BACK LIL05 23*m*f LIL SHERLOCK episode: framed INT AFTERNOON WIDE: POLICE STATION HALLWAY (Camera follows Hollis into the building and down the hall) HOLLIS (Hurries around corner, sees Lily sitting on bench) Lily! LILY (stands) Daddy. Please don't be mad. HOLLIS What on earth are you doing here?! Please don't tell me you put someone into the hospital again! LILY Daddy, no! I'm not in trouble... except... HOLLIS Except? LILY I skipped seventh period. HOLLIS Lily! I was a cop, remember?! Cops don't arrest kids for skipping class! LILY No, Daddy. It's not like that. I skipped class because they brought in Tyler Chamberlain for questioning! HOLLIS Tyler Chamberlain?! LILY Yes. HOLLIS What for? LILY They said he stole some things from other kid's lockers. HOLLIS That doesn't sound right! LILY That's what I said! HOLLIS Tyler Chamberlain is making a very good living from television. He doesn't need to steal. LILY That's what I said! But they didn't listen. (Gwen enters from a side room beyond, dabbing her eyes) HOLLIS (approaches) Mrs Chamberlain, what's going on? GWEN I think I made a mistake. HOLLIS I don't understand. GWEN I told Tyler to answer all their questions. But I think I should have asked for a lawyer. HOLLIS Why? What happened? GWEN I think they're going to hold him overnight at Juvenile Hall. HOLLIS (looks back down the hall) Mrs Chamberlain, I was a cop in this precinct. I still have some pull here. But before I pull some strings, I need to know... Did Tyler do what they said? GWEN No! Of course not! HOLLIS I'm not asking Tyler's mother. I'm asking you, as a witness of what you heard in there... (points) I need to be absolutely certain. Did Tyler do this? GWEN Tyler doesn't have a dishonest bone in his body. LILY That's true, Daddy. He doesn't even like to keep secrets. HOLLIS Okay, then, I'll see what I can do. COP (enters from side room) Mrs Chamberlain, we've decided to hold Tyler until his arraignment in the morning. GWEN Oh no! (sits) (Lily sits with Gwen, holds her hand) HOLLIS Hold off for a minute on that, will you Frank? COP Bill Hollis! You old hound dog!. What brings you to these hallowed halls?! (offers hand) HOLLIS (shakes) I'm a friend of Mrs Chamberlain. (points) I think you should slow down a little. COP What do you mean? HOLLIS I mean, I've stood where you're standing and I know that sometimes things aren't what they look like. COP Surely, you don't think the kid is innocent! We caught him with the stolen credit cards in his locker! HOLLIS All I'm saying is, there's more than one way for stolen property to get into a kids locker. COP (sighs) Bill, I've got a solid case against this kid. So, if it was anybody but you stepping in, I wouldn't even hesitate to go ahead with it. But you were a good cop. You've always had good instincts. How do you read it? HOLLIS (turns away from Gwen) Frank, my gut tells me that there's only a 5% chance that Tyler Chamberlain is your guy. But even if the chances were 95%, I'd still advise you to put this off for two days until we're 100% sure. COP Two days? I don't know, Bill. HOLLIS Frank, Tyler Chamberlain is a television star. They shoot his television show here in the city. Even if he did it, there's nowhere for him to run that he wouldn't be recognized. What's the hurry to lock him up? COP Well, when you put it like that... HOLLIS Give us two days. I'll dot the I's and cross the T's myself. If he's guilty, I'll make sure he pleads guilty. It's his first offense. The most time he'll do for it is 30 days. But if he's not guilty and you ruin his reputation, well... COP Alright. Alright. Bill, I wouldn't do this for anybody else but you. You have two days to do your own investigation. HOLLIS That's all I'm asking. COP I just have one condition. HOLLIS I'm listening. COP This will not be a whitewash. In two days you either hand over Tyler Chamberlain or the real perp PLUS a bushel basket of evidence that I can hand over to the D.A.. HOLLIS (offers hand) Deal. COP I'll get the kid. (turns) HOLLIS And I need to see the case file. COP (turns, sighs, shakes finger, backs away) Hollis, this better not fall back on me! (exits) HOLLIS Frank, it's me! (turns) Lily, if you're wrong about this, I won't be able to show my face around here ever again. EXT AFTERNOON WIDE: POLICE STATION ENTRANCE (TV news crews block the exit of the Hollises and the Chamberlains) REPORTER (holds mike in front of Hollis) When will Tyler be arraigned for this crime? HOLLIS He's not going