CHAPTER 04
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - DAY:
The Cultists' faces slacken, as though some mental hold Nix had upon them has disappeared. Then they start to retreat, their confidence and courage gone. Pimm steps into the Sanctum.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - DAY :
The five assassins, including the Girl, stand around Nix's body. Swann has his arm around the Girl. PIMM Dead? QUAID Dead. PIMM What now? SWANN We bury him so deep no one will ever find him.
INT NIX'S .HOUSE - WIDE SHOT - DUSK:
The wind has died away. It's eerily calm. Butterfield dashes towards camera, then halts. HE LOOKS BACK, as Nix's killers load his huge, limp CORPSE into the back of Murray Pimm's bus. ON Butterfield. He watches, with a feral look on his face.
FADE OUT FADE IN EXT. LOS ANGELES - MONTAGE - DAY :
The city looks magical in the spring light, its palms and gleaming towers, its rivers of sun-baked traffic, evoking some fantastical metropolis. This, for all its smog and congestion, is a city of exoticism and enchantments. ON SCREEN, the words: "LOS ANGELES - THIRTEEN YEARS LATER" .
EXT. STARDUST HOTEL - DAY :
The facade of this small HOTEL off Hollywood Boulevard needs a lick of paint, and the neon sign is blinking fitfully, but it has a certain charm.NT.
STARDUST HOTEL - LOBBY - DAY:
A large deteriorating mural of Hollywoodland, depicting a host of 50's movie stars, dominates the lobby. At the front desk - with his back to us at present - stands HARRY D'AMOUR. He is having difficulty getting the pretty but vacant BLONDE at the reception desk to comprehend his name. BLONDE GIRL How'd you spell that again? HARRY D.A.M.O.U.R. D'Amour. Harry D'Amour. BLONDE GIRL D'Amour. HARRY Right. BLONDE GIRL Isn't that French for something? ON THE BELLBOY, approaching Harry from the front door. BELLBOY Mister D'Amour? HARRY (to Blonde) Yeah. It's French. BLONDE GIRL For love, right? BELLBOY Mister D'Amour? HARRY (to Blonde) Right. BLONDE GIRL (grinning) That's so cool. BELLBOY Mister D'Amour? Harry turns. He's wearing a washed-out Grateful Dead t- shirt, an Italian cut linen suit, and glasses. He's handsome, unshaven, 35-ish, with an open easy smile. HARRY Yeah? BELLBOY You haven't paid the cab. He won't give us your bags 'til you pay him. HARRY How much? BELLBOY Thirty-five bucks. HARRY Tell him he can keep them. The Bellboy looks puzzled. HARRY Just kidding. Harry gets out his wallet and hands over four ten-dollar bills. HARRY I've got my life in there.
@INT. HARRY'S HOTEL ROOM - DAY:
On the suit-case, which is now on the bed. Harry flings it open. Inside, mingled with the clothes, a bizarre collection of items, which he tosses out onto the coverlet. A GUN. A CRUCIFIX. A STATUE of Shiva, the Hindu Lord of creation and destruction. ON HARRY, as he heads into the bathroom. Turns on the shower. Starts to undress.
EXT. STARDUST HOTEL - DUSK :
Harry, his hair still wet from his shower, steps out into the sun. Squints. Puts on sunglasses. HARRY Hello, L.A. BELLBOY Have a nice evening, Mr. D'Amour. HARRY You bet.
EXT. MELROSE RESTAURANT - NIGHT:
Harry stands, in a shabby doorway across the street from a classy restaurant. It's RAINING. ON TAPERT, a middle-aged, balding man with a very pretty WOMAN opposite him, sitting at a table close to the window. Tapert makes a joke (unheard). The woman laughs. ON HARRY, chewing on a hamburger, as he speaks into his tape recorder. HARRY Nine-eighteen p.m. Tapert's either got a great sense of humour or he's paying her to laugh. (looks at hamburger in disgust) Jesus. On Tapert, as he rises from the table. HARRY (into tape recorder) He's finished. Tapert exits the restaurant, and crosses the street. Harry tosses his half-eaten hamburger away, and goes to his car.