HIDDEN
			      Written by: the homeless scribe
                                                       Copyright 2009

INT.   POLICE STATION  -  DAY

We're MOVING down a hallway inside of the police station. The sound of  phones  RINGING and being  ANSWERED can be heard in the background. OFFICERS quickly walk past us holding paperwork and cups of coffee. It's a busy day at the office.
 
We keep MOVING and enter a room where a YOUNG DETECTIVE is sitting at his desk staring at a photo laid out before him. He's ruggedly attractive and looks to be in his early thirties. The detective scratches at his chin, obviously disturbed by something in the photo.

CLOSE UP on a  graphic photo of a DEAD WOMAN. She is laying on the floor with blood surrounding her head and a gapping hole where her nose use to be. Someone KNOCKS on the door. 
	
						BERYK (O.S.)
				Hey Danny.
 
DANNY  looks up from his desk.  BERYK, a fellow detective, stands at the doorway.
		
						BERYK
			           Want anything from the rib shop? It's my treat.
	
						DANNY
				I can't eat right now. 

                                                                        BERYK
					(seeing the photo)
				What are you working on?

						DANNY
				The Simpson case.

						BERYK
				What do you think happened to her?

						DANNY
				I'm not sure. But I know she didn't kill herself.
                                                Look at where the bullets entered...

Danny holds up the photo and points to the hole in the woman's face.

						DANNY
                                               ... through the nasal region. Now you and I know that 
                                               most suicide victims either shoot themselves here...

Danny takes his handgun out of it's holster and presses the tip of the gun against his temple.
	
						DANNY
				... or here.

Danny sticks the gun in his mouth. Beryk looks at his colleague, intrigued.
	
						BERYK	
					(leaning against the doorway)
				Go on. 
Danny holsters his gun.

						DANNY
			           After talking with this woman's family and friends, 
                                               it becomes clear to me that she wasn't the type to 
                                               shoot herself, nor did she have any reason to. She 
                                               was happy as can be by all accounts. 
						
						BERYK
				So you're thinking it was a homicide?

Danny rubs his chin, something he does when he's thinking.

                                                                       DANNY
				Could be. 

There's KNOCK on the door.  An ASIAN DETECTIVE stands by the doorway.

						ASIAN DETECTIVE				
                                                Conference room, five minutes. There's an evidence 
                                                update on that Simpson case. You're going to want to 
                                                hear this.

INT. CONFERENCE ROOM  -  DAY

CAPTAIN CORBEL, a man in his late fifties, stands before a table where five DETECTIVES sit, one of them being Danny.

						CAPTAIN CORBEL
				 The coroner's report just came in on Donna Simpson.
 
The captain pauses and looks at the detectives with a sense of purpose. Danny sits straight up in his chair and listens attentively.

						CAPATIN CORBEL
			           We have a murder case on our hands boys. The coroner 
                                               found skin under one of her finger nails and some 
                                              defensive wounds on her wrist and palm. Not only that, there 
                                              was blood that didn't belong to her smudged on the side 
                                              of her neck.

Captain Corbel takes a manila folder from the table and tosses it to one of  the detectives. 

						CAPTAIN CORBEL
                                              And here's the icing on the cake: when the forensic 
                                              report came back regarding the gunpowder residue left 
                                              on her hand, the number of gunpowder particles totaled 
                                              up to five. FIVE PARTICLES fellas. That's very unusual 
                                              for a person who supposedly pulled  the trigger to the 
                                              gun that took her life. 
			        
                         				DANNY
				So you're saying it wasn't a suicide.
						
                                                                     CAPATIN CORBEL
			           I'm not saying that. The evidence is.
			
						DANNY
                                              So who do you think shot her?

Captain Corbel laces up a smile. 
	
						CAPTAIN CORBEL
			         I think the coroner found something that can answer 
                                             that question.

EXT.  SIMPSON HOME  -  DAY

TWO TEENAGE GIRLS named CINDY and SAMANTHA, around eighteen and nineteen respectively, set up plates and silverware on a picnic table in the backyard of their large home. They look out of it, totally lost. The area below their eyes is puffed up from days of crying.

An OLDER MAN named JACK SIMPSON,  the father of the two teenage girls, grills corn on the bar-b-que grill while his son BLAKE,  in his early twenties, watches him, looking out of it as well. Mr. Simpson is finished and piles up the corn into a bowl. He sends Blake to the picnic table with it.
		
						MR. SIMPSON
				Bring this to your sisters.

Blake nods and walks off. 

PICNIC TABLE

Blake places the bowl of corn on the table and sits down with his two younger sisters. They sit there silently, staring at their plates. The dark, solemn feeling at the table is a stark contrast to the bright sunshine illuminating the day.

Mr. Simpson comes to the table, takes off his apron, and takes a seat. He looks around at the faces surrounding him. Everyone looks torn down and lifeless.

						MR. SIMPSON
				What's wrong with all of you?

After a BEAT, Cindy voices her opinion.

