Inherent Vice_2014

INHERENT VICE
    screenplay by
    Paul Thomas Anderson based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon This script is the confidential and proprietary property of Warner Bros. Pictures and no portion of it may be performed, distributed, reproduced, used, quoted or published without prior written permission.
    FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT
    August 7, 2013
    WARNER BROS. PICTURES INC. © 2013 4000 Warner Boulevard WARNER BROS. ENT. Burbank, California 91522 All Rights Reserved OVER BLACK A sweet, young woman's voice narrates.
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    She came along the alley and up the back stairs the way she always used to. Doc hadn't seen her for over a year. Nobody had. Back then it was always sandals, bottom half of a flower print bikini, faded Country Joe & the Fish T- shirt. Tonight, she was all in flatland gear, hair a lot shorter than he remembered, looking just like she swore she'd never look...
    FADE IN:

INT. DOC'S APARTMENT (GORDITA BEACH) - DUSK (1970)
    DOC SPORTELLO sits half awake on his couch. He looks up, notices someone standing at his door: SHASTA FAY HEPWORTH (20s).
    DOC
    Is that you, Shasta?
    SHASTA
    Think you're hallucinating...?
    DOC
    No... just the new package, I guess...
    SHASTA
    ... I need your help, Doc.
    DOC
    Come in. (... you know I have an office now and everything? Just like a day job.)
    She walks in, Doc gets a slow rising BONER in his pants... casually tries to cover it up.
    SHASTA
    I looked in the phone book and almost went over there, but then I thought better for everyone if this looked like a secret rendezvous.
    DOC
    Somebody keeping a close eye?
    SHASTA
    ... I just spent an hour on surface streets trying to make it look good.
    DOC
    How about a beer?
    Doc moves to the fridge, Shasta looks around, they sit down at the kitchen table:
    SHASTA
    So there's this guy...
    DOC
    Gentlemen of the straightworld persuasion?
    SHASTA
    Okay, Doc. He's married.
    DOC
    And the wife -- she knows about you?
    SHASTA
    But she's seeing somebody, too. Only it's not just the usual -- I think they're working on some creepy little scheme.
    DOC
    To make off with the hubby's fortune? I think I've heard this one once or twice...
    SHASTA
    They want me in on it... they think I'm the one who can reach him when he's vulnerable, or as much as he ever gets.
    DOC
    Bare-ass and asleep?
    SHASTA
    I knew you'd understand.
    DOC
    Are you still trying to figure out if it's right or wrong?
    SHASTA
    Worse than that. How much loyalty I owe him.
    DOC
    I hope you're not asking me. Beyond the usual boilerplate, people owe anybody they're fucking steady...?
    SHASTA
    Dear Abby said the same thing.
    DOC
    Emotions aside, let's look at the money. How much of the rent's he been picking up?
    SHASTA
    All of it.
    DOC
    Pretty hefty?
    SHASTA
    For Hancock Park.
    DOC
    You're giving him IOUs for everything, of course...
    SHASTA
    You fucker, if I'd known you were still this bitter I wouldn't have come --
    DOC
    Me? I'm just trying to be professional. How much are the wifey and boyfriend offering to cut you in for...?
    BEAT...
    DOC
    So, this... this isn't just a couple of X-rated Polaroids, then. Dope planted in the glove compartment, nothin' like that.
    SHASTA
    It isn't what you're thinking, Doc.
    DOC
    Don't worry, thinking comes later, what else?
    SHASTA
    I'm not sure, but it sounds like they want to commit him to some kind of loony bin.
    DOC
    You mean legally? Or a snatch of some kind?
    SHASTA
    Nobody's telling me, Doc, I'm just the bait...
    CLOSEUP - SHASTA'S FACE Looking at Doc. ANOTHER ANGLE He looks at her. Can't read her face.
    DOC
    Are you still taking those acting classes?
    SHASTA
    Thing is: I heard you're seeing somebody downtown.
    DOC
    Oh, you mean Penny. Seeing? Well. Nice flatland chick out in search of hippie love thrills, basically.
    SHASTA
    Also some kind of junior D.A.?
    DOC
    You think somebody there could stop this before it happens?
    SHASTA
    There's not too many places I could go with this, Doc.
    DOC
    Okay, I'll talk to Penny, see what we can see. So your happy couple. Do they have a names?
    SHASTA
    It's Mickey Wolfmann.
    DOC
    Mickey Wolfmann who's always in the paper? The real estate big shot?
    SHASTA
    You can't tell anybody about this, Doc.
    DOC
    I won't. Deaf and dumb. That's part of my job. You have any phone numbers you wanna share?
    She gets a pencil, writes a number down, he watches her...
    SHASTA
    Try to never use it.
    DOC
    How do I reach you?
    SHASTA
    You don't. I moved out of my old place. Staying where I can anymore...
    DOC
    You could stay here...
    CUT TO:

EXT. DOC'S - STREET - EVENING
    He walks her down to her car, '59 CADILLAC EL DORADO BIARITZZ --
    SHASTA
    Don't come any further, somebody might be watching by now.
    DOC
    Well, call me or something...
    SHASTA
    You never did let me down, Doc.
    DOC
    Don't worry, I'll...
    SHASTA
    No, I mean really ever.
    DOC
    Oh, sure I did.
    SHASTA
    No... you were always true...
    She backs away, gets in the CADILLAC and drives off into the night. MUSIC STARTS. He watches her go... HOLD WITH DOC. DENIS (rhymes with penis) walks up, says hi, they walk up towards town, away from the beach...
    DOC
    Hey, Denis, you hungry?
    DENIS
    Like Godzilla sez to Mothra, man, 'let's go eat someplace.'
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    When Doc came in that night, it wasn't just the usual hungry-doper thing -- it was something else -- and with Neptune moving at last out of the Scorpio death-trip and rising into the Sagitarrian light of the higher mind -- it was bound to be something love-related and I thought I knew what it was...
    CUT TO:

INT. PIPELINE PIZZA - NIGHT
    DOC and DENIS and a bunch of locals, eating pizza. Sitting here are some SURFERS, a friend named ENSENADA SLIM and a lovely young girl, our narrator: SORTILEGE (20s); she speaks in the flesh...
    SORTILEGE
    Was that Shasta's car I saw down the drive?
    DOC
    She stuck her head in for a couple minutes...
    SORTILEGE
    Are you broken up?
    DOC
    Kind of weird seeing her again. Figured next time I did it'd be on the tube not in person...
    SORTILEGE looks at DOC with sweetness, then at HIS HAIR:
    SORTILEGE
    Better do something about that.
    DOC
    Again?
    SORTILEGE
    I can't say it enough -- change your hair, change your life.
    DOC
    What do you recommend?
    SORTILEGE
    That's up to you. Follow your intuition.
    (ETC. -- Pizza talk here.)
    CUT TO:

INT. DOC'S APARTMENT
    He sits on his couch. THE MUSIC PLAYS. He's on the phone, it's ringing to no answer. His hair is rolled into plantation-style knots. He's rolling a joint.
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    There was an ancient superstition at the beach, something like the surfer belief that burning your board will bring awesome waves, and it went like this: Take a Zig- Zag paper and write your dearest wish, and then use it to roll a joint of the best dope you can find and smoke it all up, and your wish would be granted. Doc's wish was simple... (just that Shasta Fay be safe...)
    He writes on the rolling papers a small note in pencil: "To Shasta's Safety. With Love, Doc." Smokes it and calls his AUNT REET (50s) who lives down the street -- INTERCUT WITH:

INT. AUNT REET'S HOUSE
    She's applying ten tons of various makeups, spraying some on, applying with ten gallon brushes and dipping her face into other paints.
    AUNT REET
    Make it quick, Larry, I've got a live one tonight and a quarter ton of makeup to put on yet --
    DOC
    Okay. Mickey Wolfmann, what can you tell me?
    AUNT REET
    Powerhouse in L.A. real estate from the desert to the sea -- Technically Jewish but wants to be a Nazi -- what's he to you?
    DOC
    Shasta... she came around... told me about a possible plot to snatch up Wolfmann by his wife and her boyfriend.
    AUNT REET
    And what is Shasta's role in all this?
    DOC
    Like how passionately does she feel about her flame Mickey? I didn't ask. 'I love him' is probably the answer, what else?
    AUNT REET
    Is she paying you?
    DOC
    Mmm...
    AUNT REET
    Pause. Silence. Big surprise. Listen, if Shasta can't pay you, maybe that means Mickey dumped her and she's blaming the wife and wants revenge.
    DOC
    Possible. But say I just wanted to hang out and rap with this Wolfmann?
    AUNT REET
    I wouldn't recommend your usual approach, he goes around with a dozen bikers, mostly Aryan Brotherhood alumni -- all court certified bad-asses.
    DOC
    Wait, wait, wait, I flunked social studies: Jews and Aryan Brotherhood. Isn't there something about hatred?
    AUNT REET
    Mickey's eccentric. More and more lately. I would say stoned out of his fuckin' mind, since he discovered drugs, no offense to you, Doc.
    DOC
    So where would I find him accidentally?
    AUNT REET
    I promised my little sister that I'd never put her baby in the way of danger.
    DOC
    I'm cool with the Brotherhood, Aunt Reet, I know their secret handshake and everything.
    AUNT REET
    It's your ass -- try the Channel View Estates, his latest insult to the environment.
    DOC
    Channel View Estates. The one Bigfoot Bjornsen does the commercials for?
    AUNT REET
    That's the one. Maybe your old cop buddy's the one who should be taking care of your case.
    DOC
    I did think of going to Bigfoot but just as I reached for the phone, history and all, I thought, 'naaahhhhh.'
    AUNT REET
    Maybe you're better off with the Nazis. Call your mother once in a while so she knows you're alive...
    Doc gets up and walks to the TV, switches the channel, finds: 5A INSERT - ON TELEVISION 5A The commercial for "Channel View Estates" comes on after a bad horror movie: It has LT. BIGFOOT BJORNSEN dressed as a "hippie." He's wearing an ankle-length velvet cape in paisley, love beads, shades with peace symbols and an Afro wig. He's like Cal Worthington, except for live animals, he has a pack of SCREAMING KIDS that do cannonballs in the pool of a MODEL HOME that Bigfoot's showing off and listing details and financing options, etc... Bigfoot turns to the CAMERA:
    BIGFOOT (V.O.)
    Those li'l kids, wow, they're really something, huh!
    BACK TO SCENE
    Doc looks confused. Bigfoot, ON SCREEN seems to be looking STRAIGHT AT DOC... and DOC looks back... HOLD THEIR LOOK AT EACH OTHER.
    DOC
    So what's all this now... Fucking Bigfoot. Well, wouldn't you know. Why does the LAPD need SAG cards?
    AUNT REET
    I have major liquid liner issues to deal with here, Larry -- I'm getting off now --
    She hangs up. DOC doesn't notice and keeps talking. CUT TO:

