The Beneficiary
by
(Joe Murkijanian)
Phone 323-253-6402 5/10 /26 4pm
FADE IN:
EXT. BEVERLY HILLS - NORTH CRESCENT DRIVE - NIGHT
A jacaranda-lined street. Old money quiet. The kind of
neighborhood where the sidewalks are swept.
A WOMAN walks alone. Mid-thirties. Coat pulled tight. She
walks fast but her shoulders are loose, like someone who has
just won an argument and is still riding it.
This is JESS VANCE. We will not meet her again.
She holds her phone to her ear. It rings. And rings.
JESS
(to voicemail)
Han. It's me. Pick up. I need a
ride, my car's --
She stops. Looks back. Something behind her.
The street is empty.
She turns forward again. Walks faster. Phone still ringing in
her ear.
JESS (CONT'D)
(quieter)
Pick up. Pick up.
A car door, somewhere behind her. She doesn't turn.
JESS (CONT'D)
Han, I --
We HEAR something we don't see. A footstep. Fast.
JESS DROPS THE PHONE.
THE PHONE HITS THE SIDEWALK. Lands face-up. The screen glows.
Her sister's name on the call display: HAN. Ringing.
A WOMAN'S SCREAM, cut off.
A CAR DOOR SHUTS.
Then -- nothing. Just the ringing phone. The screen times
out. Goes dark.
CUT TO BLACK.
The phone keeps ringing. We HEAR it in the dark.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Thriller","Mystery"]
Ratings
Scene
2 -
In the Eye of the Storm
INT. RONALD REAGAN UCLA MEDICAL CENTER - TRAUMA BAY 2 - NIGHT
The opposite of quiet. A young man on a gurney, chest torn
open. Three RESIDENTS, two NURSES, an ANESTHESIOLOGIST. Blood
on the floor. Monitors screaming.
In the center of it -- still, slow, certain --
DR. HANNAH VANCE. 41. Scrubs. Mask. Goggles. Only her eyes.
Her hands inside the patient's chest cavity.
She is holding his heart.
HANNAH
(calm)
Pressure.
NURSE FUENTES
Sixty over forty.
HANNAH
Not him. Mine.
A beat. Fuentes blinks. Then -- understands. Reaches up.
Adjusts a monitor. The whole room recalibrates around
Hannah's joke that wasn't a joke.
HANNAH (CONT'D)
Clamp.
A RESIDENT -- DR. AMARI OKONKWO, 28, sharp -- hands her the
wrong instrument.
Hannah does not look at him.
HANNAH (CONT'D)
That's a hemostat.
AMARI
Right. Sorry.
(corrects)
Clamp.
She takes it. Doesn't acknowledge. Works.
HANNAH
Bovie.
The room moves at her tempo. We see her THUMB tap once
against her ring finger -- a tiny, unconscious metronome. One
beat. Steady.
She reaches deeper into the chest. Finds the bleeder. Clamps
it. The monitors begin to settle.
HANNAH (CONT'D)
(to Amari)
What's the rule?
AMARI
Don't ask who they are.
HANNAH
Why?
AMARI
Because we don't get to choose.
HANNAH
Because we don't get to want.
She pulls her hands out of the cavity. Bloody to the wrists.
HANNAH (CONT'D)
Close him.
She walks out of frame.
CUT TO:
INT. UCLA - SCRUB ROOM - NIGHT
Hannah at the sink. Mask off. Forty-one years old. Hair in a
surgical cap. No makeup. Tired in a way sleep won't fix.
She scrubs. Methodical.
She stops.
She stares at her hands under the running water.
Her thumb taps her ring finger. Once. Twice. Three times.
Faster.
She closes her eyes.
When she opens them, she resumes scrubbing. Steady.
She does not cry.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Medical"]
Ratings
Scene
3 -
Lessons in Compassion
INT. UCLA - SURGICAL CONFERENCE ROOM - MORNING
Light through floor-to-ceiling windows. Attendings and
residents. The hospital's weekly accounting of who they lost
and why.
At the head of the table: DR. ELLIOT REINER. 62. Tall. Silver
hair, soft eyes, suit better than anyone else in the room.
The kind of man who makes you feel chosen by listening to
you.
The case on screen behind him: 52-year-old male, post-op
complications, deceased.
DR. MENDEZ, 35, stands at the front. Nervous.
REINER
(gently)
Doctor. Where was this case lost?
MENDEZ
Pre-op the patient was stable. Post-
anastomosis we --
REINER
That's where you lost him on the
table. Where did you lose him
before that.
A beat. Mendez doesn't answer.
REINER (CONT'D)
On the consent form. The family
wasn't told about the embolism
risk. Because you were rushing.
A silence. Mendez looks at his shoes.
REINER (CONT'D)
You owned the mistake when you got
back to the OR. You did the work.
You did not lose this man on the
table. You lost him in the
conversation before it. Sit down.
Learn from this.
(beat)
Don't carry it.
Mendez sits. Visibly steadier.
Hannah, in the back, has entered without anyone noticing.
Reiner sees her. His face changes -- the smallest softening.
The way you look at a daughter you're worried about.
She does not return the look.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
4 -
Confronting Grief
INT. UCLA - REINER'S OFFICE - DAY
Diplomas. Photographs. One: a much younger Reiner with
HANNAH'S FATHER, both in tuxedos. Another: Hannah at maybe
nine, in a yellow dress, holding a stethoscope to a stuffed
animal. Reiner watching her with delight.
Hannah sits across from him. She has not taken off her coat.
REINER
You operated last night.
HANNAH
GSW to the chest. He lived.
REINER
Hannah.
HANNAH
He lived, Elliot.
A long beat. Reiner does not push.
REINER
Your mother called me.
HANNAH
I know.
REINER
She said you haven't been to the
house since the service.
HANNAH
I know.
REINER
You don't have to go. But you
should call her. She lost a
daughter too.
HANNAH
(quiet)
I know what she lost.
A beat.
REINER
The foundation gala is in two
weeks. I told them you'd come.
HANNAH
Why.
REINER
Because Jess was going to come.
(beat)
And because your father's name is
on the building, and the donors
want to see a Vance.
HANNAH
You're using her.
REINER
(gentle)
I'm continuing her. There's a
difference.
She doesn't answer.
REINER (CONT'D)
I'll send a car. Wear something
Jess would have liked.
He stands. Comes around the desk. Puts a hand on her
shoulder. She doesn't shrug it off. She doesn't lean into it.
REINER (CONT'D)
Take seven-oh-one off.
A small almost-smile from her. The first crack.
He leaves. She sits a moment longer. Looks at the photograph
of herself at nine.
She does not look like that girl anymore.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
5 -
Echoes of the Past
INT. UCLA - TRAUMA BAY - NIGHT
Different night. Hannah back in scrubs. Reading a chart.
Quiet shift.
The radio crackles.
EMT (O.S.)
(over radio)
UCLA Trauma, this is Rescue
Eighteen. Inbound, GSW abdomen,
male, mid-fifties, BP seventy palp,
ETA four minutes. Patient was found
in an alley off Wilshire and
Bedford.
Hannah pauses. Wilshire and Bedford. Beverly Hills. Two
blocks from her sister's last known location.
She doesn't say anything.
She moves.
Genres:
["Drama","Medical"]
Ratings
Scene
6 -
A Whisper in Trauma
INT. TRAUMA BAY 3 - MOMENTS LATER
The doors burst open. EMTs wheel in the gurney. A MAN, mid-
fifties, gray, soaked through with blood. Eyes open.
Conscious. Barely.
HANNAH
(calm, fast)
On my count. One, two, three --
They transfer him to the table. The team descends.
HANNAH (CONT'D)
Two large-bore IVs. Type and cross
six. Chest film at bedside.
The PATIENT'S eyes find hers. He grabs her wrist with
shocking strength. He pulls her down toward his face.
PATIENT
(whispered)
Vance.
Hannah freezes.
PATIENT (CONT'D)
You're Vance.
HANNAH
Sir, I need you to --
PATIENT
Your sister hired me.
The room keeps moving around them. Nobody else heard.
PATIENT (CONT'D)
The car. My car. Wilshire. Glove --
His grip slackens. His eyes roll back.
NURSE FUENTES
She's losing him.
AMARI
Dr. Vance.
HANNAH
(snapping back)
Tube him. Now.
The team moves. Hannah's hands move with them.
But her thumb is tapping her ring finger. Faster than we've
ever seen it.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Medical Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
7 -
Critical Decisions in Trauma
INT. TRAUMA BAY 3 - CONTINUOUS
Hannah's hands inside the patient's abdomen. Bleeding
everywhere.
The doors swing open.
REINER (O.S.)
What do we have?
Hannah does not look up.
HANNAH
GSW abdomen. Hypotensive. Bleeding
out faster than I can pack him.
REINER enters. Already gowning up.
REINER
Need another set of hands?
HANNAH
I need a vascular surgeon and OR
Two in ten minutes.
REINER
You have OR Two in seven. I'll
assist.
Hannah's eyes flick up. To Reiner. For the first time.
He smiles at her. Reassuring.
REINER (CONT'D)
(gentle)
Breathe, Hannah. We've got him.
Then -- Reiner looks down at the patient's face.
For one half-second, his face changes.
It is so brief that nobody else sees it. Hannah, hands inside
the man's abdomen, looking up at her mentor at exactly the
wrong angle, sees it.
She sees him recognize the patient.
She sees him recognize that the patient is alive.
She sees him decide.
His smile returns.
REINER (CONT'D)
Let's save this man's life.
For the first time in the entire film, her hands go
completely still.
Then -- slowly -- she resumes the work.
HANNAH
(quiet, even)
Suction.
SMASH CUT TO:
INT. OR TWO - MOMENTS LATER
Bright lights. Sterile. The patient on the table. Reiner
across from Hannah, scrubbed in.
A nurse pulls a sterile drape over the patient's body.
The drape covers his face.
CLOSE ON HANNAH'S EYES, above her mask.
FADE OUT.
Genres:
["Drama","Medical"]
Ratings
Scene
8 -
Urgent Secrets
INT. CASS DOYLE'S APARTMENT - VENICE - DAY
A different apartment. Smaller. Lived-in. Books. Records. A
photograph on a shelf: Hannah and another woman, both in
scrubs, ten years younger, arms around each other.
DR. CASS DOYLE. Mid-forties. Buzz cut. Tattoos sleeving her
left arm. T-shirt that reads NAVY. Former Navy trauma
surgeon. Hannah's residency partner. Best friend by
attrition.
A burner phone rings on the counter. Cass looks at it. A
number she does not know.
She answers.
CASS
Doyle.
HANNAH (V.O.)
(low)
It's me. Don't say my name.
A beat. Cass turns off the faucet.
CASS
Where are you.
HANNAH (V.O.)
My apartment. Take a rideshare. Pay
cash. I think someone killed Jess.
I have proof. I need you to listen
to a recording and tell me I'm not
crazy.
A long beat.
CASS
Forty minutes.
She hangs up.
She goes to a closet. Pulls out a duffel bag. Inside: folded
fatigues. A holster. A handgun in a case.
She does not take the gun.
She takes the holster.
She puts it under her shirt empty.
She leaves.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
9 -
Unraveling the Truth
INT. HANNAH'S APARTMENT - WESTWOOD - DAY
Cass at the counter. Headphones in. Hannah's laptop in front
of her.
