UNTITLED SCRIPT SERIES - EPISODE TWO

A WOMAN FOR ALL REASONS

BY PAUL CHANDLER AND NICK GOODMAN

EPISODE TWO:

BY NICK GOODMAN

MAIN CHARACTERS

MATTHEW - AN ASSISTANT LIBRARIAN

BOB - A DEPUTY THEATRE MANAGER

DEBS - BOB'S WIFE

OTHER CHARACTERS - TO BE UPDATED SOON 

THE STORY SO FAR: MATTHEW AND BOB ARE TWO MIDDLE AGED GUYS WHO HAVE KNOWN EACH OTHER FOR MANY YEARS... THEIR FRIENDSHIP STEMS BACK TO A SHARED LOVE OF CULT TV AND FILMS - THEY ARE ALSO KEEN WRITERS, ALTHOUGH OF LATE BOB DOES NOT APPEAR SO INSPIRED AND MATTHEW IS CONCERNED BY HOW IT IS AFFECTING HIS FRIEND. AFTER A CHAT WITH BOB IN A LOCAL PUB MATTHEW REVEALS THAT HE HAS AN IDEA FOR A CREATIVE PROJECT THAT THEY CAN BOTH WORK ON TOGETHER... BOB AGREES TO TAKE PART, BUT HIS WIFE - DEBS - IS SUSPICIOUS OF MATT'S MOTIVES - EVEN GOING SO FAR AS TO CALL HIM UP TO WARN HIM NOT TO TURN BOB'S WORLD UPSIDE DOWN WITH HIS PLANS... MATT ASSURES HER ALL WILL BE WELL... 

SCENE 4. INT. LIBRARY.  EVENING.

(Early evening the same day. Matt and Bob enter the Reference section of their local library. Matthew is shot through with intrepid zest. Bob is confused. Matthew stops short)

BOB:  This isn't your section?

MATTHEW:  No its the upstairs. We from downstairs are..well..looked down upon.

BOB:   So this is unexplored country then?

MATTHEW:  Bingo! That's her.

BOB:  That's who?

(Matthew turns on his heel, back to the reception desk. He thumbs backwards to a pleasingly ordinary “Plain Jane” with frizzy hair sat head down down, glasses on nose)

MATTHEW:  Emily Bradnock!¬ She knows you know!

BOB:  And what exactly does she know?

MATTHEW:  I don't know yet!

(Awkward pause)

Let me show you. Sit down.

BOB:  (Under his breath) Maybe a night in with Lambert would have been better..

(Matthew goes to a shelf, grabs a book and in indicates Bob to do the same. Bob randomly picks one called “Hitler: The Final Moments” and sits)

This is the first one I found. Why the books? I thought we were hear to talk to the girlie.

MATTHEW:  (Whisper) Its a calling code. Watch!

(Matthew stands his copy of “Arthur Askey:The McCarthy Letters” and peers over the top. After a  while, Emily peers over towards and “lights up”. She wanders over and sits with the boys. All her formality drains from her and she reaches a hand out to Matthew like a prisoner being visited)

EMILY:  You came back!

MATTHEW:  (Indicating Bob)  This is Bob.

EMILY:  (Holding Bob's startled hand)  Bob, TELL HER STORY!

BOB: (Slowly)  Whose story?

EMILY:  Walsh!

(Bob looks at Matthew trying to think fast and back to Emily)

BOB:  (To Emily)  Tell me more.

MATTHEW:  She doesn't know any more.

EMILY:  Matthew tells me you're a writer.

BOB:  I was!

MATTHEW: (Firmly)  You are!

(To Emily)  He is!!

EMILY:  Then you can dig and find and tell. I am merely the rock you thrust aide and plunge your hand in to reach for the treasure!!

(Bob gulps, literary mystery far from his mind)

MATTHEW:  (To Emily) We must know more.

EMILY:  Then meet me here at 1am

(Both Matthew and Bob squawk in alarm)

MATTHEW:  How are we meant to get in??!!

EMILY:  (Producing a key)  I will lock you in the stationary cupboard and let you out at the appointed hour.

BOB:  I have a wife at home!!!

MATTHEW:  (To Bob)  She has her TV carnage for company. But I do have Tolstoy to think about.

EMILY:  Remember, to a cat, humans are pleasant but expendable company. He'll cope. Meet me at the cupboard at 7pm for lock down.

(Emily returns to her desk. Her manager, Neville, has grown a frown)

BOB: (To Matthew) Why can't we just sit down and blow up spaceships like we used to. Is any research worth being locked in a cupboard for four hours!!!??