EXT. LSD INVESTIGATIONS - DOC'S OFFICE - DAY
    Doc comes into the office, greets PETUNIA...
    PETUNIA
    Morning, Doc. What's on your head?
    DOC
    Howdy, Petunia. Still married to what's his name?
    PETUNIA
    Oh, Doc. You've got somebody waiting for you...
    CUT TO:

INT. DOC'S OFFICE - THAT MOMENT
    A large, imposing black man: TARIQ KHALIL (30s, Black Panther style) is waiting for him:
    TARIQ
    Doctor Sportello?
    DOC
    That's right...
    TARIQ
    Tariq Kahlil.
    Doc collects himself, note pad, etc...
    DOC
    Okay -- so how can I help you?
    TARIQ
    There's this white guy I was in the joint with. Aryan Brotherhood. We did some business, now we're both out. And he still owes me.
    TARIQ
    It's a lot of money. I can't give you details. I swore an oath I wouldn't tell.
    DOC
    How about just his name?
    TARIQ
    Glen Charlock.
    DOC
    You know where he's staying now?
    TARIQ
    Only who he works for. He's a bodyguard for a builder named Wolfmann.
    MOMENT. Doc writes: paranoia alert.
    DOC
    If you don't mind my asking, Mr. Kahlil, how did you hear about me?
    TARIQ
    Sledge Poteet.
    DOC
    Wow. Blast from the past.
    TARIQ
    Said you helped him out of a situation back in '67.
    DOC
    First time I ever got shot at. You guys know each other from the place?
    TARIQ
    That's right -- they were teachin' us both how to cook.
    DOC
    I remember him when he couldn't boil water. So if you don't mind an obvious question: You know where this Glen Charlock works now, why not just go over there, look him up directly?
    TARIQ
    Because Wolfmann is surrounded day and night with the Aryan Brotherhood Army and outside of Glen, I've never enjoyed the company of Nazis.
    DOC
    So send some white guy in to get his head hammered.
    TARIQ
    More or less.
    DOC
    When you were inside, were you in a gang?
    TARIQ
    Black Guerrilla Family.
    DOC
    And you say you did business with the who now, the Aryan Brotherhood? Can you explain that to me...
    TARIQ
    We found we shared many of the same opinions about the U.S. government.
    DOC
    Alright, that racial harmony. I can dig it. There something else?
    TARIQ
    My old street gang. Artesia Crips. When I got out of Chino I went looking for some of them and found it ain't just them gone, but the whole turf itself.
    DOC
    What do you mean 'gone'?
    TARIQ
    Not there. Grind up in little pieces. Seagulls all pickin' at it. Figure I must be trippin', drive around for a while, come back, everything's still gone.
    DOC
    Uh-huh.
    TARIQ
    Nobody and nothing. A ghost town except for this big sign, 'Coming Soon On This Site.' Guess who the builder is...?
    DOC
    Wolfmann again.
    TARIQ
    That's it.
    DOC
    Can you show me on the map?
    They look at map.
    DOC
    So you're, like, what again, Japanese?
    TARIQ
    How long you been doin' this?
    DOC
    Looks closer to Gardena than Compton is all I'm sayin'.
    TARIQ
    WW Two. Before the war, a lot of South Central was still a Japanese neighborhood. Those people got sent to camps, we come on in to be the new Japs.
    DOC
    And now it's your turn to get moved along.
    TARIQ
    More white man's revenge. Freeway up by the airport wasn't enough.
    DOC
    Revenge for...?
    TARIQ
    Watts.
    DOC
    The riots?
    TARIQ
    Some of us say, 'insurrection.' The Man, he just waits for his moment...
    BEAT.
    DOC
    If I can get ahold of your prison buddy, this Glen Charlock, will he honor his debt to you?
    TARIQ
    I can't tell you what it is. I swore an oath...
    DOC
    No need.
    TARIQ
    And I can't give you nothin' up front.
    DOC
    Groovy with that.
    TARIQ
    Sledge was right: You are one crazy white motherfucker.
    DOC
    How can you tell?
    TARIQ
    I counted.
    DOC
    Lemme look around -- I'll see what I see. Alright?
    CUT TO:

A8 INT. DOC'S CAR A8
    DRIVING TO CHANNEL VIEW ESTATES.
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    Long, sad history of L.A. land use -- Mexican families bounced out of Chavez Ravine to build Dodger Stadium, American Indians swept out of Bunker Hill for the Music Center and now Tariq's neighborhood bulldozed aside for Channel View Estates... CUT TO:

EXT. CHANNEL VIEW ESTATES - DAY
    DOC drives down the street, past a bunch of BLACK PEDESTRIANS walking around, looking for their homes... it's like driving through lost cattle -- DOC pulls his DODGE DART into this UNDER CONSTRUCTION DEVELOPMENT. STREETS AREN'T PAVED, BUT THERE ARE STREET SIGNS, VARIOUS SUPPOSED TO BE SMALL SPANISH TYPE HOMES BEING BUILT... It's quiet. There's a MAKESHIFT MINI MALL erected for the construction crews. There's a BEER BAR, LIQUOR STORE, SANDWICH PLACE and a MASSAGE PARLOR called CHICK PLANET with a row of Harleys precision parked in a row out front. Doc parks and musters some courage, passes over the Harleys -- bathes himself in a white glow -- and enters the massage parlor...

INT. CHICK PLANET MASSAGE PARLOR - DAY
    Doc steps in... it's quiet and very dark. A sexy young Asian girl in a bikini: JADE (20s).
    JADE
    Hi, I'm Jade? Please take note of today's Pussy Eater's Special which is good all day till closing time?
    DOC
    Mmmm... how much is it?
    JADE
    $14.95.
    DOC
    Errr, not that $14.95 ain't a totally groovy price, but I'm really trying to locate this guy who works for Mr. Wolfmann?
    JADE
    Does he eat pussy?
    DOC
    Fella named Glen Charlock?
    JADE
    Oh, sure. Glen comes in here. He eats pussy. You got a cigarette for me?
    He taps her out a smoke.
    JADE
    Ohhhh. Lock up style. Not much eating pussy in there, huh?
    DOC
    Glen and I were both in Chino around the same time... have you seen him today?
    JADE
    If you're a cop, you're entitled to a free preview of our Pussy Eater's Special.
    DOC
    How about a licensed P.I.?
    JADE
    Hey, Bambi?
    BAMBI comes out, wearing day-glo bikini. Jade reaches into Bambi's bikini bottom and before you know it -- They disappear below the reception desk. Doc watches... in a flash reflected behind him we see a BALD HEAD, SWASTIKA TATTOO AND THEN SOMETHING COMES DOWN ON DOC'S HEAD -- AND HE'S OUT. CUT TO BLACK.:
    OVER BLACK
    WE HEAR THE SOUNDS OF THE MOTORCYCLES FIRING UP AND
    ANGLE - LATER Doc comes to... lump on his head... he steps outside, opens the door, CAMERA FOLLOWS HIM OUT TO REVEAL: CUT TO:

EXT. CHANNEL VIEW ESTATES - DAY
    LAPD, DETECTIVES AND CORONER ARE ON SITE AT WHAT IS NOW A
    CRIME SCENE. A line of POLICE CARS AIM AT DOC led by DETECTIVE LT. CHRISTIAN F. "BIGFOOT" BJORNSEN, eating a chocolate-covered frozen banana and hollering through a bullhorn... Doc steps out, guns aim at him... A DEAD BODY ON THE GROUND BETWEEN HIM AND THE LAPD...
    BIGFOOT
    Congratulations, hippie scum. And welcome to a world of inconvenience... Yes, this time it appears you have finally managed to stumble into something too real and deep to hallucinate your worthless hippie ass of -- without wishing to seem impatient -- anytime you'd like to join us, we'd so like to chat...
    DOC
    Bigfoot, what happened...! I remember massage parlor -- Asian chick named Jade and Anglo friend Bambi --
    BIGFOOT
    Wishful figments of a brain pickled in cannabis fumes, no doubt.
    DOC
    Whatever it is, I didn't do it.
    BIGFOOT
    Sure.
    ANGLE - LATER Doc is in cuffs, sitting on the ground. THERE'S A CORPSE COVERED ON A GURNEY that is taken past. It is a bloody mess, body parts are falling out onto the ground -- Doc is getting sick at the sight of it.
    BIGFOOT
    I can almost pity your civilian distress. Though if you were more of a man and less of a ball-less hippie draft dodger, who knows, you might have seen enough over in the 'Nam to share even my own sense of professional ennui at the sight of one more stiff.
    DOC
    Who is it?
    BIGFOOT
    Was, Sportello. Here on Earth we say, 'was.' Meet Glen Charlock. Whom you were asking for by name only hours ago, witnesses will swear to that. Furthermore, on the face of it, you've chosen to ice a personal bodyguard of the rather well-connected Mickey Wolfmann. Name rings bell? Or in your case shakes tambourine? Ah, but here's our ride --
    A POLICE CRUISER COMES TO A SLIDING STOP NEXT TO DOC AND
    BIGFOOT.
    DOC
    Where's my ride?
    BIGFOOT
    Like it's owner, on its way to impoundment.
    CUT TO:

