A Place in the Sun

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 15 of A DISH BEST KILLED, B-movie starlet Haven Crayce puts in motion a series of events that will kill her elderly, retired film director husband Dart. Meanwhile, her illicit lesbian lover Jett Targo waits for the inevitable at home ... until Haven shows up and tells her something has gone horribly wrong ...


INT. CRAYCE HOUSEBOAT - MASTER BEDROOM - AT THAT MOMENT
Haven threads a film into the projector.
Dart watches from his bed.
He bites into a small cookie, chews.

DART
A Place in the Sun.
Haven’t seen that picture in years.
(weird smile)
That Liz Taylor -- she was a pip.
A real pip.

HAVEN
Liz Taylor? Isn’t she a little -- big?

DART
My god, are you dense.
When Liz Taylor was
young, in her prime,
she was the most
beautiful woman in Hollywood.

He reaches over to the bedside table.
Grabs another cookie.

HAVEN
(sees this)
That’s your last cookie, Dart.
We don’t want your sugar spiking.

She finishes with the projector.
Pulls a packet of batteries
out of her pocket.

We see the package
has been taped closed.

HAVEN (CONT’D)
Okay. Time to change
the battery on your pump.

DART
Again? So soon?

HAVEN
Silly boy.
You know we change
the battery every Sunday.
And with all the excitement
about your coming home,
I forgot this morning.

Haven goes to Dart,
pulls up his night shirt.

An INSULIN PUMP hangs on the
waistband of his pajama bottoms.

As Haven changes the battery,
Dart grabs another cookie. Hides it.

HAVEN (CONT’D)
(CLICKS it in place)
Okay, that -- does it.
(arranges his shirt)
And now it’s show time.

DART
(wistfully)
A Place in the Sun --

Haven shuts off the lights.
Starts the projector.

Gets her cocktail from
the bedside table. Sits.

ON THE SCREEN
we see the film start.
n glorious black and white.

EXT. JETT’S APARTMENT - BALCONY - NIGHT
Lit by a gas lamp.
Jett sits at a small cafe
table with a laptop.

A half-dozen empty beer
bottles litter the surface.

She lights a smoke.
Looks intently at the screen.

ON THE SCREEN
we see a scene from
THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE.

LANA TURNER, resplendent in a
white one-piece bathing suit,
sashays down the stairs.
Stops. James Garfield leers.

JAMES GARFIELD (V.O.)
With my brains and your looks,
we could really go places --

JETT
looks at her wistfully.
Takes a pull from her longneck.

JETT
I’ll have to get Haven one of those.

Her cell phone BRING-RINGS.
She picks it up.

JETT (CONT’D)
This is Jett.

HAVEN (V.O.)
It’s me.

JETT
Hello, you. What’s up?

HAVEN (V.O.)
I need to see you.

JETT
But I thought --

HAVEN (V.O.)
It’s an emergency. Dart, he --
(beat)
I’m right outside. Can I come up?

Jett looks, sees --

HAVEN
standing in the driveway down below.
With Buster on a leash.

Small and scared-looking.
She waves, a hopeful half-smile.

JETT
My place is a mess.
I’ll be right down --