THE VEILED LADY by e.winston eawnstn@aol.

com E Winston 2008

FADE IN: INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT Darkness. The electronic lock THUNKS open. Thre e figures hustle into the room. Two males carry something large. A female shuts the door. She flips on the lights. DEREK (30), a polished tough guy, and JOEY (2 2), a geeky fanboy, shuffle around the bed with a large, paper wrapped painting between them. Derek, the clear alpha of the two, does most of the work. DEREK Ke ep your end up Joey. JOEY I know I know. Joey lifts his end up higher. And sneer s. HEATHER (25), a good girl gone bad, points over to a chair. HEATHER Babe, pro p it up on the chair. DEREK You heard her. Lift. They place the painting on the chair. Derek looks at Joey with doubt. JOEY What? I have my laptop too. Derek gi ves him a dismissive wave. He turns to Heather. DEREK Lock the door Heather. She locks it. Heather looks back to Derek. Eyes beaming. HEATHER We did it. I can't b elieve we did it Derek. 2

DEREK Almost babe. Now we get the money. Then we celebrate. He winks. Heather wa lks over to him. Drops her bag on the bed. They kiss. Hard and deep. Joey watche s them for a moment too long. He reaches down into his backpack. Slowly he withd raws his LAPTOP. JOEY Can we take a look at it? Derek breaks the kiss. DEREK No. Heather looks up at Derek. Her eyes plead. She mouths come on. Derek relents. DERE K Alright. But be careful Joey. JOEY I know I know. Heather plants a thankful ki ss on Derek. She rushes over to the painting. Together, Heather and Joey unwraps the brown paper. Derek takes out his cell-phone and dials. He watches Heather. Unabashed. DEREK (into cell) Yeah. We have it. Heather and Joey step back from t he unwrapped painting. 3

DEREK Hotel Guignol. Room 410. Derek ends the call. He stares at the same thing Heather and Joey gaze at. The painting. More exactly, the black veil draped over the gilded frame. DEREK What the hell? Heather reaches. She touches the edge of the veil. HEATHER It's a veil. A veiled painting. DEREK We all know only fuglies wear veils. Joey flips up the thin veil to reveal the artwork. A 19th century po rtrait of a grim and gray lady stares back. The lady clutches a knife to her che st. HEATHER Put it down. She is fugly. She and Joey laugh. Not Derek. DEREK Quit playing around Joey. The guy will be here in an hour. Heather. I want to talk t o you. Heather goes over to Derek. He turns them away from Joey. Joey flips off his brother. DEREK Don't encourage him. HEATHER He's your brother. DEREK And he's a fu ck up. And this score's too big to have it screwed. Now are you hungry? I'm going to go get some food. HEATHER Yeah get burgers. 4

She pulls him closer to her. HEATHER Love you babe. She pecks him on the lips. D erek turns back to Joey. DEREK Joe. You up for something to eat? Joey looks up f rom plugging in his laptop. JOEY Yeah. Tacos. DEREK Burgers. JOEY I'm sick of burg ers. Come on. Get some tacos. DEREK Three double cheese burgers and fries it is. Derek goes over to the door. Joey shoots Derek a dirty look. DEREK Be right bac k babe. Derek pantomimes for Heather to keep an eye on Joey. He unlocks the door , steps out and shuts it. Heather turns her attention to the painting, and Joey. HEATHER Sorry about that. If I had known JOEY Don't worry about it. He's always been a jack ass. Heather grins. She walks over to the painting. Behind her on the be d, Joey gets his laptop running. Heather stares at the dour lady in the painting . 5

HEATHER I read something online about veiled paintings. Like, in the eighteenhun dreds, people would cover the portraits of dead family members to keep their spi rits from hanging around. Heather looks away. Uneasy. Joey looks up from his lap top. JOEY Cool. I'll look it up on Wikipedia. Who's the artist again? Heather picks up her bag from the end of the bed. HEATHER Merlin Ambrose. THE RED SIGNATURE ON THE PAINTING STANDS OUT. HEATHER I'm going to take a shower before Derek gets bac k. She takes her bag into the bathroom with her. Joey watches her go. He stares at the shut door. Pining. He looks back to his laptop and types. Joey reads from the website. JOEY Says here that the veil was added so that only those who harm ed her INT. BATHROOM - CONTINUOUS Heather pulls a gun from her bag on the counter . JOEY (O.S.) (outside door) Would view the portrait and suffer her vengeance. H eather stops. Listens. She puts the gun on the counter. INT. HOTEL ROOM CONTINUO US Joey looks at the bathroom door. 6

JOEY You hear? The shower comes on in the bathroom. JOEY Or should I join you in the shower? Joey grins. He rolls onto his stomach with his laptop. Back facing the painting. JOEY And now some Second Life. Joey focuses his attention on the l aptop screen. The sound of the shower drones on. A shadow moves in the dark corn er of the room. The glow from the laptop illuminates Joey's face. JOEY Come on. Lo ad. A murky figure rises up behind Joey. Joey taps at the keyboard. Eager. Uncon cerned. The figure holds out a discolored knife. Joey turns to look. His eyes gr ow wide. The knife plunges into Joey's spine. He dies on his laptop. INT. BATHROOM MOMENTS LATER The shower turns off. Heather reaches through the shower curtain for her towel. She steps out with the towel wrapped around her body. Heather use s another towel to dry her hair. HEATHER Hey Joey. I thought about it. Tacos do sound good. 7

She tosses the towel. Heather pulls her cell-phone from her bag. She puts the gu n back in it. HEATHER You hear. I'll call Derek and tell him. No response comes. H eather looks at the door. She goes over. Opens it. The lights are off in the int erior room. The glow from the laptop can be partially seen. HEATHER Hey. Why'd you turn the lights off? She steps into the darkness. HEATHER (O.S.) That better no t be porn. For a moment nothing happens. Heather screams in abject horror. Mid-s cream she stops. A heavy THUD comes from the interior room. Slowly the bathroom door closes. INT. HOTEL ROOM LATER The door opens on the dark room. DEREK I hook ed you up with a taco Derek steps into the room. Food bags in hand. The door shut s behind him. DEREK What's going on? He elbows the light switch on. Joey lies face down on the bed. Dead. Heather sprawled on the floor in a bloody towel. Dead. T he painting, now blank, stands propped in the chair. 8

Derek takes a step. Shocked. The grim lady from the painting looms from behind t he door. She raises the reddened knife. BLACK SCREEN The sickening THUNK of the knife into Derek's back comes. FADE OUT: THE END 9