Lake Hiawatha - A Harbor City Universe Teleplay

[LtBroccoli]

Ouch. I really don’t care for all the snuff, but I wouldn’t mind read more about Lynette’s fate.

I'm splitting that hair a little thin, but it's technically not snuff since it's not murder for sexual gratification. When I wrote this chapter, it was the most fucked up thing I've ever written. That includes a couple horror short films and political ads.

But good news, we find out what happens to Lynnette in the next episode, coming up in a few moments...

[LtBroccoli]

Chapter Tags: Viol, ncon
Content Warnings: Drug use, very awkward conversations, scenes of extreme violence
-------------------------------------------------------------

George tells his friends what happened right after the night in the woods and the next couple years...
-------------------------------------------------------------

Episode 18 - Fallout
INT. GEORGE'S DINING ROOM - NIGHT
George looks around the table, scotch in hand. He takes another sip. Everyone at the table is looking at Chuck a little differently after that part of the story.

GEORGE
We didn’t have DNA on file for Martens or Carson. We had to track down their next of kin. In Anthony’s case, that was his sister. She filed a missing person’s report on him when she hadn’t heard anything from him for almost two months. For Dr. Carson, it was his mother. She was 90 and in a nursing home. She hadn’t seen her boy Ryan since Bill Clinton was President. In both cases, the DNA came back as a match to John Doe’s 2 and 3. No one had heard anything of Jason and Jacob for months, so it was assumed that both them of them were killed. The part that was weird was that no one had heard from Natalie or Lynnette. I assumed they were killed that night and there wasn’t enough of them to be found, or they were disposed of somewhere else. That was until I got a call one day in 2008 from Lincoln City P.D. in Oregon. Home of the Gypsy Jokers Outlaw Motorcycle Club.

XAVIER
(shouting)
Wait, we just gonna gloss over Chuck throwing mutha fuckas in a woodchipper!

GEORGE
Yeah.

CHUCK
Allegedly. I didn’t own a woodchipper back then.

XAVIER
(shouting)
What?!

CHUCK
Let’s just say that someone took possession of an industrial sized woodchipper after the owner of a tree cutting service refused to pay for a sewer upgrade for their second home and tried to stiff said person with a 5 digit bill. Said company man had friends show up and make right on the bill.

XAVIER
(shouting)
Say what?

GEORGE
Paul and Gary roughed up an asshole that stiffed them on a bill and they stole his big ass woodchipper. Original owner filed an insurance claim on it and was rather reticent to identify the men that paid him a visit. As far as why no charges were pressed, well, let’s just say Ryland felt that there wasn’t enough evidence to pursue this, and since it allegedly took place in Hiawatha County we couldn’t do shit about it. The Feds ran into a few roadblocks with the samples they received from Ryland’s boys. He’s normally a stand-up guy but looks the other way when either Bob does shit or First Union gets punished. In this case, it was both.

Derek tilts his head in confusion.

DEREK
Wait, how do you know all this shit?

GEORGE
We had a witness. I was telling you about my call from Oregon back in ‘08. So I went out to Lincoln City to see if this was real.

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY
Inside of a hospital room, a woman with brunette hair lays handcuffed to the railing of a hospital bed. Tattoos cover most of the flesh that is visible. She’s sleeping for the moment. Next to her sits a skinny white detective, AARON JOHANSEN. He sips a coffee. There’s a knock at the door. From inside the room, two uniformed police officers stand outside. Aaron turns his head.

AARON
Who’s there?

George Lewis peeks his head in the doorway. George is a couple years older and balder.

GEORGE
George Lewis, Chester County Police Department. I’m looking for Detective Aaron Johansen.

Aaron puts his coffee down on a nightstand and stands up. He motions to the cops at the door to let George in. The two detectives shake hands.

AARON
That’s me. A little surprised you’re here. Welcome to Oregon.

GEORGE
Thanks. As soon as I heard about this, I had to see this for myself.

AARON
She that important?

GEORGE
Sort of. For you guys, too?

AARON
Yeah. She was found in the parking lot from an apparent OD. Gypsy Jokers were whoring her out, using her as a mule when she wasn’t taking John’s or recruiting new whores for them.

GEORGE
Wait, Gypsy Jokers?

AARON
1 percenter gang. They’re our version of the Hell’s Angels. Oregon is Gypsy Joker territory. Anyway, she’s been knee deep in the club for a while. She OD’ed and they dropped her ass off in the parking lot, figuring she’d die.

GEORGE
They had no clue how tough she is.

AARON
Exactly. Doctor’s saved her, but her mind was a wreck. We couldn’t get a name from her for a week. She just kept calling herself Fuckmeat. When we ran her prints and DNA, nothing came up until we got a hit from you guys over in Harbor City.

GEORGE
Yeah. Lynnette Carson. She went missing late August 2005. Her last known whereabouts put her in a messy situation.

AARON
How messy?

GEORGE
Her husband and three others were fed through a woodchipper.

AARON
What the fuck?! Seriously?

GEORGE
Seriously. She was last seen with her late husband getting into a van with 4 other people fleeing to Canada. They never made it. Pieces of four of them were found the next morning near a horse farm a few hours north. Never found her or the other woman who was in the van until now.

AARON
This is a pretty far trip just to prove she’s still alive.

GEORGE
I have questions that I want to get answered before the Feds show up. She’s tied into a RICO case, and I’ve got her for a few other crimes.

AARON
Feds got a RICO case on the Gypsy Jokers?

GEORGE
I have no clue. This was for the First Union case.

Aaron thinks for a moment.

AARON
First Union? Wait, was that the corrupt church that was a front for a child porn ring?

GEORGE
Yep. Lynnette Carson right there was one of the victims who became one of the abusers. She was in videos as young as 12 and starred in them for the church all the way till she disappeared. Her husband was one of her John’s. They married right after she turned 18 but still partook in making some videos with young girls and boys. We had warrants for their arrests when her and her husband, Dr. Ryan Carson, disappeared. A little over a million dollars was taken out of their bank account while more of it was funneled offshore. We tracked her down to a human trafficker that specialized in sex slaves who passed themselves off as an expert in getting people across the border.

AARON
In a way, he’s right.

GEORGE
Exactly. I was shocked as Hell when she came up for air. I figured her and Natalie were killed years ago. The guy who killed her husband isn’t the type to leave witnesses, and if she’s alive and on the radar, that means-

AARON
That means someone’s taking a ride on the woodchipper express?

GEORGE
Yep. Assuming he’s still alive.

The woman on the bed moans, waking herself up. She looks around the room. George and Aaron move next to her bedside where she can see and hear them.

AARON
Lynnette, you there? I have an old friend to see you.

Lynnette shakes her head.

LYNNETTE
I’m not Lynnette, I’m Fuckmeat.

George slides a seat up next to Lynnette. He grabs her hand and squeezes it.

GEORGE
Lynnette Carson. My name is George, I’m from Harbor City. Remember Harbor City? Remember Ryan? What happened to Ryan?

LYNNETTE
I’m, I’m, NOOOO!!! NOOO!!!

GEORGE
Let it go, let it go Lynnette. Let the pain out. They can’t hurt you anymore.

LYNNETTE
So much blood, so much blood.

AARON
That’s all we could get from her.

LYNNETTE
So much blood.

GEORGE
Lynnette, listen to me. Focus on something else, anything else. What do you see? What do you see, Mrs. Carson?

Lynnette closed her eyes for a moment and cried.

LYNNETTE
Before the blood, we were...

GEORGE
Take your time.

LYNNETTE
We were led out of the van. They attacked the men first, knocking them down. They led us all to a clearing. They forced us all to kneel. Everyone wore masks except the guy in charge. He was big, shaggy looking, and pissed. He asked who killed his sister. Natalie’s boyfriend or bodyguard or whatever he was bragged about it. The tall man put a gun to the bodyguard’s head but didn’t pull the trigger. Instead... oh my God. They fed him into it.

AARON
Into what?

LYNNETTE
The woodchipper. He was alive when they put him in feet first, and we got sprayed with the little bits of him. Ryan covered me as best he could, but we all got covered.

GEORGE
It’s okay, take all the time you need.

Time passes. George and Aaron get the details from Lynnette.

GEORGE (V.O.)
It took a couple days to get all of the details from Lynnette. She laid out everything that happened. The murders, the rapes, all of it. She also told us what happened after Raul took them.

INT. SEX DUNGEON - DAY
Raul has Lynnette and Natalie tied up in his sex dungeon. He uses the women as he sees fit for the next few weeks. He does anything and everything he can think of to them.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Raul kept them as his own sex slaves for the next few weeks, maybe months. He put a lot of effort into training them to be obedient whores. One day, a visitor came to see Raul.

A sophisticated looking man of likely Mediterranean or Middle Eastern descent inspects the two women. He puts them through their paces, inspecting them inside and out. Eventually the man and Raul make a deal. The man takes Natalie with him, leaving Lynnette behind.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Lynnette said that Natalie was sold to some high class client in the Middle East. She heard them mention Dubai a couple times, so it’s likely she was sold to an oil sheik’s harem. He didn’t want Lynnette, she was too marked up for their tastes.

A couple months later, Raul meets with a group of bikers. They buy Lynnette from him.

GEORGE (V.O.)
She was sold to a biker gang near Harbor City. Over the years, she made her way out west, being traded and sold along the way. She was in pretty good with the Gypsy Jokers when they brought her in for an apparent OD. By that point, she was a shell of her former self.

INT. GEORGE'S DINING ROOM - NIGHT
George takes another sip of scotch.

GEORGE
She wasn’t really fit to stand trial. She was remanded to a psychiatric hospital until she was stable enough for her day in court. She didn’t deny running from the court and pled guilty to those charges in lieu of time served in the hospital. Her lawyer made a decent argument for getting probation instead of jail time since she was also one of the victims of the Church. After that, she started working in various women’s shelters and with groups going after traffickers. I lost touch with her a few years back, don’t know where she’s at now.

He takes another sip, before looking around the room.

CARLY
What happened to Natalie? Did you ever find her?

