"REFLECTIONS"
Author: Lori Howell Thompson
Writer: Manuel Freedman
Author: Lori Howell Thompson
Writer: Manuel Freedman
Lori Howell
writer2434@gmail.com
831-238-3125
SYNOPSIS
FADE IN
PROLOGUE
1 EXT. SOUTH NEW JERSEY WETLANDS - DAY - PRESENT DAY
Birds flutter away in fright. A HORTICULTURIST GROUP makes its way through swampy marshes. The LEADER gets beckoned over to observe acres of wild cranberry bushes in full bloom.
A stench halts them. The headless body of a young woman is uncovered. The badly decomposed corpse floats in a sea of muddy red blossoms. OPENING TITLES
BEGIN FLASHBACKS 1
2 I/E. BOARDED-UP STORE - NASHVILLE, TN - NIGHT - (FLASHBACK)
SUPERIMPOSE: “7 Years Ago. Nashville.”.
Police cars and barricades isolate a storefront surrounded by
NASHVILLE POLICE. 2
3 I/E. BOARDED-UP STORE - NASHVILLE, TN - NIGHT - LATER
Deep into the night, Nashville Police continue their siege of the storefront. There are occasional bursts of gunfire. 3
4 EXT. ALLEY - NASHVILLE, TN - NIGHT - LATER
A DARK FIGURE sneaks out the back of the store and attacks POLICEMAN #1 and tries to escape. POLICEMAN #2 hears the scuffle, hurries over to them. Policeman #2 beats the Dark
Figure to the draw and shoots the Dark Figure dead. 4
5 I/E. BOARDED-UP STORE - VAN - NASHVILLE, TN - NIGHT - LATER
Policemen #1 and #2 report by walkie-talkie to their COMMANDER headquartered in an unmarked van on the scene.
(BEGIN FLASHBACK WITHIN FLASHBACK) 5
6 INT. ST. TERESA’S HOSPITAL - ATLANTA, GA - DAY - (FLASHBACK)6
SUPERIMPOSE: “14 Years Ago. Atlanta.”
Seven years before the Nashville siege, ALAYNA DUPREE, 14, is having a painful time giving birth.
Among the MATERNITY TEAM, ELLA JACKSON, pediatric nurse, assists her, exhorting her, whispering to her, holding her.
7 INT. ST. TERESA'S HOSPITAL - MATERNITY WARD - ATLANTA, GA - 7 NIGHT
Alayna resists signing a document for Ella.
ELLA
I’m sorry, Alayna, but you must sign this. Or one of your parents has to.
Alayna writhes in misery. Beside giving birth, she bears the marks and bruises of having been battered.
ALAYNA She’s dead.
ELLA
Well, your father...
Alayna moans and panics on mention of her father.
ELLA (CONT’D)
Heaven knows, you sure don’t look like no eighteen year old anyway. I’ll go find...
ALAYNA
Dead. She’s dead.
ELLA I know. So...
ALAYNA
No. My baby’s dead.
ELLA
Girl, you done gone clear outta your mind or something. Your baby boy is healthy. Do you want me to bring him to you?
(Alayna shrieks)
Now don’t go waking the whole town, girl. You checked the box to give him up to the state. But you gotta sign this thing.
Alayna gives in, shrugs, reaches for the document. She signs the papers giving the hospital permission to give up her SON for adoption.
8 INT. ST. TERESA'S HOSPITAL - ATLANTA, GA - DAY
Ella replaces the foot tag of Alayna’s SON. It reads:
“Abraham Lincoln”. Social worker, MELANIE CARSON, Children’s Protective Services, makes notes.
MELANIE CARSON
Well, I have the perfect family for(checks the new tag) Little Abraham here.
ELLA
That boy gonna need a whole lotta love, sure as can be.
(END FLASHBACK WITHIN FLASHBACK)
FLASHBACK: RETURN TO 7 YEARS AGO 8
9 INT. ELLA’S MOTHER’S HOUSE - NASHVILLE - DAY - (FLASHBACK) 9
RETURN FORWARD IN TIME TO THE POLICE BARRICADE NOW ON TV
SUPERIMPOSE: “7 Years Ago. Nashville.”