MATTHEW:  This is going to be big. And its real. She says so.

BOB:  (Sarcastic) Oh she says so. She's loop the loop old friend!

MATTHEW:  (Banging on the desk as quietly as possible) Exactly. They're in every horror film. Some mad bugger who knows what’s going on.

BOB:  ALL we we have is a name and a story. No, we don't even have a story. Just a request for a story.

MATTHEW:  That girl has picked up masses of bits and pieces from local sources.

BOB:  (Unhappy)  Why the cupboard??!!  Why can't she just tell us?

MATTHEW:  All the info is here and there. She has no time to stick it together.

BOB:  Why can't she set off the fire alarm and just get everyone out if its so secret.

MATTHEW:  She did that when she was tapping the Marquis of Hamilton. She is now on her last warning with her manager Neville.

BOB:  Its a pity I didn't get a warning. What if we need the loo?

MATTHEW:  (Struggling) Ink pots?

BOB:   They're full of ink!

MATTHEW:  Cheer up. Live a little!

BOB:  (Holding his head in his hands)  Gives a new meaning to getting a retainer. I wonder what old Lambert is doing now?

(Time passes. It is now 1am and all is quiet in the stationary cupboard. The door is unlocked. Twisted at awkward angles inside and half asleep, Matthew and Bob stir, moan, creak, stretch and blink before emerging from their “tomb”.Fresh as a posy and dressed in black like a burglar, Emily leads the boys back into the Reference section. A power point projector stands ready. A sepia still of an old lady crossing a medieval square is being projected)

BOB:  (Still bent over and bleary eyed)  Oh dear..not even if my youth did I do this..

(Emily clicks her fingers and indicates for the boys to sit. This they do, their offended backs reluctant to let them sit without pain)

EMILY:  (Scooping up a stick indicator and points it at the projected image)  Now then. Walsh! A resident of the area as you can see . Outwardly a kindly old lady in unflattering stockings for a woman of her age...  (Turning to the boys, whipping glasses off an glaring)

Inwardly – a dark enigma! She has a bequest that has bank rolled the Mother's Union, four local stores and the local Boy Scouts for 150 years!

BOB: Fancy.

EMILY:  (Pointing stick)  Some say the brothel too!

MATTHEW:  (Shaking his weary head)  I was really was out of the loop as a young man..

EMILY:  Her name is associated with dozens of ventures BUT (Slamming down his stick) have you spotted what doesn't add up?

BOB:  She still couldn't afford decent stockings?

EMILY:  (Inpatient)  No!

MATTHEW:  (More keenly)  The Scouts didn't start until 1907!

EMILY:  Good but not quite....

(Emily zooms in on the picture using a remote control)

Behind Walsh is a Cop-Op Advertising Green Shield stamps. I checked  with the Marquis. His father was involved. That type was active in 1973. 43 year years ago!

(Matthew and Bob try to reboot their tired brains. Emily sits wide eyed)

If her bequest was 150 years ago, what was she doing walking around at liberty 113 years later??!!

(Matthew and Bob are briefly impressed. Then....)

BOB:  Are you sure its the same person?

EMILY:  Yep. Check the Internet  if you don't believe me.

MATTHEW: Does it mention her?

EMILY:  No. That’s what I mean. Total security blackout. So we are left with good old fashioned tell-tale books.

MATTHEW:  What became of your helpful Marquis of Hamilton?

(Emily slumps back in her chair, solemn and thoughtful)

EMILY:  He went yellow on me. Couldn't take the heat. Too close. Too much to lose..

(Turning to the boys)  So there you are. Its up to you now! Good luck!

MATTHEW:  You want us to look for clues in this library? At this time of night?

EMILY:  Whilst I catch up on my sleep.

BOB:  Then you can let us out?

EMILY:  Oh no, the CCTV at the back door would give the game away and pick up up leaving.

MATTHEW:  But you've go it in here.

EMILY:  Its switched off in here.

BOB:  Then switch off the back door one!

EMILY: That works off a master control. Locked in Neville’s office Only Neville has the key. For some reason he doesn't trust me.

MATTHEW:  So its back to the cupboard after our labours?

EMILY:  I'm afraid so … but

(Emily scribbles on a piece of scrap paper) 

You can try this chap at this address. He's called CB. He's the only other one who is on the case. Never met him but he claims to be in contact with Walsh. (Eyes upwards) If you know what I mean.