GEORGE
When Natalie and her brothers didn’t show up for their pre-trial stuff, we all assumed they fled. It wasn’t until Ryland’s team told us they found bits and pieces of the twins all over a field that we assumed Natalie was dead, too. We held out hope that she wasn’t because we wanted to see her pay for her crimes. Since she had her cooperating agreement in place, we had a full confession of her role in Jen’s murder. Jamie testified as well that Natalie called the shots and Adam and Anthony were the ones that held her down while she died. He also fingered the tow truck driver and admitted to providing the Ford that was used to dispose of the body. Jamie also testified that he had several conversations with his family members about the investigation and how they were going to get out of it. Jamie turned state’s witness. In exchange for a reduced charge, he made sure that Adam Snyder got the death penalty and the Samuelson Brothers got 25 to life. Jamie also played a pretty big role in Charlie’s trial, too.

EXT. FEDERAL SUPERMAX PRISON - DAY
Outside of a Federal Penitentiary, a prison bus pulls up. New inmates are led off of the bus. One of them is the Reverend Charlie Daniels. He’s a broken shell of his former self. His hair is falling out and gray, he’s lost a lot of weight, and he looks like he’s aged 20 years, even though it’s only been a year.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Everything came to light in Charlie’s trial. He was found guilty of multiple counts of rape, creating and possessing child porn, human trafficking, fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, murder, bribery, extortion, and RICO. The Feds decided not to pursue the death penalty when applicable but instead he was sentenced to 14 life sentences plus 430 years. He’ll be eligible for release somewhere around the year 4300. His old lady got 130 years and 3 life sentences for her part. Due to the nature of his crimes, he’s been in solitary for the last fifteen years. Moment he gets in GenPop, he’ll get whacked.

INT. FEDERAL SUPERMAX PRISON - DAY
Clarence Renfrow, the former judge, stands in line to get his meal among other prisoners. All of a sudden, the man behind him in line shanks him in the back several times. The former judge is stabbed a solid 20 times before guards apprehend his attacker.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The good judge found out the hard way that Federal prisoners don’t like corrupt judges or kiddie fuckers. He was convicted of accepting bribes, abusing his power, and of statutory sexual assault. He was sentenced to 12 years, but only served a few months. Someone on the inside found out where he was and called in a couple favors. Fucker got shanked to death on Taco Tuesday.

INT. FEDERAL SUPERMAX PRISON - DAY
Jonas Daniels sits in his cell when five other inmates enter and attack him physically and sexually.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Jonas received a 225 year sentence in the state pen and another 40 in Federal prison. Most of the family members received similar sentences, but Jonas was put on blast during his sentencing. Dr. Bartlett described everything she went through at his hands, and organized a dozen other victims to come tell their stories.

EXT. BATEY LEXUS - DAY
A work crew gets busy changing the ‘Batey Automotive Group’ signs to something else.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Batey lost his dealership and died in prison. Official cause was a heart attack, but a friend that’s a guard tells me he was found with his jumpsuit around his neck. Guess someone got screwed on a trade-in.

EXT. USED CAR LOT - DAY
In a much smaller, shadier car lot, Raymond Lewis tries to close a deal with a customer.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Uncle Ray didn’t get away scott free. His only saving grace was that he wasn’t involved in the porn or trafficking side. He did paperwork for the laundering stuff, but might’ve genuinely not known about the kids. He received a suspended sentence of 3 years so he didn’t go to jail, but his life fell apart. He lost his well-paying job and found his way to one of those buy-here-pay-here car lots.

EXT. FIRST UNION HOLY CHURCH - DAY
A group of people from the Federal government seize all of the property inside of First Union Holy Church, from the AV equipment to the office paperwork to the toys in the preschool.

GEORGE (V.O.)
When the Daniels Family and the church were convicted of RICO, the Feds seized everything. The church, the mansion, the private jets, the bible camp, all of it. Most of it was sold in some government auctions. The church itself passed through a few different hands, but eventually landed with a group of out of towners who tried to launch a new megachurch. It...hasn’t been very successful.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY COURTHOUSE HALLWAY - DAY
A property auction takes place where several pieces of property are sold. One of the lots for sale was the land up by the lake owned by the church. The auctioneer stands in front of a small crowd.

AUCTIONEER
Our next lot is approximately 10,000 acres of lakefront property in Hiawatha County formerly owned by First Union Holy Church. Bidding begins at $100,000. Do I hear $100,000?

One man in the back raises his hand.

AUCTIONEER
$100,000. Do I hear $150,000? $150,000 for 10,000 acres of lakefront property.

No one else dares raise their hand. One person almost did, until their friend next to him stopped him.

AUCTIONEER
$100,000 going once, going twice, sold. $100,000, to the long haired man in the back.

The Auctioneer points at the man who won the property and scared everyone in attendance. It’s Bob.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Bob somehow won the lakefront property that First Union owned in auction. He beat out probably a dozen developers. I have a pretty good clue how he did it. A little extortion, bribery, a missing person here and there.

EXT. CAMP HIAWATHA - DAY
Bob sits outside of his newly acquired property, welcoming Pastor Reggie and a new group of campers and counselors.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Bob kept the camp but transferred the day to day operations over to Veneto Baptist Church. It became a haven for inner city youths to get away during the summer months. The rest of the property up by the lake, he turned that into a resort town. I don’t even want to know how much he makes off of this.

EXT. BEACH - DAY
On a beach on the Gulf Coast, several people stand around in light colored clothes for a wedding. Chuck stands at the front, while Vinny stands next to him as the Best Man. Pastor Reggie stands nearby. Stacy is off to the side, serving as the Matron of Honor. A few other people are meandering about. Bob, Paul, and Gary stand around with Granny sitting in a wheelchair. On the other side, Liz and Caleb play around with a few other kids and adult friends of Angie’s. Someone plays “Here Comes the Bride” on a portable speaker. George escorts a very pregnant Angie down the makeshift aisle. Granny flips off George as they walk past. George hands Angie off to Chuck, and Pastor Reggie performs the wedding ceremony.

CHUCK (V.O.)
Last time we were all together in one place was the wedding. We got married in March, down in Florida. Pastor Reggie was willing to do us a favor as long as we made a donation to his church.

ANGIE (V.O.)
We wanted to have a beach wedding, but I was due in May and would be a mess after Jenny came. We went during Spring Break, everyone had a good time.

CARLY (V.O.)
You said last time you were together?

CHUCK (V.O.)
Yeah.

INT. 2236 RIVER BLVD - DAY
Time has passed. It’s the summer of 2006. The Crew’s house is dirtier and dingier than last time. The front door handle jiggles for a moment before the door opens. A person enters. They walk into the living room and find Vinny, lying on the couch. The person raises a pistol and aims it at Vinny, but he doesn’t move. The person gets closer and checks Vinny. He’s not breathing and is cold to the touch. There’s a murmuring coming from the dining room. The person checks and sees Granny lying on the floor.

GRANNY
(hoarse)
Help! Help!

The person freezes after making eye contact with Granny. They run out of the house.

EXT. 2236 RIVER BLVD - DAY
An ambulance and a police car sit in front of the house. The Coroner’s van pulls up as George and Janella arrive in the Crown Vic. They exit and find Officer Omar Haskins near the van.

GEORGE
What’s going on?

OMAR
I figured you’d want to know about this.

Omar makes a gesture to one of the Coroner’s techs. They unzip the body bag, exposing Vinny.

GEORGE
Vinny.

OMAR
Yep. Vincent Cartucci. Looks like an overdose. Granny was found dehydrated on the floor of the dining room. Vinny was on the living room couch. Granny was mumbling something but we couldn’t make it out. Door was opened when we arrived. One of the neighbors said they saw a white lady run from here and go straight to a pay phone.

JANELLA
A white lady?

OMAR
White lady, brown hair, running like a bat out of hell. Younger, like mid-20’s. She ran down the street. A minute later, we got a call reporting that an old lady fell and needed help. No mention of the dead body, but looks like he’s been dead for a while. At least a day, maybe two.

JANELLA
So Granny was lying on the floor for probably two days?

OMAR
That’s our guess.

JANELLA
What’d you say about her, too stubborn to die?

GEORGE
Amongst other things.

Officer Sanchez approaches the three other officers.

OMAR
What do you have Sanchez?

SANCHEZ
Sir, not much inside. We checked with Vinny’s P.O. He hasn’t reported in for a few days but wasn’t due for a visit until later this week. Looks like he OD’ed on smack. House was in pretty rough shape. EMT’s said that Granny was belligerent, offensive, and aphasiac. They suspect a broken hip, some other possible fractures, and a stroke. We think she saw Vinny lying on the couch and she tried to get up and help, but lost her balance. Not sure how long the stroke was there. Also, sir, Dispatch sent over a copy of the 911 call.

OMAR
Play it.

Officer Sanchez pulls a small playback device out of her pocket. She presses play.

DISPATCHER (O.S)
911, what’s your emergency?

MICHELLE (O.S)
2236 River Blvd. Old woman lying on the floor needs medical attention.

George and Janella look at each other. They recognize the voice immediately.

DISPATCHER (O.S)
Keep calm, ma’am. What’s your name? Hello? Hello, are you there?

The sounds of running can be heard on the phone. The dispatcher sighs. The call ends.

SANCHEZ
That’s all there was.

GEORGE
Shit.

JANELLA
How did she find out about Vinny?

GEORGE
I don’t know.

OMAR
Wait, you know her?

GEORGE
Pretty sure that’s Dr. Michelle Bartlett. She helped us crack the First Union case. She was...

George’s face goes slack with dread realization.

OMAR
What?

GEORGE
She was the victim from the gang rape in the Veneto Motel in August 1995. The gang rape that Vinny led.

OMAR
Oh shit.

George and Janella start walking back to their car. Omar and Sanchez follow.

OMAR
Where are you going?

GEORGE
To find her.

SANCHEZ
Don’t you think we should put out an APB?

GEORGE
No.

JANELLA
We need to find out why she was here. Sending a uniform after her will scare her. She knows us.

GEORGE
If she found out about Vinny, she might know about the rest of them, and the only one nearby is Chuck.

George and Janella get in their car, George in the driver’s seat.

OMAR
Who’s calling Chuck about this?

GEORGE
Shit. I’ll call him. What hospital is Granny going to?

SANCHEZ
St. Michael’s.

GEORGE
Thanks.

The Crown Vic leaves, siren and lights flashing.

I/E. CCPD CROWN VICTORIA - DAY
George drives the unmarked police car quickly through the town on their way to Hillside. Janella dials Chuck’s cell phone, but no answer.

JANELLA
He’s not answering. I’m calling Angie.

Janella dials her phone, trying to reach Angie.

