Dazed & Confused

Hey there, crime kids. Happy Friday. It's time once again to take a trip to the dark side, where your most violent fantasies become sins of the flesh, right here, where the hardboiled action is non-stop, at the coolest crime joint in cyberspace ... at That Killing Feeling.

In Chapter 17 of WILSHIRE BOULEVARD, private eye Carrie Love picks up the pieces after losing her home in a fire with a little help from B-movie queen Landon Hall. Meanwhile, shitty TV movie producer Roland Yavo calls his transgendered daughter Nikki and disowns her because she appeared in a porno ...


EXT. MUNICIPAL BUILDING - PARKING LOT - NIGHT
Landon and Jenny sit in Carrie’s Olds.
Landon, behind the wheel.

Jenny, in the back seat.
Shivering in short sleeves.

Carrie comes up to the passenger side.
Dazed. Lost.

CARRIE
(softly)
Landon.

LANDON
Carrie.
Are you okay?

CARRIE
I’ll live.
(sees Jenny)
You came, too?

JENNY
(blushes)
I -- don’t have a ride.
(shy)
And I wanted to see
if you were okay.

CARRIE
Thanks, guys --

She walks around the car.
Gets in beside Landon. Stares.

LANDON
Let’s go get you cleaned up.

CARRIE
(fighting tears)
That would be -- nice.

LANDON
(looks at her watch)
We’ve got just enough time
before I have to leave
for the airport.

CARRIE
You’re -- leaving, too?

LANDON
Didn’t I tell you?
I got a part in the
new Scorcese flick.
(big smile)
‘Sleazy B-movie actress No. 2.’

PUSH IN ON Carrie.
Weak smile.

CARRIE
Glad to see you weren’t -- typecast.

EXT. OCEAN AVENUE - AT THAT MOMENT
A riot of red, orange and yellow
smears the sky above crashing waves.
Wind WHIPS through the fifty-foot palms.

A sleek, black Lexus coupe
ROARS down the coastal boulevard.

INT. YAVO’S LEXUS - MOVING - CONTINUOUS
Yavo DOWNSHIFTS at a yellow light
at the Malibu Canyon pass.

Stops at the red.
Shouts into his hands-free cell.

YAVO
I got a call from your DIRECTOR.

SPLIT SCREEN WITH:

INT./EXT. NIKKI’S JAGUAR - MOVING - CONTINUOUS
Nikki’s stuck in traffic on the 405.
Puffs fiercely on an
ultra-long, thin cigarette.
Cell phone clamped to her ear.

NIKKI
My d-director?

YAVO
Yeah -- the sleazebag that shot
the tranny porno you STARRED in.

NIKKI
Listen, I can explain --
it’s a student film, it’s --

YAVO
Shut the FUCK up and LISTEN.
The creep set up a MEETING
with me using YOU as bait,
now he’s trying to BLACKMAIL me!


NIKKI
But, but --
YAVO
No BUTS -- except maybe YOURS.
This freak show of yours
has crossed over into my BUSINESS.

THE LIGHT
changes to green.
Yavo STEPS ON IT.

YAVO
I’ve HAD IT with you.
outta my house, outta my will,
and I’m NOT paying for college.
You’re ON YOUR OWN, Nancy-boy.

NIKKI
No, please -- let me EXPLAIN.

YAVO
I told you to
SHUT THE FUCK UP.
You are DEAD to me.

He GROWLS.
RIPS the cell off his ear.

FLINGS IT into the
dashboard with a CRACK.