NIMO PRATT

Nimo Pratt, non-descript with salt and pepper hair, Sabine Gallows, long-haired brunette, busty waitress.

 

At a café in Alphabet City.  Pratt is sitting at an outdoor table.

 

 

Waitress.  Leans over the table, swallowing Pratt’s face in her ample cleavage.

 

Coffee?

 

Pratt

(Clears his throat and removes his spectacles. Wipes them with his shirt.)

 

No, thank you.  I’ll have an herbal tea and a 7-up.

 

Waitress

Well, that’s a first.  You’re not a New Yorker are you?  Let me see if we have any of this herbal tea.

 

 

 

Pratt

 

Thank you.

 

Exit waitress.

 

 

Sabine

 

Excuse me.  Are you Dr. Nimo Pratt, the zoophytoplanktonologist from Woods Hole, Rhode Island?

 

Pratt.

 ( Hyperventilates and uses his inhaler. Unaccustomed to being accosted by women.  Gets into a fit of sneezing.)

 

Sorry.  It’s my allergies, you see.

 

Sabine

 

I’m Sabine Gallows.  I attended your symposium on the coccoliphorid at NYU.  Congratulations on winning the Nobel Prize for Marine Biology last year.

 

Pratt (blushing)

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

Sabine

 

Are you teaching in the city, Professor?

 

Pratt

 

Actually, I am taking a respite before taking a position in New Zealand this fall.

 

Sabine

 

That’s wonderful!

 

Pratt

 

Would you like to join me?

 

Sabine

 

Okay.  I have a couple minutes before class.

 

Enter waitress.  Puts down a small kettle, a cup on a saucer, and a can of 7-up with a glass filled with ice.

 

Waitress

 

Coffee?

 

Sabine

 

Please.  I’ll have a buttered bagel, too.

 

Waitress

 

Gotcha.

 

Sabine

 

Well, isn’t she the little Busty Mcfreckles?

 

Pratt

 

Yuh.  Yuh.

 

Sabine

 

It was an amazing talk you gave on the coccolophorid.  Finding the correlation between the lower salmon counts and the deaths of surface feeding sea birds is incredible.

 

 

 

Pratt

 

I’ve been following them lately and they actually are changing the currents of the Bering Sea a new shadeof blue from a natural deep blue to a shimmering aquamarine in a matter of weeks.

 

Sabine

 

Wow.  It’ll look like the Caribbean out there.  Oh my god, I have to get to class.  Listen, Professor, if you’re not doing anything tonight I’d like to invite you to my fiance’s restaurant.  It’s opening night.

 

Pratt

 

Sure.  Sure.  That sounds just fine, Sabine.

 

Sabine

 

Great.  It’s called Sammael’s Seafood Restaurant in Helll’s Kitchen.  Be there by six-thirty.

 

Pratt

 

Okay, Sabine.  Thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pratt, Sabine, Finch, host.  At the restaurant.

 

 

 

 

 

Pratt approaches the host.

 

Pratt

 

Hello.  I’m here to see Sabine.

 

Host

 

Ah, yes.  She is expecting you.  Follow me.  (leads him to a table in the back).

 

 

 

 

Sabine

 

 

Professor.  I’m so glad you could come.  This is my fiancé, Sam.

 

Finch

 

(shakes Pratt’s hand) .  Nimo.  Nimo Pratt from Falsmouth?

 

 

Pratt

 

Yes.

 

Finch

 

It’s me, Sammy Finch, from Holy Stigmata.  Boy, you haven’t changed a bit, Nimo Pratt.  When Sabine told me about you, I thought your name sounded familiar.  Then it hit me.  I hear you won the Nobel Prize.  That’s great.  Congratulations.  You always were a nerd.

 

 

Pratt

 

Thanks, Finch.

 

Finch

 

Let’s make a toast.  Here’s to a Nobel Laureate and childhood friends.  Why don’t we step into my office so we could catch up on old times.  (They repair to his office).

 

Finch

 

Have a seat, Pratt.  Would you like a cigar?

 

Pratt

 

No, thank you.  I am allergic.

 

Finch

 

You probably just think of me as that kid who bullied you in school.  That’s just how kids are.  You know how it goes.  That’s all in the past now.  Nobody really has any friends in this world.  The only thing a man can be sure about is his enemies.  You and I, we’ve never seen eye to eye as children.  I always did like you Pratt.

Pratt

 

Sure.

 

Finch

 

What I’m trying to say is that although we may not be friends, we’re certainly not enemies, you and I.   Do you remember the last time we saw each other, Pratt?

 

Pratt

 

The playground.

 

Finch

 

We were at Buzzard’s Bay.  Jimmy Cho was there too.  You remember Jimmy Cho, don’t you?

 

Pratt

 

I…I…I can’t seem to remember.

 

Finch

 

Of course you do.  He’s dead now.  He died that day.  You and I were the only ones there.  Do you remember now, Pratt?

 

Pratt

 

I’m not sure.

 

Finch

 

We both know what happened to him, Pratt.  It was you.  I saw it happen.  I was right there.  We both know it was you.  I can understand your silence.  You threw a rock at his head and killed him.

 

Pratt

 

(begins to hyperventilate and has a panic attack.  He takes out his inhaler and draws in the metallic air.)

 

Finch

 

Pratt, are you okay?

 

Pratt

 

I’m just fine. (in a fit of coughing.  Sam brings him a glass of water).

 

 

 

 

 

Finch

 

You know, I don’t believe there are any statutes of limitations on murder.  You have nothing to say?  It was a nice day in August.  I remember because the next day my family moved to New York.  I never breathed a word of it to anyone.  I was traumatized.  Jimmy Cho was my best friend.  I pushed that down for many years until I hear Sabine say that she met the infamous Nimo Pratt. (sips his brandy.)  But that’s all in the past, right?  Listen, this conversation is between us.  No one has to know the truth.

 

Pratt

 

It wasn’t murder!  It was an accident.  He hit his head on a big rock when he fell.

 

Finch

 

No one is saying it is, Pratt.  How about we help each other out?  I need someone I could trust to do me a favor.

 

Pratt

 

What is it?

 

Finch

 

I need you to kill Sabine.