EXT. HARTMAN RESIDENCE - DAY
Angie walks outside of her house, pushing a stroller with a little baby girl in it, maybe 2 months old. It’s little Jenny. Angie looks tired, but is outside walking the baby on this hot, summer day. She goes to leave the driveway of their newly constructed house when she sees a car stop about 20 yards away. Angie sees a woman in the car, and the woman breaks down and cries into her hands. Angie looks confused when her phone rings. She grabs it from the stroller and answers it.

ANGIE
Hello?

JANELLA (O.S)
Angie, where are you?

ANGIE
I’m at home, was just taking Jenny for a walk.

JANELLA (O.S)
Is there an unknown car on your street?

ANGIE
Now that you mention it, yeah. A little Toyota just pulled up and stopped.

JANELLA (O.S)
Who’s in it?

ANGIE
A woman.

JANELLA (O.S)
Is she with anyone?

ANGIE
No. She’s just crying in her car. What’s going on?

JANELLA (O.S)
I need you to listen. Go back inside, get Chuck. We’re on our way over, don’t provoke that woman. Find Chuck, bring him inside.

ANGIE
Janella, what the fuck is going on?

JANELLA (O.S)
Angie... Vinny’s dead and Granny had a fall.

ANGIE
Oh my God, what?

GEORGE (O.S)
Ange, it’s me. We’re on our way over right now. Veneto PD radioed us about a call they received about an elderly woman who took a fall. It was Granny. When they got there they found Vinny dead of an overdose. The woman that called 911 was that woman in that car, Michelle Bartlett.

ANGIE
You mean...

GEORGE (O.S)
Yes, the same Michelle Bartlett from the Bible Camp and Motel rape back in 95. She found out who was involved and decided to visit Vinny first. He was dead when she got there. I don’t know what she wants, but we’ll be there in less than 5 minutes.

ANGIE
Okay. I’m taking Jenny inside, not making any sudden moves, but if she comes to the house...

GEORGE (O.S)
I know. It won’t come to that. We’ll be right there.

ANGIE
I love you.

GEORGE (O.S)
Love you too. See you soon.

Angie hangs up the phone. She sees the woman in the car, still crying. Angie pushes the stroller back into the open garage door and closes it behind her.

A beat.

The CCPD Crown Vic pulls up and stops in front of the Toyota sedan. George turns the sirens and lights off as he gets out of the car. His hands are empty and he maintains eye contact with the car behind him at all times. He sees Michelle in the driver’s seat, crying. He sees a pistol handle sticking out of a purse on the passenger seat. George looks at Janella and points to the passenger seat. He gets closer and knocks on the rolled up window. Michelle jumps, startled. She winds down the window halfway.

MICHELLE
What? How?

GEORGE
You want to talk about it? C’mon, let’s talk.

George steps back, motioning for her to come out. She thinks about it for a long moment.

GEORGE
Leave the purse and come on out. Let’s talk.

Michelle turns the car off and climbs out. She’s terribly upset. George hesitates for a moment before stepping to console her. When he touches her shoulders, she falls into him, hugging him.

MICHELLE
Why didn’t you tell me?

GEORGE
I couldn’t. It’s part of the job that sucks.

MICHELLE
How long?

GEORGE
Did I know who did it? May of 2003.

Michelle leans back and stares daggers at him, but then cries again. He lets her cry on his shoulder for a minute.

MICHELLE
Every time we’ve talked for the last 3 years, you’ve known.

GEORGE
Yeah. And I couldn’t say anything. When and how?

Michelle pulls back, trying to wipe the tears away. Janella grabs some tissues from the car and gives them to Michelle.

MICHELLE
Thanks.

The two walk to the back of the Crown Vic and sit on the trunk. George helps Michelle get on top of the car for a good seat.

GEORGE
How’d you find out?

MICHELLE
From my website. Someone figured out who was taking credit for all the killings, identified them as a bunch of gangsters from Veneto. Someone else shared a video of a party and that’s when I heard Vinny’s voice. I’ll never forget that voice as long as I live. I asked around and found out who else was in the video. They identified Vinny Cartucci, said he was in a gang with Bob Kuntzmann, Paul Damato, Gary Spencer, and Chuckie Hartman. I saw Gary and Paul in another video that person shared. I didn’t know Bob, but Chuckie, well, you see how tall he is. They called themselves the 2236 Crew. It didn’t take long to track down Vinny.

George puts his arm around her.

GEORGE
So, what was the plan?

Michelle thinks about it real long and hard.

MICHELLE
I don’t know. Maybe I was hoping he’d pick a fight and I’d defend myself. Maybe he’d fall to the ground and beg forgiveness. Maybe he’d see me and have a heart attack right there. I wanted him dead, but when I saw him, lying on that couch...God, it was so...

GEORGE
I know. No one should see that.

MICHELLE
I, I, I don’t know why but I started walking around, like I was too afraid to walk past him or to check if he was really dead. Then I heard an old lady moan for help. I turned, and saw some elderly woman crying. I freaked out and ran. I didn’t stop until I found a payphone. I didn’t even mention the dead body on the couch, I only told them about the woman. Then I freaked out and drove. By the time I realized where I was, I was lost but near Hillside.

GEORGE
And that’s when you came here.

MICHELLE
Yeah. Imagine my surprise when I pull up to my rapist’s house, just to find out that he has a wife and a baby. Wait. You called her a few minutes ago, didn’t you?

GEORGE
Yeah. We told her to go back inside.

Michelle looks at him puzzled.

MICHELLE
Wait. How do you know her?

GEORGE
Hold up, you don’t know who she is?

MICHELLE
No. Well, I know her name is Angela.

GEORGE
Until a few months ago, her name was Angela Lewis. Angie Lewis. She’s my sister.

Michelle looks at George shocked.

MICHELLE
What?

GEORGE
Well, technically cousin but we’re basically siblings. It’s kind of a fucked up family, I arrested her father, beat the shit out of her ex-husband, drafted her new husband to help on the case. They helped put the Daniels’ Family behind bars.

MICHELLE
I don’t believe it.

GEORGE
Nothing I can say can change what happened and what they did to you. And out of everyone that hurt you that night, the only one that’s not a complete waste of space is Chuck. He grew up, got away from his brothers, and changed into a somewhat decent human being. Vinny was a junkie who was helping Paul and Gary murder members of the family that ran. Chuck’s out of the loop as far as I know. I’m glad Vinny was dead when you showed up. He delivered the piano with the music director in it, I’m worried what he would’ve done to you.

Across the street, the garage door opens. Angie walks Chuck over to their truck. He’s carrying Jenny in a baby carrier and her diaper bag. They load the infant in the back seat of the truck.

MICHELLE
That’s him?

GEORGE
Yeah. That’s Chuck. Right now he’s having one of the worst days of his life. He just got the call that his brother died and that his grandmother was found lying on the floor for the last couple days. His parents were out of the picture early, so his Granny raised him by herself. He was going to move Granny in with them, but she insisted on staying in her home of the last 70 years so that Chuck and Angie could focus on their brand new baby girl, Jenny. They named their daughter after their best friend who was murdered almost a year ago. But Granny’s still alive because a good samaritan just happened to stop by and called for an ambulance. Even if it’s just for a few minutes or a few days or years, you saved her life today.

MICHELLE
His brother?

GEORGE
Stepbrother. I could never keep track who was who, but they left Chuck with Granny and split. And as horrible of a person Granny is, no matter how miserable of a cunt she is, she doesn’t deserve to go out like that.

Angie and Chuck get Jenny in the truck. Chuck walks around to the passenger’s seat and climbs in. Angie walks over to George, Janella, and Michelle. She hesitates when she sees Michelle, but George waves her over.

GEORGE
What’s going on?

ANGIE
I’m dropping Jenny off at your place, Liz will watch her. Where is Granny at?

JANELLA
St. Michael’s. Good chance that’s where they took Vinny, too.

ANGIE
That’s something.

GEORGE
How you holding up?

ANGIE
Not good, really. We’ve known this was coming for a while, it’s just, you know...

MICHELLE
When death comes it feels like both a tragic loss and a huge weight lifted at once?

ANGIE
Exactly. I should be a complete mess, but like Chuck said Granny’s alive and still needs us. Vinny’s not going anywhere.

MICHELLE
You’ll mourn when you’re sure you can do so safely. Sometimes it’s good to disassociate.

Angie looks at Michelle.

ANGIE
You look familiar. Have we met?

MICHELLE
Maybe, in a past life. I’m Michelle.

ANGIE
Angie.

The two women shake hands. They’re pretending that they don’t know who the other is.

GEORGE
Michelle helped us on a case and she was in the neighborhood.

ANGIE
Okay. I gotta go drop off Jenny. If I forget, tell Liz I said thanks. I don’t know how long this will be.

GEORGE
It’s okay, you got other shit to deal with.

Angie comes over and gives George a quick hug. She lets go and goes back to the truck. A moment later, they pulled out. George, Janella, and Michelle sat on the car talking.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We must’ve been on that car for a few hours just talking. There was a lot that we needed to clear up and a lot that Michelle had to unpack. She was carrying a lot of trauma. We still talk at least a couple times a month. She’s my go-to recommended therapist for victims needing someone to talk to and she hosts a group therapy session every other Wednesday. I’ll take you guys one of these days, introduce you.

EXT. BOB'S CABIN - DAY
George, dressed in one of his normal work suits, parks the Crown Vic in the driveway by Bob’s cabin. The rusted-out powder blue pickup is parked nearby. He exits the car and walks to Bob’s cabin.

GEORGE (V.O.)
I had some business one day up in Hiawatha County. Sheriff Ryland had some reports I wanted to look at, and it’s hard to say no to me after I drive a few hours to see something. This was right after the DNA reports came back showing that 4 people took a ride in the woodchipper. Ryland told me they didn’t have enough evidence to press charges. I thought that was bullshit and that Ryland was doing some kind of country justice. Down here, I’d have them up on murder charges before lunch. Still, not my playground, not my monkey bars. But while I was in the neighborhood, I wanted to talk to Bob, deliver a message.

George knocks on the cabin door. A moment later, Bob looks out the window. There’s a rustling by the door, then it slowly opens.

BOB
Fuck you want?

GEORGE
Just stopping by. Paid a visit to Ryland a bit ago. He found some interesting stuff about a month back.

BOB
Really?

GEORGE
Yeah. Little pieces of the Daniels’ twins were found sprayed over a field. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?

BOB
Is that so?

