Season 1 Episode 8 Transcript

1. SFX: RUNNING FOOTFALLS ON PAVEMENT (SLOWING)

2. SARA: (HOT ON MIKE) (Out of breath) All right,

which way? (Beat) Which way? Come on! White

car, white car, come on . . . He said it

would be -- there! There! Under the

streetlight!

3. SFX: RUNNING FOOTFALLS ON PAVEMENT

4. SARA: (HOT ON MIKE) (Out of breath) Never thought

I’d be this happy to see an old station

wagon!

5. SFX: RUNNING FOOTFALLS ON PAVEMENT

6. SFX: RUNNING FOOTFALLS ON GRASS

7. SARA: Passenger side --

8. SFX: CAR DOOR OPENS

9. SARA: You?

10. SFX: CAR ENGINE REVS TO LIFE

11. PETRA: Get in!

12. SARA: Petra!

13. PETRA: Get in! Close the door!

SCENE 6 – INT. PETRA’S CAR

14. SFX: CAR DOOR SLAMS

15. SARA: Why are you --

16. PETRA: I’m trying to save your life!

17. SFX: CAR TEARS DOWN THE STREET

18. SARA: I don’t understand.

19. PETRA: You will.

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SCENE 1 – INT. PETRA’S CAR

20. SFX: CAR, ROAD SOUNDS

21. SARA: Never would have pegged you as the station

wagon type, Petra.

22. PETRA: I need something I can haul the discarded

things I find or buy to create my upcycled

pieces.

23. SARA: Yeah, but a beater like this --

24. PETRA: This is a 1986 Mercedes-Benz S123 Wagon --

25. SARA: A Mercedes. That explains it.

26. PETRA: It’s one of the most durable cars in the

world -- people put half a million miles on

these without any major --

27. SARA: I’m not in the market, Petra.

28. PETRA: Whatever.

29. SARA: Look . . . thank you. I-I don’t know what

was going to happen to me.

30. PETRA: I don’t either.

31. SARA: What do you mean you don’t know? (Beat)

You’re not . . . ?

32. PETRA: Not what?

33. SARA: Why were you waiting there for me, then?

34. PETRA: I got a phone call --

35. SARA: A phone call.

36. PETRA: The day after I talked to you, I started

getting phone calls. Someone hiding their

voice, like a crappy stalker movie. Hinting

at things about me, about my past --

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37. SARA: -- about Rufus Knobbe.

38. PETRA: What do you know about it?

39. SARA: About as much as you do. I’ve been getting

the same calls.

40. PETRA: Who is it?

41. SARA: When I got in this car, I thought it was

you.

42. PETRA: Me? Why in God’s name would I want to make

anonymous phone calls and talk about . . .

43. SARA: Talk about Rufus Knobbe?

44. PETRA: This all started because you came back to

Etta.

45. SARA: The calls brought me back to Etta. But

this . . . when this all started was twenty

years ago. (Beat) Well?!?

46. PETRA: What do you want to hear?

47. SARA: I want to hear whatever it is someone just

tried to kill me for!

48. PETRA: Kill you?

49. SARA: Why do you think I came running out of some

stranger’s yard and jumped in a car I had

no idea who was driving?

50. PETRA: The call I got this afternoon, telling me

to go there tonight and wait for you --

51. SARA: This afternoon?

52. PETRA: I was told that you spoke with Rufus. That

I’d want to talk to you afterward. And then

another, about ten minutes ago, saying you

were in danger and I had to get you away.

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53. SARA: (To herself) How does he know . . . ?

54. PETRA: So did you?

55. SARA: Did I what?

56. PETRA: Did you talk to Rufus?

57. SARA: I did.

58. PETRA: How . . . is he?

59. SARA: He’s probably safer in there. And I don’t

mean just from whatever’s going on here

tonight.

60. PETRA: I guess that’s good.

61. SARA: What . . . what is it Rufus might say that

somebody is this afraid of?

62. PETRA: (Quickly) I don’t know.

63. SARA: They tried to kill me over what they were

afraid Rufus might say! C.J. Fischer may

already be dead because of it!

