BARBARA is
talking on the phone with someone at
BARBARA
So you have a
Dr. Brian Morgan on staff? And he’s on
duty right now?....Okay, thanks. That’s all I needed to know.
Barbara hangs
up the phone. Paul walks in.
PAUL
Who was that?
BARBARA
Who was what?
PAUL
On the
phone. Weren’t you just on the phone?
BARBARA
Oh, it was
wrong number. I thought our number was
unlisted. Geez.
PAUL
So what do
you have on tap for today?
BARBARA
Well, I
thought I’d go into
PAUL
I’d love to
spend the day with you, Barbara, but I’m tied up in meetings all day.
BARBARA
Darn. Oh well.
I shouldn’t be too late. Unless I run into really good sales, of course.
PAUL
Before you
go, I want to give you something. And
this is perfect timing.
BARBARA
What is it?
PAUL
This.
Paul takes
out a credit card and hands to Barbara.
BARBARA
A
credit card?
PAUL
With
your name on it. I set up a line of credit for you so that you
have shopping days like today.
BARBARA
Oh,
Paul. That is so sweet. I don’t know what to say.
PAUL
You don’t
need to say anything. Just make sure
that one of your purchases is one of those slinky negligees that you like to
drive me crazy wearing.
BARBARA
I can do
that. Thanks, sweetie.
Barbara
kisses Paul.
BARBARA
I need to
run. Gotta hit
the stores when the doors open you know.
PAUL
(laughs)
Have fun.
Who is it?
DANTE
Dante?
DANTE
Hi.
Dante.
What are you doing here?
DANTE
I, uh, just
came to say hi. And to
see how you’re doing.
You came all
the way to
DANTE
Yeah. Am I crazy?
I don’t
know. You tell me.
DANTE
Can I come
in?
Sure. Sorry.
Dante walks
in and
DANTE
Dante, we
just met.
DANTE
Right.
But I thought we really hit it off and I was thinking…
I’m not the
girl you think I am, Dante. Alright? It’s best if
you turn your car around and head back to
DANTE
I wish I
could do that,
It was
probably the devil on your shoulder and you shouldn’t listen to him.
DANTE
(laughs)
Oh, but I
always do. Have lunch with me.
What?
DANTE
Have lunch
with me? I have some things to do in the
city, but I could come back around noon and pick you up. Now what do you say?
The
hear a knock on
the door.
Hold on. Brian sure has a busy apartment.
Hello.
LESLIE
Yes.
LESLIE
My name is
Leslie Smithers.
I need to talk to you about a shooting that happened in
ANGELA is
sitting at her desk when KAREN walks in.
KAREN
Good morning!
ANGELA
What are you
so happy about?
KAREN
My new
mattress arrived yesterday. My back is
so happy!
ANGELA
(Disinterested)
Ah, that’s
nice.
KAREN
Hmm, someone
is not in a good mood today.
ANGELA
I’m
sorry. It’s not that I’m in a bad
mood. I had a surprise visitor last
night.
KAREN
What? A mouse?
ANGELA
Not
quite. A Manny. Manny Ramos.
KAREN
Manny Ramos
is back in
ANGELA
The hell if I
know. He wanted to talk and explain what
he’s been doing for the past five years, but I wouldn’t even let him in the
door.
KAREN
Aren’t you
the least bit curious as to why he’s back?
And since he showed up at your door, maybe he wants you back?
ANGELA
Oh, I didn’t
tell you. I had flowers on my doorstep
as well, from the same mysterious “Beloved” that left me the note here at work.
KAREN
Oh my God, do
you think it was Manny?
ANGELA
It had to
be. I don’t know what he’s up to, but
I’m not letting him play with my emotions again. Besides, my first meeting with BurnDoc is tonight.
KAREN
Oh Angela,
I’m still not sure this is such a good idea.
ANGELA
We’re meeting
a public place so don’t worry. I told
him to meet me at Legal Seafoods in the mall.
KAREN
You know
that’s impossible for me.
ANGELA
True. Hey, I talked to Cyrus a little while
ago. He told me Paul Ramos stopped by
yesterday.
KAREN
Yes, and he
wasn’t very happy about not being able to see Dan Levin.
ANGELA
Oh well. That’s the way it has to be for now. Dan and Paul were close at one point, but
something happened and I’ve never been able to get Dan to talk about it.
KAREN
He’s quite an
intimidating man. I wouldn’t want to be
on his bad side.
ANGELA
He can
be. But you know Damien is best friends
with Dante Ramos so I guess my family has never had to feel his wrath.
CAROLINE is
working at her desk when MANNY knocks her on her door and walks in.
MANNY
Hello, Ms.
Hart.
CAROLINE
Manny?
What are you doing back in town?
How the hell are you?
MANNY
I’m
good. Just making the
rounds. Looking
up all my old cronies.
CAROLINE
I’m glad you
stopped by. Have a seat.
Manny sits
down in a chair in front of Caroline’s desk.
CAROLINE
Have you seen
Paul yet?
MANNY
Oh yes. Needless to say he wasn’t happy to see me.
