ATCH

Mike, stop it!

MIKE stops, takes a deep breath, and somehow gets hold of himself. Outside the WIND GUSTS, and we hear the FAINT SOUND OF CRASHING WAVES.

MIKE

(he's breathing hard) Take off your boots.

LINOGE

I'll have to let go of the bars to do that. They lace up.

MIKE kneels. He grabs the shotgun. He props the stock against the floor and plants the barrels dead center in the seat of LINOGE'S jeans.

MIKE

If you move, sir, you'll never have to worry about constipation again.

HATCH looks more and more scared. This is a side of MIKE he's never seen (and could have done without). MIKE, meanwhile, unties LINOGE'S boots and loosens the laces. Then he stands up, takes the shotgun, and stands back.

MIKE

Kick them off.

LINOGE kicks them off. MIKE nods to HATCH, who bends down (keeping a skittery eye on LINOGE as he does) and picks them up. HATCH feels inside them, then shakes them.

HATCH

Nothing.

MIKE Toss them over by the desk.

HATCH does.

MIKE

Step into the cell, Mr. Linoge. Move slowly and keep your hands where I can see them.

LINOGE opens the door of the cell and swings it back and forth a time or two before going in. The door SQUEAKS, and doesn't hang quite true when it's all the way open. LINOGE touches a couple of the home welds with the ball of one finger, and smiles.

MIKE You think it won't hold you? It'll hold you.

Yet MIKE doesn't look entirely sure, and HATCH looks even more doubtful. LINOGE steps in, crosses the cell, and sits down facing the door. He draws his legs up so that the heels of his stocking feet (white athletic socks) are on the edge of the cot and he is looking at us from between his bent knees. We will see him in this same posture for some little time, now. His hands dangle limply. He wears a trace of a smile. If we saw a guy looking at us this way, we'd probably run. It's that caged-tiger look very still and watchful, but full of pent-up violence.

MIKE closes the cell door, and HATCH uses a key from the ring to lock it. With that done, he shakes the door. It's locked, but he and MIKE share an unhappy glance, just the same. That door is as rattly the last tooth in an old man's jaw. The cell is for the likes of SONNY BRAUTIGAN, who has a nasty habit of getting drunk and breaking the windows in his ex-wife's house with stones . . . not for a stranger with no ID who beat an old widow to death.

MIKE crosses to the loading dock door, looks at the dead bolt, then tries the knob. The door opens easily, letting in a FRIGID GASP OF WIND and a SWIRL OF SNOW. HATCH'S mouth drops open.

HATCH Mike, I swear it wouldn't budge.

MIKE closes the door. As he finishes doing that, ROBBIE BEALS comes in. He crosses to the desk and reaches for one of the gloves.

MIKE Don't touch that!

ROBBIE

(draws his hand back) Does he have any ID on him?

MIKE I want you out of here.

ROBBIE picks up the joke sign and shakes it at MIKE.

ROBBIE

I want to tell you something, Anderson: your sense of humor is entirely

HATCH, who actually put that sign around the dummy's neck, looks embarrassed. Neither of the other men notice. MIKE snatches the damned thing out of ROBBIE'S hand and dumps it in the wastebasket.

MIKE

I don't have the time or the patience for this. Get out or I'll throw you out.

ROBBIE looks at him and sees that MIKE absolutely means it. ROBBIE backs toward the door.

ROBBIE

Come town meeting, there's maybe going to be a change in law enforcement on Little Tall.

MIKE

Town meeting's in March. This is February. Now get the hell out.

ROBBIE leaves. MIKE and HATCH hold their positions for a moment, and then MIKE lets out his breath in a long WHOOSH. HATCH looks

relieved.

MIKE I think I handled that pretty well, don't you?

HATCH Like a diplomat.

MIKE takes another long, steadying breath. He opens the sandwich bags. As he and HATCH finish talking, he puts the bloody gloves in two bags, and the cap in a third.

MIKE I have to go out and

HATCH You're going to leave me alone with him?

MIKE

Try to raise the state police barracks in Machias. And stay away from him.

HATCH I should say you can count on that.

138 INTERIOR: THE REAR OF THE MARKET, BY THE MEAT COUNTER.

Perhaps two dozen TOWNSFOLK have clogged the aisles, looking hopefully and fearfully toward the constable's office door. To one side, glowering like a banked furnace, is ROBBIE. ROBBIE has now been joined by the other two members of his family . . . wife SANDRA and the charming DON, from day care. In the forefront of the TOWNSFOLK is MOLLY, with RALPHIE in her arms. When the door opens and she sees MIKE, she hurries forward. MIKE puts a reassuring arm around her.

RALPHIE

You didn't hurt him, Daddy, did you?

