[DISSOLVE THROUGH TO: EXT. HIGHWAY 99 - LONG SHOT MARION's car dashing along. DISSOLVE TO: MARION IN NEW CAR. MARION looks weary, tired with strain and with hard driving. Her eyes are heavy with worry and deep thought. OUT THE WINDSHIELD we can see that it is much later in the day, almost dusk. MARION IN NEW CAR. We HEAR the sound of an agitated BUZZ of an intercom system, a sound emanating from MARION's imagination. After the second BUZZ, we HEAR the voice of Caroline.]
CAROLINE'S VOICE: Yes, Mr. Lowery.
LOWERY'S VOICE (a worried tone): Caroline...? Marion still isn't in?
CAROLINE'S VOICE: No, Mr. Lowery... but then she's always a bit late on Monday mornings.
LOWERY'S VOICE: Buzz me the minute she comes in.
[Again MARION shakes her head, forces herself to stop hearing these "invented" scenes of her imagination. EXT. HIGHWAY. Now we cut to the view of the road, from MARION's viewpoint. Darkness of evening is coming. In the dim twilight we see the neon sign of roadside restaurants and gas stations beginning to blaze on. INT. MARION's NEW CAR. Back on MARION's face, and after a moment, the imagined voices again:]
LOWERY'S VOICE: Call her sister! If no one's answering at the house....
CAROLINE'S VOICE: I called her sister, Mr. Lowery, where she works, the Music Makers Music Store, you know? And she doesn't know where Mary is any more than we do.
LOWERY'S VOICE: You better run out to the house. She may be... unablе to answer the phone...
CAROLINE'S VOICE: Hеr sister's going to do that. She's as worried as we are.
[A flush of painful guilt and regret rises up in MARION's face. She closes her eyes for one tight swift moment. EXT. HIGHWAY. We cut again to the highway. The first oncoming headlights slash at the windshield. INT. MARION's NEW CAR. Cutting back to Mary, we can sense by the tense muscles of her face that she is driving faster. The oncoming headlights blurt at her. Suddenly we HEAR LOWERY's voice, loud now and frightened, as if the anxiety in the man's voice was strong enough to break through MARION's effort to keep her mind silent and her imagination blank.]
LOWERY'S VOICE: No! I haven't the faintest idea. As I said, I last saw your sister when she left this office on Friday... she said she didn't feel well and wanted to leave early and I said she could. And that was the last I saw... (a pause, a thought) ...wait a minute, I did see her, an hour or so later, driving... (a pause, then with solemn fear) Ah, I think you'd better come over here to my office. Quick. (a pause, a click) Caroline, get Mr. Cassidy for me.
[EXT. HIGHWAY It is completely dark now, night. INT. MARION's NEW CAR. We cut back to her face.]
LOWERY'S VOICE: After all, Cassidy, I told you... all that cash... I'm not taking the responsibility... Oh, for heaven's sake, a girl works for you for ten years, you trust her! All right, yes, you better come over.
[FROM MARION's VIEWPOINT. EXT. THE ROAD AHEAD INT. MARY'S NEW CAR. Fast cut back to Mary's face. Oncoming headlights throw a blinding light across her features.]
CASSIDY'S VOICE (undrunk, sharp with rage): Well I ain't about to kiss off forty thousand dollars! I'll get it back and if any of it's missin' I'll replace it with her fine soft flesh! I'll track her, never you doubt it!
LOWERY'S VOICE: Hold on, Cassidy... I still can't believe... it must be some kind of a mystery... I can't...
CASSIDY'S VOICE: You checked with the bank, no? They never laid eyes on her, no? You still trustin'? Hot creepers, she sat there while I dumped it out... hardly even looked at it, plannin' and... and even flirtin' with me...!
[A look of revulsion makes MARION close her eyes. THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD AGAIN. Big drops of rain begin to appear. CLOSEUP - MARION. She is becoming aware of the rain starting. THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD The rain increasing and backlit by the oncoming headlights. CLOSEUP - MARION. MARION starts the windshield wipers. THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD. The wipers are having a battle with the now torrential rain. CLOSEUP - MARION. Peering through the blurred windshield. CLOSEUP - THE CAR WHEELS slowing down in the flooding highway. CLOSEUP - MARION peering through the windshield. The oncoming lights are fewer. CLOSEUP - THE CAR WHEELS almost coming to a slow turn. THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD: just blackness and rain. CLOSEUP - MARION peering. MARION's VIEWPOINT. An almost undiscernible light in the far distance, a neon sign blurred by the rain-sheeted windshield. MARION'S CAR. She presses down, forces the car to move on through the flooded road. EXT. THE ROAD. As we move closer, we see the neon sign more clearly and can faintly make out the large letters which read "Motel." MARION stops the car, lowers the window slightly, looks out. We see the sign clearly now: "BATES MOTEL." MARION opens the car door and dashes out into the rain and up onto the porch of the motel office.]