to be arraigned. REPORTER Then, the police are releasing him? HOLLIS They're not releasing Tyler because they never arrested Tyler. He was just here to help the police with the investigation. The perpetrator of the crime is still at large. REPORTER We have reports that the stolen property was found in Tyler's school locker. HOLLIS What the reports DIDN'T tell you is that only a few of many stolen items were found in Tyler's locker. We think the items were placed in his locker to divert suspicion from the real thief. (pushes through) Now if you'll excuse us, we need to get Tyler home so he can resume his normal activities. (Lily and the Chamberlains follow Hollis down sidewalk, Gwen looks back) GWEN Mr Hollis, you couldn't have handled that better if you were a $500 per hour lawyer. HOLLIS Who do you think I learned that from when I was a cop? INT EVENING WIDE: FAIRFIELD ACADEMY HALLWAY (The Chamberlains and Hollises stand in front of Tyler's open locker. Hallways are dark except locally) HOLLIS According to the police report, the stolen credit card and the (refers to notepad, points to open locker) stolen gift card were found here in Tyler's locker. LILY That doesn't mean Tyler stole them! HOLLIS Lily, you're not Tyler's friend now. You're Tyler's investigator. Focus on the investigation. Let the evidence lead you to a conclusion. LILY Sorry, Daddy. I'm focused. HOLLIS Both the gift card and the credit card belonged to the same person... (reads) Bradly Lamson. Where is his locker? TYLER Next to mine. On the left there. (points) HOLLIS According to the police report, eleven other lockers in this area were also looted. Can you confirm? TYLER (nods, points) When I arrived, these twelve lockers were open. The Police made me open my locker and found the gift card and the credit card. HOLLIS (points to notepad) Neither the locks nor the lockers showed any signed of being forced open. How do you explain that? TYLER (shakes head) There are key holes on the backsides of all the locks (lifts lock, points) and there's a master key that opens them all. HOLLIS That means unless the thief had memorized the combinations to a dozen locks... LILY ...the thief had access to the master key! HOLLIS According to the police report, there are only three master keys in existence: (reads) one is in the school safe, one is carried on the key ring of the head master and one is carried by the head janitor. Who do we suspect? GWEN Well, I can rule out the head master. She's a friend of mine. She would never... LILY What about the head janitor? TYLER He's been here since the school opened over thirty years ago. No way he'd start stealing after all this time. LILY That leaves the master key in the school safe in the head master's office. GWEN I can help you there. The head master is the only one with the combination to that safe. HOLLIS She's not old enough to have been here since the school opened. Maybe the previous head master still knows the combination. GWEN (shakes head) I helped her move into her office. The first thing she did was change the locks on the office door and the combination to the safe. TYLER That leaves no suspects with a master key. (points) You don't suppose someone picked twelve locks... LILY Have they narrowed down when the cards were stolen? HOLLIS (points to notepad) They narrowed it down to the last half of sixth period. GWEN That's less than a half hour. LILY Daddy, you can pick locks... could you.... HOLLIS It's not like you see on TV. You've got to pick one tumbler at a time and there are six or eight tumblers per lock. For twelve locks that could take fifteen or twenty minutes. No thief would expose himself in this hallway for that long. The guy who did this used a master key. LILY But we've already eliminated all the suspects with keys. TYLER So, we're back to me as the only suspect. LILY We don't suspect you! Do we Daddy? HOLLIS Why did they suspect you, Tyler? TYLER I got a hall pass to go to the library during sixth period. I stopped by my locker to pick up a book. LILY So, whoever did this saw Tyler at his locker! HOLLIS Did you see anyone in the hallway? TYLER (pauses) There were several people... employees I think... walking down (points) the back hallway. But nobody in this one. LILY So, it could be one of them! HOLLIS We can't eliminate the students yet. TYLER He's right. A student may have walked by in the front or back hallways when I wasn't looking. HOLLIS (holds up finger) Follow me on this. (pantamimes) The