GEORGE
Yeah. Happened right before Jason, Jacob, and Natalie were due for a court appearance. They found a couple other pieces of people in the mix. Most of it was unusable, but a few flecks here and there were identified as Dr. Ryan Carson and Anthony Martens. Did you know that Anthony had a warrant out for Jen’s murder?

BOB
Didn’t know that.

GEORGE
Can we cut the bullshit, Bob? I know most of what you did. Apparently you’ve got a friend in Ryland Holmes. He’s not pursuing this. He’s looking the other way on this one. Considering that his former boss had a ‘boating accident’ and neither Ryland nor the old Sheriff own a boat, that raises some questions. But like you’re gonna point out, this isn’t my jurisdiction and all I can do is jack and shit.

BOB
Yeah. It’s not your jurisdiction.

GEORGE
What happened to the women?

BOB
What women?

GEORGE
Don’t play, Bobby. Natalie and Lynnette. They disappeared with the other four, but their DNA wasn’t found in the field. That tells me you got rid of them another way, somewhere else. And since there’s no way in Hell that Natalie would work with you or anyone else she knew was connected to you, that tells me you had a partner, someone who can walk the walk on moving people under the radar. And that person knew Tyrell as well.

Bob’s face flinches at Tyrell’s name.

GEORGE
Yeah, Tyrell was involved. Pastor Reggie didn’t say anything, but the VBC van was seen meeting a bunch of white people earlier the day everyone disappeared. Next day, Tyrell shows up and the van is covered in mud. Tyrell won’t say shit, he’s old school original G, but this ain’t his game. I heard a name a while back about a human trafficker operating out of Veneto, went by Raul. Name ring a bell?

Bob tries to not move, but flinches just the tiniest bit. George smirks.

GEORGE
Thought so. Mind if I tell you what I think happened?

BOB
Yeah, but you’re gonna do it anyway.

GEORGE
Exactly. Paul and Gary went to the church that Sunday to kill Charlie, Natalie, the twins, and anyone else they thought would get in the way. I know this because we found their bombs and guns under their seat when we called for people to leave. What’s that shit that Granny said, one crime at a time? Well, they weren’t expecting us to show up. So when Charlie and the family get collared, you go to Plan B. Make sure they have no way of escaping except your way. You scared anyone and everyone who might help them and funneled Natalie to VBC. You told Pastor Reggie to help them, probably offered a nice donation in the process. When Natalie was bailed out, she knew she had one chance to get out of the country and go somewhere without extradition. But she also knew she couldn’t get out of the country on her own. The Feds just locked up her dad and had a warrant out for her. She shows up in an airport, it’s game over. So she calls around to a bunch of friends but no one helps. She eventually calls Reggie who tells her he might know a guy, and puts her in touch with Tyrell who calls in Raul. They played the “need to get out of town” card and made some crazy pitch that Natalie bought out of desperation. She grabbed her brothers, her bodyguard, and two people naive enough to pay for their trips and said “we’re leaving.” They hop in a van that says Veneto Baptist Church on it and get a few hours away. That’s when Raul drives the van into a field and your boys show up. They subdue everyone, you have your little moment being a hardass, probably have some fun with the women, and kill the guys. Considering that the bodyguard killed Jen, I’d put money down that you fed him into the woodchipper alive, feet first. No quarter given to him. You probably spent the next several hours torturing the others before killing the men. Only thing I’m not sure of was whether you changed your mind about killing the women or if giving them to Raul was the plan all along.

BOB
I don’t know what you’re talking about.

GEORGE
Well, it doesn’t matter. My guess is you decided to make some money on them. So now I’m chasing after an experienced trafficker with almost a two month head start on me. They could be anywhere in the world by now. Considering how good looking she was and how much foreigners love blonde American women, she’s overseas right now. Maybe Lynnette’s with her, I don’t know. Odds are we’ll never see them again.

BOB
Is that what you wanted to tell me? Some crazy story about what you think happened?

GEORGE
Not just that. I wanted to give you a message. Your boys caused a lot of problems in Harbor City. I’ve got almost 2 dozen bodies I can tie to Paul and Gary. Vinny’s gone to ground, too. Just a matter of time before he ends up dead of an OD. All their shit can be tied back to you.

BOB
What are you saying?

GEORGE
Harbor City is off limits. Chester County is off limits. You’re persona non grata. No more business down south.

BOB
Bullshit.

GEORGE
No one can protect you. You don’t have a local yokel looking the other way or providing an alibi. There’s half a dozen forces that want to nail your ass to the wall. They can and will tie you to no less than a dozen murders. And that’s just in the last couple years. You can’t even sneeze down there without 20 cops waiting to wipe your nose and slap some cuffs on you.

BOB
I go where I please.

GEORGE
You can visit. You can come down for a wedding, baby shower, funeral, what have you. But you don’t work down there anymore. I don’t give a flying rat’s ass what you do up here, but Chester County is off limits.

BOB
What about-

GEORGE
This isn’t a negotiation. People want you dead or in jail. Up here, you’ve got friends. You don’t have friends down there anymore. This is the only time I’ll ever say it. We don’t want to bury your ass.

Bob grabs a cigarette and lights it. He purposefully blows the smoke in George’s face.

BOB
Well, thanks for the warning. I’ll be more hospitable than you. You’re welcome to come up anytime. Just remember where you work, not what you are.

The two men stand silent for a moment.

GEORGE
Copy that. Won’t be too much of a worry. Best thing about this town is a bait shop that sells sandwiches. Watch yourself.

BOB
See ya round, buddy boy.

George walks back, keeping his eyes on the cabin. Bob closes the door. George walks back to his car, never taking his eyes off of the cabin.

GEORGE (V.O.)
They say never turn your back on a man you fear or respect. I respect what he can do, and I fear what he’s capable of.

George climbs into his car and leaves, keeping his eyes on Bob’s place until he’s well out of firing range.
-------------------------------------------------------------

To Be Continued...

[LtBroccoli]

Chapter Tags: Nosex, viol
Content Warnings: Speculation about setting up other stories in the HCU
-------------------------------------------------------------

George tells his friends what happened to Natalie Daniels...
-------------------------------------------------------------

Episode 19 - Fallout Part 2
INT. GEORGE'S DINING ROOM - NIGHT
George looks at the people sitting and standing around the table.

DEREK
How the hell did he get away with it?

GEORGE
Huh?

DEREK
Bob. How the hell wasn’t he dragged into the box after, well, any of this?

George takes a sip of whiskey.

GEORGE
Bob had the greatest alibi in the world.

DEREK
What’s that?

GEORGE
He was in jail.

XAVIER
(shouting)
Say what?!

George smiles.

INT. CCPD CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
George and Janella look at a monitor in the conference room. On it, Bob is in a jail cell. There is a timestamp in the corner.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We had him dead to rights more times than I’d care to count, but after the old Sheriff was keelhauled, he had Ryland by the balls. Every time we’d follow up for Bob’s whereabouts, Ryland would vouch for him, saying that Bob was in the drunk tank or was pulled over, or brought in for questioning or possession.

George and Janella compare the video with another one. It’s the exact same few shots of Bob, but with different timestamps.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We’d call up and ask where he was on a certain night, and Ryland would say he was with him. Eventually Sheriff Holmes sent us down some security footage showing Bob in a jail cell. It was the same few minutes of video but with different timestamps on it, but it wasn’t enough to outright accuse the Sheriff of covering for a murderer. When we’d ask Bob where he was, he’d say in jail, and the Sheriff would vouch for him.

INT. GEORGE'S DINING ROOM - NIGHT
George looks at the people sitting and standing around the table.

CARLY
What happened to Natalie?

George doesn’t respond. He looks at his glass. Xavier reaches across the table, topping off George’s glass, then goes around the table topping off more glasses.

DEREK
Yeah, what happened to her?

George looks off into the distance.

CARLY
Did she die?

DEREK
Ever find her?

George takes a long drink of his scotch.

GEORGE
Yeah. We found her. It wasn’t pretty.

INT. CHESTER COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT BULLPEN - DAY
It’s the spring of 2012. George sits at his desk at work, going through his laptop. He’s a little older, balder, and fatter than last time. There’s a folder titled “Daniels, Natalie”. He clicks on it, opening it. There are several files in the folder. Natalie’s mugshot, photos of her before she vanished, a couple documents, and a few pictures and videos. He clicks through the files. He opens the ‘R.E.L.’ file. It’s about her kidnapper.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Once we suspected that Natalie and Lynnette didn’t go through the woodchipper, there was a brief hope that we might find them one day. That hope slowly died away. We figured out who Raul Esteban Lopez was. His real name was Raul Rodriguez. His brother was the head of 43SK back in the day. He was involved in a few kidnappings over the years but eventually we lost track of him. He showed up on the radar for a brief moment after Lynnette was found. Raul was found in suburban Boston with two in the back of his head. The gun used on him was also used on another First Union murder. My guess is Paul and Gary cleaned up a loose end when Lynnette reappeared.

George opens a video. It’s of a blonde woman that looks a lot like Natalie, in a porn video. She’s strapped to a table, being fucked relentlessly by a dozen men of Middle Eastern descent.

GEORGE (V.O.)
We lost hope of ever seeing her again until after Lynnette showed up. I followed her story as best as I could, but realized Natalie was sent overseas. Every so often, a video would hit the dark web starring a woman who looked and sounded just like her. Each time, it was brutal. Gang rapes, BDSM, Lesbian, Bestiality. A couple of the videos showed her with a pregnant belly being beaten and raped. The videos showed up from 2007 to 2010. I found them in 2011 on a dark web forum. I tracked down the poster. He said he got them from one of the guards for a Sheik in Dubai. The blonde was part of his harem, and every so often he liked to punish her. They’d film her attacks on smart phones and share them around. I asked what happened to her, he said he didn’t know. She was one of the Sheik’s favorites and gave him a son, but she was sold to a West African warlord after the Sheik fell out of favor with the royal family. That was around 2011. Things were quiet for a bit, until they weren’t.

JANELLA (O.S)
George, get in here!

George closes the video, then locks the computer. He wasn’t paying attention anyway. He gets up and walks to the Captain’s office. This time the door reads ‘JANELLA JENKINS, CAPTAIN’.

INT. CAPTAIN JENKIN’S OFFICE - DAY
George enters Janella’s office and closes the door behind him. He sits in a chair across the desk from Janella. She’s a little older, too, but shows it differently. There’s a few more wrinkles here and there. She hands George a letter she printed out. He picks it up and talks before reading the contents.

