follow that car

..."Must be one of those new doors."

CAROL
Let's try out here.

                       She points to another door.  They go through another corridor, this one lit.

LARRY
Oh my God.  I keep hearing noises.

CAROL
Oh.  What'd down there?

                       She hurries toward a dark section of the hall.

LARRY
Where?  Where are you...  Where are you going?  Don't leave me.

CAROL
Let me see.  It's okay.  What?  Oh!

                           She has reached a door with a barred window showing the street outside.

CAROL
Yeah.  I think this is it.  I think this is the service entrance.

                           She tries to open the door, but it is stuck.

LARRY
Well, come on.

CAROL
I'm trying.

LARRY
Come on, get it open.

                                  Carol gets the door open.

CAROL
I got it.  I got it.

LARRY
Go into a trot.

                          They rush outside.

EXT.  Street - Night

LONG SHOT on the dark street.  At a distance, we see a man putting a large, oblong-shaped parcel in the trunk of a car.  Looks like Paul House.

Carol and Larry coming up stone stairway from hotel basement,  toward street level.  They have stopped in the middle, watching.

CAROL
Wait!  Wait!  Did you see that?

LARRY
What?

CAROL
It looks like somebody's putting a body into a car.

LARRY
Jesus.

CAROL
I swear.  Look.  It's got a white sheet on it.

LARRY
Yes.

CAROL
Right...  Yeah.  Come on.

                            They finish climbing the stairs up to the sidewalk.

LARRY
It is.  Oh, brother.

                              The car pulls away from the curb and drives off.

LARRY
Let's - let's - let's get out of here.  Let's get out of here.

CAROL
Oh, my God.  Wait.  No, look!  Let's-Let's follow him.  Come on.

LARRY
(voice over)
No, no, no, no.

CAROL
(voice over)
Yeah, no.  Come on.

                         Carol and Larry running toward their car.

LARRY
I'm not going to follow.  I'm not gonna...  I don't wanna follow him.

CAROL
No, let's follow it.  I swear, there was a body in that car.

LARRY
I know, I saw that there was a...

CAROL
Larry!

LARRY
I don't wanna follow a car with a body in it.

CAROL
Come on, hurry up.  Hurry up!

LARRY
It's-It's probably -- It's probably a rented car.

                       They have reached their car and they get in.

CAROL
There!  Oh!

LARRY
And a rented body.

CAROL 
Hurry up.  Come on.


                               They slam the doors, switch the headlights on and start.

[As they drive away, this is where Benny Goodman's recording (with Gene Krupa on drums) of "Sing, Sing, Sing" starts to play.  The song's explosive swing / jazz energy gives powerful background to the next sequence.]

AERIAL VIEW, Brooklyn Bridge - Night

View begins with the interchange at one end of the bridge, then PANS to the bridge itself.  Traffic moving.  CAMERA moves down closer.

LARRY
(voice over from inside the car)
Oh -- I-I can't -- I can't follow his car.

CAROL
Well, he's right up ahead.  He's right there.

LARRY
Where, up ahead?  I don't know which car I'm following here.  I...  You know, I'm not a good driver.  I can't chase somebody in a car.  I'm gonna have an accident.  I'm, you know, I-I-I'll-I'll wind up hitting a school bus or something.

CAROL
Look, it's nighttime.  There's no school buses at nighttime.

LARRY
Don't tell me that.  What about night school?

INT.  Liptons' car - Night

LONG SHOT of the road, taken from inside the Lipton car.  They pass the 15-W exit.

EXT.  Industrial Park - Night

LONG SHOT:  industrial park.  Larry drives slowly inside, coming toward us.  The place is almost deserted.  Smoke rises in the middle distance.

--------------------------------

{Manhattan Murder Mystery}

-30-