perp opens ten lockers. Then searches coats and jackets and backpacks until he finds cash and credit cards and stuffs them in his pockets. When his pockets are full, he searches one more locker, takes a credit card and a gift card from this last locker and slides them through the louvers of Tyler's locker to divert suspicion. (turns) Are you with me so far? (all nod) Any conclusions? LILY It can't be a student, Daddy! TYLER Why not? LILY Suppose one of the students comes out of class to go to the bathroom and sees a student standing in front of eleven open lockers.... TYLER I see where you're going with this! If it's a student, the first thing you think is the kid is stealing! LILY But if it's an adult in that same situation,... TYLER You think there must be a water pipe leaking in the wall behind the lockers or it's a locker inspection to find cigarettes or drugs. LILY So, we're definitely looking for an adult. GWEN I'll have the head master question the staff tomorrow. HOLLIS Actually, I think this investigation will have to be done by the kids. TYLER Really?! GWEN You can't be serious! LILY What do you mean? HOLLIS If the perp gets wind that we know it's a staff member, he'll destroy the evidence. And there are far more kids in this school than adults. And kids are more open to answering questions from kids than from adults. TYLER So, we get to do a real investigation? GWEN You can't be serious! Tyler's future is at stake! TYLER Lily and I solved the sabotage of Bella's costumes. LILY And the house burglaries. GWEN You really think these kids can clear Tyler's name? TYLER Lily is a gifted investigator. My only doubt is who will end up in the hospital. INT NOON WIDE: FAIRFIELD ACADEMY LUNCH ROOM (Lily comes off the line carrying a tray of food. Tyler is already sitting with eighth grade girls.) TYLER (to girls) Move over and let Lily have a seat. (the girls slide aside, Lily hesitates nervously) TYLER (points) Sit. (Lily sits) Any luck interviewing the kids in YOUR classes? LILY (shakes head) No. All the seventh grade lockers are on the other end of the building. Nobody saw anything. What about you? TYLER (to Girl1) Tiffy, tell Lily what you told me. Tell her who you suspect. TIFFY Billy Ridgeway. LILY (looks subtly) Ridgeway. That name sounds familiar. Is he a seventh grader? TIFFY He's a dishwasher in the kitchen. (points subtly, looks out of the side of her eye) That's him collecting the trays from the trash can. LILY Why does the name Ridgeway sound familiar? GWEN Billy's dad is the Head Janitor. LILY That's interesting. Why do you think it's him? TIFFY There are three elements required to zero in on a suspect: means, motive and opportunity. LILY (smiles) You get that from watching television? TYLER I think she's got something here. (Counts on fingers) Means, motive and opportunity. Let's start with opportunity. The thefts happened during sixth period when all the kids are in classes. TIFFY The kitchen crew is off work half way through sixth period. TYLER It's the right time at the right place. (counts on finger) That means Billy's got the opportunity. TIFFY I heard that Billy lost his job and he had to move back home with his parents. His dad got him a job here at the school. TYLER That means he would have access to his dad's master key at home. LILY He could make a copy of it and return the key to the key ring without anyone noticing. TYLER Billy has access to the master key. (counts on finger) Billy has the means. LILY (hand to face) Quiet. Here he comes. (Billy passes by) TYLER (whispers, counts on finger) That leaves motive. TIFFY If he moved back in with his parents, and his dad had to get him a job here, it means that Billy probably lost his job and needs money. TYLER Billy needs money. (counts on finger) That means Billy has a motive. (counts on fingers) Means, motive and opportunity. TIFFY So, let's go get a search warrant! LILY We need more than suspicion to get a search warrant. TIFFY We can't just sit back and wait for the police to come and arrest Tyler. What else can we do? LILY We need to catch him in the act. TIFFY Too late! The crime was yesterday! LILY If... (looks both ways) ...if Billy is in financial need, looting the lockers of a few eighth graders won't solve his financial problems. If he thinks he got away with it once, he'll probably try it again. TYLER Especially if he thinks I'll take the blame! LILY Exactly. TYLER So, we can still catch him in the act! LILY WE are not