Hannah at the window. Watching her.
Cass takes the headphones off. Sets them down.
CASS
Play it again.
HANNAH
Cass --
CASS
The last twenty seconds.
Hannah comes over. Plays it. We hear it through the laptop
speakers, faintly:
JESS (V.O.)
(faint)
I'm leaving, Elliot.
REINER (V.O.)
(faint)
Sit down.
Door. Footsteps. Outside.
Cass stops the playback.
CASS
He didn't go after her.
HANNAH
What.
CASS
The footsteps. After the door.
Light. Going the wrong way. He
didn't run.
A beat.
HANNAH
He could have caught up.
CASS
He's sixty-two with a knee
replacement.
HANNAH
Cass --
CASS
I'm not saying he didn't kill her.
I'm saying he didn't kill her
himself.
A long silence. Hannah sits down.
HANNAH
That's worse.
CASS
That's worse.
HANNAH
Why.
CASS
Because there's another guy. He's
not on this recording. He doesn't
know we have it. And he is the one
who saw your sister's face when --
HANNAH
Stop.
A beat. Cass softens.
CASS
The patient at UCLA.
HANNAH
What about him.
CASS
He's the witness. Reiner already
saw him alive. Reiner will come
back tonight.
HANNAH
Reiner already tried. A nurse
stopped him.
CASS
The nurse won't be there tonight.
A beat.
HANNAH
We move him.
CASS
Where.
HANNAH
Cedars.
CASS
Reiner sits on the board at Cedars
too.
HANNAH
Then where, Cass.
A beat. Cass looks at her.
CASS
We don't move him. We sit with him.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Mystery","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
10 -
Critical Evidence
INT. UCLA SICU - GERARD WALLACE'S ROOM - EVENING
A name on the chart: GERARD WALLACE.
Wallace is awake. Pale. Wired to monitors. An IV in each arm.
Hannah at his bedside. Cass at the door, watching the
corridor.
WALLACE
(hoarse)
You're her sister.
HANNAH
Yes.
WALLACE
You look like her.
A beat.
HANNAH
What did she hire you for.
WALLACE
Forensic accounting. She had board
access. She found a vendor that
shouldn't exist.
HANNAH
Ridgepoint.
His eyes sharpen.
WALLACE
You found it.
HANNAH
I found the name.
WALLACE
Ridgepoint Advisory Group. Delaware
shell. One employee. Reiner. Eleven
million from the foundation over
twelve years. Routed through to a
Maltese identity.
HANNAH
Identity.
WALLACE
Bolt-hole. He was preparing to
leave.
A long beat.
HANNAH
You said "the car." In the trauma
bay. You said "glove."
WALLACE
Glove box. My car. Wilshire.
There's a hard drive. Everything I
had. She paid me Friday. I was
delivering it to her Sunday morning
when --
(beat)
I went to her car instead.
HANNAH
You found her.
WALLACE
I found a man checking on her car.
I made a noise. He came after me. I
got two blocks.
HANNAH
What did he look like.
A beat.
WALLACE
Forty-something. Fit. Black SUV.
Wore good shoes for an alley.
HANNAH
Would you know him again.
WALLACE
Yes.
A long beat.
HANNAH
Mr. Wallace. The man who shot you.
He works for the man who killed
her. He is going to come for you
tonight.
A beat.
WALLACE
I figured.
HANNAH
My friend is going to sit with you.
She's a Navy trauma surgeon. She
can keep you alive longer than I
can.
WALLACE
And you?
HANNAH
I'm going to find your hard drive.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Thriller","Mystery","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
11 -
Silent Warnings
INT. UCLA SICU - GERARD WALLACE'S ROOM - LATER
Cass in the visitor's chair. A thriller paperback in her lap.
Not reading it.
Wallace watches her.
WALLACE
You're a doctor.
CASS
Was.
WALLACE
Where.
CASS
Iraq. Then San Diego. Then nowhere.
WALLACE
Why nowhere.
A beat.
CASS
You ask a lot of questions for a
man on a ventilator.
WALLACE
(faint smile)
Force of habit.
A beat.
CASS
I'm here because Hannah Vance saved
two of my marriages and one of my
residencies, and her sister is
dead, and she has nobody else.
A long silence. Wallace closes his eyes.
WALLACE
Your friend is going to do
something she can't take back.
CASS
I know.
WALLACE
Don't let her.
A beat.
Cass does not answer.
She turns a page of the book she is not reading.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Thriller","Medical Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
12 -
The Heist in the Garage
EXT. WILSHIRE BOULEVARD - PARKING GARAGE - NIGHT
A 2018 Honda Civic on the third level. POLICE TAPE around it -
- already cut.
Hannah at the driver's side door. She has a slim jim.
She is a surgeon. Her hands are precise.
The lock pops.
She opens the glove box.
A small external hard drive. Wrapped in a Ziploc bag. Taped
to the underside of the dash.
She takes it.
She closes the door.
She walks back to her own car, parked at the entrance.
She sits in the driver's seat. The hard drive in her lap.
Her thumb taps her ring finger.
She closes her hand around it. Stops the tap.
She drives.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Thriller","Mystery","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
13 -
Whispers at the Gala
EXT. THE BEVERLY HILTON - INTERNATIONAL BALLROOM ENTRANCE -
NIGHT
Black-tie. Valets. A photo backdrop reading:
UCLA HEALTH FOUNDATION ANNUAL BENEFACTORS GALA
Hannah steps out of a town car. She has not been on a red
carpet since college. She knows how to do it without
remembering she knows how.
A PHOTOGRAPHER lifts his camera. She walks past him without
breaking stride.
INT. BEVERLY HILTON - INTERNATIONAL BALLROOM - NIGHT
A space the size of a small ocean. Money. The room is made of
money.
Hannah moves through it like a ghost who used to live here.
A WOMAN in her sixties intercepts her -- diamonds, silver
hair, a face Hannah remembers from childhood. MARGOT
WHITTAKER.
MARGOT
Hannah. My God. Where is your
mother.
HANNAH
She's not coming.
A beat. Margot studies her. Lowers her voice.
MARGOT
There's a rumor.
HANNAH
About what.
MARGOT
That Jess was looking at things.
For the board. That she'd flagged
something. And now nobody will say
what she flagged.
A long beat.
HANNAH
Margot. If you were going to tell
me something, what would it be.
The look of a woman who has lived in a city built on secrets,
choosing to break one of them.
MARGOT
Look at the silent auction catalog,
sweetheart. The third page. The
Montecito getaway.
She kisses Hannah's cheek. Walks away.
Genres:
["Drama","Mystery","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
14 -
A Toast to Secrets
INT. BEVERLY HILTON - SILENT AUCTION ROOM - NIGHT
Hannah at the catalog. Page three.
A WEEKEND AT REINER ESTATE. MONTECITO. 8 GUESTS. PRIVATE
CHEF. WINE CELLAR TASTING WITH DR. ELLIOT REINER. STARTING
BID: $40,000.
A photograph. The wine cellar. A vaulted, climate-controlled
cathedral of bottles.
The wine cellar built with stolen pediatric oncology funds.
A VOICE behind her.
REINER (O.S.)
You came.
She turns. Reiner. Tuxedo. Easy.
REINER (CONT'D)
I was hoping you would.
She closes the catalog. Sets it down.
HANNAH
Margot Whittaker says hello.
REINER
(warm)
Margot is a treasure.
HANNAH
She bid forty-five on Montecito.
REINER
Then I'll have to pour her
something extraordinary.
He offers his arm.
REINER (CONT'D)
Come. There's a table I want you
at.
She takes his arm.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
15 -
Tension at the Gala
INT. BEVERLY HILTON - BALLROOM - NIGHT
Table 4. Hannah seated between Reiner on her left and a
distinguished man in his late seventies on her right. JUDGE
STERLING ROTH (Ret.), a federal judge emeritus. Old friend of
Hannah's father.
Across the table: KATHRYN VOSS, 50s, sharp, the foundation's
executive director. Reiner's appointee.
The lighting begins to shift. A spotlight on the lectern.
Reiner stands. He kisses Hannah on the temple as he rises --
a paternal kiss. The room finds it tender.
Reiner walks to the lectern.
Hannah looks at her plate.
Judge Roth, beside her, leans over.
JUDGE ROTH
(quiet)
Your father would be very proud of
you tonight.
Hannah looks at him.
HANNAH
Judge Roth. Are you on the board.
JUDGE ROTH
Since 1991.
HANNAH
Have you ever audited Ridgepoint.
A beat. The Judge looks at her.
JUDGE ROTH
That's the consulting firm.
HANNAH
Yes.
JUDGE ROTH
We pay them. They handle
procurement.
HANNAH
Who owns Ridgepoint, Judge.
A beat. He does not know.
JUDGE ROTH
I'd have to check.
HANNAH
Check.
The look of a man who has just realized the floor he is
standing on may not be a floor.
JUDGE ROTH
(very quiet)
Is this the rumor.
HANNAH
Check, Judge.
He looks down at his plate. Then back up.
JUDGE ROTH
Tonight.
The applause for Reiner swells. He has finished. The room
rises.
Hannah rises with them. Claps.
She walks toward the back of the ballroom.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Mystery","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
16 -
The Ticking Clock
INT. BEVERLY HILTON - ELEVATORS - NIGHT
Hannah at the elevators. The ballroom muffled behind her. She
presses 14.
The doors close.
She breathes.
INT. BEVERLY HILTON - 14TH FLOOR HALLWAY - NIGHT
Empty. She moves down it, fast. Suite 1408.
She produces a key card. We have not seen this before.
She slides it through the lock. The light goes green.
She steps inside.
INT. BEVERLY HILTON - SUITE 1408 - NIGHT
A grand suite. A laptop on the desk, closed. Cufflinks beside
it. A jacket draped over the chair.
Hannah goes to the desk. Opens the laptop.
A password screen.
She types: JESS
WRONG PASSWORD.
HANNAH
WRONG PASSWORD.
RIDGEPOINT
WRONG PASSWORD.
She closes her eyes. Thinks.
MONTECITO
The screen unlocks.
She exhales. She produces the external hard drive. Plugs it
in. Selects: ALL.
ESTIMATED TIME REMAINING: 7 MINUTES.
She walks to the window. The Beverly Hills lights below.
She walks back to the desk. Sees a folder on the desktop
labeled FAMILY.
She opens it.
REINER WITH HER FATHER, decades ago. At a beach. Both holding
small children -- one is unmistakably Hannah at maybe four.
She is on her father's shoulders. Reiner is laughing harder
than her father.
A wedding photograph. Hannah's parents. Reiner is the best
man.
Hannah's college graduation. Reiner pinning a white coat onto
her at the ceremony.
Jess's college graduation. Reiner with his arm around Jess.
Hannah's hand goes to her mouth.
She closes the folder.
She looks at the desk drawer. Top right.
Opens it.
A leather notebook. Underneath -- a passport. UNITED STATES.
Reiner's. And next to it -- a second passport.
REPUBLIC OF MALTA.
Same photograph. Different name.
EDWARD RAYMOND SHELDON.
A bolt-hole identity. A man who is preparing to leave.
Her phone buzzes. She nearly drops it. A text from Cass: HE'S
MOVING. HE LEFT TWO MINUTES AGO. ELEVATORS.
ESTIMATED TIME REMAINING: 2 MINUTES.
