Secrets
An Original Short Script by Steve Meredith

BLACK SCREEN:
A police dispatcher can be heard.

DISPATCHER:
All units be advised, we have a possible homicide at the corner of 4th and Michigan, inside the Double Decker Motel.  Nearest unit please respond, back up is requested.

INT-CAR-AFTERNOON
Detectives BRADY DOUGHERTY and ADAM HUGHES are in the area of the call.  DOUGHERTY responds to the dispatcher.

DOUGHERTY:
This is Detective Dougherty with Detective Hughes, we’re in the area, responding to the call.

EXT-DOUBLE DECKER MOTEL
DOUGHERTY and HUGHES pull up in their car.  The two detectives get out and are greeted by a UNIFORMED OFFICER.  They meet and walk into the crime scene together.

HUGHES:
What have we got?

OFFICER: 
White male, about 30, looks like he took a pretty big blow to the head.

DOUGHERTY:
Anyone been inside yet?

OFFICER:
Me and another uniform broke down the door, that’s when we called you.  We didn’t go in.

INT-DOUBLE DECKER MOTEL-ROOM FOUR
DOUGHERTY and HUGHES see why in a moment.  They pass through the door to see a man lying face down, with a gash in the back of his head.  There is blood all over the carpet, and HUGHES notices a white powder on a coffee table next to where the DEAD MAN is lying.  HUGHES turns the man over.  At that moment, a look of shock passes over HUGHES face.  DOGHERTY fails to notice the look.

DOUGHERTY: (to the OFFICER)
Alright, get the coroner in here, we need to get this body down to the morgue.  Mark off a perimeter.

OFFICER:
Yes sir.

DOUGHERTY: (looking at the body)
Jesus Christ.

HUGHES is still staring at the body.

DOUGHERTY:
Adam, you alright?

HUGHES breaks HIS trance.

HUGHES:
Yeah, you got some gum?

DOUGHERTY:
Oh, c’mon man, you’ve seen worse than this.  Is this turning your stomach?

HUGHES:
Yeah, I don’t know.  Maybe it was something I ate.

DOUGHERTY:
You ok?

HUGHES:
Yeah, I’ll be fine.

DOUGHERTY: (skeptically)
O.k.  Did you notice the powder?

HUGHES: (still transfixed on the body)
Yeah, um, what do you think it is?

DOUGHERTY:
Looks like Coke to me.

DOUGHERTY rubs some on his fingers and smells the powder.

DOUGHERTY:
Yeah, it’s Coke.

DOUGHERTY notices that HUGHES is still transfixed on the dead body.

DOUGHERTY:
C’mon, come with me.

HUGHES doesn’t move.  DOUGHERTY grabs HUGHES by the shoulder.

DOUGHERTY:
Come with me, you need some air, and I need a cigarette.

The two men exit the motel room.

EXT-DOUBLE DECKER MOTEL-CONTINUOUS
DOUGHERTY lights up a cigarette while HUGHES runs HIS hands through HIS hair.  There is silence between the two men for a few moments.

DOUGHERTY:
So what’s up?

HUGHES:
What do you mean?—

DOUGHERTY:
You know damn well what I mean.  You’ve seen crime scenes that were ten times worse than this one, and you are freezing up.  What’s going on?  Did you know the guy?

HUGHES:
I just need to get the hell away from here.

DOUGHERTY:
Fine, I’ll wait for the coroner and CSI’s to get here and we’ll go for coffee or something.  Then you gotta spill it.

HUGHES:
Deal.
DOUGHERTY takes a drag from HIS cigarette as HUGHES still looks on, very distraught.  DOUGHERTY reaches into HIS pocket and digs out some gum.  HE takes a piece out of the wrapper and hands it to HUGHES.  HUGHES takes it and begins to chew.

FADE OUT

INT-DAN’S DINER-EVENING
The sun is setting outside the window next to a booth where DOUGHERTY and HUGHES are sitting.  They have both ordered their coffee and are drinking it.

DOUGHERTY:
I don’t want to have to force this out of you.  What the hell is going on?

HUGHES:
You remember the day we became partners?

DOUGHERTY:
Vaguely, why?

HUGHES:
Well, you asked me about my family.  If I had any siblings.  And, I lied to you when I told you I didn’t have any brothers or sisters.

DOUGHERTY takes a sip of his coffee

DOUGHERTY:
Yeah, go on.

HUGHES:
The dead man.  He was my brother.  Ben Hughes.

DOUGHERTY:
So, why keep it a secret?  I mean, I know at the time I asked the question we didn’t know jack shit about each other, but still.  I’d gotten to know you over the past ten years.

HUGHES:
Or maybe you just think you have, Brady.  There were a number of reasons I didn’t tell you or anyone for that matter.  Ben was the reason I became a detective.  I didn’t tell you about him because I didn’t want you to think that I was just as bad as he was; that I was just trying to prove something to my family.

DOUGHERTY:
What makes you think that I’d analyze you that way?—

HUGHES:
Because that’s what every other partner I’ve worked with has always done!

DOUGHERTY is silenced by this little outburst.

HUGHES: (calmer)
I’m sorry.  I just…I don’t trust people the way I should.