GEORGE
Cappy, you know there’s this thing called email. You don’t have to print each of them out.

JANELLA
How many times do I have tell you don’t call me Cappy?

GEORGE
At least one more. What’s up?

JANELLA
You have a passport?

GEORGE
Yeah.

JANELLA
Good. You’re going to Africa.

GEORGE
What?!

JANELLA
Read the letter.

GEORGE
From the Office of the Embassy of the United States in Juba, South Sudan... Where’s South Sudan?

JANELLA
South of Sudan.

GEORGE
Really?

JANELLA
Just read it.

George mumbles under his breath for a moment, the stops and re-reads the letter. He does so three times.

GEORGE
You serious?

JANELLA
Yeah.

GEORGE
She’s alive?

Janella nods.

JANELLA
More or less. Apparently she was dropped off outside of the U.S. Embassy in Juba late at night. A local warlord was recently deposed and his family murdered. A group of freedom fighters, vigilantes, terrorists, whatever they’re called, raided his residence. Among his hoarded treasures they found a collection of sex slaves. A while later, one of the slaves was dropped off outside the embassy. They ran a DNA test, came back positive. They contacted us since we still have an open warrant.

GEORGE
You’re saying-

JANELLA
Natalie Daniels is alive in Africa, and you’re going to pick her up with help from the U.S. Marshall’s.

GEORGE
Guess I should pack.

George gets up and leaves Janella’s office.

EXT. JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN - DAY
The city of Juba is a developing city in a developing country. Pockets of sparsely populated small houses are surrounded by apartment buildings and city construction. George rides in the back of a U.S. Government vehicle as it makes it’s way through the city to the U.S. Embassy. George reads a dossier one more time as they drive.

GEORGE (V.O.)
The information I had was sketchy. It mentioned that Natalie was wounded when she showed up at the doorsteps of the embassy, and that she was uncooperative in identifying her assailants. The report left out her current physical condition.

EXT. SOUTH SUDAN EMBASSY - DAY
The government vehicle pulls up to the security checkpoint then passes into the lawn. The vehicle parks, and George exits. He’s met by two Marines who escort him inside.

INT. SOUTH SUDAN EMBASSY - DAY
George walks to a room with two U.S. Marshalls standing next to a wheelchair and two Marines standing guard in the background. As George approaches, he sees a woman in a wheelchair. A blonde woman.

It’s Natalie Daniels.

George is shocked at what he sees. Natalie is disfigured. She has no arms nor legs. Her mouth is mutilated. Where she once had a full bosom, her breasts are missing. She wears a t-shirt and shorts. Both are rolled up to cover her stumps.

As George approaches, a woman in a Naval uniform steps forward from out of view. She is Commander Sarah Khan.

SARAH
Excuse me, who are you?

George’s attention is drawn from Natalie to this other woman.

GEORGE
George, George Lewis. Chester County Police Department, Harbor City.

George isn’t sure if he should shake her hand or salute her. She has a silver cluster on one collar and a medical symbol on the other.

SARAH
Commander Sarah Khan, United States Navy. I’m Natalie’s doctor.

George isn’t sure what to do with his hands.

SARAH
Are you a veteran?

GEORGE
No.

SARAH
Just shake.

George and Sarah shake hands.

GEORGE
It’s nice to meet you. I arrested her back in 2005 for a whole slew of crimes including murder. Mind telling me what happened?

SARAH
I was hoping you could fill in some holes we have, too.

GEORGE
Sure, I’ll do what I can. Has she been any help?

SARAH
Nope.

GEORGE
She didn’t mention who did this?

SARAH
She hasn’t said anything.

GEORGE
Why not?

SARAH
It’s kind of difficult to talk with no tongue or teeth.

GEORGE
What?

SARAH
Didn’t you read the report?

GEORGE
It just said multiple injuries, it didn’t say that she was a mute stump.

SARAH
Oh. I’m sorry, I thought they would’ve given you that information. Please...

Sarah motions to a nearby table. Her and George take a seat. George takes another look at Natalie. The look in her eyes scares him for a second.

GEORGE
So, who wants to start?

SARAH
Since your part of the story starts this mess, why don’t you go first.

GEORGE
Sure. My name is George Lewis. I’m a detective for the Chester County Police Department Sex Crimes Unit. I’ve been there about a decade. Shortly after I started, we began an investigation that led to uncovering the largest child pornography and sex trafficking ring in the United States at the time. Over the course of the next 3 years, Almost 200 people were arrested and prosecuted, and another 2 dozen associated with the case were killed extra-judiciously. These people were tried in local, state, and federal court. First Union Holy Church-

SARAH
Wait, I’m sorry, you said First Union Holy Church?

GEORGE
I see you’ve heard of it. She’s the daughter of the preacher of the church and was the mastermind for a lot of their activities from 1995 to 2005. I personally got her to confess to the murder of a police informant and turn state’s evidence. She was ready to flip, until she fled. Last time I saw her was in the courthouse posting bail. She, along with her twin brothers, her bodyguard/boyfriend, and two other parishioners in the church fled town that night. They were captured by a group of criminals looking for revenge. That’s when things when bad.

SARAH
How bad?

GEORGE
Her boyfriend was fed feet first into a woodchipper.

SARAH
What? They disposed of his body with a woodchipper?

GEORGE
No. He was still alive when they fed him into the woodchipper. Natalie and the rest were placed in front of the exhaust chute. They were covered in little bits of her boyfriend.

SARAH
Oh my...

GEORGE
It gets worse. Her and the other woman there were repeatedly raped while her one brother was tortured. They forced her to have sex with her brothers, only to have them killed while inside her. After disposing of the bodies, the two women were gang raped for the next several hours until they were sold to the trafficker who sold them out. He kept them as sex slaves for the next several weeks until he sold Natalie to a Middle Eastern man. The rest I have are just bits and pieces but she ended up in a harem in Dubai where she was occasionally gang raped, beaten, forced to fuck animals, whatever the Sheik decided. At one point it looks like she might’ve been pregnant.

SARAH
That fits with my inspection. The physical showed that she’s given birth before. I’d guess at least twice, probably 3 or 4 times. One time was a couple years ago, the other was recent, within the past six months.

GEORGE
My trail ran cold last year when reports came that the Sheik sold her to a Warlord in West Africa. Until you guys emailed us we assumed she was never going to see the light of day.

SARAH
That might’ve been better for her. About two months ago there was an attack on a local Warlord’s residence. He’s been torturing the area for years, and finally some local terrorists had enough. They stormed his house, killed everyone in it. Men, women, children. They even killed a few babies. Only people they didn’t kill were his sex slaves. Three of them never surfaced, but late one night a car comes up to the gate and throws a blonde woman out of the car. They’d already cut off her arms, legs, breasts, and tongue and pulled her teeth out. She was pretty bad off. To add insult to injury, they dropped her off with her limbs but they put an iron on her stumps, cauterizing the wounds. We couldn’t save them. They also dropped her off with pieces of a dead infant. When we ran a DNA test on her, we found out it was hers.

GEORGE
Damn. That’s...

SARAH
She went through Hell. Unfortunately no one bothered to get her fingerprints before we threw out her fingers. We ran a DNA test but those still take time. It came up with a match. Natalie Daniels, of Harbor City. We’ve tried to do what we can for her, but it’s just a mess.

GEORGE
Hmm... that explains why you didn’t ask for her fingerprints. What has her mental status been like?

SARAH
When she’s not medicated, she’s a nightmare. If we don’t sedate her, she screams constantly. We’re trying to fit her with a system that tracks her eye movement like ALS patients have, but it’s just her screaming over and over. I do have to say, she’s incredibly tough.

GEORGE
Yep. She was a horrible human being when I knew her, but she was a survivor.

SARAH
How bad was she?

GEORGE
Aside from killing my friend, she’s responsible for the rape and murder of dozens if not hundreds of children. She organized a pipeline that funneled thousands of children into the underground sex scene for nearly a decade. I have video of her killing at least a dozen girls with her own hands. Some as young as 6. For all the Hell she’s gone through, I don’t know if it even scratches the surface of what she’s done.

George pauses. Sarah is at a loss for words, too.

GEORGE
So what’s the plan now?

SARAH
Now? I’m due for some time off stateside. You, me, a Marshall, and a nurse are going to escort Natalie back to the U.S. Once there, we get her to Harbor City, then you take over.

GEORGE
My guess is that once we officially bring her into custody, she’ll be remanded to a state hospital. She’s already confessed to a murder, so she’ll be sentenced once we arrive and most likely sent to said hospital. I doubt she’ll ever be deemed fit for trial, but if she is we have several charges lined up. You know what’s really fucked up?

SARAH
What?

GEORGE
If she hadn’t run, she’d already be out. When she ran, I gave her deal to her cousin. Jamie flipped on the whole family when he found out he was looking at the death penalty. One of the best witnesses we could ever ask for. He served 5 years under protective custody then moved to Montana. Natalie ran. She watched her boyfriend get killed, was forced to eat pieces of him, forced to fuck her brothers while they were killed, gang raped, turned into a sex slave, repeatedly raped, forced to give birth, had one kid taken from her and watched another one get murdered, and had her limbs cut off. Now, she’ll spend the rest of her life in a prison hospital or an insane asylum.

SARAH
Such is life.

GEORGE
Such is life.

George takes a long, hard look at Natalie and what she’s become.

INT. GEORGE'S DINING ROOM - NIGHT
George takes another healthy sip of scotch. Carly’s jaw has dropped open. Everyone at the table is shocked.

GEORGE
The entire trip back was a mix of the medical staff sedating her, changing her, and taking care of her. If she wasn’t sleeping, she was screaming. Like I figured, she was sent to a state hospital where she’s been ever since. Even when her sentence runs out in 10 years, she doesn’t have anywhere to go. The only family left that isn’t in jail are some distant cousins and Jamie hiding away in Montana. The staff tried to get her to communicate. They started with teaching her morse code and eventually got her one of those Stephen Hawking machines. It’s hard to get a straight story out of her, it’s always different and crazy. And she’s not reliable, so I take everything she says with a grain of salt.

SERENA
Has she talked about her...

GEORGE
Yeah. The staff used to record everything she said. Now, the computer tracks all of it. She’s also in prison, so it’s not like she has a ton of freedoms. One time I visited her and she was extra agitated, said ‘Bad Man’ over and over. Someone paid her a visit dressed as an orderly, raped her in her wheelchair.

