ROCKLAND
COUNTY, NEW YORK
Story by Roger
Newcomb and Gregori J. Martin
EXT. ARDEN’S
CAR ON INTERSTATE 287 -- NIGHT
On a cold gloomy
night in Rockland County, 18-year-old ARDEN MORGAN is driving down Interstate
287 when her car suddenly starts sputtering.
ARDEN
Oh no. Please don’t do this to me. Don’t break down on me now. I have to get to New York City.
Her car
completely dies and she pulls off onto the side of the road.
ARDEN
Now what do I
do? I have no cell phone and I don’t
know where the hell I am. Could this day
get any worse?
Arden gets
out of her car and decides to try to hitchhike into New York City. Several cars drive by without slowing down.
ARDEN
Gee, thanks
buddy for giving a damn.
Just then a
2005 Nissan Murano pulls up behind her car.
Arden runs back to the car and the driver rolls down the window. The driver is 22-year-old DANTE RAMOS and his
best friend, DAMIEN GIVENS, is in the passenger seat.
ARDEN
Oh thank you
so much for stopping. I didn’t know if
anyone would.
DANTE
What seems to
be the problem?
ARDEN
My stupid car
broke down. It’s a piece of junk, so
it’s always doing this.
DANTE
I see. Can we give you a ride somewhere?
ARDEN
Well, I don’t
suppose you’re going into Manhattan are you?
DANTE
No, I wasn’t
planning on it. I live here in Rockland
County. I’m Dante by the way. And this is Damien. What’s your name?
ARDEN
Arden.
DAMIEN
Dante, we
don’t have anywhere to be, right? You
said yourself you didn’t want to go back home tonight.
ARDEN
Oh,
please. If you could drive me into
Manhattan, I would be eternally grateful.
DANTE
You know
what, what the hell. Get in.
ARDEN
Really? Oh, thank you so much.
DAMIAN
Should we
call someone about your car?
ARDEN
Oh, uh, I
will do that after I get into the city.
Don’t worry about it for now.
Arden gets in
the backseat of the car and the three of them drive away.
INT. JEAN CARLOS'S
HOUSE - NIGHT
PAUL RAMOS, a
mysterious man in his mid 40s is waiting in the foyer when GRETCHEN STYLES and
CHARLIE DEAN arrive. Paul’s cousin,
Carlos, died recently and his ex-wife, Gretchen, has inherited his estate. Paul is helping her.
PAUL
Hello
Gretchen.
GRETCHEN
Paul. Thanks for meeting me here. I appreciate your help.
PAUL
It’s my
pleasure.
CHARLIE
(clearing his
throat)
I’m Charlie
Dean.
GRETCHEN
Oh, I’m
sorry. Paul Ramos, this is my friend,
Charlie Dean.
PAUL
Hello, nice
to meet you. Did you know my cousin?
CHARLIE
He was
actually dating my sister, Teri, at the time of his death.
PAUL
Teri. I think I met her at the funeral. Nice girl.
CHARLIE
Thanks. I’m not really seeing a family resemblance
between you and Carlos.
PAUL
Well, we have
a long and rather sordid family tree, Charlie.
My mother married Richard Ramos when I was a baby and I took his name.
GRETCHEN
And Richard’s
brother was Carlos’s father.
CHARLIE
Don’t worry,
Paul. My family is rather complicated
itself.
PAUL
Gretchen, I
had a crew come by to pack up all of Carlos’s furniture. There are a few personal items I left behind
for you
to go through
tonight.
GRETCHEN
Thank you so
much. This is hard enough and you’ve
made it a bit easier on me.
PAUL
I want to
help in any way I can.
CHARLIE
So I take it
you and your cousin were close?
PAUL
In recent
years. Carlos grew up in
CHARLIE
I see.
GRETCHEN
Paul, I’m going
to take a look around if you don’t mind.
PAUL
Go right
ahead. I actually need to go. There’s something I need to take care of at
home.
GRETCHEN
Oh, OK. Well, I’ll be in touch about the sale of the
house.
PAUL
That’s
fine. You know how to reach me.
Paul exits
the house and stops outside the front door
PAUL
(to himself)
Thank you,
Carlos. Now I have exactly what I
needed.
ARDEN MORGAN
has just come back to the table where DANTE RAMOS and DAMIAN GIVENS are
sitting.
DAMIAN
So why the
long face? Did you not reach your
brother?
ARDEN
No, he’s not
answering. I’m not 100% sure that I have
the right phone number.
DANTE
Maybe he’s
out for the night.
ARDEN
This isn’t
good. If I can’t reach him, then I have
no place to stay tonight.
DAMIAN
Can’t you get
a hotel?
ARDEN
I don’t have
any money. And I left my credit cards at
home.
DANTE
Well, maybe
we could drop you off at your place since you can’t get in touch with your brother.
ARDEN
NO! I can’t go back home. That is not an option for me.
DANTE
OK. Then why don’t you come home with me?
ARDEN
Forget about
it. I’m not that kind of girl.
DANTE
(laughs)
I wasn’t
trying to hit on you. I had a fight with
my father earlier so I was planning on sleeping in our guesthouse tonight. There’s plenty of room there if you need a
place to sleep.
ARDEN
Guesthouse? What, are you rich or something?
DAMIEN
Dante’s
father owns half of Rockland County.