						CINDY
				 It's not the same with mom gone. We use to do 
                                                 these picnics together as a family. I miss her.

Samantha puts her face in her hands and begins to cry.

                                                                        MR. SIMPSON
				Great. Look what you did, you upset your sister. 

						BLAKE
				But it's the truth. This doesn't feel right. 
	
						MR. SIMPSON
				Your mother would have wanted us to move on, not to
				dwell in the pain.

Cindy wraps her arms around her crying sister.

						MR. SIMPSON
				      (Blake)
				Go get Mary so we can eat.

Blake gets up and moves toward the house.

INT. SIMPSON HOME  -  DAY

Blake walks through the kitchen and finds his seven year old sister Mary at the front door with Danny and the Asian detective.

Blake stops as he Danny meet eyes.

						DANNY
				You really shouldn't have your sister answer the door. 
                                                It's dangerous.

						BLAKE
				I'm sorry. We were busy in the backyard.

						DANNY
				Is your father home?

						BLAKE
				Yes.

						 DANNY
				I need to talk to him.

EXT. SIMPSON HOME  –  DAY

Mr. Simpson places chicken on Cindy and Samantha's plate, trying to get them to eat.

Danny and the Asian detective enter the backyard from the house and walk toward the picnic table. Blake walks behind them holding  Mary's hand.

						DANNY
				    Mr. Simpson? 

Mr. Simpson's eyes widen as he turns and sees the two detectives coming his way.

						MR. SIMPSON
				     What are you doing here?

						DANNY 
				     I have a warrant to search your home.

						BLAKE
				     What? 

						MR. SIMPSON
				     You have no right.

						DANNY
				      We have probable cause sir.

						MR. SIMPSON
				      You have no such thing.
					
						DANNY
				      We have reason to believe that you were the one 
                                                       that shot and killed your wife.

In sheer anger, Samantha jumps on top of the wooden bench and lunges at Danny. Blake grabs hold of her in mid-air before she can get any further. Cindy and Mary run to Samantha's side and try to calm her down.

						SAMANTHA
				       You bastard! How dare you accuse my father!
                                                       After all we've been through!

						DANNY
				       I didn't come here to stir anything up.

				                      MR. SIMPSON
				       Well you did.

Danny notices something on Mr. Simpson's arm. It's a BANDAID. Danny makes the connection, but plays it off well.

                                                                       DANNY
                                                      All I need to do here is to search your home 
                                                     and get a swab of DNA from the interior 
                                                     of your mouth.

						MR. SIMPSON
                                                      Forget it. Go talk to my lawyer.

						DANNY
				      Okay, I'll do that. And trust me, I will get 
                                                      that DNA sample. 

						BLAKE
				       My father would never kill anyone. 
                                                       Especially my mother.

						DANNY
				       Your father was found at the crime scene 
                                                       with gunpowder residue on his hand.

						MR. SIMPSON
				       I told you the story already. I came home and 
                                                       found her on the floor dead as the wood she 
                                                       was laying on. I removed the gun from her hand 
                                                       and threw it aside. That's how the gunpowder 
                                                       got on my palm.

						DANNY
				      You had more than FOUR THOUSAND gunpowder
                                                      particles present on your hand. Compared to the FIVE
                                                      we found on your wife's hand, the forensic evidence
                                                      points you out as the shooter.

						MR. SIMPSON
				      I wasn't even there when she died!

						DANNY
				     I think you were. And once we get your DNA sample
				    and match it to the blood and skin found at the 
                                                    crime scene, everyone else will know too.

Mr. Simpson looks at the plate in front of him, quiet. 

						BLAKE
				   You have the wrong guy. Seriously. My father
				   had no reason to kill my mom. 

						DANNY
				Your father had five hundred thousand reasons to kill her.

						BLAKE
					(Mr. Simpson)
				What is he talking about?

Mr. Simpson looks at his son blanky.  Blake turns to Danny for the answer.
	
						DANNY
				You're mother had a life insurance policy.

Blake, Cindy, and Samantha gaze at their father curiously.

			  			BLAKE
				    	(Mr. Simpson)
				You never told us that.

Mr. Simpson turns away from his children, not able to look them directly in the eye.

						DANNY
                                               He probably never told you he was in debt either; 
                                               or how he changed the insurance plan two weeks 
                                               prior to your mother's death so that he'd 
                                               be the sole beneficiary of the five hundred 
                                               thousand dollar payoff. 			          

Blake shakes his head at his father in disbelief.

						BLAKE
				You didn't.

						DANNY
				True motives always stay hidden kid.

Danny and the Asian detective make there way toward the house to search for additional evidence. Danny stops briefly as he reaches Blake and his sisters.

						DANNY
				I'm sorry for your loss.

Danny pats Blake on the shoulder and continues on into the Simpson home. 

Mr. Simpson looks at his children, pleading for sympathy with his eyes, looking very much like a broken man. Blake and his three sisters stand by the picnic table staring at their father ... wondering. 

FADE to BLACK.