THE LINCOLN LAWYER
Written by
John Romano
Based on the novel by
Michael Connelly
July 8, 2006
BANG IN FROM BLACK, FACE OF A MAN
MICKEY HALLER, 40, lawyer-- TIGHT on him, as morning light
flies across his features. He's fresh-shaved, neat suit,
gazes out with a stark/steady focus from the back seat of--
INT. LINCOLN TOWN CAR (MOVING) IN A HARD RAIN--
GRADUALLY FADE IN, under the SOUND of rain & freeway, his
DRIVER, black, 20s, low patter to which Mick barely listens--
EARL
I'm thinkin', when Not-Guilty-
Two gets to four thousand miles,
that's two cars ready, that's
enough to start the airport runs...
(then, realizing)
You gettin' any of this, Mr.
Haller?
Not this morning. Mick watches the rain without seeing it.
MICK
Just keep your speed up, Earl.
Earl kicks it, passes cars...
Mick takes a FILE from a stack beside him. Also laptop, cell-
phone rack: His back seat is his rolling office. Opens the
file. Top sheet:
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA v. LOUIS ROULET.
Tight on Mick. His eyes see back to the be innin CUT TO,
EXT. LINCOLN (MOVING) - BRIGHT SUN - ANOTHER MORNING
The town car sails along, bright glint off the surface
streets-- We HEAR HARD RAP, TUPAC SHAKUR-- CELL PHONE RINGS--
INT. LINCOLN (MOVING) - SAME TIME
MICK
Earl-- buds.
A command. Earl puts in earbuds, Rap cuts out. Into cell--
MICK (CONT'D)
This is Haller.
MAN'S VOICE OVER CELL
Where are you this morning?
2.
This time Mick's in a mussed suit, surrounded by newspapers,
open files, electric shaver, take-out coffee...
MICK
On my way to Lancaster for a
calendar call. Why, have you got
something?
MAN'S VOICE (VAL)
I got a franchise player is what.
Reaction Mick: He's heard it before...
VAL'S VOICE
I mean it, this guy could be money.
But he goes before the judge at
eleven.
MICK
Van Nuys by eleven could be hard--
VAL'S VOICE
But this client, listen Mick, his
mother's lawyer just waltzed in
HERE--
MICK
He's already got a lawyer?--
VAL'S VOICE
Strictly real-estate, doesn't know
his ass about criminal. Will you
listen?
MICK
GO AHEAD--
VAL'S VOICE
Guy waltzes in, ready to put up the
family's beach house in Malibu
against the million in bail...
MICK
A million? What'd they book him on?
VAL'S VOICE
He picked up a girl last night--
Whatever went down she ended up
pretty bad. Cops want Aggravated
Assault with G.B.I.--
MICK
Has the D.A. filed yet?
3.
VAL'S VOICE
No. See? I'm giving you ground
floor. So make it work for me,
Mick. Don't let him use the house,
get him to go for my bond--
Meanwhile the Lincoln's approaching the Lancaster courthouse,
there are cars, people-- a traffic jam. To Earl--
MICK
Bring me around to the employee's
gate, I'll talk my way in.
(into cell, writes)
I'm at the courthouse. Give me the
name.
VAL'S VOICE
That would be Louis Roulet...
(PRONOUNCED ROO-LAY)
R-O-U-L-E-T, like the wheel.
MICK
That's not how you spell the wheel
but I got it, thanks.
VAL'S VOICE
Remember: I steered him to you.
MICK
You're on my Christmas list, Val.
Lincoln swings abruptly to a steel gate. "EMPLOYEES."
INT. LANCASTER COURTHOUSE - COURTROOM - MINUTES LATER
MOVING with Mick through the press of lawyers, others, before
the Judge shows up, as a few PRISONERS are led into the
holding pen-- Mick picks out his client, HAROLD CASEY, 30s,
lanky, with a ponytail and skull & halo tattoo... Mick tries
catching his eye but Harold's clearly avoiding him...
MICK
Harold. Hard Case.
(HAROLD DUCKS)
Don't hide from your lawyer,
Harold, you know what I want to
talk about.
Caught, Harold slouches towards him.
4.
MICK (CONT'D)
Listen. when the judge comes in
he's going to want to know if we're
ready for trial...
HAROLD
We are.
MICK
We're not and you know why not. You
haven't paid me. Rule one, remember
Rule one, Harold? I get paid or I
don't work.
HAROLD
Don't worry, I have your money...
MICK
Right, you have my money, I don't.
HAROLD
It's coming. I talked to my boys.
MICK
Harold-- I looked at the list of
people I trust, and you know what?
You're not on it.
HAROLD
The law says you can't just quit.
The Judge won't let you. I looked
it up.
Mick's about to react to this jailhouse lawyering-- when a
hush falls, and the JUDGE comes out: ORTON POWELL, 60...
MICK
Pay close attention, Harold.
Goes to his seat...
INT. COURTROOM - MINUTES LATER
Harold's case has been called, Mick stands--
MICK
Mickey Haller for the defense, your
honor. If I may, I'd like to carry
this over.
JUDGE ORTON
Do you have a reason, Mr. Haller?
5.
MICK
I'm having trouble locating a
witness, your honor. An
indispensable witness. A Mr. Green.
With emphasis. A look goes between the Judge and Mick.
Meantime Harold stares from the pen. The Judge, to Mick--
JUDGE ORTON
How much time do you need? Would a
week be enough?
MICK
I hope so, your honor. As your
honor knows, Mr. Green can be hard
to track down.
A look of understanding. Judge nods--
JUDGE ORTON
I'm holding this over pending
notification from counsel...
Then gavels down, for the next case-- As Casey's led off,
Mick joins him along the rail-- He hisses--
HAROLD
That was bullshit, askin' for a
delay-- I know what that was about.
MICK
And so does Judge Powell. He spent
a lot of years as a defense lawyer,
so he knows all about having to
chase "Mr. Green," and he doesn't
look kindly on defendants who don't
pay their attorneys. Now do you get
it, Harold?
Casey won't look him in the eye-- RAP MUSIC IN AGAIN, TUPAC'S
"LIFE GOES ON"--
EXT. FREEWAY - LINCOLN (MOVING) - DAY
The black town car cruises south, past dry brown hills...
CELL PHONE RINGS AGAIN...
INT. LINCOLN MOVING - BACK SEAT
Earl, unasked, puts in his buds, as Mick answers the call--
6.
MICK
This is Haller.
LORNA'S VOICE
And this is your office.
INTERCUT: LINCOLN (MOVING)/ INT. LORNA'S CONDO -DAY
It's a one-bedroom in Studio City, Lorna's 33, redhead,
pretty as hell, works at her kitchen table in her bathrobe,
among breakfast dishes...
MICK
Actually I'm in my office. On my
way to court in Van Nuys.
LORNA
That means Val reached you about
his customer.
MICK
Oh yeah: "This is the franchise,
Mick." According to Valenzuela
every case is "the franchise." I'd
have paid my mortgage ten times
over by now--
LORNA
It could be he's right. I ran the
name, the family's got a real
estate business in Beverly Hills.
The Times has them down for some
big house sales, movie-star
dollars...
MICK
(CONSIDERS)
Sounds like the media might be
interested. Call Sticks, tell him
to show up. Any other calls?
LORNA
A couple of DUI's, I quoted them
the house number. That's it, you're
free after Roulet.
MICK
Good. Then I can go to County lock-
up.
Under which Mick sees Earl indicate something on the road...
while Lorna reacts to what Mick said, exasperated...
7.
LORNA
You're going to see Gloria. Why do
you waste time on her, Mickey?
Mick sees where Earl's pointing: SQUAD OF MOTORCYCLES,
HARLEYS, IN THE SIDE-VIEW MIRRORS... They pull up alongside:
gang jackets, black leather vests... Big guys...
EARL
Want me to do somethin' about this?
'Cause I can.
MICK
Ignore them, you're doing fine.
FACE OF THE LEADER OF THE MOTORCYCLES, leers at Mick through
window, as Mick ignores, answers Lorna re "Gloria":
MICK (CONT'D)
What can I say, Lorn, I've got a
soft spot for redheads. Why do you
think I married you?
LORNA
The divorce papers called it
temporary insanity.
MICK
Lucky for you there was a cure.
When-- Earl interrupts, insistent now--
EARL
Mr. Haller?
Calling his attention to-- THE MOTORCYCLES HAVE PULLED IN
FRONT. The leader signals Earl to pull off. Mick sees they're
surrounded. Shit.
EXT. OFF-RAMP FOR VASQUEZ ROCKS STATE PARK - CONTINUOUS
The Lincoln follows the Harleys off, PULLS TO A STOP in a lot
at the crest of the exit. Jagged rocks, craggy peaks.
The leader gets off his bike. EDDIE VOGEL, nearly 300 lbs.
Skull & halo patch on leather vest-- same as Harold's tattoo.
The "Road Saints." Mick lowers a window.
EDDIE
Counsellor, how's it hanging?
8.
MICK
Fine, Eddie, how's it with you?
EDDIE
(CASUAL)
Hard Case called me from the pen,
he said I might catch up to you.
Said you're stalling his case til
you see more green, is that right?
MICK
If you want me to work you've gat
to pay me.
EDDIE
We paid you. Five thousand.
MICK
That's long gone. I could tell you
half went to the aerial-photo
expert. He's going to blow the
state's case by showing that the
DEA violated the air space over
Harold's farm by flying too low...
but you don't need to know that.
All you need to know is, we had a
deal. Time to refill the tank.
Eddie smiles. Taps the side of the Lincoln.
EDDIE
Sure, gas-guzzler like this. I
heard you got three more. What's
one man need with four Lincolns?
MICK
EDDIE--
EDDIE
What? You want another five grand?
MICK
Ten. I'm flying the guy in from
Kodak in New York, he wants
business class...
EDDIE
And I want Harold back on the farm.
He's the best farmer we got, if you
know what I mean...
9.
MICK
I don't. And I don't want to.
Either pay me my money or go with
the Public Defender the judge finds
you. Of course he won't know much
about air space, but--
EDDIE
Keep your shirt on, Counsellor. We
want you.
He reaches into a vest with his big hand. Thick envelope.
Mick takes it. Starts to count, and realizes:
MICK
You had the whole ten ready. What
if you'd backed me down to five?
EDDIE
This vest got lots of pocket.
Eddie taps another pocket and GRINS. one tooth missing.
INT. VAN NUYS COURTHOUSE - HOLDING CELL - DAY
CAMERA MOVING ON: EIGHT MEN, prisoners in grey jumpers. Six
are black. Of the two white men, one's a wet-eyed, skanky
JUNKIE, 40s. The OTHER is a tall young man, somehow polished
even in prison outfit, definitely out of place here--
MICK
Louis Roulet?
LOUIS turns: the proverbial deer-in-the-headlights: Scared.
MICK (CONT'D)
My name is Michael Haller. I had a
call.
LOUIS
Yes-- Mr. Haller--
Mick stands behind a painted line three feet from the cell.
Signals Louis to come to the bars to talk. Louis approaches,
FREAKED--
LOUIS (CONT'D)
I-- called you because I need
SOMEONE--
10.
MICK
You want me to represent you for
your first appearance. I get twenty-
five hundred for that. We can work
out what comes next.
LOUIS
Thank you-- This is a set-up, Mr.
Haller-- I made a mistake with that
woman, she was setting me up--
MICK
Keep your voice down. And don't say
anything about the case, not til
I've got you out on bail. Okay?
Mick's voice, as always, is easy and calm. Louis nods.
MICK (CONT'D)
I understand your family lawyer's
in court?
LOUIS
That's him. Cecil Dobbs.
Points to-- DOBBS, balding dignified WASP, a few rows in.
MICK
Is he ready to post bail?
LOUIS
He'll do whatever he has to.
Mick nods, noting the tinge of desperation in Louis's voice.
Takes out a notebook...
MICK
Okay, tell me about yourself. How
old are you?
LOUIS
Thirty-two...
MICK
Ties to the community? You grow up
here, go to school?
LOUIS
Both. Beverly Hills, UCLA. I work
for my mother's business...
MICK
"Windsor Estates?"
11.
LOUIS
It's named for her second husband.
MICK
How much did you make last year?
(when Louis hesitates)
If I'm going to get you out I need
to know everything.
LOUIS
My taxes last year said four
hundred thousand.
Just then, the White Junkie lurches forward towards Mick--
JUNKIE
I want a lawyer too, you got a
card?
MICK
They'll have one for you out there.
I need you to back up and leave us
alone. Can you do that, pal?
Junkie backs off, does just what Mick says. Impressing Louis.
Then Mick, low-voiced--
MICK (CONT'D)
Listen. They've put some heavy
charges on you. The DA will
probably ask for No-Bail...
LOUIS
No bail?
Frightened voice, the others react, Mick hushes him, and...
MICK
I said they're going to ask it.
When was the last time you were
arrested?
LOUIS
Never.
MICK
So if I checked your record--
LOUIS
--you'd find parking tickets.
Mick looks briefly into the younger man's eyes-- he's scared,
fragile -- but sincere. He sputters--
12.
LOUIS (CONT'D)
This whole thing is--
MICK
We're not talking about the case,
remember? Not even to the judge.
LOUIS
Don't I even say "Not guilty?"
MICK
Today's about setting arraignment,
period. You say nothing.
LOUIS
Are you going to get me out?
MICK
I'm gonna try, Louis.
(THEN)
One more thing: There are lots of
lawyers. Why pick me?
LOUIS
I.. remembered your name from some
case in the papers...
MICK
What case?
LOUIS
A drug case, I don't know.
MICK
You remember the name or anything?
LOUIS
No-- but you got the evidence
thrown out against some guy-- Does
it matter?
(when Mick hesitates)
I need your help, Mr. Haller.
Off Mick, GO TO,
AN 8 X 10 PHOTO OF A WOMAN'S BEATEN-UP FACE. CLOSE.
Right eye bruised, swollen shut. Nose broken. Bloody gauze
protrudes from her nostril. Lip cut and swollen like a plum.
Gash over the right eye. Fear in her expression...
Studying it is ASSISTANT D.A. MAGGIE McPHERSON, 30s. We're:
13.
INT. ARRAIGNMENT COURT - PROSECUTOR'S TABLE - LATER
Maggie's in a navy suit, raven-black hair: smart and strong
and a beauty. Coming up behind her--
MICK
Are you the prosecutor who used to
have the Roulet case?
She starts to smile-- until his emphasis registers.
MAGGIE
Don't tell me. Son of a bitch,
Haller.
MICK
Rules are rules.
MAGGIE
I wanted this one...
(YIELDS)
Alright I'll go quietly. But after
today's hearing, if you don't
object.
MICK
Depends. You going for no-bail?
MAGGIE
That won't change with the
prosecutor. Not with what your guy
did.
With which she shows him the photo: gruesome.
MICK
If he did it.
MAGGIE
Sure. "If." They only picked him up
in her home with blood all over
him, but it's a valid question...
MICK
I love it when you're sarcastic.
Can I at least see the arrest
report?
MAGGIE
Get it from whoever takes over. No
favors on this one.
14.
Mick looks admiringly at Maggie. At her passion.
MICK
How's Hayley?
A beat. Off the sudden shift in topic, Maggie starts putting
away the things on her desk...
MAGGIE
She's good. She likes the things
you send her but would rather you
show up yourself...
MICK
How about this weekend?
This takes her by surprise. But she takes him up on it.
MAGGIE
Okay, I'll tell Hayley. Tonight.
Only Mick-- don't cancel on her.
CUT TO, INT. COURTROOM - LATER
A TV CAMERA is trained toward LOUIS in the HOLDING AREA, he
tries avoiding it... while MICK AND MAGGIE are ARGUING IN
FRONT OF THE JUDGE...
MICK
Judge, there is no way the state
can claim my client is a flight
RISK--
MAGGIE
With resources like this man has,
it's always a risk-- let alone the
fact that the victim was brutally
ASSAULTED--
JUDGE
Ms. McPherson, the extent of her
injuries are not the point. I'm
setting bail at a million
dollars...
Mick wins, Maggie loses. Exchange glances--
WE'RE-- INT. DOORS TO THE COURTROOM - MOMENTS LATER
Mick bangs out, always moving. Getting the door for him is
his friend, bail bondsman "VAL" VALENZUELA, excited--
15.
VAL
What'd I tell you, Mick, we got us
a franchise...
MICK
We'll see, Val...
VAL
There's the lawyer-guy, you get him
to go for the cash-bond...
MOVING from Val, Mick HEADS DOWN THE HALL, through the BUSY
CRUSH of attorneys, clients, spectators to-- DOBBS, waiting.
MICK
Cecil Dobbs?
DOBBS
Mr. Haller.
(They shake hands.)
It was depressing to see the boy
caught up in that cattle call...
MICK
Boy?
DOBBS
I've represented the family so long
I think of Louis that way.
MICK
He did look a little frail. My
advice is, let Mr. Valenzuela fix
you up with a bond and take "the
boy" home.
DOBBS
A bond? But Mrs. Windsor was
thinking of putting up property...
MICK
No good. Assessing it will take
days. By then Louis might be
carrying somebody's child.
(before Dobbs can argue)
So just tap Val for the bond,
spring Louis, and take him to your
office. We'll meet there at Four.
And heads off again. Dobbs follows him out, to...
0
16.
EXT. VAN NUYS COURTHOUSE, DAY - MICK AND DOBBS
Sunlight. Where Dobbs suddenly TENSES as he SEES: A TV
CAMERAMAN coming out with camera. Off Dobbs's reaction--
MICK
Yep. Media's already picked us up.
DOBBS
Mrs. Windsor's sensitive about the
press...
Mick, a beat. Then calls the cameraman over. When he comes--
MICK
I saw you in there filming. What's
your name?
CAMERAMAN
Rob Gillen. They call me "Sticks."
MICK
You freelancing on this, Sticks?
STICKS
Your client's got profile, I figure
I can sell it to local news.
MICK
How much?
STICKS
'Scuse me?
MICK
How much will they pay you for what
you shot today?
STICKS
That depends. Seven, seven-fifty.
MICK
Suppose we take it off your hands
for eight.
Sticks hesitates, like it's not the legit thing to do.
MICK (CONT'D)
Or do we make it a thousand.
17.