CAROLINE
I bet.
MANNY
But I don’t
give a damn what he thinks. I’m a wiser
man this time around, Caroline. Paul
can’t run me out of town.
CAROLINE
I’m happy to
hear that. I hated to see you go.
MANNY
How have
things been with you? Is there a man in
your life?
CAROLINE
A man?
Please. All I do is work.
MANNY
Same ol’ Caroline. Still a work-a-holic. I
hope you’re having some fun at least.
CAROLINE
I can’t even
remember the last time I had fun. I’m
trying to finalize some contracts and have been working twelve hour days.
MANNY
Then you’re
lucky I’m back. Meet me for dinner
tonight. I need you to fill me in on all
the latest
CAROLINE
Manny, I’d
love to, but I have to work.
MANNY
I’m not going
to take no for an answer, Caroline. The
Palisades Mall is right down the street.
We can go to Legal Seafood or the place of your choice. You’re probably the only friend I have left
in
CAROLINE
Alright.
You talked me into it.
BARBARA walks
up to the nurse’s station where Nurse JUNEY BENSON is working.
BARBARA
Hi there.
JUNEY
Hello.
BARBARA
I’m looking
for Dr. Brian Morgan. Do you know where
he is?
JUNEY
Yes. He’s in with a patient right now.
Brian comes
out of a nearby room.
JUNEY
Ah, there he
is.
Barbara walks
over the Brian.
BARBARA
Hey Bri. Remember me?
BRIAN
Oh my
God. Aunt Barbara? What are you doing here?
BARBARA
I got wind
you were working here and thought I’d come see for myself.
BRIAN
How on earth
did you find out I worked here? No one
in the family knows. Except
for
BARBARA
Believe it or
not, the world is small enough that I’m dating the father of the man who is
very smitten with your sister.
BRIAN
Huh?
BARBARA
Dante
Ramos. He told me he met a girl named
BRIAN
And he told
you I worked here?
BARBARA
Yeah. So you’re a doctor. Way to go, Bri.
BRIAN
Aunt Barbara,
I hate to be rude, but I haven’t seen you since I was what, fifteen? What’s been going on with you? You just disappeared one day.
BARBARA
First of all,
just call me Barbara. Aunt Barbara makes
me sound ancient. And I left that one
horse town because I was never going to have anything if I didn’t. Anyway, I couldn’t find your phone number
listed anywhere so I thought I’d try to catch you at the hospital today.
BRIAN
Look, I’m
happy to see you and all. But why did
you decide to track me down today? After all this time?
BARBARA
Because
I need a favor, Bri.
I’m going by the name of Barbara Whitman now. I need you to not mention to Dante or anyone
that we’re related.
BRIAN
What? So you tracked me down just to tell me to
pretend I don’t know you? What’s going
on with you? Are you in some kind of
trouble?
BARBARA
No, of
course not. It’s a long story, I
won’t bore you with the details. Tell me
what’s going on with that sister of yours.
BRIAN
She’s in
trouble, Aunt… I mean, Barbara. She
could really use your help.
DAMIEN is
working behind the bar when CYRUS walks up and sits on a bar stool.
DAMIEN
Hi
there. What can I get you?
CYRUS
I’ll have a
Miller Lite.
DAMIEN
Can I see
some ID? Sorry man, have to do it.
CYRUS
No
problem. Here you go.
Cyrus gives
Damien his driver’s license.
DAMIEN
Cyrus
Connor. You work at the hospital, right?
Damien gives
back the license.
CYRUS
Yes. I’m an intern.
DAMIEN
I thought I
had seen you around there. My sister,
Angela, is a doctor there.
CYRUS
Angela Givens? She’s the nicest doctor on staff at the
DAMIEN
Ah, it sounds
like she has a fan. I’m sure she would
be happy to hear that.
CYRUS
She’s been so
nice to me since I started at the hospital.
I owe her a lot.
DAMIEN
Well, even
though she’s my sister, she’s a pretty cool lady. Here’s your beer.
CYRUS
Thanks.
LESLIE
SMITHERS has just arrived to talk to
A
shooting? What shooting?
LESLIE
Cliff Myers was
shot outside his home and left to die.
Does that ring a bell?
No. Should it?
DANTE
What’s going
on,
Nothing.
Dante, maybe you could excuse us?
DANTE
Sure.
LESLIE
DANTE
The police!
Then who are
you? What do you want from me?
LESLIE
I’m a
reporter. I write for the Burlington
Telegraph News. I recognized you from
your picture that I saw when I was doing research on this story.
DANTE
LESLIE
You give me
an exclusive to your story and I’ll do everything in my power to make the spin
in our coverage of your mother’s case as fair as possible.
My
mother’s case? What case?
LESLIE
You don’t
know? Your mother confessed to shooting
Cliff Myers.
WHAT!
LESLIE
And from what
I understand, Mr. Myers family is asking for a maximum sentence for her.
But she
didn’t shoot him, Ms. Smithers. She shouldn’t go to jail for this.
LESLIE
What are you
saying,
DANTE