 

 

 

 

 

Sammy Finch, Nimo Pratt, Jimmy Cho at eleven years old.  Buzzard’s Bay.  Sammy and Jimmy are smoking a cigarette.  Nimo rides up on his bike.

 

 

 

 

Finch

 

What are you doing here, wuss?  This is our territory.

 

Pratt

 

This is a public park.  I can come here if I want to.

 

Jimmy Cho

 

You have to pay to play here.  Give us two dollars and you can stay.

 

 

Pratt

 

I don’t have two dollars.

 

Finch

 

Then get the hell outta here, punk.

 

Pratt

 

I’m staying.  You can’t make me do anything.  Not today.

 

Jimmy Cho

 

Oh, yeah?  (picks up rocks and starts throwing them at Pratt.  Finch follows suit.)

 

Pratt gets off his bike and starts pelting them with rocks as well.  He got Jimmy Cho in the head with a large rock and he goes down.  When he falls he hits his head on a jutting rock.

 

Finch

 

Now look what you did Nimo.  You made his head bleed.  Jimmy?  Jimmy?  Are you okay?  (Jimmy lies there with his eyes open, unresponsive.  Finch gives him a little kick to prod him, but he remained still.)

He’s dead.  You just killed Jimmy Cho.  (he gets on his bike and rides off as fast as he could.)

 

Pratt just stares at Jimmy Cho with his eyes glazed over.  He couldn’t stop staring at the dead body.  He got on his bike and rode away without looking back.

 

 

 

 

 

Pratt, Finch at the restaurant two days later around lunchtime when it is closed.

 

 

 

Finch

 

So, Pratt, did you enjoy your lunch?

 

Pratt

 

Yes.  It was just fine.  Thank you.

 

Finch

 

What about the wine.  Did you like the wine?

 

 

Pratt

 

It’s fine.

 

Finch

 

I personally know the owners of that vineyard.  What type of wine do you prefer.

 

Pratt

 

I once had some Manischewitz at my cousin’s Bar Mitzvah.

 

Finch

 

(laughs.)  That’s  classic, Pratt.  Now let’s get down to business.  About the job.  You’ll have to do it Thursday night.  She usually stays in all night.

 

Pratt

 

What if I refuse?

 

Finch

 

Well, then.  I may take Sabine out to Cape Cod for the weekend.  Maybe drop in on Sully.  Ask him if there are any cold cases.  You remember him, right?  Edward Sullivan?  He was in my grade.  We still keep in touch.  He’s the chief of police in Falsmouth.  Think about it, Pratt.  Think about your Nobel Prize.

 

Pratt

 

What do you want me to do?

 

Finch

 

I’m glad we’re on the same page.  Here’s how it’s going to go down.  Like I said, Sabine stays in on Thursday nights.  I am giving you a copy of my key.  You let yourself in at one a.m.  She’s in bed by then.  She takes a sleeping pill so she’ll be out.  You go in there, to the left is my study.  I will leave a gun in the top drawer of my desk, and you shoot her with it. Make it look like a break-in.  You mess up the lock after.  Take the gun with you and get rid of it. See?  Quick, fast, and easy.  (His cell phone rings).  Excuse me, Pratt, I’ve got to take this. (Walks into the kitchen.)

 

 

Pratt sees this as an opportunity to pour the poison  into his wine.  He had gone to his lab in Woods Hole to retrieve the tetrodoxin and the antidote in case something went wrong the other day.  It causes blindness, paralysis and death within hours.  The best part was that it is undetectable.  Takes out the vial and pours it into Finch’s wine glass.  In a few minutes Finch comes out carrying a carafe of coffee.  Pours each of them a cup.

 

Enter Sabine.

 

 

Sabine

 

Professor.  So nice to see you.  Did you enjoy Sam’s cooking?

 

Pratt

 

It was just fine.

 

Sabine

 

Good.  (Lifts up Finch’s wine glass and drinks from it.)

 

Pratt immediately has a panic attack.

 

Sabine

 

Your inhaler!

 

Pratt takes it out and sucks deeply on it. Has a drink of water and calms down in a few minutes.

 

Sabine

 

I’m going back to the apartment now.  I have papers to grade.  What time will you be home tonight, honey?

 

Finch

 

I’ll be home early.  Eve’s closing tonight.

 

Sabine

 

It was nice to see you again, Professor.  Maybe I’ll cook dinner for you one night.

 

Pratt

 

That would be fine.  Just fine.

 

Finch

 

She’s a great cook.  You won’t be disappointed.

 

Sabine

 

I’ll see you tonight then, dear. (Takes another sip of wine, kisses Finch.)  Take care, Professor.

 

 

Pratt and Finch continue to drink their coffee.

 

Pratt

 

Well, Finch.  I’m going to go.  I don’t feel so well.

 

Finch

 

Remember, Pratt.  Thursday.

 

 

 

 

Pratt, Sabine at her apartment.

 

 

Sabine

 

Well hi Professor.  You didn’t want me to cook that dinner for you right now do you?

 

Pratt

 

I just wanted to drop by and say hello.

 

Sabine

 

Would you like a cup of tea?

 

Pratt

 

That would be just fine, Sabine.

 

 

Pratt sits on the couch as Sabine makes tea. 

 

Sabine

 

(Serves the tea.  Sits beside Pratt on the couch.)

 

So I heard you went to India and solved a problem in their river.

 

Pratt

 

Yes, I led a team to the Tirthan Valley, a renowned river for trout fishing, where the trout were coming up dead and  killing other marine life.  The river started rotting out.  So we cleaned it out and imported trout from the New Zealand Institute for Marine Biology.

 

 

 

Sabine

 

That is so fascinating.  It was good of the institute to allow you to transfer all that trout to India.

Pratt

 

Yes, it was a memorable trip.

 

 

Sabine starts getting loopy.

 

Sabine

 

Slurring.

 

 

Professor, I’m feeling awfully tired all of a sudden.  I don’t know what’s wrong.

 

Pratt

 

It’s okay Sabine.  You’re going to be just fine.

 

Sabine

 

I can’t see anything.  What is happening?

 

Pratt

 

You’re going to feel a little uncomfortable for a couple of minutes.  Don’t worry you’ll feel better soon.