XAVIER
(shouting)
What the fuck!?

GEORGE
Yeah. No one knew who did it and security cams didn’t get a good look. Witnesses said it was a new hire volunteer, man in his 40’s. Description sounded a hell of a lot like Gary. A few months later, same thing with a man that looked like Paul.

DEREK
Jesus.

GEORGE
No, he wasn’t there. Might be on the yard crew, but not one of the orderlies. Natalie’s still there today. Next time I go visit, I’ll bring you guys along.

CARLY
That’s...

GEORGE
You’re welcome. It’s not every day you meet pure evil. Y’know, there’s a part of me, a big part of me, that feels sorry for her. But then I look at the list of kids that died or disappeared or, at the best-case scenario, were traumatized for life because of her. I look at their files, maybe go through a video or two, and then look at Natalie again. I feel sorry for her the same way that I feel sorry for a wounded animal. But that’s it. I think of the kids who died horrible deaths under her hands, under her directions. They never got a chance to grow up. They never got to live. Natalie had a life of luxury built on pain and suffering. Now, she spends all day sitting around or lying around waiting for a slow death that hasn’t come yet. Her pain and torment are immense, but deserved.

George takes another sip of scotch. Xavier sees that his glass is getting empty. George puts his hand on top of the glass.

CARLY
Wow.

GEORGE
It’s not all doom and gloom. Angie and Chuck, they have a good marriage and three kids. Their second is named after Vinny. Bob’s built an empire up around Lake Hiawatha. If you ever go up there for a visit, odds are you’re in a cabin he owns or built. Granny, that bitch made it to 103 in a nursing home. I guess her and Satan struck a deal on who’s going to run the place. Captain Smith retired and fishes every weekend. Janella is counting down the days to retirement or promotion. Omar is the Chief over in Veneto, and the town is turning around. Steven and Lisa got married after working together on the case. Steven’s divorce from his first wife a little rough, but the two lawyers have been together for years. He’s a judge now and she goes back and forth every few years between being a federal prosecutor and working as a high priced defense attorney. She even helped me out on a case helping Stacy.

INT. LEGAL OFFICE CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
In a conference room in a glass windowed skyscraper, a couple in their 50’s sit on one side of a conference table. Next to them are their attorneys. At the head of the table sits an older woman. The door to the conference room opens, and in walks Lisa Sanders, George Lewis, Stacy Daniels, and a younger woman. The four of them sit down on the opposite side of the table. No one makes any signs of politeness aside from the lawyers.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Jen’s parents are real pieces of shit. They kicked Jen out at 17, denied that she was their daughter, didn’t show up to the funeral, but as soon as there was money to be made they acted all “our daughter died.” There was some movie rights and book deal money floating around and they sued Stacy for what they thought was theirs. Stacy didn’t want Jen’s name anywhere in the media, but Mr. and Mrs. Tibault already planned on a Caribbean cruise with that money. Stacy asked if I knew a good lawyer who could help. I called Lisa, and she jumped at the opportunity. She even called in another friend of hers named Diana. She was sharp as a tack and twice as dangerous. Diana wanted to follow Lisa’s lead and be a federal prosecutor, but needed more experience before she could apply for that kind of work. Hey, if I get some of the legal details wrong, sue me. The booze is kicking in pretty good now.

The older woman clears her throat.

EDITH
Thank you everyone for coming. I am Judge Edith Sloane, presiding over this meeting on the 9th of April, 2013 regarding Tibault vs. Daniels. Everyone, please introduce yourselves, starting with the plaintiffs in this matter.

JAMES
I’m James Collinsworth, attorney representing the plaintiffs from Fredrickson Collinsworth.

RONALD
I’m Ronald Fredrickson, representing Fredrickson Collinsworth.

SASHA
I am Sasha Tibault.

MICHAEL
I’m Michael Tibault.

EDITH
Thank you. And for the defense.

LISA
I’m Lisa Sanders-Jones, representing the defendant. I am currently a United States Attorney.

DIANA
My name is Diana Meadows, and I am an attorney from Reed Anderson, representing the defendant.

STACY
I am the defendant. My former name is Stacy Daniels, and that is the name I was sued under. I have since legally changed my name for reasons which will become apparent shortly.

GEORGE
I’m Dr. George Lewis, I am a detective with Chester County Police Department. I am here supporting the defendant.

EDITH
Thank you. Dr. Lewis, why are you here? You’re not named in this lawsuit.

GEORGE
I was asked by my very good friend if I knew an attorney that could help her in this case. I asked the best attorney I’ve ever met if she knew anyone who could help. She said yes. Hence, why Mrs. Jones and Ms. Meadows are here.

LISA
My expertise is in criminal prosecution, not glorified family court. That’s why I asked Ms. Meadows to take this case.

EDITH
That isn’t a very good reason, Doctor.

GEORGE
That, and I was more of a family member to Jennifer Tibault than her supposed parents were.

RONALD
That is-

GEORGE
That is accurate.

EDITH
Enough. Plaintiffs, proceed.

JAMES
Thank you. My clients were forced to file a lawsuit against Miss Daniels-

DIANA
May I interject, your honor?

EDITH
No, please let the plaintiffs continue.

JAMES
Thank you. Our clients feel that Miss Daniels’s previous injunction against them for selling the rights to Jennifer’s story is a gross overreach and seek monetary compensation. Our clients have been deprived of a substantial monetary windfall because of Miss Daniels’s insistence that she alone controls the rights to Jennifer Tibault’s story, and we feel that her grounds are preposterous. We seek a settlement that is amicable to all parties.

EDITH
Thank you. Defendants.

Lisa looks to Diana and nods.

DIANA
Your honor, we seek a permanent injunction on them profiting from Jennifer’s story and a dismissal of their retaliatory lawsuit. Furthermore, I’d like to correct the record. My client’s name is not Miss Stacy Daniels, it is Mrs. Stacy Tibault.

EDITH
I’m sorry, did you say-

DIANA
Mrs. Stacy Tibault. Her and Jennifer were legally married in the state of Massachusetts on July 1st, 2004. She legally changed her name afterwards. Following their marriage, they filed new copies of their wills in the State of New York which designated the other as the sole beneficiary of their estates. In the event of both of them passing, physical possessions listed should be given to specific friends while the rest would either be donated to specific charities or thrown out. Each set of parents were bequeathed 1 dollar. These actions might seem extreme for a young couple in their early to mid 20’s, but please remember that they were being hunted down by a cult. Jennifer was murdered barely a year later by said cult.

JAMES
Your honor-

DIANA
First Union Holy Church meets the legal definition of a cult. The Plaintiffs chose to follow a family of pedophiles and kicked their own daughter out of their house when she was a minor. In this state, that is felony child neglect. Furthermore, when they were informed of their daughter’s death, they responded by saying that she “wasn’t their daughter” and refused to identify the body. They couldn’t even be bothered to show up to the funeral.

JAMES
Now you just-

DIANA
A funeral which was organized by her friends and paid for by her wife, who risked life and limb to travel to Harbor City to say goodbye to her spouse. Jennifer’s parents had nothing to do with their daughter after they kicked her out at age 17. They forfeited any rights to her legacy when they decided to cut her out of their life and make their high school aged daughter homeless. The only reason she didn’t sleep on the streets was the kindness of friends, including Doctor Lewis.

MICHAEL
How dare you-

STACY
What, tell the truth? Jen reached out to you dozens of times over the years, and you were so hung up on her being a lesbian you put your hate and your cult over her safety.

MICHAEL
We loved Jennifer.

GEORGE
No you didn’t. Loving parents at least show up to the funeral and don’t leave their daughter to be buried in a pauper’s grave.

STACY
You’re only here because there’s money to be made.

SASHA
We are loving parents, Jennifer was the problem.

Stacy turns her gaze to Sasha.

STACY
You always treated her differently. You sent her to a bible camp instead of taking her on vacation to Costa Rica. You kicked her out when you found out she was a lesbian. You picked hanging out with a bunch of corrupt priests and pedophiles over Ronald’s daughter. Yet even after all of that, all Jen really wanted was a hug from her parents and to see her family, her brothers and sisters. You disgust me, Sasha. You were off screwing around on your husband but you acted all high and mighty about Jen’s sexual preference.

SASHA
That is preposterous! You lying-

STACY
Go ahead, say it!

EDITH
Enough!

JAMES
Your honor, labeling our clients in such a way is disparaging.

DIANA
How? First Union Holy Church has been legally dissolved. Their leadership are all either felons convicted of various fraud, money laundering, murder and child sex crimes or were murdered before they made it to trial. Charlie Daniels is less than 10 years into a consecutive sentence that ends sometime after the year 4000. Doctor Lewis led the investigation into that cult. Jennifer was an informant of the Doctor’s and helped the state’s case. Stacy was one of the most abused victims of First Union. Mrs. Sanders-Jones was the lead federal prosecutor that brought RICO charges against the cult. So please, go ahead and try to explain how your client deserves anything after kicking their daughter out years before this mess took place.

EDITH
Enough! Both of you! Miss Meadows, do you have any evidence to back up your claims?

DIANA
Yes, your honor.

Diana slides a folder across the table to Judge Edith. The older woman opens the folder. Diana gives another copy to the Plaintiff’s attorneys.

EDITH
Interesting.

DIANA
Inside, you will find copies of their marriage license signed by the clerk of the City of Boston dated July 1, 2004. There is also copies of their wills dated July 6th of the same year, and extemporaneous notes from Doctor Lewis’s investigation from August 7th to 11th of 2005. They include the multiple conversations he had with Ronald and Sasha Tibault, as well as notes from the Coroner’s Office showing that Jennifer was identified by a woman named Angela Lewis along with Doctor Lewis, and receipts for the funeral expenses, paid for by Mrs. Stacy Tibault. There is also a receipt from a certified letter sent to the Tibault residence signed on August 24th, 2005. The letter was signed for by Sierra Tibault. The contents of the certified mail contained a letter informing the parent’s of Jen’s demise, how she wished they would’ve come to speaking terms but instead how their bigotry and hatred drove them away, and a 1 dollar bill, the entirety of the amount bequeathed to her parents.

Edith goes over the documents in front of her.

EDITH
Dr. Lewis, who is Angela Lewis?

GEORGE
She’s my cousin. We were raised together and act like siblings. I asked her to come down to the morgue to identify Jennifer’s body after her parents refused to acknowledge Jen’s existence. My conversations with them over the next week were in my notes.

