45 Caliber

I don't like Mondays. Not because that stupid song. Or because of having to go back to work, because I toil away right here, in my cyber-spider web of crime. It means the end of the weekend, and now it's back to murder, mayhem, unspeakable criminal acts of ... oh. Wait a minute. Mondays aren't so bad after all ..

Screened an amazing film last night, FROZEN RIVER. What a movie. Melisso Leo is INCREDIBLE as a white trash woman living on an Indian reservation near the New York/Canadian border, who, after her husband leaves her to go gambling -- with the money they've been saving to buy a new 'double wide' trailer -- resorts to smuggling illegal aliens over the border -- across, you guessed it -- a frozen river. To say anything more about the plot would spoil it, so I'm gonna shut up. A great, surprising thriller shot with no money (it looks terrible, but that doesn't matter) that unfolds in surprising, and eventually, satisfying ways. If it sounds dull, it's not. Pitch-perfect acting, locations and grungy art direction. SEE THIS FILM.

Time for today's joint from WILSHIRE BOULEVARD. It's a shortie, but a goodie. (The next sequence will be up tomorrow, and can't be split apart.) Homicide chief Larry Lipshitz, and detectives Bernie Keko and Aya Meir learn the identity of the Roland Yavo's shooter, based on the balistics report ... and it's none other than our heroine, Carrie Love. Oh, the horror ...


INT. SANTA MONICA POLICE HEADQUARTERS - LATE AFTERNOON
Bernie and Aya sit at their desks. Facing each other.
Aya is eating a vegetarian wrap. Sips from a bottle of water.
Bernie, a cheeseburger and fries. And a super-sized coke.

AYA
(looks at his food)
They say you are what you eat --

BERNIE
Then what are you, a vegetable?
That’s funny, you can move.

AYA
THIS is healthy --
(points)
THAT is dead animal flesh,
served with sugar and salt and grease.

Bernie takes a big bite. Smiles wolfishly.

BERNIE
I know. And it’s so fucking GOOD.
GRRRRRR.

MALE VOICE (O.C.)
I’m glad to see you two are playing nicely.

In walks Lipshitz. Scratching his belly.

LIPSHITZ
What’s the scoop?
Did you talk to Flender’s widow?

BERNIE
Yeah. Cold fish, that one.
Said she’d already given her statement.

LIPSHITZ
Do you think the murders are connected?

BERNIE
I’m not sure. Maybe.

AYA
Definitely not.

Bernie and Lipshitz exchange glances.

LIPSHITZ
(to Bernie)
You have anything new?

BERNIE
Thought you’d never ask.
We’ve placed Carrie Love at the scene
of Yavo’s murder at the time of death.

LIPSHITZ
But do you really think --

BERNIE
I don’t know what to think.
Maybe, if she was on a tear --

AYA
You’re being ridiculous.
There’s no way Carrie Love killed Yavo.
It doesn’t make any sense.

BERNIE
Murder NEVER makes sense, doll.
(to Lipshitz)
There’s some connection though --
she’s hired by one guy’s wife to find him,
and then is seen where the other guy gets it.
Too big of a coincidence.

AYA
She’s a DETECTIVE.
She was following LEADS.

RASPY MALE VOICE (O.C.)
With a rather exotic form of ammunition,
it would appear.

Muller appears. Holding a ballistics report.
He reads --

MULLER
Flender was shot with 45-caliber dum-dum hollow points --

He smiles. Preening. In the spotlight.

LIPSHITZ
Come on, Muller -- out with it.

MULLER
Fired from a gun registered to --

Muller looks up from the report.
Smiles grimly.

LIPSHITZ
MULLER.

MULLER
Ms. -- Carrie Love.

BERNIE
Shit.

LIPSHITZ
Fuck.

AYA
No.

They exchange glances.
Realizing the implications.

LIPSHITZ
Guess you're gonna have to bring her in.

BERNIE
Let me call her first. I know how to handle her.

AYA
Oh, yeah. That's obvious.
(beat)
Get divorced much?