 

Sabine

 

I can’t feel my legs.    I can’t move.

 

Pratt

 

Everything is going to be just fine.

 

 

Pratt takes the vial of the antidote and prepares the syringe.  Sabine loses her ability to talk.  He takes her arm and injects her with the serum.

 

Pratt

 

You’ll be fine in a few minutes.

 

He rearranges her on the couch so it looks like she fell asleep watching tv.  She won’t remember a thing.  Fortunately that was a side effect of the antidote.

 

 

 

The telephone rings and the answering machine picks up.

 

Voice

 

Sabine.  Sam’s dead.  You need to come down to Presbyterian.

 

 

 

 

Sabine at her apartment.

 

 

It is 2am. Sabine picks up the phone and calls Pratt.

 

Pratt

 

Hello?

 

Sabine

 

Professor!  It’s Sam.  He’s dead.  His partner , Steve, called and left a message on my answering machine.  I must have fallen asleep because I didn’t even hear the phone ring.  Oh, Professor, can you come over?

 

Pratt

 

Sure, Sabine.  I’ll be right there.

 

 

 

 

 

Pratt arrives.

 

Pratt

 

I’m so sorry, Sabine.  I can’t believe it.  I just saw him today and he seemed fine.

 

Sabine

 

They told Steve it was an aneurysm.  But I don’t believe them.  Sam was healthy.  How could this happen?

 

 

 

 

Pratt

 

Sabine these things  happen without warning.  You can be perfectly healthy  but still succumb to an aneurysm.

 

 

 

Sabine

 

And I wasn’t even there.  I’m not even sure when was the last time I saw him.  I think it was at the restaurant earlier today.  It’s all so fuzzy.

 

Pratt

 

What’s the last thing you remember?

 

Sabine

 

I was at the restaurant.  Then I remember waking up on the couch.  I must have fallen asleep when I was watching TV.  I didn’t hear the phone ring or Steve’s message.

 

 

Is there someone you can call?  Maybe stay over their house?

 

Sabine

 

I’ll call my sister, Julie, tomorrow.  Can you stay over?

 

Pratt

 

Sure, sure.

 

Sabine

 

I guess we should go to Presbyterian then.

 

Pratt

 

Yes.  We should leave now.

 

 

 

At the hospital.  Pratt, Sabine, doctor.

 

 

Sabine

 

What happened Doctor?

 

Doctor

 

Sam had an aneurysm and hemorrhaged out.  He lost a lot of blood in his brain.  I’m sorry for your loss.

 

Exit doctor.

 

Sabine

 

Oh, Professor.  What am I going to do?

 

Pratt

 

Are his parents still alive?  I know he was an only child.

 

Sabine

 

Both his parents are dead.

 

Pratt

 

Do you know what that means?  It means you are his beneficiary.  They already ruled his death as natural causes so you have nothing to worry about.  Let’s just get you home.

 

 

Bellvue Hospital, 22 West. Ward for the criminally insane.

Dr. Cabeza, Pratt

 

 

 

 

Doctor Cabeza

 

Nimo.  You have been asleep for forty-eight hours straight.   Do you know why you’re here?

 

Pratt

 

No.

 

You killed a man, Sammael Finch.  His fiancée found a syringe under her couch.  She had it analyzed and it turned out to be an antidote to tetrodoxin.  She realized she had been drugged, so she had Finch’s body exhumed and they did a tox screen on him.  This poison can’t be detected unless you test for it specifically.  They found a vial of the serum in your apartment.  Do you remember any of this?

 

Pratt

 

No.

 

 

 

Doctor Cabeza

 

You have what is known as schizo-affective disassociative disorder. There are two selves within you where one self isn’t aware of what the other self is doing.  Your lawyer pleaded you down to murder by reason of insanity.  So you will be our guest for the remainder of your life.  Do you understand what I am telling you?

 

Pratt

 

Yes.

 

Doctor Cabeza

 

Good.   You will be assigned to Nurse Rachett.  She will give you your medication in a little while.

 

Pratt

 

Doctor.

 

Doctor Cabeza

 

Yes, Nimo?

 

Pratt

 

Jimmy Cho was not an accident.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nimo Pratt, non-descript with salt and pepper hair, Sabine Gallows, long-haired brunette, busty waitress.

 

At a café in Alphabet City.  Pratt is sitting at an outdoor table.

 

 

Waitress.  Leans over the table, swallowing Pratt’s face in her ample cleavage.

 

Coffee?

 

Pratt

(Clears his throat and removes his spectacles. Wipes them with his shirt.)

 

No, thank you.  I’ll have an herbal tea and a 7-up.

 

Waitress

Well, that’s a first.  You’re not a New Yorker are you?  Let me see if we have any of this herbal tea.

 

 

 

Pratt

 

Thank you.

 

Exit waitress.

 

 

Sabine

 

Excuse me.  Are you Dr. Nimo Pratt, the zoophytoplanktonologist from Woods Hole, Rhode Island?

 

Pratt.

 ( Hyperventilates and uses his inhaler. Unaccustomed to being accosted by women.  Gets into a fit of sneezing.)

 

Sorry.  It’s my allergies, you see.

 

Sabine

 

I’m Sabine Gallows.  I attended your symposium on the coccoliphorid at NYU.  Congratulations on winning the Nobel Prize for Marine Biology last year.

 

Pratt (blushing)

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

Sabine

 

Are you teaching in the city, Professor?

 

Pratt

 

Actually, I am taking a respite before taking a position in New Zealand this fall.

 

Sabine

 

That’s wonderful!

 

Pratt

 

Would you like to join me?

 

Sabine

 

Okay.  I have a couple minutes before class.

 

Enter waitress.  Puts down a small kettle, a cup on a saucer, and a can of 7-up with a glass filled with ice.

 

Waitress

 

Coffee?

 

Sabine

 

Please.  I’ll have a buttered bagel, too.

 

Waitress

 

Gotcha.

 

Sabine

 

Well, isn’t she the little Busty Mcfreckles?

 

Pratt

 

Yuh.  Yuh.

 

Sabine

 

It was an amazing talk you gave on the coccolophorid.  Finding the correlation between the lower salmon counts and the deaths of surface feeding sea birds is incredible.

