Secret Window
Mort How may I assist you, Amy?
Amy [On phone] Oh god.. Mort.. [Mort shoo’s a fly]
Mort [Grabs some Doritos and eats them] What happened, what?
Amy [On phone] Someone burned down our house, that’s what happened, okay?
Mort [Stops chewing] What?
Amy [On phone] Someone burned down our house!
Scene 16 : Setting : The Site : Characters : Mort Rainey, Amy Rainey, Ted Milner, Fire Chief Wickersham, Steven Bradley.
[A Shot of the site, firemen moving around, chatter of police radios in the background] [Mort walks forward, and lays his eyes upon what used to be his house] [Flashback fades in]
Amy [Comes out of the house] Bye, babe.
Mort [Comes out of the house] Pardon me, miss. I noticed that you, uh left 100$ on the dresser.
Amy Shut up!
Mort Well, surely the escort service told you that I was 3.
Amy Shhhh! Please! [She runs off]
Mort Mm.. Some guys are less. Some guys are a hundred if you like that kind of thing. Some guys are even less than that. But I’m 3. I happen to be 3. There’s something on your mouth just there. [Amy gets in her car] Bye.
[The flashback fades out]
[Mort walks closer] [Amy and Ted appear, Amy spots Mort]
Amy Mort! [She runs up, then walks] [She wraps herself up in her sweater] [When Mort sees her, he flashbacks to her making out with Ted in the motel] [He looks away from her sadly] Hi [She hugs him]
Mort Hi. I’m really sorry about all this, Amy.
Amy So am I.
Ted [Takes off his sunglasses] Me too.
Mort Thank you, Ted. [He turns away and makes a face]
Wickersham Mr. and Mrs. Rainey!
Mort, Amy, Ted : No, Yes, Yes.
Wickersham You the owners?
Amy Yes.. we..ar.. we.. were the owners. [Comes forward]
Wickersham [Mort looks down sadly] Were the owners? What do you mean? [Mort looks at Ted angrily] [They both go forward to Wickersham] You don’t own it anymore?
Mort Were Mr. and Mrs. Rainey. Are the owners.
Bradley I’m Steven Bradley, I’m a detective with Riverdale P.D.
Ted [Shakes his hand] How do you do? Ted Milner.
Bradley [Pointing to Wickersham] This is Fire Chief Wickersham.
Ted Chief [Holds out his hand]
Wickersham Hi. [Shakes his hand]
Bradley We won’t take long, the insurance investigator needs to see you in the city at 3.
Wickersham [Holds out a burnt champagne bottle on a tweezers] You are definitely the victims of arson. The fire was started by an incendiary device made.. uh.. with a champagne bottle and a couple of quarts of plain old gasoline.
Mort Well that really works then, eh?
Bradley So, first question. Enemies. You got any? [Mort looks down sadly once more]
Amy No. No one.
Ted No, no. Not a soul.
Mort [Turns to Ted, annoyed] Bother you if I answer one or two of these, Ted? [Raises hands] [He makes his way over to Bradley] Yeah. [He turns and looks back at Amy then back to Bradley] I have an enemy.
Scene 17 : Setting : The Insurance Agency : Characters : Mort Rainey, Amy Rainey, Ted Milner, Fran Evans, Fran’s Assistant.
[The shot is from outside the agency’s window. Then it pulls in]
Fran [Makes he way to the table] I’m sorry I wasn’t there to meet you this morning. I spent most of last night poking around the site with a… flashlight and a Polaroid. [She places some papers on the table] Oops. [Sits down] Broke one of my own rules. [Pushes her chair in] I don’t like to call it the site. It wasn’t a site.. it was.. a house. Your house and I’m very sorry for your loss.
Mort Thank you very much.. [Picks up papers and finds her name] ..Mrs. Evans.
Fran [Smiles] It still says Mrs… Fran is fine. These meetings are hard. [Amy lowers her sweater] [Mort looks down at her] People in your situation are already upset and quite often they take [Amy drinks a glass of water] the presence of an investigator as an accusation that they’ve torched their own property. [Mort looks at her, then away, then back] And in this case you have certainly given us a plausible [Amy puts her sweater up again] suspect who we’ll investigate aggressively along with the [Mort looks away, plays with his face] police. But, in the meantime, that’s a list of your claimed insurable property. You look it over, then you sign an affidavit swearing that the listed items still belong to you and that they were still in the house when the fire occurred. I’m told there was a separation of residence recently? So that last bit might be particularly important.