Hannah's hands -- the hands that have been steady through
every crisis of the script -- are now shaking.
She looks at the bar. She looks at the door.
She makes the choice.
She waits.
ESTIMATED TIME REMAINING: 30 SECONDS.
Footsteps. Right outside.
10 SECONDS.
A KEY CARD enters the lock.
The bar disappears. TRANSFER COMPLETE.
She yanks the drive. Slams the laptop closed. Steps back.
The door opens.
REINER stands in the doorway. He has not seen her yet.
REINER
(over his shoulder)
Five minutes, Kathryn. I'll be
right down.
He turns. Sees Hannah.
Pauses.
Smiles.
REINER (CONT'D)
Lost?
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
17 -
Confrontation in Suite 1408
INT. BEVERLY HILTON - SUITE 1408 - CONTINUOUS
Hannah at the desk. The hard drive in her clutch. Reiner in
the doorway.
HANNAH
(lightly)
I came up to find a bathroom.
REINER
The ballroom has six.
HANNAH
Mine had a line.
A beat. Reiner closes the door behind him.
REINER
Sit down.
She does not sit.
REINER (CONT'D)
Hannah. Sit down.
She sits. He sits across. The desk between them. The closed
laptop.
REINER (CONT'D)
I'm going to tell you something and
I want you to listen.
HANNAH
Okay.
REINER
I know you're not okay.
HANNAH
I'm okay.
REINER
You are not. Look at your hands.
She looks. Her hands are still shaking.
REINER (CONT'D)
I want you to take a leave of
absence. Three months. Paid. I'll
cover for you.
HANNAH
I don't want to leave.
REINER
Hannah. You operated last night
with a posterior IVC repair you
should not have attempted on three
hours of sleep.
HANNAH
He lived.
REINER
He lived because you are the best
surgeon I've trained in twenty
years.
(beat)
And because you got lucky.
A beat.
HANNAH
I'm not taking leave.
REINER
Then I will require it.
HANNAH
Why.
REINER
Because I love you and I do not
want to watch you destroy yourself.
She looks at him.
She believes him.
That is the most disturbing moment of the scene -- for her,
for the audience, for the script. He means it.
HANNAH
What was Ridgepoint.
A beat.
REINER
What.
HANNAH
Ridgepoint Advisory Group.
A long beat.
REINER
Where did you hear that name.
HANNAH
I'm asking.
A long beat.
REINER
A consulting entity I established
to manage procurement for the
foundation. Vendor contracts run
through it.
HANNAH
And the eleven million.
REINER
The foundation paid Ridgepoint for
services rendered over twelve
years. Audit trail is on file.
HANNAH
Audited by whom.
REINER
Hannah.
HANNAH
Audited by whom, Elliot.
A beat.
REINER
By me.
A beat.
HANNAH
I see.
A long, awful silence.
REINER
Hannah. Whatever you think you
have, take a breath. Sit with it.
Bring it to me before you bring it
to anyone else and we'll look at it
together.
HANNAH
(quietly)
That is exactly what you said to
Jess.
A beat.
The temperature in the room changes.
Reiner does not move. His face does not move. But something
in his eyes has gone still in a way it has not been still
before.
REINER
Get out of my room, Hannah.
She stands.
REINER (CONT'D)
And you will take leave tomorrow
morning. Or I will flag your
privileges.
HANNAH
Flag them.
She walks past him.
REINER
Hannah.
She stops. Does not turn.
REINER (CONT'D)
You don't know what you're doing.
HANNAH
Neither did she.
She walks out.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
18 -
Elevator Ascension
INT. BEVERLY HILTON - 14TH FLOOR HALLWAY - NIGHT
Hannah in the empty hallway. She makes it to the elevator.
She does not press DOWN.
She presses UP.
The elevator dings.
She steps in.
The doors close.
CLOSE ON HANNAH'S FACE.
Steady. The metronome.
Her thumb is not tapping.
Her hand is in her pocket.
Her hand is closed around something.
We do not see what.
FADE TO BLACK.
END OF ACT ONE
FADE IN:
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
19 -
Stealthy Intentions
INT. UCLA HOSPITAL - ELEVATOR - NIGHT
Hannah's face. Steady. The metronome.
Her hand is in her pocket. Closed around the hard drive.
The floor indicator: 2. 3. 4.
The elevator stops.
The doors open.
A NURSE steps in. Doesn't look at her.
The doors close.
The elevator climbs.
The nurse gets off at 7.
The doors close.
Hannah is alone again.
She presses 8.
INT. UCLA SICU - 8TH FLOOR - NIGHT
The doors open onto the SICU corridor. Hannah steps out.
She walks down the corridor. Past the nurses' station.
Wallace's room is at the end.
She does not go to Wallace's room.
She turns left. Goes to a supply closet. Opens it.
She takes a roll of medical tape.
She walks back to the corridor. Stops at a janitor's closet.
Opens it.
She tapes the hard drive to the underside of a metal shelf.
Behind a stack of cleaning supplies.
She closes the door.
She walks to Wallace's room.
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama","Mystery"]
Ratings
Scene
20 -
A Night of Vigilance and Love
INT. WALLACE'S ROOM - NIGHT
Cass in the chair. The thriller paperback open in her lap.
She is awake.
Wallace is asleep. Vitals stable.
Hannah closes the door behind her.
CASS
(low)
You okay.
HANNAH
He came up to the suite.
CASS
Reiner.
HANNAH
Yes.
CASS
And.
A beat.
HANNAH
He told me to take leave or he'd
flag my privileges.
CASS
That's not "and." That's the
opening move. Where's the drive.
HANNAH
Janitor's closet. Two doors down.
Underside of the second shelf.
CASS
Smart.
HANNAH
He knows I have it.
CASS
Yeah.
A beat.
HANNAH
He'll come for me before he comes
for Wallace.
CASS
He'll come for both. He just hasn't
decided what order.
A beat. Cass closes the paperback.
CASS (CONT'D)
Hannah. Go to your mother's.
HANNAH
No.
CASS
Tonight.
HANNAH
I haven't been in that house since
the funeral.
CASS
That's exactly why he won't look
for you there.
A long beat.
HANNAH
He'll send someone.
CASS
Probably.
HANNAH
To my apartment.
CASS
Probably.
HANNAH
Tonight.
CASS
Yes.
A beat.
HANNAH
And you.
CASS
I sit here.
HANNAH
Cass --
CASS
He won't hit the hospital tonight.
Too many witnesses. He's giving
himself a day to decide.
A long beat.
HANNAH
Don't sleep.
CASS
Wasn't planning to.
Hannah crosses to her. Puts a hand on Cass's shoulder.
HANNAH
I love you.
CASS
Go.
She goes.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
21 -
Tensions and Decisions
INT. REINER'S OFFICE - LATER NIGHT
Reiner at his desk. Tie loosened. He looks like a man who has
not slept and does not intend to.
A glass of bourbon at his elbow. Untouched.
He picks up his phone. Dials.
It rings.
It is answered on the second ring. We hear only the voice
through the receiver.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
(calm)
Yeah.
REINER
The investigator.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
SICU. Eighth floor.
REINER
You've been there.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
From the parking deck. He has a
friend in the chair. Female.
Forties.
REINER
That's Cass Doyle.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
Navy.
REINER
Yes.
A beat.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
That's a complication.
REINER
Yes.
A beat.
REINER (CONT'D)
Hannah came to the suite tonight.
A long beat.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
What did she take.
REINER
Everything I had on the laptop. And
she saw the second passport.
A long, long beat.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
Elliot.
REINER
Yes.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
That changes the shape of this.
REINER
I know.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
Tonight?
A beat. Reiner closes his eyes.
REINER
Not Hannah.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
Elliot.
REINER
Not Hannah, Mike.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
With respect. The longer this goes
the harder it is.
REINER
I am not going to ask you again.
Not Hannah.
A beat.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
The investigator.
REINER
The investigator.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
He's the loose end.
REINER
He's the loose end.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
Tonight?
A beat.
REINER
Tomorrow. Daylight. They won't
expect daylight.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
Roger.
The line clicks dead.
Reiner sits very still for a moment.
Then he opens his laptop. Pulls up a hospital administration
page.
PRIVILEGES MODIFICATION
PHYSICIAN: VANCE, HANNAH M, MD
He fills out a form. Reason for modification: PHYSICIAN
IMPAIRMENT -- EXHAUSTION, GRIEF-RELATED. PROTECTIVE LEAVE
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.
He hovers over SUBMIT.
He does not click.
He looks at a framed photograph on his desk -- a four-year-
old Hannah on her father's shoulders, both of them laughing.
A long beat.
He clicks SUBMIT.
The screen confirms: PRIVILEGES SUSPENDED.
He picks up the photograph.
He sets it face-down on his desk.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
22 -
Silent Revelations
EXT. VANCE HOUSE - NORTH CRESCENT DRIVE - NIGHT
The same street. The same jacaranda trees.
Hannah's car pulls up.
She sits in the driver's seat for a long beat.
She does not get out.
She gets out.
INT. VANCE HOUSE - KITCHEN - 3:14 AM
A grand kitchen, half-lit. Marble. Copper pots. The kind of
kitchen where children grew up.
ELEANOR VANCE. 68. Robe. Silver hair down. She is making tea.
She does not turn when Hannah enters.
ELEANOR
You used the side door.
HANNAH
Yes.
ELEANOR
You have not used the side door
since you were sixteen.
HANNAH
Mom.
Eleanor turns.
She looks at her daughter for a long beat.
She does not move toward her.
ELEANOR
Sit down.
Hannah sits at the island. Eleanor pours her tea.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
Drink.
HANNAH
Mom, I need to tell you something.
ELEANOR
Drink the tea first.
Hannah drinks.
A beat.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
I know about Elliot.
Hannah's hand stops the cup halfway down.
HANNAH
What.
ELEANOR
I know what he did to Jess.
A long, long beat.
HANNAH
How long have you known.
ELEANOR
Three weeks.
HANNAH
Three weeks.
ELEANOR
The morning after the service.
Elliot came over. He sat in your
father's chair. He told me Jess had
been "investigating something
inappropriate" at the foundation.
He said he was so glad he'd asked
her to bring it to him before
anyone else.
A beat.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
He was telling me he had been the
last one to see her alive. To
establish that he was the last one
to see her alive. So that when
someone asked, the story was
already in place.
HANNAH
Mom.
ELEANOR
I poured him coffee. I asked him
about his wife's hip. I let him
leave through the front door.
A long silence.
HANNAH
Why didn't you tell me.
A beat.
ELEANOR
Because I didn't have proof. And
because I knew that if I told you,
you would either go to the police
with nothing -- and lose -- or you
would do something I could not get
you back from.
She looks at her daughter.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
And because I have already buried
one of you.
A long, long beat.
Hannah lowers her face into her hands.
She does not cry.
Eleanor crosses around the island. Stands behind her. Puts
both hands on Hannah's shoulders.
She does not say anything.
She holds her shoulders.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Mystery"]
Ratings
Scene
23 -
Restless Reflections
INT. VANCE HOUSE - HANNAH'S OLD BEDROOM - PRE-DAWN
A girl's bedroom preserved. Posters from twenty-five years
ago. A medical school acceptance letter framed on the wall. A
photograph of two girls on a beach -- Hannah and Jess, maybe
twelve and seven.
Hannah on the bed. In her clothes. Not under the covers.