INT. PARKER CENTER - DAY
    Doc in custody sitting across from Bigfoot.
    BIGFOOT
    So when you and Glen had your fatal encounter, when would you say that was in the series of events?
    DOC
    I told you the first time I ever saw him, he was dead.
    BIGFOOT
    His associates, then. How many of them were you already acquainted with?
    DOC
    Not normally guys I'd hang out with, Bigfoot, totally wrong drug profile.
    BIGFOOT
    Potheads, you're so exclusive. Would you say you took offense at Glen's preference for barbiturates and amphetamines?
    DOC
    Yes. I was planning to report him to the Dope Fiend Standards and Ethics Committee next week...
    BIGFOOT
    Now your ex-girlfriend Shasta Fay Hepworth is a known intimate of Glen's employer, Mickey Wolfmann. Do you think Glen and Shasta were --
    Bigfoot slides his fingers around, makes a "fucking" sign.
    BIGFOOT
    How does it make you feel? Here you are still carrying the torch and there she is in the company of all those Nazi lowlifes?
    DOC
    Keep doing that, Bigfoot, you're givin' me a hard-on...
    BIGFOOT
    Tough little wop monkey as my man Fatso Judson always sez.
    DOC
    Case you forget, Lieutenant, you and me are almost in the same business, except I don't get that free pass to shoot people all the time and so forth. But if I was in your seat, I guess I'd be acting the same way, maybe start in next with remarks about my mother.
    DOC
    Or I guess your mother, because you'd be me... Have I got that right?
    Bigfoot pretends to read notes:
    BIGFOOT
    While suspect -- that's you -- is having alleged midday nap, so necessary to the hippie lifestyle, some sort of incident occurs in the vicinity of Channel View Estates. Firearms are discharged. When the dust settles, we find one Glen Charlock deceased. More compellingly for LAPD, the man Charlock was supposed to be guarding, Michael Z. Wolfmann, has vanished, giving local law enforcement less than 24 hours before the feds call it a kidnapping and come in to fuck everything up. Perhaps, Sportello, you could help forestall this by providing the names of the other members of your cult?
    DOC
    Cult.
    BIGFOOT
    No one would ever be stupid enough to attempt this alone, which suggests some kind of Mansanoid conspiracy, wouldn't you agree? I've been referred to more than once by the L.A. Times as a Renaissance detective, which means that I am many things-- and one thing I am not is stupid -- and purely out of noblesse oblige I extend this assumotion to cover you as well...
    Enter DOC'S LAWYER, SAUNCHO SMILAX (30s).
    SAUNCHO
    Lieutenant! You know that you don't have any case here, so if you're going to charge him, you better, otherwise --
    DOC
    Sauncho, remember who this is you're talking to, it's Bigfoot Bjornsen, renaissance cop.
    SAUNCHO
    Charge him or let him go, you have no case...
    DOC
    Bigfoot, don't mind him, he watches too many courtroom dramas.
    BEAT. They all look at each other...
    SAUNCHO
    What's the beef here exactly?
    BIGFOOT
    It doesn't have much to do with your speciality, which I understand is marine law.
    SAUNCHO
    There's plenty of crime on the high seas.
    BIGFOOT
    So far we have murder and kidnapping, we can work in pirates if that would make you more comfortable -- either way it's high profile.
    SAUNCHO
    Yes, but given your history with my client -- you know this is harassment, there's no case, this'll never make it to trial.
    BIGFOOT
    We probably could take this all the way to trial -- but with our luck the jury pool will be 99 percent hippie --
    SAUNCHO
    Sure, unless you got the venue changed to maybe, like, Orange County -- not as many hippies down there --
    DOC
    Sauncho, who are you working for?
    SAUNCHO
    Clients pay for work.
    BIGFOOT
    I've decided I'm going to kick Mr. Sportello.
    SAUNCHO
    You're gonna kick him? That's assault!
    DOC
    (I think it's police slang Sauncho. It means cut me loose.)
    BIGFOOT
    I'll release the suspect at the impound garage...
    SAUNCHO
    ... promise?
    BIGFOOT
    Promise. And I'll even give him a ride myself.
    SAUNCHO
    Alright, I'm glad we got this worked out then -- remember, Doc: This was like 15 billable minutes.
    CUT TO:

INT. BIGFOOT'S EL CAMINO (MOVING)
    Driving in silence. Bigfoot suddenly makes a sharp U- turn --
    DOC
    Where we going?
    BIGFOOT
    To a nice, secluded spot that has 'shot while trying to escape' written all over it.
    CUT TO:

INT. HILLS ABOVE VALLEY - DAY
    Bigfoot walks Doc deep into the mountainside. Finally sits him down, stands over him...
    BIGFOOT
    Are you aware of the dictum that dope will get you through times of no money better than vice versa... You'd be surprised how many in your own hippie freak community have found our Special Employee Disbursements useful.
    DOC
    ... what do you mean? You mean like 'Mod Squad'? Rat on everybody I ever met?
    BIGFOOT
    Right now there's fistfuls of greenbacks flowing at anything that even looks like local law enforcement.
    BIGFOOT
    Federal funding as far as the eye can see... or we could certainly offer you compensation in a more inhalable form... Acapulco Gold. Panama Red. Michoacan Icepack. Our downtown evidence rooms got filled up long ago, Doc. Numberless kilos of righteous weed just for you. Just for trivial information we already have anyway. And what you don't smoke, improbable as that seems, you could always sell.
    DOC
    Are you married, Bigfoot?
    BIGFOOT
    Sorry, you're not my type. What does this look like? Or don't they have them on planet hippie?
    DOC
    You have kids?
    BIGFOOT
    I hope this isn't some kind of veiled doper threat.
    DOC
    It's just strange that here we both are with this mysterious power to ruin each other's day and we don't even know anything about each other.
    BIGFOOT
    Aimless doper's drivel and yet you've just defined the very essence of law enforcement. So how about my offer?
    DOC
    Yours is the last wallet I'd want money out of, Bigfoot...
    CUT TO:

INT. DOC'S PLACE - LATER
    Doc's been released. He's watching BIGFOOT on TV from the newscast at CHANNEL VIEW ESTATES. DOC half watches, smokes the end of a joint and rolls another. The PHONE RINGS:
    DOC
    Hello?
    TARIQ (V.O.)
    I didn't do it.
    DOC
    Nobody said you did... Who is this?
    TARIQ (V.O.)
    If Glen was a target, then I am, too. Better not be in contact, man. This is not some bunch of fools like the LAPD. And if you don't mind a piece of free advice - - forget it all.
    Dial tone... CLOSEUP - JOINT It's done. He's smoked it all. He lies on the couch. ANOTHER ANGLE THE PHONE RINGS AGAIN: It's Bigfoot.
    DOC
    Hello?
    BIGFOOT (V.O.)
    So we sent some Police Academy hotshot over to the last known address of Shasta Fay Hepworth, just a routine visit and guess what?
    DOC
    Fuck, no, not this.
    BIGFOOT (V.O.)
    Relax -- don't be so sensitive -- all we know at this point is that she's disappeared now, too, just like her boyfriend Mickey... do you think there could be a connection? Maybe they ran off together?
    DOC
    Bigfoot, can we at least try and be professional about all this from now on.
    BIGFOOT (V.O.)
    I am being professional. There's certain things I can't tell you because you aren't on payroll.
    BIGFOOT (V.O.)
    If anything occurs to you about where they went -- don't forget to share that with me, will you?
    DOC
    What's the last address you have?
    Bigfoot has already hung up. The phone rings again.
    DOC
    (into phone)
    Hello?
    HOPE HARLINGEN (V.O.)
    Mr. Sportello?
    DOC
    Yes?
    HOPE HARLINGEN (V.O.)
    I got your number at the head shop in Gordita Beach. It's about my husband. He used to be a close friend of your friend -- Shasta Fay Hepworth?
    DOC
    And you're?
    HOPE HARLINGEN (V.O.)
    Hope Harlingen.
    DOC
    Okay. And he's...?
    HOPE HARLINGEN (V.O.)
    Dead.
    CUT TO:

A17 INT. DOC'S CAR A17
    Driving to Hope's house. CLEAN OF SORTILEGE.

EXT. TORRANCE - SMALL HOUSE
    Inside this nice, little house, DOC sits at the breakfast table with a sweet faced young woman: HOPE HARLINGEN (20s). (NOTE: Still need a ref. to her false teeth/calcium/heroin.)
    HOPE HARLINGEN
    Inside the surf-sax category Coy passed for a towering figure, because he actually improvised once in a while instead of how second and third choruses get repeated note for note?
    DOC
    You're right. I love surf music -- but some of the worst blues work ever recorded will be showing up on karmic rap sheets of surf-sax players.
    HOPE HARLINGEN
    It was never his work I was in love with. Coy and I should have met cute but actually we met squalid, down at Oscar's in San Ysidro --
    DOC
    Oh, boy.
    HOPE HARLINGEN
    I had just gone running into a toilet stall without checking first, had my finger already down my throat, to throw up the balloon of dope I'd just scored in Mexico and there Coy sat, gringo digestion, about to take a giant shit. We both let go about the same time, barf and shit all over the place, me with my face in his lap and to complicate things, he had this hard-on... Next thing we knew here came Amethyst, and pretty soon this is what we had her looking like...
    She hands him SOME OLD POLAROID PICTURES. AAAHHHAHAH!!:
    HOPE HARLINGEN
    Everybody we knew helpfully pointed out how heroin was coming through in my breast milk, but who could afford to buy formula? It's a long way from my job now. I'm a drug counselor -- talking kids into sensible drug use...
    Doc looks very confused for a moment. (What's that?) DOC CANNOT HELP BUT STARE AT HOPE'S TEETH AND MAKE FUNNY MOUTH MOVEMENTS WATCHING HER SPEAK...
    HOPE HARLINGEN
    You're staring at my teeth?
    DOC
    Huh? No? (Sensible drug use) Yes.
    HOPE HARLINGEN
    Heroin sucks the calcium out of your system like a vampire, use it at any length of time and your teeth go all to hell. And that's the good part.
    DOC
    So... this thing that happened to your husband?
    HOPE HARLINGEN
    Whatever he took that killed him, wasn't California smack, for sure.
    DOC
    Who was the dealer?
    HOPE HARLINGEN
    El Drano in Venice.
    DOC
    Was Coy a steady customer?
    HOPE HARLINGEN
    Known him for years -- what does a dealer care? Overdoses are good for business --
    DOC
    Sudden herds of junkies showing up at the door thinking it must be some really good shit? Something like that?
    HOPE HARLINGEN
    You got it. Mr. Sportello, I don't think Coy is really dead.
    DOC
    Did you I.D. the body?
    HOPE HARLINGEN
    No. Whoever called me said somebody from his band did that.
    DOC
    It's supposed to be next of kin.
    HOPE HARLINGEN
    And this... this deposit showed up close to his disappearance.
    She brings out a BANK STATEMENT book and shows it to him, points to a CREDIT. Doc raises his eyebrows at the amount.
    DOC
    Interesting sum.
    HOPE HARLINGEN
    He had no insurance policies that I knew about... Why would this big deposit suddenly appear in our account and be anonymous?
    DOC
    Is there a picture of Coy you could spare?
    She hands him a BOX FULL OF POLAROIDS. Doc looks inside. We see: COY HARLINGEN. Coy with the baby, Coy cooking heroin, Coy tying off, Coy shooting up, Coy and Hope out at the beach, sitting in a pizza joint playing tug-of-war with the last slice, sticking his dick in his saxophone.
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    These were perilous times, astrologically speaking, for dopers -- especially those of high school age, who'd been born most of them, under a ninety-degree aspect, the unluckiest angle possible, between Neptune, the doper's planet, and Uranus, the planet of rude surprises. Doc had known it to happen that those left behind would refuse to believe that people they loved or even took the same classes with were really dead. They came up with all kinds of alternate stories so it wouldn't have to be true.
    DOC
    Okay if I take this one?
    HOPE HARLINGEN
    Sure.
    AT THE DOOR - MOMENTS LATER Doc's on his way out. Just one more thing...
    DOC
    How did your husband know Shasta Fay?
    HOPE HARLINGEN
    She picked us up hitchhiking... I think Coy and her somehow stayed in touch... but I don't know for sure...
    CUT TO:

INT. DOC'S OFFICE - DAY
    Getting outfit. Making call to Sloane Wolfmann scene. For poss. over V.O. Petunia here. CUT TO:

A20 INT. DOC'S CAR A20
    DRIVING TO SLOANE WOLFMANN'S.
    Doc in his disguise...
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    Shasta had mentioned a possible laughing academy angle to Mickey Wolfmann's matrimonial drama and Doc thought it might be interesting to see how society page superstar Mrs. Sloane Wolfmann would react when somebody brought up the topic... If Mickey was currently being held against his will in some private nuthouse, then Doc's immediate chore would be to try and find out which one...
    CUT TO:

INT. WOLFMANN MANSION (SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS) - DAY
    DOC rings the doorbell. He's dressed in a disguise of a DOUBLE-BREASTED SUIT, SHORT HAIR WIG, LOAFERS. The door is opened by a sexy young Chicana: LUZ (20s).
    LUZ
    Who are you supposed to be?
    DOC
    Good afternoon, here to see Mrs. Wolfmann.
    LUZ
    She's hanging by the pool with all the police and them... come inside.
    LUZ
    So you're the shrink that called?
    DOC
    That's right.
    LUZ
    Uh-huh...
    Out back, by the pool, LAPD are set up in A COMMAND POST by the pool cabana. They're also swimming in the pool, making margaritas and playing Ping Pong. SLOANE WOLFMANN (40s, British, ex-showgirl) strolls towards the house wearing a black bikini, black shawl, black high heel sandals. She steps into the main living room to greet Doc... and stops, landing in what appears to be the MOST INSANELY GORGEOUS MOVIE STAR LIGHTING IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.
    SLOANE
    Do you like the lighting?
    DOC
    Uh-huh.
    SLOANE
    Jimmy Wong Howe did it for us years ago. LUZ! The midday refrescos now, if you wouldn't mind?
    They sit down. Luz comes in and pours drinks, shows her ass to Doc while pouring...
    DOC
    Your husband was planning to endow a new wing for our facility -- he actually tendered us a sum in advance. But somehow it just didn't seem right to keep the money while so little was known of his whereabouts. So, we'd like to refund you the sum, and if, and as we all pray when, Mr. Wolfmann is next heard from, why then, perhaps the process can resume.
    SLOANE
    We did recently endow another facility, in Ojai... Chryskylodon Institute.
    DOC
    Kriskleddone? Errrr... yesss, uhhh...
    SLOANE
    An ancient Indian word that means, 'serenity.' Are you somehow a subsidiary...?
    DOC
    Perhaps one of our Sister Sanatoria?
    Enter RIGGS WARBLING. Big, muscular and blond, spiritual coach, wearing a tiny swim shorts.
    SLOANE
    Mr. Riggs Warbling... my spiritual coach.
    DOC
    How'd you do?
    RIGGS
    Pleasureable.
    DOC
    (to Sloane)
    Maybe you can tell us where to send this refund and what form you'd like it in?
    RIGGS
    Small bills! Non-consecutive serial numbers!
    SLOANE
    Riggs. Enough. Always making with the tasteless jokes. Perhaps if one of your company officers simply endorsed Michael's check back to one of his accounts?
    DOC
    Of course!
    SLOANE
    Let me just find you a deposit form...
    She gets up and walks over to a desk, revealing a low cut back and exposing her back...
    DOC
    You're a spiritual advisor, Mr. Warbling?
    RIGGS
    And a contractor.
    DOC
    You work for Mr. Wolfmann?
    RIGGS looks back to SLOANE WOLFMANN, says to Doc:
    RIGGS
    If you can call it work...
    ... Riggs starts doing some weightlifting nearby and some practice hump-thrusts. LUZ stands in a corner watching...
    CLOSEUP - DOC
    watching this circus...
    CUT TO:

INT. HALLWAY - MOMENTS LATER
    Luz walks Doc to the front door. She makes eyes at him.
    DOC
    I forgot, I, uh, I have to use the bathroom?
    LUZ
    As long as you don't steal anything.
    DOC
    Muchas gracias, there, Luz. I won't be a minute.

INT. PALATIAL BATHROOM - THAT MOMENT
    DOC snoops around, goes into a cavernous WALK-IN CLOSET and notices: A RACK DEDICATED TO SOME STRANGE NECKTIES. VINTAGE SILK TIES, HAND-PAINTED WITH A DIFFERENT NUDE WOMAN ON EACH. ERECT CLITS, SPREAD PUSSY LIPS, EACH WOMAN IN A DIFFERENT POSE. HE COMES ACROSS ONE OF SLOANE. SUDDENLY, THERE'S A HAND AROUND HIS BACK.
    DOC
    HOLY SHIT.
    LUZ
    I'm in there somewhere. Keep looking.
    DOC
    Huh huh huhuhuhuhu.
    LUZ
    There I am. Cute, huh? My tits aren't really that big, but it's the thought that counts.
    DOC
    Did you ladies all pose for these?
    LUZ
    A guy over in North Hollywood does custom work.
    DOC
    How about that chick... what's her name? The one's been missing?
    LUZ
    Shasta. Yeah. She's in there someplace. Mickey always used to take me in the shower to fuck. I never got a chance to do anything on that groovy bed in there.
    LUZ!
    LUZ
    DONDE ESTAS, MI HIJATA??
    Another time, perhaps. You're not really a shrink are you?
    DOC
    No. But I do have a couch.
    LUZ
    Piscodelico, ese!
    She flashes her teeth. He hands her one of the FAKE BUSINESS CARDS with his real number on it. She leaves. CUT TO:

EXT. WOLFMANN MANSION
    BIGFOOT/DOC scene TBD. CUT TO:

INT. LUNCH SPOT (DOWNTOWN) - DAY
    DOC is sitting in a lunch spot downtown populated with an assortment of JUDGES, LAWYERS, all completely DRUNK at lunchtime. In walks DEPUTY D.A. PENNY KIMBALL (30s).
    PENNY
    This Wolfmann-Charlock case. Apparently, one of your old girlfriends is a principal?
    DOC
    I just heard that she skipped.
    PENNY
    Put it another way: How close were you and Shasta Fay Hepworth?
    DOC
    Well, now, I've been asking myself that very question. It was all over years ago. Months? If you hadn't come along, babe, who knows how bad it might've got?
    PENNY
    True. You were a fucking mess when I met you.
    DOC
    And how 'bout now?
    PENNY
    Old times aside, have you had any contact with Miss Hepworth, in, say, the last week or so?
    DOC
    Well, now, funny you should ask because she called me up a couple days ago before Mickey Wolfmann disappeared with a story about how his wife and her boyfriend were plotting to hustle Mickey
    into the booby hatch and grab all his money. So I sure hope you guys, or the cops or whoever, are looking into that.
    PENNY
    And with your years of experience as a P.I., would you call that a reliable lead?
    DOC
    I've known worse. Or are you all just gonna just ignore that? Some hippie chick with boyfriend trouble, brains all mushed up with dope, sex, rock and roll --
    PENNY
    I've never seen you this emotional, Doc.
    DOC
    'Cause the lights are out, usually. I've never had lunch with you before.
    PENNY
    You didn't tell any of this to Lieutenant Bjornsen when he pulled you in at the crime scene? And Bjornsen seems to think you're as good a suspect as any --
    DOC
    'Seems to'?? You've been talking to Bigfoot? About me??
    PENNY
    Doc. Shhh. Please. Besides, maybe you did do it, has that crossed your mind yet? Maybe you just forgot? (Maybe you just conveniently forgot about it the way you do so often forget things and this peculiar reaction of yours is a typically twisted way of confessing the act?)
    DOC
    Did do what?
    PENNY
    Kill Glenn Charlock.
    DOC
    Kill him? What? How would I forget something like that?
    PENNY
    Grass and who knows what else, Doc.
    DOC
    I'm only a light smoker.
    PENNY
    How many joints a day do you smoke?
    DOC
    I... I'11 have to check the log book.
    PENNY
    You can't remember?
    DOC
    I don't keep track.
    PENNY
    Or maybe you can't keep track.
    DOC
    I don't think my smoking has any link to the Wolfmann-Charlock, Shasta case --
    PENNY
    ... No? Why did Shasta Fay Hepworth dismantle your relationship?
    DOC
    She had other fish to fry.
    PENNY
    Would you say you're still in love with her?
    DOC
    No. Wait, what is this, I'm not --
    PENNY
    Hectic week ahead for me, so unless any of this heats up dramatically, I hope you understand.
    DOC
    Wouldn't it be nice...
    PENNY
    Walk me back to my office? I have to swing by the Federal Courthouse...