MIKE No, honey, just put him safe.

RALPHIE In the jail? Did you put him in the jail? What did he do?

MIKE Not now, Ralph.

He kisses the fairy saddle on RALPHIE'S nose and turns to the gathered people.

MIKE

Peter! Peter Godsoe!

People look around, MURMURING. After a moment or two, PETER GODSOE shoulders forward, looking embarrassed and blustery (also a little frightened).

PETER GODSOE

Mike, about what that fellow said that's the biggest crock of

MIKE

Uh-huh. Go on back there with Hatch. We're gonna watch this guy, and it's gonna be by the buddy system.

PETER GODSOE

(immensely relieved) Okay. You bet.

He goes through the door to the constable's office. MIKE, his arm still around MOLLY, faces his neighbors.

MIKE I feel like I have to have to close the store, folks.

(murmurs of reaction)

You're welcome to take what you've got; I trust you to settle up when the storm's over. Right now, I've got a prisoner to deal with.

A worried-looking middle-aged woman, BELLA BISSONETTE, pushes forward.

DELLA

Did that man really kill poor old Martha?

More murmurs this time FRIGHTENED, UNBELIEVING. MOLLY is looking at her husband tensely. She also looks as if she wishes she could strike RALPHIE temporarily deaf.

MIKE

In time you'll have the whole story, but not now. Please, Delia all of you help me do my job. Grab your stuff and go home before the storm gets any worse. I want a few of you men to stick around a minute or two longer. Kirk Freeman . . . Jack Carver . . . Sonny Brautigan . . . Billy Soames . . . Johnny Harriman . . . Robbie . . . that'll do for a start.

The men move forward as the others turn and start to go. ROBBIE looks typically puffed up with self-importance. BILLY has a wad of paper towels pressed to his nose.

139 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.

HATCH is at the desk, trying to use the radio. PETER looks at the cell, with nervous fascination. LINOGE, sitting on the bunk, looks back from between his spread knees and cocked feet.

HATCH

Machias, this is Alton Hatcher on Little Tall. We have a police emergency here. Do you read, Machias? Come on back, if you read.

Lets go of the button. There's nothing but STATIC.

HATCH Machias, this is Alton Hatcher on channel 19. If you read

PETER GODSOE

They don't. You've lost your good antenna off your roof.

HATCH sighs. He knows it, too. He turns down the SOUND, muting the STATIC.

PETER GODSOE Try the phone.

HATCH gives him a startled look, then picks up the phone. He listens, pushes a few buttons at random, then hangs up.

PETER GODSOE

No, huh? Well, it was a long shot.

PETER looks back toward LINOGE, who is staring at him. HATCH, meanwhile, is looking at PETER with some fascination.

HATCH

You don't really have a load of Panama Red out there behind your lobster traps, do you?

PETER looks at him . . . and says nothing.

140 INTERIOR: THE REAR OF THE MARKET, FEATURING MOLLY, RALPHIE, MIKE.

The townspeople are on the move (except for the little group of men MIKE has singled out), draining toward the front of the market and the outside world. There's a STEADY JINGLING from the bell over the door as folks leave.

MOLLY

You going to be all right?

MIKE Coss.

MOLLY When will you be home?

MIKE

When I can. Take the truck you won't get three hundred yards in the car. I've never seen it come down s'hard 'n' fast.

I'll use the Island Services truck, or get someone to drop me off when this is squared away. I have to go back to Martha's house long enough to secure it.

There are a thousand questions she'd like to ask, but really can't. Little pitchers have big ears. She kisses him on the corner of the mouth and turns to go.

141 INTERIOR: BY THE CASH REGISTER, WITH CAT AND TESS MARCHANT.

CAT is still SOBBING. TESS holds her and rocks her, but we can see she (TESS) is pretty blown away by what LINOGE said. MOLLY gives TESS a questioning look as she carries RALPHIE toward the door. TESS nods, as if to say she's go it under control. MOLLY nods back and goes on out.

142 EXTERIOR: IN FRONT OF THE MARKET.

MOLLY carries RALPHIE carefully down the steps in what has become a BLINDING SNOWSTORM. She walks toward THE CAMERA, having to brace against the wind with every step . . . and this baby is just getting warmed up.

RALPHIE

(shouting to be heard) The island won't blow away, will it?

MOLLY

No, honey, of course not.

But MOLLY doesn't look so sure.

143 EXTERIOR: THE CENTER OF TOWN, HIGH ANGLE.

The snow is coming down furiously. There are a few vehicles moving on Main and Atlantic, but they won't be moving much longer. Little Tall Island is effectively cut off from the outside world. The WIND SHRIEKS; the SNOW SHEETS; and we:

FADE TO BLACK. THIS ENDS ACT 5.

