LINOGE
She's waiting for you in hell. And she's turned cannibal. When you get there, she's going to eat you alive. Over and over and over again. Because that's what hell's about repetition. I think in our hearts, most of us know that. CATCH!
He heaves DAVEY'S basketball.
59 INTERIOR: THE LIVING ROOM DOORWAY, WITH ROBBIE.
The ball hits him in the chest, leaving a blood mark. ROBBIE'S had enough. He turns and FLEES, SCREAMING.
60 INTERIOR: MARTHA'S LIVING ROOM, ANGLE ON CHAIR AND TV.
Once again, we can just see the top of LINOGE'S head. Then his hand appears, rolled into a fist.
45
It hovers in the air for a moment, then one finger POPS OUT, pointed at the TV. The WEATHER LADY
resumes immediately.
WEATHER LADY (voice-over)
Let's check the area apt to be most severely affected by the oncoming storm.
LINOGE reaches for another cookie.
61 EXTERIOR: IN FRONT OF MARTHA'S.
ROBBIE bolts down the steps to his car, as fast as his chubby little legs will carry him. His face is a mask of horror and bewilderment.
62 INTERIOR: MARTHA'S LIVING ROOM, FEATURING THE TV.
THE CAMERA MOVES IN SLOWLY on the SHATTERED PICTURE TUBE and SMOKING INNARDS as the WEATHER LADY talks.
WEATHER LADY (voice-over) The forecast calls for destruction tonight, death tomorrow, and Armageddon by the weekend. In fact, this could be the end of life as we know it.
63 INTERIOR: LINOGE.
LINOGE
Seems unlikely . . . but we can always hope.
He takes another bite of cookie.
FADE OUT. THIS ENDS ACT 2.
Act 3
64 EXTERIOR: ROBBIE'S LINCOLN, WITH ROBBIE DAY.
He claws at the driver's side door. Down the street, a number of TOWNSFOLK are watching him curiously.
GEORGE KIRBY Everything all right up there, Beals?
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ROBBIE doesn't answer the old guy. He gets his car door open and dives inside. He has a CB
radio under the dash, and now he yanks the mike off its prong. He punches the power button, punches in channel
19, and speaks. All during this, he keeps casting panicky glances at the open door of the CLARENDON house, in terror that MARTHA'S killer will show up.
ROBBIE
This is Robbie Beals for Constable Anderson! Come back, Anderson! This is an emergency!
65 INTERIOR. ANDERSON'S MARKET DAY.
The market is as crowded as ever. CAT and TESS MARCHANT, a motherly looking woman in her mid- to late-forties, have been checking folks out just as fast as they can, but now everyone freezes as the radio spews out its EXCITED BABBLE.
ROBBIE (voice)
Come back, dammit! Anderson! We've got a murder over here! Martha Clarendon's been beaten to death!
A DISMAYED, DISBELIEVING MURMUR goes through the shoppers at that. Their eyes get big.
ROBBIE (voice) The guy who did it is still in the house! Anderson! Anderson!
You come back, do you hear me? You're always around when it comes to unwanted advice, where are you when
TESS MARCHANT takes the microphone from the radio like a woman in a dream.
TESS Robbie? This is Tess Marchant. Mike's not
ROBBIE (voice)
I don't want you! I want Anderson! I can't do his job and mine, too!
CAT
(takes the mike)
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He had an emergency at home. Alton went with him. It was his little g Just then, MIKE and HATCH come in through the door. CAT and TESS look incredibly relieved. A LOW MURMUR runs through the crowd. MIKE makes about three steps into the room, then stops, realizing something very much out of the ordinary is going on here.
MIKE What? What is it?
Nobody in the market will answer him. Meantime, the RADIO continues to SQUAWK.
ROBBIE (voice)
What do you mean, an emergency at home? There's an emergency right here! An old woman murdered! A lunatic in Martha Clarendon's living room! I want the town constable!
MIKE walks quickly to the counter. CAT gives him the mike as if glad to be rid of it.
MIKE What's he talking about? Who's murdered?
TESS Martha. He says.
ANOTHER, LOUDER MURMUR this time.
MIKE
(pushes TRANSMIT button) I'm here, Robbie. Just a minute ROBBIE (voice)
Never mind just a minute, dammit! I could be in a life-threatening situation here!
MIKE ignores the man for the moment, holding the mike against his chest and talking to the two dozen or so islanders who have clumped together at the heads of the aisles, staring at him, stunned.
There hasn't been a murder on this island for almost seventy years . . . unless you count Dolores Claiborne's husband, Joe, and that was never proved.
MIKE
You folks back off, now, and give me a little privacy. I get six thousand a year to be constable; let me do the job you pay me for.
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They back off, but are still listening; how can they help it? MIKE, meanwhile, turns so his back is to them and he's facing the radio and the lottery ticket dispensers.
MIKE Where are you, Robbie? Come back.
66 INTERIOR: ROBBIE, IN HIS CAR.
Behind him, we can see TOWNSPEOPLE probably a dozen of them standing in the street and watching. They have worked themselves quite a bit closer, but don't dare come all the way. The door to MARTHA'S house still stands ominously open.
ROBBIE
Martha Clarendon's house on Atlantic Street! Where did you think I was, Bar Harbor? I'm (a great idea occurs to him)
I'm keeping the man inside at bay! Now get your ass down here!
He racks the mike, then fumbles in the glove compartment. Under the jumble of maps, town documents, and Whopper wrappers, he finds a little pistol. He gets out of his car.
67 EXTERIOR: ROBBIE.
ROBBIE
(calls down to the cluster of folks) You stay where you are!
With his authority thus exerted, ROBBIE turns toward the house and points his gun at the open door. He's recovered a certain amount of his toadlike savoir faire, but he's not about to go back in there. The man in there didn't just kill MARTHA CLARENDON; he knew where ROBBIE was when ROBBIE'S mother died. He knew ROBBIE'S name.
The WIND GUSTS, blowing ROBBIE'S gray-streaked hair back from his brow . . . and the first few snowflakes of the Storm of the Century go dancing past his face.
68 INTERIOR: ANDERSON'S MARKET, WITH MIKE, HATCH, ONLOOKERS.
MIKE stands with the microphone in his hand, trying to think what to do next. As CAT WITHERS
takes the mike and racks it, he makes up his mind.
49
MIKE (to HATCH) Let's take another ride, all right?
HATCH
Sure. . .
MIKE
Cat, you and Tess're minding the store. (raising his voice) All you folks just stay and finish your shopping, all right? There's nothing you can do on Atlantic Street, and whatever's happened over there, you'll know it soon enough.
As he speaks, he moves behind the cash register. He reaches beneath it.
69 INTERIOR: THE SHELF, CLOSE-UP.
On it are a .38 and a pair of handcuffs. MIKE takes both.
70 INTERIOR: ANGLE ON MIKE.
He puts the handcuffs in one coat pocket and the .38 in the other. This is done quickly and deftly none of the goggle-eyed customers see. CAT and TESS do, though, and it brings the reality of the situation home to them: crazy as it may be, there could be a dangerous criminal on Little Tall.