Have Blonde, Will Travel

Happy Friday, crime slicksters. It's time once again to take a trip to the dark side, where the girls are hot, the drinks are cold, and the hardboiled-pulp-noir action is non-stop, right here, at the coolest crime joint in cyberspace ... at That Killing Feeling.

In Chapter 6 of RIGGEWAY, Cate and her dog Bobby say goodbye to the beach in Marina Del Rey, then pile into her car and head off to their new home in the Ozark Mountains, but then get stuck in a typical LA traffic jam ...


EXT. MARINA DEL REY JETTY - EARLY MORNING
Gorgeous sunrise over the ocean.
Seagulls and pelicans fly the beautiful skies.

A hundred-yard cement walkway with a chrome railing
juts past the shoreline out into the sea.

Cate stands at the end with Bobby.
Looks at the coastline, deep in thought.

This is the last time she’ll
see this view in a long time.
Almost surprised she feels nothing.

CATE
Ready?

Bobby looks at her. Pants happily.
They start walking back.

INT. CATE’S GARAGE - EARLY MORNING
Cate walks to her car.
We see the back seat is filled to the brim.

She opens the passenger-side door.
Bobby jumps in.

INT. CATE’S CAR - MOVING - CONTINUOUS
Out the window, we see the canal,
lined with airbrushed McMansions.
Cate shoves a cassette into the stereo.

ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
(electronic)
Regent Audio Books presents
‘Have Blonde, Will Travel,’
by Carrie Love, read by Friday Foster.

Cate smiles. Cracks the window.
Grabs a smoke. Fires it up.

FRIDAY FOSTER (V.O.)
The body was lying on the
bathroom floor in a pool of blood,
a pair of scissors sticking
out of it’s neck --

EXT. WASHINGTON BOULEVARD - DAY
One of LA’s patented traffic clusterfucks.
Cate’s car is stuck in a motionless
sea of SUV’s, Beamers and Benzes.

IN THE CAR
Cate sighs. She was anxious to
get the hell out of Dodge,
but now has to wait for
the wagons to start moving.

IN MONTAGE:
Cate’s red Toyota on the Ten Freeway
heading east. Passing downtown LA.
Then East LA. Then scrub brush in the desert.

EXT. REST STOP - DAY
A cement block in the middle of nowhere.
Hundred-degree heat shimmers off the pavement.

Cate pulls in and parks. Gets out.
The scorching blast punches her in the gut.

CATE
Holy shit.

She lets Bobby out.
Takes him to a nearby spigot.

Fills his bowl with water.
Watches him hungrily lap it up.

Looks around at the desolate landscape.
Miles and miles of nothing.
She could be on Mars.

CATE
What the fuck have I done?