Awake.
She stares at the ceiling.
The room is dark except for the streetlight through the
curtains.
Her thumb taps her ring finger.
Once. Twice. Three times.
She closes her hand.
She closes her eyes.
She does not sleep.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Mystery","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
24 -
Unveiling Shadows
INT. VANCE HOUSE - LIBRARY - DAWN
A wood-paneled library. Floor-to-ceiling shelves. Hannah's
father's desk by the window.
Hannah at the desk. The hard drive plugged into a laptop.
Coffee cooling beside her.
She has been working for hours.
On the screen: spreadsheets. Wire transfers. Bank statements.
The shell company in Delaware. The wire to Malta.
She opens a folder labeled INVESTIGATOR / PHOTOS.
A folder of surveillance images.
The first: a man on a bench in Beverly Hills. Mid-forties.
Fit. Coffee in hand. He is reading a newspaper.
The second: the same man, walking out of a building. Black
SUV at the curb.
The third: the same man at a long-range gun range. Steady
stance.
The fourth: a military service photograph. Younger. Marine
dress blues.
A document opens beside it.
KOHLBERG, MICHAEL R.
USMC RECON 2002 - 2009.
DISCHARGE: OTHER THAN HONORABLE.
NOTES (REDACTED): TWO CIVILIAN DEATH
INVESTIGATIONS, BAGHDAD 2007. SETTLED.
A long silence.
Hannah looks at the photograph.
She has seen this man before.
She has seen him in the lobby of her apartment building, a
year ago, holding a grocery bag.
She has seen him at the coffee place across from UCLA, three
weeks ago.
She has seen him every day, and not seen him at all.
The door of the library opens.
Eleanor in the doorway. A robe.
ELEANOR
Cass is downstairs.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Thriller","Mystery","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
25 -
Confronting Shadows
INT. VANCE HOUSE - LIBRARY - SAME TIME
Cass enters. She has not slept. There is a bandage on her
left hand.
Hannah stands.
HANNAH
Wallace.
CASS
Stable. Cop on the door.
HANNAH
Your hand.
CASS
Someone tried to walk into the room
at four AM. Maintenance uniform.
Not a maintenance face.
HANNAH
Did he --
CASS
He saw me sitting in the chair. He
turned around.
HANNAH
Cass.
CASS
I followed him to the elevator. He
knew I was following him. He turned
and put a hand on my throat.
A beat.
CASS (CONT'D)
I bit him. He let go. He left.
HANNAH
The cop?
CASS
Was on his break. He had a five-
minute window. He used four.
A long silence.
HANNAH
Cass.
CASS
I'm fine.
HANNAH
You are not fine.
CASS
I am a forty-six-year-old former
Navy trauma surgeon who has just
had her ass handed to her by a
forty-something Recon Marine in a
hospital corridor at four AM. I am
pissed off, I am embarrassed, and I
am very fine.
A long beat.
HANNAH
He is going to come back.
CASS
He is going to come back tonight.
HANNAH
Tonight is too soon. He'll wait.
CASS
He won't wait. I touched him.
A beat.
Hannah turns the laptop toward Cass.
HANNAH
That's him.
Cass looks. Her face does not change.
CASS
Wallace got pictures.
HANNAH
Wallace got everything.
CASS
(reading)
Recon. Two civilian deaths in
Baghdad. Other than honorable. The
Corps paid the families and he
walked.
HANNAH
He's been doing this since he was
twenty-six.
A long silence.
CASS
Hannah.
HANNAH
Yeah.
CASS
I cannot fight this man.
A beat.
HANNAH
You can.
CASS
Don't ask me that.
HANNAH
I'm asking.
CASS
Hannah.
HANNAH
You said it yourself. The police
are not where this ends.
CASS
Hannah, I said --
HANNAH
You loaded the gun, Cass.
A long silence.
Cass looks at her. The friendship between them is on the
table now. Eighteen years of it.
CASS
I loaded the gun for you. To
protect you.
HANNAH
I know.
CASS
That is not the same thing as
asking me to use it.
HANNAH
I know.
CASS
Don't ask me to use it, Hannah.
Please.
A long beat.
Hannah lowers her eyes.
HANNAH
Okay.
CASS
Look at me.
HANNAH
I said okay.
CASS
Look at me, Hannah.
Hannah looks up.
CASS (CONT'D)
We do this with the law. With
Wallace's documentation. With the
recording. With the spreadsheets
and the Maltese passport and the
eleven million dollars.
(beat)
We do it the way that lets you
sleep when this is over.
A beat.
HANNAH
Okay.
CASS
Okay.
A long silence.
Cass looks at her watch.
CASS (CONT'D)
My shift starts in an hour.
HANNAH
Be careful.
CASS
You too.
She gathers her jacket. Hesitates at the door.
CASS (CONT'D)
Hannah.
HANNAH
Yeah.
CASS
Don't go to your apartment.
HANNAH
I won't.
A beat.
CASS
I love you.
HANNAH
I love you.
Cass leaves.
Hannah sits alone in her father's library.
She looks at the photograph of Michael Kohlberg.
She does not look away.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
26 -
Pragmatic Justice
INT. VANCE HOUSE - LIBRARY - LATER MORNING
Hannah at the desk. Eleanor in a leather chair across from
her. A printed transcript of the recording in Eleanor's
hands.
Eleanor has just finished reading it.
She sets the transcript down on the side table.
She does not look at Hannah for a long time.
ELEANOR
The recording.
HANNAH
Yes.
ELEANOR
Is it admissible.
HANNAH
I don't know. California is two-
party consent. We don't know if she
told him.
ELEANOR
Then we go to a federal prosecutor.
The wire fraud. The money. That
part is provable.
HANNAH
Mom.
ELEANOR
We get him on the foundation. We
get him for everything we can prove
and we live with the rest.
A beat.
HANNAH
He'll get fifteen years for the
money.
ELEANOR
He'll get fifteen years for the
money.
HANNAH
He killed Jess.
ELEANOR
He killed Jess and he is going to
live in a federal prison for
fifteen years and he is going to
die in that prison.
A beat.
HANNAH
That's not justice.
ELEANOR
No.
(beat)
It's the available outcome.
A long silence.
Eleanor stands.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
I am going to call Sterling Roth.
HANNAH
Mom --
ELEANOR
Sterling has been on the foundation
board since 1991. Sterling sat at
the table with you last night. And
Sterling is a federal judge
emeritus who has dined in this
house every Christmas Eve since the
year you were born.
(beat)
He has a phone. The U.S. Attorney
for the Central District of
California will pick up that phone.
She crosses to the door. Stops.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
You will go with me. You will sit
in a chair across from a federal
prosecutor and you will tell her
everything. Tonight.
HANNAH
Mom, the AUSA is not going to --
ELEANOR
The AUSA is going to listen to a
federal judge emeritus who is
asking her, as a personal favor, to
listen to a grieving family.
(beat)
That is how Los Angeles works,
Hannah. It is also how it always
worked. It is what your father did
for forty years and what Elliot
Reiner has been doing for forty
years and what we are going to do
tonight.
A beat.
HANNAH
Tonight.
ELEANOR
Tonight.
She leaves.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
27 -
Legal Boundaries and Urgent Decisions
INT. U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE - DOWNTOWN LA - NIGHT
A wood-paneled office. After hours. Empty hallways outside.
PATRICIA CHEN, mid-fifties, AUSA. Behind her desk. Reading.
Across from her: Hannah, Eleanor, Judge Sterling Roth.
The hard drive plugged into Chen's laptop. The Maltese
passport in a sealed bag on the desk. A USB drive containing
the audio recording. A printed transcript.
Chen has been reading for fourteen minutes.
She takes off her reading glasses.
CHEN
Judge Roth. With respect. You
understand what you are asking me
to do.
JUDGE ROTH
I do.
CHEN
You are asking me to indict a man
who runs the largest hospital
foundation on the West Coast,
starting Monday, on the strength of
a deathbed conversation with a shot
private investigator and a
recording your client cannot prove
is admissible.
JUDGE ROTH
I am asking you to do your job,
Patricia. The wire transfers are
not a deathbed conversation. The
Maltese identity is not a deathbed
conversation. The eleven million
dollars is not a deathbed
conversation.
CHEN
And the murder.
A beat.
JUDGE ROTH
The murder is for the District
Attorney.
CHEN
Yes. It is.
HANNAH
I'm sorry. The murder is --
CHEN
Dr. Vance. The federal government
does not prosecute the murder of
your sister. That is a state crime.
HANNAH
But Reiner is federal.
CHEN
Reiner is federal for the
embezzlement. We can indict him for
wire fraud, for the Maltese
identity fraud, for foundation
theft. We can probably get him to
twenty years.
(beat)
We cannot indict him for ordering
Jess's death. That belongs to LA
County.
HANNAH
You can give them what we have.
CHEN
We can. They will look at it.
HANNAH
And then?
A long beat.
CHEN
Dr. Vance. I am going to tell you
the truth, fast.
(beat)
The DA's office is six months deep
in two officer-involved shooting
trials and a midlevel cartel
prosecution. They have intake
bandwidth for cases that look like
wins. The murder of a forty-year-
old white woman by an unidentified
contractor for a hospital
foundation chairman is not a case
that looks like a win. It is a case
that looks like a decade.
HANNAH
So they won't.
CHEN
They will accept the file. They
will assign a deputy. The deputy
will read it. And they will tell
you that without the contractor in
custody, there is no murder
prosecution.
HANNAH
Without Kohlberg.
CHEN
Yes.
A beat.
HANNAH
You are telling me that the only
way Reiner is prosecuted for Jess
is if Kohlberg testifies against
him.
CHEN
I am telling you that the only way
Reiner is prosecuted for Jess in a
courtroom in this state in the next
five years is if Kohlberg is in
custody and willing to deal.
A long silence.
ELEANOR
And the foundation.
CHEN
The foundation we move on. I will
have a federal indictment ready for
a grand jury Monday morning. We
arrest him at five AM Tuesday.
(beat)
Mrs. Vance. I am sorry.
ELEANOR
Don't be sorry. Be efficient.
A beat.
Chen nods.
CHEN
I'll be efficient.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Legal Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
28 -
Confronting the Past
INT. HANNAH'S CAR - DOWNTOWN LA - NIGHT
Hannah at the wheel. Eleanor in the passenger seat. Judge
Roth in the back.
Streetlights pass over their faces. A long silence.
JUDGE ROTH
Eleanor.
ELEANOR
Yes.
JUDGE ROTH
I am sorry.
ELEANOR
Sterling.
JUDGE ROTH
Charles --
ELEANOR
Sterling. Don't.
A beat.
JUDGE ROTH
He warned me. Twelve years ago. He
said Elliot was running the
foundation like a checking account.
He asked me what to do.
HANNAH
(from the front)
What did you tell him.
A long beat.
JUDGE ROTH
I told him to bring it to the
board.
HANNAH
And.
JUDGE ROTH
He brought it to the board. The
board asked Elliot. Elliot produced
an audit. The audit was clean. The
audit was clean because Elliot had
performed it.
(beat)
The board moved on.
HANNAH
And so did my father.
JUDGE ROTH
And so did your father.
A long, long silence.
HANNAH
Why are you telling us this.
A beat.
JUDGE ROTH
Because Patricia Chen is going to
ask me, in front of a grand jury,
why I did not bring this to a
federal prosecutor twelve years
ago. And I am going to tell her the
truth.