 

 

 

Pratt

 

I’ve been following them lately and they actually are changing the currents of the Bering Sea a new shadeof blue from a natural deep blue to a shimmering aquamarine in a matter of weeks.

 

Sabine

 

Wow.  It’ll look like the Caribbean out there.  Oh my god, I have to get to class.  Listen, Professor, if you’re not doing anything tonight I’d like to invite you to my fiance’s restaurant.  It’s opening night.

 

Pratt

 

Sure.  Sure.  That sounds just fine, Sabine.

 

Sabine

 

Great.  It’s called Sammael’s Seafood Restaurant in Helll’s Kitchen.  Be there by six-thirty.

 

Pratt

 

Okay, Sabine.  Thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pratt, Sabine, Finch, host.  At the restaurant.

 

 

 

 

 

Pratt approaches the host.

 

Pratt

 

Hello.  I’m here to see Sabine.

 

Host

 

Ah, yes.  She is expecting you.  Follow me.  (leads him to a table in the back).

 

 

 

 

Sabine

 

 

Professor.  I’m so glad you could come.  This is my fiancé, Sam.

 

Finch

 

(shakes Pratt’s hand) .  Nimo.  Nimo Pratt from Falsmouth?

 

 

Pratt

 

Yes.

 

Finch

 

It’s me, Sammy Finch, from Holy Stigmata.  Boy, you haven’t changed a bit, Nimo Pratt.  When Sabine told me about you, I thought your name sounded familiar.  Then it hit me.  I hear you won the Nobel Prize.  That’s great.  Congratulations.  You always were a nerd.

 

 

Pratt

 

Thanks, Finch.

 

Finch

 

Let’s make a toast.  Here’s to a Nobel Laureate and childhood friends.  Why don’t we step into my office so we could catch up on old times.  (They repair to his office).

 

Finch

 

Have a seat, Pratt.  Would you like a cigar?

 

Pratt

 

No, thank you.  I am allergic.

 

Finch

 

You probably just think of me as that kid who bullied you in school.  That’s just how kids are.  You know how it goes.  That’s all in the past now.  Nobody really has any friends in this world.  The only thing a man can be sure about is his enemies.  You and I, we’ve never seen eye to eye as children.  I always did like you Pratt.

Pratt

 

Sure.

 

Finch

 

What I’m trying to say is that although we may not be friends, we’re certainly not enemies, you and I.   Do you remember the last time we saw each other, Pratt?

 

Pratt

 

The playground.

 

Finch

 

We were at Buzzard’s Bay.  Jimmy Cho was there too.  You remember Jimmy Cho, don’t you?

 

Pratt

 

I…I…I can’t seem to remember.

 

Finch

 

Of course you do.  He’s dead now.  He died that day.  You and I were the only ones there.  Do you remember now, Pratt?

 

Pratt

 

I’m not sure.

 

Finch

 

We both know what happened to him, Pratt.  It was you.  I saw it happen.  I was right there.  We both know it was you.  I can understand your silence.  You threw a rock at his head and killed him.

 

Pratt

 

(begins to hyperventilate and has a panic attack.  He takes out his inhaler and draws in the metallic air.)

 

Finch

 

Pratt, are you okay?

 

Pratt

 

I’m just fine. (in a fit of coughing.  Sam brings him a glass of water).

 

 

 

 

 

Finch

 

You know, I don’t believe there are any statutes of limitations on murder.  You have nothing to say?  It was a nice day in August.  I remember because the next day my family moved to New York.  I never breathed a word of it to anyone.  I was traumatized.  Jimmy Cho was my best friend.  I pushed that down for many years until I hear Sabine say that she met the infamous Nimo Pratt. (sips his brandy.)  But that’s all in the past, right?  Listen, this conversation is between us.  No one has to know the truth.

 

Pratt

 

It wasn’t murder!  It was an accident.  He hit his head on a big rock when he fell.

 

Finch

 

No one is saying it is, Pratt.  How about we help each other out?  I need someone I could trust to do me a favor.

 

Pratt

 

What is it?

 

Finch

 

I need you to kill Sabine.

 

 

 

 

 

Sammy Finch, Nimo Pratt, Jimmy Cho at eleven years old.  Buzzard’s Bay.  Sammy and Jimmy are smoking a cigarette.  Nimo rides up on his bike.

 

 

 

 

Finch

 

What are you doing here, wuss?  This is our territory.

 

Pratt

 

This is a public park.  I can come here if I want to.

 

Jimmy Cho

 

You have to pay to play here.  Give us two dollars and you can stay.

 

 

Pratt

 

I don’t have two dollars.

 

Finch

 

Then get the hell outta here, punk.

 

Pratt

 

I’m staying.  You can’t make me do anything.  Not today.

 

Jimmy Cho

 

Oh, yeah?  (picks up rocks and starts throwing them at Pratt.  Finch follows suit.)

 

Pratt gets off his bike and starts pelting them with rocks as well.  He got Jimmy Cho in the head with a large rock and he goes down.  When he falls he hits his head on a jutting rock.

 

Finch

 

Now look what you did Nimo.  You made his head bleed.  Jimmy?  Jimmy?  Are you okay?  (Jimmy lies there with his eyes open, unresponsive.  Finch gives him a little kick to prod him, but he remained still.)

He’s dead.  You just killed Jimmy Cho.  (he gets on his bike and rides off as fast as he could.)

 

Pratt just stares at Jimmy Cho with his eyes glazed over.  He couldn’t stop staring at the dead body.  He got on his bike and rode away without looking back.

 

 

 

 

 

Pratt, Finch at the restaurant two days later around lunchtime when it is closed.

 

 

 

Finch

 

So, Pratt, did you enjoy your lunch?

 

Pratt

 

Yes.  It was just fine.  Thank you.

 

Finch

 

What about the wine.  Did you like the wine?

 

 

Pratt

 

It’s fine.

 

Finch

 

I personally know the owners of that vineyard.  What type of wine do you prefer.

 

Pratt

 

I once had some Manischewitz at my cousin’s Bar Mitzvah.

 

Finch

 

(laughs.)  That’s  classic, Pratt.  Now let’s get down to business.  About the job.  You’ll have to do it Thursday night.  She usually stays in all night.