going to do anything. YOU shouldn't be anywhere near... (looks both ways) Billy when we catch him in the act. TIFFY She's right, Tyler. If the cops see you with Billy, they'll assume you're cooperating with him. TYLER That's no fun! I love detective work! (Lily raises her eyebrow) Alright. Alright. I'll stay out of it. LILY Make sure you get a hall pass and go to the library during sixth period again today. Daddy and I will do the rest. TYLER Good luck. INT AFTERNOON POV: FROM INSIDE A DARKEN SCHOOL LOCKER (Lily watches through the louvers as Billy pockets money and cards from the last three of ten open lockers. Then he looks both ways and pulls two of the gift cards out of his pocket and slides them through the louvers of Tyler's locker. Lily sends a text message: "Daddy, Billy is perp. Move in." A message appears on the screen. "No service." Billy exits. Lily waits for a few seconds, then exits the locker cautiously, puts phone to ear.) LILY (following Billy cautiously) Daddy! Change of plans. My cell phone didn't work inside the locker. Billy got away. He went out the BACK door. I'm following. EXT AFTERNOON WIDE: FAIRFIELD ACADEMY BACK DOOR (Lily opens door cautiously, peeks out, looks both ways, sees Billy jump over the wall beyond the school yard, Lily runs, jumps to top of wall, a german shepherd barks fiercely from the other side. Lily drops down, runs along the wall, climbs to top again, sees Billy climbing a fence on the far end of someone's yard. Now wary, Lily walks the length of the side fence like it's a balance beam, dismounts off the far end with a somersault with a half twist) EXT AFTERNOON WIDE: CITY SIDEWALK LILY (phone to ear, running cautiously, ducking behind bushes and walls occasionally) Daddy, Billy cut through someone's yard behind the school. He's headed toward the strip mall near the 7-11 where you stop for coffee. I can't wait for you there, I might lose him. Got to go. (pockets phone, reaches out, pulls Tyler into frame) Tyler! What are you doing here?! (pulls Tyler behind a dumpster, ducks) TYLER (points) He went that way. (turns) You're mad. I can tell you're mad. LILY You're going to ruin everything! Go home! TYLER Well, I couldn't let him get away! Your dad was parked in front of the school, but noone was covering the back! LILY (looks around dumpster) He's gone! I lost him. TYLER Oh no! That's my fault. I thought I was helping. LILY You're not helping. Go home. (Tyler exits, Lily hops onto a stack of empty wooden pallets, onto a dumpster, onto an electrical equipment cabinet, onto the ladder spikes of a nearby power pole. She climbs up the pole to get a look around, sees Billy in the distance turning into the back entrance of a storefront business. Holding on with one hand, she digs into her shirt pocket for her cell phone, other hand slips, she drops phone to grip the pole, phone slips out of her hand, tumbles to the ground) (close-up: phone smashing to pieces in slow-motion) INT AFTERNOON TWO-SHOT: HOLLIS' CAR LILY (drops the pieces of broken phone into Hollis' hand) Daddy, I am so sorry! That was a new phone. HOLLIS (pulls car door closed) The important thing is that YOU are in one piece. (camera zooms out to include the back door of the storefront business, a police car and an ambulance, as Billy is loaded into the ambulance on a gurney) What happened? LILY I tried to dial the phone while I was at the top of a telephone pole. HOLLIS I'm not talking about the cell phone! I'm talking about what went on here. You put two more people into the hospital! EXT AFTERNOON WIDE: BEHIND THE USED-BOOK STORE LILY (hops up a stack of inverted milk crates, to the top of a dumpster to the top of a wall nearby to sneak a peak through a rear window, sees Proprietor approach Billy from the front of the store. Billy pulls some of the stolen cards from his pocket. Proprietor turns, checks to see if there are any customers in the front of the store.) (voiceover) I followed Billy to this bookstore and when I looked in through the window I saw Billy pull out the credit cards and gift cards he stole from the kids at school. INT AFTERNOON TWO-SHOT: USED-BOOK STORE BACK ROOM BILLY (counts out the stolen cards on a work table as Proprietor watches) ...seven, eight, nine. (straightens, smiles) Nine cards at ten bucks a piece. That's ninety bucks you owe me. PROPRIETOR I'll pay you fifty bucks. BILLY Fifty?! PROPRIETOR A couple of those gift cards you brought me last time had less than five bucks left on