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A deadly curse hangs over the heads of three generations of a southern California family whose youngest member, an eleven-year-old girl, finds herself in terrible danger.  The film’s heroine is a young police officer who is desperately trying to find the girl’s mother, but a conspiracy driven by greed, lust, and shame is equally determined that the truth should remain hidden.  Her investigation uncovers a tangled web of blackmail, incest, sexual jealousy, and revenge.  The missing woman had managed to antagonize almost everyone she knew, so there are plenty of suspects to choose from, including an estranged husband, an angry ex-lover, her detestable father, her mysterious brother, and a jealous rival.  Can the abandoned child be protected from the predators lurking in the shadows, or is history destined to repeat itself?  The action is mostly set in 1992, and the dramatic tension builds steadily until a high stakes game of cat and mouse leads to a shocking and violent climax. 

EXT.   BEVERLY’S HOUSE   DAY

SUPERIMPOSED:  “Riverside, California   1992”

The house is a two-story, wooden structure with a front stoop that’s about ten feet wide.  The unmarked police car pulls up.  Rebecca gets out and circles in front of the car, walks to the stoop, climbs the steps, and rings the doorbell.  She is in plain clothes.  The front door opens and CHARLIE appears behind the screen door.

REBECCA

Good afternoon, sir.  Are you Mr. Charles Frissell?

CHARLIE

Yes.

REBECCA

Did you file a missing person report for Mrs. Beverly Frissell?

CHARLIE

Yes I did.

REBECCA

How do you do, sir?  I’m Officer Harrigan.  I believe we spoke on the phone.

 CHARLIE

(pushing screen door open)

Please come in, Officer.

REBECCA

(stepping across threshold)

Thank you, sir.

INT.   BEVERLY’S HOUSE   DAY

There is a stairway to the second floor directly across the foyer from the front door.  To Rebecca’s left is a narrow sitting room.  To her right is a larger living room with a swinging door that leads to the kitchen in the far corner.

CHARLIE

(releasing screen door and turning to face Rebecca)

So what took you so long to get here?  You know she’s been missing four days already?

REBECCA

(looking around living room)

As you should have been informed when you first filed the report, Mr. Frissell, the follow-up investigation of an unimpaired missing adult who is not known to be at risk is not usually assigned a high priority.  Ninety percent of the time they either call in or show up somewhere.  However, your report has been filed, there’s a local “be on the look out,” and a statewide search for your wife’s motor vehicle.

CHARLIE

Yeah, but as I explained at the station on Friday, she disappeared and left an eleven-year-old kid here to fend for herself.  Maddie comes home from school and there’s no one in the house.

REBECCA

And where were you?

CHARLIE

I moved out a couple of months ago, at the end of February.

REBECCA

Why’s that?

CHARLIE

We had a fight.

REBECCA

What about?

CHARLIE

I had reason to believe she was seeing someone, sneaking around behind my back.

REBECCA

(removes pad and pen from her jacket pocket)

Do you know who that someone might be?

CHARLIE

The manager at the restaurant where she was working.  Guy by the name of Brian.

REBECCA

You know his last name?

CHARLIE

No.

REBECCA

What restaurant does she work at?

CHARLIE

Right now she’s at the Blue Stone Café, but back then she was waitressing at L’Auberge [mispronounces L’Auberge with a hard G].

REBECCA

Restaurant L’Auberge? [soft G]  Why did she switch?

CHARLIE

I think she got herself fired.  Can’t say I really care.

REBECCA

And this was back in February, around the time that you moved out?

CHARLIE

Some time in there.

REBECCA

But you and Mrs. Frissell are still married?

CHARLIE

At least on paper.

REBECCA

So where do you think she might be?

CHARLIE

Not sure.  I kind of assume she’s hanging out with her boyfriend.

REBECCA

Did she take anything with her?

CHARLIE

Only her car.

REBECCA

No clothes?  No toothbrush?

CHARLIE

Not as far as I can tell.

REBECCA

Anyplace else she might have gone?  Friends?  Relatives?