 

Pratt

 

What if I refuse?

 

Finch

 

Well, then.  I may take Sabine out to Cape Cod for the weekend.  Maybe drop in on Sully.  Ask him if there are any cold cases.  You remember him, right?  Edward Sullivan?  He was in my grade.  We still keep in touch.  He’s the chief of police in Falsmouth.  Think about it, Pratt.  Think about your Nobel Prize.

 

Pratt

 

What do you want me to do?

 

Finch

 

I’m glad we’re on the same page.  Here’s how it’s going to go down.  Like I said, Sabine stays in on Thursday nights.  I am giving you a copy of my key.  You let yourself in at one a.m.  She’s in bed by then.  She takes a sleeping pill so she’ll be out.  You go in there, to the left is my study.  I will leave a gun in the top drawer of my desk, and you shoot her with it. Make it look like a break-in.  You mess up the lock after.  Take the gun with you and get rid of it. See?  Quick, fast, and easy.  (His cell phone rings).  Excuse me, Pratt, I’ve got to take this. (Walks into the kitchen.)

 

 

Pratt sees this as an opportunity to pour the poison  into his wine.  He had gone to his lab in Woods Hole to retrieve the tetrodoxin and the antidote in case something went wrong the other day.  It causes blindness, paralysis and death within hours.  The best part was that it is undertectable.  Takes out the vial and pours it into Finch’s wine glass.  In a few minutes Finch comes out carrying a carafe of coffee.  Pours each of them a cup.

 

Enter Sabine.

 

 

Sabine

 

Professor.  So nice to see you.  Did you enjoy Sam’s cooking?

 

Pratt

 

It was just fine.

 

Sabine

 

Good.  (Lifts up Finch’s wine glass and drinks from it.)

 

Pratt immediately has a panic attack.

 

Sabine

 

Your inhaler!

 

Pratt takes it out and sucks deeply on it. Has a drink of water and calms down in a few minutes.

 

Sabine

 

I’m going back to the apartment now.  I have papers to grade.  What time will you be home tonight, honey?

 

Finch

 

I’ll be home early.  Eve’s closing tonight.

 

Sabine

 

It was nice to see you again, Professor.  Maybe I’ll cook dinner for you one night.

 

Pratt

 

That would be fine.  Just fine.

 

Finch

 

She’s a great cook.  You won’t be disappointed.

 

Sabine

 

I’ll see you tonight then, dear. (Takes another sip of wine, kisses Finch.)  Take care, Professor.

 

 

Pratt and Finch continue to drink their coffee.

 

Pratt

 

Well, Finch.  I’m going to go.  I don’t feel so well.

 

Finch

 

Remember, Pratt.  Thursday.

 

 

 

 

Pratt, Sabine at her apartment.

 

 

Sabine

 

Well hi Professor.  You didn’t want me to cook that dinner for you right now do you?

 

Pratt

 

I just wanted to drop by and say hello.

 

Sabine

 

Would you like a cup of tea?

 

Pratt

 

That would be just fine, Sabine.

 

 

Pratt sits on the couch as Sabine makes tea. 

 

Sabine

 

(Serves the tea.  Sits beside Pratt on the couch.)

 

So I heard you went to India and solved a problem in their river.

 

Pratt

 

Yes, I led a team to the Tirthan Valley, a renowned river for trout fishing, where the trout were coming up dead and  killing other marine life.  The river started rotting out.  So we cleaned it out and imported trout from the New Zealand Institute for Marine Biology.

 

 

 

Sabine

 

That is so fascinating.  It was good of the institute to allow you to transfer all that trout to India.

Pratt

 

Yes, it was a memorable trip.

 

 

Sabine starts getting loopy.

 

Sabine

 

Slurring.

 

 

Professor, I’m feeling awfully tired all of a sudden.  I don’t know what’s wrong.

 

Pratt

 

It’s okay Sabine.  You’re going to be just fine.

 

Sabine

 

I can’t see anything.  What is happening?

 

Pratt

 

You’re going to feel a little uncomfortable for a couple of minutes.  Don’t worry you’ll feel better soon.

 

Sabine

 

I can’t feel my legs.    I can’t move.

 

Pratt

 

Everything is going to be just fine.

 

 

Pratt takes the vial of the antidote and prepares the syringe.  Sabine loses her ability to talk.  He takes her arm and injects her with the serum.

 

Pratt

 

You’ll be fine in a few minutes.

 

He rearranges her on the couch so it looks like she fell asleep watching tv.  She won’t remember a thing.  Fortunately that was a side effect of the antidote.

 

 

 

The telephone rings and the answering machine picks up.

 

Voice

 

Sabine.  Sam’s dead.  You need to come down to Presbyterian.

 

 

 

 

Sabine at her apartment.

 

 

It is 2am. Sabine picks up the phone and calls Pratt.

 

Pratt

 

Hello?

 

Sabine

 

Professor!  It’s Sam.  He’s dead.  His partner , Steve, called and left a message on my answering machine.  I must have fallen asleep because I didn’t even hear the phone ring.  Oh, Professor, can you come over?

 

Pratt

 

Sure, Sabine.  I’ll be right there.

 

 

 

 

 

Pratt arrives.

 

Pratt

 

I’m so sorry, Sabine.  I can’t believe it.  I just saw him today and he seemed fine.

 

Sabine

 

They told Steve it was an aneurysm.  But I don’t believe them.  Sam was healthy.  How could this happen?

 

 

 

 

Pratt

 

Sabine these things  happen without warning.  You can be perfectly healthy  but still succumb to an aneurysm.

 

 

 

Sabine

 

And I wasn’t even there.  I’m not even sure when was the last time I saw him.  I think it was at the restaurant earlier today.  It’s all so fuzzy.

 

Pratt

 

What’s the last thing you remember?

 

Sabine

 

I was at the restaurant.  Then I remember waking up on the couch.  I must have fallen asleep when I was watching TV.  I didn’t hear the phone ring or Steve’s message.

 

 

Is there someone you can call?  Maybe stay over their house?

 

Sabine

 

I’ll call my sister, Julie, tomorrow.  Can you stay over?