MATTHEW:  Is this more info from the Marquis.

EMILY:  No that tip off was from Billy (Suddenly sad)  Poor Billy, I still regret Billy....

BOB:  I could murder a coffee.

EMILY:  I've half a fruit shoot.

BOB:  (Eyes closed) Forget it!

SCENE 5:  DEBS AND BOB'S LOUNGE.  DAY

(Later that day. Matthew is sat in a chair, Debs in another. He is fast falling sleep, a coffee on his lap. His head nods)

DEBS:  FIRE!

(Matthew wakes with a  fright)

Now that I have your attention...

MATTHEW:  Uh..don't do that! Where? ...What?

DEBS:  You were about to tell me why you kept my husband up all night without so much as a text.

MATTHEW:  Yes well there was no signal in the cupboard.

DEBS:    Its not funny.

MATTHEW:  Quite. It wasn't exactly a bicycle made for two I can tell you!!

DEBS:  What are you getting my husband into!!??

MATTHEW:  I'm too close to it ..yet still too far if you know what I mean.

DEBS:  No idea!!

(Debs gets up, take Matthew's cup and goes to the kitchen to wash it)

MATTHEW  (Following her)  Look, you love a good mystery don't you? Can't you see where we’re at?

DEBS:  I love blood and bodies..

MATTHEW:  They'll be some of that I'm sure.

DEBS:  (Turning) Not my hubby??!

MATTHEW:  NO, not now!! Years ago unexplained. Hidden under motorways. We can uncover it!

DEBS:  From inside a cupboard?

MATTHEW: We were working under cover.

DEBS:  I also like grumpy detectives who can solve things because they're cleverer than me and I don't have to think about it too hard after a hard day at work.

(Matthew looks increasingly out of arguments as fatigue kicks in. Debs looks thoughtfully , pause and continues)

Okay, so where do we go from here?

MATTHEW:  We carry on researching until we find out more.

DEBS:  Then what?

MATTHEW: Well, I thought it would make a great TV serial. I've always fancied doing a six part mystery series.

DEBS:  So it will make you famous you hope?

MATTHEW:  Well Debs love, we have waited a very long time to make it big.

DEBS:  What about me? Have you thought about that?

MATTHEW:  (Confused)  What?

DEBS:  (Patronisingly)  Think! Me. Fame. Have you thought what going to happen to me? And you come to that? Her Majesty's finest gutter snipe press crawling all over us. Is that really what you want?

MATTHEW:  Oh look we can keep a low profile.

DEBS:  Doesn't look like that’s' what you want at the moment. I thought you would have had more consideration. (Suddenly irritable)  Go on, clear off. And, for God's sake, get some sleep!

MATTHEW:  (Placating)  Look Debs, I...

(Debs heads quickly to the loo and slams the door. Gentle crying can be heard inside. Matthew checks his mobile phone and sheepishly departs)

SCENE 6:  RAILWAY VIADUCT.  NIGHT

(This is the stuff that horror films are made of. Dark, decrepit overgrown viaduct. Below is an old railway storage shed. Matthew and Bob nervously approach this. A lone light burns inside. Wisps of smoke emit from the entrance. A hissing noise sounds out)

BOB:  Just think, 24 hours ago we were safe locked in a cupboard!

MATTHEW:  Let's see this through. Just remember what Emily said. Plunge your hand in and an grab the treasure!

BOB:  (Wiping his brow) I was trying to forget that. She was young enough to be my daughter. I'm still an impressionable lad at heart.

MATTHEW:  Come on then. We're asking for CB...

(Gingerly the boys enter. An old metal room is festooned with technological rubbish. It looks like an earthquake has hit. The source of the hissing is a large and very primitive crystal radio set sat on the table. Matthew coughs loudly)

MATTHEW:  Anyone home?

(A head bobs up from a swamp of cable loops. A jovial Kim Newman lookalike with glasses and a droopy moustache. A lit cigarette limply in the corner of the mouth)

CB:  Oh hello there. You're not from the Council are you?

BOB:  Perish the thought!

CB:  (Emerging from the cable jungle)  Good. Only I'm kind of in limbo. Squatters rights at the moment but I am coming to a deal with our local station.

(Wiping his hand and offering to first Matthew, then Bob)

And you are?

MATTHEW:  Matthew. And this is Bob.

CB:  Oh, are you lost?

MATTHEW: No. Emily sent us. Did she get a message to you.

CB:  (Thinking) Emily? Whose Emily?

BOB:  You are CB aren't you?

