Night for Day

by Patrick Flanery

  NOAH

  Folks check in to die here. Sometimes they mean to do it, sometimes it gets done for them. Guess who owns the joint?

  ORPH

  Don’t tell me.

  NOAH

  Deed’s registered to Shade Enterprises. Could only be one man...

  INT. FLEABAG HOTEL - CONTINUOUS

  Noah knocks on the door of Room 704, and when it opens LILLIAN WESLEY is standing there pointing a revolver in their faces with little NANCY JEAN jumping around in the background smacking her chewing gum.

  LILLIAN

  Whaddya want? Thought you said it was finished. I’m trying to get back on my feet and the last thing I need is you turning up.

  NOAH

  Calm down. I’d like you to meet Corporal Orph Patterson.

  LILLIAN

  I don’t need no protection, least of all from punks like you.

  NANCY JEAN

  We don’t need no protectin’! My mama’s gotta gun! And she knows how to use it!

  LILLIAN

  Hush up now, Nancy Jean!

  ORPH

  Could we come in?

  LILLIAN

  Got somethin’ to say, say it right here.

  ORPH

  Know who killed your husband?

  LILLIAN

  Got a fair idea.

  ORPH

  Was it Jack Plutone?

  LILLIAN

  Shade’s letting us live here till I can find a place of my own. I got nothing to say against the gentleman.

  Keeping the revolver trained on Orph and Noah, she nods them into the room. Once they’re inside, she pushes the door shut with her foot.

  LILLIAN (CONT’D)

  (lowering her voice)

  Maybe it was Shade and maybe it wasn’t. Folks said Ralph was skimming and Shade found out. To teach people a lesson he showed what he was prepared to do. I didn’t see nobody, only the car driving away while I had Ralph’s head in my arms. I gotta think about myself and Nancy Jean. Now you’ve heard it, so scram.

  ORPH

  You don’t work for Jack, do you?

  LILLIAN

  Me? You must be outta your mind, soldier. I’ll take his money but I wouldn’t raise a finger to save his life, let alone do his dirty work. I know what my husband was and I know what Shade is. Less I got to do with people like him the better.

  Lillian opens the door and, pointing with the barrel of the gun, motions Noah and Orph out of the room.

  LILLIAN (CONT’D)

  Don’t come back, see? Next time I’ll answer with lead.

  She slams the door, leaving Noah and Orph standing alone in the hallway.

  NOAH

  Checked in to die, only she doesn’t know it yet.

  ORPH

  Maybe she does.

  NOAH

  Doesn’t know half what she thinks she does.

  ORPH

  The girl’s no slouch. Did she tell you the license plate number?

  NOAH

  Sure, and guess who it belongs to?

  ORPH

  My brother.

  NOAH

  Naw, Jack’s not that dumb. Car’s registered to some thug calls himself Eddie Majestic.

  ORPH (V.O.)

  Eddie had been Jack’s boy since before the war. Those two were twisted together tighter than iron cables on a man-of-war. If Jack twitched, so did Eddie. I’d always made a point of not knowing too much about Jack’s business but it was clear only a dupe could think he was on the up and up. I thanked Roy and told him I’d be in touch.

  NOAH

  Call if you need me, Orph. I know some fellows who can help if you find yourself in a tight spot.

  BACK TO PRESENT:

  EXT. MALAVITA - NIGHT

  In the Malavita parking lot with the world going crazy on Sunset only a few feet away, Orph snaps open the glove compartment, retrieves his .45, slips it inside his jacket, and looks up at the blinking white box of his brother’s nightclub.

  ORPH (V.O.)

  I didn’t have all the knots tied together but I knew Jack was the string, and I was pretty sure Faye had a grip on both ends.

  As Orph enters the club’s back door, Eddie Majestic’s coupe slams to a stop across the street, parking close enough that Eddie can pump down the window and train his cold gaze on Orph.