Ella visits her ailing MOTHER. Surfing to KSBW Ch-49, they come upon footage of the barricade in progress.
ON TV: The KSBW-49 “First Alert” in-studio host reporter is LAUREN LaMONT.
LAUREN LAMONT (ON TV)
We’re back with our rerun of First Alert coverage of the siege of an abandoned store in The Gulch area of City Center, where the phantom serial killer had been holed up.
ON TV: LaMont’s guest is DR. BAILEY FAIRCHILD.
LAUREN LAMONT (ON TV) (CONT’D)
I’m here with a K-forty-nine exclusive - expert Dr. Bailey Fairchild, Toronto-based professor of forensic pathology. The woman who solved the case of the Phantom.
(turns to Bailey)(MORE)
LAUREN LAMONT (ON TV) (CONT’D)
Dr. Fairchild, you were saying before the break that you even had details of the Phantom’s motivation.
BAILEY (ON TV)
Right. I can share a little of that with your audience.
ON TV: Police helicopter hovers over the back alley, beaming a spotlight where the Dark Figure’s body is zipped into a morgue bag by POLICE.
BAILEY (V.O.)(ON TV) (CONT’D) The Phantom serial killer was at large for seven years. First murder was in Georgia, then four in Mississippi, and the last three in Tennessee. My job is mostly scientific. But sometimes I just have to act on instinct and hunches.
LAUREN LAMONT (V.O.)(ON TV) Have any of the hunches paid off?
BAILEY
You’re watching one. Truthfully, the first one that ever led to a solution. It was a kind of a mind meld. My gut feeling, deep down, I got who this person was. My grandpa, Paddy, says you can’t always come from your head.
ON TV: Return to studio 2-shot.
LAUREN LAMONT (ON TV) You’ve been watching a rerun of the capture, aftermath and clean up in The Gulch. The mass murderer that caused seven years of fear and panic in three states is dead, gunned down trying to escape a police barricade that besieged the suspect in her final days. The
Phantom, Alayna Dupree, is dead.
Ella gasps.
ELLA
Oh, my ever loving God, Jesus, I know the killer, Mama!
FADE IN
PROLOGUE
1 EXT. SOUTH NEW JERSEY WETLANDS - DAY - PRESENT DAY
Birds flutter away in fright. A HORTICULTURIST GROUP makes its way through swampy marshes. The LEADER gets beckoned over to observe acres of wild cranberry bushes in full bloom.
A stench halts them. The headless body of a young woman is uncovered. The badly decomposed corpse floats in a sea of muddy red blossoms. OPENING TITLES
BEGIN FLASHBACKS 1
2 I/E. BOARDED-UP STORE - NASHVILLE, TN - NIGHT - (FLASHBACK)
SUPERIMPOSE: “7 Years Ago. Nashville.”.
Police cars and barricades isolate a storefront surrounded by
NASHVILLE POLICE. 2
3 I/E. BOARDED-UP STORE - NASHVILLE, TN - NIGHT - LATER
Deep into the night, Nashville Police continue their siege of the storefront. There are occasional bursts of gunfire. 3
4 EXT. ALLEY - NASHVILLE, TN - NIGHT - LATER
A DARK FIGURE sneaks out the back of the store and attacks POLICEMAN #1 and tries to escape. POLICEMAN #2 hears the scuffle, hurries over to them. Policeman #2 beats the Dark
Figure to the draw and shoots the Dark Figure dead. 4
5 I/E. BOARDED-UP STORE - VAN - NASHVILLE, TN - NIGHT - LATER
Policemen #1 and #2 report by walkie-talkie to their COMMANDER headquartered in an unmarked van on the scene.
(BEGIN FLASHBACK WITHIN FLASHBACK) 5
6 INT. ST. TERESA’S HOSPITAL - ATLANTA, GA - DAY - (FLASHBACK)6
SUPERIMPOSE: “14 Years Ago. Atlanta.”
Seven years before the Nashville siege, ALAYNA DUPREE, 14, is having a painful time giving birth.