64. PETRA: C.J.?!?

65. SARA: One of the neighbors called the police,

reported a disturbance. C.J. came to the

house, and somebody was there. They broke

in, and . . . whoever it was shot him,

Petra.

66. PETRA: Is he all right?

67. SARA: I don’t know. C.J. shouted at me to go, and

I ran. Found you and your car.

68. PETRA: C.J. doesn’t deserve -- not because . . .

69. SARA: Because what?

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70. PETRA: Because of what I did -- Because of what I

said!

71. SFX: CAR ENGINE ACCELERATING

72. SARA: I know you lied, Petra. Back in high

school, and today still.

73. PETRA: You don’t know.

74. SARA: Not all of it. I know the lies have made

you just as much prisoner as they have

Rufus. (Beat) You might consider slowing

down a little. It’s dark, and these roads -

-

75. PETRA: I’ve lived with this long enough.

76. SARA: With what?

77. PETRA: (Indiscriminate emotional sounds)

78. SARA: Whoever’s behind this, we’ve got ’em on the

ropes. They’re only taking these big,

reckless swipes because they’re afraid of

how close everything is to coming out!

79. PETRA: You don’t think I know that?

80. SFX: CAR ENGINE ACCELERATING

81. SFX: TIRES SQUEAL IN TURN

82. SARA: Why don’t you find a place to pull over?

83. SFX: TIRES SQUEAL IN TURN

84. SARA: Or let me drive for a little bit. I’ve

never driven a Mercedes --

85. PETRA: Not now.

86. SARA: Okay, but before -- Uh-oh. We’ve got red

lights behind us.

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87. SFX: CAR ENGINE ACCELERATING MORE

88. SARA: You can’t run from them --

89. PETRA: What are they going to do? Shoot the

daughter of Etta’s retired police chief for

speeding?

90. SFX: TIRES SQUEAL TURNING

91. SFX: CAR ENGINE ACCELERATING

92. SARA: I don’t really want to find out.

93. SFX: CAR ENGINE ACCELERATING

94. PETRA: At this point, I don’t care.

95. SFX: CAR ENGINE ACCELERATING

96. SARA: You’re not losing him. Just stop.

97. SFX: PETRA’S PHONE RINGTONE

98. SARA: Promise me you’ll pull over before you

answer that.

99. SFX: PETRA’S PHONE RINGTONE

100. SFX: TIRES SQUEAL TURNING

101. SARA: Better yet, let it go to voicemail.

102. SFX: PETRA’S PHONE RINGTONE

103. PETRA: I know who it is.

104. SFX: PHONE ANSWER BEEP

105. PETRA: Hello.

106. TOM NOVAK: (FILTER – SPEAKERPHONE) Petra, sweetheart,

it’s me.

107. SARA: Is that your dad . . .

108. PETRA: What is it?

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109. TOM NOVAK: (FILTER – SPEAKERPHONE) You and I need to

talk.

110. PETRA: So talk.

111. TOM NOVAK: (FILTER – SPEAKERPHONE) I’m in the car

behind you. Pull over.

112. SARA: Are you kidding me?

113. TOM NOVAK: (FILTER – SPEAKERPHONE) There’s a rest stop

at the next exit. We don’t need to do this

at the side of the road. Pull over there

and we’ll get out of the cars and talk.

114. PETRA: Fine.

115. SARA: He’s retired -- how’s he driving a police

cruiser?

116. PETRA: Perks of the job.

117. SFX: PHONE HANGUP BEEP

118. SARA: Petra, I’m not so sure --

119. PETRA: I am.

120. SFX: ENGINE GUNS

121. SFX: TIRES SCREECH

122. SFX: ENGINE SLOWING

123. SARA: The sign says this rest stop’s closed.

124. PETRA: Of course. We’ll keep this private --

125. SFX: CAR COMING TO A STOP

126. SFX: PARKING BRAKE ON

127. PETRA: -- Keep it in the family.

128. SFX: SEATBELT RELEASES, RETRACTS

129. SFX: CAR DOOR OPENS

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130. SARA: Wait --

131. SFX: CAR DOOR SLAMS CLOSED

132. SARA: (HOT ON MIKE) For anybody listening, start

connecting all the pieces with me. An

unstable drifter framed for the abduction

of a high school girl . . . A scandal in

the police department . . . a traffic cop

killed in a hit-and-run. And everybody

lying about it for twenty years.

