EPISODE 23
“A SHOT IN THE
DARK”
Scene: Mama J’s. Dr. Gloria Dailey is
standing near the bar, watching as Dr. Zachary Dailey approaches
Dana Cooper and Danny James, who are involved in an intense discussion.
Gloria: Well, this is not exactly how I thought this evening would end.
Mama J. (from behind her): Gloria? Glo, honey?
Gloria (turning, a wide grin on her face): Mama J.! (They hugged tightly) Oh, it’s so good to see you.
Mama J.: You too, baby. I saw you earlier and I tried to get over to your table, but I was just too busy. I hope you weren’t going to leave without saying hi.
Gloria: Of course not. How’ve you been...you look tired. Has it been a busy night?
Mama J.: You know it’s always crazy around here. But, don’t worry about me.
Gloria: Maybe I should, you’ve cancelled your last few physicals and I know you work long hours around here...
Mama J. (interrupting): Child, stop fussing. I am just fine. (Pause) Now did you have a good time?
Gloria: Mama J., you know I always have a wonderful time here. The food, the music...everything. It’s been wonderful.
Mama J.: Good. (Pause) Now who did you come with; you’re certainly not alone, are you?
Gloria: No, I came with a colleague.
Mama J.: Oh, really? Where is he?
Gloria (pointing to Zachary as he moves across the room) Over there.
Mama J.: My, but he’s a handsome young man.
Gloria: That he is.
Mama J.: So, how long have you two been dating? (Gloria looked surprised)
Across the room, Danny and Dana are bickering.
Danny: Don’t you think it’s kind of sad that you can’t trust your man for five minutes with another woman? Doesn’t say much for your relationship, does it? If it can be called that.
Dana: Danny, you are hardly the barometer for a good relationship; our marriage was testament to that.
Danny: I know you like to think what we laughingly called a marriage busted up because of me, but it wasn’t all my fault.
Dana: You’d like to fool yourself into thinking that, wouldn’t you? Dealing with the truth was always one of your problems.
Danny: Truth? You’re a fine one to lecture me about truth. Just how much truth have you shared with your doctor friend? Does he know about your past? Does he know about us?
Dana: Does he know I was foolish enough to involve myself with your criminal family? Of course he does.
Danny: Liar. You’d never tell anyone that, especially him since Nate has been accused of killing his sister. That would risk you getting kicked off his gravy train and you are too money hungry to take that kind of chance.
Dana: Danny, whether I’ve told Zachary or not is really none of your business. Now I don’t know what you want from me, but I’m sure I don’t want to know. So, just leave me alone. Why don’t you go spend some time with that brother of yours? Now that he’s graduated from petty theft to murder, he’s going to need all your tips on how to survive in prison. Assuming the jury doesn’t do us all a favor and sentence him to death.
Danny (angrily, grabbing Dana by the arm): Why, you little bitch!
Dana: Let me go!
Zachary (interrupting): You heard her, Danny. Let her go...now.
Dana: Zachary!
Danny: Stay out of this, doc. This is none of your business.
Zachary: I’m making it my business. Now, let her go.
Danny (releasing her): Fine. She was never worth holding onto anyway.
Dana (rubbing her wrist) Thank you, Zachary. Now, let’s get away from this creep.
Zachary: No, not quite yet. I want to know what is going on here. What is this all about?
Scene: The Sorensen residence; the living room. Melody Sorensen is
on the telephone.
Melody: Sure, Dr. Sloan, I can be there. It’s no problem. (Pause) Bye.
Melody hung up the phone as a slender woman with waves of auburn hair walked into the room. She was attractive, with big brown eyes and an athletic build. She wore a grey skirt and a white blouse with a grey blazer over the top of it.
Woman: Everything okay?
Melody: Oh, everything’s fine, Hillary. That was Christopher Sloan. He’s got to perform heart surgery on a newborn in the morning and he needs me to assist since I just studied the technique he’ll be using.
Hillary: Surgery on a newborn, huh? That has to be tough.
