Dreams Die Hard

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 the final chapter of SPIRAL, things come full circle when Cathy and Andy drive down Sunset Boulevard and see a motorcycle jacket with Savannah's face on it ... and then a homeless person digging through the trash ... who turns out to be Dex ...


EXT. SUNSET BOULEVARD - MAGIC
Super: "One year later."

It's dusk on the strip.
The setting sun flashes off the buildings,
the billboards, the expensive convertibles
with their cell phone drivers.

A 62' silver Porsche with the top down
cruises past the Mondrian hotel
just as huge Kleig lights FLASH on.

INT. CATHY'S PORSCHE - MAGIC
The car stereo plays cool surf-spy music.

CATHY
Must be a premiere party.

ANDY
It's for Independence Day, I think.

CATHY
I bet they spent more on the caterer
than they did on the screenplay.

The car stops at the next light.

ANDY
Did you bring the police report with you?

Cathy points to the back seat.

CATHY
Yeah, its in the sniper case.

Andy leans back and GRABS the
big aluminum attache with an OOF.

ANDY
Jesus, what you got in here?

CATHY
Hey, I'm a chick.
It matches the car.

He CLICKS it open and
pulls out a file folder.

ANDY
Why reopen the case?
After all this time, what do
they think they're gonna find?

A beat. He scans the papers.

CATHY
I was thinking about something
on the way over.

ANDY
What?

CATHY
The doctors pulled the plug
on Shannon at eleven AM.

He looks up.

ANDY
Yeah, so?

CATHY
Well, didn't you tell me that Dex
called you at Playboy around 9:30?

ANDY
Yeah, but what does that...

A beat. Andy realizes what Cathy is suggesting.
The car stops at a light.

EXT. SUNSET BOULEVARD INTERSECTION - HOLLYWOOD - NIGHT
A bit further east into Hollywood.
Billboards have been replaced with
fast food shacks, pawn shops, guitar joints.

A HOMELESS PERSON dumps over
a trash can with a CRASH.

CATHY
I mean, how would he have known?
She'd fired him, they weren't speaking.

A motorcycle ROARS to a stop alongside the Porche,
then drifts a few feet ahead.

The rider's black leather biker jacket has a
big, beautiful, air-brushed picture of
SAVANNAH sprayed on the back of it.

She looks GORGEOUS, beaming, dazzling.

ANDY
Shit! Look!

CATHY
Oh my god!

Andy leans out the window
and YELLS at the rider.

ANDY
Hey! Where did you get that-

EXT. CLOSEUP OF STOPLIGHT - NIGHT
The light changes from red to green.

INT. CAR - NIGHT
The Harley takes off with a ROAR,
drowning Andy out.
Cathy PUNCHES the gas.

EXT. STREET CORNER - NIGHT
Trash everywhere. The homeless person
looks up at the commotion.

CLOSE UP OF HOMELESS PERSON.
It's Dex.

The camera FREEZES.

SMASH CUT TO:
BLACK.

ANDY (V.O.)
The fame, the glamor, the glitz,
it was all I ever wanted.
All I ever dreamed about.
Sometimes you find out that
what you thought you wanted,
what you thought was gonna make you happy,
what was gonna fill that hole in your heart...
turns out to be shit. Fake. Fucked up.
And fucking lethal. Dreams die hard.
(beat)
At least I didn't.
INT. BATHROOM / MIRROR P.O.V. - NIGHT
A BLAST of POUNDING, urgent female-driven technopop.

Shannon, Andy and Dex sit on their bar stools.
Tons of candles flicker.

The counter's jammed with
drug paraphernalia, cocktails.

Shannon's hair is up in a pony tail.
Dex wears Shannon's pink feather boa.
Andy has on her sequined biker cap.

Shannon BLOWS out a big hit of freebase
into the mirror and ROARS.

Dex CLAPS excitedly.
Andy SALUTES.
He raises his glass in a toast.

Shannon and Dex lift their cocktails,
and they CLINK.

FADE OUT.