  INT. MALAVITA - NIGHT

  In the shadowy corridors, Orph dodges DANCERS and Fury Girls, sticking his head where no one wants it. At the end of a dark hallway, he catches sight of a woman he recognizes.

  ORPH

  Rose! Rose Zapatero!

  The woman tries to ignore him, but then, almost in spite of herself, her head half turns in Orph’s direction. It’s Rose all right. She scrambles around the corner and down a flight of stairs into the basement.

  Pushing aside chorus girls, Orph stumbles down the dark staircase until he finds himself in a cavernous room full of costume racks and moldering pieces of scenery.

  He turns on the lights and at the far end of the basement where the liquor is stored there’s another set of stairs leading up to the stage. The place is quiet and then he hears movement from the other side of the room. A mannequin falls over with a crash.

  ORPH (CONT’D)

  Rose! Wait! I just wanna talk!

  Rose slips up the other set of stairs. Orph dodges around the costumes that fill the room but as he turns a corner someone knocks him out from behind.

  INT. FAYE’S DRESSING ROOM - LATER

  When he wakes Orph is lying on a chaise behind a folding Chinese screen that shields him from the rest of the room. He grips his head in pain and can barely keep his eyes open, let alone sit upright.

  A door opens on the other side of the screen, and he hears the two voices he knows better than any others.

  SHADE (O.S.)

  Where is he?

  FAYE (O.S.)

  On the couch.

  SHADE (O.S.)

  Awake?

  FAYE (O.S.)

  He’ll be out for hours.

  Faye sits in front of her mirror to apply makeup as Jack slouches against the dressing room’s closed door.

  SHADE

  Gotta wait for me till I come back, baby.

  FAYE

  What if you don’t come back?

  SHADE

  Eddie’ll take care of things. Take care of you, too.

  FAYE

  What use is that mug Eddie if you don’t look after me, Jack? No good’ll come of it, not ever. Eddie’d throw me over for two bits and a hot walk.

  SHADE

  Don’t worry so much, sweetheart. I’ll make sure everything’s square before I ankle. In the end, I promise you, we’ll have justice, and no mercy.

  FAYE

  And a double-sawbuck to go with it. That’s what worries me.

  SHADE

  It won’t be twenty. It’d be life if they didn’t think you were short of gas. But you don’t have to worry. We got heavy sugar behind us. We’ll take a mope if we gotta and plea down to a little sleeping time.

  FAYE

  No soap, Jack. I want out. I’m not gonna risk a fitting for a wooden kimono. I look too good with a pulse.

  SHADE

  You’d look good in anything.

  FAYE

  I like the fit of living too much to risk death might suit me.

  SHADE

  Don’t worry, baby. You’ll be burning for years to come.

  FAYE

  That’s what scares me, Jack.

  SHADE

  What do I always tell you?

  FAYE

  Leave the scaring to you.

  SHADE

  You always know your lines – my ones too. So just remember, we’re fireproof. Square?

  FAYE

  Square, Jack.

  Jack takes Faye in his arms and kisses her, but her gaze wanders to the other side of the folding screen.

  Orph is awake, listening. He hears the door open and close and as Faye’s shadow approaches the screen h
e snaps his eyes shut. She sits down on the edge of the chaise and leans over to kiss him until he opens his eyes.

  FAYE (CONT’D)

  Feeling any better, soldier?

  ORPH

  Basement floor reached up to smack me. How’d I get here?

  FAYE

  Eddie found you when he went downstairs to get a crate of the good stuff. We’ve got VIPs tonight.

  ORPH

  How come I think maybe Eddie was the one knocked me out?

  FAYE

  Eddie’s a thug but he’s all right.

  ORPH

  What’s the game, sister? What do you know that you’re not saying?

  FAYE

  It’s not safe for you here. You have to get out of this stinking town and find somewhere you can live a quiet life. That’s what you deserve.

  ORPH

  Maybe it ain’t what I want. Maybe I like the fire.

  FAYE

  It’ll burn you up, baby. Some of us are built to weather it, but not you. You’re too good, and goodness flames out fast. Promise you’ll leave.