133. TOM NOVAK: (MUFFLED, OUTSIDE CAR) Petra --

134. PETRA: (MUFFLED, OUTSIDE CAR) Just stay away from

me!

135. SARA: (HOT ON MIKE) Somebody knows. Somebody who

called me, who brought me home to uncover

the answers. I still have gaps in the

picture I’ve put together . . . Time to

fill them in.

136. SFX: CAR DOOR OPENS

SCENE 2 – EXT. REST STOP

137. TOM NOVAK: Petra, who did you bring with you?

138. SARA: Chief Novak.

139. TOM NOVAK: I don’t believe I’ve had the privilege,

Miss -- ?

140. SARA: Not for lack of trying at my brother’s

house a little while ago.

141. TOM NOVAK: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

142. PETRA: Don’t you?

143. TOM NOVAK: Petra, you’re upset. I understand.

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144. PETRA: You can’t possibly understand! What you

asked of me -- You should never have asked!

145. TOM NOVAK: You didn’t have to.

146. PETRA: Didn’t have to?!? What choice did I have?

You told me it was the only way out for all

of us! I was seventeen! You’re my father!

What did you think I would do?

147. TOM NOVAK: All you had to do was drive to that field.

148. SARA: But she improvised. Your overachieving,

full-ride scholarship daughter -- desperate

to save her family -- knew that she needed

more than a story to be believed

unquestioningly. (To Petra) You were smart

enough not to use a pair of scissors from

home . . . what did you do, Petra,

shoplift them someplace?

149. PETRA: I stole them from the counter at Closet

Catch.

150. TOM NOVAK: Petra, not here. Don’t --

151. PETRA: When you picked me up at the farmhouse, the

first thing you asked me, the first moment

we got alone, was if I thought they

believed me! I stabbed myself to sell your

story!

152. TOM NOVAK: All you had to do was find someone and tell

it the way we’d rehearsed, with the details

I gave you!

153. SARA: If it makes you feel any better, she still

tells it the way you two rehearsed it, with

all the details you gave her. But back

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then, she didn’t adjust them to match the

facts. Your dramatic “eyes in the rearview

mirror” moment -- a great detail, for print

media -- didn’t match the fact that her

boyfriend had knocked the mirror off the

night before. (To Petra) That part of the

story got crossed up with the truth in your

memory, Petra.

154. PETRA: I knew, I knew eventually this would --

155. TOM NOVAK: Not now, Petra. Not here, with --

156. PETRA: With what? Someone else you’ll have to

kill?

157. TOM NOVAK: Stop!

158. PETRA: It’s what you did to Charlie Fischer! You

made me your accomplice on that, too!

159. SARA: Charlie was in on it at the start, wasn’t

he? Somebody loyal. Somebody you could

trust to bring in Rufus and say all the

right things. He had his doubts, but you

were able to smooth those over. It took

him, what, six or nine months before his

conscience gnawing at him made him start

asking you more questions? You were able to

lean on Eddie Dial, and if he wouldn’t go

along, quitting the case was just as good.

But if he started talking with Charlie

Fischer -- two men of conscience -- it

would blow the case. And reveal all the rot

underlying it. How long had you been

embezzling money from the department?

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160. TOM NOVAK: We burned all our savings in just the first

year of taking care of my wife. I asked for

help, but --

161. SFX: FIST SLAMS ON CAR HOOD

162. TOM NOVAK: People think you’re just provided for when

you’re a public employee. Maybe Federal.

Maybe in big cities. Little town like Etta,

they only shake their heads and pat you on

the shoulder.

163. SARA: You needed a distraction. And something you

could start logging hours to. Hundreds if

not thousands of investigative hours.

164. TOM NOVAK: I needed time to move things around,

construct documents --

165. SARA: Forge documents, you mean. But Charlie

Fischer noticed -- you probably signed him

in and out a number of times. Getting Rufus

off the streets was one thing -- he could

be dangerous. Probably didn’t take too much

convincing. But Charlie began noticing the

suspect paperwork, the questionable

orders . . .