Melody: It is, especially this procedure. But, it has to be done or the child won’t survive. He’s one of the best surgeons in the field. If anyone can make this operation a success, he can. (Pause) I’m going to have to be going. With this surgery in the morning, I’m going to have to be on my toes.
Hillary: I understand. (Pause) But before you do that, you want to tell me what’s wrong?
Melody: What?
Hillary: What’s bothering you? And don’t tell me it’s nothing. You forget that I’m a psychologist. I’m trained to detect when people are upset. And even if I weren’t, I know my little sister well enough to see when she’s troubled.
Melody: I can never fool you, can I?
Hillary: Few can. (Pause) Want to talk about it? (Pause) I can only assume it’s about A.J..
Melody: You are intuitive. I hope Uncle Gary is paying you well.
Hillary: As a matter of fact, he is. And I’m worth every penny. So, what’s up? Are you and A.J. having problems? I thought things were going well between you.
Melody: They were.
Hillary: Then what happened? This isn’t about getting married, is it? I thought you had accepted that A.J. wasn’t ready to make that kind of commitment.
Melody: I had accepted that, Hillary. And I was willing to wait until he was ready because I knew eventually that time would come.
Hillary: Has something changed to make you believe that?
Melody: Oh yes. It certainly has.
Scene: The warehouse district; an abandoned warehouse. A.J. Lassiter and Patricia Lassiter
are there; standing between Reilly and Slade, who are
holding guns on them, on one side and another man, a big, hulking bald man on
the other side. A.J. and Patricia are standing near a stack of boxes; the men
are standing about ten feet away from them.
Reilly: Okay, you want to explain who the two of you are?
Slade: It’s obvious who they are. They’re cops. Let’s just finish them off now.
Patricia (frantically): No, we’re not cops!
Slade: You expect us to believe that!?
Reilly: I do. If they were cops, there’d be units swarming all over the place by now. So, who are you? It’s obvious you’re not who we came here to meet.
Man: What is going on here? I thought we had a deal.
Joe: We do, but these guys tried to muscle in on it.
A.J.: You’re right. We tried to muscle in on it. We heard about this sweet deal and we wanted a piece of the action...it’s as simple as that. It just didn’t work out. So, if the three of you want to continue your business, then we’ll just cut our losses and be on our way.
Man (pulling a gun as A.J. and Patricia turned to the door) You can’t be serious. You’re not leaving...not under your own power anyway. Now, you’re not cops and I don’t believe you’re dealers either. So, let’s find out who you are. (He reached inside A.J.’s jacket pocket, pulled out his wallet and opened it) His name is A.J. Lassiter.
Slade: A.J. Lassiter? Never heard of him.
Reilly: You would if you read anymore than the comic section in the morning. He’s a reporter for the Covington Bay Daily Journal, a real hotshot. (Pause) So, that’s what this is all about? You and your assistant came here for a scoop?
A.J.: First, I had no idea this was going on. Second, she is not my assistant.
Reilly (as Patricia glared at A.J.): Well, I don’t believe you on either count. And it really doesn’t matter, because no matter who you are or why you’re here... you’re dead.
Scene: Mama J.’s. Zachary, Danny and Dana are talking.
Zachary: Why are you bothering Dana? What is this all about?
Dana: Zachary, forget it. You came over here and he let me go. Let’s leave it at that. He’s not worth wasting any more time or energy on. Come on. (Dana grabbed Zachary to pull him away)
Zachary: Wait a minute. I want an explanation as to what this is all about.
Danny: I imagine you would. I wouldn’t like it if someone was giving my lady a hard time either. So, Dana, explain it to your white knight here. What exactly were we going at about?
Dana (hesitating): About Nathan of course. You know how I feel about him. He killed Candice and I was just expressing my opinion to Danny. He didn’t appreciate it.
Zachary: Danny, I can understand you being upset about Dana badmouthing Nate, believe me, I don’t like it either. But, that is no reason to grab her like that.