  ORPH

  Not till I find out what happened to Ursula. I got this funny feeling she’s right here, in this very building, and maybe the two of you are fooling the rest of us, swapping parts.

  FAYE

  You’re talking crazy, Orph. You don’t know what you’re saying.

  ORPH

  For all I know you’re Ursula.

  FAYE

  Ursula’s gone, can’t you see that?

  ORPH

  And I gotta find out what happened to her. No one else seems to care.

  FAYE

  You’ll get yourself killed, soldier. It’d be a pity to lose what you spent so long trying to save.

  ORPH

  Sounds like a threat.

  FAYE

  Take it how you will.

  ORPH

  You’re not the Faye I used to know.

  FAYE

  I haven’t been that little girl for a long time.

  She leans over and kisses him again.

  FAYE (CONT’D)

  You better get lost now... Much as I’d like to keep you right here on my couch.

  ORPH

  I’m nobody’s lapdog.

  FAYE

  And I don’t have time to clean up after puppies.

  She stands, turning away from him. He rises from the chaise, holds his head, and steadies himself. He puts his hands on her shoulders and turns her back around to face him. They kiss again and this time, Faye seems to be losing control.

  ORPH

  How ’bout we both get lost?

  FAYE

  Jack would kill me. He’d kill you, too.

  ORPH

  You once told me Ursula was the dangerous one.

  Faye looks surprised.

  FAYE

  Did I? I don’t remember that.

  ORPH

  Said I had no idea what Ursula was capable of.

  FAYE

  Well I was right. You didn’t know her at all.

  There’s a knock at the door and from the other side the STAGE MANAGER calls out.

  STAGE MANAGER (O.S.)

  Places, Mrs. Plutone.

  FAYE

  I have to go. And I suggest you do as well. Get out of here, Orph, for your own sake.

  ORPH

  What about you?

  FAYE

  Me? I’ll go on burning till there’s nothing left.

  She checks her makeup once more in the mirror then opens the door, waiting for Orph to make his exit before she does. He pauses, brushing his lips against hers, but she turns away.

  After he leaves the dressing room, Faye closes the door again and lifts her hair to reveal a small birthmark on the back of her neck, a mole in the shape of an oak leaf. With a sponge she covers the mark with makeup until it disappears.

  INT. MALAVITA BACKSTAGE - NIGHT

  Orph watches Faye’s performance of ‘The Night We Called it a Day’. It might have been written as a ballad but she bites into the lyrics as if it’s a battle cry.

  From the wings, Orph peers out on the audience. Eddie and Jack and Woody Montez are entertaining a table full of hard men in cheap suits.

  ORPH (V.O.)

  I didn’t stick around for the end. I knew what Faye was telling me, and I knew I’d be a fool to expect anything different. But I wasn’t gonna give up so easy. Ursula was out there somewhere, and if she wasn’t, I knew someone close to me had a good idea what had happened to her.

  EXT. MALAVITA - NIGHT

  Orph slips out the stage door into the parking lot. Eddie Majestic’s car is still parked across the street but there’s no sign of Eddie as Orph folds himself up inside Ursula’s little coupe.

  EXT. WILSHIRE BLVD - NIGHT

  On neon-lit Wilshire, Orph parks outside his apartment building.

  Across the street another car pulls to a stop as though it’s been tailing Orph without him knowing it. The door pops open and out jumps a clean-cut YOUNG MAN in a dark suit and snap-brim hat. A blind man could pick him out as a federal agent.

  AGENT

  Corporal Patterson!

  Orph wheels around, peering at the other man as he slips from one pool of light to the next.

  AGENT (CONT’D)

  Corporal Patterson? Wonder if I might trouble you for a word?

  ORPH

  Who’s asking?

  The man reaches into the breast pocket of his jacket and pulls out a slim-line wallet that flips open to reveal the glinting badge of an FBI agent.

  ORPH (CONT’D)

  I haven’t done anything. Told the Fresno Sheriff all I knew. My wife just disappeared.