Among the MATERNITY TEAM, ELLA JACKSON, pediatric nurse, assists her, exhorting her, whispering to her, holding her.
7 INT. ST. TERESA'S HOSPITAL - MATERNITY WARD - ATLANTA, GA - 7 NIGHT
Alayna resists signing a document for Ella.
ELLA
I’m sorry, Alayna, but you must sign this. Or one of your parents has to.
Alayna writhes in misery. Beside giving birth, she bears the marks and bruises of having been battered.
ALAYNA She’s dead.
ELLA
Well, your father...
Alayna moans and panics on mention of her father.
ELLA (CONT’D)
Heaven knows, you sure don’t look like no eighteen year old anyway. I’ll go find...
ALAYNA
Dead. She’s dead.
ELLA I know. So...
ALAYNA
No. My baby’s dead.
ELLA
Girl, you done gone clear outta your mind or something. Your baby boy is healthy. Do you want me to bring him to you?
(Alayna shrieks)
Now don’t go waking the whole town, girl. You checked the box to give him up to the state. But you gotta sign this thing.
Alayna gives in, shrugs, reaches for the document. She signs the papers giving the hospital permission to give up her SON for adoption.
8 INT. ST. TERESA'S HOSPITAL - ATLANTA, GA - DAY
Ella replaces the foot tag of Alayna’s SON. It reads:
“Abraham Lincoln”. Social worker, MELANIE CARSON, Children’s Protective Services, makes notes.
MELANIE CARSON
Well, I have the perfect family for(checks the new tag) Little Abraham here.
ELLA
That boy gonna need a whole lotta love, sure as can be.
(END FLASHBACK WITHIN FLASHBACK)
FLASHBACK: RETURN TO 7 YEARS AGO 8
9 INT. ELLA’S MOTHER’S HOUSE - NASHVILLE - DAY - (FLASHBACK) 9
RETURN FORWARD IN TIME TO THE POLICE BARRICADE NOW ON TV
SUPERIMPOSE: “7 Years Ago. Nashville.”
Ella visits her ailing MOTHER. Surfing to KSBW Ch-49, they come upon footage of the barricade in progress.
ON TV: The KSBW-49 “First Alert” in-studio host reporter is LAUREN LaMONT.
LAUREN LAMONT (ON TV)
We’re back with our rerun of First Alert coverage of the siege of an abandoned store in The Gulch area of City Center, where the phantom serial killer had been holed up.
ON TV: LaMont’s guest is DR. BAILEY FAIRCHILD.
LAUREN LAMONT (ON TV) (CONT’D)
I’m here with a K-forty-nine exclusive - expert Dr. Bailey Fairchild, Toronto-based professor of forensic pathology. The woman who solved the case of the Phantom.
(turns to Bailey)(MORE)
LAUREN LAMONT (ON TV) (CONT’D)
Dr. Fairchild, you were saying before the break that you even had details of the Phantom’s motivation.
BAILEY (ON TV)
Right. I can share a little of that with your audience.
ON TV: Police helicopter hovers over the back alley, beaming a spotlight where the Dark Figure’s body is zipped into a morgue bag by POLICE.
BAILEY (V.O.)(ON TV) (CONT’D) The Phantom serial killer was at large for seven years. First murder was in Georgia, then four in Mississippi, and the last three in Tennessee. My job is mostly scientific. But sometimes I just have to act on instinct and hunches.
LAUREN LAMONT (V.O.)(ON TV) Have any of the hunches paid off?
BAILEY
You’re watching one. Truthfully, the first one that ever led to a solution. It was a kind of a mind meld. My gut feeling, deep down, I got who this person was. My grandpa, Paddy, says you can’t always come from your head.
ON TV: Return to studio 2-shot.
LAUREN LAMONT (ON TV) You’ve been watching a rerun of the capture, aftermath and clean up in The Gulch. The mass murderer that caused seven years of fear and panic in three states is dead, gunned down trying to escape a police barricade that besieged the suspect in her final days. The
Phantom, Alayna Dupree, is dead.
Ella gasps.
ELLA
Oh, my ever loving God, Jesus, I know the killer, Mama!