CHARLIE

Well her father’s right here in town.

REBECCA

You think she might have gone there?

CHARLIE

It’s possible, but she hasn’t spoken to him for the last ten or twelve years.  Far as I know.

REBECCA

Where does he live?

CHARLIE

He’s over by Sixth and Pine.

REBECCA

That’s less than half a mile.

CHARLIE

(shrugs)

Her Aunt Sarah is also here in Riverside, though she’s rather elderly now.

REBECCA

Anyone else?

CHARLIE

She’s still in touch with her brother, though he moved pretty recently.

REBECCA

Do you happen to have his number?

CHARLIE

Probably.

Charlie crosses to the side table next to the couch, picks up an address book next to the telephone, and crosses back as he opens the book and leafs through it.

CHARLIE

You see.  She didn’t even take her phone book.

Charlie hands Rebecca the open address book and she starts to write down a phone number.

CHARLIE

No, that’s his old number, in San Francisco.  You want the 619 number.  He’s down in San Diego now.

REBECCA

Would it be all right if I were to hold on to this for a few days, Mr. Frissell?

CHARLIE

OK by me.

REBECCA

Do you think it might be possible for me to speak with Maddie for a few minutes?

CHARLIE

Yeah but she’ll be in school until three o’clock.

REBECCA

(looks at her watch)

In that case I’ll probably have to check back later in the week.

EXT.   WILL’S HOUSE   DAY

Rebecca is standing on the rickety wraparound deck of a rundown wooden house.  She opens the screen door, which has a tear in the screen, and KNOCKS on the door several times.

REBECCA

Hello!  Anybody home?

Rebecca steps off the porch, peers up at the upstairs window, and then down at the first floor.  There is a movement of the curtains in the window next to the front door.  WILL, though attempting to escape observation, can be seen peeking out the window.  Rebecca walks back up the steps and the front door opens a crack, still on a chain.

REBECCA

Good afternoon, sir.

(takes out badge and holds it up)

Officer Rebecca Harrigan from the Riverside Police Department.  I was hoping to speak to Mr. William Bennet.

WILL

That would be me.

(takes door off chain and opens door, speaks through screen door)

Sorry about that, Officer.  Can’t be too careful these days.  Neighborhood ain’t safe no more now that all these Mexicans have moved in.  Surprised one tryin’ to rob the place a few months ago.  Fought him off, but it damn near cost me my life.

(at least slightly intoxicated)

Now, every time I walk down the street I’m looking around wondering which one it was.  It’s a bad feeling when you can’t trust your own neighbors.  Used to be, the houses around here, you had the same family been living in the same house for the past twenty-five years, maybe more.  And everybody speaking English, too.  Not since that Berlin Wall came down.  Maybe it’s a good thing those Ruskies going out of business.  But guess what?  Put a whole  lot of people ‘round here out of business too.  Tell you the truth, though, that break-in might have been the luckiest thing in the world that ever happened to me.  He works in funny ways, we all know that.  All the changes over at the Air Force base, the layoffs been coming down, I was gettin’ pretty nervous.  Got seniority out the hind wazoo, but they’ve been taking real deep cuts right across the board.  Now I’m out on disability, they can’t touch me.  Plus it gives me time to take care of some loose ends around the house.  Finally gettin’ to fix the place up a little, you know?

BEGIN FLASHBACK

INT.   WILL’S HOUSE/BEDROOM   NIGHT

MATT is standing in the dark, his back against the wall, next to the doorway, wearing all black and a ski mask that makes him unrecognizable.

REBECCA (V.O.)

How do you know it was someone from the neighborhood?

EXT.   WILL’S HOUSE   NIGHT

Will stumbles up the porch stairs, clearly drunk, opens the screen door, unlocks the front door, opens the front door, and enters the house.  He closes the front door as the screen door SLAMS behind him.

INT.   WILL’S HOUSE/BATHROOM   NIGHT

Will is leaning over and looking at himself in the bathroom mirror as he urinates.

