura Archer. Your address is... KATIE (steps back) Laura! How does he know who we are?! LAURA He must have seen us on the closed-circuit cameras at the crime scenes. SNIDELY Crime scenes? I have no idea what you could be referring to. LAURA Katie, don't tell Mom. She'll freak if she thinks this lowlife knows who we are and where we live. SNIDELY Lowlife?! I beg your pardon! I'm the wealthiest man in the state and one of the wealthiest men in the country! LAURA (helping Snidely to stand) Save it. What did you do with the Romanoff necklace? (pushes him into the house) SNIDELY Necklace?! What necklace?! I have no idea what you're talking about! LAURA (turns, holds hand in front of Katie who's following) You! Stay! KATIE But... LAURA Stay! (entering house) You can stop pretending, Snidely. We saw one of the perps carrying the necklace in here. What did you do with it? SNIDELY Necklace?! What necklace?! I have no idea what you're talking about! LAURA Lieutenant, search the house. But be careful of booby traps. (jump cuts: Katie is shown in a half-dozen impatiently waiting positions as she pokes her cell phone screen, while the SWAT troops and Laura travel singly past the window and door inside the house) (shouts, afar) Come on, Snidely, just tell us where you hid the necklace! KATIE (cell phone to ear, to self) Come on, Sis, pick up. LAURA (cell phone to ear) Go for Patrolman Archer. KATIE I think you need my help. LAURA Save it. You can't come in here. KATIE You're searching for a hiding place for the necklace, right? LAURA Katie, I'm a little busy... KATIE I'm looking at the blueprints for this house that were filed with the Hall of Records. LAURA Alright. This is your way of telling me that we missed a hiding place in our search for the necklace. KATIE Did you know that this house has a basement? LAURA No, it doesn't. None of these houses on the island have basements. This island is solid rock. Noone can afford to dig a basement in solid rock.... KATIE Noone but Lucifer Snidely. Look under the rugs. INT MORNING WIDE: SNIDELY'S ISLAND HOUSE (Laura slides the kitchen table away and throws back the area rug under it, revealing a large steel door and a ten key pad, picks up phone, makes eye contact with Katie through the back window) KATIE Can I come in now? LAURA Katie, Lucifer Snidely tried to blow us up once. I'm not letting you anywhere near this... (points) ...vault until I know there are no bombs. (motions and points) Move back up the hill about fifty feet just in case Lucifer Snidely has another booby trap for us. Stay with me on the phone, I'll need your help (turns to SWAT team) You guys too. Everybody out and away from the house while we open this door. SWAT1 Wouldn't it be simpler if we just call in the bomb squad? LAURA No time. It's possible that Snidely has already set off a delay switch to destroy the evidence. (SWAT team exits pushing perps) SWAT1 (removes helmet, puts it on Laura's head) I hope you know what you're doing. Here, put this on. LAURA Thanks. (as the last SWAT member walks by pushing Snidely, she grabs Snidely) Not you. You're staying with me. SNIDELY Why?! LAURA If there's a bomb down there, I want my face to be the last thing you see. (pushes him to a chair) Sit. (Snidely sits) What's the combination to this vault? SNIDELY I don't know. I had no idea that door was there. LAURA (phone to ear) Katie? EXT MORNING SPLIT-SCREEN: SNIDELY'S ISLAND HOUSE BACK YARD KATIE (peering at Laura through binoculars) I'm here, Sis. LAURA Do your thing. How do I get this vault door open? KATIE I can't see the lock. Are there numbers on a ten-key pad? LAURA Yes. But remember: if we push the wrong button I'm toast. KATIE Look around the kitchen for something with numbers on it. LAURA Numbers. (scans in all directions) How do you know he wrote the combination down? KATIE The last three hiding places had the combinations written down. I think he has a secret wall safe or vault in every building he owns and he never uses the same combination twice. He has to write it down somewhere. Find anything? LAURA Well, the only things in the kitchen with numbers on them are a wall clock and a wall calendar. KATIE Any marks on the clock? LAURA None. KATIE Then, let's assume it's the calendar. Anything unusual about it? LAURA (pauses) Yes. KATIE What? LAURA This calendar is two years old. KATIE Excellent. Start with the month that's showing. Any marks on it? LAURA No. Wait. KATIE There IS a mark or there's not? LAURA (approaches) There's a tiny arrow drawn with a fine point pen over the word Thursday. KATIE And that's the only mark? LAURA (examines calendar) Yes. KATIE Excellent. What direction is the arrow pointing? LAURA Down. KATIE Excellent! And there are five dates under the word Thursday? LAURA Yes. KATIE I think the combination to the vault is those five dates in that order. LAURA You realize that if you're wrong... KATIE That's got to be it, Sis. If the order was reversed, he would have drawn the arrow on the bottom pointing up. LAURA I agree. (lifts bottom edge of calendar and peaks under it carefully) Just to be sure,... (removes calendar from wall, pages through the calendar) I'll see if any of the other pages have marks on them. KATIE Well, do they? LAURA (sighs) No. But I need to be sure. (turns to Snidely, grabs him, lifts him off the chair, then pushes him down to the floor next to the vault door, kneels near the ten-key pad) On the floor, where you can see my face and I can see yours. My sister says the first number is... (louder as she moves her finger over the "8" key) EIGHT! KATIE & SNIDELY (shout) No! KATIE That can't be the first number, Sis! The first number has to be a number less than seven! LAURA Apparently, our friend Lucifer Snidely thought so too. (lays the calendar on the floor and points to the first number under THURSDAY) So, it looks like the real number is ONE. (carefully moves her finger to the "1" on the key-pad, watches Snidely's eyes, then pushes the button) Well, what do you know?! Lucifer Snidely and I are still in one piece. KATIE The next number is eight. LAURA (refers to calendar, pushes the key) How did you know, Sis? KATIE It's on a calendar. The numbers on a calendar are a week apart. LAURA (refers to calendar) Yes. Of course. And the next numbers are. KATIE One and Five LAURA (pushes keys, refers to calendar) One and Five KATIE Then two and two. LAURA (pushes keys, refers to calendar) Then two and two. KATIE Then two and nine. LAURA (pushes keys, refers to calendar) Then two and nine. (sound cue: click, buzz, hum) Oh, oh. (door opens automatically) KATIE What's the matter? LAURA Oh. Nothing, I guess the door is opening all by itself. (lays her head down and shines flashlight into the vault) Holy Smokes! Look at all that stuff! KATIE What is it? LAURA You remember those thirty robberies by that Russian guy, Boris Petrova? KATIE Yeah. LAURA All that stuff he stole is right here in the vault! Lucifer Snidely, I hope you don't have any plans... (louder as she pulls Snidely to his feet) you're going to jail for the rest of your life! KATIE Can I come in now, Sis? LAURA Absolutely not. There's a bomb right next to the stairway down there. Tell the SWAT guys to call in the bomb squad. Our work here is done. Nice work, PARTNER! �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 |