Sticks hesitates no longer. Takes the tape from the camera
and hands it to Mick... who's already counting out money from
the roll of cash Ted gave him. To Dobbs--
MICK (CONT'D)
I can expense this, right?
DOS
Of course. Absolutely.
Sticks takes the money, goes. Dobbs, impressed, beaming now--
DOBBS (CONT'D)
I'll admit, Mr. Haller, you weren't
my choice. You were Louis's.
Frankly I'd never heard of you. But
maybe I should have. Seems to me
I've underestimated you.
MICK
Then let's talk about my fees.
(before Dobbs can reply)
I'll need a hundred thousand up
front. Working off five-fifty an
hour, it'll come to another hundred
thousand if we go to trial. That's
estimating the trial at a week.
Appeals, we start over.
Mick's Lincoln pulls up smoothly to fetch him at the curb.
Mick, hand on the door--
MICK (CONT'D)
I take it that's not a problem.
Reaction Dobbs-- hesitates but has no choice. MICK GETS IN,
we GLIMPSE THE LINCOLN'S LICENSE PLATE: NT GLTY 2-- CUT TO,
INT. LINCOLN (MOVING) - RAP PLAYS, EARL DRIVES, AS:
LORNA'S VOICE
How'd it go, Mickey? We get the
case?
MICK
(into his cell)
We've got it if we want it. I'd
still like to know the state's
case, what they've got on him...
18.
LORNA'S VOICE
What's the difference? 'Course we
want the case...
Mick says nothing. Gaze out the window. Then...
MICK
I've got an hour til he's released.
Til then I'll be at county. With
Gloria.
(before she says anything)
Any calls?
LORNA'S VOICE
Only Sticks. He says he owes you
five hundred next time he sees you.
MICK
Yeah he does.
INT. VISITING AREA, COUNTY DETENTION CENTER, DAY - ON:
GLORIA
Mickey Mantle. You're going to bat
for me again?
GLORIA, redhead, 27 but good looks already fading-- greets
the arriving Mick in a client/attorney booth.
MICK
You don't even know who the Mick
was. You don't look good, Gloria.
GLORIA
Thanks. For coming, not for the
compliment.
Mick's already paging through her arrest-sheet, sees...
MICK
Something new for you, getting
booked on possession of coke, along
with the usual.
GLORIA
Dumb, I know. A guy paid me with
it, I had it on me when I went to
my next.
MICK
And your next was a cop.
19.
She shrugs/nods. Mick keeps turning pages, looking for a
break... while...
GLORIA
Can't you get me into one of those
rehab places where they get you
straight?
MICK
We did a pre-trial rehab, last
time. The D.A. won't go for it
again. You may have to do some jail
here.
GLORIA
I can't.
MICK
Yeah you can. They've got programs
in jail, too. Look, you've had a
long run. Maybe after this you can
finally get out of the life.
GLORIA
And do what? Have kids and plant
flowers? Look at me.
Mick doesn't have an answer. Opens a notebook, gets to work.
MICK
Okay, tell me what happened.
GLORIA
I did a guy at the Travel Lodge on
Santa Monica...
MICK
The one who paid you coke instead
of money?
GLORIA
He had a shitload in there. I saw.
Which gets Mick's attention. His wheels suddenly turning...
MICK
Do you know who he was?
GLORIA
No. He reached me on my website. He
was Mexican or something.
20.
MICK
(writes, likes this--)
Did you screen him?
GLORIA
Don't I screen 'em all?
MICK
off what, his driver's license?
GLORIA
No, his passport. I think his name
was, Hector, or--
MICK
Hector what? Last name. Think.
INT. CRIMINAL COURTS BUILDING, L.A. - D.A.'S OFFICE - DAY
MICK
Moya. Hector "Arrande" Moya is what
you get if you run a trace. He's
Colombian, a fugitive from a Grand
Jury indictment down in Florida.
The DEA wants him for drug
trafficking.
The D.A.'s LESLIE FAIRE: a woman, well-dressed, humorless.
MICK (CONT'D)
Leslie? They want him a lot.
LESLIE FAIRE
And your girl's looking to trade?
MICK
She'll give you his motel and room
number.
LESLIE FAIRE
She'll also have to testify on the
coke.
MICK
That's a No. Location only. Your
guys take it from there. My
investigator says Hector hasn't
checked out yet.
LESLIE FAIRE
(as she weighs it)
What's she want in exchange?
21.
MICK
You drop charges, and all she does
is a Pre-trial Rehabilitation. The
facility at USC-Med would be nice.
(when she hesitates)
Or do I take this straight to the
Feds?
Which, though veiled, is a threat. Leslie hates this.
INT. DOBBS'S CENTURY CITY LAW OFFICE - CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
HIGH FLOOR, TALL WINDOWS. DOBBS, ON THE CUT, lets in MICK.
Mick's checking the impressive room, vast views all the way
to the Pacific, as the OTHERS enter behind him: MARY WINDSOR
(distinguished, 60), LOUIS (suit, silk t-shirt, Ray-bans.)
Another man, 45, thickly built, enters at Mick's side.
MICK
Mrs. Windsor, this is Raul Levin.
Mr. Levin's my investigator.
Accepting this, everyone takes their place at the long,
blonde-wood conference table. Mick can't help run his hand
over the surface, everything's a contrast to his own on-the-
fly office... Dobbs, to Mrs. Windsor...
DOBBS
Mrs. Windsor, I can't commend Mr.
Haller highly enough for his
performance in court this morning.
Mary Windsor nods, provisionally pleased.
MARY WINDSOR
I have a check for you, Mr. Haller.
And slides it towards him in an envelope. Mick, tries not to
seem too much in a hurry as he glances inside--
ANGLE, we glimpse the amount, the zeroes... $100,000... BUT:
MICK
I'm going to need that to come from
your son, Mrs. Windsor.
(slides it back to her)
You can give him the money so he
can write the check. But I want the
check to come from Louis. He's my
client and that's got to be clear
from the start. No offense.
22.
She is offended-- but takes back the envelope, nods to LOUIS.
He takes out a checkbook, writes. Mick continues to Mary--
MICK (CONT'D)
Thank you. I'll expect you to
support your son through this in
other ways. If you're willing.
MARY WINDSOR
Don't be silly. I'll back my son
come hell or high water. These
ridiculous charges. That ridiculous
woman.
MICK
It's good to know you'll be there
when we need you.
MARY WINDSOR
But not now, is that it?
MICK
We'll be going over the case. The
D.A. could make you testify about
what you hear. Attorney privilege
doesn't cover you.
Mary Windsor's motionless a moment. Rather than respond, she
simply rises. To Louis--
MARY WINDSOR
I will see you at dinner.
And goes. Dobbs gets the door for her. When she's gone:
LOUIS
My mother built a good business.
From the ground up.
MICK
I've got no trouble believing that.
(after a beat)
I say we get started.
All agree, they sit, Mick starts up--
MICK (CONT'D)
Our first choice is whether we
waive our right to a speedy trial.
LOUIS
No. I want this behind me.
23.
MICK
You sure? You can stretch things
out, enjoy your freedom. Most
clients...
LOUIS
Guilty clients, you mean. I want
this over.
Mick's struck by how firm.
MICK
Fine. We go to trial right away.
Puts more pressure on the D.A.
DOBBS
Or maybe the case never even goes
to trial.
(They look at him.)
Our firm's clout is considerable.
Pressure can be brought to bear--
MI C K
Don't kid yourself, Cecil.
(to Dobbs and Louis)
No way the state is dropping these
charges. In fact, they've already
upped them-- to improve their
negotiating position.
LOUIS
There won't be any negotiating.
(before Mick can speak)
No plea bargain, no nothing. I'm
not going to jail for something I
didn't do.
MICK
It might not be jail.
LOUIS
Even if I walk. I'm innocent and if
there's a trial I want to get on
the stand and tell the jury I'm
innocent. If that's a problem we
can part company right now.
Mick looks at the young man. Evaluating. Then...
MICK
Time to tell me what happened.
Louis. Removes his Ray-Bans. SUDDENLY:
24.
WE'RE IN A BAR (MORGAN'S, STUDIO CITY)... NIGHT...
CAMERA MOVES among L.A. yuppies, night-players. The scene's
low-key but sexy, expensive... Waitresses roam...
LOUIS (V.O.)
I was having a drink at Morgan's,
Ventura Boulevard...
MICK (V.0.)
Morgan's, that's a singles bar,
right?
Camera finds LOUIS at the bar, checking out the action...
LOUIS (V.O. )
Right, nice place, good for pick-
ups. That's why I was there.
Looking to get laid, pure and
simple.
BACK TO, LAW OFFICE
Mick, to Raul, who's holding a dark blue file:
MICK
Raul, what's the file say about the
girl?
RAUL
(reads-- Chicago accent)
Regina Campo, goes by "Reggie."
Twenty six. An actress and a
telephone solicitor.
DOBBS
And hoping to retire. Soon as she
sues my client.
MICK
(ignores Dobbs; to Louis)
Did you know her before last night?
BACK TO, MORGAN'S, NIGHT... HAND-HELD, CLOSE ON...
REGGIE CAMPO, mid-20s, the finest sexual kitten imaginable,
humor enlivening her face and eyes and mouth, moving...
25.
LOUIS (V.O.)
I'd seen her around, but never
spoke to her. She was always with a
guy. She was with one last night.
She slows as she passes Louis, whispers, her lips brush his
face as she discreetly hands him something...
LOUIS (V. O.) (con t' d)
She just laid her address on me. On
a napkin.
MICK (V.0.)
But she was still with a guy?
Reggie returns to: THE GUY at the bar: 40s, hard like a vet.
LOUIS (V.0.)
I got it that she wasn't too into
her date. She told me he'd be gone
by ten if I was interested.
BACK TO, LAW OFFICE
LOUIS (CONT'D)
I didn't keep the napkin. I work in
real estate, I remember addresses.
MICK
Raul. Check that file you've got
and see if the Police report has
any of this.
While Raul looks, Mick explains to Louis and Dobbs, can't
hide some professional pride in Raul Levin's work--
MICK (CONT'D)
Raul's already worked us a little
miracle. He's managed to score a
copy of the discovery file,
everything the D.A.'s got. They'd
have to turn it over eventually but
it could have been weeks.
Under which, Raul's checked the blue file, and...
RAUL
Nope. They don't have the other
guy. They don't even have the bar.
MICK
All they've got is, Louis shows up
and beats the crap out of her?
26.
RAUL
That's it.
LOUIS
That is such bullshit--
MICK
Just keep telling me.
EXT. PARKING LOT, REGGIE'S APARTMENT COMPLEX... NIGHT...
LOUIS is sitting in a Porsche Carrera...
LOUIS (V.0.)
I didn't want to walk in on
anything, so I got there early.
His POV, shadow-figure of Hard-Guy approaching in the dark..
LOUIS (CONT'D)
I waited til the guy came out.
MICK (V.0.)
You see what he was driving?
LOUIS (V.0.)
A Corvette. Yellow.
Hard-Guy gets in the Corvette, pulls out.
MICK (V.0.)
So he leaves, and you go in...
INT. HALLWAY/ DOOR TO REGGIE'S APARTMENT... HAND-HELD...
Arriving up the stairs is Louis, knocks. A little while, and
the door opens a crack. Reggie, part of her face, peers out.
LOUIS (V.O.)
She saw it was me...
CONTINUOUS AS LOUIS ENTERS HER APARTMENT...
LOUIS (V. O.) (coast' d)
The hallway inside was tight. I had
to walk past her, y'know, so she
could close the door. So I had to
turn my back to her.
We SEE this, she's behind him... as we hear, simply...
27.
LOUIS (V.0.) (cont'd)
Then, that was it.
BACK SUDDENLY TO, LAW OFFICE. MICK, SURPRISED.
MICK
What was what?
LOUIS
She hit me with something and I
went down. It got black fast.
SUDDEN POP TO, LOUIS STRUCK FROM BEHIND... Blacking out as he
tumbles... BACK TO,
INT. LAW OFFICE
Conference table's silent. All looking at Louis.
MICK
Okay then. What do you remember
next?
LOUIS
Waking up with two guys sitting on
me. Holding me down.
QUICK CUT TO, REGGIE'S APARTMENT, LIVING ROOM...
TWO GUYS straddle Louis who is face down on the floor.
LOUIS (V.0.) (cont'd)
Couple of faggots from next door.
BACK TO, LAW OFFICE
RAUL
Police report has them, homosexual
couple from down the hall...
LOUIS
Like I said. Faggots.
To which Raul says nothing. After a beat--
MICK
Go on, Louis.
LOUIS
I was still foggy when the cops
came...
28.
BACK TO, LIVING ROOM... Louis is cuffed by now, hands behind
him, COP looms over...
LOUIS (V.O.) (cont'd)
She was on the couch telling all
these lies...
PARAMEDICS work on Reggie's bloodied face while, to a FEMALE
COP (MAXWELL), through sobs, still frightened--
REGGIE
.he was like an animal! He said
he'd rape me and kill me... then
rape me again when I was dead...
Louis looks around at his left hand in a plastic ba Bloody.
LOUIS (V.O. )
That's when I saw she'd set it up.
BACK TO, LAW OFFICE.
MICK
Set it up how?
LOUIS
Put blood on my hand. My left hand.
But I'm right-handed, I'd use my
right if I was going to... punch
someone. Which is crazy.
Louis mimes throwing a punch, in the air. Inept.
DOBBS
Louis never hit anyone in his life.
RAUL
What she did made sense. It's the
right side of her face that was
hit, she had to bloody your left.
MICK
Louis: You said she opened the door
a crack. Did you see her face?
LOUIS
Not all of it...
CUT TO, DOOR OF REGGIE'S APARTMENT... OPENING AGAIN...
It open a crack. Enough for her look out, half her face...
29.
LOUIS (V.0.) (cont'd)
Mainly her eye. Her left eye.
RAUL (V.0.)
That's it!...
BACK TO, LAW OFFICE. Raul... mimes the opening of the door...
RAUL (CONT'D)
She already had the injuries, on
the right. She was hiding it from
him when he steps in...
MICK
And then she clocks him?
LOUIS
Yes.
MICK
So our case is, she beat herself
up?
Mick takes the file, takes the 8xl0s, REGGIE'S PULPED FACE...
MICK (CONT'D)
We're saying, she pounded her face
into hamburger meat, or had her
boyfriend do it, hoping some far-
off day a jury would give her a big
fat reward?
LOUIS
She must have.
DOBBS
Of course. She saw his Porsche, his
Rolex, it's known the family has
money... I'll wager she's already
filed in civil court.
Mick. Thinks. Then, to Raul--
MICK
Okay, the police report. Let's hear
how Reggie tells it.
CUT TO, INT. DOORWAY TO REGGIE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
She's opened a crack, peering out... Raul reads...
30.
RAUL (V. 0. )
"According to the victim, she was
at home alone when the suspect
presented himself at the door as
someone she knew..."
Louis is there, talks MOS. Reggie opens the rest of the way.
RAUL (V.0.) (cont'd)
"Upon letting him in, she was
immediately struck..."
WHICH WE SEE: The vicious repeated pounding of her face,
bloodying her, but it's too fast & jumbled for details...
MICK (V.0.)
Does it say he knocked her down?
She falls... Louis flies down on top of her...
RAUL (V.0.)
Yeah, then straddled her. "Held the
victim by the neck until she agreed
to cooperate..."
Louis does as described, strangle-hold... Eventually lets her
up, turning her toward the bedroom. And...
RAUL (V.O.) (cont'd)
"The suspect maintained a position
behind her, holding a knife against
the left side of her throat..."
CLOSE, HAND-HELD, KNIFE-POINT TO NECK, SLIGHT CUT, BLOOD...
RESUME, INT. LAW OFFICE.
Raul takes something new from the file: PHOTO OF A BLOODY
KNIFE. Sharpened to a point. Louis looks at it. Seethes.
LOUIS
This isn't my knife.
MICK
Raul, are his prints on there?
RAUL
That's what the report says. I'm
not surprised, if she put blood on
his hands she's gonna put prints on
his knife...
31.
LOUIS
I told you, it's not "my" knife!
Mick ignores, still intent on Raul's reading...
MICK
Okay, how's she say he went down?
RAUL
"As Ms. Campo entered the hallway,
she pushed the intruder backwards
into a large floor vase..."
GO TO, INT. REGGIE'S APARTMENT - LOUIS FALLING...
And Reggie scurrying free... STAY ON the fallen Louis as...
RAUL (V.0.)
"Realizing her attacker would catch
her at the front door, she ducked
into the kitchen and seized a
bottle of vodka..."
Louis, struggling to his feet, HIT ON THE HEAD from behind..
MICK (V. D. )
And clonked him when he got up?
RAUL (V.0.)
That's how she tells it.
RESUME, INT. LAW OFFICE
LOUIS
Those are all lies, this is bull--
MICK
If everything she said is a lie,
this will be the easiest case ever.
I'll tear her apart and throw her
entrails into the sea. But Louis...
(He moves closer, for:)
You swear it's all lies? Is there
anything you aren't telling me?
Mick's eyes burn into him. Louis answers simply.
LOUIS
Nothing.
Mick holds him in a long, hard, assessing stare. Over which,
eventually, we PRE-LAP--
32.
MICK (V.O.)
The way Louis tells it...
INT. BAR (SMOKEHOUSE) - NIGHT - THE ENTRANCE
MICK
.it's just quirky enough.
Mick and Raul coming out, after having a few. It's a lawyers'
hangout at this hour, others are coming/going...
RAUL
Quirky enough for what?
MICK
To be true. Maybe it went down just
like he says.
(off Raul's look)
Anyway there's a. chance.
In a party of law-types, we GLIMPSE MAGGIE, who catches sight
of Mick in the doorway... while Raul mulls what Mick said...
RAUL
An innocent client. Jeezus.
MICK
Yeah. But you know what my father
said about innocent clients...
Maggie's overheard this, gives the answer.
MAGGIE
He said there's no client as scary
as an innocent man.
Mick, seeing her, smiles and continues, a little tipsy...
MICK
That's right. Because if you screw
up and he goes to prison, it scars
you for life. There's only one
verdict. You've got to put an N.G.
on the board.
(ADDS)
Hey Mags.
She reads the state he's in.
33.
MAGGIE
Raul, if you let a man drive in his
condition I think I can charge you
both.
The guys look at each other. Maggie swipes the keys--
MAGGIE (CONT'D)
I'll drive him to his house.