WILL

Whoa!  Tomorrow morning’s gonna be a little rough.  You better put something in your stomach, Will.

Will ZIPS his fly and FLUSHES the toilet.  He leaves the bathroom without washing his hands.

INT.   WILL’S HOUSE/KITCHEN   NIGHT

Will crosses to the refrigerator, opens the door, takes out a beef jerky stick, closes the door, and turns away.

INT.   WILL’S HOUSE/STAIRS   NIGHT

Will climbs the stairs unsteadily, tugging with his left hand on the beef jerky stick wedged between his teeth.

WILL

C’mon, old man, you still got a few teeth left in ya.

INT.   WILL’S HOUSE/BEDROOM   NIGHT

The bedroom is very dark, with the door open just a crack.  Matt, flat against the bedroom wall, is holding an ax, his gloved right hand just below the ax head.  Will pushes the door open and crosses the threshold, still holding the beef jerky stick to his mouth with his left hand.  Matt turns and raises the ax with both hands.  Will rotates to his left in order to turn on the light switch with his right hand and sees the raised ax.

WILL

(screams)

Matt swings wildly with the ax with a downward chopping motion that is aimed for Will’s head but instead strikes a glancing blow against the top of Will’s left hip with the side of the ax head rather than the blade.  Will collapses on the floor on his back, grabbing at his hip while Matt towers over him with the ax raised.

WILL

(loud)

Oh my God!  Help!  Please don’t hurt me.  I beg of you.  Take my wallet.  Take the TV.  Don’t do it.  You’ll regret it.

WILL’S NEIGHBOR (O.S.)

(muffled)

Will, are you OK?  What the hell’s going on over there?

Matt hesitates several seconds, then drops the ax on the floor with a BANG and runs out the bedroom door.

INT.   WILL’S HOUSE/STAIRS   NIGHT

Matt runs down the stairs and out the back door.

END FLASHBACK

EXT.   WILL’S HOUSE   DAY

WILL

Oh it was a local boy all right, one of these Chicano gangbangers you see hanging out on the corner.  After he hit me and I started hollerin’ a bunch of people came running.  Little Spic was gone like that.

(SNAPS his fingers)

Escaped out the back.

(opens screen door and steps out onto porch)

I’ll show you.

Rebecca follows as Will limps to the side of the porch, where he looks toward the back of the house.

WILL

Hopped that fence,

(points)

jumped another fence, then run down a narrow alley between the houses.  He knew this area real well.

(turns to Rebecca)

But that was more than three months ago.  I’m guessing you didn’t come here ‘cause you’re looking to crack that case wide open.

REBECCA

When’s the last time you saw your daughter, Mr. Bennet?

WILL

Ahhh.  Beverly, huh?  Just last week.  Tuesday, I think it was.

REBECCA

Where was that?

WILL

Downtown, in the Plaza parking lot.  Looked like she was doing some shopping or running some errands.

REBECCA

Was she with anyone?

WILL

Nope.

REBECCA

And did she say anything about taking a trip or going away somewhere?

WILL

Nope.

REBECCA

Well, what did you talk about?

WILL

Nuthin’.

REBECCA

You didn’t say anything to each other?

WILL

She just kept walking like I wasn’t even there.

REBECCA

And why is that?

WILL

That girl hasn’t given me the time of day in fifteen years.

REBECCA

How come?

WILL

Let’s just say she’s got a problem with authority.

REBECCA

Do you mind if I come in and we can talk inside?

WILL

I’m fine out here.

REBECCA

OK.  Beverly hasn’t been seen since some time last week.  Do you have any idea where she might be?

WILL

Probably run off somewhere with one of her boyfriends.

REBECCA

Why do you say that?

WILL

Happened before.  She ain’t much of a mother or a wife, let alone a daughter.  She’ll be back when he gets tired of her.

REBECCA

So you think she just ran off with some guy?

WILL

If I know my daughter.

(tilts his head and looks up at her out of the corner of his eye)

That girl’s got hot pants and a hot temper.  Runs in the blood.