166. TOM NOVAK: I never meant for -- That was an accident.

167. PETRA: I wanted to believe that. “Just have to

scare him,” you told me. “A near miss at a

traffic stop.” Instead you --

168. TOM NOVAK: You think it was easy? I’d known Charlie --

worked with him -- for fifteen years. He

was my friend, our kids went to school

together --

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169. PETRA: And you tried to kill his son, too!

170. TOM NOVAK: Not me. Her.

171. PETRA: Dad, put away the gun!

172. SARA: You can’t be serious. You came to the

house, cut the power, took a shot at me

through the window. If C.J. hadn’t shown up

when he did . . .

173. TOM NOVAK: You shot him and fled. In a stolen car.

174. PETRA: No . . .

175. TOM NOVAK: I heard there was an officer down -- never

lost the habit of listening to the police

scanner. I caught up with you at a closed

rest stop. A woman who’d been obsessing

over my daughter and her abduction since

they were both kids.

176. PETRA: No! Not again!

177. TOM NOVAK: Petra, this is to protect us -- you as much

as me!

178. PETRA: I’ve lived more than half my life under

this! No more! No more!

179. SARA: You’ve got one thing you need to consider

before you do anything more, Chief.

180. TOM NOVAK: What’s that?

181. SARA: (HOT ON MIKE) I’ve been livestreaming

everything since my call with Rufus.

182. TOM NOVAK: You’re bluffing.

183. SARA: (HOT ON MIKE) Here’s my phone.

184. SFX: PHONE TOSSED AND CAUGHT

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185. SARA: (OFF MIKE) You can see the streaming app’s

running. Look at the elapsed time.

186. TOM NOVAK: (HOT ON MIKE) But now I have the phone.

187. SARA: (OFF MIKE) And you clearly don’t understand

“livestreaming.” Everything that’s

happened, every word I’ve said and that has

been said anywhere near that phone, has

been sent to a secure server. Break the

phone in half right now -- it doesn’t

matter. It’s all saved elsewhere.

188. TOM NOVAK: Petra, what have you done?

189. SARA: What has she done?

190. PETRA: (Crying) Not any more, Dad . . .

191. SARA: No matter what happens to me, that

recording of everything gets released.

192. TOM NOVAK: What have I done?

193. SARA: It’s all going to come out, Chief. Don’t

make it any worse. Keep the phone or don’t,

it doesn’t matter. Petra and I are going

back to her car.

194. TOM NOVAK: I won’t make it any worse.

195. SARA: Petra, let’s go.

196. PETRA: I can’t.

197. TOM NOVAK: Go. All I did . . . They’ll need someone to

blame --

198. SARA: Petra --

199. TOM NOVAK: I love you, sweetheart, never doubt that.

200. PETRA: (Screaming) No!

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201. SARA: Chief Novak -- Don’t --!

202. SFX: GUNSHOT

203. (Beat)

204. (Beat)

205. SFX: PETRA LOW, QUIET MOAN, GROWS TO SOBBING

206. SARA: Petra -- ?

207. PETRA: He -- he’s --

208. SARA: I’m, I’m sorry . . .

209. SFX: PETRA WEEPING

210. SARA: Are you all right?

211. PETRA: (Softly) I don’t know.

SCENE 2 – INT. LINDY’S HOUSE

212. SARA: (HOT ON MIKE) And so knowers, we see

everybody has secrets, and holding on to

them can corrode your very . . .

(NORMAL) No, that’s not it.

213. SFX: RECORDING END BEEP

214. SARA: (Yelling) Lindy!

215. LINDY (OFF MIKE) What?

216. SARA: Come here and help me up!

217. SFX: FOOTSTEPS

218. LINDY I told you to get that knee looked at.

219. SARA: I did. The doctor said it’s badly bruised.

I just have to suffer it for a while.

220. LINDY Then maybe you should just keep it up and

iced.

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221. SARA: I want to get up. I’ve been sitting here

all morning. You hear anything on C.J.?

222. LINDY Couple of cracked ribs. His vest stopped

both rounds. Lucky.

223. SARA: Damn lucky.

224. LINDY You tell Mom all about this, yet?

225. SARA: No . . . I figured I’d let her hear it on

the podcast next week.