EXT. FEDERAL COURTHOUSE - DAY
    DOC and PENNY enter. She guides the way, into the waiting arms of: TWO FBI AGENTS BORDERLINE and FLATWEED... Penny keeps walking, having set him up...
    FLATWEED
    I am Agent Flatweed and this is Agent Borderline.
    DOC
    Did I miss an episode...?
    FLATWEED
    It's come to our attention that not too long ago you had a visit from a black prison militant calling himself Tariq Khalil. We naturally became curious.

INT. FEDERAL COURTHOUSE - OFFICE - DAY
    In a tiny office.
    BORDERLINE
    We like investigating and spending energy on Black Nationalist hate groups...
    FLATWEED
    It's the chronology, really. Khalil visits your place of business.
    FLATWEED
    Next day, a known prison acquaintance of his, Glen Charlock, is slain, Michael Wolfmann disappears, and you get arrested and let go on suspicion.
    DOC
    So what do you want with me?
    FLATWEED
    Ordinarily, we're the one's asking the questions.
    DOC
    Sure thing, fellas, except aren't we all in the same business?
    FLATWEED
    There's no need to be insulting.
    BORDERLINE
    Why don't you just share with us what Mr. Khalil had to say the other day when he visited you?
    DOC
    Because he's a client, so that's privileged is why.
    BODERLINE
    If it has a bearing on the Wolfmann case, we might have to disagree.
    DOC
    I wish I could help -- but what I can't figure is if your shop is really so focused on the Black Panthers and all that then what's with your interest in Mickey Wolfmann?
    LONG PAUSE. No one says anything.
    DOC
    ... Are you guys figuring Mickey's kidnapping as a Black Panther operation? Did they put the snatch on Mickey to make a political point? A nice shot at some ransom money?
    Flatweed and Borderline blink a lot and look nervous.
    DOC
    Maybe you've at least thought of putting that out there as a cover story for whatever did happen? Can I be frank for a minute?
    FLATWEED/BORDERLINE
    Of course.
    DOC
    Fly me to the moon... let me swing among those stars... Tell Penny how nice our time has been...
    FLATWEED
    As a COINTELPRO informant you could be making up to three hundred dollars a month, Larry. Consider that.
    CUT TO:

EXT. DOC'S OFFICE - DAY
    Doc comes walking up to his office and sees: JADE and BAMBI, from the Chick Planet Massage, running away from his office, hopping into a HARLEY EARLE IMPALA and peeling out... He walks over to PETUNIA who hands him a flyer for CHICK PLANET MASSAGE PUSSY EATER'S SPECIAL, shakes her head and looks sad:
    PETUNIA
    Oh, Doc. It's dark and lonely work, but someone has to do it?
    DOC
    I can explain this...
    DOC turns it over, written across the back it reads:
    JADE (V.O.)
    'Heard they cut you loose. Need to see you about something. I'm working weeknights at Club Asiatique in San Pedro. Love and Peace, Jade. P.S. BEWARE THE GOLDEN FANG!!!'
    Doc notices, out the window, across the parking lot: BIGFOOT'S EL CAMINO parked in the distance, engine fired up and watching Doc... DISSOLVE TO:

INT. CLUB ASIATIQUE - NIGHT
    DOC sits with a cocktail. JADE, wearing a cocktail uniform, approaches DOC:
    DOC
    There you are.
    JADE
    See me outside, okay?
    CUT TO:

EXT. BEHIND THE CLUB/SAN PEDRO DOCKS - NIGHT
    Behind the club, on the docks, she speaks:
    JADE
    I can't stay here long. This is Golden Fang territory. And a girl don't necessarily want to get into difficulties with those folks.
    DOC
    What is it? A band?
    JADE
    You wish. I just wanted to say how sorry I was. I felt shitty about what I did...
    DOC
    Which was what again?
    JADE
    I'm not a snitch. The cops told us they'd drop charges if we just put you at the scene, which they already knew you were -- so where was the harm? I'm like, so sorry, Larry...
    DOC
    Call me Doc. It's cool, Jade.
    JADE
    That copper?
    DOC
    Bigfoot?
    JADE
    He's a warped sheet of plastic.
    DOC
    And was it Bigfoot who put me on the Buenos Noches Express? Or did he subcontract it?
    JADE
    I missed all that, man. Last thing I remember was eating Bambi's pussy -- and Puck Beaverton's tattoo -- like it was pulsating...
    DOC
    What's a Puck Beaverton?
    JADE
    He's an asshole you don't want to meet. Me and Bambi, we're so freaked with the BadAss Brigade stomping in there we didn't stick around --
    DOC
    How about those jailhouse Nazis who were supposed to be covering Mickey's back?
    JADE
    All over the place one minute, gone the next. Like a raid, when people know it's gonna happen? They all cleared out except for Glenn.
    DOC
    Like someone forgot to tell him something?
    JADE
    Listen -- there's somebody who wants to talk to you. He thinks you can help each other out. He's a new face. I'm not even sure of his name but I know he's in some trouble.
    DOC
    Okay...
    JADE motions over her shoulder... OUT OF THE MIST WALKS... COY HARLINGEN. DOC blinks a few times. JADE disappears.
    DOC
    Howdy, Coy.
    COY
    I would've come to your office, man. But I thought there might be unfriendly eyeballs.
    DOC
    Is this safe enough for you. Out here?
    COY
    Let's light this and pretend we came out to smoke.
    They light a joint and pass it back and forth.
    COY
    I'm supposed to be dead.
    DOC
    There's also a rumor that you're not.
    COY
    That don't come as such great news. Bein' dead is part of my job image. Like what I do.
    DOC
    Are you working for these people here at the club?
    COY
    I don't know. Maybe. It's where I come to pick up my paycheck.
    DOC
    Where are you staying?
    COY
    House in Topanga Canyon. A band I used to play for, The Boards. But none of them know it's me.
    DOC
    How can they not know it's you?
    COY
    Even when I was alive, they didn't know it was me, man. 'The Sax Player.' The session guy. Plus, over the years, there's been this big turnover of personnel, like, The Boards I played with have most of them gone off by now and formed other bands. Only one or two of the old crew are left, and they're suffering with heavy doper's memory.
    DOC
    Story is you came to grief behind some bad smack. You still into that?
    COY
    No. God. No. I'm clean these days. I spent my time rehabilitating up --
    DOC
    It's okay. I can't hear too good. And how can I talk about what I don't hear?
    Coy is delicate now, sizing Doc up, looking around, words get more whispery:
    COY
    The thing I wanted to see you about... Just wondering if you could check in on a couple of people. A lady and a little girl. See that they're okay -- and without bringing me into it. It's down in Torrance.
    (hands him address)
    Just see if they're still livin' there. What's in the driveway. Law enforcement in the picture, any details you find interesting --
    DOC
    I'm on it.
    COY
    I can't pay you right now.
    DOC
    When you can. Unless maybe you're one of those folks who believe information is money, in which case, I could ask you something?
    COY
    Bearing in mind that either I don't know or it'll be my ass if I tell you, what is it?
    DOC
    Ever heard of the Golden Fang?
    COY
    Sure. It's a boat. A big schooner, somebody said. Brings stuff in and out of the country but nobody wants to talk about it...
    DOC
    Because?
    COY turns and look out over his shoulder into the HARBOR. It's foggy... DOC squints through stoned eyes... Coy turns back to him:
    COY
    That was it.
    DOC
    How do you know?
    COY
    Saw it sail in. Got here the same time I did tonight.
    DOC
    I don't know what I just saw.
    COY
    Me neither. Fact, I don't even want to know.
    Doc blinks and like that... Coy's gone... Doc is left standing alone, very confused, and paranoid.

EXT. BEACH/SAND DUNE - DAY
    DOC looking through binoculars, SAUNCHO is here, over his shoulder. They're looking at a THREE-MASTED SCHOONER, GOLDEN FANG.
    SAUNCHO
    Meet the schooner Golden Fang, out of Charlotte Amalie.
    DOC
    Where is that?
    SAUNCHO
    Virgin Islands.
    DOC
    Bermuda Triangle?
    SAUNCHO
    Close enough.
    DOC
    Sizable vessel.
    SAUNCHO
    She has a tendency to show up in the middle of the night, no running lights, no radio traffic. See, the problem with this vessel is trying to find out anything. People back off, change the subject, get creepy and head for the toilet, never to reappear... the owners are listed as a consortium in the Bahamas.

