There is always, always, always something to be thankful for.
Unknown
ePub
A4Chapter Chapter Three
S
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.
