Mulholland Dr.

EXT. COURTYARD 1612 HAVENHURST - DAY

The screen door slams. Coco and Betty face each other close,
out of earshot of Rita.

COCO
Your Aunt called me.

BETTY
I was afraid of that.

COCO
She wants to know who's staying in her
apartment.

BETTY
(slowly, deliberately)
It's just for a night or two, until she
finds her own place. I tried to explain
that to Aunt Ruth, but the connection was
bad and her plane was leaving and she got
it all mixed up. I kept telling her it
was my friend and she kept saying she
didn't know any Ritas ...

COCO
Sweetie, look at me straight.

Betty lifts her eyes to Coco's. Direct, clear.

BETTY
Coco...she's very nice. We went to
school together.

COCO
So I guess your Grandpa and Grandma know
her.

BETTY
Not really. I met her in junior college
and she was from this other town.

Coco looks hard into Betty's innocent face.

BETTY (cont'd)
You can call my grandparents ... I'm sure
they'd tell you that I don't lie and I
sure wouldn't allow a stranger to invade
my Aunt Ruth's apartment.

COCO
Honey... I was married to a director for
thirty years. He had an uncanny ability
to read people. Maybe some of it rubbed
off on me or maybe I had it all
along ... you're a good kid... What you're
telling me is a load of horse - pucky but
it comes from a good place. I'll trust
you to sort this out. Now I'm not going
against Ruth. She's got enough to worry
about up there in Canada. If she asks-
I'm going to say everything is okay, and
you make sure it is.
(Coco places her hand on
Betty's shoulder and squeezes
it)
If you need any help you know where to
find me.

Betty puts her hand on Coco's shoulder and gives her a
squeeze.

BETTY
You're really something Coco...thank you.

COCO
Don't make me out to be a sucker. Louise
Bonner says there's trouble in there.
You remember last night. Sometimes she's
wrong, but if there is trouble - get rid
of it.

Coco turns and walks away. Betty studies her and thinks
about what she said before turning and going back inside.

CUT TO:

INT. AUNT RUTH'S APARTMENT - SAME

Betty enters through the screen door. Rita studies her.

RITA
Is everything all right? Is it bad for
you that I'm here?

BETTY
(slightly forcing a broad
smile)
Everything is A-okay, but I've gotta get
that sandwich!

On her way to the kitchen she checks her watch.

BETTY (cont'd)
And I've got an audition in one hour.

CUT TO:

INT. HOLLYWOOD POLICE STATION - DAY

Detective Neal Domgaard throws two wallets down on the desk
in front of Detective Harry McKnight. Harry pauses in the
middle of a large bite of grilled cheese sandwich with bacon
and tomato. He looks down and studies the wallets.

DETECTIVE HARRY MCKNIGHT
(biting in and chewing)
Nice wallets.

DETECTIVE NEAL DOMGAARD
Handstitched Italian. Filled with phony
credit cards ... off the two guys in the
Caddy.

DETECTIVE HARRY MCKNIGHT
The one of 'em still alive?

DETECTIVE NEAL DOMGAARD
Yeah... just .... Dr. Scott's got 'im. You
remember Dr.Scott.

DETECTIVE HARRY MCKNIGHT
Oh yeah.

DETECTIVE NEAL DOMGAARD
Well he said... you know in his way... you
know what I mean? Besides the guy
gettin' rolled up under the kids car
which busted him up pretty bad, there was
this little knife-like torn piece of
metal, you know, off the car body, rolled
out and slid up through this guy's neck
and just kinda slit his aorta, you know,
but they didn't find it right away, so
the guy's losin' a lot of blood, you
know, to the brain - all this time cause
it was just like this thin little
puncture wound on the surface of his neck
that kinda sealed itself, he said, while
inside the aorta is bleedin' pretty
steady all that time. So, Dr. Scott's
laughin' you know like he does 'cause he
knows we want to talk to this guy. He's
laughin' you know and shakin'... Son of a
bitch couldn't stop laughin'... It was
kinda contagious 'cause pretty soon we
were all laughin'...the nurse was
laughin'. You know how he is.

DETECTIVE HARRY MCKNIGHT
Find out who they are?

DETECTIVE NEAL DOMGAARD
Nope, not yet. Their fingerprints don't
match up anywhere.

DETECTIVE HARRY MCKNIGHT
(another big bite - chewing)
Interesting.

DETECTIVE NEAL DOMGAARD
Yeah ... and they both use the same
address.

DETECTIVE HARRY MCKNIGHT
Where at?

DETECTIVE NEAL DOMGAARD
Palmdale.

DETECTIVE HARRY MCKNIGHT
Damn, that's a long drive.

CUT TO:

EXT. - COURTYARD 1612 HAVENHURST - DAY

Betty is coming out of Aunt Ruth's apartment. She calls
back in to Rita.

BETTY
I hope I'm back in a couple of hours.
Don't drink all the coke.
(we hear laughter from inside
and Rita call out.)

RITA
Good luck!

BETTY
When I get back I'll have the cab
waiting, so be ready to go.

RITA
Okay.

Betty closes the door and heads across the courtyard. She
knocks on Coco's door and in a moment Coco answers.

BETTY
Sorry to trouble you, Coco.

COCO
It's all right gorgeous. Something
wrong?

BETTY
No, no. I'm on my way to my audition.
Before I go I wanted to ask you if you
could remember the man's name ... Aunt
Ruthie's friend who helped put this
together. It completely went out of my
mind.

COCO
His name's Wally Brown .... great guy.
Been in the business since forever.

BETTY
Thanks Coco. It'd be so embarrassing

COCO
Naw! He wouldn't have cared. Just give
him a good performance and he'll be happy
and I've got a feeling you'll do just
that.

BETTY
Thanks Coco. I'll let you know.

COCO
Get going. You don't want to be late.

BETTY
Right. See ya.

COCO
Good luck, honey!