RAUL
And how will you get home?
MAGGIE
My friends brought me. I'll keep
the car, he can pick it up at my
place in the morning.
(TO MICK)
Get in.
And she gets in the driver's side, waits. Mick to Raul--
MICK
Okay, you know the moves. Make the
rounds, check out Morgan's Bar...
RAUL
And Mr. Corvette...
MICK
And Regina Campo. The way Louis
says she came on's got me
wondering.
Mick gets in and closes the door. As Maggie starts it up and
pulls away, and we SEE the "NT GLTY" PLATES again... go to...
INT. LINCOLN (MOVING) - NIGHT
Ride in silence. Then Mick, mischievous, turns on the RAP.
TUPAC
"God bless the dead and buried
nigga,
Don't worry if you see God first,
Tell him shit got worse..."
MAGGIE
You've got to be kidding me.
MICK
Earl lays this stuff on me.
34.
MAGGIE
Where is Earl tonight?
MICK
I never keep him this late.
MAGGIE
Hasn't he worked your fee off yet?
MICK
A while ago. But he likes driving,
keeps him out of trouble... He's
taking courses, too, in music.
MAGGIE
You can't tell by this stuff.
She snaps the rap OFF.
MICK
You get used to it. Besides, Tupac,
he helps me understand my clients.
Most of them go to school on his
LYRICS--
MAGGIE
Not Roulet.
MICK
Not Louis, no. Louis is my
franchise player, he pays for all
the rest...
After a beat... Office gossip...
MAGGIE
I heard Smithson assigned Ted
Minton to your case.
MICK
Never heard of him.
MAGGIE
He's brand new. Bright, though.
Smithson's protegee. Naturally.
Georgetown, buys his suits at
Brooks, above all he's a guy...
Mick looks over at her, as she flares, calms... Moonlight
lines her profile. Made self-conscious by his watching her,
she moves her hair from her face. Beyond pretty: Beautiful.
35.
MICK
Lorna made me my schedule.
Saturday's fine to take Hayley.
MAGGIE
Saturday there's the Sponge-Bob
movie...
MICK
I'm all over it. How's she doing?
MAGGIE
I'll know when I drop you and get
home to relieve the sitter...
(catches him looking)
What?
MICK
Moonlight becomes you.
MAGGIE
(GLANCES)
That's not doing me any good,
Haller.
EXT. MICK HALLER'S HOUSE, LAUREL CANYON - DARK - NIGHT
The Lincoln pulls up. Mick gets out but stands there.
MICK
Thanks.
She nods You're welcome. And pulls away. Mick's smile fades
as he looks up at his dark lonely house.
INT. MICK HALLER'S HOUSE - MOMENTS LATER - ON:
AN ANSWERING MACHINE, he's just hit Play. BEEP.
VOICE OF A CHILD (HAYLEY)
Daddy, Mommy said I could call and
say G'night. Sorry you're not
there. G'night, Daddy.
MICK
Me too, baby.
Then Mick hits "Play" again. BEEP.
VOICE OF HAYLEY
Daddy, Mommy said I could call...
36.
Off a FRAMED PHOTO: HAYLEY, B, curls, Irish eyes...
EXT. LATER - NIGHT - VIEW FROM MICK'S PORCH
Mick's got a drink in his hand. Below: L.A. is spread out:
Wide, white scattering of lights. Above: Stars.
INT. COURTROOM, COMPTON COURTHOUSE - MORNING - ON:
JUDGE FLYNN, 60
(put-on Irish brogue)
Top o' the mornin', Mr. McGinley!
You know what day it is?
Mick's client, DARIUS McGINLEY, black, 2B: In chains. Mick is
beside him, as he answers, confused--
DARIUS
The day I get my sentence?
JUDGE FLYNN
That too. But it's also St.
Patrick's Day. A day to revel in
your Irish heritage.
Darius doesn't get Flynn's joke. Mick cautions Darius, low--
MI CK
He's an asshole but just be cool.
Darius scowls... under which Mick notices that RAUL has
showed up, is trying to get his attention... while...
JUDGE FLYNN
Do you know the origin of your
name, Mr. McGinley?
DARIUS
Slave-holder, I 'spect. Why do I
care who that motherfucka be?
MICK
Darius I told you--
DARIUS
The man's dissin' me!
JUDGE FLYNN
(GLARES)
Alright: If you don't care about
your name, then I don't.
(MORE)
37.
JUDGE FLYNN (cont'd)
Let's get on with your sentence for
the sale of rock cocaine and get
you off to prison, shall we?
Darius, pissed. Raul waves to Mick, wants to talk...
INT. COMPTON COURTROOM - LATER - ANGLE...
Darius led off by guards-- Mick, defeated, confronts Raul.
MICK
What couldn't wait, Raul?
RAUL
(brightens a little)
Wanna see a movie?
CUT TO, FULL SCREEN: B&W VIDEO PLAYS, SHOWS: MORGAN'S, NIGHT
FIXED DOWNWARD ANGLE on the bar, near the cash register.
Tending bar, two hot young women, jeans, white t-shirts...
FRAME-COUNTER ticks off, bottom right: 8:11 P.M., MARCH 6.
RAUL'S VOICE
We caught a break. The owner had a
camera installed to watch his
register after he caught the help
dipping in last year...
MICK'S VOICE
And here comes Louis.
Said as LOUIS enters frame, sits. MOS, orders a drink. We're:
INT. BACK SEAT, LINCOLN (PARKED), DAY: WATCHING ON A LAP-TOP:
While Earl stands outside the car, as if on guard. . .Raul
points out the action, working the keys...
RAUL
I had the tape transferred to disc,
so I could manipulate, y'know...
Raul starts to ZOOM... Shows Mick, on the SCREEN...
RAUL (CONT'D)
I'd like you to meet Reggie Campo.
38.
FULL SCREEN VIDEO IMAGE AGAIN - MORGAN'S, NIGHT
ZOOMING IN on REGGIE AND HER GUY, over drinks... FREEZES.
RAUL'S VOICE
And Mr. X. The Corvette-man.
MICK'S VOICE
Are you sure?
RAUL'S VOICE
Wouldn't have popped a grand for
the tape if I wasn't. Now watch...
STARTS PLAYING IMAGE AGAIN, widen to full shot.
RAUL'S VOICE (cont'd)
Nothing for like a half-hour...
He RACES THE TAPE FORWARD... Time code FLIES... He slows it
as it reaches 8:40, 41, 42...43.
RAUL'S VOICE (cont'd)
Then... Here.
Mr. X gets up, with pack of cigarettes, goes...
MICK'S VOICE
I know the place. They got a
smoking porch out front.
RAUL'S VOICE
That's where he goese. Giving
Reggie her chance. Watch her.
She passes behind Louis, trails her hand along his
shoulders... keeps going out of frame...
MICI{' S VOICE
That's not how he said it went
down. He said she gave him her
address, on a napkin...
RAUL'S VOICE
Whoa, wait, she just went to the
little girls'. But she's gotta come
back, no?
And NOW HE FAST-FORWARDS TAPE AGAIN... And this time she
stops by Louis, speaks into his ear, presses her body against
him... Louis nods, takes something from her... Reggie kisses
his cheek quickly, continues on... Rejoins X at the bar.
39.
INT. BACK SEAT, LINCOLN, DAY - CONTINUOUS
MICK
(takes it in, excited)
Do the cops have this?
RAUL
How can they? I got the one and
only. It ain't a copy.
MICK
You're exceedingly beautiful.
RAUL
Wait.
(speeds the tape again)
.Reggie and X decide to split...
VIDEO IMAGE AGAIN - REGGIE RISING, WITH GUY
Guy takes a final swig, finishing drink... they exit frame.
RAUL'S VOICE
Check out his hand, his watch.
MICK'S VOICE
It's on his left. That's no good...
INT. BACK SEAT, LINCOLN, DAY
MICK
It means he's right-handed. But the
facial blows were from the left...
RAUL
Slow down. You said you knew
Morgan's. So you oughta realize...
(as Mick stares)
This image is in the mirror over
the bar. That's how the owner set
the camera to watch his register.
MICK
So everything's backwards...
RAUL
And X punches with his left.
40.
MICK
I told you you were beautiful.
Anything else?
RAUL
Yeah. But it's not on the tape.
You know how you were wondering
about Regina?
MICK
Yeah?
Raul just looks at him. Off Mick,
HARD CUT TO, EXT. STREET, BEVERLY HILLS, DAY - THE LINCOLN...
Jams/wedges its way through traffic, to halt at the curb.
MICK exits, heads towards... into...
INT. WINDSOR ESTATES, OUTER OFFICE - CONTINUOUS
Behind the reception desk is ROBIN, tan/sexy blonde, hair
hanging straight over one eye like a scythe...
MICK
Mickey Haller. Here to see Louis.
ROBIN
Mr. Roulet is with someone. He
can't be disturbed.
It's like he doesn't hear her-- walks calmly past her-- to --
THE DOOR TO LOUIS ROULET'S OFFICE- Mick ENTERS, finds Louis
with his loafers off, on the couch with his cell-phone
cradled to his ear. Robin chases behind...
ROBIN (CONT'D)
I'm sorry, Mr. Roulet, this man
just came back here--
LOUIS
It's okay, Robin. You can go.
Robin exits. Louis mutters an apology into his cell-phone and
rings off. Looks annoyed at Mick.
LOUIS (CONT'D)
I was setting up a showing.
41.
MICK
There won't be any showings in
Pelican Bay.
LOUIS
Where's that?
MICK
It's a supermax prison where they
send violent sex offenders. You'll
fit in real good in your loafers.
LOUIS
What's the matter?
MICK
You lied to me, Louis. I'm about to
go and see the new prosecutor,
who's doing everything he can to
put you away, and now I find out
you've been lying.
(before Louis can deny)
Tell me about Reggie Campo.
LOUIS
What about her? I've told you--
MICK
You didn't tell me. That you were
going to pay her for sex.
(off Louis's surprise)
You think it's hard to find out
somebody's not Snow White?
LOUIS
Alright yes, I was going to pay.
She wrote down a price on the
napkin, four hundred dollars...
MICK
Why didn't you tell me this in
Cecil's office?
LOUIS
I didn't want my mother to know.
Cecil tells her everything. And can
we keep it down? Her office is on
the other side of that door...
Mick looks at Louis's concern. Believes it. Easing up...
42.
MICK
This changes things. You see that,
don't you?
LOUIS
I'm not a lawyer. Explain it to me.
MICK
Alright I will. You know that guy
on the Venice boardwalk? The one
who has all those plates spinning
on sticks?
LOUIS
What does this have to do with--
MICK
Just listen. A bunch of spinning
plates: that's the state's case. In
the middle is a big one. It's a
fucking platter. And if that falls
it takes the others down with it.
(He gets closer to Louis)
The big plate is the victim. The
only witness against you. I knock
her down, the act is over and the
crowd goes home. No trial.
Mick has Louis' attention now.
LOUIS
You can make this trial go away?
MICK
We've lost time. You concealed from
me the fact that could do it. It
comes down to why.
LOUIS
Why what?
MICK
Why would a guy with a Porsche and
a Rolex need a knife to get sex
from a woman who sells it anyway?
The answer is, he wouldn't. And
when you see that you see the set-
up, the trap. And suddenly it's the
defendant who looks like the
victim.
Louis gets it. Penitent.
43.
LOUIS
You're going to the prosecutor now?
MICK
Yes. Young hot-shot named Ted
Minton. He wants to give me the
discovery file. Poor guy doesn't
know that Raul already got it. He's
new to felonies but he's no dope.
When he hears his vic's a hooker
he'll know we've knocked all his
plates down.
LOUIS
Then it'll be over?
MICK
No promises, Louis.
Louis closes his eyes, savors the prospect. Then sees Mick to
the door. When he opens it: MARY WINDSOR's there. Surprised
to see Haller.
MRS. WINDSOR
I didn't know you were here. Is
there news?
LOUIS
There will be, Mother.
And puts out a hand to Mick. Grateful. Hesitating half a
beat, Mick shakes it and goes...
Louis and his Mother. Regard each other. Face to face.
INT. VAN NUYS CIVIC CENTER - D.A.'S OFFICE, RECEPTION - DAY
Mick in a chair. Impatient. Legal secretaries, prosecutors,
etc., come and go, when-- a guy Mick recognizes, DETECTIVE
KURLEN, fat, 40, approaches a desk with a stack of papers--
SECRETARY
Are these for A.D.A. Knight?
KURLEN
Yeah, and they're my only copies.
I'll wait while you copy them.
SECRETARY
I'll have to ask her...
But, he holds them back. Stares. She yields...
44.
SECRETARY (CONT'D)
I'll run them for you now.
KURLEN
Just what I wanted to hear.
She goes. Mick tries to avoid Kurlen-- but too late--
KURLEN (CONT'D)
Well, look who's come callin'.
MICK
Detective Kurlen.
KURLEN
(re papers he dropped off)
Puttin' a case away. Guy drowned
his neighbor's kid in a tub to see
what it felt like. It won't shock
you to hear he was high...
MICK
Thanks for clearing that up.
KURLEN
If he gets San Quentin, maybe he
can look up your boy Jesus
Martinez.
Mick bristles at this reference. Turns away again. To a
PASSING SECRETARY:
MICK
(to a passing secretary)
Is Minton back yet?--
SECRETARY #2
He'll be a few more minutes, sir.
Kurlen, seeing he's drawn blood, continues to needle.
KURLEN
How's he doin' up there, anyway? He
make the pucker-up-and-kiss-me
team?
MICK
I haven't talked to him.
KURLEN
I guess once they plead guilty,
they're not much use to you.
(MORE)
45.
KURLEN (CONT'D)
(rubbing it in)
He went down forever, right?
MICK
He got life, but he'll be out. I
don't know when.
KURLEN
Too bad. 'Cause his victim, Martha
Renteria? She's dead forever.
MICK
You don't have to remind me you
were lead dick on that.
Kurlen grins. Shakes his head.
KURLEN
How's a guy like you sleep at
night? With the scum you represent.
Mick's had enough. Moves closer. To tell him a story.
MICK
I had a client once, he decapitated
his ex-wife, then kept her head in
the refrigerator.
KURLEN
(DISGUSTED--)
Naturally you got him off.
MICK
The D.A. got greedy. Tried to pile
on two unsolved murders, trick up
evidence to stick my guy with them.
It's called the justice system, we
don't do things that way.
KURT. EN
So your guy's out walkin' around.
He ever do it again?
MICK
I don't know. I never heard of him
after that.
KURLEN
But he could have. Fuck you,
Haller.
MICK
(THE POINT:)
No. Fuck the D.A.
46.
Before Kurlen can react-- TED MINTON arrives. Fresh-faced,
Ivy League, 30.
TED
Mr. Haller?
(Mick stands, relieved.)
Sorry you had to wait. I hope it'll
be worth your while.
He gives Mick a thin, white-covered file from a briefcase.
Mick, leaving the still-sneering Kurlen behind, takes the
file and follows Minton off-- tapping the file with a finger--
MICK
Looks kinda thin for a discovery
FILE--
TED
Yes well-- We can go to my office--
MICK
I've got a question first.
He takes from his pocket: Raul's DISC. The DVD Raul gave him.
MICK (CONT'D)
You have something to play this on?
INT. TED MINTON'S OFFICE - AT HIS DESK - MOMENTS LATER
ANGLE the young prosecutor's face as he watches the bar-tape.
And Mick watching him for his reaction...
When it's done, Ted clicks it OFF. Not much reaction at all.
TED
What else do you have?
The simple, polite question throws Mick.
MICK
Look Ted, let's cut the bullshit.
Not only is your so-called victim a
working prostitute, but we've got
her on tape soliciting my client!
Maybe you're new, but you gotta
know how hard it's gonna be to
convince a jury a guy would have to
rape a hooker to have sex with her--
47.
TED
Nothing you're telling me's going
to change my offer.
MICK
Offer? You're making an offer?
going forward?
Not the way Mick thought it would go. Ted goes on...
TED
We'll drop the charges to Assault
with a Deadly and Attempted Sexual
Battery. The guidelines put him at
seven years, maybe he'll do four.
Mick, uncertain now, doubts himself for the first time...
MICK
.What am I missing here?...
Ted stays innocent-looking. Blank.
EXT. GRIFFITH PARK - KID'S AREA, PONY RIDES - SATURDAY
MICK with his daughter, HAYLEY, 8. Mick's ON A BENCH near
where Hayley waits on line for the next pony...
EARL approaches from the refreshment stand with an ice-cream
for Hayley and one for himself. Kids playing everywhere, a
MINIATURE TRAIN chugs past... but Mick's lost in thought, his
beat-up briefcase open, he's working.
EARL
Got you the good stuff, Hayley...
HAYLEY
Thank you, Earl.
Just then a little girl gets off a pony. The attendant holds
it for Hayley.
EARL
Man's got your ride ready...
MICK
Go on, I'll hold your ice cream.
Excited, Hayley goes. The attendant lifts her up and on, and
The pony carrying Hayley joins the others in the wide ring...
Mick watches her for a moment, waves-- then, balancing the
ice cream, returns to his files--
48.
MICK (CONT'D)
There's something right in front of
me and I'm not seeing it.
On his lap he's spread out: PAGES from the TWO FILES: the
blue-covered one Raul gave him. The white-covered from Ted.
Mick starts turning pages, compares... The same, the same...
When he turns the next one over:
It's the page Raul gave him showing the PICTURE OF A KNIFE,
the picture we saw in Cecil Dobbs' office.
Turns to the matching page from Ted's file. Reaction Mick...
HARD CUT TO, EXT. LINCOLN (MOVING) - COUNTRY CLUB - LATER
In the parking lot, pulls up. Louis is in front of the club,
golf-clothes, waiting. Comes out to meet the Lincoln...
INT. LINCOLN, BACK SEAT - SAME TIME
HAYLEY
You said we',re going to the movies!
You promised me last week!
MICK
Daddy's got to talk to somebody.
You stay with Earl.
Mick gets out, Hayley stays...
EXT. LINCOLN - CONTINUOUS
Louis hurries over, as far from the clubhouse as possible, in
order not to be seen or heard-- eager--
LOUIS
What's happened? Is it over? You
said it would be over by now--
MICK
That was before I found out you
were still lying to me.
