CENE 4

(Back in store office, OFFICER BUDDY RIGGS calls MELISSA.)

MELISSA: (on phone) Hello?

(At MELISSA'S house, the HOKEY POKEY song is playing on POLLY'S record player. POLLY, hold-ing her doll, watches MELISSA.)

BUDDY: (on phone) Hey. It's Buddy.

MELISSA: Oh, hi.

BUDDY: (on phone) Are you okay, Melissa?

MELISSA: (on phone) I'm fine. Why do you ask?

POLLY: Who's that, Mommy?

BUDDY: (on phone) I know you were here, Melissa. Down at the Super Saver.

MELISSA: (on phone) I don't know what you're talking about, Buddy.

POLLY: Hang up, Mommy.

BUDDY: (on phone) Melissa, turn the music down. There's some talk that you're involved in what happened here today.

MELISSA: (on phone, going downstairs and outside) I'm not involved in anything.

BUDDY: (on phone) I know that. Would you listen to me?

I'm not saying that you are.

MELISSA: (on phone) What are you saying?

POLLY: (from inside) Mommy!

BUDDY: (on phone) I want to help you, but you've got to keep it a secret or we're both going to be answering questions. Now, I've got something to tell you.

MELISSA: (on phone) What?

BUDDY: (on phone) Something bad.

MELISSA: (on phone) What is it, Buddy?

BUDDY: (on phone) Dave's dead.

MELISSA: (on phone) Oh, my God!

BUDDY: (on phone) I've got to see you right away, Melissa.

MELISSA: (on phone) I can't.

BUDDY: (on phone) You need a friend more than ever.

(Upstairs, POLLY sits with the doll, listening to the Hokey Pokey.

Doll's eyes open.)

DOLL: Let's have fun.

MELISSA: (on phone) You can't come here, Buddy.

BUDDY: (on phone) Why? Tell me why?

MELISSA: (on phone) I can't explain it to you now.

BUDDY: (on phone) I'm coming over there, Melissa. You shouldn't be alone.

(Behind MELISSA outside, we see the shadow of the doll on a sheet hanging to dry on a clothes-line. Its eyes blink.)

(Commercial 1.)

SCENE 5

MELISSA TURNER RESIDENCE

2:08 PM

(BONSAINT and SCULLY drive up in a patrol car and get out. BONSAINT knocks on front door. No answer. SCULLY looks in a window.)

SCULLY: Back door's wide open.

(They go around to back.)

BONSAINT: Melissa! (to SCULLY) Sheets are still wet.

(SCULLY enters house, goes up to POLLY'S room and looks at windows which are nailed shut.)

SCULLY: Chief? Take a look at this.

BONSAINT: What the devil's this for?

SCULLY: It looks like she was afraid of something.

BONSAINT: Whatever it is, she's run off in a hurry. Laundry's out.

Door's unlocked. Beats me.

SCULLY: You know her?

BONSAINT: Melissa Turner?

SCULLY: Mm-hmm.

BONSAINT: About as local as you can get. Born and raised here.

Married a fisherman. Widowed last year after a boating accident. Don't know if the little girl, Polly ever really understood. Toys in the attic.

SCULLY: The daughter's autistic?

BONSAINT: That's what they say. There was the incident last year

over at the daycare center. Proprietor slapped Polly across the face.

SCULLY: Slapped her? What for?

BONSAINT: Well, she said Polly threw a tantrum so fierce there was

nothing else she could do. Next thing she knew, she's on the ground.

Little girl knocked her silly.

SCULLY: The little girl did?

BONSAINT: Well, that's her story. Polly never touched her, far as

I could figure. Oh, it was a real drama, though. The lady who ran the school lost her license. People calling the kid all manner of names saying Melissa's a witch. Polly never went back to school a day since.

SCULLY: This ah, this affair that the mother was having with the butcher ...?

BONSAINT: Dave. Oh, I might have given you the wrong impression. That wasn't really an af-fair. Although Dave did make quite a fool of himself and his wife.

SCULLY: So, it was unrequited.

BONSAINT: You could say that.

SCULLY: To the extent that she'd have to nail her windows shut?

BONSAINT: Oh, he wasn't that big a fool. You know, maybe she

wasn't afraid of something getting in. Maybe she's afraid of something getting out.

SCULLY: Like what?

BONSAINT: Just a thought.