CAROLINE'S VOICE: Yes, Mr. Lowery.
LOWERY'S VOICE (a worried tone): Caroline...? Marion still isn't in?
CAROLINE'S VOICE: No, Mr. Lowery... but then she's always a bit late on Monday mornings.
LOWERY'S VOICE: Buzz me the minute she comes in.
[Again MARION shakes her head, forces herself to stop hearing these "invented" scenes of her imagination. EXT. HIGHWAY. Now we cut to the view of the road, from MARION's viewpoint. Darkness of evening is coming. In the dim twilight we see the neon sign of roadside restaurants and gas stations beginning to blaze on. INT. MARION's NEW CAR. Back on MARION's face, and after a moment, the imagined voices again:]
LOWERY'S VOICE: Call her sister! If no one's answering at the house....
CAROLINE'S VOICE: I called her sister, Mr. Lowery, where she works, the Music Makers Music Store, you know? And she doesn't know where Mary is any more than we do.
LOWERY'S VOICE: You better run out to the house. She may be... unablе to answer the phone...
CAROLINE'S VOICE: Hеr sister's going to do that. She's as worried as we are.
[A flush of painful guilt and regret rises up in MARION's face. She closes her eyes for one tight swift moment. EXT. HIGHWAY. We cut again to the highway. The first oncoming headlights slash at the windshield. INT. MARION's NEW CAR. Cutting back to Mary, we can sense by the tense muscles of her face that she is driving faster. The oncoming headlights blurt at her. Suddenly we HEAR LOWERY's voice, loud now and frightened, as if the anxiety in the man's voice was strong enough to break through MARION's effort to keep her mind silent and her imagination blank.]
LOWERY'S VOICE: No! I haven't the faintest idea. As I said, I last saw your sister when she left this office on Friday... she said she didn't feel well and wanted to leave early and I said she could. And that was the last I saw... (a pause, a thought) ...wait a minute, I did see her, an hour or so later, driving... (a pause, then with solemn fear) Ah, I think you'd better come over here to my office. Quick. (a pause, a click) Caroline, get Mr. Cassidy for me.
[EXT. HIGHWAY It is completely dark now, night. INT. MARION's NEW CAR. We cut back to her face.]
LOWERY'S VOICE: After all, Cassidy, I told you... all that cash... I'm not taking the responsibility... Oh, for heaven's sake, a girl works for you for ten years, you trust her! All right, yes, you better come over.
[FROM MARION's VIEWPOINT. EXT. THE ROAD AHEAD INT. MARY'S NEW CAR. Fast cut back to Mary's face. Oncoming headlights throw a blinding light across her features.]
CASSIDY'S VOICE (undrunk, sharp with rage): Well I ain't about to kiss off forty thousand dollars! I'll get it back and if any of it's missin' I'll replace it with her fine soft flesh! I'll track her, never you doubt it!
LOWERY'S VOICE: Hold on, Cassidy... I still can't believe... it must be some kind of a mystery... I can't...
CASSIDY'S VOICE: You checked with the bank, no? They never laid eyes on her, no? You still trustin'? Hot creepers, she sat there while I dumped it out... hardly even looked at it, plannin' and... and even flirtin' with me...!
[A look of revulsion makes MARION close her eyes. THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD AGAIN. Big drops of rain begin to appear. CLOSEUP - MARION. She is becoming aware of the rain starting. THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD The rain increasing and backlit by the oncoming headlights. CLOSEUP - MARION. MARION starts the windshield wipers. THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD. The wipers are having a battle with the now torrential rain. CLOSEUP - MARION. Peering through the blurred windshield. CLOSEUP - THE CAR WHEELS slowing down in the flooding highway. CLOSEUP - MARION peering through the windshield. The oncoming lights are fewer. CLOSEUP - THE CAR WHEELS almost coming to a slow turn. THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD: just blackness and rain. CLOSEUP - MARION peering. MARION's VIEWPOINT. An almost undiscernible light in the far distance, a neon sign blurred by the rain-sheeted windshield. MARION'S CAR. She presses down, forces the car to move on through the flooded road. EXT. THE ROAD. As we move closer, we see the neon sign more clearly and can faintly make out the large letters which read "Motel." MARION stops the car, lowers the window slightly, looks out. We see the sign clearly now: "BATES MOTEL." MARION opens the car door and dashes out into the rain and up onto the porch of the motel office.]
( Janet Leigh )
www.ChordsAZ.com