 

Pratt

 

Sure, sure.

 

Sabine

 

I guess we should go to Presbyterian then.

 

Pratt

 

Yes.  We should leave now.

 

 

 

At the hospital.  Pratt, Sabine, doctor.

 

 

Sabine

 

What happened Doctor?

 

Doctor

 

Sam had an aneurysm and hemorrhaged out.  He lost a lot of blood in his brain.  I’m sorry for your loss.

 

Exit doctor.

 

Sabine

 

Oh, Professor.  What am I going to do?

 

Pratt

 

Are his parents still alive?  I know he was an only child.

 

Sabine

 

Both his parents are dead.

 

Pratt

 

Do you know what that means?  It means you are his beneficiary.  They already ruled his death as natural causes so you have nothing to worry about.  Let’s just get you home.

 

 

Bellvue Hospital, 22 West. Ward for the criminally insane.

Dr. Cabeza, Pratt

 

 

 

 

Doctor Cabeza

 

Nimo.  You have been asleep for forty-eight hours straight.   Do you know why you’re here?

 

Pratt

 

No.

 

You killed a man, Sammael Finch.  His fiancée found a syringe under her couch.  She had it analyzed and it turned out to be an antidote to tetrodoxin.  She realized she had been drugged, so she had Finch’s body exhumed and they did a tox screen on him.  This poison can’t be detected unless you test for it specifically.  They found a vial of the serum in your apartment.  Do you remember any of this?

 

Pratt

 

No.

 

 

 

Doctor Cabeza

 

You have what is known as schizo-affective disassociative disorder. There are two selves within you where one self isn’t aware of what the other self is doing.  Your lawyer pleaded you down to murder by reason of insanity.  So you will be our guest for the remainder of your life.  Do you understand what I am telling you?

 

Pratt

 

Yes.

 

Doctor Cabeza

 

Good.   You will be assigned to Nurse Rachett.  She will give you your medication in a little while.

 

Pratt

 

Doctor.

 

Doctor Cabeza

 

Yes, Nimo?

 

Pratt

 

Jimmy Cho was not an accident.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nimo Pratt, non-descript with salt and pepper hair, Sabine Gallows, long-haired brunette, busty waitress.

 

At a café in Alphabet City.  Pratt is sitting at an outdoor table.

 

 

Waitress.  Leans over the table, swallowing Pratt’s face in her ample cleavage.

 

Coffee?

 

Pratt

(Clears his throat and removes his spectacles. Wipes them with his shirt.)

 

No, thank you.  I’ll have an herbal tea and a 7-up.

 

Waitress

Well, that’s a first.  You’re not a New Yorker are you?  Let me see if we have any of this herbal tea.

 

 

 

Pratt

 

Thank you.

 

Exit waitress.

 

 

Sabine

 

Excuse me.  Are you Dr. Nimo Pratt, the zoophytoplanktonologist from Woods Hole, Rhode Island?

 

Pratt.

 ( Hyperventilates and uses his inhaler. Unaccustomed to being accosted by women.  Gets into a fit of sneezing.)

 

Sorry.  It’s my allergies, you see.

 

Sabine

 

I’m Sabine Gallows.  I attended your symposium on the coccoliphorid at NYU.  Congratulations on winning the Nobel Prize for Marine Biology last year.

 

Pratt (blushing)

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

Sabine

 

Are you teaching in the city, Professor?

 

Pratt

 

Actually, I am taking a respite before taking a position in New Zealand this fall.

 

Sabine

 

That’s wonderful!

 

Pratt

 

Would you like to join me?

 

Sabine

 

Okay.  I have a couple minutes before class.

 

Enter waitress.  Puts down a small kettle, a cup on a saucer, and a can of 7-up with a glass filled with ice.

 

Waitress

 

Coffee?

 

Sabine

 

Please.  I’ll have a buttered bagel, too.

 

Waitress

 

Gotcha.

 

Sabine

 

Well, isn’t she the little Busty Mcfreckles?

 

Pratt

 

Yuh.  Yuh.

 

Sabine

 

It was an amazing talk you gave on the coccolophorid.  Finding the correlation between the lower salmon counts and the deaths of surface feeding sea birds is incredible.

 

 

 

Pratt

 

I’ve been following them lately and they actually are changing the currents of the Bering Sea a new shadeof blue from a natural deep blue to a shimmering aquamarine in a matter of weeks.

 

Sabine

 

Wow.  It’ll look like the Caribbean out there.  Oh my god, I have to get to class.  Listen, Professor, if you’re not doing anything tonight I’d like to invite you to my fiance’s restaurant.  It’s opening night.

 

Pratt

 

Sure.  Sure.  That sounds just fine, Sabine.

 

Sabine

 

Great.  It’s called Sammael’s Seafood Restaurant in Helll’s Kitchen.  Be there by six-thirty.

 

Pratt

 

Okay, Sabine.  Thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pratt, Sabine, Finch, host.  At the restaurant.

 

 

 

 

 

Pratt approaches the host.

 

Pratt

 

Hello.  I’m here to see Sabine.

 

Host

 

Ah, yes.  She is expecting you.  Follow me.  (leads him to a table in the back).

 

 

 

 

Sabine

 

 

Professor.  I’m so glad you could come.  This is my fiancé, Sam.

 

Finch

 

(shakes Pratt’s hand) .  Nimo.  Nimo Pratt from Falsmouth?

 

 

Pratt

 

Yes.

 

Finch

 

It’s me, Sammy Finch, from Holy Stigmata.  Boy, you haven’t changed a bit, Nimo Pratt.  When Sabine told me about you, I thought your name sounded familiar.  Then it hit me.  I hear you won the Nobel Prize.  That’s great.  Congratulations.  You always were a nerd.

 

 

Pratt

 

Thanks, Finch.

 

Finch

 

Let’s make a toast.  Here’s to a Nobel Laureate and childhood friends.  Why don’t we step into my office so we could catch up on old times.  (They repair to his office).

 

Finch

 

Have a seat, Pratt.  Would you like a cigar?

 

Pratt

 

No, thank you.  I am allergic.