He shoves a sheet at Louis. Louis looks: PICTURE OF A KNIFE,
but DIFFERENT from the knife-picture we saw before.
49.
MICK (CONT'D)
You know what that is? It's a
picture of your knife. The one you
had on you when you went to Reggie
Campos. The one the cops have.
Look at the blood on the blade.
Look at the initials.
Louis is stuck for an answer--
MICK (CONT'D)
That's why Ted Minton didn't care
when I told him Reggie's a
prostitute. What's it matter, when
he's got a knife with her blood and
your initials on it?
LOUIS
This wasn't the knife in the file--
MICK
(scowls, sore)
That's right. The file Raul got us
was a loaded deck. The cops must
have been on to him, because they
used it to set us up. So we'd think
they had nothing, when in fact they
had enough to put your Hugo Boss,
golf-playing ass away for twenty
years!
Mick looks back towards the car, parked maybe 20 yards off.
He sees HAYLEY in the backseat looking out. So does Louis.
Mick sees him looking her way...
Feeling the man's look, Hayley sits back. Out of sight. A
moment... then Mick resumes. Cold and firm.
MICK (CONT'D)
Explain to me why you lied about
the knife.
LOUIS
I didn't lie. I said the one in the
picture wasn't mine.
Mick frowns/grins at the answer...
LOUIS (CONT'D)
I said it twice! Nobody listened!
50.
MICK
(MOCKING)
What are you now, a lawyer? A
clever, third-rate fucking lawyer
with smart-ass technicalities? "You
said it wasn't yours"-- What you
should have said was, "I had a
knife but this isn't it!" What did
you think, it would just go away?
(closing in on him)
You brought a murder weapon to a
meeting with a prostitute, Louis!
How am I supposed to make that look
like she set you up?
LOUIS
1. Did. Not. Do this.
Off which, Mick stares hard at Louis. At his frightened look.
Then tries-- slowly-- as if for the last time--
MICK
Then kindly tell me why you went to
her apartment with a custom-made
knife, serrated tip, with "LR"
engraved on the blade?
LOUIS
I always carry it.
For a moment, Mick takes this in. Echoes.
MICK
You always carry it.
LOUIS
Yes. In real estate we show homes,
to people we don't know. This one
time...
He stops. Like it's difficult. Then goes ahead...
LOUIS (CONT'D)
My mother. She was showing a place.
It was in Bel-Air, so she thought
it was okay to go alone, even
though there was a man at the time
who had raped some women that way.
He was there.
MICK
Who was there?
51.
LOUIS
The man. He raped her. When she
didn't come back, I went to the
house and found her.
Mick. Stirs. Like he's seeing a possibility...
LOUIS (CONT'D)
That's when she stopped showing
property. I do the selling now. And
I started carrying a knife. Always.
Mick turns it over. Finally...
MICK
That's quite a story, Louis.
(BEAT)
Your mother will have to testify.
LOUIS
We don't want that.
MICK
(COLD)
I don't give a damn what you think
we want. From now on you do what I
tell you while I try this case. Do
I make myself clear?
Louis is silent. Mick looks off. Towards Hayley, in the car.
INT. DOOR OPENING TO: MAGGIE'S HOUSE, STUDIO CITY - NIGHT
ON THE CUT she OPENS TO MICK CARRYING HAYLEY IN HIS ARMSi
fast asleep but still clutching a carton of movie popcorn...
INT. KITCHEN
Maggie leads Mick-with-Hayley through, Hayley snuggles
further in her father's arms. As they continue...
MICK
If she wasn't so darn heavy I'd
carry her all night, I swear.
MAGGIE
Defense lawyers will swear to
anything...
52.
INT. LIVING ROOM, LATER - MICK AND MAGGIE
He's at the door about to go. Maggie delays him with,
MAGGIE
You look like you're in a daze.
MICK
It turned into a rough week. Being
with Hayley was the only high.
She can't find anything to say. As he heads out again...
MAGGIE
Nobody's seen you at Four Green
Fields lately.
MICK
I stopped going. Too much of a
scene.
MAGGIE
Yeah well. If you start going
again.
Now she has his attention.
MICK
If I start again, what?
She's awkward. Smiles, shrugs to cover--
MAGGIE
Bunch of us from the office are
there. Tuesdays, after work.
An invitation. S-zrprising him.
MICK
I'll keep it in mind.
MAGGIE
Okay.
MICK
Okay.
After more awkwardness, goes. She closes the door. CUT TO,
53.
INT.'FOUR GREEN FIELDS' (LAWYERS' BAR) - MONDAY - EVENING
Noisy, drinking CROWD of legal types-- We're MOVING through
it-- Don't realize it at first but it's--
MICK'S POV-- he's trying to shoulder his way through towards--
A BOOTH OF WOMEN from Maggie's office--
Maggie sees him, lights up a little--
MAGGIE
Haller! Let him in, girls! Buy you
a beer?
MICK
You won't make it to the bar...
MAGGIE
Then let's share this.
They fight to a table for two, edge of the crowd. When he
balks at sipping from her glass--
MAGGIE (CONT'D)
We've had a taste of each other
before.
He laughs a little, reads that she's had a few. He drinks.
MAGGIE (CONT'D)
Feeling a little better tonight? Or
did Ted Minton sandbag you?
MICK
(How'd she know?)
Yeah, that's exactly what--
MAGGIE
With that guy Corliss, right? I
told them using that dirtbag was a
bullshit play. But you'll take the
the guy's head off on the stand...
Mick's off-guard, doesn't know what she's talking about.
MAGGIE (CONT'D)
(catches herself, giggles)
Whoops, I shouldn't say that...
MICK
(to keep it alive)
So Ted talked to you about Corliss?
54.
MAGGIE
Huh? It was me who sent him to Ted.
Corliss thought it was my case
because I handled first appearance.
(sees Mick is too eager)
I'm telling you too much.
MICK
Nah, nothing I don't know, they
always use a professional snitch...
(when she doesn't bite)
I mean Corliss has done this
before, right?
MAGGIE
(clams up, with:)
Can't we just forget work and have
a friendly Guiness?
MICK
How about we go somewhere to eat?
(before she objects)
So we can talk about our daughter.
MAGGIE
(WEAKENS)
Let me tell my friends I'm leaving.
She goes. And Mick, quick, writes the name CORLISS on napkin.
INT. ITALIAN RESTAURANT - NIGHT - AT A TABLE:
MAGGIE
I'll bet you didn't know Sponge-Bob
movies could be so much fun.
MICK
The fun's watching her.
Maggie likes this. Touch glasses. After a quiet moment...
MAGGIE
You didn't know Minton had Corliss
til I blabbed, did you.
MICK
He was hiding something, I thought
it might be a jailhouse snitch...
55.
MAGGIE
You got me drunk to find out what
you wanted to know. Except I was
already drunk. Good point, right?
He feels something. ANGLE, her hand on his knee...
MAGGIE (CONT'D)
Hayley's probably asleep. I gotta
go relieve the sitter--
(makes a face)
Only I don't think I can drive
myself home.
MICK
one good turn. I'll drive you.
MAGGIE
And will you take me back to get my
car in the morning?
A loaded proposition. Covers her hand with his own. CUT TO,
INT. MAGGIE'S BEDROOM - THE BED - MORNING
ANGLE HAYLEY, sleeping between her two parents. Mick opens
his eyes: Maggie's awake and staring at him. Grim.
MAGGIE
This is not fair to her.
(MICK STIRS--)
Waking up and finding you here.
She'll get her hopes up.
MICK
How'd she get in here?
MAGGIE
She comes in here when she has
nightmares. She has nightmares.
MICK
So she sleeps in here a lot?
MAGGIE
Don't start. You have no idea what
it's like raising a child alone.
He can tell by her tone: All last night's tenderness gone.
56.
INT. GUEST BEDROOM DOWN THE HALL - MOMENTS LATER
He's dressing-- she enters to him in a robe--
MICK
Look-- I'll leave-- then come back
in an hour. We'll go together to
get your car then I can take her to
SCHOOL--
MAGGIE
Just like that? You're gonna start
taking her to school?
MICK
Don't you remember what we talked
about last night?
MAGGIE
I thought you were just trying to
get into my head on your case-- or
get me into bed--
MICK
(getting angry now)
I can't win with you--
MAGGIE
Not when you're being a defense
lawyer! Do you know how crazy we
were to think we could ever make
it? Me trying to get dirtbags off
the street, you keeping them there--
MICK
ALRIGHT MAGGIE--
MAGGIE
Just go!
INT. DINER (DUPAR'S) - MORNING - MICK AT THE COUNTER:
Unshaven. Edward Hopper drabness. To lose himself in work,
looks down at his files:
An 8x10 OF REGGIE CAMPO'S BATTERED FACE.
WAITRESS, 50s, pours coffee. Recoils as she glimpses the
picture, the gruesome wounds, Mick didn't mean her to see.
57.
MICK
Sorry. It's work.
WAITRESS
I just hope you catch the bastard
who did it to her.
And goes. Mick tucks the picture under some papers, to hide
it-- but finds that he's only hid it halfway. Leaving half
her face exposed. The good half. Something about this... He
picks it up again, folds it...
INT. MEN'S ROOM - MOMENTS LATER
Leaning over the sink, Mick holds the folded photo against
the mirror, the unhurt left side showing. Creates a full
image of a face. He stares a long time. Then, to himself:
MICK
Martha Renteria.
INT. ANGLE ON A WAREHOUSE-GARAGE DOOR RISING - FROM WITHIN
Mick, enters. THREE LINCOLNS LINED UP along a wall. Mick's
"fleet." California plates: NT GLTY 1, NT GLTY 3, NT GLTY
4.. Walks past... to some battered file cabinets. He turns
on a single-bulb lamp...
DRAWER OPENING ON FILE CABINET... Mick's fingers fly through
the tabs of old files, stops at: MARTINEZ.
Cut to, MARTINEZ FILES ON DESK, MOMENTS LATER: Mick examines
them: Police reports, printouts. Until he finds...
Autopsy report. Name: RENTERIA, MARIA. Takes out... Bx10
PHOTO: WOMAN DEAD ON A BED, NAKED. Dark bloodstains.
NEXT PHOTO - TIGHTER: Knife-wounds. And bruises.
NEXT PHOTO - HER FACE: BEATEN: Injuries to the left side
(opposite of Reggie's.) Dark-haired, large brown eyes.
MICK. Folds this one in half. Takes the folded shot of
Reggie, fits them together, crease to crease: So alike, they
form what could be the face of one woman.
Mick. Not wanting to face the memory: a VOICE in his head:
MICK'S VOICE
I wish you'd called me before you
talked to the cops, Jesus...
58.
GO TO, INT. VAN NUYS JAIL, ATTORNEY/PRISONER ROOM - DAY
FLASHBACK OF MICK WITH MARTINEZ, who's stalking around, in a
panic, while Mick is laying out the bad news...
MARTINEZ
(MEXICAN ACCENT)
I seen my picture every place! They
was gonna bring me in, so...
MICK
But you told Kurlen you were in her
apartment. He didn't have that, he
doesn't even have any prints...
MARTINEZ
That shit I tol' is true, man! I
seen her at the Cobra Room, she
said if I paid we could go to her
place, she didn't care about the
other guy...
MICK
Nobody saw any "other guy"...
MARTINEZ
There was another guy, bpi guy that
she was talking to...
MICK
Plus the coroner says her vagina
was brutalized...
MARTINEZ
Are you my lawyer or what, man?
(insists, crazy now)
When I left that chick was fine! I
fucked her but I didn't hurt her--
You ain't even listenin'--
MICK
Three people saw you throwing a
knife into the L.A. River...
MARTINEZ
'Cause I had that knife in my car!
I knew they was gonna find it...
MICK
If all you did was fuck her then
why didn't you leave any prints?
The place was wiped down...
(MORE)
59.
MICK (CONT'D)
But your semen was on the towel,
you forgot you wiped your penis on
that towel...
MARTINEZ
I didn't forget nothing! I jus'
used that towel, then I give the
chick the money and I left!
MICK
It's not gonna make.
MARTINEZ
Don't say that!
MICK
Jesus they want the death penalty!
I can see to it that never happens,
but not if you don't plead.
MARTINEZ
You want me to say I did this?
Mick hesitates but stays level. Unbending. No choice.
MILK
Jesus, there's a deal to be made. I
can do that. I can get you Life.
(Martinez crumples...)
Life means you'll do fifteen...
MARTINEZ
I'm innocent! Inocente! You know
what that means?
Mick just looks at him.
EXT. GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE, SAN FRANCISCO BAY - DAY
Not much traffic rolling out of the city, mid-morning...
INT. CAR NORTH OF THE BAY - DAY
Mick at the wheel. Beside him, his briefcase. SEES OUT ON THE
WATER: the prison-fortress of SAN QUENTIN.
INT. VISITOR'S ROOM: GLASS-DIVIDED - SAN QUENTIN - LATER
ON THE CUT, JESUS MARTINEZ sits. 29, only a few years older
than when we saw him but looks bad. Glass wall divide them.
60.
MICK
I'm not going to ask you how you
are because I know.
Martinez glares at him, then spits on the floor.
MICK (CONT'D)
Look. I need to ask some questions.
MARTINEZ
you didn't have no questions then.
Never ask, Did you kill that girl?
MICK
I am trying to make it right.
Martinez is silent. Cold.
MICK (CONT'D)
Tell me again about the Cobra Room.
MARTINEZ
Tell you what?
CUT TO, INT. COBRA ROOM - NIGHT
The black-light Latina club, music, smoke-- In the middle is
a pit iwith a BIG COBRA BASKET, out of which a girl in a
snake costume emerges-- MARTHA. Watching is MARTINEZ--
MARTINEZ (V.0.) (cont'd)
She was workin'. Dancin'.
LATER, AFTER THE ACT-- Camera finds Renteria half-curling
herself around MARTINEZ--
MARTINEZ (V.0.) (cont' d)
Then she came and talked to me...
She's whispering, Martinez is loving it--
MARTINEZ (V.0.) (cont'd)
She tol' me I could take her home.
I did, but I didn't kill her.
MICK (V.O.)
You said there was another guy...
Disentangling from Martinez, Martha slides toward a MAN,
TALL, his back to us...
61.
MARTINEZ (V.0.)
Si, she talk to him too, but she
come back to me.
Though she's with the other man, she glances back at Jesus...
RESUME, INT. VISITING, SAN QUENTIN
Mick opens his briefcase, takes out a stack of photos. One by
one holds them against the glass with his fingers... WHEN:
SPEAKER (GUARD'S VOICE)
GET BACK FROM THE GLASS. OR THE
INTERVIEW WILL BE TERMINATED.
Frustrated, Mick complies-- but calls--
MICK
Guard!
Long beat. Guard enters. Clean-Marine. Mick shows the stack.
MICK (CONT'D)
I need him to look at these.
GUARD
You can't give him anything.
MICK
But if you won't let him close to
the glass, how can he see them?
GUARD
That's not my problem.
MICK
All right, but can you stay a
minute? If he IDs one of these mug-
shots I need you to witness it.
GUARD
Don't drag me into your bullshit.
And goes.
MICK
Godammit.
(then, to Martinez)
Try. See if one is the guy.
Mick holds up one after another. Martinez shakes his head no--
Then the booking photo of Louis Roulet.
62.
Mick holds it up. Off Jesus, as his eyes narrow...
EXT. AIRLINER LANDING, BURBANK AIRPORT - DAY
PRE-LAP the YELPING/SNARLING of a small /fierce dog... We're:
INT. RAUL LEVIN'S BUNGALOW, GLENDALE - EVENING
Raul in shorts, lets Mick in over the barks of his Shih-Tzu.
RAUL
Cool it, Ahab... C'mon in, Mick...
Leaves Mick alone while he puts out the dog--
Mick cools his heels. Takes in: Cubs pennant, Raul's old
peaked policeman's cap, mounted... finally pours himself a
vodka. Notes the photo of a YOUNGER GUY, its frame hung with
the "Fight Aids" ribbon. Raul re-enters.
MICK
(re the drink)
I helped myself.
RAUL
It's okay. I owe you, the way I let
you down on that discovery file--
MICK
It wasn't you. The cops set you up.
Who was it slipped you the file,
anyway?
RAUL
Some guy in vice I play cards with.
Lonnie Fry. You don't know him.
MICK
You're right, I don't. But I know
who his partner was, when he was in
homicide. Kurlen.
RAUL
That prick. I'll make him sorry.
MICK
Don't bother. We've got bigger
problems.
The way Mick says it. Raul sits, asks--
63.
RAUL
Like what? Where were you today
anyway? You were hard to reach...
MICK
Cell phones don't work too well
where I was.
Raul waits. Knows this is why Mick came here.
MICK (CONT'D)
I came to tell you a story. About
Jesus Martinez.
RAUL
You were at San Quentin.
MICK
It's about what happened after he
left Martha Renteria's apartment.
RAUL
After he killed her?
MICK
He never killed her. He went there,
had sex, flushed the condom--
RAUL
Wiped his prick on the pink towel--
MICK
And then went home. The story
starts after he left.
RAUL
(GETS IT)
The real killer.
MICK
The real killer. She lets him in.
CUT TO, INT. MARTHA RENTERIA' S APARTMENT - NIGHT
MICK
Maybe he fakes like it's still
Martinez and he forgot something.
Or maybe it was an appointment...
We see the door open but we don't see who enters...
64.
RAUL (V.O.)
The other guy from the club? The
one Jesus said he bid against?
NICK (V.0.)
Right. He comes in, punches her a
few times to soften her up...
Renteria staggers as she's suddenly pummeled, then spun...
NICK (V.0.) (cont'd)
Then takes out a knife and holds it
to her neck while he walks her to
the bedroom...
We SEE the knife-tip against her throat...
MICK (V.0.) (cont'd)
Only she isn't lucky like Reggie
Campo will be. He climbs on top,
puts on a condom, rapes her...
CUT TO, BEDROOM, as Mick gives us the action...
MICK (V.0.) (cont'd)
And when he's done he stabs her
over and over, fifty-two times,
while he works out something in his
sick fucking mind.
We SEE, the stabbing, bleeding, then--
RESUME, INT. RAUL'S BUNGALOW
MICK
Do you need to ask what kind of
knife it was, based on the wounds?
RAUL
A short-blade folding knife...
MICK
Or whose face Martinez picked out
of the mug-shots I brought him?