DOUGHERTY:
Oh, so I’m one of the ones that you can’t trust?!  Adam, I’ve saved your life on three different occasions in the past ten years!  I saved your wife and child from an apartment fire when you were helping the F.B.I.  Jesus Christ, Adam if there’s anyone in this false utopia of a town that you can trust it’s me!

DOUGHERTY and HUGHES sit in silence for a moment.  DOUGHERTY is clearly pissed off.  DOUGHERTY gets up and slams some money down on the table.

DOUGHERTY:
There’s enough there for you to buy a bus ticket home.  Call me when you think we can work together as partners again.

DOUGHERTY leaves HUGHES at the table alone.

FADE OUT

INT-BAR-NIGHT
HUGHES is the only person left at the bar, and the BARTENDER is wiping off tables.  DOUGHERTY walks in the bar and sits next to HUGHES.  The BARTENDER walks behind the bar.

DOUGHERTY:
How close are you to last call?

BARTENDER:
15 minutes, what can I get you?

DOUGHERTY:
Jack on the rocks, please.  You mind if I light up?

BARTENDER:
Nah, go ahead.

DOUGHERTY takes out a cigarette and a lighter and fires up.  DOUGHERTY looks over at HUGHES, who looks back at HIM.  They sit in silence until the BARTENDER brings DOUGHERTY HIS drink.

DOUGHERTY: (to the BARTENDER)
You mind giving us a few minutes?

The BARTENDER shakes HIS head and walks into the back room of the bar.  DOUGHERTY and HUGHES are left alone.  DOUGHERTY takes a drag from his cigarette.

DOUGHERTY:
You know, I used to hate Christmas.  So much.

HUGHES doesn’t respond right away.  DOUGHERTY takes a drag.  HUGHES takes a swig of HIS drink.

HUGHES: (still looking down at his glass)
Why’s that?

DOUGHERTY:
I didn’t like surprises.  I felt like the weeks leading up to Christmas were filled with lies.  It was always filled with secrets, and I hate secrets.  I can remember the year I found out that Santa didn’t exist.  God damn was I pissed at my parents, I vowed not to talk to them for an entire year.  Luckily for them my birthday was in late January.  Needless to say I got over it.

PAUSE.  The two men sit in silence.

DOUGHERTY:
I understand why you didn’t tell me about your brother.  Quite frankly, you and I are a lot alike in that regard.

HUGHES:
How so?

DOUGHERTY takes a swig of his drink.

DOUGHERTY:
I moved to South Beach when I was 12.  When I met you, I told you that I’d just moved there, and at the time I was 26.  There’s the first lie I told you.  

HUGHES:
That lie seems hardly comparable to the lie that I told you about not having a fuckin’ druggie for a brother.

DOUGHERTY sees that HUGHES is still a little bitter.

DOUGHERTY:
I was heading into my eighth grade year in the New York City School system when my father died.  That’s the second lie I told you.  If I remember correctly, I told you I never knew my father.  He was a big drinker, and he often abused my mother and I.  My mom would always buy me long sleeved shirts and pants to cover my bruises, and for her, she just bought extra make-up.  (PAUSE)  One night, after hanging out with my friends, I’d come home to hear my mom crying as my father was beating on her.  I ran upstairs to find them arguing in the bedroom, and my dad smacked me down to the ground.  (PAUSE)  So, I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I knew where my dad had kept his gun.  It was in the basement of the house, and my parents thought they’d hidden the key, but I’d found it a year earlier.  So I went downstairs and got the gun.  It was loaded, which was stupid of my father.  I went upstairs and into my parent’s bedroom.  I cocked the hammer back.  I knew that both of my parents were begging me to put it down, my mother out of fear for my own life, and my father, well, I assumed at the time, out of fear for his life.  But I didn’t hear them begging.  The noise from the gun hammer was so pronounced that it was deafening.  And that’s when I saw it.  I saw the lie in my father’s eyes.  He was begging me to put down his gun, but his eyes were saying that he was going to kill me once I did so.  So I squeezed off three rounds and killed him.  My mother and I got rid of the body by dumping it in the East River in the middle of the night.  It surprisingly never washed up.

DOUGHERTY takes out a chain that’s hanging from HIS neck.  On the chain are three shell casings and a small key.  HE rips the chain off of his neck and places it on the table.

DOUGHERTY:
I’ve carried my secret with me for 31 years.  And now I’m giving you a choice, Adam.  The key is to a cabinet in my office at my house.  In there you’ll find the gun that was used to kill my father.  Now, you can turn me into the police for murdering my father, because let’s face it Adam, murder is murder, you and I both live by that mantra.  Or you can do what I know you’re going to do, which is nothing.  I don’t believe you’re going to do anything because I trust you.  I trust you with my life, with my wife’s life, and with my children’s lives.  And Adam, I’d appreciate it if you’d give the same trust to me.  I’ll be in the car waiting for you.

DOUGHERTY gets up from the bar and walks out.  HUGHES sits there for a moment, takes the last swig of HIS drink, picks up DOUGHERTY’S chain and walks out of the bar.

INT-CAR-CONTINUOUS
HUGHES gets in the car.

HUGHES:
We need to get back to precinct.  You and I probably have a shitload of paperwork to do with Ben’s murder.

DOUGHERTY:
That we do, my friend.  That we do.

FADE TO BLACK
ROLL CREDITS
THE END.