CB:  Oh yes.

MATTHEW:  Which stands for?

CB:  Jake Treherne.

BOB:  Shouldn't that be JT?

CB:  (Laughing)  No dummy! I'm a radio man (Pointing to the crystal set)

MATTHEW:  Ham.

CB:  What?

MATTHEW:  Its a radio ham isn't it?

CB:  Whose calling me a ham?

BOB:  (Quickly)  You must have been in the business a long time looking at your gear..

(Pointing to the crystal set)

CB:  Aww no! That's Crystal. Isn't she beautiful?  We sit and hiss together most nights. Occasionally French radio drifts in and serenades us.

BOB:  I take it visitors are not a frequent thing.

CB:  I haven't forgotten how to entertain. Sit down. I was making some tea, would you like some?

MATTHEW:      {     Yes please!

BOB:                 {      Yes please!

(CB goes over to behind  huge speakers and throws about equipment)

CB:  Come to think of it I was making the kettle. You aren't in any hurry are you? 

MATTHEW:  Nah.

BOB:  (To Matthew)  Nowhere so sit.

MATTHEW:  (To Bob) Well, as this is a squat – lets squat!

(Both Matthew and Bob sit cross-legged on the floor)

Ha! I've known you thirty years and we've never tried so many positions as we have in the last 24 hours. Ha!

(Bob doesn't answer. He is staring at the eruption of electrical flotsam from behind the speaker)

MATTHEW:  (To CB)  Why have a next-to-useless crystal set? Everything is digital these days.

CB:  (From behind the speaker)  When the radio world jumped on the Good Ship Digital, what happened to everything and everyone that got left behind?  The shrapnel as it were. That’s what I look for.

BOB:  What about Walsh?

(CB urgently whips his head round the speaker, holding bits of kettle)

CB:  How do you know about Walsh?

MATTHEW:  Emily said you were in contact with her.

(CB becomes serious. He marches to the door, shuts it and bolts it)

BOB:  (Eyes closed ,fearful)  Inspector, when you find my mutilated remains , I hope you'll spare my wife's feelings!

(CB squats level with his guests)

CB:  (Suddenly smiling)  Its no good saying “if I told you, I'd have to kill you”. Emily has already told you and she didn't bother. She sounds careless!

MATTHEW:  Do you use a Ouji board?

CB:  Hell no. Superstitious mumbo jumbo!  (Pointing at the crystal set). It takes a Grand Dame to reach someone like Walsh!

BOB:  (Scornful)  Oh come on. Are you telling me you can communicate with a ghost on your war-time tat?

(CB leaps up and puts the set's earphones over its loudspeaker)

CB:  There, there Sweetheart, he didn’t mean it!. (To Bob)  Is she alive or dead? I don't know for sure.

(CB throws down the already-beyond-repair kettle testily at his guest's feet)

But since you have come here and invaded my space, you'll find out. Whether you like it or not.

(Matthew and Bob look frightened. CB clicks the main light off and lights a candle in the dark. The room lights with its flame. CB holds the candle in an old fashioned “Wee Willy Winky” holder. He holds it close to the boys)

I'll teach you to meddle and scoff and demand from tea from the dead .

(CB kicks the unfortunate kettle corpse once again. Bob opens his mouth the  thinks better of it. CB removes the crystal earphones and adjusts the set controls).

Gentlemen, be careful what you wish for!

(Matthew and Bob stare apprehensively at the old apparatus in the flickering candle light)

TO BE CONTINUED......

NOTES

Chapters 4-6 were written between 16-19 July 2016. This is the first piece of original creative writing I've worked on since the summer 2011 when a supernatural thriller book I was working on with a friend fell through. In keeping with the library reference in the first chapters I decided on a library setting. I actually wrote the chapter related to this in Salisbury's Reference library which has been my favourite place to retreat to and write for nearly 20 years. Emily Bradnock was named after my first infants school teacher Tessa Bradnock. She too was quite an entertaining performer though the resemblance ends there. I felt Debs was holding something back in the first chapters so twisted that still further. The claustrophobic cliffhanger was loosely based on a sinister childhood memory of being shut in a  garage of the house over our road with a group of freaky older kids experiment with clothing dye. Miss Walsh was an old lady with unfortunate stockings who visited a writer’s group and told us to research local history and odd events at our library. This was the same meeting I met Paul Chandler. As our projects is very close to home in its parallels with your life, I thought it would be good to make her the focus of the mystery. Enjoyed the experience of writing them very much and look forward to further instalments.