 

Finch

 

You probably just think of me as that kid who bullied you in school.  That’s just how kids are.  You know how it goes.  That’s all in the past now.  Nobody really has any friends in this world.  The only thing a man can be sure about is his enemies.  You and I, we’ve never seen eye to eye as children.  I always did like you Pratt.

Pratt

 

Sure.

 

Finch

 

What I’m trying to say is that although we may not be friends, we’re certainly not enemies, you and I.   Do you remember the last time we saw each other, Pratt?

 

Pratt

 

The playground.

 

Finch

 

We were at Buzzard’s Bay.  Jimmy Cho was there too.  You remember Jimmy Cho, don’t you?

 

Pratt

 

I…I…I can’t seem to remember.

 

Finch

 

Of course you do.  He’s dead now.  He died that day.  You and I were the only ones there.  Do you remember now, Pratt?

 

Pratt

 

I’m not sure.

 

Finch

 

We both know what happened to him, Pratt.  It was you.  I saw it happen.  I was right there.  We both know it was you.  I can understand your silence.  You threw a rock at his head and killed him.

 

Pratt

 

(begins to hyperventilate and has a panic attack.  He takes out his inhaler and draws in the metallic air.)

 

Finch

 

Pratt, are you okay?

 

Pratt

 

I’m just fine. (in a fit of coughing.  Sam brings him a glass of water).

 

 

 

 

 

Finch

 

You know, I don’t believe there are any statutes of limitations on murder.  You have nothing to say?  It was a nice day in August.  I remember because the next day my family moved to New York.  I never breathed a word of it to anyone.  I was traumatized.  Jimmy Cho was my best friend.  I pushed that down for many years until I hear Sabine say that she met the infamous Nimo Pratt. (sips his brandy.)  But that’s all in the past, right?  Listen, this conversation is between us.  No one has to know the truth.

 

Pratt

 

It wasn’t murder!  It was an accident.  He hit his head on a big rock when he fell.

 

Finch

 

No one is saying it is, Pratt.  How about we help each other out?  I need someone I could trust to do me a favor.

 

Pratt

 

What is it?

 

Finch

 

I need you to kill Sabine.

 

 

 

 

 

Sammy Finch, Nimo Pratt, Jimmy Cho at eleven years old.  Buzzard’s Bay.  Sammy and Jimmy are smoking a cigarette.  Nimo rides up on his bike.

 

 

 

 

Finch

 

What are you doing here, wuss?  This is our territory.

 

Pratt

 

This is a public park.  I can come here if I want to.

 

Jimmy Cho

 

You have to pay to play here.  Give us two dollars and you can stay.

 

 

Pratt

 

I don’t have two dollars.

 

Finch

 

Then get the hell outta here, punk.

 

Pratt

 

I’m staying.  You can’t make me do anything.  Not today.

 

Jimmy Cho

 

Oh, yeah?  (picks up rocks and starts throwing them at Pratt.  Finch follows suit.)

 

Pratt gets off his bike and starts pelting them with rocks as well.  He got Jimmy Cho in the head with a large rock and he goes down.  When he falls he hits his head on a jutting rock.

 

Finch

 

Now look what you did Nimo.  You made his head bleed.  Jimmy?  Jimmy?  Are you okay?  (Jimmy lies there with his eyes open, unresponsive.  Finch gives him a little kick to prod him, but he remained still.)

He’s dead.  You just killed Jimmy Cho.  (he gets on his bike and rides off as fast as he could.)

 

Pratt just stares at Jimmy Cho with his eyes glazed over.  He couldn’t stop staring at the dead body.  He got on his bike and rode away without looking back.

 

 

 

 

 

Pratt, Finch at the restaurant two days later around lunchtime when it is closed.

 

 

 

Finch

 

So, Pratt, did you enjoy your lunch?

 

Pratt

 

Yes.  It was just fine.  Thank you.

 

Finch

 

What about the wine.  Did you like the wine?

 

 

Pratt

 

It’s fine.

 

Finch

 

I personally know the owners of that vineyard.  What type of wine do you prefer.

 

Pratt

 

I once had some Manischewitz at my cousin’s Bar Mitzvah.

 

Finch

 

(laughs.)  That’s  classic, Pratt.  Now let’s get down to business.  About the job.  You’ll have to do it Thursday night.  She usually stays in all night.

 

Pratt

 

What if I refuse?

 

Finch

 

Well, then.  I may take Sabine out to Cape Cod for the weekend.  Maybe drop in on Sully.  Ask him if there are any cold cases.  You remember him, right?  Edward Sullivan?  He was in my grade.  We still keep in touch.  He’s the chief of police in Falsmouth.  Think about it, Pratt.  Think about your Nobel Prize.

 

Pratt

 

What do you want me to do?

 

Finch

 

I’m glad we’re on the same page.  Here’s how it’s going to go down.  Like I said, Sabine stays in on Thursday nights.  I am giving you a copy of my key.  You let yourself in at one a.m.  She’s in bed by then.  She takes a sleeping pill so she’ll be out.  You go in there, to the left is my study.  I will leave a gun in the top drawer of my desk, and you shoot her with it. Make it look like a break-in.  You mess up the lock after.  Take the gun with you and get rid of it. See?  Quick, fast, and easy.  (His cell phone rings).  Excuse me, Pratt, I’ve got to take this. (Walks into the kitchen.)

 

 

Pratt sees this as an opportunity to pour the poison  into his wine.  He had gone to his lab in Woods Hole to retrieve the tetrodoxin and the antidote in case something went wrong the other day.  It causes blindness, paralysis and death within hours.  The best part was that it is undertectable.  Takes out the vial and pours it into Finch’s wine glass.  In a few minutes Finch comes out carrying a carafe of coffee.  Pours each of them a cup.

 

Enter Sabine.

 

 

Sabine

 

Professor.  So nice to see you.  Did you enjoy Sam’s cooking?

 

Pratt

 

It was just fine.

 

Sabine

 

Good.  (Lifts up Finch’s wine glass and drinks from it.)

 

Pratt immediately has a panic attack.

 

Sabine

 

Your inhaler!

 

Pratt takes it out and sucks deeply on it. Has a drink of water and calms down in a few minutes.

 

Sabine

 

I’m going back to the apartment now.  I have papers to grade.  What time will you be home tonight, honey?