ELEANOR
Which is?
JUDGE ROTH
That I did not bring it because I
believed Elliot's audit. That I am
a federal judge emeritus and I
believed an audit signed by the
subject of the audit.
(beat)
And that your daughter is dead in
part because of that.
A long silence.
ELEANOR
Sterling.
JUDGE ROTH
Yes.
ELEANOR
Thank you for tonight.
JUDGE ROTH
I am going to bring a hundred
dollars in cash to your house
tomorrow morning, Eleanor. We are
going to drink it in coffee. And
then I am going to do what I should
have done in 2013.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
29 -
Silent Promises
EXT. ECHO PARK - LATE NIGHT
A small house on a hill. A back porch. A cigarette burning
down to the filter in an ashtray on a wooden railing.
A WOMAN on the porch. Mid-thirties. Hair tied back. A baby
monitor beside her on the railing, the screen showing a
sleeping toddler.
She is on the phone.
WOMAN
(low)
You said tomorrow.
The voice on the other end is KOHLBERG.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
I know.
WOMAN
You said tomorrow night you'd be
home.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
I know.
WOMAN
Mike.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
Two more days. I promise.
A beat.
WOMAN
He keeps asking when you're coming
home.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
Tell him Daddy's working.
WOMAN
He's three. He doesn't know what
working is.
A beat.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
Tell him Daddy's helping a friend.
WOMAN
Are you.
A long beat.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
Yes.
WOMAN
Mike.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
Yeah.
WOMAN
I know what that means when you say
it like that.
A beat.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
Two more days, Lina.
WOMAN
Two more days.
KOHLBERG (V.O.)
I love you.
WOMAN
I love you.
She hangs up. Sets the phone face down on the railing.
She picks up the cigarette. Takes one drag. Stubs it out.
She picks up the baby monitor.
She watches her son sleep.
The screen of the monitor lights her face.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
30 -
Solitary Vigil
INT. KOHLBERG'S CAR - LATE NIGHT
Kohlberg in the driver's seat of a black SUV.
The car is parked half a block from Hannah's apartment.
Engine off.
He sets his phone on the passenger seat.
He takes a thermos from the door pocket. Pours coffee.
Drinks.
He waits.
Across the street, a cat crosses under a streetlight.
He does not move.
A long beat.
He picks up the phone again. He does not dial.
He looks at a photograph on the lock screen.
A boy. Maybe two. On Kohlberg's shoulders at a beach.
Laughing.
He puts the phone down.
He waits.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
31 -
Vigilance in the Night
INT. WALLACE'S ROOM - SICU - NIGHT
Wallace conscious. Cass beside him.
A bandage on Cass's forearm now -- new. From the corridor
incident.
WALLACE
You should sleep.
CASS
I'll sleep when you do.
WALLACE
I sleep all day.
CASS
Then I'll sleep all day.
A beat.
WALLACE
The friend.
CASS
What about her.
WALLACE
You said her sister is dead.
CASS
Yes.
WALLACE
And she is the kind of person who
goes to a federal prosecutor at
night.
CASS
Yes.
WALLACE
And the kind of person who keeps
the gun.
A beat.
CASS
The gun is with me.
WALLACE
That's not what I asked.
A long beat.
CASS
I'm watching her.
WALLACE
Watch her hands.
CASS
What does that mean.
WALLACE
A surgeon's hands are the most
honest part of her. When they go
still, she has decided.
A long beat.
CASS
Have you watched a lot of people
decide.
WALLACE
I have watched people decide my
whole career.
CASS
And.
WALLACE
The ones who decide are not the
ones who tell you they have.
A long silence.
Cass looks at the door.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
32 -
Confrontation in the Dark
INT. VANCE HOUSE - LIBRARY - VERY LATE NIGHT
Hannah at the desk. The library lit only by a desk lamp.
Her phone rings. CASS.
She answers.
HANNAH
Yeah.
CASS (V.O.)
Are you home.
HANNAH
I'm at my mother's.
CASS (V.O.)
He flagged you.
HANNAH
What.
CASS (V.O.)
Email from UCLA HR. Privileges
suspended. Effective tonight.
Reason: physician impairment.
A long beat.
HANNAH
Okay.
CASS (V.O.)
That's a problem, Hannah.
HANNAH
Why.
CASS (V.O.)
Because if Wallace codes tomorrow,
you are not a doctor. You are a
civilian whose sister is dead.
A beat.
HANNAH
Cass.
CASS (V.O.)
Yeah.
HANNAH
Reiner's house.
CASS (V.O.)
What.
HANNAH
He's at his Montecito house this
weekend. He goes every Friday at
four. He'll be alone.
CASS (V.O.)
Hannah --
HANNAH
The AUSA is at a grand jury Monday.
Tuesday morning he gets arrested.
He is going to spend tomorrow at
his house alone.
CASS (V.O.)
Don't.
HANNAH
Cass. He is sixty-two with a knee
replacement. I am not going there
with the gun. I am going there to
ask him a question.
CASS (V.O.)
What question.
A beat.
HANNAH
Whether he is sorry.
CASS (V.O.)
Hannah, that is not --
HANNAH
I am asking him in his own house,
on his own terms, when he believes
he is two days from federal
custody. I want the answer he gives
when he thinks I am not recording.
A long beat.
CASS (V.O.)
Are you recording.
HANNAH
Yes.
CASS (V.O.)
And then you will leave.
HANNAH
And then I will leave.
A long beat.
CASS (V.O.)
Hannah, I want you to listen to me
very carefully.
HANNAH
I'm listening.
CASS (V.O.)
The man who confesses is not the
dangerous one. The man who orders
the confession is. Reiner is going
to confess to you because he wants
you to feel like you have the
answer. He is also going to call
Kohlberg the moment you leave.
A beat.
HANNAH
I know.
CASS (V.O.)
You know.
HANNAH
I know, Cass.
A long silence.
CASS (V.O.)
Don't go alone.
HANNAH
I'm going alone.
CASS (V.O.)
Hannah.
HANNAH
You are sitting with the witness.
That is the only thing that matters
tonight.
CASS (V.O.)
Hannah --
HANNAH
Don't leave that chair, Cass. No
matter what you hear from me. Don't
leave that chair.
A long beat.
CASS (V.O.)
Okay.
HANNAH
I love you.
CASS (V.O.)
You too.
She hangs up.
She looks at the photograph of Kohlberg on the screen.
She closes the laptop.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
33 -
Confrontation in the Library
EXT. REINER ESTATE - MONTECITO - LATE NIGHT
A long gravel drive. Olive trees. A two-story Spanish
colonial. Lit windows on the ground floor.
Hannah's car parked at the gate. She walks the last hundred
yards.
She approaches the house.
She does not knock.
She tries the front door.
It is unlocked.
She steps inside.
INT. REINER HOUSE - LIBRARY - NIGHT
A two-story library. Floor-to-ceiling shelves. Persian rugs.
A fireplace, lit, low.
Reiner in an armchair. A glass of wine. He is in shirt
sleeves. No tie. He has been waiting.
He looks up when she enters. He does not seem surprised.
A long beat.
REINER
Hannah.
HANNAH
Elliot.
REINER
Sit down.
She does not.
REINER (CONT'D)
Please.
She sits. The chair across from him. The fire between them.
REINER (CONT'D)
Drink?
HANNAH
No.
A long beat.
REINER
They're coming for me.
HANNAH
At five AM Tuesday.
A beat.
REINER
Federal.
HANNAH
Yes.
REINER
For the foundation.
HANNAH
Yes.
REINER
Not for Jess.
HANNAH
They cannot prove it.
A long beat.
REINER
I am not sorry, Hannah.
A beat.
HANNAH
About which.
REINER
About the foundation.
HANNAH
I see.
REINER
I am sorry about Jess.
A long, long silence.
HANNAH
Are you.
REINER
You will not believe me. But I am.
HANNAH
Tell me what happened.
A beat.
REINER
You have the recording.
HANNAH
I want to hear it from you.
A long beat.
REINER
Jess came to me with the
spreadsheets. She told me she was
going to the board on Monday and
the AG on Tuesday. I --
HANNAH
What.
REINER
I begged her.
HANNAH
I heard.
REINER
I begged her, Hannah. Eleven
million dollars. Forty years of
work. A building with my name on
it. Two daughters whose college I
could not have paid for if I had
not --
HANNAH
Stolen.
REINER
Yes.
A long beat.
REINER (CONT'D)
She left. I called Mike.
HANNAH
Kohlberg.
REINER
Yes. I told him to intercept her.
To take the documents back. I said -
- I said -- "do what you have to
do."
A beat.
HANNAH
Did you know what he would do.
A long, long beat.
REINER
Yes.
A long silence.
HANNAH
So you ordered it.
REINER
Yes.
HANNAH
On the phone. From this room.
REINER
From the chair I am sitting in.
A long, long, long silence.
HANNAH
Why are you telling me this.
A beat.
REINER
Because the prosecutor cannot use
it.
A beat.
HANNAH
You're confessing because you know
it is inadmissible.
REINER
I am confessing because you came
here.
(beat)
And because I want you to know I
did not lie to you about the part
that mattered.
HANNAH
What part mattered.
REINER
That I love you.
A long, long silence.
HANNAH
Don't.
REINER
I have loved you since you were
three years old. Your father put
you in my arms at the hospital
nursery. You gripped my finger.
Hannah, I have loved you for thirty-
eight years.
HANNAH
Don't.
REINER
I would not have hurt you. I told
Mike not to touch you. He asked. I
refused.
HANNAH
And Jess.
A beat.
REINER
I did not love Jess the way I loved
you.
A long silence.
HANNAH
Because she did not look at you
like a father.
REINER
Because she did not look at me at
all.
A long beat.
HANNAH
So you killed the one who saw you
for what you were.
A beat.
REINER
Yes.
A long silence.
Hannah stands.
She walks to Reiner. To the chair.
She crouches in front of him. Eye level.
She takes his hand.
She holds it.
He looks at her. His eyes fill.
HANNAH
(very quietly)
You will go to prison for fifteen
years for stealing money from
children.
REINER
Yes.
HANNAH
You will not go to prison for Jess.
REINER
No.
HANNAH
That is what we both have to live
with.
REINER
Yes.
A long beat.
HANNAH
You will live with it longer.
A beat.
She lets go of his hand.
She stands. Walks toward the door.
REINER
Hannah.
She stops. Does not turn.
REINER (CONT'D)
Will you stay.
A beat.
HANNAH
No, Elliot.
She walks out.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
34 -
A Moment of Deletion
EXT. REINER ESTATE - FRONT DRIVE - NIGHT
Hannah walks down the drive. Slowly. The gravel crunching.
She reaches her car.
She gets in.
She does not start the engine.
She sits.
Her phone is on the passenger seat. The recording app is
still running. Red dot.
She reaches over.
She stops the recording.
She looks at the file.
She does not save it.
She holds her thumb over DELETE.
A long beat.
She presses DELETE.
The file is gone.
She closes her eyes.
She starts the engine.
She drives.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
35 -
Midnight Confessions
INT. HANNAH'S CAR - PCH - NIGHT
The Pacific Coast Highway. Black water on her right. The
cliffs on her left.
Hannah at the wheel. The radio off. Just the road.
Her phone rings. The dashboard reads CASS.