No. No need. A beat. Raul's dog barks from outside.
MICK (CONT'D)
Of course the story goes on from
there. From there it's about the
lawyer Martinez gets himself...
65.
RAUL
Don't do this to yourself...
MICK
(ignores, on a roll now)
The lawyer who just assumes he did
it because of the DNA. The lawyer
who gets him the best deal he can,
and feels pretty good, because the
deal keeps his client off Death
Row... and this guy, this lawyer,
he's all about the deal, see?
RAUL
Mick-- You can't beat yourself up
for what you didn't know--
MICK
I just saw him and he's twenty-six
going on forty. He's a little guy.
You know what happens to the little
ones up there.
A beat. Mick drinks.
MICK (CONT'D)
(SUDDENLY)
He has a type. Roulet. It's more
than a type, Renteria and Campo,
you put their faces together you
get the same face...
RAUL
(off the drink Mick takes)
You better take it easy...
MICK
Listen, I was thinking about this
the whole way down on the plane--
That night with Renteria? It was
like he hit the jackpot-- got to do
his thing and get away with it.
Then he's in a bar, sees Reggie--
RAUL
Who he's seen before, remember--
MICK
Yeah but tonight he sees who she
looks like.
66.
RAUL
Renteria?
MICK
Right. And he's right back there.
RAUL
(DOUBTFUL--)
Mick, we're talking about a really
STRANGE--
MICK
We're talking about a killer at
work. You know that video from the
bar? Just like you, he saw that Mr.
X was left-handed.
RAUL
(struck by this)
Smart as the devil--
MICK
He knows what he's doing. Reggie's
the luckiest woman alive.
RAUL
You think there are others? With
that face, or--
MICK
You find out. Dig into Roulet.
(recalls...)
"All you'll find is parking
tickets," I don't buy that anymore.
Check out knife-murders of women.
Not just the unsolved ones, Martha
Renteria was a closed case.
RAUL
Look man, I can't throw a net like
that. I'm just one guy! You gotta
bring the cops in.
MICK
I can't. He's my client.
(clear on this:)
That's why he hired me.
Raul looks up, startled by this. Mick lays it out...
67.
MICK (CONT'D)
I was thinking about that on the
plane too: He was worried I might
hear about the case and put it
together. But if he was my client,
I'd be bound to keep my mouth shut
and protect him.
RAUL
(SEES)
Attorney-client privilege.
MICK
I told you: He knows what he's
doing.
RAUL
You got one guy in prison for what
your other client did. What are you
going to do, Mick?
A beat.
MICK
I'm working on it.
CUT TO, EXT. MICK HALLER'S HOUSE - NIGHT - LATER
Lincoln in front. Mick, working on Raul's question. Trudges
up the steps. PHONE RINGS before he gets in, he fumbles keys--
INT. HOUSE - KITCHEN... AS HE ANSWERS...
MICK
This is Haller...
MAGGIE'S VOICE
Did you get my messages?
MICK
Maggie, no, I was up in San
Francisco for the day...
MAGGIE'S VOICE
No you weren't. You don't go to San
Francisco, you go to San Quentin.
Must have been seeing a client...
MICK
You always were too smart for me.
Is Hayley okay?
68.
MAGGIE'S VOICE
She's good. Look, she's playing
soccer tomorrow, and she wants you
to come to the match. You've
started something, Mickey...
MICK
Fine, I look forward to it.
MAGGIE'S VOICE
You'll need to pick her up at noon.
But, under this, he sees, DOWN THE HALLWAY, light from a
room. Sudden chill. Angling to see, keeping a normal voice...
MICK
Noon, I'll do that. See you then.
And hangs up before she can say goodbye.. And Stops. Freezes.
Eyes on the LIGHT at the end of the hall. Carefully, Mick
begins to move down the hall...
Pauses at the door he comes to first, bedroom, dark...
Kicks it-- Nothing. starts walking again, when: there's a
SOUND. Then silence. What was it?... Mick continues-- to--
The LIT ROOM: SIDE ANGLE, we see it's the den-- Mick braces--
And BURSTS IN SUDDENLY:
INT. DEN - LOUIS IS THERE...
Sitting in Mick's chair, leg up on the desk...
MICK
What the hell are you doing here?
LOUIS
Funny thing is I've been here
before. I was offered the house to
show, never gave back the key--
MICK
(over,doesn't give a shit)
Get out of my house! Now!
LOUIS
(rising, but)
EASY MICK--
But, sees Mick noticing-- the ELECTRONIC ANKLET on his leg--
69.
LOUIS (CONT'D)
Your friend Valenzuela put this on.
A tracer. As if I were going
anywhere.
MICK
I said Get up! Get up and get out
of this house!
Off Mick's force, Mick's almost crazy-- Louis smirks, goes--
EXT. FRONT DOOR, PORCH - MOMENT LATER, AS THEY COME OUT...
LOUIS
(turns to him, to
"EXPLAIN")
I couldn't reach you! I'm on trial
for my life, Mick, and I get
nervous when I can't reach yout
And you were away all day. Like you
told "Maggie."
Meaning he listened to the call. Mick goes white.
MICK
You don't come near this house
again, do you understand me? We
aren't friends, we aren't partners,
you're my client, eriod--
LOUIS
Just what I wanted to remind you
of. I'm your client.
Mick reacts. Louis lets in sink in, then:
LOUIS (CONT'D)
Besides, I like it in your house,
Mick... Pretty pictures of your
kid, Hayley...
MICK
Fucken don't.
LOUIS
Don't what, don't say she's pretty?
But I saw her, the other day at the
club...
At which, Mick's had enough: belts Louis in the mouth. Quick,
solid.
70.
His lip bloodied, Louis flashes with anger-- but then, just
as suddenly, he steels himself. Glares coldly at Mick.
LOUIS (CONT'D)
Okay. Okay I'm going. But--
And extends his hand: with Mick's house-key in it.
LOUIS (CONT'D)
--first I think I should give you
back your key. It isn't right that
I have it. Now that we can trust
each other.
Mick takes the key. Panting, he watches Louis go down the
fucking steps.
SUDDEN CUT TO,, EXT. ON HAYLEY: SOCCER MATCH IN PROGRESS
Hayley, defending, scrambles to get in the way of another
girl, a forward, dribbling towards her...
ANGLE MICK, on the sideline... among other parents...
MICK
That's it, Hayley, get in her way!
Hayley isn't quick enough, the forward dribbles round her,
goes in for the score. Hayley looks despondently at Mick--
MICK (CONT'D)
It's okay, honey!
When-- his CELL-PHONE RINGS. Into it--
MICK (CONT'D)
This is Haller...
He strains to listen... Stops cold. His look darkens... Even
from the field, Hayley sees this...
CUT TO, INT. RAUL'S BUNGALOW - DAY
MOVING ON THE CUT, WITH MICK, as he ENTERS... It's a CRIME
SCENE, swarms with cops, forensics, technicians...
Mick distressed, moves as if through heavy water. DETECTIVES
are leading him: LANKFORD, 38, clean-marine-- and HEIDI
SOBEL, 30. They wear paper booties, thin rubber gloves...
71.
LANKFORD
Levin was back in his office...
SOBEL
We wouldn't have found him if a
neighbor hadn't brought the dog
back. It was running loose.
LANKFORD
(shows a desk calendar)
Your name's all over this. Were you
the only guy he worked for?
MICK
No, but I've got a big trial next
month, attempted rape and murder.
He was helping me.
SOBEL
Is that the Roulet case?
MICK
How did you know?
SOBEL
Because every file that's been
rifled has the name.
LANKFORD
Only thing, Roulet himself is
already cleared for this. We've
checked the tracking on his tracer-
anklet and it doesn't show him
anywhere near this place. And
there's no way to trick those
things, no way in the world.
We see Mick register this-- wants to ask about it, but before
HE CAN--
LANKFORD (CONT'D)
By the way, Counsellor, where were
you this morning?
Mick rocked by the question. What it means.
MICK
I'm a suspect?
SOBEL
He knew whoever shot him. There are
no signs of forcible, he even let
the killer into the back room.
72.
MICK
I was watching my daughter play
soccer. A couple of dozen people
can confirm I was there.
Provisionally buying this, Lankford takes out booties.
LANKFORD
Put these on and don't touch
anything back there.
INT. RAUL'S BUNGALOW - HOME OFFICE
Raul face down on the floor, in front of his desk chair.
SOBEL
Can you tell us if you see anything
unusual?
Mick draws close. Lankford, abruptly--
LANKFORD
All I see are pictures of a guy.
Was he a fruit?
MICK
(BITTER)
He was a hell of an ex-cop, is what
he was. Crimes Against Persons,
back in Chicago. And yeah he was
gay, and what the hell's that got
to do with it? If the murder was
some kind of gay thing, why'd they
ransack the office? Isn't it
obvious they were looking for
something to do with his work?
Lankford can't argue with this. When Sobel, near the body:
SOBEL
Look. The position of his hands.
ANGLE: Two middle fingers point down. Two outside fingers up.
LANKFORD
Was this guy a Longhorns fan or
what? Or is it some kind of sign,
like he was trying to tell us who
SHOT HIM--
(MAKES "HORNS")
--"The devil did it?"
73.
EXT. MOVING ANGLE ON: SUBURBAN HOUSES (VALENCIA) - EVENING
Seen from the POV OF--
INT. LINCOLN (MOVING) - MICK AT THE WHEEL - SAME TIME
He drives the street, his focus pumped up... until he comes
to: A HOUSE, its garage door wide open. Mick pulls into the
drive behind it...
INT. GARAGE - MOMENTS LATER - MICK ENTERS
What he FINDS inside, beside a family van, is a LARGE THIN
CARDBOARD BOX... It's upright, marked "Fragile."
EXT. HOUSE - FRONT DOOR - MOMENTS LATER
Mick stands there KNOCKING at the door. It's opened by:
VAL
Hey Mick!
Val's surprised... a mix of emotions...
VAL (CONT'D)
What're you doin' here?... and I
heard about Raul Levin, man...
MICK
(ignores all that)
You know your garage door's open?
VAL
Shit: I just had a plasma
delivered...
And rushes to... the GARAGE. Mick trails... Val's relieved to
find the box is okay.
VAL (CONT'D)
Oh man, if we still lived in Van
Nuys this sucker'd be gone. Set me
back eight grand, too. But it's
gonna be great for the games...
(notes Mick's silent mood)
What's up anyway? What brings you
out here?
74.
MICK
Raul's murder.
(Val waits, listens.)
I've been with the cops. They can't
tie Roulet to it, because your
ankle bracelet doesn't put him near
the house.
VAL
I know, I gave them the trace. The
bracelet's got a mass detector,
there's no way to beat that.
MICK
Did the cops ask you where you were
this morning, Val?
Val's slow at first, to register just what Mick's asking...
MICK (CONT'D)
Somehow, some way, Louis killed
Raul Levin. And it didn't show up
on the trace.
Mick looks at the plasma TV, then back at Val. Val reddens--
VAL
You better not be sayin' what I
think-- that I cut him loose-- to
let him kill Raul--?
MICK
Maybe you didn't know what he was
going to do--
VAL
(over, angry--)
You think I'd let that happen? For
a fuckin' TV?
And he lunges at Mick, shoves him back agains the van, Mick
shoves back, harder, backwards into the TV box-- it hits the
cement floor, hard, and Val falls on top of it--
Sickening snap/crunch from within the box--
VAL (CONT'D)
Shit, man--
MICK
Where'd you get the money for an
eight thousand dollar TV, Val?
75.
VAL
That's bullshit! I didn't do that!
How dare you say that to me-- I'm
inocente, man--
Mick reacts to the word-- Martinez's word-- as Val glares at
him from the ground.
VAL (CONT'D)
Get outa here; Get out of here,
Mick, and get outa my life!
Mick's already backing off-- towards the car--
VAL (CONT'D)
Keep going, man!
Mick keeps going-- down the drive and into his car-- CUT TO,
INT. FOUR GREEN FIELDS - NIGHT - MICK AT THE BAR...
Drinking, CAMERA moves on him, he taps the glass for another.
Bartender comes over like he's going to pour one. Mick's keys
are on the bar--
Instead of pouring the bartender swipes the keys. Mick looks
at him, uncomprehending.
BARTENDER
That's it. You're done here, pal.
And you're not driving either.
(shows keys, keeps them)
Call yourself a cab or something.
Off Mick,
INT. MICK HALLER'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT
MAGGIE, lugs him into his room, he's a mess...
MAGGIE
Being married to you sucked but it
beat being a car service...
MICK
That's the idea, y'know. Car
service, with the Lincolns-- Drive
the illustrious turds of our city
back and forth to LAX--
76.
MAGGIE
I'll be your first customer. First
dollar.
And rolls him onto the bed. He looks at her. Drunk as he is:
MICK
Lemme ask you something. Corliss.
The name Corliss. You didn't just
give me that just because you'd
been drinking. You wanted me to
have it.
She doesn't confirm or deny. Just gets him into bed-- says
POINTEDLY--
MAGGGIE
I'm not staying.
He knows, but-- one thing more--
MICK
Maggie-- Raul. Did I get him
killed?
Moved, she shakes her head no. Straightens his pillow.
MAGGIE
How do you do it, Haller? You're a
sleazy defense lawyer with two ex-
wives and a daughter, and we all
still love you.
We STAY ON HIM as she stands up, goes. To no one:
MICK
I can't do this anymore.
INT. MICK HALLER'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - MORNING
He's in bad shape as he comes out of the bedroom. Stares at
the light pouring in from the glass doors onto the porch.
Finds: THERE'S A DOLLAR TAPED TO THE GLASS. (From Maggie.)
Also: the MESSAGE LIGHT ON HIS PHONE is ON.
MOMENTS LATER: He's pressed the button, listens to...
MACHINE VOICE
Message received: YESTERDAY, ELEVEN-
SEVEN A.M.
77.
RAUL'S VOICE
Mick, it's me. Guess I missed you.
Wanted to go over a few things, so
I wouldn't interrupt your day with
Hayley. Anyway...
Presses STOP. Raul's voice: Mick's not sure he can deal. But
pulls the pencil & pad near him, and presses START again...
RAUL'S VOICE (cont'd)
First, that witness name you gave
me. Corliss? Turns out he's this
hype, Dwayne Jeffrey Corliss,
sometimes goes by "DJ." When you
run it that way you find out he's
played the courtroom snitch a lot,
mostly in Arizona. But here's the
thing: One time down there? It blew
up on him. I'm working on it, it
can be good for us... Don't know
how we get to him, though. They
put him in USC lock-up, just to
make it harder...
Under which Mick, excited, is writing down D J CORLISS...
ARIZONA... then USC, circles this last...
RAUL'S VOICE (cont'd)
Other thing is, you asked me to dig
deep-on Roulet? Mick, I found
something. I found Martinez' ticket
out of the Q.
When, on the tape he hears DOG BARKING... and a DOOR BELL...
RAUL'S VOICE (cont'd)
Uh, that's somebody at the door...
Look, have a good time with your
kid. Gotta go, boss.
And MESSAGE goes OFF. Mick thinks a moment. Tries to clear
his head. Then pulls out a card and dials a number...
TNTERCUT/ INT. HOMICIDE DIVISION, GLENDALE: SOBEL AT HER DESK
SOBEL
(ANSWERS)
Detective Sobel.
MICK
(INTO PHONE)
It's me. Haller.
(MORE)
78.
MICK (CONT'D)
Look, I-- just checked my phone
messages. It turns out Raul called
me. Just before he was killed. I
didn't know.
(SHE REACTS)
The message came at Eleven-oh-
seven. He said, "I think I found
Martinez' ticket out of the Q."
SOBEL
(WRITING)
Meaning Jesus Martinez-- that's a
former client of yours--
MICK
In San Quentin. Right.
SOBEL
Did he say anything else?
Looks down at his notes. At "Corliss." "USC." A beat. As he
tears off the note, stuffs it in his pocket...
MICK
No-- No, that's it. Then the dog
barked, somebody was at the door.
He hung up.
(before she can ask more)
Look, maybe you can tell me if
there's any progress on the case.
(when she hesitates)
He was my friend.
Sobel, makes a decision...
SOBEL
Well, we did catch a break. We
found a bullet casing in the room,
from a 22. It turns out Levin owned
a .22, but when we checked it out
it wasn't a Woodsman, like the gun
that killed him...
To which, Mick reacts... as she goes on...
SOBEL (CONT'D)
The other thing is we can't find
his cell-phone...
(noticing Mick is silent)
Are you still there?
79.
MICK
Yeah... just, I'll let you know if
I think of anything. About his cell-
phone, I mean. Thanks.
And hangs up. Too sudden. Leaves Sobel wondering...
CUT TO, MICK MOVING QUICKLY THROUGH HIS HOUSE...
Down the hall, to a closet, climbs clumsily above to a shelf--
Tossing clothes out of the way... Finds: AN OLD WOODEN GUN
BOX. The top has a brass plate: COLT "WOODSMAN."
Mick, in a cold sweat, opens the box. It's EMPTY. Suddenly--
EXT. HOUSE - MICK STEPS OUT ONTO THE PORCH...
For air-- He can hardly breathe-- straightens his thoughts--
Takes the note from his pocket, studies it.
INT. USC-COUNTY LOCK-UP - MOVING WITH MICK...
GUARD leads him DOWN A HALL... leads him to a room and leaves
him there.
With GLORIA. In prison jumper. Faint smile.
MICK
Gloria I'm not here about you. I'm
here about me. I need your help.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN: THE FACE OF LOUIS ROULET - INT. COURTROOM - MORNING
Louis, lanky, graceful, takes a seat at the DEFENSE TABLE.
Mick, sorts papers. Louis, turns, seems to watch him...
ANGLES, THE GALLERY: DOBBS and MARY WINDSOR, she's on edge
but hides-- Also LORNA, to support Mick. While, AT THE TABLE:
LOUIS
Mick. I want to tell you something
before we start.
80.
MICK
Better make it fast.
LOUIS
You're my lawyer, right? So I can
tell you anything, even a crime
I've committed, and you have to
keep it secret.
MICK
(a beat, uncomfortable--)
That's right. Unless it's one
you're going to commit.
LOUIS
I've killed people, Mick.
Reaction Mick. Just then, Courtroom clerk gives a warning--
COURTROOM CLERK
Two minutes, people...