INT. FISH PLACE
    Doc and Sauncho at a disgusting restaurant.
    SAUNCHO
    Her name isn't really the Golden Fang.
    SAUNCHO
    Her original name was Preserved after her miraculous escape in 1917 from a tremendous nitroglycerin explosion in Halifax Harbor which blew away most everything else in it, shipping and souls. After World War II she was bought by Burke Stodger.
    DOC
    Burke Stodger, Burke Stodger. Burke Stodger, the actor? .45 Caliber Kiss Off -- Burke Stodger?
    Sauncho motions to the wall -- a few 8xl0 headshots of film stars who have visited the Fish Place -- one of them is BURKE STODGER from his younger days in BLACK AND WHITE HEADSHOT...
    SAUNCHO
    ... Burke Stodger got blacklisted for his politics, branded a communist and was forced to take the boat and split the country. Which is where the Bermuda Triangle comes in.....
    Sauncho hushes up as the waitress arrives...
    SAUNCHO
    Ordinarily I'd have the Admiral's Luau -- but today I'll have the house anchovy loaf to start and the devil-ray filet. Can I get that deep fried in beer batter?
    DOC
    I'll have the jellyfish teriyaki croquettes and the eel trovatore.
    SAUNCHO
    And two tequila Zombies.
    Waitress leaves, Sauncho back to whispers:
    SAUNCHO
    ... so Burke's blacklisted, splits town on the boat... but somewhere between San Pedro and Papeete, the ship disappears, till one day, a couple years later, boat and owner suddenly reappear -- Preserved in the opposite ocean, off Cuba, and Burke Stodger on the front page of Daily Variety in an article reporting his return in a big budget major studio project called Commie Confidential. He followed that up with Squeal, Pinko, Squeal and I Was A Red Dope Fiend.
    DOC
    Soooooooooooo Burke's working again?
    SAUNCHO
    And his politics have miraculously changed. It's wrecking my appetite just talking about what's happened to this great ship -- they removed any traces of soul she once had...
    DOC
    You're emotionally involved? With a boat?
    SAUNCHO
    Not just a boat, Doc. Something much more. I know why I'm so interested, but why are you?
    DOC
    Some story I heard the other night. Maybe some kind of smuggling angle?
    SAUNCHO
    As attorney and client, this story you heard -- it didn't happen to include Mickey Wolfmann?
    DOC
    Not so far, why?
    SAUNCHO
    According to scuttlebutt, shortly before his disappearance -- everybody's favorite developer was observed going onboard the Golden Fang. What we call a three-hour tour and back again...
    DOC
    Was he accompanied by his lovely companion?
    SAUNCHO
    ... Who?
    DOC
    My ex-old Shasta Fay?
    SAUNCHO
    Thought you were done with all that sad bullshit.
    DOC
    ... Everybody make it back? No one pushed overboard? Nothin' like that?
    SAUNCHO
    Let's order you a boilermaker to go with the Zombie and you can start the whole sordid thing over again...
    DOC
    Just asking... anything else?
    SAUNCHO
    Word swirling around some of my friends at the Department of Justice says that maybe Mickey Wolfmann's not as missing as we think?
    DOC
    Like gone but not gone?
    SAUNCHO
    A rumor that these guys are trying to broker a Vegas deal with Wolfmann...
    DOC
    Doesn't compute. Say again. Vegas. Wolfmann.
    SAUNCHO
    It's FBI stuff. That's what they do in Vegas... apparently Wolfmann owned some property they wouldn't mind having...
    The drinks arrive.
    SAUNCHO
    Mmmmmmmmmm. All this good eatin'.
    CUT TO: 32-36 OMITTED 32-36

INT. DOC'S PLACE - NIGHT
    DOC is on the couch, pretty stoned, watching PRESIDENT NIXON on TV at a Republican rally for a group known as VIGILANT CALIFORNIA. Nixon stands in front of a huge banner promoting them. A LONG-HAIRED GUY IN THE CROWD AT THE RALLY STARTS HECKLING NIXON... SCREAMING AND YELLING.
    WILD-EYED GUY (V.O.)
    (on TV)
    HEY, NIXON! TRICKY DICK! FUCK
    YOU! FUCK EVERYBODY AND THE FIRST
    FUCKIN' FAMILY! FUCK THE DOG!
    PENNY comes out of the bedroom, naked and smoking a joint, sees the TV and says...
    PENNY
    Hey... it's Chucky!
    DOC
    Who?
    NIXON (V.O.)
    (on TV)
    Better get him to a hippie drug clinic!
    SECRET SERVICE come over and get him. DOC realizes that this WILD-EYED GUY is actually: COY HARLINGEN.
    PENNY
    That's no hippie! That's Chucky!
    DOC
    Who is it? A friend of yours?
    PENNY
    Everybody knows him. When he's not hanging out at the Hall of Justice, he's at the Glass House.
    DOC
    A snitch?
    PENNY
    Informant, please.
    DOC
    And why's he yelling at Nixon like that again?
    PENNY
    Now he's been on TV. Instant and wide credibility. The police can infiltrate him into any group they want.
    CUT TO:

EXT. TOPANGA CANYON HOUSE - AFTERNOON
    DOC, disguised as a REPORTER (ponytail, fedora hat, tape recorder) and DENIS as a PHOTOGRAPHER pull up to the house in Topanga Canyon where The Boards are staying. As they enter the huge mansion, a couple sexy young house GROUPIES come forward with leis and beads and put them around Doc and Denis...
    INSIDE
    Doc walks through the party...
    ANOTHER ANGLE SMEDLEY (Spotted Dick band member) and his KEYBOARD. Doc interviews him, like he's a reporter...
    SMEDLEY
    This is Fiona...
    DOC
    What do you and Fiona talk about?
    SMEDLEY
    Oh, what you'd expect. Association football, the war in Southeast Asia, where one can score, that sort of thing.
    DOC
    And how's Fiona enjoying it here in Southern California?
    SMEDLEY
    Loves everything but the paranoia, man.
    DOC
    Paranoia, really?
    SMEDLEY
    This house...
    SMEDLEY grows quiet as he notices road manager-types who may or may not be working undercover come near -- ANGLE - DOC Doc lurks around a hallway and runs into: JADE.
    DOC
    What, you again?
    JADE
    I drove up with Bambi -- she heard Spotted Dick were staying here --
    DOC
    She's keen on the Dick, huh?
    JADE
    Tuneful and poetic. English, I guess. I had to come along to try and keep her out of trouble.
    DOC
    If anybody asks, I'm a rock and roll reporter, okay?
    JADE
    I'll tell them about your Pat Boone cover article.
    DOC
    Have you seen the guy I was talking to at Club Asiatique the other night?
    JADE
    Yeah, he's here. Try the rehearsal rooms upstairs...
    REHEARSAL STUDIO DOC makes his way to a SMALL REHEARSAL STUDIO UPSTAIRS. He steps inside and sees: COY, doing some recording with his SAXOPHONE... "Donna Lee."
    DOC
    Howdy! It's me again! Remember that chore you wanted me to do?
    COY signals his thumb to a cloister of RECORDING EQUIPMENT.
    COY
    What was the, uh, make and model you looked at again?
    DOC
    ... You were asking about a older- type VW, flowers and bluebirds and hearts on it?
    COY
    No new replacement parts?
    DOC
    None I could see.
    COY
    Street legal? No hassles with registration?
    DOC
    Seemed that way.
    COY
    Well, thanks for looking into that, you know, I just wondered the way people do. I'll be in touch.
    LIVING ROOM AREA DOC looks in another room, sees a big TEEPEE. He steps inside and suddenly, Coy is with him:
    COY
    So you got to see Hope?
    DOC
    For a minute. She's okay. And it looks like she's been staying clean, too.
    COY
    How'd she do it?
    DOC
    I don't know. She's back teaching is all she said. Public health, drug awareness, something like that.
    COY
    Where?
    DOC
    I don't know.
    COY
    -- You're not gonna tell me where?
    DOC
    Not even if I knew.
    COY
    What -- you really think that I would ever start giving either of them shit?
    DOC
    I don't do matrimonials. I have a terrible history of putting in, and it's never ended well.
    COY
    Don't matter. No way I can ever go back to them.
    DOC
    You can't go back, because if you did...?
    COY
    It would be my ass and my family's, too. This is like a gang. Once you're in, you're in for life.
    DOC
    I'm not asking you to give away any secrets... But I think I just saw you on the tube at a rally for Nixon?
    COY
    And your question is, is am I really one of them screamin' right- wing nutcases?
    DOC
    Somethin' like that.
    COY
    I just wanted to get clean... and I thought it was something to do for my country. Stupid as it sounds. They saw something in me I didn't see. These people were the only ones who were offering me that. It looked like an easy call... But what they really want is to control the membership by making us feel we're never patriotic enough. My country right or wrong, with Vietnam going on? That's just fuckin' crazy. Suppose your mom was using smack.
    DOC
    My, uh...
    COY
    You wouldn't at least say something?
    DOC
    Wait, so the U.S. is somebody's mom, you're sayin'?... and she's strung out on... what, exactly?
    COY
    On sending kids off to die in jungles for no reason. Something wrong and suicidal that she can't stop.
    DOC
    ... Uhhhhhh... and Vigilant California, or whoever you're workin' for, won't buy that?
    COY
    I never got a chance to bring it up. Look at me around here. I'm lower than a groupie, fetching weed, opening beers, making sure there's only aqua jelly beans in the giant punch bowl in the parlor.
    DOC
    I do get the feeling you'd rather be someplace else --
    COY
    Back where I was would be nice, but it's too late --
    DOC
    Short of actual marriage counseling, if I did just run a fast check and happened to find some angle you maybe haven't thought of with this --
    COY
    Nothing personal, man. But there's too much you haven't thought of. You want to run your check, I can't stop you.
    DOC
    I can dig you're tryin' to chase me off this, but look, whatever it is you're caught inside, I'm still out here, on the outside of it. I can move in ways you may not be able to...
    COY
    The baby? How'd she look?
    DOC
    A sweetie pie.
    COY
    Any sign of them little kid blues?
    DOC
    I couldn't say...
    COY
    ... I've really blown this solo, man.
    DOC
    The original call from these people, where did it come from?
    COY
    It's like bein' stuck with a borrowed horn.
    DOC
    Just give me a glimpse here: Who set you up with these people?
    COY
    When I first started snitching, I realized how often people ask questions they already know the answers to -- but they just want to hear it from another voice, like outside their head --
    DOC
    Help me out...
    COY
    You'd better find Shasta Fay.
    Doc blinks and Coy disappears again --
    DOC
    Now... what the fuck?
    IN ANOTHER PART OF THE HOUSE DENIS has made his way into the kitchen... Denis sees Coy drift into the dining room to get something to eat... so he lifts his camera and snaps. Which sets off a bunch of people moving towards them: Doc runs into Jade:
    JADE
    Doc, can I get a ride, this place is freakin' me out --
    They head out of the house -- CUT TO:

EXT. TOPANGA CANYON - NIGHT
    A SINISTER-LOOKING WOODIE WITH BLACKED OUT WINDOWS IS
    FOLLOWING THEM... DOC drives faster and faster through the treacherous canyon road...
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    As if things weren't peculiar enough, Doc was managing to put himself on a full-scale paranoid trip about Shasta...
    JADE and DENIS are in the backseat and start to strike up a conversation as Denis is rolling a joint...
    DENIS
    And what's, like, your name?
    JADE
    Ashley... do you eat pussy, by the way?
    CLOSEUP - DOC
    driving, paranoid, bad driver, lights in rearview mirror.
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    ... and how she must have been using, all the time she and Doc were together, maybe since before they'd met, a devoted junkie taking every chance she could to slip out into the fine breezy nights and go someplace they'd've been looking after her outfit for her so she wouldn't have to hide it at home from Doc... just to be back for a while among the junkie fellowship, to have a break from this hopeless stooge she was already planning to split on and so forth.
    JADE gets out of the car --
    JADE
    Thanks for the lift, boys.
    DOC
    Hey, Ashley?
    JADE
    Yeah?
    DOC
    I thought you said your name was Jade?
    JADE
    That's just my nom du Chick Planet Massage.
    DOC
    Alrighty, then -- while we're just talking here, is there anything else you wanna tell me about this Golden Fang?
    JADE
    They're an Indochinese heroin cartel. A vertical package. They grow it, bring it in, step on it, run stateside networks of local street dealers and take a separate percentage off of each operation.
    DOC
    So... you're dealing smack?
    JADE
    No, but they use Chick Planet as a front to launder money. Should I have told you this earlier?
    DOC
    Maybe not.
    JADE
    See you around.
    (ALTERNATE)
    ... just be advised boys, you'll want to watch your step, 'cause what I am is, is like a small- diameter pearl of the Orient rolling around on the floor of late capitalism -- lowlifes of all income levels may step on me now and then but if they do -- it'll be them who slip and fall and on a good day break their ass, while the ol' pearl herself just goes a- rollin'. Thanks for the lift.
    CUT TO:

EXT./INT. PARKER CENTER- DAY
    Doc walks up and in the building. Like being on another planet.
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    All this strange alternate cop history and cop politics -- cop dynasties, cop heroes and evildoers, saintly cops and psycho cops, cops too stupid to live and cops too smart for their own good -- insulated by secret loyalties and codes of silence from the world they'd all been given to control...