Mort We’re going through a divorce. It’s not final yet.
Amy Well, the settlement agreements are done. Everything’s negotiated. [Ted sighs, boredly] We’re just waiting for it to be signed. By um.. both parties.
Mort I moved out six months ago and just.. hadn’t gotten around to hauling all the stuff out yet.
Fran Been down that road. [Shakes head] Sucks.. [Ted is bored] These things just have to follow their natural course. It’ll wrap up when everybody’s ready for that to happen.
Mort [Chugs his glass of water] That’s been my feeling. [Plays with his face]
Fran In the meantime, [gestures to list] Do the best you can with the list.
Amy Thanks. [She looks down at the list] [Mort looks down at the list] [Ted is bored, he tries to glance over Amy’s shoulder to see the list] [Amy sees that he can’t see, looks at Mort, and nudges the list to Ted’s direction] [Ted leans in close and clears his throat] [Mort looks up at Ted, annoyed. Then nudges the list back to his direction] [Amy looks angry]
Mort I’m sorry. Excuse me. Do you actually intend to rubberneck?
Ted I hardly think my concern could be construed as rubbernecking.
Mort Amy. He’s rubbernecking.
Amy Okay.
Mort I’m not going to freak out about this, but I mean.. this is our stuff.
Ted What the hell’s the point, man?
Mort It’s our stuff!
Ted I’m just trying to help out here. I don’t understand why it is so important.
Amy No, no. Alright! Alright!
Mort This our stuff!
Amy [Turns to Ted] No, no. He’s right. He’s right, Ted.
Fran He is right, Mr. Milner. The law says that you have no right to be looking at the list of items at all. We wink at something like this if nobody minds, but.. [She looks at Mort who looks angry] it looks like Mr. Rainey does.
Mort [Nods] Yes, Mr. Rainey minds a lot.
Ted [Looks around] Uhh.. Would it help matters if I um.. took um.. a walk around the block?
Amy Yes. Thanks.
Ted Sure. [He kisses Amy on the forehead] [He gets up and goes to the door]
Mort [Stops playing with his face and looks up] Aw, heck Ted. Live a little. Make it two. [Ted pauses, then goes out the door] Rubbernecker.. [Amy gives him a sharp look] [Fran’s assistant clears his throat and hands them the list]
Scene 18 : Setting : The Lobby Of The Insurance Agency : Characters : Mort Rainey, Amy Rainey, Ted Milner, Guy.
[Mort and Amy ride in the elevator down to the lobby. The’s a dude at the back of the elevator who’s chewing gum and listening to music through headphones quite loudly. Mort and Amy feel uncomfortable together. Mort looks up at the ceiling] ding [The elevator doors open. The dude from behind pushes his way out] [Mort looks pissed] [Mort and Amy walk out]
Amy Mort. [Mort puts his tuque on] Wait. Mort I have to ask you something. [They walk towards the exit]
Mort What?
Amy This guy, Shooter. His story. I mean, is this a situation [Mort adjusts his glasses] like the other time? [Mort scowls] I’m sorry. I wouldn’t bring it up. But it did happen once before.
Mort [They stop in front of the door] Look, that was the only time I’ve ever even done anything remotely like that. I paid the guy everything he wanted. Never happened before, or since.
Amy Okay.
Mort Okay.
Amy Okay.
Mort [Turns to leave, then stops] Amy?
Amy [Turns around, and walks back to him] What?
Mort You and me and the lawyers. We’re the only ones that know about that, right?
Amy Right.
Mort Because you haven’t said anything to Ted, certainly not?
Amy No.
Mort Have you said something to Ted?
Amy C’mon!
Ted [Comes through the door holding two cups of coffee. He smiles] Well, do I have timing or what? [Hands one of the cups to Amy]
Mort Yes you do. I’m real sorry you had to miss that. I know how much you like my things.
Amy [To herself] Aw, Jesus.
Ted You and me are going to have a little talk. [To Amy] Be back in ten minutes. [He opens the door]
Mort [To Amy] I’m in trouble. [He and Ted go out the door] [Amy sits on a bench and sighs]