Danny: I won’t stand by while someone talks about Nate like that, especially her.
Dana: You just don’t like hearing the truth.
Danny (darkly): I suggest you watch your step, little girl, or there’s going to be more truth around here than you know what to do with.
Dana (startled): Zachary, let’s go.
Zachary: Actually, I’d like to talk to Danny...clear a few things up. Could you give us a few minutes, Dana?
Dana (panicking): But, Zachary...!
Zachary: Dana, this is only going to take a minute.
Dana: Zachary, why would you want to talk to this bastard!? He’s only out to cause problems.
Zachary: He can’t cause any problems. In fact, I’m going to see to it that he doesn’t. Now please… leave us alone. Why don’t you go home and I’ll call you later.
Dana: But…! (Dana sighed, realizing she wasn’t going to get Zachary to budge) Fine. I need to freshen my makeup anyway. (Pause) But, Zach, don’t listen to him. Anything that comes out of his mouth, you can’t believe a word of it.
Danny: Funny...I’d say the same about you.
Glaring bitterly at Danny, Dana walked away.
Danny: Look, Zach, I know you’re upset about me giving your girlfriend a hard time.
Zachary: You bet I am.
Danny: Well, there’s a reason for it. And I’ve got a feeling you’d be real interested in hearing it.
Zachary: Look, I know what the problem is between you and Dana, it’s pretty obvious. So why don’t we just get it out into the open, once and for all?
Across the room, Gloria and Mama J. are talking.
Gloria (surprised): Dating? Mama J., (Gloria laughs) Zachary and I aren’t dating.
Mama J.: Zachary? Is that his name? Well, I’ve been watching the two of you tonight. You sure look like you’re on a date to me.
Gloria: Well, you misinterpreted things. Zachary and I are just friends. He’s Glenn’s son.
Mama J.: Oh. I guess that makes him your stepson.
Gloria: Soon to ex-stepson, God willing. Now that you know that, doesn’t the idea of us being on a date sound silly?
Mama J.: It’s unusual, but not silly.
Gloria: But, Mama J., have you looked at Zachary? He’s only a few years older than A.J..
Mama J.: You still haven’t told me anything that would prevent you two from dating...except that you’re not interested in him. And I didn’t hear you say that.
Gloria: I’m not interested in Zachary, not like you’re saying. He’s a friend, that’s it. The idea of us being anymore than that is impossible.
Mama J.: Oh, child, nothing is impossible when it comes to love. I’d think you know that by now. (Pause) Well, I gotta get in the back and make sure my staff isn’t ruining the business. Say bye before you leave, will you?
Gloria: Sure, Mama J., sure.
As Mama J. walked away, Gloria watched Zachary talking with Danny, a wistful look on her face.
Scene: The warehouse. A.J. and Patricia are there;
staring down the gun barrels of the three men.
Slade: Let’s take care of these two and get the hell out of here!
Man: You got my vote.
Reilly: Not so fast.
A.J.: Yeah, let’s not be so quick to pull the trigger here.
Reilly: Oh no, I have every intention of killing you. But not like this. Finding two reporters, especially one as famous as A.J. Lassiter, shot to death, would raise too many questions and bring all kinds of trouble on our heads. His family is one of the richest in town, there’s no telling how far they’d go to find out who killed him. We gotta do something to make sure no one finds their bodies anytime soon..
Joe: Why don’t we shoot them and dump them in the bay?
Reilly: With these currents? Their bodies would wash on the shore by morning. No, I gotta better idea...but we’re going to need some rope...and some gasoline...both of which we have in our car.
Man: What for?
Reilly: Well, there’s been a rash of warehouse fires lately. (Pause) I think you wrote that story, didn’t you, Mr. Lassiter?
A.J.: I’m glad your profession doesn’t stop you from keeping up on current events. (Pause) But, the arsonists were caught...with my help.
Patricia (annoyed): Your ego never gets a rest, does it?