INT. HOMICIDE ROOM
    DOC comes into HOMICIDE ROOM. BIGFOOT is here, eating a frozen banana.
    BIGFOOT
    I hope this will not be another of those unabridged paranoid hippie monologues I seem obliged to sit through.
    DOC
    What if someone died but was resurrected?
    BIGFOOT
    Not at first glance a matter for Homicide.
    DOC
    So - who around here handles resurrections?
    BIGFOOT
    Bunco squad, usually.
    DOC
    Does that mean LAPD officially believes that every return from the dead is some kind of con?
    BIGFOOT
    Not always. Could be a mistaken or false I.D. type of problem.
    DOC
    But not --
    BIGFOOT
    You're dead, you're dead. Are we talking philosophy?
    ANOTHER ANGLE - LATER Doc and Bigfoot sitting together, Doc catching him up to speed on Coy's case. DOC gives him a PHOTO OF COY: It's like The Last Supper, Coy as Jesus grabbing food from table.
    BIGFOOT
    Just remind me why I give a shit again?
    DOC
    He's worked for the Department as a snitch, he oughta be in your file...
    BIGFOOT looks at Doc, then the picture: "How much does Doc know?"
    BIGFOOT
    Alright, I'll look into it personally.
    He motions down a back corridor...
    BIGFOOT
    Just want to look in the freezer a minute... come with me.
    CUT TO:

INT. CORRIDOR/UTILITY ROOM - MOMENTS LATER
    Bigfoot leads Doc down a hall and into a room with a CORPSE-SIZE PROFESSIONAL FREEZER. Bigfoot opens it up: INSIDE ARE SEVERAL HUNDRED FROZEN CHOCOLATE COVERED BANANAS.
    BIGFOOT
    I'm down to a dozen a day now. The therapist says I've made amazing progress. Please, dig in, feel free. I'm told I have to share.
    He puts the FROZEN BANANAS in the PNEUMATIC TUBE DISPENSER, sending chocolate frozen bananas hurling around Parker Center...
    DOC
    Certainly a lot of these in here. Is the Department picking up the tab?
    Bigfoot's FACE TURNS AND THE MOLECULES COMPLETELY CHANGE AS HE SEES SOMETHING OVER DOC'S SHOULDER... DOC looks scared stiff... realizes Bigfoot's looking past him, Doc turns -- DOWN THE CORRIDOR -- A FEW OFFICERS, DETECTIVES, VICE SQUAD MEMBERS ARE SAYING SOME KIND WORDS, SHAKING HANDS, LAUGHING WITH A STRANGE LITTLE MAN: ADRIAN PRUSSIA. Everyone's all smiles as they UN-CUFF ADRIAN...
    DOC
    Is that Adrian Prussia? I remember him from my skip tracing days... he's the one with the bat... he beat up an old lady with a baseball bat. And why's he... I mean... why's he shaking hands and smiling and kissing babies with the Vice Squad boys again? Which part did I miss? And why's he walking this way???
    ADRIAN walks over.
    ADRIAN
    This you're new partner, Bigfoot?
    BIGFOOT
    Here, Adrian... have a banana. Bend over and I'll stick it in for you.
    ADRIAN
    Fuck you. And fuck your banana.
    Adrian exits. Bigfoot to Doc...
    DOC
    You guys go back, huh?
    BIGFOOT
    Where do you think Mickey Wolfmann is, Doc?
    DOC
    Now that's a good question. (You try Las Vegas yet?)
    BIGFOOT
    And where is that love of your life Shasta Fay Hepworth?
    DOC
    Play nice. (Mighty snotty, Bigfoot.)
    BIGFOOT
    And how much could she have really meant to him -- or him to her that he could just let this all get so fucked up?
    DOC
    Best question yet. (Is this multiple choice?)
    BIGFOOT
    There's places you don't want to go, Doc -- better get back to the beach, you smell like a patchouli factory.
    CUT TO:

EXT./INT. DOC'S OFFICE - NIGHT
    Doc walks the long corridor towards his office... DOC walks into his office, is deep in thought, locks the door double and triple lock turns and SCREAMS AT THE SIGHT OF A SEXY YOUNG BIKER GIRL: CLANCY CHARLOCK.
    DOC
    AHHHAHAHAHHA!!!! COOTIE FOOD!!
    CLANCY
    Remains to be seen...
    DOC
    WHO ARE YOU?!??
    CLANCY
    Clancy Charlock.
    DOC
    Glen Charlock's?
    CLANCY
    Sister.
    DOC
    I'm sorry about your brother...
    CLANCY
    Glen was a shit and bound to have his series canceled sometime. But that don't keep me from wanting to know who his killer is.
    DOC
    You talk to the police?
    CLANCY
    They talked to me. Some smart-ass named Bjornsen. Can't say it was encouraging. But I guess he's a fan of yours... Would you mind not staring at my tits like that?
    DOC
    Sorry -- I was just reading your T-shirt. So now... you say... Lieutenant Bjornsen referred you to me?
    CLANCY
    He sounded a lot more concerned with Mickey Wolfmann's disappearance than Glen's murder, which I guess is no big surprise. Is that a joint? Can I smoke it?
    DOC pulls out a freshly rolled one.
    DOC
    Here's a new one.../Please...
    She lights it and smokes half of it down in one suck before passing it back to Doc...
    DOC
    The theory downtown is that your brother tried to prevent whoever it was from putting the snatch on Mickey and got shot for doing his job.
    CLANCY
    Way too sentimental.
    DOC
    Then maybe he saw something he shouldn't have.
    CLANCY
    That's how Boris has it figured to.
    DOC
    Who's that?
    CLANCY
    Another member of Mickey's muscle patrol. They've all dropped out of sight, but last night, Boris called me late. We have some history. Right now, he's scared shitless.
    DOC
    What of?
    CLANCY
    He said Mickey was in the deepest shit you could get in all because of this idea that came to him.
    DOC
    Which was?
    CLANCY
    All the money he ever made -- he was working on a way just to give it back.
    DOC
    Can I still get my name on the list?
    CLANCY
    That's what I said!
    DOC
    Why, but why would he want to?
    CLANCY
    Wouldn't be the first rich guy on a guilt trip lately. He was doing a lot of acid and peyote and maybe it just got to a point... you must've seen that happen.
    DOC
    Once or twice, but it's more like calling in sick for a couple days, breakin' up with your old lady, nothing on that scale.
    CLANCY
    He said he felt bad about making people pay for shelter -- that all along he should have realized it should've been for free --
    DOC
    He told him that?
    CLANCY
    Boris heard him say it... he wanted to build a big place out in the desert where anybody could come and live for free -- called Arrepentimiento.
    DOC
    Yeah, okay, and what's that mean again?
    CLANCY
    Spanish for 'sorry about that.' The idea was if there was an open unit -- it was yours for free... anyone from anywhere can have shelter... are you gonna keep holding on to that joint or are you gonna marry it?
    DOC
    And what about Mickey's ladies? Any of them object to his big giveaway?
    CLANCY
    Only one I've heard Boris say anything about is Shasta -- the one's gone missing.
    DOC
    What'd he say?
    CLANCY
    Said Shasta was the only one that ever made any sense around there -- she was nervous about Mickey givin' away all his money -- which I guess caused some problems because it made him think that's all she was worried about was her meal ticket -- which I guess was really crazy cause she was in love with him. Deeply in love...
    DOC
    Shasta and I lived for a short while together and I can't say for sure how deep it went. How she really felt about me.
    CLANCY
    Well, I hope this ain't a bummer for you to be hearin'...
    DOC
    Clancy, I only look like an evil motherfucker... secretly, I'm as sentimental as any ex-old man.
    CLANCY
    You are a pretty dangerous hombre, I can see that... but, as one who's been down this particular exit ramp -- you can only cruise the boulevards of regret so far, and then you've got to get back up onto the freeway again.
    DOC
    Who else does he think was worried about Mickey's big giveaway? Business partners? The wife?
    CLANCY
    That cop friend of yours kept showing up at the house all the time warning Mickey...
    DOC
    Bigfoot? So he warned Mickey to what?
    CLANCY
    I don't know. (Mickey didn't listen to advice... maybe he said don't give away all your money? Stop doing peyote? Stop doing acid? You're the detective.)
    CUT TO:

EXT. DOC'S OFFICE - NIGHT
    Clancy and Doc step out of the office. She has TWO BIKERS waiting for her...
    DOC
    Anything else?
    THE BIKES FIRE UP LOUD.
    CLANCY
    CLANCY YELLS TO DOC:
    PUCK BEAVERTON.
    DOC
    UH-HUH.
    CLANCY
    HE HAD THE DUTY TO GUARD MICKEY
    THAT DAY BUT CHANGED SHIFTS WITH
    GLEN AT THE LAST MINUTE...
    DOC
    YOU THINK PUCK SET GLEN UP?
    CLANCY
    PUCK'S AN ASSHOLE.
    DOC
    SOUNDS LIKE YOU DATED.
    CLANCY
    HIM AND HIS ROOMMATE EINAR.
    DOC
    BOTH? (TWO AT A TIME?)
    CLANCY
    THAT'S MY PREFERENCE.
    DOC
    KNOW WHERE I MIGHT FIND THIS
    MR. BEAVERTON?
    CLANCY
    PROBABLY OUT LOOKING FOR GIRLS TO
    TREAT LIKE SHIT -- PREFERABLY
    ONES THAT DON'T MIND. HAPPY
    CUT TO:

A53 INT. DOC'S CAR - NIGHT A53
    After Clancy. Driving to get postcard... NO SORTILEGE.