She answers, hands-free.
HANNAH
He confessed.
CASS (V.O.)
And.
HANNAH
I deleted the recording.
A long beat.
CASS (V.O.)
Why.
HANNAH
Because it doesn't change anything.
CASS (V.O.)
Hannah --
HANNAH
Cass. He is sixty-two with a knee
replacement and a federal arrest on
Tuesday morning. He is not the one
who killed her.
A beat.
CASS (V.O.)
Don't.
HANNAH
I'm not.
CASS (V.O.)
You are.
HANNAH
Cass. Where is the cop.
CASS (V.O.)
The cop is here.
HANNAH
Where exactly.
CASS (V.O.)
In the chair outside the door. He's
reading a magazine.
HANNAH
Stay in the room.
CASS (V.O.)
I'm in the room.
HANNAH
Stay in the room, Cass. Don't go
for coffee. Don't go to the
bathroom. Stay in the room until
dawn.
CASS (V.O.)
Hannah, what are you --
HANNAH
I love you. Stay in the room.
She hangs up.
She drives.
The clock on her dashboard: 1:14 AM.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
36 -
Urgent Vigilance
INT. KOHLBERG'S CAR - NIGHT
Same black SUV. Same half-block from Hannah's apartment.
Kohlberg watches.
His phone buzzes. A text. He reads it.
SHE'S NOT HERE. NEVER WAS.
He reads it again.
He starts the engine.
He pulls out of the parking spot.
He drives.
CUT TO:
INT. WALLACE'S ROOM - SICU - NIGHT
Cass in the chair. Wallace asleep.
Cass's phone is on her knee. She is staring at it.
She has not put it down since Hannah hung up.
A long beat.
She stands.
She crosses to the door. Opens it.
The cop in the chair outside. Officer NUNEZ. Mid-thirties.
Reading a magazine.
CASS
Officer.
NUNEZ
Ma'am.
CASS
Where do you keep your radio.
NUNEZ
On my belt.
CASS
Is it on.
NUNEZ
It's always on.
CASS
If a man in a maintenance uniform
comes through that elevator, you do
not let him near this door. Do you
understand.
NUNEZ
Ma'am --
CASS
He came at four AM yesterday. I
stopped him. He is going to come
back.
NUNEZ
Ma'am, I need you to --
CASS
Officer Nunez. I am Dr. Cass Doyle,
Navy trauma surgeon, Iraq. Your
sergeant is George Pham. I had a
beer with George Pham six weeks ago
at the Sundowner. Call George Pham
right now and tell him Cass Doyle
is asking him to call UCLA
security.
A long beat.
Nunez picks up his radio.
NUNEZ
Dispatch. This is Nunez. Patch me
to Sergeant Pham, please.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
37 -
Silent Sabotage
INT. UCLA HOSPITAL - SERVICE ENTRANCE - NIGHT
A loading dock. An ambulance bay empty at this hour.
Kohlberg in maintenance coveralls. Different from
yesterday's. A clipboard. A toolbox.
He walks past the security desk without stopping.
The guard does not look up.
He takes the service elevator. Presses 8.
INT. UCLA HOSPITAL - 8TH FLOOR - SERVICE CORRIDOR - NIGHT
Kohlberg in the empty service corridor that runs behind the
SICU.
He stops at a junction box. Opens his toolbox. Takes out a
pair of cable cutters.
He opens the junction box.
Inside: the wiring for the SICU corridor cameras.
He cuts two wires.
He closes the box.
He walks down the corridor toward the SICU.
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
38 -
Isolation in the Shadows
INT. SICU - NIGHT
Officer Nunez at his post outside Wallace's door.
A new officer arrives. Another uniform. Older. CALDERON.
CALDERON
Pham sent me.
NUNEZ
Took you long enough.
CALDERON
The cameras are out on this floor.
IT is on the way.
NUNEZ
What.
CALDERON
Eighth floor service corridor. Five
minutes ago.
A beat.
Nunez stands up.
NUNEZ
Stay here.
He starts down the corridor toward the service door.
CUT TO:
INT. SICU SERVICE CORRIDOR - NIGHT
Nunez walks down the corridor. His hand on his sidearm.
He reaches the service door.
He opens it.
The corridor is empty.
He steps in.
He walks ten paces.
He stops.
He turns around.
The door he came through is closed.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Thriller","Mystery"]
Ratings
Scene
39 -
Imposter in the Night
INT. WALLACE'S ROOM - NIGHT
Calderon at the door. Cass inside.
A long beat.
CASS
Where did Nunez go.
CALDERON
Service corridor.
CASS
Why did Nunez go to the service
corridor.
A beat.
CALDERON
Because the cameras are out.
CASS
Calderon.
CALDERON
Yes.
CASS
Are you Calderon.
A beat.
CALDERON
Yes ma'am.
She looks at him. She looks at his uniform. She looks at his
hands.
She knows he is not Calderon.
His hand goes to his belt.
She is faster.
She has a scalpel.
She had it in her sleeve.
It is not a fight. It is over in three seconds.
He is on the floor. She is above him. The scalpel is at his
neck.
He is not Kohlberg. He is younger. Twenty-eight. Confused.
He has a gun in his hand. He drops it.
NOT-CALDERON
(gasping)
He said --
CASS
Who said.
NOT-CALDERON
I'm a paramedic. He paid me. He
said three thousand dollars to
stand in a chair for ten minutes.
CASS
Who.
NOT-CALDERON
He didn't say his name.
A long, long beat.
The lights in the corridor flicker.
Cass looks up.
The door of Wallace's room is open.
The bed is empty.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
40 -
Desperate Confrontation in the SICU
INT. SICU CORRIDOR - NIGHT
Cass running. Down the corridor. Past the empty nurses'
station. Past the elevator bank.
She rounds a corner.
KOHLBERG.
In maintenance coveralls. Pushing a gurney. Wallace on it. IV
pole. Ventilator on a portable battery.
He is wheeling the witness out of the hospital.
CASS
STOP.
He turns. Sees her.
He smiles.
KOHLBERG
Doc.
She takes a step.
He takes a step.
The gurney between them.
KOHLBERG (CONT'D)
Don't.
CASS
Step away from him.
KOHLBERG
I will. I'm taking him to a
different floor.
CASS
You are taking him to a service
elevator and a vehicle.
KOHLBERG
Doc.
A beat.
CASS
Mike.
That is the first time anyone in the script has called him by
his name.
He pauses.
CASS (CONT'D)
You have a son.
A beat.
KOHLBERG
What.
CASS
Three years old.
A long, long beat.
KOHLBERG
(very quiet)
Doc.
CASS
Step away from the gurney, Mike.
A beat.
He does not.
He pulls a knife from his belt.
The fight that follows is short.
She is good. She is faster than he expected. She had a
scalpel.
He is better. He had eight years in Recon and seventeen as a
civilian contractor.
The scalpel ends up in his hand.
He uses it.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
41 -
Urgent Warnings in the SICU
INT. WALLACE'S ROOM - NIGHT
A NEW OFFICER. The actual Calderon. Bursting in. Gun drawn.
The fake paramedic on the floor.
The bed empty.
He shouts into his radio.
CUT TO:
INT. SICU CORRIDOR - NIGHT
The corridor. Empty. The gurney abandoned.
Wallace on it. Alive. Unconscious. The IV still running.
Cass on the floor beside the gurney.
She is bleeding.
A scalpel wound under her ribs.
She is conscious.
She is angry.
CALDERON arrives, weapon up, scans, sees the bleeding doctor.
CALDERON
Trauma team to Eight North!
He kneels beside Cass.
CASS
(through teeth)
He's not gone. He's on the floor.
The service stairwell.
CALDERON
Don't talk. Hold this.
He presses his hand against the wound.
CASS
Officer.
CALDERON
Yeah.
CASS
Tell Hannah Vance Cass said --
(winces)
Tell Hannah Vance Cass said don't.
CALDERON
Don't what.
CASS
Don't.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
42 -
Emergency on the Coast
INT. HANNAH'S CAR - PCH - NIGHT
Hannah's phone rings. UCLA SICU.
She answers.
HANNAH
Yes.
THERESA (V.O.)
(a nurse, panicked)
Dr. Vance. It's Theresa. There's
been an incident on Eight. Dr.
Doyle is on her way to the OR.
A long, long beat.
HANNAH
Cass.
THERESA (V.O.)
Stab wound. Below the ribs. She was
alert in transport.
HANNAH
Wallace.
THERESA (V.O.)
Safe. He never left the floor.
A long, long silence.
HANNAH
(very quiet)
The man.
THERESA (V.O.)
Got out through the service
stairwell. Cameras were down.
A beat.
HANNAH
Theresa.
THERESA (V.O.)
Yes Doctor.
HANNAH
Is Cass going to live.
A beat.
THERESA (V.O.)
The wound is below the ribs and
high. They think the spleen is
intact. She's alert. She is asking
for you.
A long beat.
HANNAH
Tell her I am coming.
She hangs up.
She pulls over to the shoulder of the PCH.
She puts the car in park.
She sits.
The Pacific dark on her right.
Her hands grip the wheel.
Her thumb does not tap.
Her hands are very still.
She is a surgeon.
She knows when she has decided.
She turns the car around.
She drives toward UCLA.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
43 -
Urgent Access
INT. UCLA HOSPITAL - SICU - NIGHT
Hannah at the SICU nurses' station. Theresa at her side.
A different floor than Wallace's. Cass's floor now. Post-op.
THERESA
She's out of surgery. Stable. Two
units. They got the bleeder.
HANNAH
Can I see her.
THERESA
She's still under. Maybe an hour.
A beat.
HANNAH
Wallace.
THERESA
Eighth floor. Two officers now.
Detective on the way.
HANNAH
And the man.
THERESA
PD has the description. He left the
building.
HANNAH
Theresa.
THERESA
Yes.
HANNAH
Can you get me into the SICU
attending workroom for ten minutes.
A beat.
THERESA
Hannah. Your privileges --
HANNAH
I know. Ten minutes. I want to read
Cass's chart.
A long beat.
THERESA
Ten minutes.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
44 -
Secrets in the Night
INT. UCLA SICU - PHYSICIAN WORKROOM - NIGHT
Empty. Computer terminals. Hannah at one of them.
She is logged in under Theresa's credentials.
She is not reading Cass's chart.
She is looking at the SICU patient list.
She finds the entry she is looking for:
KOHLBERG, MICHAEL R.
ROOM 11
POST-OP TRAUMA -- LACERATION ANTERIOR
THIGH, FEMORAL ARTERY REPAIR
ADMITTED 1:47 AM
LEAD: HALPERIN
STATUS: STABLE / SEDATED
PD CUSTODY: YES
He is in the building.
He is in this hospital.
He is on the floor below her.
The scalpel that went into Cass also went into his thigh. The
femoral. He bled enough that he could not run. The
maintenance disguise got him out of the SICU corridor but not
out of the building.
He is post-op. Sedated.
He is restrained.
He is two floors away.
A long, long beat.
Hannah looks at her hands.
She closes the patient list.
She opens the medication cabinet protocols.
She finds what she is looking for.
She pockets a syringe and a small vial from her coat pocket --
she brought them with her.
She had brought them in her coat pocket from her mother's
house.
She had brought them in her coat pocket since she left the
AUSA's office.
She stands.
She walks out.