Reilly (to A.J.): Maybe, but there was another last week. The police said it was probably some kids...a copycat crime, I believe it was called. (Pause as Reilly snickered) I think we’re going to have another one.
A.J.: And you don’t think the police will investigate...and find our bodies?
Reilly: They will, but with gasoline thrown around they’ll assume it was another amateur job and leave it at that. If they happen to find your bodies, the odds are there will be so little left of you that they won’t be able to identify the remains. Somehow, I think things will fall in our favor. (Pause) Joe, get the rope and gasoline out of the car, it’s in the trunk.
Slade: Gotcha.
Slade rushed out.
Patricia: You won’t get away with this. My boss knows I’m here. If I don’t show up soon, he’ll know something’s wrong and call the police.
Reilly: I’m not convinced...and even if I believed you, it’s not going to stop me from seeing this building go up in flames with the two of you in it.
A.J. (slowly backing up): Look, can’t we talk about this? Surely there’s a way we can work something out.
Man: There’s nothing to work out.
Reilly: Exactly. You two are going to die tonight...it’s as simple as that. (Pause) Now, I don’t know what you are up to, but I suggest you stop right there.
A.J. (continuing to move) I’m not up to anything.
Reilly: Then stop now, or I’ll shoot you right here. (He leveled the gun at A.J.) I said stop!
A.J. (stopping by the boxes): Okay, I’ll stop! (Suddenly, A.J. reached for the stack of boxes) Patricia, duck! (Patricia dived to the side as A.J. shoved the boxes at the men. Gunfire rang out as the boxes tumbled on the two criminals. Bullets flew through the air, striking the walls and windows and sending shards of shattered glass and chunks of wood flying everywhere. A.J. ran to Patricia, who was picking herself off the floor as the men were struggling to get from under the boxes) Let’s get out of here!
They rushed for the door.
Scene: Mama J.’s. Zachary and Danny are talking.
Zachary: Look, you upset Dana so much because you remind her of her past.
Danny: Oh you’re right about that.
Zachary: I know you two have known each other for years since you grew up in the same neighborhood. Obviously, you remind her of her poor upbringing, something she is pretty eager to put in her past. I think that’s why you upset her so much.
Danny: You think you know her that well, huh?
Zachary: I know her well enough. At any rate, lay off her, huh? I know she’s got her opinions about Nate, but don’t let it get to you.
Danny: That’s easy for you to say. You don’t have this entire town ready to string your little brother up in front of the City Courthouse.
Zachary: You have every reason to be upset about Nate.
Danny (sarcastically): Oh, thanks for your permission.
Zachary: Danny, I know things seem bad, but a lot of people believe in his innocence and are doing everything they can to clear his name.
Danny: And yet none of these people have been able to help him. He’s still in jail and he’s still facing a death sentence.
Zachary: And do you know how much I hate the idea of that? Nathan worked for me; I considered him a friend. I can’t stand what’s happening to him.
Danny: Even though it was your sister that was killed?
Zachary: I don’t believe for a minute that Nathan could’ve done that to Candice. He’s innocent. And I realize it’s tough, but you’ve got to give his lawyers and his friends a chance to prove it. Flying off the handle at every turn isn’t going to help anyone.
Danny: I really don’t need your advice on how to feel about this; just like I don’t need you or any of your friends help. I know you all like to feel better about yourselves by reaching out to the poor black boy, but why don’t you spend your time doing charity work for the homeless or donate some money to the Negro College Fund?
Zachary: I don’t look at Nate as some charity case and neither does anyone else. We want to help him because he is innocent. And none of us will rest until we can prove just that.
Eric (walking up): You’re wasting your time; you can’t work miracles.
Zachary: Eric!
Danny: What are you doing here, Lassiter!?
Eric: I came for the ribs; they are the best in town. (Pause) You working here, Danny, or you just casing the joint?
Danny (angrily): Go to hell.
Zachary: Eric, this is hardly the time.