EDITH
Why were you taking such detailed notes?

GEORGE
This was part of an open investigation into First Union Holy Church. As Ms. Meadows mentioned, Jennifer was an informant supplying information on the internal dealings of First Union. She was terrified that they had found out who was talking to the cops and that they knew that she was in town. Her murderers were senior members of the church and their security members.

EDITH
Were you actively investigating this murder?

GEORGE
No, that was being handled by the detectives in Westchester Borough. But it didn’t take long to find out that the cases were linked.

EDITH
Why you?

GEORGE
I’m not sure I follow?

EDITH
Why you? Why did Jen decide to confide in you?

GEORGE
The short version was that we were already investigating the church but they did a good job of keeping the local cops off their tail. Jen didn’t know how corrupt the cops in Hillside were. Once county was involved, I left my contact info with both Hillside PD and Ambrose PD. A short while later she called Ambrose with a tip about another abuse victim, and the officer that we worked with in Ambrose gave her my contact info. She reached out to me and told me her story from the last couple years.

JAMES
If you were such good friends with her, why did you fall out of contact?

GEORGE
Jen and Stacy went off the grid, trying to stay one step ahead of the Daniels’ family. The same family that Michael and Sasha donated money to. Natalie Daniels tracked Jen and Stacy to Chicago. Her and three men broke into their apartment, brutally beat and raped Jen, then proceeded to do the same to Stacy.

For the first time, Michael looks shook.

GEORGE
You didn’t know that, did you? Ever meet a man named Alexander Petrovsky?

MICHAEL
Yes. Yes, I have.

GEORGE
He raped your daughter.

MICHAEL
What?

GEORGE
If you bothered to talk to Jen or even try to have a relationship with her, she’d have told you. Which means you also didn’t know that Jen killed Alexander in self defense, and wounded one of Stacy’s rapists, Jonas Daniels, by shooting him in the shoulder. But you didn’t know. You never bothered to know.

MICHAEL
I’m...

GEORGE
I’m not done with the story. After that, Jen worked with us identify dozens of abuse victims, helped expose one of the largest troves of child porn in the world, led to the death of the person in charge of that trove, and helped bring no less than 50 people to justice. All this before she was murdered. After she died, that number jumped to over 200. By the way, care to know the names of those who murdered Jen?

MICHAEL
You need-

GEORGE
Natalie Daniels, Jamie Daniels, Anthony Martens, Adam Snyder. Nicholas and Eric Samuelson were accessories after the fact. Natalie called the shots. Adam and Anthony kidnapped Jen and dragged her into the van. They beat her, force fed her a bottle of crushed up Vicodins and smothered her, forcing her to swallow. While smothering and choking her, she fought back enough to cause Anthony to strangle Jen to death while Natalie held Jen’s nose and mouth shut. Jamie drove the van. They then met up with Nick and Eric who helped dispose of Jen’s body in an old beater Ford that they set on fire, but a passing firefighter put the flames out before it got out of control.

RONALD
Why are you telling us this?

GEORGE
Because you never knew what Jen went through. You never bothered to find out. You were too much of a chickenshit to stand up to Sasha. Now, you’re daughter’s dead and you missed out on not only having a relationship with her but on having one with a hell of a daughter-in-law. Did you know that she’s been on Broadway many times? Even helped Book of Mormon win a Tony. But you couldn’t get over your bigotry and hatred. Or was that Sasha talking the whole time.

EDITH
That’s enough, Dr. Lewis.

MICHAEL
What happened?

EDITH
That’s enough.

MICHAEL
What happened to Jen’s murderers?

GEORGE
Do you really want to know?

Michael nods.

MICHAEL
Yes.

GEORGE
Natalie and Jamie were both given a deal to turn state’s evidence. They both confessed to the murder under a lesser charge of Second Degree Manslaughter. Natalie fled before sentencing. Jamie testified against Adam Snyder and the Samuelson brothers. Adam was convicted of Murder in the First, he’s sitting on death row. Nick and Eric Samuelson each got 25 to life. Anthony Martens and Natalie were caught by some vigilantes trying to flee to Canada. Anthony was fed feet first into a woodchipper. Natalie wasn’t so lucky. She was beaten, raped, forced to screw her brothers, watched as they were executed while inside of her, sold into sexual slavery, whored out for years until she was found in South Sudan last year. She was mutilated and left for dead, her arms, legs, breasts hacked off with machetes. Her tongue and teeth were torn out. She now resides in a state prison hospital, serving her sentence and waiting to die.

EDITH
That’s...quite a lot Dr. Lewis. What was Angela’s relation to Jen?

GEORGE
Angela was Jen’s best friend since childhood. They grew up together, struggled together. Angie was there when Jen and Stacy met, helped Jen through a lot of problems, offered a place for Jen to live after she was kicked out. Angie’s first kid is named after Jen.

Michael whispers into Ronald’s ear.

RONALD
Are you sure?

MICHAEL
Yeah.

Ronald leans into James’s ear and whispers. James looks shocked, but not completely surprised.

JAMES
Your honor, our client would like to drop his lawsuit.

SASHA
What?!

JAMES
Mr. Tibault would like to drop the case and is willing to accept their legal fees. They will not pursue any further action against Miss Dan...Sorry, Mrs. Tibault.

SASHA
No, no. We have a right-

MICHAEL
No, we don’t. We gave that up when you made me kick her out back in High School.

SASHA
That was your decision, Michael.

MICHAEL
No, it was yours. You always had a problem with her. Nothing she did was ever good enough for you. Her grades, her behavior, her friends, NONE OF IT! AND WHERE DID IT GET US? MY DAUGHTER IS DEAD, AND YOU’RE TRYING TO MAKE A PAY DAY OFF OF IT FROM HER WIFE!

SASHA
DON’T YOU RAISE YOUR VOICE AT ME!

MICHAEL
OR WHAT, YOU’LL SLEEP AROUND ON ME AGAIN?!

Sasha slaps him across the face. George jumps to his feet, his right hand on his pistol.

GEORGE
Put your hands where I can see them.

SASHA
Serves him right.

GEORGE
Not him, Sasha, you. Mr. Tibault, this woman assaulted you in full view of a police officer, an officer of the court, and several attorneys. Would you like to file a report?

Michael is rubbing his face where he was slapped. Ronald leans in and whispers in his ear.

MICHAEL
Under the advice of my attorneys, yes I would.

SASHA
What?

GEORGE
Sasha Tibault, consider yourself under arrest. You have the right to remain silent, anything you do or say may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as I have explained them to you?

Sasha rolls her eyes.

SASHA
Whatever.

GEORGE
I don’t think you understand the seriousness of this or what you did.

George pulls out his cell phone and makes a quick call.

GEORGE
Cappy, it’s George. I need a black and white down at the McGregor Building, Suite 3402. Got a 242. Domestic. Yes, during a settlement hearing. Perpetrator is Sasha Tibault. Thanks.

George hangs up the phone. Ronald gets up and walks to the edge of the room. His attorneys walk with him. Sasha doesn’t believe what’s happening.

GEORGE
I would like to ask everyone to stay here and give me a statement. Uniformed officers are on their way as well.

Sasha gets up and goes to walk out. George steps between her and the door.

SASHA
This is bullshit, let me go!

GEORGE
I’m giving you one last warning. Stop and sit down. Right now you’re looking at a misdemeanor for slapping your husband. Try to leave, try to push your way past me, that’s resisting arrest and assaulting a peace officer. You go from a small fine and community service to jail time with a felony on your record. Don’t give me an excuse to enjoy this. See where my right hand is at?

Sasha looks at George’s hand. It’s resting on his pistol.

SASHA
Think you scare me, trying to threaten me?

GEORGE
I’m telling you that I will use force to stop you from leaving this room. That goes up to and including shooting your ass. Now, sit down and shut up.

Edith clears her throat.

EDITH
Mrs. Tibault, I would seriously recommend listening to the police officer right now.

LISA
I’ve seen George work, and he’s right. You have good attorneys over there, they’ll keep you out of jail if you sit down. Lay a hand on him, he won’t be nice about it.

STACY
Do it, bitch! Test the cop who hates your guts.

LISA
Stacy!

STACY
I want to see him bust her fucking head open.

LISA
Seriously, not cool right now.

GEORGE
What’s it gonna be? Do cooler heads prevail, or does Stacy get to watch me bust your head open?

Sasha steps back and walks to her seat. Michael is talking to James in the corner of the room.

MICHAEL
Do you handle divorces?

JAMES
No, but I have someone I can recommend.

A moment later, two police officers arrive at the conference room doorway. They walk inside. Everyone meanders for a moment as George describes the situation to the uniformed cops and statements are taken.

GEORGE (V.O.)
Jen’s dad filed for divorce shortly thereafter. It was easier for him with an assault case against Sasha. She’d been beating him for a while, but this time she lost her cool and did it in front of a cop, a judge, and four lawyers. She still ended up with a nice alimony but they split the house proceeds. I’m not sure whatever happened to her but last I heard her kids and step-kids don’t talk to her much anymore. As for Michael, he saw Stacy and Jen in a whole new light after that. It’s not like they became best friends, but they did soften towards each other. Stacy gained a Father in Law that day. They still talk on and off. Lisa still does her rotation of being a U.S. Attorney for a few years, then goes back to private practice. Right now she’s back putting bad guys in jail, and Diana helps her do it.

INT. GEORGE'S DINING ROOM - NIGHT
George wobbly sits at his table. Looking around, he’s not the only one who’s feeling the effects.

GEORGE
So, there’s my story. That’s how I helped take down the most corrupt church and the largest child sex trafficking ring in America. You wanted a good story, I hope that was good enough. Any questions?

DEREK
Yeah. You said this fucked up your chances at the FBI? Seems like this should’ve helped.

George points and nods.

GEORGE
You’d think so, but remember their background check process. It takes all of 5 seconds to see that Chuck is a part of the family, and they dig into EVERYONE’s past. How long would it take before they suspect him of putting a certain someone in a certain piece of industrial equipment? Kinda hard to pass the background check when your brother-in-law put some fuckers in a woodchipper.

CHUCK
Allegedly.

GEORGE
Allegedly put some fuckers in a woodchipper.

CARLY
Did all of that happen?

GEORGE
Google it. I’ll wait.

Carly fumbles with her phone for a moment.

SERENA
Any regrets?