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
45 -
A Quiet Decision
INT. UCLA SICU - CORRIDOR - NIGHT
Hannah walks down the corridor. Past Theresa, who watches her
and says nothing.
She reaches the elevator.
She does not press DOWN.
She presses UP.
The elevator dings.
She steps in.
The doors close.
CLOSE ON HANNAH'S FACE.
Steady. Calm.
The metronome.
Her thumb is not tapping.
Her hand is in her pocket.
Her hand is closed around something.
We do not see what.
FADE TO BLACK.
END OF ACT TWO
FADE IN:
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
46 -
Deception in the SICU
INT. UCLA SICU - CORRIDOR - NIGHT
Hannah from the elevator. The corridor is quiet at this hour.
The nurses' station two-thirds staffed. Monitors beeping in a
dozen rooms.
She walks like she belongs there. Because she does.
Past the station. The night nurse looks up. Sees her. Looks
back down.
Past Room 4. Room 6. Room 8.
Room 11.
There is a uniformed officer in a chair outside the door.
He is reading his phone.
Hannah stops. She does not break stride for long. A half-
second.
She turns into the supply alcove across from Room 11.
INT. SICU - SUPPLY ALCOVE - CONTINUOUS
Hannah inside. Out of the officer's sight line.
She breathes.
She pulls a surgical mask from a wall dispenser. Puts it on.
She pulls a paper surgical cap. Puts it on.
She pulls a yellow isolation gown. Puts it on.
She is now any of forty people on this floor.
She picks up a clipboard from a stack of clean ones.
She walks out of the alcove.
She walks directly to the officer.
HANNAH
(mid-volume, distracted)
Eleven needs a vitals check.
The officer looks up.
OFFICER
He's restrained.
HANNAH
I know.
OFFICER
Halperin said no one in without his
sign-off.
A beat.
HANNAH
Halperin paged me. I'm covering his
SICU consults tonight.
She lifts the clipboard. Shows him the top page -- a generic
vitals sheet.
HANNAH (CONT'D)
Five minutes.
The officer looks at her mask. Her cap. Her badge clipped to
her gown -- it is her badge, suspended privileges and all.
He does not look closely.
OFFICER
Five minutes.
She nods.
She opens the door.
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
47 -
Final Injection
INT. ROOM 11 - NIGHT
A single-patient SICU room. Dim. The wall monitor a steady
green.
KOHLBERG.
On the bed. Sedated. A blanket to his chest. A central line.
A bag of normal saline running. A bag of fentanyl PCA on a
pump.
His right wrist is cuffed to the bed rail.
His left arm is in a soft restraint at the elbow -- the post-
op femoral repair on that side.
His face is a face she has now looked at on a screen for nine
hours.
She closes the door behind her.
She walks to the side of the bed.
She is calm.
The metronome that has run this entire screenplay is not
running now.
She is past the metronome.
She stands beside him.
She looks at him.
She does not say anything.
She puts the clipboard down on the bedside tray.
She takes the syringe from her coat pocket. From inside the
yellow gown.
She takes a small vial.
She fills the syringe.
She puts the empty vial in her pocket.
She looks at the PCA pump.
A standard fentanyl pump. A Y-port for additional
medications. A locked compartment for the controlled
substance. An unlocked port above it for saline additives,
electrolytes, secondary lines.
She does not need to break the lock.
She does not need to fight anything.
She uncaps the syringe.
She inserts the needle into the Y-port.
She depresses the plunger. Slowly.
She watches the medication move down the line.
She watches it reach the central line at his neck.
She watches it enter him.
She caps the syringe.
She puts the syringe in her pocket.
She watches the monitor.
His heart rate, on the wall monitor: 64.
His eyes open.
He sees her.
He does not seem surprised.
A long, long beat.
KOHLBERG
(slurred, very soft)
Vance.
HANNAH
Yes.
A beat.
KOHLBERG
He told you.
HANNAH
Yes.
A beat.
KOHLBERG
The recording.
HANNAH
I deleted it.
His face changes. The smallest movement. Something that, on a
less ruined face, might be a smile.
KOHLBERG
Good.
A long, long beat.
His heart rate: 58.
KOHLBERG (CONT'D)
(very soft)
It was fast.
HANNAH
What.
KOHLBERG
Your sister.
A long, long beat.
KOHLBERG (CONT'D)
She did not see me.
A beat.
HANNAH
You are lying to me.
KOHLBERG
Maybe.
A long, long beat.
His eyes close.
His heart rate: 44.
The monitor changes its tone. From the steady green pulse to
a softer chime. An alarm threshold approaching.
Hannah looks at the door.
She has thirty seconds before the corridor nurse will check
the central station.
She walks to the side of the bed.
She takes Kohlberg's left hand. The one not cuffed. The one
in the soft restraint.
She holds it.
She holds the hand that killed her sister.
She does not feel anything she expected to feel.
His heart rate: 36.
She puts his hand back on the bed.
She picks up the clipboard.
She walks to the door.
She opens it.
She steps out.
The officer looks up.
She does not stop walking.
HANNAH
(to him, even)
He's stable. Vitals are good. Tell
Halperin I cleared him.
OFFICER
Will do, doc.
She walks past the nurses' station. Past Rooms 8, 6, 4.
She steps into the elevator. Empty.
The doors close.
She removes the cap.
The mask.
The gown.
She balls them into the corner of the elevator car.
She presses Lobby.
The elevator descends.
CLOSE ON HER FACE.
She is not breathing fast.
She is not crying.
She is a surgeon.
She has finished.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
48 -
Code Blue: Unexplained Loss
INT. SICU - CORRIDOR - LATER
A different angle. A code.
The corridor erupts. Nurses running. The crash cart wheeling
toward Room 11. Halperin in scrubs, already at the door,
hands on the cart.
HALPERIN
What's the rhythm.
NURSE
Asystole. Five minutes.
HALPERIN
Push epi. Compressions.
The door swings open. The team descends on Kohlberg.
A WIDE SHOT from the nurses' station. We watch the
resuscitation through the door for a long beat. Methodical.
Practiced. Useless.
Halperin checks his watch.
HALPERIN (CONT'D)
Time of death three forty-seven.
He pulls off his gloves.
He looks at the officer in the chair. The officer looks back.
Both of them understand that something has happened that
neither of them is going to be able to explain.
HALPERIN (CONT'D)
(to the officer)
Get your sergeant on the phone.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
49 -
Silent Regrets
INT. CASS DOYLE'S POST-OP ROOM - DAWN
A different floor. A different hospital wing. Quiet.
Cass in the bed. Two IV poles. A bandage at her abdomen.
Conscious. Bleary.
Hannah in the chair beside her.
She is still in the clothes she wore to Reiner's house.
A long, long silence.
CASS
(hoarse)
What time is it.
HANNAH
Quarter to five.
A beat.
CASS
Where have you been.
A long beat.
HANNAH
Sitting with you.
CASS
How long.
HANNAH
An hour and a half.
A long beat.
CASS
The man.
HANNAH
They got him to OR. Femoral repair.
He was in Eleven.
CASS
Was.
A long, long beat.
HANNAH
He coded around three forty-five.
Halperin called it at three forty-
seven.
A long, long, long silence.
Cass looks at her.
For a long beat.
She does not ask the question.
She knows the answer.
Hannah does not look away.
CASS
(very quiet)
Hannah.
HANNAH
I know.
CASS
Hannah.
HANNAH
I know, Cass.
A beat.
Cass turns her head. Stares at the ceiling.
A tear slides into her hair.
CASS
I told you not to.
HANNAH
I know.
CASS
I told you on the phone.
HANNAH
I know.
CASS
And in the library.
HANNAH
I know.
A long, long silence.
CASS
Was he awake.
A long beat.
HANNAH
For thirty seconds.
CASS
Did he know.
HANNAH
Yes.
CASS
Did he say anything.
A beat.
HANNAH
He said it was fast. For her.
CASS
That's a lie.
HANNAH
Yes.
A long silence.
Cass closes her eyes. A second tear.
CASS
Hannah.
HANNAH
Yes.
CASS
I am going to ask you a question.
HANNAH
Okay.
A long beat.
CASS
Do you feel better.
A long, long, long beat.
Hannah looks at her hands.
HANNAH
No.
CASS
Are you going to.
HANNAH
I don't know.
A beat.
CASS
Okay.
HANNAH
Okay.
A long silence.
Cass reaches out her hand. The one with the IV.
Hannah takes it.
They hold hands without looking at each other.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Mystery"]
Ratings
Scene
50 -
Burden of Secrets
EXT. VANCE HOUSE - NORTH CRESCENT DRIVE - MORNING
Hannah's car in the drive. Sunlight through the jacarandas.
INT. VANCE HOUSE - KITCHEN - MORNING
Eleanor at the island. The same robe. Tea. The morning paper.
Hannah enters. She has not slept in twenty-six hours.
Eleanor looks at her.
Eleanor looks at her for a long time.
ELEANOR
Sit down.
Hannah sits.
Eleanor pours her tea. Sets it down. Does not let go of her
hand.
A long, long beat.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
Who.
HANNAH
Mom.
ELEANOR
Who, Hannah.
A long beat.
HANNAH
The man who killed her.
A long, long silence.
Eleanor lets go of her hand.
She walks to the window. Looks out at the jacarandas.
She does not turn for a long time.
ELEANOR
Are you going to be arrested.
HANNAH
I don't know.
ELEANOR
What is the evidence trail.
HANNAH
I was in the building. My badge
will be on the floor logs. I was
covered. Mask, cap, gown. The
camera in the SICU corridor was
down because Kohlberg cut it
himself an hour earlier.
A long beat.
ELEANOR
That is luck.
HANNAH
Yes.
ELEANOR
And the medication.
HANNAH
A vial of long-acting potassium I
took from the supply room when I
went up to check Cass's chart.
ELEANOR
Will the autopsy find it.
A beat.
HANNAH
He was on a fentanyl drip and a
saline running. He had just had a
femoral repair under general. His
potassium will be elevated. The
medical examiner will say cardiac
arrest secondary to surgical
complication.
A long beat.
ELEANOR
You thought about this.
HANNAH
Yes.
ELEANOR
When.
HANNAH
Between the AUSA's office and
Reiner's house.
A long, long silence.
Eleanor turns from the window.
ELEANOR
Look at me.
Hannah looks up.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
You will not tell me again.
HANNAH
Mom --
ELEANOR
You will not tell me again, Hannah.
You have told me one time. That is
the only time you will ever tell
me. You will not tell Cass again.
You will not tell a therapist. You
will not tell a priest. You will
not tell a husband if you ever have
one. Do you understand me.
A beat.
HANNAH
Yes.
ELEANOR
You will carry this for the rest of
your life. You will carry it alone.
HANNAH
Yes.
ELEANOR
That is the cost.
HANNAH
I know.
ELEANOR
Do you.
A long, long beat.
HANNAH
I will know.
A beat.
Eleanor crosses to her. Puts a hand on her cheek.
ELEANOR
Drink the tea.
Hannah drinks.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
Eat.
Hannah does not eat.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
Eat, Hannah.
She eats.
Eleanor watches her eat.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
I am going outside in three hours.
HANNAH
Where.
ELEANOR
The front steps. I called Bea
Lawson at the Times yesterday. And
Diana Khoury at NBC4. And Steinberg
at the Journal. They are all
coming.