MICK
(TO LOUIS)
Now? Now? Why now, are you telling
me this...
LOUIS
Because I know your plan.
Mick looks at him. Before he can deny--
LOUIS (CONT'D)
Your plan is to defend me on this--
then, when I'm not your client,
throw me to the cops.
(when Mick says nothing)
I can't let that happen. So I'm
telling you: I've killed people and
guess what? Martha Renteria was one
of them. There now. If you use what
I've told you you might get Jesus
Martinez out of jail, but you'll
never practice law again. And I'll
never be prosecuted. I think it's
called fruits of the poisoned tree--
MICK
Come with me.
Cuts Louis off, rises, leads him... past prosecution table,
TED MINTON turns, watches them... as Mick leads Louis out to--
81.
INT. ENTRY VESTIBULE, DOUBLE DOORS - CONTINUOUS
He suddenly spins on Louis and puts him against a wall.
MICK
You son of a bitch. You killed
Raul.
LOUIS
You're right about one thing. I am
a son of a bitch.
MICK
How did you do it? The trace said
you weren't even in Glendale...
LOUIS
He was getting too close.
MICK
(yanks Louis's lapels)
You piece of shit, do you think you
have this wired? You don't!
LOUIS
I do have an insurance policy.
He grabs Mick's wrists. Strong: pulls them off his chest.
MICK
I want my gun, Louis--
LOUIS
I walk away from this trial a free
man-- and remain free-- and it
never falls into wrong hands.
The deal. Mick's close to hitting him-- when the door opens--
COURTROOM CLERK
Judge Fullbright is on the bench.
INT. COURTROOM - MOMENTS LATER - MICK AND LOUIS ENTER...
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Nice of you to join us...
She's 46, bad hair, tough. Mick's off on the wrong foot.
MICK
I'm sorry, your honor.
82.
INT. COURTROOM -- LATER -- OPENING STATEMENTS IN PROGRESS.
TED
What this case is about is a
predator... On the night of March
Sixth, Louis Roulet was out
stalking his prey...
Jury of twelve, two alternates...
TED (CONT'D)
You are going to hear from the
victim herself about her lifestyle,
one that we would not condone. But
remember that anyone, anyone, can
be the victim of a violent crime.
(approaches the jury box)
The case is clear. Straightforward.
A man attacked a woman in her home
in order to rape and kill her.
It is only by the grace of God that
she's here to tell you the story.
Over Ted,
MICK (V.O.)
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury...
INT. COURTROOM
MICK (CONT'D)
My name's Michael Haller, and I'm
representing Louis Roulet.
(glances at Ted)
Mr. Minton doesn't want to use the
word prostitute for the woman who's
supposed to be Louis's victim. He
needn't worry, this case isn't
about how she makes her money...
But it is about her actions. How
she saw a young man with signs of
wealth, and chose to target him...
(closes in on the jury...)
What she didn't count on, was you.
The fact that you'd put two and two
together, and let your common sense
tell you who was the real predator.
83.
CUT TO, INT. COURTROOM CORRIDOR - LATER
As Mick exits with Lorna for the lunch-break. Low-voiced--
LORNA
You had a message from Gloria. She
thinks she can do what you asked.
MICK
Thinks?
LORNA
Corliss has the same meal time. She
can try.
MICK
(DISCOURAGED)
Let her try. But it may not matter.
LORNA
What do you mean?
MICK
I mean, Corliss isn't on the
witness list. It could be Ted
Minton is holding him back. He
won't use him until he has to.
Until I screw up his case so bad he
has no choice.
LORNA
Mickey? Can you do that?
Off Mick, tries for a confident smile...
CUT TO, INT. COURTROOM, LATER - ON THE STAND:
FEMALE COP (MAXWELL)
I'd describe Ms. Campo when we got
there as... hurt and frightened...
TED
Frightened?
OFFICER MAXWELL
She kept asking us if she was safe,
even after Roulet was taken away.
84.
INT. COURTROOM, LATER
Mick has Maxwell on cross... Clerk hands her pages...
MICK
Officer, would you read from your
arrest report where it's marked?
OFFICER MAXWELL
"The victim does not know the man
who assaulted her or why she was
attacked."
MICK
Why did you write that she didn't
know him?
OFFICER MAXWELL
Because that's what she said.
MICK
So, she just opened the door at ten
o'clock to a stranger?
OFFICER MAXWELL
She didn't put it like that...
MICK
Was there blood on his right hand?
OFFICER MAXWELL
(confused by the shift)
No, his left. Or we would have
bagged his right one, too.
INT. CAMERA TRAILS THE JURY...
As a new witness is on the stand, Ted's witness...
TED
Mr. Talbot, you were with Miss
Campo on the night of March Sixth?
CHARLES TALBOT, 48, the customer from the video. Blurred
tattoos on muscled forearms, dyed blonde hair.
TALBOT
Yep. Had a date with her at
Morgan's. Then from there we went
to her place and had another date,
if you know what I mean.
B5.
Air of a sleaze-ball sex-player, but calm and good-humored.
TED
Had you known Miss Campo before?
TALBOT
Nope. Just called her up.
TED
How did you know to call her?
TALBOT
From her website. She's got a real
good website.
Jury laughs a little. Fascinated but repulsed by this guy...
but Fullbright stirs, disliking Talbot's tone...
TED
Did you have sexual relations?
TALBOT
Four hundred bucks worth. And she
earned every cent.
Angle a male JUROR, red-faced with disapproval. Mick catches
his reaction, likes it. Ted goes on...
TED
And what time did you leave?
TALBOT
About five minutes before ten.
TED
She say she had another engagement?
TALBOT
No, she acted like she was done for
the night...
MICK
Objection, I don't think Mr.
Talbot's qualified to interpret Ms.
Campo's thinking or plans...
TALBOT
I just mean she acted satisfied...
FULLBRIGHT
(OFFENDED--)
Sustained! Go on, Mr. Minton.
86.
TED
When you left, what condition was
she in? Was she hurt?
TALBOT
No, she was fit as a fiddle. I know
because I'd just played her.
(before Fullbright bursts)
Sorry, your honor. She was fine.
Minton goes, lifts a sheet over an easel, REVEALS the blown-
up PHOTOS of the Reggie's battered face.
TED
She didn't look like this?
TALBOT
Man. What kind of bastard does
something like that?
FULLBRIGHT
Answer the question.
TALBOT
No. We made consensual and
pleasurable love. Which is what
life is all about. Then I paid her.
CUT TO, MICK HAS TALBOT ON CROSS...
MICK
Mr. Talbot, are you right or left-
handed?
TALBOT
Left.
MICK
Left. And isn't it true that before
you left Regina Campo asked you to
strike her repeatedly in the face?
TED
(OBJECTING)
Your honor, there's no basis for
this sort of questioning. Mr.
Haller is just muddying the waters
with outrageous statements.
Fullbright looks to Mick for a reply. Mick half-shrugs...
87.
MICK
Part of the defense theory, Judge.
FULLBRIGHT
The witness can answer.
TALBOT
I never hit her or any other woman.
MICK
Do you know a prostitute named...
(checks his sheet)
Shaquille Barton? "Shaquilla
Shakels" is her work name.
TALBOT
Okay, yeah. I seen her one time...
MICK
And if I brought her here and she
said you had struck her with your
left hand...
TALBOT
She'd be lying. I tried Shaquilla,
that rough stuff's not for me. I'm
a missionary man.
MICK
With a strong left. Thank you.
And Mick sits-- drawing a nasty look from Ted for this last,
and a pleased one from Louis. CUT TO,
INT. COURTHOUSE - CORRIDOR - MOMENTS LATER
Where Mick, as he exits the courtroom for the day, is
SURPRISED TO FIND: DETECTIVES LANKFORD AND SOBEL WAITING FOR
HIM. Sobel holds documents. Reaction Mick: Oh shit.
CUT TO, INT. BACK SEAT, DETECTIVES' CAR (MOVING) - LATER
Mick looks over the pages Sobel hands him. Lankford drives.
MICK
This warrant is bullshit--
LANKFORD
Good enough to search your house.
For a Woodsman registered to you.
BB.
SOBEL
We need to run ballistics on it.
She turns around: The good cop, but she's hurt:
SOBEL (CONT'D)
It would have been better if you'd
told me that you had a Woodsman.
MICK
I don't anymore. It was stolen.
The worst yet. Lankford laughs: "How convenient..."
INT. MICK HALLER'S HOUSE - LATER - ON:
The BOX FOR THE WOODSMAN: Sobel in gloves, examines, while--
LANKFORD
We got the history on the piece.
Turns out it belonged to Mickey
Cohen the gangster, in the forties.
MICK
I know. My father represented him.
He got him off for using it in self-
defense, so Cohen made him a
present of it.
Sobel, careful, opens it... It's empty. Like Mick said.
SOBEL
Why didn't you report it stolen?
MICK
Because I knew who took it.
(They look at him.)
A client. He told me, so I couldn't
turn him in without breaking a
trust. They do that.
LANKFORD
(doesn't buy this)
Still and all, mind if I look
around? Just in case you haven't
had time to toss it off a pier?
MICK
Go crazy. You've got the warrant.
Lankford sneers, starts for the next room. To Sobel--
89.
LANKFORD
Heidi-- bag the box.
He leaves. As she bags it-- He wonders why.
MICK
You can't do ballistics on a box.
She glances, seeing Lankford's gone-- explains.
SOBEL
That old Mickey Cohen shooting?
It's kind of famous. It turns out
the county still has the evidence
in storage. The bullet.
MICK
You can match casings to a slug
that's fifty years old?
SOBEL
It'd be easier with the gun, but
yeah.
She goes to join her partner. Mick stops her with--
MICK
Detective? How long will ballistics
take?
SOBEL
Careful. You'll make me think
you're worried what we'll find.
MICK
I'm in the middle of a trial.
SOBEL
A day. Maybe forty-eight hours.
She leaves. Mick's gaze, in the mirror: Fear.
INT. COURTROOM - NEXT MORNING - ARRIVING...
Mick and Ted, at the same time. As they move to the front...
TED
Morning, Haller. Word is, you had
interesting visitors last night...
90.
MICK
Worry about yourself, Ted. You're
dying the death of a thousand
razors up there and you don't even
know it.
They peel off-- Mick to the defense table, where Louis waits
for him. Before Louis can speak: Low--
MICK (CONT'D)
Listen, you little shit: This gun-
scheme of yours is about to blow
up, and I'm not going down for it.
If I have to drive people to the
airport the rest of my life.
Mick is seething. Louis smiles. Unruffled.
INT. COURTROOM, LATER - TED RISES...
TED
One last witness, your honor. The
prosecution calls Regina Campo.
INT. COURTROOM, LATER - REGGIE ON THE STAND...
Diminutive, conservative dress, dark curls around her pretty
face-- none of the aggressive sexiness. Hesitant but frank.
REGGIE
It's true that I lied. I knew him
when he came to the door.
TED
In fact, you'd arranged his coming
Miss Campo: why did you lie?
REGGIE
I was scared. I wasn't sure the
police would believe me and I
wanted to make sure they arrested
him... because he's an animal...
She looks tentatively at Louis, as if still scared-- then she
looks away. Louis is blank. Mick takes it in. Ted follows up--
TED
Do you regret that decision now?
91.
REGGIE
Yes. If it helps him to get free
and do this to somebody else.
MICK
Your honor, prejudicial--
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Sustained.
But ANGLE THE JURY: the damage is done. Reggie's moved them.
TED
I have no further questions for
Regina, your honor.
Ted sits.
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Your witness, Mr. Haller.
Mick about to rise when-- Louis grabs his hand. Low-voiced----
LOUIS
I want to remind you of your words.
You were going to tear her apart
and throw her entrails into the
sea.
MICK
That's it, keep acting like you
pull the strings.
LOUIS
I do.
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Mr. Haller.
Emphatic. Mick frees his hand, straightens himself. watched
by Louis. Then all at once, to surprise her--
MICK
Ms. Campo have you engaged an
attorney to sue Mr. Roulet for the
events of March Sixth?
REGGIE
(recovers,
No I haven't.
MICK
But have you talked to an attorney?
92.
REGGIE
I haven't hired anybody or--
MICK
I asked if you talked to one. About
a possible lawsuit.
Mick's crisp like he knows for sure. She wilts a little.
REGGIE
It was nothing more than talk...
MICK
Did you ask if you could sue Mr.
Roulet for damages?
REGGIE
I thought what you say to lawyers
is private.
MICK
If you wish, you can tell the
jurors.
Faces her. Ted squirms, seeing the box she's in.
REGGIE
I think I want to keep it private.
Ted squirms again. Wrong answer.
MICK
Okay, let's go back to the night at
Morgan's. Had you ever seen Louis
Roulet before that night?
REGGIE
Yes. There and other places.
MICK
Ever noticed he wore a Rolex watch?
REGGIE
NO--
MICK
Or that he drove one of two cars, a
Porsche or a Range Rover?
REGGIE
I never saw him driving.
93.
MICK
And what made you approach him?
REGGIE
I knew he was in the life. You
know. A player. I had seen him
leave with girls who do what I do.
MICK
With prostitutes. To go to a hotel,
or their apartments...?
REGGIE
I don't know where.
MICK
So how do you know they left? Maybe
they just went out for a smoke...
REGGIE
Because they got in his car and
drove away.
MICK
But you just testified that you
never saw Mr. Roulet drive! Now you
saw him leave with a prostitute
like yourself. Which is it?
The contradiction rings round the room. Reggie, tries...
REGGIE
I saw him get in a car but I didn't
know what kind it was.
MICK
Do you know the difference between
a Porsche and a Range Rover?
REGGIE
one's big and one's small, I guess.
Reactions... Reggie shakes her head, knows she's not making
it... But Mick, like he's just getting started...
MICK
The women he left with, when you
saw them again, had they been
beaten or injured?
REGGIE
I don't know, I didn't ask.
94.
MICK
But girls in your profession talk
about customers, don't you? Warn
each other if someone's a freak...
REGGIE
Yeah, usually...
MICK
And how many had warned you about
Louis Roulet?
REGGIE
None. No one.
MICK
So you believed you'd be safe?
REGGIE
I, thought he was a known quantity
and I needed the money, so...
MICK
So you thought he could solve your
need for money?
REGGIE
NO--
MICK
No? Isn't that why we're sitting
here? Because you zeroed in on him?
REGGIE
No! I mean yes, but not like that--
(looking round, a plea to
BE BELIEVED)
He attacked me, I swear!
CUT TO, INT. COURTROOM, LATER - ON A VIDEO PLAYING:
The BAR TAPE, blown-up projection, SHOWS REGGIE PASSES LOUIS
SITTING AT THE BAR, LEANS HER BODY INTO HIM SEXILY...
ANGLE COURTROOM, ON REGGIE watching the tape. Also JURORS,
reacting, enthralled, and Mick watching them...
RESUME ANGLE SCREEN, REGGIE HANDS LOUIS A NAPKIN, PASSES BY.
RESUME COURT, Mick signals the TECHNICIAN. It goes OFF.
95.
MICK
What did the napkin say, Ms. Campo?
REGGIE
My name and address...
MICK
And your price?
REGGIE
Yes. Four hundred dollars.
MICK
(after a beat)
It's a hard line of work...
REGGIE
And dangerous.
MICK
In fact, haven't you told friends
you were looking for a way out?
REGGIE
Yes. I'm not proud of what I do--
MICK
And so, isn't it true-- nothing
would be easier to understand--
that you saw Louis Roulet and his
money as a way out?
REGGIE
No! That's not what this is about!
That man hit me and tried to kill
me.
MICK
Yes, we've heard you say that--
(TO FULLBRIGHT)
Judge may I ask the witness to
stand up?
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
(surprised, but)
The witness will stand. I hope
you're going somewhere with this,
Mr. Haller.
Reggie stands.
96.
MICK
Now if you please, walk over to my
client.
She goes, stands before Louis. Who rises on cue from Mick.
MICK (CONT'D)
This is the man you broke free
from, overpowered, knocked out?
REGGIE
Yes-- You can do amazing things
when you're afraid--
MICK
How much do you weigh, Ms. Campo?
Because your website REGGIE-FOR-FUN-
DOT-COM says one hundred three...
REGGIE
That's right.
A beat. Louis sits. Reggie stands there... suddenly cries.
MICK
I've got no further questions for
the witness, your honor.
Reggie returns to a seat behind the prosecutor's table. Where
we pick up TED MINTON. Staring at Mick, hiding the sense of
damage as best he can... He's startled when:
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Mr. Minton? Do you have another
witness for us?
Ted rouses, summons confidence, rises...
WHILE, ASIDE, Louis to Mick, re Ted...
LOUIS
He looks worried.
Mick watching Ted, waits, tense...
TED
The state rests, your honor.
Mick's disappointed: No Corliss.
MICK
Not worried enough.
97.
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
(raises a gavel...)
Then the defense will call its
first witness after lunch.
And the gavel comes down.
INT. COURTROOM, AFTER THE BREAK - MICK, ON DIRECT, HAS...
MARY WINDSOR
Yes, I recognize this knife.
(holding an evidence bag)
It's the one my son carried with
him for protection for the last
four years. Almost exactly.
MICK
Why would he need protection?
MARY WINDSOR
Because realtors alone in a house
are sometimes robbed or hurt...
Even raped or murdered.
MICK
But has Louis ever been the subject
of such a crime?
MARY WINDSOR
No. But he knew someone who...
(hesitates...)
MICK
Go on, please.
MARY WINDSOR
She was raped and robbed by a man.
Louis found her. It was terrible.
The first thing he did afterwards
was get himself a knife to carry,
at all times.
(looks at Ted Minton)
March Sixth would have been no
different.
98.
INT. COURTROOM, LATER - TED HAS MARY WINDSOR ON CROSS...
TED
Mrs. Windsor, you seemed pretty
exact, about when your son started
carrying around this, this weapon,
a five-inch folding knife...
MARY WINDSOR
I am. The incident took place on
June ninth, two-thousand-one.
Mick watches Ted, carefully... Cat and mouse...
TED
Was it in the newspapers?
MARY WINDSOR
No.
TED
Or, do you somehow remember because
the police came to talk to Louis...
MARY WINDSOR
There was no police investigation.
TED
Then how can you remember the exact
date so well?
(sly look at Mick)
Were you given the date before
testifying here?