Act 6

144 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN, A HIGH ANGLE LATE AFTERNOON.

This is the same shot we went out on, but it's later, now there isn't much daylight left. The WIND SHRIEKS.

145 EXTERIOR: THE WOODED AREA SOUTH OF TOWN LATE AFTERNOON.

We're looking down at the SURGING OCEAN through a power-line cut. There's a CRACKING SOUND and a HUGE OLD PINE topples on the lines. They go down in a SHOWER OF SPARKS.

146 EXTERIOR: MAIN STREET LATE AFTERNOON.

In a reprise of the first scene, all the lights, including the blinker at the intersection, GO OUT.

147 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE, WITH HATCH AND PETER.

The LIGHTS GO OUT.

HATCH

Aw, damn!

PETER makes no response. He's looking at:

148 INTERIOR: THE JAIL CELL, FROM PETER'S POINT OF VIEW.

LINOGE is just a dark hump . . . except for his eyes. They GLOW with a TROUBLED RED LIGHT . . . like wolf's eyes.

149 INTERIOR: RESUME HATCH AND PETER.

HATCH is rummaging in the desk drawer. As he pulls out a flashlight, PETER seizes his arm.

PETER GODSOE Look at him!

HATCH, startled, wheels to look at LINOGE. The prisoner is still sitting just as before, but there's no WEIRD LIGHT shining out of his eyes. HATCH turns on the flashlight and hits LINOGE in the face with the beam. LINOGE looks back calmly.

HATCH (to PETER) What?

PETER GODSOE I ... nothing.

He looks back toward LINOGE, perplexed and a little afraid.

HATCH

Maybe you've been smokin' too much of what you're selling.

PETER GODSOE

(mixed shame and anger) Shut up, Hatch. Don't talk about what you don't understand.

150 INTERIOR: THE MARKET'S COUNTER, WITH MIKE AND TESS MARCHANT.

Looks like they're the only two left, now, and with the lights out, the market is very dim the front windows are big, but the light coming through them has started to fail. MIKE comes behind the counter and opens a UTILITY BOX built into the wall. Inside are circuit breakers and one larger switch. He flicks this one.

151 EXTERIOR: BEHIND THE MARKET LATE DAY.

There's a little shed marked GENERATOR to the left of the loading dock. An ENGINE STARTS UP inside it, and blue smoke, immediately ripped away by the WIND, starts to chug from the exhaust stack.

152 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.

The lights come back on. HATCH SIGHS WITH RELIEF.

HATCH Hey . . . Pete.

He wants to apologize, and he wants PETER to help him with it a little, but PETER'S not in the mood. He walks away and looks at the bulletin board on the wall.

HATCH I was out of line.

PETER Yeah, way out.

PETER turns and gives LINOGE a look. LINOGE looks back at him, SMILING FAINTLY.

PETER

What are you looking at?

LINOGE doesn't reply, just goes on looking at PETER with that FAINT SMILE. PETER turns back to the bulletin board, troubled. HATCH looks at PETER, wishing he could take back his smart-ass comment.

153 EXTERIOR: THE STORE'S PORCH, WITH MIKE AND TESS.

TESS is wearing a parka, gloves, and a pair of high gum-rubber boots. Still, the WIND rocks her on her feet, and MIKE has to steady her before going to the display window on one side of the door. Here, on either side of the window at the bottom, there are crank handles. MIKE grabs one, and TESS makes her way to the other. They crank as they talk (SHOUTING to be heard over the wind) and lower the slatted wooden STORM SHUTTER over the glass.

MIKE Will you be all right? Because I can give you a lift

TESS

It's the wrong direction! And I'm only six houses down ... as you well know. Don't baby me!

He nods and gives her a smile. They move to the window on the other side of the door and lower the other storm shutter.

TESS

Mike? Do you have any idea why he came here, or why he'd want to kill Martha?

MIKE No. Go on home, Tess. Make yourself a fire. I'll lock up.

They finish with the shutter and move to the steps. TESS winces and tightens her hood as another gust slams into them.

TESS

You mind him careful. We don't want him out and prowling around with this

(lifts her chin into the blizzard) going on.

MIKE Don't worry.

She looks at him a moment longer and is reasonably comforted by what she sees. She nods and clumps down the snow-laden steps, holding tight to the railing as she goes. With her back to him, MIKE allows his face to show how worried he really is. Then he heads back inside and shuts the door. He turns the OPEN sign to CLOSED and pulls down the shade.

154 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.

MIKE comes in, still stamping the snow off his boots, and looks around. HATCH has found a second flashlight and has set out some candles, as well. PETER is still studying the litter of notices on the bulletin board. MIKE goes over to the bulletin board, taking a paper from his back pocket.