DANTE
You can get a
good night’s sleep and if you want to come back into Manhattan tomorrow, I’ll
drive you. Now what do you say?
ARDEN
I say,
sure. The guesthouse sounds great.
INT. ROCKLAND
COUNTY PSYCH CENTER - NIGHT
MANNY RAMOS,
a handsome 30-year-old businessman walks up to the nurse’s station and greets
CYRUS CONNOR, a twenty-two year old student intern.
MANNY
Hi. I’m looking for Dr. Angela Givens. Could you tell me where I could find her?
CYRUS
Oh, Dr.
Givens is gone for the day. She left
about an hour ago.
MANNY
I see. Do you know if she’ll be in tomorrow?
CYRUS
I’m really
not sure. Would you like to leave a
note?
MANNY
Hmm. No, I don’t think so. In fact, there’s no need to mention that I
was even here. Thanks for your help.
Manny quickly
walks away.
CYRUS
(to himself)
How could I
mention it when I don’t even know your name?
INT. ANGELA
GIVEN'S HOUSE - NIGHT
DR. ANGELA
GIVENS, a beautiful thirty-year-old psychiatrist is home alone chatting with a
new friend (BurnDoctor212) online.
ANGELA
(reading what
she’s typing as she types)
I have a new
patient coming to the hospital tomorrow.
No, actually an old patient is returning.
Angela reads
the response.
ANGELA
Good
luck. Hey, I have to go. Must get to the hospital. Chat tomorrow. XO.
Angela
ponders for a second and then types back.
ANGELA
OK. Don’t work too hard. Bye.
Angela signs
off her AOL account.
ANGELA
OK,
BurnDoctor212. When am I going to meet
you in person?
INT. PAUL'S
HOUSE - NIGHT
PAUL RAMOS is
wrecking his home, throwing things around when BARBARA WHITMAN, quirky red head
in her mid 30s enters.
PAUL
I know I put
it somewhere.
BARBARA
Hello Paul.
PAUL
Barbara! What the hell are you doing sneaking up on me
like that?
BARBARA
Relax! I live here now, remember? You gave me the keys yesterday, did you
forget?
PAUL
No, no. Sorry, I have a lot going on right now.
BARBARA
Now, what's
this all about? Why are you ripping your
house apart?
PAUL
I’m looking
for something.
BARBARA
It must be an
important something. Can I help you
look?
PAUL
No!
BARBARA
Geez, excuse
me.
PAUL
Barbara, I’m
sorry. It’s been a tough day and I had
another fight with Dante earlier which didn’t help matters.
BARBARA
Oh? What happened?
PAUL
The same old
argument we have every other day. I
really don’t want to get into it right now if you don’t mind.
BARBARA
Fine. I don't really care anyway.
(Beat)
At first I
thought your bad mood had something to do with your visit with your cousin’s
ex-wife. What’s her name, Gretchen?
PAUL
That’s none
of your business.
BARBARA
You saw her
earlier tonight, right?
PAUL
I met her at
Carlos’s house. I’m helping her sell the
place.
BARBARA
You sure are being
helpful to the ex-wife of a cousin you hardly knew until a few years ago, and a
cousin you hated.
PAUL
Who said I
hated Carlos?
BARBARA
Get off it,
Paul. If you’re helping this Gretchen
woman, it’s because there’s something in it for you. Now why don’t you tell me what it is?
PAUL
I’m
beat. I’m going to bed. Are you going to join me?
BARBARA
You know, I
really want to do a little reading before I go to sleep tonight. You don’t mind, do you?
PAUL
No. But don’t keep me waiting too long.
BARBARA
Oh, I won’t.
Paul goes
upstairs to his bedroom.
BARBARA
(to herself)
I don’t think
he’ll notice if I slip out for a bit.
INT. PAUL'S
GUEST HOUSE - NIGHT
DANTE, ARDEN
and DAMIEN have just entered. ARDEN is
shocked to see such a fancy guesthouse.
ARDEN
This is your guesthouse?
And I suppose that giant fortress we passed is the main house?
DANTE
I know, it’s
a little extravagant, but that’s my father.
He likes to make sure people know just how much money he has.
ARDEN
You must be
loaded.
DAMIEN
Like I was
saying, the Ramos family is the richest in Rockland County.
ARDEN
Then I guess
the right guy picked me up tonight.
DAMIEN
Look you two,
I have to take off.
DANTE
What? I thought you were crashing here with us,
man?
DAMIEN
Sorry,
Dante. There’s something I need to go
do.
DANTE
At this hour?
DAMIEN
Yes. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Arden, good luck finding your brother.
ARDEN
Thanks,
Damien. For everything.
DAMIEN
No
problem. Later, man.
DAMIEN leaves
and ARDEN continues to look around the guesthouse in amazement.
ARDEN
I still can’t
believe this place.
DANTE
I’m sure
you’re tired. Are you ready for bed?
ARDEN
Excuse me?
DANTE
Don’t worry,
you’ll have your own room. You can have
the master bedroom. It has a Jacuzzi in
it.
ARDEN
My own
Jacuzzi? Are you serious?
DANTE
Yes. It’s upstairs, first door on the left.
ARDEN
I’m gonna go
check it out. Be right back.
ARDEN runs
upstairs and into the master bedroom.
DANTE walks over to the window and watches DAMIEN drive away.
DANTE
So what’s
your story, Arden? And what are you up
to, Damien? Where are you running off to
every night?