MARY WINDSOR
I know the date because I'll never
forget the day I was attacked.
The news falls on Ted. She goes on before he can rally...
MARY WINDSOR (cont'd)
Louis will never forget it either.
He found me in that house, tied up.
Naked. It was traumatic for him.
She's perfect: a strong woman, unused to showing emotion.
Mick smiles, impressed. When, with some sarcasm:
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Mr. Minton-- anything else?
Ted, still thrown, stares down at his notes.
99.
TED
As Louis's mother, you'd do or say
anything to save him, wouldn't you?
MARY WINDSOR
I wouldn't lie. Not about what
happened that day...
TED
We have no police or hospital
record that it even occurred...
MARY WINDSOR
I never reported it...
TED
Why not?
MARY WINDSOR
I was ashamed. If you don't
understand that I can't explain it
to you. And yet I live with it
every day.
TED
But it's only you who says so:
Mary looks at Ted, and at the Judge, as if confused:
MARY WINDSOR
Is that a question?
Off Mick, admiring, GO TO,
INT. COURTROOM - POST-ADJOURNMENT, END OF DAY...
Mick packing his stuff-- looks up, as Ted approaches.
TED
I've been thinking about the
thousand razors.
EXT. COURTHOUSE - MINUTES LATER
Louis waits on the steps, Mick comes out. Where they're
alone...
MICK
We've had an offer. Want to spend
six months in county jail?
100.
LOUIS
I told you from the beginning--
MICK
I know: The only verdict's Not
Guilty. Okay. We'll get there.
Grateful for this, Louis puts a hand on Mick's arm. But:
MICK (CONT'D)
Don't touch me, Louis. You want to
show your gratitude give me my gun
back.
Louis grins: meaning No way.
MICK (CONT'D)
I thought so.
(THEN)
You still sure you want me to put
you on the stand?
LOUIS
I insist on it.
MICK
Then get some rest tonight, you're
up next.
Leaving Louis, Mick continues down the steps, to where the
Lincoln waits. He gets in.
INT. LINCOLN - CONTINUOUS
Earl in the front seat.
MICK
There's something I need you to get
me, Earl.
A tone Earl never heard him use before. Earl turns around.
CUT TO, INT. COURTROOM - NEXT DAY - CRISP...
Mick steps past Ted on his way to his desk. As he passes--
TED
Did you talk to your client?
MICK
Yes. No deal.
101.
Ted feigns surprise-but-acceptance... While, TO THE JUDGE:
MICK (CONT'D)
The defense calls Louis Ross
Roulet, your honor.
INT. COURTROOM, LATER - LOUIS ANSWERS ON DIRECT...
LOUIS
I turned toward the living room,
the way she pointed...
ANGLE MICK, has a floorplan of the apartment, on an easel.
MICK
And what happened when you turned?
LOUIS
Something hit me and I blacked out.
I don't know for how long.
MICK
That was all?
LOUIS
Then when I woke up these guys were
on me, telling me not to move. I
couldn't anyway. I was too scared.
Mick moves toward Louis, as if determined to find flaws...
MICK
But, there was blood on your jacket
and your left hand...
LOUIS
Someone put it there because I
didn't.
MICK
Are you left-handed?
LOUIS
No.
MICK
You didn't strike Ms. Campo with
your left fist?
LOUIS
No!
102.
MICK
Threaten to rape her, or kill her?--
LOUIS
No!
MICK
You're angry. Why?
LOUIS
(passionate but simple--)
Do you know what it's like to be
accused of something like this? To
listen to people tell lies about
your having done something so sick
and awful? I, I understand I had to
be quiet and wait my chance and not
say anything-- but if guilty people
have rights, what about innocent
people? I am innocent!
Mick. Meets Louis's eye, communicates: You were perfect.
MICK
Nothing further, Judge.
Ted already up & moving, passes Mick as he takes his seat--
TED
According to you, Ms. Campo punched
herself or had a man she never met
before punch her lights out as part
of a set-up?
LOUIS
All I know is that I didn't.
TED
And this knife you always carry,
how did she know she'd find it on
you as part of the set-up?
LOUIS
("HONEST")
She couldn't, could she? I mean, I
never took it out or showed it to
anybody-- so she must have just
found it when she went into my
pocket for the money I had that I
was going to pay her with, right?--
M.
TED
I'd really prefer it if I ask the
questions, and you answer them!
(then calming himself)
Would you look at this, please--
Goes to the easel, REVEALS: PHOTO of Reggie's beaten face.
TED (CONT'D)
Please tell us again if you think
Regina Campo would or could have
done this to herself.
LOUIS
I don't know who did it, but it
wasn't me. Nobody deserves that to
happen...
TED
(seizes on this)
What do you mean by "deserves?" Do
you mean crimes of violence come
down to a whether a woman gets what
she "deserves?"
LOUIS
(right back at him)
I mean no matter what she does for
a living or who she is-- No woman
deserves that.
Ted keeps staring at the photo: Wants the jury looking there.
TED
I have no more questions.
At which, suddenly there's a wave of movement-- SLOW-MOTION--
Louis dismissed from the chair-- Ted returning to his seat,
passing Mick as Mick rises--
Louis gives Mick a "How'd I do?" look, Mick nods,
unmistakably, "You did fine..."-- Mick's look finds Ted--
Mick and Ted holding each other in a gaze-- Mick's face in a
kind of smile, Ted grim--
As Mick brings out, speaking to the Judge but his smiling
eyes fixed on the unhappy Ted-- RESUME NORMAL SPEED for
Mick's confident, fateful words:
MICK
Your honor, the defense rests.
104.
Ted hears this, sets his jaw. Fullbright turns to him.
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Mr. Minton?
Ted is uncertain...
TED
Your honor...
(She waits.)
The state needs the night to
decide, your honor...
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
To decide what?
TED
Frankly I wasn't anticipating the
defense would rest after two
witnesses. I-- I'd like the night
to consider calling a rebuttal
witness.
MICK
(reacts, "objects--")
Your honor, first we've heard of
THIS--
TED
I said `-consider." I need to find
out if the witness is even
AVAILABLE--
MICK
The state still has an obligation
to disclose the identity--
TED
Not if I decide not to use him.
(a note of pleading)
I'm begging the court's indulgence,
your honor.
Fulbright doesn't like it... but weighs, yields. Go to,
CRACK OF THUNDER: EXT. NIGHT SKY, CLOUDS, RAIN. REVEAL...
It's the vast view from Mick's porch. He has a drink in his
hand. And holds a phone to his ear...
MAGGIE'S VOICE
There's a rumor in the office...
105.
MICK
How I'm the one who shot Raul?
INT. MAGGIE'S HOUSE - ON THE PHONE IN THE KITCHEN
In the BG we SEE HAYLEY, in pajamas, jumping on her bed...
Maggie closes the bedroom door so she can speak...
MAGGIE
Haller, is this serious?
INTERCUT: MICK ON THE PORCH, RAIN/ MAGGIE IN HER KITCHEN
MICK
I'd say so. I'm being set up for
his murder. Couple of detectives
from Glendale are following me
around, just waiting for the go-
ahead to hit me with an arrest
warrant... Could be any minute...
MAGGIE
How is this possible?
MICK
Bad timing, bad client, me being
dumb...
MAGGIE
Is it Roulet? Is that the client?
MICK
I can't talk to you about my
clients. How is Hayley?
MAGGIE
Fine. But Haller, if she ever hears
anything about this--
MICK
She won't. Not if I play it right.
MAGGIE
What are you going to do?
A long beat. Then he says, just as he told Raul--
MICK
I'm working on it. I have a plan.
106.
CUT TO, INT. LINCOLN (MOVING) - HARD RAIN - MORNING
CLOSE ON MICK, in the back seat. Looking out at the rain. His
look a little different: close shave, neat suit. Fade up
sound of Earl, meanwhile, rattling on...
EARL
.when Not Guilty Two gets to four
thousand miles, that's two cars
ready, that's enough to start the
airport runs...
Scene we saw at the opening. Mick absorbed... Earl notices...
EARL (CONT'D)
You gettin' any of this, Mr.
Haller?
Mick opens the file (back-seat office extraordinarily neat).
Top of the print-out: THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
vs. LOUIS ROULET...
EXT. VAN NUYS COURTHOUSE, MORNING - RAIN CONTINUING
Earl holds an umbrella over Mick, they hurry into the
building...
INT. COURTHOUSE - SECURITY VESTIBULE
The items in his briefcase checked, wand passed over him...
INT. COURTHOUSE - CORRIDOR - ON MICK'S BACK...
As he moves down the hall. Everything counts today. Enters:
INT. COURTROOM - EMPTY, EARLY - CONTINUOUS
Ted prepares at his table. Look at each other without
greeting-- as Mick moves to the CLERK, who shuffles papers...
MICK
Bill, I'm getting coffee. Any for
you?
CLERK BILL
No man, I'm off caffeine...
107.
MICK
Hey, is that the custody list? Can
I see if any of my no-good clients
are on it?
Bill lets him have it. Mick, casual, looks over the names...
INT. COURTHOUSE - COFFEE COUNTER - DAY
LORNA, she's paying for a take-out coffee, when Mick scoops
her up by the arm, urgent, he's been looking for her--
MICK
Minton's putting on Corliss. He's
got him in lock-up already...
LORNA
But Gloria still hasn't let us know
if she got to him!
MICK
You said she had mealtimes to work
it...
LORNA
Yes but...
MICK
I'll take my chances. Meantime did
you serve Kurlen?
Moving her OUT OF THE CAFE, DOWN THE HALL-- hushed & fast--
LORNA
Yes but I didn't like forging the
judge's signature...
MICK
Yes you did.
LORNA
Yes I did.
Just then, approaching, he sees SOBEL & LANKFORD: Are they
coming for him? No, they turn into the courtroom along with
others showing up for the trial's last day. Relieved--
MICK
Now go, and be ready for my call.
Lorna starts to go-- then pauses.
108.
LORNA
I'm crazy about the power suit.
Extra flip to her hips as she goes because Mick's watching.
INT. COURTROOM - CONTINUOUS
No sooner enters than KURLEN's in his face, waves a document.
KURLEN
What shit is this, Haller? I got
nothing to do with your case!
Mick, "innocent," inspects the papers. With surprise--
MICK
Subpoena to appear as a witness?
You'll just have to wait and see.
It's a legal document, Detective.
Cursing, Kurlen takes himself off to a corner. Leaving Mick
with the "legal document." He tucks it away--
And continues to the front-- Past CECIL DOBBS and MARY
WINDSOR, to LOUIS, at the defense table. OVER WHICH, PRE-LAP:
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT (V.0.)
Mr. Minton--
INT. COURTROOM, MINUTES LATER - COURT'S IN SESSION...
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Does the state have any rebuttal?
TED
(rises, ready)
The state calls Dwayne Jeffrey
Corliss as rebuttal witness.
MICK
Judge? Who is this witness? Why
wasn't I told before now?
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
A fair question. Mr. Minton?
TED
Dwayne Corliss is a cooperating
witness who spoke with Mr. Roulet
in custody, following his arrest.
109.
LOUIS
(shouts, suddenly--)
Bullshit! I didn't to talk to--
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Quiet, Mr. Roulet! Mr. Haller,
control your client!
Mick bends over, to Louis, sotto voce--
MICK
That was good. Now leave it to me.
(to the court)
I do share my client's outrage,
your honor. I'd at least like to
know how long the state has been
sitting on this testimony...
TED
Mr. Corliss did not come forward
until yesterday.
MICK
(OUTRAGED)
This is incredible...
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Do you want to go back and talk to
him? Given the timing I'd allow it.
MICK
No, Judge, we all know what this
is, this is a jailhouse snitch, and
anything he'd say would be a lie--
TED
That's groundless, your honor--
MICK
--I just want my objection noted.
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Then I'm going to rule he can
TESTIFY--
MICK
Can I ask one indulgence? Can I
step into the hallway and make a
call to an investigator? For
whatever good it will do at this
late date.
110.
INT. COURTHOUSE - CORRIDOR OUTSIDE THE COURTROOM
Mick already dialling-- Lorna answering--
LORNA'S VOICE
Yep, here.
MICK
Put your watch at quarter of. At
ten fifteen you enter the room.
LORNA'S VOICE
Got it.
MICK
With the printouts.
LORNA'S VOICE
Mickey, I know the moves!
He snaps shut his cell-phone.
INT. COURTROOM, MINUTES LATER - DWAYNE CORLISS ON THE STAND
Prison jumpsuit. We recognize him: the holding-cell junky.
TED
Mr. Corliss, are you incarcerated
at this time?
CORLISS
Um, no, now I'm just in the
courtroom.
Dumb answer draws laughs. ANGLE LOUIS, seething...
TED
But you are currently held in the
jail-ward at USC hospital?
CORLISS
Yes. Since I got arrested.
TED
For burglary and drug possession?
CORLISS
That's right.
TED
Now. Do you know the defendant?
CORLISS
Yes. I met him in lock-up. We was
bussed over from jail, and then we
was together in the tank when we
came for first appearance.
TED
And did you talk at that time?
CORLISS
Yes... we talked about how bad we
needed cigarettes.
TED
Anything else?
CORLISS
You know, "what are you in for?"
Like that.
TED
Did he say what he was "in for?"
CORLISS
He said, "For giving a bitch
exactly what she deserved." Those
were his words.
Reaction Louis, stirs like a caged animal. Mick steadies...
TED
I have only one more question. Have
I, or has anyone, made you promises
to get you to testify?
CORLISS
No. It's the right thing to do.
Ted sits. Judge turns to Mick-- who's just staring, angrily.
Then rises. Like he doesn't know what to do. Louis, the
others, watch anxiously. Mick crosses to the front, steals a
glance at the rear, SEES KURLEN standing against the wall,
LANKFORD AND SOBEL seated in front of him. Then...
MICK
How many times have you been
arrested, Mr. Corliss?
CORLISS
About seven in L.A. Couple of times
in Phoenix if you count those.
112.
MICK
So you know how the system works?
CORLISS
I try to survive...
MICK
And sometimes that means ratting
out fellow inmates, is that it?
TED
Objection, your honor...
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Take a seat, Mr. Minton. I gave you
leeway bringing this witness in.
MICK
Thank you, your honor. But I'll
rephrase: How many times have you
snitched on an inmate? Testified
against a fellow inmate for the
prosecution?
CORLISS
This makes my fourth.
MICK
(LOOKING SURPRISED)
Four times? People just come up and
tell you they committed crimes so
you can testify against them--
CORLISS
People talk to me. I'm a friendly
guy.
Mick, walks toward Louis, indicates him--
MICK
So you and my client were friends--
CORLISS
That's right, we was friendly--
MICK
And he just said what you said he
said, about what the woman
"deserved," and then you went back
to talking about cigarettes?
113.
CORLISS
Not exactly. He was like, bragging.
He told me he did it before...
Mick freezes... Like he's in a mine field and can't move...
CORLISS (CONT'D)
He said the other time he killed
the bitch... He got away with it
then and he would get away with it
now.
MICK
(staring at Corliss)
You... Wait...
All eyes on Mick. The Judge prompts...
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Mr. Haller?
MICK
No more questions, your honor.
TED
Re-direct, your honor.
Fullbright nods permission. While Louis leans over to Mick...
LOUIS
What the hell is this?
MICK
You tell me! What did you say to
this guy?
LOUIS
(through gritted teeth)
Nothing! This is a set-up! You're
doing this!
MICK
How? How am I doing this?
But Louis has no answer. Meanwhile Ted's taken the floor...
TED
You said he was bragging. How?
CORLISS
Well, like, he told me the details.
About the other one, that he
killed.
(MORE)
114.
CORLISS (CONT'D)
He called her a snake dancer. She
danced in some joint where she was
like in a snake pit.
ANGLE, REACTION DETECTIVE KURLEN, he leans forward at this...
SAME TIME, REACTION at the defense table: Mick, "alarmed,"
low to Louis--
MICK
How does he know this?
LOUIS
Do you think I know?
MICK
If you didn't tell him this shit
somebody did. Who? Start thinking!
RESUME Ted, moving closer to Corliss--
TED
Is there anything else he told you?
CORLISS
No, that snake-girl stuff was it.
TED
(after a beat)
Then no further questions, your
honor.
Ted sits. The look he gives Mick in passing is one of
abounding confidence. Mick stews... Swivels around...
Covert glance, MICK'S POV, looks to see if Kurlen is where he
was, against the wall. He's not. He's gone. So is Lankford.
And the courtroom door still swings slightly, as if they've
just left... While IN FRONT:
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Any re-cross from the defense?
Mick rises to answer, hesitates-- and just then turns to see
Lorna enter and approach down the aisle.
MICK
A moment with my staff, Judge?
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Be quick.
He meets Lorna at the gate. Brings his head close to hers--
115.
LORNA
This is where I whisper in your
ear, tell you stuff...
MICK
(takes a file from her)
It's all here, right? You go now, I
don't want anyone talking to you.
LORNA
Damn.
She goes, he returns to the table. Before Louis can speak:
MICK
I don't know what's going on here,
but it won't matter if it's two
murders or a hundred if I can show
he's a liar--
LOUIS
If you set me up I swear I'll--
MICK
Just tell me if there's anything
else he knows. Anything else I have
to stay away from.
LOUIS
I don't know because I never talked
to him. I'm not that stupid.
MICK
It doesn't matter. If I destroy him
none of it counts...
LOUIS
(from his gut)
Then destroy him.
A command. Mick nods. Returns to the witness Corliss--
MICK
Dwayne, if I can call you that--
CORLISS
It's what people call me--
MICK
Don't they also call you D.J.? For
example, down in Phoenix, right?
116.
CORLISS
Maybe.
He's a bit wary. Mick looks through the file Lorna brought--
MICK
Because you know, my assistant, she
was just reading on the internet
about D.J. Corliss-- arrested in
Phoenix, 1989 on drug charges--
Hometown of Mesa, Arizona?
CORLISS
Yeah, that'd be me. But--
MICK
You remember Fred Bentley, right?
Corliss, darkens, stumbles at this-- Ted's quick--
TED
I object, your honor, where is the
defense going with this?
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Connect the dots soon, Mr. Haller.
But the witness can answer.
CORLISS
I don't remember any Bentley--
MICK
Sure you do. You testified that he
confessed to you the crime he was
charged with-- rape of a ten-year-
old girl-- even though he denied
his guilt in court. Am .I ringing
any bells, D.J.?