 

Finch

 

I’ll be home early.  Eve’s closing tonight.

 

Sabine

 

It was nice to see you again, Professor.  Maybe I’ll cook dinner for you one night.

 

Pratt

 

That would be fine.  Just fine.

 

Finch

 

She’s a great cook.  You won’t be disappointed.

 

Sabine

 

I’ll see you tonight then, dear. (Takes another sip of wine, kisses Finch.)  Take care, Professor.

 

 

Pratt and Finch continue to drink their coffee.

 

Pratt

 

Well, Finch.  I’m going to go.  I don’t feel so well.

 

Finch

 

Remember, Pratt.  Thursday.

 

 

 

 

Pratt, Sabine at her apartment.

 

 

Sabine

 

Well hi Professor.  You didn’t want me to cook that dinner for you right now do you?

 

Pratt

 

I just wanted to drop by and say hello.

 

Sabine

 

Would you like a cup of tea?

 

Pratt

 

That would be just fine, Sabine.

 

 

Pratt sits on the couch as Sabine makes tea. 

 

Sabine

 

(Serves the tea.  Sits beside Pratt on the couch.)

 

So I heard you went to India and solved a problem in their river.

 

Pratt

 

Yes, I led a team to the Tirthan Valley, a renowned river for trout fishing, where the trout were coming up dead and  killing other marine life.  The river started rotting out.  So we cleaned it out and imported trout from the New Zealand Institute for Marine Biology.

 

 

 

Sabine

 

That is so fascinating.  It was good of the institute to allow you to transfer all that trout to India.

Pratt

 

Yes, it was a memorable trip.

 

 

Sabine starts getting loopy.

 

Sabine

 

Slurring.

 

 

Professor, I’m feeling awfully tired all of a sudden.  I don’t know what’s wrong.

 

Pratt

 

It’s okay Sabine.  You’re going to be just fine.

 

Sabine

 

I can’t see anything.  What is happening?

 

Pratt

 

You’re going to feel a little uncomfortable for a couple of minutes.  Don’t worry you’ll feel better soon.

 

Sabine

 

I can’t feel my legs.    I can’t move.

 

Pratt

 

Everything is going to be just fine.

 

 

Pratt takes the vial of the antidote and prepares the syringe.  Sabine loses her ability to talk.  He takes her arm and injects her with the serum.

 

Pratt

 

You’ll be fine in a few minutes.

 

He rearranges her on the couch so it looks like she fell asleep watching tv.  She won’t remember a thing.  Fortunately that was a side effect of the antidote.

 

 

 

The telephone rings and the answering machine picks up.

 

Voice

 

Sabine.  Sam’s dead.  You need to come down to Presbyterian.

 

 

 

 

Sabine at her apartment.

 

 

It is 2am. Sabine picks up the phone and calls Pratt.

 

Pratt

 

Hello?

 

Sabine

 

Professor!  It’s Sam.  He’s dead.  His partner , Steve, called and left a message on my answering machine.  I must have fallen asleep because I didn’t even hear the phone ring.  Oh, Professor, can you come over?

 

Pratt

 

Sure, Sabine.  I’ll be right there.

 

 

 

 

 

Pratt arrives.

 

Pratt

 

I’m so sorry, Sabine.  I can’t believe it.  I just saw him today and he seemed fine.

 

Sabine

 

They told Steve it was an aneurysm.  But I don’t believe them.  Sam was healthy.  How could this happen?

 

 

 

 

Pratt

 

Sabine these things  happen without warning.  You can be perfectly healthy  but still succumb to an aneurysm.

 

 

 

Sabine

 

And I wasn’t even there.  I’m not even sure when was the last time I saw him.  I think it was at the restaurant earlier today.  It’s all so fuzzy.

 

Pratt

 

What’s the last thing you remember?

 

Sabine

 

I was at the restaurant.  Then I remember waking up on the couch.  I must have fallen asleep when I was watching TV.  I didn’t hear the phone ring or Steve’s message.

 

 

Is there someone you can call?  Maybe stay over their house?

 

Sabine

 

I’ll call my sister, Julie, tomorrow.  Can you stay over?

 

Pratt

 

Sure, sure.

 

Sabine

 

I guess we should go to Presbyterian then.

 

Pratt

 

Yes.  We should leave now.

 

 

 

At the hospital.  Pratt, Sabine, doctor.

 

 

Sabine

 

What happened Doctor?

 

Doctor

 

Sam had an aneurysm and hemorrhaged out.  He lost a lot of blood in his brain.  I’m sorry for your loss.

 

Exit doctor.

 

Sabine

 

Oh, Professor.  What am I going to do?

 

Pratt

 

Are his parents still alive?  I know he was an only child.

 

Sabine

 

Both his parents are dead.

 

Pratt

 

Do you know what that means?  It means you are his beneficiary.  They already ruled his death as natural causes so you have nothing to worry about.  Let’s just get you home.

 

 

Bellvue Hospital, 22 West. Ward for the criminally insane.

Dr. Cabeza, Pratt

 

 

 

 

Doctor Cabeza

 

Nimo.  You have been asleep for forty-eight hours straight.   Do you know why you’re here?

 

Pratt

 

No.

 

You killed a man, Sammael Finch.  His fiancée found a syringe under her couch.  She had it analyzed and it turned out to be an antidote to tetrodoxin.  She realized she had been drugged, so she had Finch’s body exhumed and they did a tox screen on him.  This poison can’t be detected unless you test for it specifically.  They found a vial of the serum in your apartment.  Do you remember any of this?

 

Pratt

 

No.

 

 

 

Doctor Cabeza

 

You have what is known as schizo-affective disassociative disorder. There are two selves within you where one self isn’t aware of what the other self is doing.  Your lawyer pleaded you down to murder by reason of insanity.  So you will be our guest for the remainder of your life.  Do you understand what I am telling you?

 

Pratt

 

Yes.

 

Doctor Cabeza

 

Good.   You will be assigned to Nurse Rachett.  She will give you your medication in a little while.

 

Pratt

 

Doctor.

 

Doctor Cabeza

 

Yes, Nimo?

 

Pratt

 

Jimmy Cho was not an accident.