them. (sound cue: bell tinkles) BILLY What about the other cards? I'll bet you.... PROPRIETOR (Holds up finger, backs away to front of the store. Looks around, sees noone. Sidesteps to see between several stacks of books all across the store. Makes one final scan of the store, shrugs shoulders, turns, returns to back room) (camera pans bookshelves revealing Lily hiding beneath a table of books. She climbs to the top of a bookshelf, crawls to the rear of the store, over the partition between front and rear, over books on the top shelves along the wall, partially obscured from view by other shelves. She ends up at the rear of the back room as the men talk) Where were we? BILLY You were about to rip me off! PROPRIETOR Wrong. Offering to pay you fifty bucks is the opposite of ripping you off. BILLY You paid me ten bucks per card last time. PROPRIETOR But last time they weren't worth ten bucks per card. BILLY How much did you get for them? PROPRIETOR The mark-up I get from the sale of my merchandise is none of your business. Now, do you want fifty bucks for nine cards or not? BILLY You're not the only game in town, you know. PROPRIETOR You're welcome to take your business elsewhere if you like. Nobody has a gun pointed at your head. (smiles) BILLY Seventy-five bucks. PROPRIETOR Fifty bucks is the offer. (smiles) BILLY I know. We're negotiating. Sixty bucks. PROPRIETOR Fifty bucks is the offer. (smiles) BILLY I suppose next time you'll pay me a dollar a card. PROPRIETOR This is here and this is now. Fifty bucks is the offer. Take it or leave it. (smiles) BILLY Alright, I'll take it. But next time, I'm finding somebody else to fence my cards. PROPRIETOR (pulls a wad of bills from his pocket, peels off two twenties and a ten) Okay, we have twenty, forty, fifty dollars. (gathers up plastic cards) It's been a pleasure doing business with you. (smiles) BILLY (takes money) Yeah, yeah. (turns toward back door) LILY (shot widens) I'm sorry, I can't let you leave until the police get here. PROPRIETOR Who is she? And how did she get in here? Did you rat me out?! BILLY Don't blame me! I'm leaving. (steps toward door) LILY No, you're not. (pushes a loaded shelf unit over with her foot, blocking the back door, covering Billy with books. Lily crawls toward the front door) PROPRIETOR You little brat! Look at the mess you made! (to Billy, pointing) Get her! BILLY I'm sorry, I'm a little busy. PROPRIETOR (following Lily) Who do you think you are, coming here and making a mess?! LILY I go to the school where Billy stole those cards from. So, he's going to jail and so are you. PROPRIETOR (grabs an extension book-grabber, pokes at Lily repeatedly) That's not going to happen. I'm afraid you're going to have a little accident. (lunges) You're going to fall from a great height and (lunges) die! LILY (leaps to the side) You wish. PROPRIETOR That was you coming in through the front door, wasn't it? (lunges) LILY (leaps to a nearby shelf top) Yes. PROPRIETOR So, you haven't had a chance to call the police yet, have you? (lunges) LILY (swings from fire extinguisher pipe, lands on another shelf top) As a matter of fact, I thought I would use your phone. PROPRIETOR I hate to disappoint you, but I won't be here when the police arrive. (turns toward front door) LILY Yes, (pushes over book shelf with foot, blocking the door, covering Proprietor in a pile of books) ...you will! INT AFTERNOON TWO-SHOT: HOLLIS' CAR LILY I really made a mess of things, didn't I Daddy?! HOLLIS Look on the bright side. The police haven't even mentioned it. LILY They haven't? HOLLIS No, what they mentioned was that they've been after the proprietor of this bookstore for fencing stolen property. And they found nine stolen credit cards in his pocket. So, YOU just made the case against him. LILY And against Billy? HOLLIS And against Billy. LILY What about Tyler Chamberlain? Is he still in trouble? HOLLIS Nope. Thanks to you, Tyler Chamberlain has been cleared of all charges. LILY Awesome! (reaches into pocket for cell phone) I'll call him and tell... Oh. I broke it. HOLLIS (voiceover as car drives away) You can tell him in person. We're all having dinner together. ©2010 Bob Snook. Conditions for use: Do not sell any part of this script, even if you rewrite it. Pay no royalties, even if you make money from performances. You may reproduce and distribute this script freely, but all copies must contain this copyright statement. http://www.bobsnook.org email: bob@bobsnook.org BACK |