A Slight Problem

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 25 of SPIRAL, porn star Savannah's stylist Dex gets ripped off by a trick he picked up while they're 'on tour' in New Orleans ... and things turn ugly when she asks him to score the coke she needs to do her act at a strip club and confesses he's broke ...


INT. DEX'S HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT
A young, good-looking CAJUN HUSTLER
lies on the bed wearing shorts.

He smokes a cigarette
and counts his cash.

Dex can be seen standing
in the bathroom taking a leak.
He's naked and perspiring.

CAJUN HUSTLER
It's not this hot all year, though.
It cools off in time for
the Jazz Festival in the fall.

Dex FLUSHES the toilet.
He goes to the sink.

INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT
Dex reaches into the medicine cabinet
and takes out his cocaine bumper
and does a hit.

CLOSE UP OF DEX'S FACE IN MIRROR
He looks like shit.
Pale, bloodshot eyes, dilated pupils.

CAJUN HUSTLER (O.S.)
You okay in there?
I thought you were going to
burst a fuckin' blood vessel,
Jesus Mary, you really get into it.

INT. DEX'S HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT
The hustler is dressed.
He opens Dex's suitcase.

DEX (O.S.)
I'm gonna take a shower
and cool off a bit.
You wanna go again?

INT. LES GIRLS NIGHTCLUB - NIGHT
The club is dark, raunchy, rowdy.
Grinning, leering LOCALS
shout out catcalls.

This is not a tourist spot.

A disco ball with a
few missing mirrors slowly spins,
the light reflected making
the place look like
a scary carnival.

Shannon bumps and grinds
on a tiny stage to
cheesy 80's disco music.

She seems vacant, empty,
her normal 78 RPM down to 33 1/3.

Even wearing the biker outfit,
she looks small, fragile.

TOURIST
Shake it, honey, take it off!

Shannon is oblivious,
off in her own world.

INT. DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT
Dex sits the dressing room
chatting with a STRIPPER,
whose barely 18.

A mirror is laid out
with coke on it.
The stripper does a line.

STRIPPER NO. 1
I'm really an actress...
I'm gonna go to Hollywood
when I've got enough money....
I was on "Cops."
Did you see the one
where they bust the...

Shannon BURSTS into the room,
SLAMMING the door.

STRIPPER NO. 1
See ya.

The stripper leaves for the stage.

SHANNON
Fucking horny deadbeat LOSERS!

Shannon goes to her makeup station,
GRABS her drink, and hungrily DOWNS it.

SHANNON
Two more shows...

She takes out a baggie
and dumps a pile of coke
on the mirror.
Starts savagely CHOPPING it up.

SHANNON
...This shit has been cut
so many times it's SHIT!
We're gonna have to
score some more...

Shannon SNORTS a big fat line.
Then another.

SHANNON
...and don't go back to that
asshole at the hotel.
Find some good stuff, I mean,
this is fucking New Orleans,
for Crissakes.

DEX
Okay.

Dex looks scared, confused.

SHANNON
What are you waiting for?
I gotta go back on soon.
Don't worry, I'll reimburse you.

DEX
There's a, uh, a slight problem.

Shannon lights a cigarette
and regards Dex coolly.

SHANNON
A slight problem?!
What kind of slight
fucking problem.

DEX
I'm kinda, uh...I'm sorta,
uh, kinda tapped out.

SHANNON
You spent all your money? Already?!
We just fucking got here!

DEX
Well, I uh...

SHANNON
Don't tell me!
Another fucking trick! Huh, huh?
That's it, isn't it?

DEX
He uh... stole my wallet.

SHANNON
Fucking loser!
Jesus fucking Christ!

Shannon GRABS her purse and
pulls out a wad of bills,
counts off a couple hundred,
and SHOVES them in Dex's face.

SHANNON
Here, take it, go!
And you better get your ass
back here quick,
or there'll be hell to pay.
(pause)
I need my dancing medicine --