Over an hour later, same night.
The Mance's place.
ETHAN: Y'all kidding me, right? You want me to waste my time on an invisible case? (Talking with his family in the living room)
ELENA: What do you mean by invisible case, dad?
ETHAN: You're seeing things and hearing voices. Out of the blues, you come up with a murder case and you expect me to look into it? There are important cases I'm working on, I don't have time to fool around.
ERIC: Dad listen, it's not like I'm one hundred percent sure about this whole stuff but at least you should give it a peep. I mean... she went missing in 2012, this is 2015 and here's what we found. (Arranging the paper cards on the table for him to see)
ETHAN: 'Avenge me' (He reads out the words on the cards and glances back at them) Now what? I'm supposed to be convinced just by looking at these cards? Kids of nowadays come up with lots of silly pranks, this could be one of them.
ELVIS: I won't be surprised if it's a prank, but what if it's not?
10:10pm, after a few minutes of going back and forth with his kids, debating on the issue.
EMILY: Ethan, I think you should listen to the kids. It wouldn't hurt to look into it, would it? If actually there's a person murdering high school girls then that scum needs to be stopped. This is what you do, Ethan. You bring bad guys to justice. (She says unconvincingly but he agrees)
Same night, another part of the town.
East drive, Pebble street.
The angle and position of the streetlights and headlights of moving vehicles causes the dark human figures holding umbrellas to cast shadows on the wet ground as they stride along, splashing water up and down the street with every step they take.
"Err... I'm-I'm coming" Yawning, awaken by the knock on his door. A tenant of a cheap looking condominium in the same Pebble street.
The knock continues.
"I said I'm coming! Who are you and what do you want by this time? Ugh shit!" Getting off the couch where he fell asleep and staggering to the door.
"Sorry to disturb. Actually, I'm looking for a guy named Marcello"
"Who are you?" Opening the door.
"I'm Tyler..."
"You look familiar" He points a flashlight in the boy's face.
Tyler covers his face, almost blinded by the light, the guy switches it off.
TYLER: You too. Are you Marcello?
"Who's asking?"
TYLER: Right, you're Marcello. I need a favour.
MARCELLO: Depends.
TYLER: Can I crash at your place?
MARCELLO: Are you a stray or something? Don't you have a home?
TYLER: It's... a long story.
MARCELLO: Have we met before?
TYLER: Yeah, at Elena's party.
MARCELLO: I remember you now. How did... (yawning and rubbing his eyes) ...how did you find me? What are you doing here? Why are you drenched?
TYLER: One question at a time, man. Remember last Saturday at the party, you told us that you do all kinda jobs, home service in general. You distributed your card to us so we'd contact you if we had a job for you. The card contained your name, number and address.
MARCELLO: Yeah, my business card... sort of. (He chuckles)
TYLER: That's how I found you, with the help of the address.
MARCELLO: Now I realize putting my address in there was a bad idea.
TYLER: I'm drenched because it's raining as you can see.
MARCELLO: Oh, didn't notice, must have been asleep when it started. (He eyes Tyler briefly, contemplating) Come in.
TYLER: Thanks.
Marcello takes Tyler's drenched clothes and offers him a sweatshirt and pyjama bottoms to keep warm.
MARCELLO: So what brings you to my crib at this time? It's almost twelve midnight (Showing him his wristwatch) And I know for a fact that you don't have a job for me.
TYLER: It's a long story, bro.
MARCELLO: I wasn't deaf the first time you said it.
TYLER: Dude, do you mind... Err... not asking me about it? I mean... I'm sorry, don't get me wrong, you're doing me a favour and you've got the right to know what's going on. It's just that I'm really tired now. I promise I'd tell you about it tomorrow.
MARCELLO: Okay. (Yawning again and scratching his brows) Here... (Passing him a cold bottle of beer)
TYLER: Thanks. Alcohol?
MARCELLO: Obviously. Never had one?
TYLER: Of course I have! (He reaches for the bottle, trying to display some extra masculinity so he doesn't seem like a kid)
Marcello holds back the bottle, not giving it to Tyler just yet.
TYLER: Are you gonna offer me the drink or not?
MARCELLO: Are you sure you've had alcohol before or you're just pretending to impress me?
TYLER: You were there at Elena's party, we all took alcohol, right? It's just that... I've not had any since then.
MARCELLO: Oh, well I'd better keep this back in the fridge. Besides, it's raining. Only a dumb ass offers someone cold stuff in a cold weather. I'll make you a cup of coffee.
TYLER: Not a bad idea. (He looks around, trying to get comfortable). You stay alone?
MARCELLO: Yeah. (Fiddling with the coffee maker)
TYLER: Your parents?
MARCELLO: Dad's a jerk, comes home once in a red moon.
TYLER: There's no such thing as a red moon, or there might be but I've never seen it.
MARCELLO: My point exactly.
TYLER: Oh... (nodding slowly) ...and your mom?
MARCELLO: What about her? (He exhales)
TYLER: Red moon too?
MARCELLO: Nah, she has a condition, she's been at Grey Petals for almost six months.
TYLER: Grey Petals mental asylum?
MARCELLO: Thanks for saying the full name.
TYLER: Why's your mom at a mental asylum?
MARCELLO: I just told you she has a condition. Shit, man! Do you usually ask stupid questions?
TYLER: Ouch... I'm sorry.
MARCELLO: It's late, wanna crash, got a house to clean tomorrow morning.
Marcello pours a quantity of coffee into a cup, and serves him the left over slices of bread he bought from the previous morning's grocery shopping into a plate. He places the cup and plate in a tray, dips a spoon into the cup then pauses to ask. "Milk and sugar?"
TYLER: Yes please.
Marcello grabs his half full milk jar and pours some into the cup before adding a teaspoon of sugar and stirring briefly. He wipes off the slightly spilled milk on his table with a napkin before carrying the tray to Tyler.
MARCELLO: Here you go, and you can have the bed.
TYLER: Thanks for your hospitality.
MARCELLO: No problem.
TYLER: Hey, you sleep with the lights on? (He asks Marcello who has gone back to a corner of the room to relax on the couch)
MARCELLO: Nope. Actually, I don't have a problem with lights, I sleep either way.
TYLER: Okay. (He glances at the bedside lamp) When I'm done I'll switch this off.