Eric: Really? Sounds like the perfect time to me. I’m fascinated at how you’re trying to convince Danny here that you’ll get his brother off when he knows it ain’t gonna happen. The day hasn’t come when I haven’t been able to arrest one of the James boys and make the charges stick. I did it when I busted Danny here and it’s going to be the same with little Nathan. (Eric grinned nastily) God, do I love keeping things in the family.
Scene: The women’s bathroom at Mama J.’s. Gloria is
there, combing her hair. Dana walks in.
Dana: Dr. Lassiter.
Gloria: Hello, Dana. (Pause) How are you, everything okay?
Dana: It’s fine. Why do you ask?
Gloria: I saw you were having a bit of trouble with Danny James. Was Zach able to help you out?
Dana: Yeah, he did.
Gloria: Well, that’s Zachary, always riding to the rescue. (Pause as she dropped her brush in her purse) I guess I’ll see you in the morning.
Dana (as Gloria was about to leave): Dr. Lassiter, wait.
Gloria (turning): What is it, Dana?
Dana: I’d like to talk to you.
Gloria: About what?
Dana: About Zachary. I think there’s a few things you and I need to clear up.
Scene: The Sorensen residence. Hillary and Melody are
talking.
Hillary: A.J. has a wife?
Melody: Yes. Her name is Patricia Tamakai, or rather, Patricia Tamakai-Lassiter.
Hillary: Patricia Tamakai?
Melody: Yeah. She’s Michael Tamakai’s sister. Do you know her?
Hillary: Well, yes. We were friends...not close or anything, but we hung in the same crowd. She was in my graduating class in high school. I haven’t seen her since then though. She went away to school...in Arizona, I think.
Melody (correcting her): Nevada.
Hillary: How did A.J. come to marry her? I know that they grew up together since Patricia’s father runs the Lassiter Estate, but I don’t remember them ever dating.
Melody: The marriage was the result of a drunken night in Las Vegas six years ago. A.J. says it was never a real marriage, just a stupid mistake.
Hillary: But if it happened so long ago then why didn’t they get a divorce, or an annulment?
Melody: A.J. has about a dozen excuses for that and none of them hold water in my opinion. But no matter what his excuse A.J. has been married all this time and he lied to me about it...knowing how important marriage is to me. Worse, he can’t understand why I’m so upset about this. He thinks that he’ll get an annulment and it’ll be like it never happened. But, it’s not that simple. How can I forget what he’s done?
Hillary: Simple. You can’t, nor should you be expected to. The question is; can you forgive him and resume your relationship? More importantly, do you want to?
Scene: The warehouse. A.J. and Patricia are running for
the door while the criminals struggle to get from under the pile of crates.
Patricia (pausing): Wait! I dropped my purse!
A.J.: Forget that! Let’s go! (They ran for the door, but it swung up and Joe walked in)
Joe (holding up the gasoline and rope): I got the stuff! What’s all the...! Damn you! (He dropped the gasoline and rope and reached for his gun)
A.J.: Patricia, run!
As Joe fired at them, A.J. pulled Patricia in between a stack of crates. They scampered through the darkness of the warehouse, keeping careful to keep low behind the cover of the crates.
Reilly’s Voice (shouting): Damn it, where are they?!
Joe’s Voice (shouting): They gotta be in here somewhere!
Man’s Voice (shouting): Spread out. Between the three of us, they can’t get away!
A.J. and Patricia stopped, pausing behind a thicket of boxes.
Patricia (whispering): A.J., what are we going to do? How are we going to get out of here?
A.J. (gritting his teeth; his face wracked with pain): I don’t know, Patty. It doesn’t look good.
Patricia: A.J., what is wrong with you? Are you hurt?
Patricia looked down to see blood soaking A.J.’s shirt.
Patricia (gasping): Oh, my God! A.J., you’ve been shot! You’ve been shot!
In the next Covington Bay...
· Dana has a warning for Gloria.
· Zachary is caught in the middle of Eric and Danny’s battle.
· There’s a big announcement at the Sorensen family dinner.
· Things get even worse for Patricia and A.J.