Law & Disorder

Hey there, crime kids. Happy Hump Day. 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 22 of THE INVISIBLE GIRL, homicide detective Hart Klavan meets rookie cop Lane Diamond at the crime scene, and more than sparks fly when Lanes fills him in on hunt for the invisible Bettie Bee ...

EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - NIGHT
The spot where Drake’s car
is parked is now a CRIME SCENE.

A crew of CRIME TECHS work the area.
Taking pictures, gathering evidence.
Doing all that CSI shit.

Drake’s body bag is placed on a gurney.
A PLAINCLOTHES HOMICIDE DETECTIVE (40’s)
lights a smoke. Watches.

PLAINCLOTHES HOMICIDE DETECTIVE
(shakes his head, to himself)
Just a young kid --

Meet HART KLAVAN, built like a linebacker.
Now a bit soft from working the suburban beat.

But still the best homicide dick
in this sleepy berg.
Not to mention the only one.

Lane Diamond’s patrol car
pulls up the curb.

She gets out. Walks over to him.
He eyes her appraisingly.

HART
Officer.

LANE
Detective.

He takes a deep drag on his smoke.
Shakes his head sadly.

HART
Kid was seventeen.
(sighs)
Haven’t had a shooting here
in five years.

LANE
Any prints, physical evidence?

HART
Nothing. Totally clean.
Like it was a professional
hit or something.
(takes a drag)
But why would someone
whack a high school kid?

LANE
There’ve been a few incidents
involving the students there.
I think it might be connected.

HART
Oh, really --
(beat)
You’ve been on the beat,
what -- a week now?

LANE
(bristling)
A high school girl ran away
from home after being cyber-bullied.
The next day, a kid got
glued to his toilet seat,
a video of it got posted on the Internet,
and he killed himself that evening --

HART
But how is that --

LANE
The next day a girl got tarred
and feathered in the school cafeteria.
Tarred and feathered.
(beat)
And now this.

HART
And you think this is what --
some kind of revenge thing?

LANE
Yeah.
(beat)
I know this is going to sound crazy,
but the missing girl’s
father is a scientist,
and he told me she drank
this formula he was working on --

HART
A 'formula' --

LANE
Which made her invisible.
(off his stare)
I know it sounds crazy.

HART
Tell you what. I’m gonna grab
a cup of coffee before I
go back to the station
and file my report.
Why don’t you come join me,
tell me all about it.

Pause.

LANE
You don’t believe me.

HART
Hell, no. But I could use
a good laugh about now.

LANE
Listen, detective -- the chief put me
in charge of finding the missing girl.

HART
You married? Got a boyfriend?

LANE
Sorry, big fella. Not into guys.

HART
Feisty, aren’t you?

LANE
Fuck you.

HART
You ever let a guy -- watch?

LANE
You really are an asshole,
you know that?

HART
Settle down.
Just busting your chops.
We give all the rookies
a hard time. Builds character.
(off her look)
I’m actually a big science fiction buff.
Follow me in your car
to the House of Donuts.
I wanna hear all about it.
Seriously.

LANE
Really?

HART
Yeah. Chill out.
My daughter’s gay. We’re cool.

PUSH IN ON Lane’s face.
Pleasantly surprised.

LANE
Is she single?