  AGENT

  This isn’t about Mrs. Patterson. It’s your brother...

  Orph looks around anxiously.

  ORPH

  Better come inside.

  INT. URSULA’S APARTMENT - NIGHT

  Upstairs in the apartment, Orph pours two glasses of bourbon without asking the Agent if he’d like one. The Agent shakes his head.

  AGENT

  Water for me, Corporal.

  ORPH

  You understand talking to you could get me killed. And if not me, then my wife, assuming she’s still alive. Woody Montez threatened to kill her if I went to the cops.

  AGENT

  We’ll look out for you, Corporal. Nothing will happen, not to you...

  ORPH

  Bet you say that to all the stoolies.

  AGENT

  Only innocent ones. I can’t speak to your wife. We were following her for a while but lost her some time ago.

  ORPH

  Following Ursula? Why? I don’t get it.

  AGENT

  We thought she might be open to persuasion. Friendly persuasion, of course. Someone who might know things she’d be willing to share. About your brother.

  ORPH

  Ursula doesn’t know anything.

  AGENT

  You’ve been away, Corporal. I think your wife knew more than it was safe to know.

  ORPH

  You’re suggesting Jack killed her?

  AGENT

  I can’t say that exactly. But if you could help us, we might be able to help her as well, assuming she’s still alive.

  ORPH

  Where do we start?

  AGENT

  With a list of everyone your brother knows – not just now, but from way back, even when you were kids. We think he’s running his money through connections so old we don’t know where to begin.

  ORPH

  This could take a while.

  The agent pulls out a notebook and pen and slides them across the table.

  ORPH (CONT’D)

  Suppose you want last names as well.

  AGENT

  Wouldn’t be much use without.

  ORPH

  I feel funny about all this.

  Orph begins to pull away, but the Agent puts a hand on Orph’s and the force of the other man’s
touch is enough to make him sit down, compose himself, and take up the pen. He begins scribbling a list of names. He writes for a long time, drinking his bourbon as the Agent watches.

  ORPH (V.O.)

  Every name I wrote down I heard kids from the old neighborhood yelling ‘Stoolie! Rat! Informer!’ When I was finished the agent took the notebook, slipped it in his pocket, and gave me his card.

  AGENT

  If you find yourself in trouble, or you think of anything else, just phone this number and I’ll come right away.

  After the Agent leaves, Orph starts trying to knock himself out with the contents of his personal bar. He slides against the window and stares now and then at the picture of Ursula propped on an end table. When the phone RINGS it tears open the silence. Orph’s arm jerks to lift the receiver.

  ORPH

  Not interested.

  URSULA (O.S.)

  Orph? Darling?

  ORPH

  What do you want, Faye?

  URSULA (O.S.)

  No, Orph, it’s me. It’s Ursula.

  ORPH

  Ursula, baby, where are you?

  URSULA (O.S.)

  You have to get away, Orph. I can’t talk. It isn’t safe. Leave right now. Before they kill you.

  ORPH

  Before who kills me? Ursula, just tell me where you are and I’ll come get you.

  URSULA (O.S.)

  You can’t trust Jack. I have to go. Promise me you’ll leave. I’ll find you one day.

  The line goes dead and Orph puts down the phone.

  ORPH (V.O.)

  All the instruments playing solos in my head started chiming in unison and for the first time I could almost work out the song. For whatever reason, Jack and Woody were trying to keep Ursula away from me. Maybe she ran because she was trying to protect me, or maybe she ran just to get away from my thug of a brother. Maybe she didn’t run fast enough. I tried to tune it in my head but every note came out sharp. Jack wouldn’t hurt Ursula. I was pretty sure he loved her just as much as I loved Faye. But at least I knew Ursula was still alive, and maybe I could save her...

  Looking out the window on the street below, Orph notices a car sleeping in the shadows, and then the blaze of a match that lights up the face behind the wheel. Even in the state he’s in, Orph can see that it’s Eddie Majestic.