GEORGE
Some. Almost all are about Jen, but I would’ve liked to see a few more people face justice instead of Bob and his boys taking them out. Still, those fuckers did help.

SERENA
How?

GEORGE
When news got around about people running and dying horrible deaths, it made prison look a lot better. I don’t have to work as hard when a perp is worried about being buried alive or burned to a crisp or chopped into pieces or having their dick cut off and shoved up their ass.

XAVIER
(shouting)
You said you thought there was a bigger case than this in what we’re working on?

GEORGE
I dunno, maybe. Probably not in terms of press coverage or book deals or craziness of the crimes, but sheer scope and coordination. Think about it. Some group, some club, is out there organizing a bunch of rapes and have been doing so for over a decade, if not longer. They’re smart, organized, careful. The only links they have to the victims are second or third hand connections. It breaks all the rules on how most victims know their attackers. They do this to keep from getting caught. The common denominator in the attacks are that they video everything. If the 10:1 rule is right, they’re pulling off 20-30 attacks per year. 30 rapes a year over a decade or two. And they’ve done this under our noses for so long...

Xavier’s eyes open as far as they can with as drunk as he is.

XAVIER
(shouting)
They know! They know how we work!

GEORGE
What?

DEREK
Wait, you think cops are in that club you’re talking about?

GEORGE
Slow down, what?

XAVIER
(shouting)
Maybe not cops, but close to cops. They know our procedures, how we run, what we look for. If not a cop or two, at least cop adjacent. Family members, work in PD’s, cop nerds. Something.

CARLY
And if they know how screwed up Chester County is with all the different departments-

DEREK
Then they can ration out where they take place, who their victims are.

CHUCK
Focus on areas where cops don’t go, don’t play nice, or don’t give a fuck.

DEREK
Exactly.

ANGIE
What are you talking about?

DEREK
It’s a case X and George are working on.

CARLY
We probably shouldn’t say too much more.

ANGIE
Please, did you not hear the story he just told?

CARLY
Good point. They’re working on a case that they think is an organized rape club. Members offer victims for other people to rape under trades or offers or something. Main rule is everyone records the attacks. It seems like they’re all random.

XAVIER
(shouting)
But that’s because the attackers don’t know the victims.

GEORGE
Strangers on a train.

ANGIE
Haven’t seen it.

XAVIER
(shouting)
Throw Momma From the Train. But for rape.

ANGIE
Wow. And you think that it’s cops?

GEORGE
Not only, but he brings up a good point. You don’t stay underground this long without knowing how cops work. Could be a former cop, someone on the force right now, someone works with them, has a family member that’s a cop. They might just be a fan or a bartender at a cop bar for all we know. But it gives us an insight.

ANGIE
How so?

GEORGE
Narrows it down by a couple million.

CHUCK
You have no clue how many people are in this club, do you?

GEORGE
Not a clue.

DEREK
Figure 30 attacks per year, nothing linking the victims, minimum is 10 members but more likely it’s well over 50 or even 100.

George tries to focus on Derek.

GEORGE
How you get there?

DEREK
Well-

CARLY
If it were less than 10, that means each attacker is raping one woman at least every 3 months. That would be enough to form a pattern that we can trace. Eventually we would see two or more victims with something in common, like going to the same school, hanging out at the same bar, having friends or coworkers in common. We’d figure out pretty soon what that link was and bring them in. With a minimum of 10, that’s no more than 1 attack for each member every 4 months, but my hunch is it’s more. A lot more.

DEREK
Like 50 to 100.

CARLY
At least. If this club’s been going on as long as they say, well over a hundred. The rarity makes it their defense.

GEORGE
Explain.

Carly takes a drink.

CARLY
How many women are you close enough that you could set them up for an attack like the ones you’ve investigated? How many women do you have a key to their house, their alarm codes, know their schedules and their spouses schedules? I’m going to guess not many.

GEORGE
Probably 2. Liz and Angie. 3 if I hang out with X a little longer.

CARLY
That’s going to be pretty common among most men. You’ll have a handful of potential victims. Unless you’re in some position to do more research or find out more or do something shady, you have a very low supply.

CHUCK
So do most of these club members.

CARLY
Exactly! And they can’t keep going back to the well. Once they use one woman, she’s burnt. They’re playing a dangerous game hoping she doesn’t go to the cops, but a second or third or fourth home invasion, she’s calling the cops and packing heat at all times.

CHUCK
So unless you’ve got some shady fuck that owns an apartment building or bartends or is in some public job or some HR shit, they’re going to run out of options quick.

CARLY
Exactly!

GEORGE
Wait, what did you say?

CHUCK
About shady people?

GEORGE
Yeah, apartments.

CHUCK
I’m thinking where do you have high turnover of where young women live and hang out? I’m assuming young women are the victims. Not sure who’s setting up Granny to get raped, but there are some sick fucks out there.

XAVIER
(shouting)
Yeah. Young, good looking. Makes sense if they’re trading. Who’s giving up a 3 for a 9?

CHUCK
If they’re trading women, they have to be in the same ballpark. I mean, who’s gonna risk jail time for a butterface?

XAVIER
(shouting)
And Collegetown is full of young women that move constantly in and out of shitty apartments, go to bars, go to classes, all of it.

GEORGE
That doesn’t explain all the victims.

XAVIER
(shouting)
But it does fill the gaps on a couple of the files. A couple of those cases, P.O.I’s were a teacher and a bartender. And don’t Collegetown have some shitty cops there, too?

GEORGE
The shittiest. I’ve trampled on more than a few toes.

CARLY
So there’s a good chance that at least one member of the club is a slumlord in Collegetown.

GEORGE
Wouldn’t surprise me. I’ve seen those rents they charge, they’ve been raping those students for years.

ANGIE
Dude!

GEORGE
What?

DEREK
What’s the plan?

GEORGE
The plan?

DEREK
Yeah.

GEORGE
Tonight, drink. Tomorrow, hangovers. Monday, we talk to Cappy about looking into who owns the various apartments in Collegetown. See if anything else has popped up, and figure out next steps from there. Maybe an undercover thing, I don’t know. Carly, you’re college aged. You’d fit in a lot easier than X or me.

CARLY
You only fit if you’re pretending to be my dad.

XAVIER
(shouting)
What about me?

CARLY
I guess you’re my other dad. He had a midlife crisis and instead of getting a sports car, he turned gay.

CHUCK
I didn’t know you drove a Miata.

George laughs.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Don't you want to stick around until after the credits?

[LtBroccoli]

Chapter Tags: Nosex, setup
Content Warnings: After Credit scene
-------------------------------------------------------------

This takes place after Lake Hiawatha but before Chapter 39 of Pharma
-------------------------------------------------------------

AFTER CREDITS SCENE
INT. SUBURBAN FRONT YARDS - DAY
In a different part of town in an upper middle class neighborhood, a Bichon Frise puppy runs around the yard. A woman in her early 40’s watches the dog run. She stands at 5’2”, has a curvy figure, an ample bosom, and dark brown hair cut in a Karen. Her name is MARI. She wears a pair of white tennis shoes, a pair of yoga pants, and a gray workout shirt covering a sports bra. She’s bent over, clapping for the dog.

MARI
Come on, Pippen.

The dog runs to her. She picks up the little white fluffball and carries him inside.

INT. MARI’S HOUSE - DAY
Mari carries the dog inside and closes the door behind her. A tween boy plays on a tablet on a couch in the living room.

Mari walks through the house, down the stairs and into the basement. She passes by the family room. A girl about 7 years old was playing with Barbie’s while a 5 year old boy watched a Pixar movie about talking toys. She passes the kids and approaches a door. She knocks on it.

MARI
You in there?

Footsteps are barely heard and followed by a pair of door locks being undone. The door opens and Mari enters.

INT. HOME OFFICE - DAY
Inside the home office, Mari closes the door behind her. She locks both the door handle lock and the chain lock. A man walks across the office and sits down behind a desk. A pair of large monitors sat on the desk as he slid into the seat. This is JOE, Mari’s husband. He’s 5’7” with dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, and a widow’s peak hairline. Joe wears a pair of gym shorts and a black zip-up hoodie.

MARI
You get my mail?

JOE
Pretty. What do you know about her?

MARI
She’s one of my clients at work. We’re pretty close as far as work goes, but...

JOE
You hate her?

MARI
She’s just so...It’s like she’s perfect without trying, and she’s always pointing out every little mistake we make.

JOE
Sounds like she needs knocked down a peg or two?

MARI
Yeah. You know, that thing we talked about-

JOE
Not right away. I want to be there, make sure everything’s safe. Unless you want someone I pick.

MARI
Yeah, no thanks. I’d rather not do that with Sam.

JOE
What if he’s part of a package deal?

MARI
What is this, like a 2 for 1 coupon?

Joe navigates to the file Mari sent him. He pulls it up on screen.

JOE
She’s cute.

Mari gives him a dirty look.

JOE
What? I’m just saying she’s good looking. Should get a nice trade in respond.

MARI
I know. I’d love to see you make her scream, but I guess those are the rules.

JOE
You got everything?

MARI
Think so. Address, schedule, when she goes out by herself. Didn’t have an alarm, said her husband has some guns.

JOE
What about the neighbors?

MARI
I drove past once a while back. It’s a quiet street, only a handful of houses.

JOE
Okay then. Let’s make an offer.

Mari strokes Joe’s shoulders as he finishes his work on the Club’s website. He’s uploading an offer. The picture he attaches to the file is of Mari’s client...

Angie Hartman.


-------------------------------------------------------------

The story continues in VETO

[Shocker]

So I already knew about Pedro vetoing the offer of Angie, still curious to see where this goes.

Also in your last case you started to give George the break in the case against the club. Adam will soon be in serious trouble, after Sam of course.

Overall this story was excellent, despite the format. Rather gory towards the end, and I rated the last chapter 0, killing toddlers for shock value is something I can’t stomach.

[LtBroccoli]

So I already knew about Pedro vetoing the offer of Angie, still curious to see where this goes.

Also in your last case you started to give George the break in the case against the club. Adam will soon be in serious trouble, after Sam of course.

Overall this story was excellent, despite the format. Rather gory towards the end, and I rated the last chapter 0, killing toddlers for shock value is something I can’t stomach.

Thanks. Veto is the next story up. It's also a screenplay but is a lot shorter. It explains why that happens the way it happens. After that is just getting caught up on Pharma, Sam and Bubbles's story, and a special one that I didn't write most of it but I did the last quarter for a contest.