HANNAH
Mom --
ELEANOR
I am not asking, Hannah.
A long, long beat.
HANNAH
What are you going to say.
ELEANOR
Everything Patricia Chen cannot say
until Tuesday morning. The Maltese
identity. The eleven million
dollars. The Delaware shell. The
investigator he hired. The
recording.
HANNAH
Mom, we agreed --
ELEANOR
We agreed before Kohlberg cut your
friend in a hospital corridor.
A beat.
HANNAH
The AUSA --
ELEANOR
The AUSA will be furious. The AUSA
will get over it. The Tuesday five
AM arrest will be a Sunday three PM
arrest. That is the only difference
this conversation produces. Elliot
will not see the inside of his own
house again.
A long silence.
HANNAH
Why now.
A long beat.
ELEANOR
Because I have spent forty years in
this house being Charles Vance's
wife and Elliot Reiner's best
friend's widow.
(beat)
And because I have spent the last
three weeks waiting for the system
to do what the system was not going
to do.
A beat.
HANNAH
Sterling said --
ELEANOR
Sterling can read the Times
tomorrow morning like everyone
else.
A long, long silence.
HANNAH
You will be exposed too.
ELEANOR
To what.
HANNAH
The board. The donors. The
questions.
ELEANOR
Hannah.
HANNAH
Yes.
ELEANOR
I do not care.
She crosses to the sink. Rinses her cup.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
Go upstairs. Sleep for two hours.
Be in the front room at eleven. I
want you behind me when I do this.
A beat.
HANNAH
Yes.
She stands. She does not go upstairs.
She crosses to her mother.
She puts her arms around Eleanor from behind.
Eleanor does not turn.
Eleanor closes her eyes.
They stand like that for a long beat.
Then Hannah goes upstairs.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
51 -
Betrayal on the Steps
EXT. VANCE HOUSE - FRONT STEPS - LATE MORNING
The front of the Vance house. The brick steps. The black-
painted door.
A small crowd at the foot of the steps -- maybe twenty
people. Reporters. Three camera crews. Print and digital. A
small podium has been set up on the steps; someone Eleanor
knows from foundation work was happy to lend it.
ELEANOR VANCE on the steps.
Black wool dress. Silver hair pinned up. Pearls. The kind of
widow's uniform that has been worn on this street for a
hundred years.
Hannah behind her. To her left. One step up. She is in dark
clothes. She is composed.
Eleanor at the podium. A folded paper in her hand. She does
not open it.
She does not need the paper.
ELEANOR
Good morning. My name is Eleanor
Vance. My husband Charles built the
UCLA Health Foundation with three
other men in 1982. He sat on its
board until he died in 2017. My
daughter Jessica was a junior
member of that board for fourteen
months. She was murdered on the
third of last month.
A beat.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
The Beverly Hills Police Department
has been unable to name a suspect.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
That is because the suspect was the
man closest to our family.
A small ripple in the crowd. Cameras adjust.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
Doctor Elliot Reiner, chairman of
the foundation that bears my
husband's name, ordered the murder
of our daughter on the afternoon of
October the third in order to
prevent her disclosure to this
board, to the federal authorities,
and to our family, of eleven
million dollars in foundation funds
that he had, over the previous
twelve years, systematically
transferred to a Delaware shell
corporation, and from there to an
offshore account in Malta, on a
passport bearing a false identity.
A beat.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
He had prepared to leave the
country.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
Our daughter found him out.
A long beat. The crowd is silent.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
The United States Attorney for the
Central District of California has
been provided with all relevant
documentation, including the
banking records, the false
passport, and an audio recording of
Doctor Reiner soliciting our
daughter's compliance the afternoon
she was killed. A federal
indictment will issue this week. I
am asking the District Attorney of
Los Angeles County to accept the
file from the federal office and
prosecute Doctor Reiner for the
murder of my daughter under
California law.
A beat.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
I am also asking the board of the
UCLA Health Foundation to vote this
afternoon to remove Doctor Reiner
as chairman and to commence a
forensic audit of every transaction
on which his signature appears
since 2013.
A beat. She looks at the reporters.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
Doctor Reiner has been my husband's
closest friend for fifty-one years.
He was the best man at our wedding.
He was godfather to both of my
daughters. He held Hannah, the
older one, in his arms when she was
three days old.
A long beat.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
I am telling you this so that you
understand. I am not making this
accusation in error or in haste. I
am making it because it is true,
and because every other path that
should have been available to a
grieving family has been closed.
Elliot Reiner had my daughter
killed. He used his hands to write
the authorization. He used another
man's hands to do the work. And he
used the silence of an institution
to bury both. We will not be silent
any longer.
A beat. A reporter raises a hand. Eleanor ignores it.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
One last thing.
A beat.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
Twelve years ago my husband Charles
brought his suspicion of Doctor
Reiner's accounting to a senior
member of the foundation board. He
was advised to bring it before the
full board. He did. The board
commissioned an audit. The audit
was performed by Doctor Reiner
himself. The audit was accepted. My
husband let the matter rest. He
died four years later believing he
had been wrong.
A long, long beat.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
He was not wrong. He was tired and
he was loyal and he was let down by
a system of friends.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
I am telling you that part because
I have been a part of that system
for forty years. I poured Doctor
Reiner coffee in this kitchen the
morning after my daughter died. I
let him leave through the front
door.
(beat)
(MORE)
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
That door, behind me. He will not
enter it again.
A beat.
ELEANOR (CONT'D)
Thank you.
She steps back from the podium.
The reporters erupt. Questions overlap. Eleanor walks back up
the steps. Does not answer.
Hannah meets her at the door. Holds it open. They go inside.
The door closes.
CLOSE ON THE BLACK-PAINTED DOOR.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
52 -
Confessions and Consequences
INT. FBI FIELD OFFICE - LOS ANGELES - DAY
A holding room. Reiner at a metal table. He has been allowed
to keep his jacket. His tie is gone.
Patricia CHEN across from him. A folder.
CHEN
You'll be processed at MDC
downtown. Your attorney has been
notified. You'll be in front of a
magistrate Monday morning for
arraignment.
Reiner nods. Does not speak.
CHEN (CONT'D)
Doctor Reiner.
REINER
Yes.
CHEN
You spoke to Hannah Vance last
night.
A beat.
REINER
Yes.
CHEN
What did you tell her.
A long, long beat.
REINER
I told her the truth.
CHEN
About what.
A beat.
REINER
About her sister.
A beat.
CHEN
You confessed.
REINER
Yes.
CHEN
Did she record it.
A long beat.
REINER
No.
A beat.
CHEN
You're certain.
REINER
I am.
A long beat.
CHEN
Why are you telling me this.
A long beat.
REINER
Because there is something Hannah
may do, or may have done, that I do
not want her destroyed by.
(beat)
(MORE)
REINER (CONT'D)
And because if I tell you that I
confessed to her last night, you
will know that whatever happens
next, it was not her decision
alone.
A long silence.
Chen does not write this down.
She closes her folder.
CHEN
Doctor Reiner. I am going to give
you a piece of advice you have not
asked for.
REINER
Yes.
CHEN
Do not speak again until your
attorney is in the room. Not to me.
Not to your daughter who I am told
is on her way. Not to anyone you
have known for fifty years.
(beat)
Whatever you are trying to do for
Hannah Vance right now, you are not
doing it.
REINER
I understand.
She stands.
CHEN
The contractor died at three forty-
seven this morning at UCLA.
Reiner closes his eyes.
CHEN (CONT'D)
Cardiac complication of the femoral
repair.
A long, long beat.
Reiner opens his eyes. He looks at Chen.
There is something in his face that is almost relief.
REINER
(very quiet)
Good.
Chen does not respond.
She walks out.
The door closes.
Reiner sits alone in the room.
He folds his hands on the table.
He sits very still.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Crime","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
53 -
Unspoken Regrets
INT. METROPOLITAN DETENTION CENTER - DOWNTOWN LA - WEEKS
LATER
A visiting room. A long counter. Glass panels. Phones.
A correctional officer leads ELEANOR to a stool.
She sits.
A door opens on the other side of the glass.
REINER, in tan MDC scrubs. Older. Smaller. The silver hair
already thinner. He has been in custody three weeks.
He sits across from her.
He picks up the phone.
She picks up the phone.
A long silence.
REINER
You came.
ELEANOR
Yes.
REINER
Why.
A beat.
ELEANOR
Because there is a thing I am going
to tell you, and I want to tell it
to you in person.
REINER
Yes.
ELEANOR
Charles would not have wanted you
to sell the house.
A long beat.
REINER
What.
ELEANOR
The Montecito house. Your lawyer
contacted my lawyer about a private
sale to cover counsel fees.
REINER
Yes.
ELEANOR
Charles would have wanted you to
keep it. He said for years it was
the only place you ever looked
unhappy.
(beat)
He thought you needed unhappy
places.
A long, long beat.
REINER
Eleanor.
ELEANOR
Yes.
REINER
Why are you telling me this.
A beat.
ELEANOR
Because Charles cared what you
wanted.
A long, long beat.
Reiner looks at her.
His mouth opens. He is going to say something. The thing he
has been trying to say since she walked in.
He does not say it.
REINER
I want --
ELEANOR
He does not get to want anymore.
A long, long, long silence.
Reiner's eyes fill.
She watches him cry.
She does not cry.
She does not soften.
She does not look away.
She watches him cry through the glass for as long as he
cries.
Then she sets the phone down on the counter.
She stands.
She walks out.
He sits on the other side of the glass. The phone still in
his hand. His mouth still open.
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
54 -
A Quiet Farewell
EXT. WESTWOOD VILLAGE MEMORIAL PARK - DAY
A cemetery. Old. Small. Trees. A flat marker among rows of
flat markers.
JESSICA ELIZABETH VANCE
1985 -- 2026
BELOVED DAUGHTER, SISTER, FRIEND
Hannah sits on the grass beside the marker. She has brought a
small thermos of coffee. Two cups. She has poured them both.
She has been here for a while.
She drinks from her cup.
The other cup sits on the grass.
She takes out her phone.
She opens her voicemail.
She scrolls to the bottom of the list. The oldest message.
JESS
VOICEMAIL 0:14
OCTOBER 3, 8:47 PM
She has not played it since the night it was left.
She holds her thumb over the play button.
A long beat.
She presses play.
JESS (V.O.)
(faint)
Han. It's me. Pick up. I need a
ride, my car's --
A long pause.
JESS (V.O.)
Pick up. Pick up.
A pause.
JESS (V.O.)
(quieter, faster)
Han, I --
The message cuts off.
End of recording.
Hannah lowers the phone.
She does not cry.
She sits.
She drinks her coffee.
She looks at the marker.
A long, long beat.
HANNAH
(quietly, to the marker)
He cried, Jess.
A beat.
HANNAH (CONT'D)
Mom watched.
A long, long, long beat.
She reaches down. Puts her hand flat on the grass over her
sister's grave.
She holds it there.
CLOSE ON HER HAND.
The same hand that pulled a young man's heart back to a beat
in a trauma bay.
The same hand that pressed a syringe into a Y-port in Room
The same hand.
On the grass. Steady.
Her thumb does not tap.
A long beat.
She lifts her hand.
She picks up the second cup. The one she poured for her
sister.
She does not pour it out.
She drinks it.
She drinks both cups.
She stands.
She walks toward her car.
The camera holds on the marker.