CORLISS
Uh-- 1989, I was high a lot,
there's not much I recall--
MICK
Then I'd like you to read this to
us, D.J. It's a printout of a news
story from the Arizona Star, 1997,
that's eight years after he was
convicted. I ask that it be
admitted into evidence--
TED
Your honor? A news report?
117.
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Let's see where it takes us. The
state can object later.
Mick hands printout to the bailiff, who gives it to Corliss.
MICK
I've marked the paragraph.
CORLISS
I ain't too good at reading...
(clears his throat)
"A man, Frederick Bentley, wrongly
convicted of rape, was released
Saturday after con--
(HESITATES)
--conclusive DNA results cleared
him of the crime. The case was
bolstered at trial by testimony
from an informant, D.J. Corliss of
Mesa, who claimed Bentley had--
bragged to him about the rape while
together in a holding cell--"
MICK
That's enough.
(takes it from him)
Were you charged with perjury for
that incident, D.J.?
CORLISS
No I was not.
MICK
Was that because the police were
complicit in your confession?
TED
(rises, angry--)
Judge, how can the witness know
what went into the D.A.'s decision?
MICK
(ignores, over--)
Were you promised the same deal
here, Mr. Corliss? To say that
Louis Roulet "bragged" to you in
the "holding cell?"
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Alright, Mr. Haller, that will do!
118.
MICK
(Ceases. Angry.)
Sorry. I have no more questions.
And Mick sits. Courtroom's hushed. Until--
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
I'm excusing the jury for an early
lunch. Bailiff, see them out.
Maintains a smile as the jurors leave. Then her smile dies.
INT. JUDGE FULLBRIGHT'S CHAMBERS - MOMENTS LATER
No sooner through the door-- than Fullbright wheels on Ted:
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
Mr. Minton do you know what you
have done? You've put a documented
liar on the stand, a man with a
record of putting innocent people
IN PRISON--
TED
Your honor, I--
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
You shut the fuck up when I'm
talking to you! I can think of
nothing more prejudicial or corrupt
than what I just saw out therel
(in a rage now--)
Do you realize what you've done to
my trial?
INT. COURTHOUSE CORRIDOR - MOMENTS LATER
As Mick and Ted exit into hall-- Ted hurrying off, angry--
Mick to LOUIS, DOBBS, and MARY WINDSOR-- tells them re Ted:
MICK
He's going to see his boss. To
decide what to do before the judge
comes down with a directed verdict.
LOUIS
What's a directed verdict?
MICK
She takes it out of the jury's hand
and declares an acquittal.
119.
MARY WINDSOR
(GLAD/HOPEFUL)
Oh my god...
MICK
We'll know in a few minutes.
And heads off. Louis's cold stare, watches him go...
INT. COURTHOUSE - MEN'S ROOM
Mick at the urinal. Louis enters in and slides behind him.
LOUIS
I'm not celebrating just yet, Mick.
MICK
Yeah I can see that.
LOUIS
I want to know how Corliss got that
shit he was saying.
MICK
Let it go. You're getting what you
want, I'm getting you off...
LOUIS
What I want is get off for good.
Leans into him. Pushes a hand into his back. A threat.
LOUIS (CONT'D)
You'd better understand that.
You've got enough reasons to be
afraid of me already.
When-- DOOR OPENS-- the courtroom CLERK, BILL, enters.
CLERK BILL
It's starting.
CUT TO, INT. COURTROOM - MINUTES LATER - ON...
TED
I just spoke to the District
Attorney, your honor. The state
wishes to dismiss all charges.
Here's a motion...
Mick, Louis, watch Ted hand it to Fullbright...
120.
TED (CONT'D)
It acknowledges that the procedures
which guarantee justice were not
followed in this case...
JUDGE FULLBRIGHT
(as she reads)
This is a motion to dismiss with
prejudice. No coming back. Ever.
TED
(WITH DIFFICULTY)
Yes, your honor.
INT. COURTROOM, CORRIDOR - LATER - MARY WINDSOR...
.tearful at the news, grips Mick's hand... she and Dobbs...
MARY WINDSOR
Mr. Haller, thank you for my son...
DOBBS
You were splendid--
And Louis. Private, a few feet away. Smiles...
LOUIS
I knew I wasn't wrong about you...
MICK
I want the gun.
LOUIS
Of course you do.
No more can be said, because Mrs. Windsor-- descends on Mick--
MARY WINDSOR
Mr. Haller, this time I insist you
come to Orso for a celebration--
MICK
I don't think so.
Mary would insist, but before she can, OUT OF THE ELEVATOR
comes KURLEN-- with LANKFORD AND SOBEL. Mick freezes, expects
the worst-- but they move AROUND him and CLOSE IN ON:
KURLEN
Louis Roulet, you are under arrest.
Turn around and place your hands
behind your back.
121.
LOUIS
(as Kurlen cuffs him)
Mick? This shouldn't be happening.
Mrs. Windsor rushes Kurlen-- Sobel tries forcing her back--
MARY WINDSOR
No! Take your hands off my son!
LOUIS
Mother.
Louis' voice controls her. Stricken, Mary gives up. Then--
DOBBS
What are you arresting him for?
KURLEN
(starting to take Louis)
Suspicion of murder. The murder of
Martha Renteria.
DOBBS
That snake-dancer nonsense? Are you
crazy? Everything that man Corliss
said was a lie!
Which stops Kurlen. He grins, confirmed.
KURLEN
If it was all lies, how'd you know
I meant the snake dancer?
Dobbs sees his mistake. Kurlen begins again to take Louis--
MICK
A moment with my client, Detective?
Kurlen nods, why not. Mick leads Louis a few steps away.
MICK (CONT'D)
This is it, Louis. I got you off.
Now get yourself a new lawyer.
LOUIS
You're forgetting I have the gun...
MICK
Yeah, and you'll have to explain
how you got it. But you know what?
I've stopped giving a shit. You're
going down, and Martinez is getting
out, and that's all I care about.
(MORE)
122.
MICK (CONT'D)
When they stick that needle in your
arm, that will be me.
LOUIS
And what if I don't go down?
But Mick's finished, ready to leave, though Louis persists...
LOUIS (CONT'D)
Because I don't think they have
enough to hold me. I could be out
by tomorrow... You've got women,
you've got a daughter...
At this, Mick's head snaps to him, angrily...
LOUIS (CONT'D)
You can't protect everybody.
Kurlen arrives, takes Louis's elbow...
Mick's already moving to the elevators... watched by SOBEL.
EXT. COURTHOUSE - STEPS - MINUTES LATER - DAY - STILL RAINING
SOBEL catches up as MICK reaches the Lincoln. Stops him. They
move to beneath an overhang, where they're almost dry.
MICK
Please tell me you've got enough on
Louis for the murder of Renteria.
SOBEL
We will. We have the ticket.
MICK
What ticket?
SOBEL
The parking ticket, that Raul
found. That was the phone message
he left you...
(Sees Mick doesn't know)
Raul checked. Louis got one at a
meter outside the victim's place,
same time she was murdered.
MICK
What about Raul's murder? Do you
have him for that?
123.
SOBEL
No. We still don't know how he
could have slipped the tracer
anklet.
(before Mick can ask more)
Haller? Leave it alone.
He hesitates-- but goes. Into the rain. Gets into--
INT. LINCOLN (PARKED) - CONTINUOUS
He watches Sobel hurry back to courthouse through rain. When:
EARL
Mr. Haller? Got that thing you
asked for.
And he hands Mick something wrapped in a towel: A GUN. Mick,
puts it away, in the armrest. A bit regretful, because:
MICK
I said I'd never do this. Ask you
to violate your parole.
EARL
It's called, lookin' out for your
blood.
Mick sits back. Earl pops in a RAP CD, TUPAC.
TUPAC
"To be a man in this wicked
land..."
CONTINUES OVER: EXT. LAUREL CANYON - LATER - STILL RAINING...
HAND-HELD, MICK in windbreaker, jogging... RAP continues...
INT. MICK HALLER'S HOUSE - LATER - KITCHEN
AS RAP FADES, CAMERA TRAILS Mick's messy kitchen: take-out
pizza, beer bottles... and the GUN. Barrel protrudes from
under the thrown-aside windbreaker.
Mick's seen on the porch. PHONE RINGS, he rushes into answer.
MICK
Yeah?
124.
MAGGIE'S VOICE
Mick, it's Maggie...
MICK
Uh-huh, I've been waiting for this.
You're calling to congratulate me.
MAGGIE'S VOICE
No, listen to me: Roulet is out!
MICK
(STUNNED)
What? They've had him half a dayl
/INTERCUT WITH, INT. D.A.'S OFFICE, MAGGIE'S DESK, SAME TIME
MAGGIE
I know... but the D.A. downtown
said the detectives didn't have
enough, they had to kick him...
MICK
I knew it, they jumped the gun...
dammit...
MAGGIE
They've still got the parking
ticket... and they're working
forensics on the knife...
MICK
Maggie... Look... There's more to
this. Louis knows about Hayley.
MAGGIE
(takes this in: furious:)
What are you saying? How could you
expose her to--
MICK
I've got her picture in the house!
He saw itl Where is she now?
MAGGIE
(thinking, checks watch--)
On the schoolbus-- the sitter's on
the way to pick her up on Ventura,
near the house--
125.
MICK
Get her on the cell and tell her
not to take Hayley home, keep her
with her til you get there! How
long will it take you?
MAGGIE
TWENTY MINUTES--
MICK
Call me when you've reached the
sitter.
He hangs up. Thinking-- then dials a number--
INT. OFFICE - PHONE RINGING ON THE DESK OF--
"VAL" VALENZUELA. At his desk. Answers...
VAL
Valenzeula.
INTERCUT: MICK'S KITCHEN/VAL'S OFFICE
MICK
Val it's me. Mickey Haller.
VAL
I should hang up on you. The shit
you talked to me!
MICK
Don't hang up, Val! I need a favor--
VAL
You got balls even askin'--
MICK
--it's my family, Val. Maggie,
Hayley-- they're in danger.
VAL
(COMPUTES)
This is Roulet, right?
MICK
Does he still have the ankle-
bracelet on him?
126.
VAL
Yeah, he must, he didn't come by
the office and I'm the only one can
take it off...
MICK
Then turn on the trace, Val. Now!
CUT TO, MOMENTS LATER - ANGLE ON A GPS OF L.A...
VAL
(watching it, into phone:)
I got him...
MICK
Where is he?
VAL
He's movin'... on Sunset...
MICK
Is he coming to my house?
VAL
(STUDIES)
Could be, yeah, he's going west,
heading up Laurel Canyon...
Mick, nods... glance toward his gun... Then... PHONE BEEPS in
his ear, Call Waiting--
MICK
Stay there, Val--
(switch/into phone)
Maggie?
MAGGIE'S VOICE
I reached the sitter, she'll keep
Hayley at the bus-stop...
MICK
Good. As soon as you've got her,
take her somewhere safe. And call
me.
(shifts calls/to Val--)
Where is he, Val?
VAL
I see him but I don't know where
he's goin'...
127.
MICK
What?
VAL
He's not goin' to your house.
Sonofabitch sailed right past the
turn...
SCREEN, CURSOR travelling...
MICK
So where's he going?
VAL
He's heading for the Valley.
MICK
Fuck, he's going to Maggie's. Keep
track of him.
Hangs up again. Looks around-- as if looking for an idea--
then, frantic, looks up a number-- can't find it, finds it--
dials-- it rings-- Cold sweat til somebody answers--
MICK (CONT'D)
Eddie? Eddie Vogel? It's Mick
Haller...
EXT. BAR, NIGHT, MOMENTS LATER - GLARE OF NEON IN THE RAIN...
As the "ROAD SAINTS"-- EDDIE, HARD-CASE, others-- pour out of
the bar, jump on their HARLEYS... ROAR OFF... inside which
the RINGING OF A PHONE brings us BACK TO--
INT. MICK IN HIS KITCHEN - ANXIOUS, ANSWERS...
MICK
Yes?
VAL'S VOICE
Mick, it's me...
INT. VAL IN HIS OFFICE... STARING AT THE SCREEN...
VAL
Where's Maggie live? What street?
MICK
DICKENS1
128.
VAL
He's almost there, Mick.
EXT. ROAD OVER THE CANYON - LOUIS ROULET'S PORSCHE...
Descending on the valley side...
EXT. STREET, VALLEY - THE ROAD ANGELS (MOVING)...
Harleys pouring it on in formation, like fighter-jets...
EXT. VENTURA BOULEVARD - RAIN - MAGGIE'S CAR...
She screeches to the curb, hops out... School bus stop, where
other parents wait, in cars, under umbrellas... Maggie rushes
forward, scans for the approaching bus... Nowhere in sight...
CUT TO, INT. KITCHEN - MICK
He's holding a phone, squeezing it, LISTENING TO A RING AT
THE OTHER END... To himself, a prayer...
MICK
Maggie be there, Maggie pick up...
EXT. VENTURA BOULEVARD - MAGGIE
Stands there, with the SITTER... SEES the bus approaching...
INT. HER CAR--
Her CELL-PHONE left on its dashboard rack, ringing...
INT. KITCHEN - MICK
Frantic for her to answer...
MAGGIE'S VOICE
(FINALLY)
Hello...
MICK
Maggie!
129.
MAGGIE'S VOICE
You've reached the cell-phone of
Maggie McPherson...
MICK
DAMMIT!
Slams down the phone... Desperate, grabs his jacket, his gun,
flies towards the front door...
OPENS it-- and MARY WINDSOR stands there. Before he speaks--
She raises her hand and SHOOTS him. BRIGHT FLASH--
Nick's POV, Woozy-- he falls back, she raises her gun again--
MARY WINDSOR
You took my son away from me!
She raises her gun again-- Mick FIRES AT HER FROM INSIDE THE
JACKET. Her body jerks back, she falls...
Mick, stunned, lies there...
He watches, through the haze of his condition, as Mary
Windsor's fallen body jerks, on the floor... CUT TO,
EXT. LOUIS ROULET'S PORSCHE (MOVING) --
TURNS ONTO DICKENS...
INT. PORSCHE --LOUIS...
Hate contorting his features, he's checking out the street
numbers through the DOWNWARD SLASH OF RAIN... WHEN...
The ROAD SAINTS, MOTORCYCLES SPANNING THE STREET, ARE HEADING
RIGHT FOR HIM...
Off Louis, his confusion and dawning fear... Cut to,
EXT. VENTURA BOULEVARD - OUT OF THE SCHOOLBUS...
Out steps Hayley, safe into Maggie's arms. Sitter looks on as
Maggie hugs her... WHILE...
INT. MICK'S HOUSE - MICK LIES ON THE FLOOR...
Where he was shot. He's alert but still...
130.
Then rouses more as he HEARS feet come up the front steps...
WOMAN'S VOICE
POLICE! PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS!
MICK
(forces out the words)
They're down! I'm shot!
Suddenly LANKFORD & SOBEL are through the door-- Lankford
sees Mary on the floor, while--
SOBEL
Don't move, Haller--
She rushes to him. Lankford's already on his phone--
LANKFORD
This is Lankford, we've got a
shooting, twelve-twelve Creek off
Laurel, we need paramedics,
ambulance transport for two--
During which he's checking Mary Windsor's body, revises--
LANKFORD (CONT'D)
Transport for one.
Rings off. Sobel takes Mick's hand, presses it to his wound--
SOBEL
Press hard and keep pressing.
Mick's hand is on a blood-soaked hole, hurting like hell...
while Lankford makes another call...
LANKFORD
Yeah, it's Lankford again. Tell
them it's over, they can grab
Roulet and bring him in... He what?
(LISTENS-- SURPRISED)
So, bring him to the Emergency Room
first, then bring him in!
(rings off; to Sobel)
Dig this. The uniforms had some
help picking up Roulet. Some
motorcycle gang was already beating
the shit out of him.
MICK
(figures it out--)
The police were tailing him?
131.
SOBEL
(She levels.)
We thought he'd come after you. We
couldn't tell you. The truth is we
had plenty on him for killing
Renteria. Jesus Martinez will be
released. But we wanted Roulet for
Levin, too. I told you: We had to
find out how he beat the trace. Now
we know.
(her glance goes to Mary
WINDSOR)
It was almost perfect. He's still
wearing the anklet...
MICK
I know...
SOBEL
And it puts him half a city away.
Just like last time.
They share a look at the cleverness of it. When--
LANKFORD
Look at this.
Mick looks, HIS WOOZY POV AGAIN: Lankford, wearing a glove,
lifts Mary's gun. Pearl-handled: The WOODSMAN. Admiring--
LANKFORD (CONT'D)
They don't make'm like this
anymore.
Mick, makes a shape with his free hand. The "Longhorns" sign:
inner fingers pointing down. Like Raul made.
MICK
"W." Mrs. Windsor.
Which is the last thing he manages to say before blanking.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN, EXT. HAYLEY, CLIMBING A TREE - DAY OF BLUE SKY
L.A.'s best weather: Smog-blue. The tree off Mick's porch.
Hayley's skinny legs climb nimbly from branch to branch.
From the angle, we can tell someone is watching her.
FADE OUT.
132.
FADE IN AGAIN, ANGLE, HAYLEY ON THE NEXT BRANCH, LATER
Lifts herself. Nimble. And so pretty. Watching is:
MICK - ON THE PORCH - WRAPPED UP IN A LOUNGE CHAIR
Recovering, but not fully there. MAGGIE SITS INTO FRAME
beside him.
MAGGIE
I didn't know you were awake.
He looks at her. Questioning.
MAGGIE (CONT'D)
Don't worry, we haven't been living
here. We did, for a while. When you
were touch and go.
Mick. Returns his gaze to-- HAYLEY, going branch to branch.
MAGGIE (CONT'D)
I'd better get her down, she can
get hurt up there--
MICK
You can get hurt anywhere. Let her
climb.
An almost normal tone of voice. She smiles. CUT TO,
INT. LINCOLN (MOVING) - DAY
RAP BLASTING, EARL AT THE WHEEL...
MICK
Keep your speed up, Earl...
He's IN THE BACK-SEAT, IT'S A MESS... He's scribbling on
papers as they ride... His CELL-PHONE RINGS...
MICK (CONT'D)
(INTO CELL)
This is Haller.
CUT TO BLACK.
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