The Missing

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In Chapter 9 of THE INVISIBLE GIRL, after reporting his daughter Bettie's disappearance, Bernard gets interviewed by officer Lane Diamond, who has a hard time believing she's become invisible ...


INT. BETTIE’S HOUSE - FOYER - EARLY EVENING
Bernard goes to front door. Opens it.
Standing in the doorway is a
FEMALE POLICE OFFICER IN UNIFORM.

BERNARD
You got here fast.
Thanks for coming.

FEMALE POLICE OFFICER
Slow news day.

Meet LANE DIAMOND (20’s). Very pretty.
A little on the zaftig side,
with dangerous curves.
Dark hair tied back in a ponytail.
Dazzling eyes, with a hint of a smirk.

BERNARD
Please come in.

LANE
(nods)
Officer Diamond, at your service.

He gestures toward the living room.
They start walking.

BERNARD
You don’t have a partner?

LANE
They make the rookies do the shit --
(beat)
Uh, we’re a bit understaffed.
Budget cuts, you know.

Bernard sits down on the couch.
Lane sits in a chair across from him.
Takes out a notebook and pen.

BERNARD
Not to worry.
You should hear the salty exchanges
between scientists at our
little get-togethers --
the F-word goes FLYING about
the room like an unstable proton.
(off her look)
I’m sorry. I’m a bit stressed out.
My daughter has disappeared. Literally.

LANE
What do you mean literally?

BERNARD
They didn’t TELL you?
(sighs)
Well, you see -- I’ve been
working on a formula that
refragments subatomic particles
so that the atoms are cloaked
in a sub-setted spatial plane
apart from ours --

LANE
In English, please?

BERNARD
Right. Sorry.
(beat)
When ingested, it makes one
invisible to the naked eye.
They’re still there,
but you can’t see them.

Lane stares at him.
Nods her head slowly. Okay.

LANE
I see.

BERNARD
You don’t believe me.

LANE
(carefully)
You realize this sounds
a bit -- far-fetched.

BERNARD
I realize how ridiculous
this must sound to a lay person,
but this is historic research,
officer, I promise you.
(off her look)
I left the formula here at home
rather than at the lab because
I was afraid someone would steal it.
Believe it or not, scientists
can be QUITE ruthless.

LANE
Go on --

BERNARD
Well, I poured it into
something innocuous -- a soda bottle,
to be precise, and I put
it in the refrigerator.
When I went to test the formula
on a lab animal today, I realized
I brought the wrong bottle,
and came home to fetch it.
(tears in his eyes)
And when I got here,
I found the bottle,
and it was empty.
My daughter drank it by mistake --
and now she’s GONE.

LANE
I see.

BERNARD
Look. I don’t care if you
believe me or not about the formula.
That’s not the point.
My daughter has run away,
and I need you to FIND her.
She’s all I’ve got left.
After her mother died, we both --
take care of each other.

LANE
Is there any other reason
she might have run away?

BERNARD
She told me this morning
she was being cyber-bullied.
Perhaps I wasn’t -- sympathetic enough.

LANE
Do you have any idea
where she could have gone?

BERNARD
I haven’t a clue.

LANE
A relative perhaps?

BERNARD
I’m afraid not.
(beat)
Oh, wait. Her best friend
lives right down the street.
Lonny Schmerzler.
Maybe he might know
where she went.

Lane scribbles a note
in her book. Gets up.

LANE
Thank you very much, Mr. Bee.
We’ll get right on it tomorrow.

BERNARD
Tomorrow? I don’t understand.

LANE
I’m sorry, we can’t pursue
a missing persons report
for twenty-four hours.

BERNARD
Oh, dear.

LANE
Cheer up. Who knows. Maybe
she’ll come home later tonight.

BERNARD
I highly doubt that.

LANE
Why do you say that?

BERNARD
Well, now that she’s invisible,
I’m afraid she might want to
get some sort of revenge
against the bullies.

LANE
(smiles)
Let’s not get carried away
with ourselves just yet.

PUSH IN ON Bernard’s face.
Raising an eyebrow.

BERNARD
My dear, you don’t know Bettie --