226. LINDY Next week?

227. SARA: I need time to edit the show together.

There’s so much here, this could be a

multi-parter.

228. LINDY You think she won’t ask you what’s going on

for a week?

229. SARA: Not if I don’t go home for another

week . . .

230. LINDY Oh, and where do you think you’re staying?

231. SARA: All my stuff’s still unpacked in my old

room.

232. LINDY Great way to ask.

233. SARA: Thanks! Now, help me up. Reach down here

and give me your hand --

234. LINDY “Come with me if you want to live!”

235. SARA: You’re funny.

236. LINDY Like in the Schwarzenegger movie --

237. SARA: Yeah, I get it -- Oof --– wait . . . You --

238. LINDY What?

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239. SARA: You son of a bitch -- it was you! The whole

time, it was you!

240. LINDY Sara.

241. SARA: That! You were Mr. X -- How did I miss

that?!? (Beat) Why didn’t you just ask? Why

the character and all the drama? Why the

big mystery?

242. LINDY If your brother Lindy asked you to come

back to Etta after all these years to look

into the open-and-shut Rufus Knobbe case,

would you have?

243. SARA: I mean, if you showed me evidence . . .

outlined a reasonable theory . . .

244. LINDY Right. But if you got dragged into it,

prodded on by a mysterious caller trickling

clues to you while you investigated . . .

245. SARA: But you didn’t need me. You knew it all.

246. LINDY I had some of it figured out. The holes in

Petra’s story. And the audit. It just

wasn’t right Rufus Knobbe was in prison for

someone else’s lie . . . You figured out

all the rest.

247. SARA: Wait a minute -- you were in the room one

of the times Mr. X called.

248. LINDY I was in the room when I had a scheduled

robocall ring your phone and play a

recording for you.

249. SARA: Wow. Now I need to go amend the episode.

250. LINDY Don’t.

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251. SARA: Why not?

252. LINDY First, I don’t want the attention. That’s

another reason I put you on this -- you’re

the podcast detective. I’m a tech guy in

Etta, Indiana.

253. SARA: And second?

254. LINDY And second, isn’t it a better story with

something left unsolved? A little mystery

to ponder at the end?

255. SARA: Yeah . . .

SCENE 3 – INT. STUDIO

256. SARA: (HOT ON MIKE) So, knowers, once again,

among all the secrets we find there are no

villains, no bad guys. Yes, people do bad

things. But everybody is the hero in their

own story. The evil they do, they excuse of

themselves for the good they’re trying to

accomplish. Tom Novak was trying to take

care of his family -- his wife and

daughter. But each misdeed led to another,

a chain of sins he found himself bound up

in. The investigation now seems focused on

pointing all of it at the retired Etta

police chief, with your host’s recordings

in evidence. Speaking of the Etta PD, I

still owe Officer C.J. Fisher a dinner out

for all he did -- not to mention the two

rounds he took for me. Eddie Dial’s taken

on getting Rufus Knobbe released and having

his conviction overturned. I don’t envy him

that. Prosecutors are loathe to allow a

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reversal for any reason. And courts don’t

like to admit they’re wrong, no matter the

evidence. Remember, it was a judge that

once said, “Proof of innocence is no

impediment to serving a legally convicted

sentence.” I’m not sure what kind of life

Rufus will be released to. Maybe it doesn’t

even matter to him. He is, as he expressed

to me, already free -- in his mind. Petra

Novak Van Damme . . . Petra’s missing. She

seems to have left town. Nobody’s seen her

for weeks, and so far nobody can find or

contact her. The only thing apparently

missing from Petra’s home is her white

Mercedes station wagon. Petra was as much a

prisoner of all the lies as Rufus. Relieved

of those bonds now, I genuinely hope she’s

all right. That only leaves the question of

which of you knowers is Mr. X. To the one

who nudged me -- well, it was more than a

nudge, wasn’t it? -- into looking into a

case that tied directly to me and my past,

let me say I had an adventure worthy at

least of a good, cheap paperback novel.

Thank you. I have no idea if you intend on

doing this again. But, if you do, I’m sure

it will be over something important enough

to make certain that somebody knows.