EXT. DOC'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
    Doc walks up to his place... a FEW SHADOWS AND MOVEMENTS AROUND click him into a paranoia alert... He sees on the doorsill a POSTCARD... He carefully picks it up, looks it over... it's from some place deep in the Pacific Ocean.
    SHASTA (V.O.)
    I wish you could see these waves. It's one more of these places a voice from somewhere else tells you you have to be. Remember the day with the Ouija board? I miss those days and I miss you. I wish so many things could be different... Nothing was supposed to happen this way, Doc, I'm sorry...
    CUT TO:

INT. DOC'S APARTMENT
    He comes in, places the postcard down and lights a joint, SHASTA'S VOICE CONTINUES.
    SHASTA (V.O.)
    ... you don't remember the Ouija board? Come on, Doc...
    SHASTA (V.O.)
    ...go stumbling through that city dump of a memory... It had been one of those prolonged times of no dope, nobody had any, everybody was desperate and suffering lapses of judgment.
    CUT TO:

FLASHBACK - INT. SORTILEGE'S HOUSE
    DOC and SHASTA with SORTILEGE and a OUIJA BOARD.
    DOC
    Hey! You think it knows where we can score?
    SORTILEGE
    Easy as pie, just do it all by yourself.
    DOC and SHASTA put their hands on it. The PLANCHETTE TAKES OFF LIKE A ROCKET, SPELLING OUT AN ADDRESS AND A PHONE NUMBER. They furiously write this down. DOC picks up the phone and dials. It rings and a FEMALE VOICE RECORDING ANSWERS:
    FEMALE VOICE (V.O.)
    'Howdy, dopers! We've got whatever you need, and remember -- the sooner you get over here, the more there'll be left for you.'
    DOC
    Who is this? Whom I talking to? Hey! She just hung up.
    SORTILEGE
    Did you hear what she was screaming at you: 'Stay away! I am a police trap!' You see the problem about Ouija boards --
    DOC looks to SHASTA and they RUN OUT THE DOOR, IGNORING SORTILEGE. CUT TO:

EXT. SUNSET (NEAR VERMONT)
    They arrive at the address in the rain. It's a HUGE, EMPTY, EXCAVATED LOT. Rain water fills it up... it... flows out into the street...
    ANOTHER ANGLE
    DOC and SHASTA stuff for here.
    CUT TO:

EXT. SUNSET (NEAR VERMONT) (PRESENT)
    DOC walks over to the area where the vacant lot was... the hole in ground is gone... and in its place, a STRANGELY FUTURISTIC building. SMOOTH, NARROW, CONICAL -- A SIX-STORY-HIGH GOLDEN FANG. DOC walks back down the street.. DENIS is in the car, waiting for him...
    DOC
    Denis, I'm gonna look around for a while, you want to wait in the car or come in and cover my back?
    DENIS
    I was gonna go try and find a pizza, if that's okay?
    DOC
    And you remember that this is a stick, not automatic and so forth.
    DENIS
    Easy as pie, Doc.
    CUT TO:

INT. GOLDEN FANG ENTERPRISES H.Q. - THAT MOMENT
    It's quiet. Doc enters. A receptionist: XANDRA (Asian, British, 20s) and a sign that reads: "Golden Fang Enterprises/Corporate HQ."
    DOC
    Hi, Xandra. This is the address they told me at the Club Asiatique in San Pedro? Just here to pick up a package for the management?
    XANDRA reaches for a telephone, punches some numbers, murmurs into it. She hangs up.
    XANDRA
    Follow me.
    She guides him down a hall... CUT TO:

INT. OFFICE - THAT MOMENT
    She puts him in an empty office.
    XANDRA
    Dr. Blatnoyd will see you in a moment.
    SAME SCENE - MOMENTS LATER
    DR. RUDY BLATNOYD (50s) enters, wearing an eggplant velour double-breasted suit; high-energy. Blatnoyd flips open a three-ring binder, looks it over, then looks up at Doc:
    BLATNOYD
    So... you have some I.D., I imagine?
    Doc goes into his wallet, pulls out a business card from a Chinese head shop.
    BLATNOYD
    I can't read this... it's in some... Oriental... what is this, Chinese?
    DOC
    Well... I figured that you, being Chinese.
    BLATNOYD
    What? What are you talking about?
    DOC
    The... the Golden Fang...?
    BLATNOYD
    It's a syndicate. Most of us happen to be dentists. A syndicate of dentists. Set up long ago for tax purposes, all legit... Wait, where did you tell Xandra you were from again?
    DOC
    ... Uh...
    BLATNOYD
    Why, you're another one of those hippie dopefiends, aren't you? My goodness! Here for a little perking up, I'll bet --
    He brings out a tall CYLINDER of BROWN GLASS.
    BLATNOYD
    Dig it! Just in from Darmstadt, lab quality, maybe I'll even have some with you --
    He dumps the PHARMACEUTICAL COCAINE out on the table, arranges some lines, offers some to DOC.
    DOC
    I try not to do dope I can't pay for, 's what it is.
    BLATNOYD
    Wooooo! No worries. It's on the house.
    DOC
    Well, just to be sociable, I guess...
    XANDRA enters, seductively:
    XANDRA
    Doctor? I think there's a problem with the couch in your office. And bring that bottle...
    Blatnoyd grabs the cylinder, runs after Xandra, unzipping his pants as he goes... DOC does some snooping... He goes to what looks like a closet door, he opens it -- CUT TO:

INT. HUGE ROOM - THAT MOMENT
    It's a pristine, long and narrow DENTAL OPERATION ROOM. ROWS OF DENTIST CHAIRS, EQUIPMENT ETC. A few chairs are occupied by clients (mostly hippie-types, cleaned up) There are DOCTORS and SEXY DENTAL ASSISTANTS wearing surgical masks. Some of them look up, see DOC, then go back to their patients. Doc takes this all in... BACK IN RUDY'S OFFICE Doc comes back in...
    JAPONICA
    Hi, Dr. Rudy... I'm back...
    DOC
    You're not Dr. Rudy...
    JAPONICA
    You're not Dr. Rudy...
    A young girl has entered Blatnoyd's office: JAPONICA FENWAY (20). Doc recognizes her.
    DOC
    That's at Japonica, ain't it? Japonica Fenway? Imagine meeting you here...
    Doc walks slowly towards Japonica...
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    This was not a moment he'd been either dreading or hoping for, though now and then somebody would remind him of the ancient American Indian belief that if you save somebody's life, you are responsible for them from then on, forever, and he would wonder if any of that applied to his history with Japonica here... (more??)
    DOC
    So... what have you been up to?
    JAPONICA
    Oh. Escaping mostly? There's this, like, place my parents keep sending me to?
    DOC
    Escaping? Escaping what?
    JAPONICA
    Chryskylodon Institute.
    DOC
    Place up in Ojai...?
    JAPONICA
    You know it?
    DR. BLATNOYD comes bursting back into the room, zipping up his pants --
    BLATNOYD
    Japonica? I thought we'd agreed never to --
    JAPONICA
    I escaped again, Rudy...
    BLATNOYD
    (to Doc)
    What are you still doing here?
    CUT TO: IN THE LOBBY - AT THAT MOMENT DENIS is walking around aimlessly looking for Doc. He's holding THE STEERING WHEEL from Doc's car and calling his name... Xandra is running behind him, zipping up her skirt...
    DENIS
    Doc? Doc? Where are you Doc?
    XANDRA
    No, no, no, where are you going? Come back here...!

INT. DR. BLATNOYD'S OFFICE
    Denis enters into Blatnoyd's office --
    DENIS
    Hey, man... your ride's in a body shop.
    DOC
    What is it this time?
    DENIS
    I sort of mashed the front end. I was looking at these chicks out on Little Santa Monica --
    XANDRA
    I told you you couldn't come up here!
    (to Japonica)
    Oh. How lovely. Smile Maintenance Chick.
    BLATNOYD
    Miss Fenway may seem a little psychotic today --
    DENIS
    Groovy.
    BLATNOYD
    What?
    DOC
    Denis...
    BLATNOYD
    It's not 'groovy' to be insane. Japonica here has been institutionalized for it.
    DENIS
    They put those volts in your head?
    JAPONICA
    Volts and volts and volts.
    DENIS
    Bad for la cabeza.
    DOC
    Let's go, Denis, we gotta figure out a way to catch a bus back to the beach.
    JAPONICA
    If you need a ride, I'm heading that way --
    DOC
    Cop-friendly? Everything cool with your ride, Japonica? Brake lights, license plates, so forth?
    JAPONICA
    A-okay.
    BLATNOYD
    Mind if I tag along with you people? Contingencies of the road and so forth?
    DOC
    Yes, yes. Okay. That's a good idea... and why don't we do a little bit more of that for the road --
    CUT TO:

INT. 1960 MERCEDES - EVENING
    PARKED. They all get in, DR. BLATNOYD pushes a MARKET BAG under the seat...
    DENIS
    What's in that bag you're stuffing under Doc's seat?
    BLATNOYD
    Pay no attention to that bag. It will only make everybody paranoid.
    JAPONICA starts the car and pulls out into traffic -- CUT TO:

INT. 1960 MERCEDES (DRIVING)
    Japonica humming throughout --
    DOC
    Ah, Japonica -- your lights? It'd be groovy, Japonica, really to have some lights working seeing's how Beverly Hills cops are known to lurk uphill on these different cross streets? Just waiting for minor violations like lights to pop folks on?
    BLATNOYD
    Everything all right, baby? Um, Japonica, dear? That was a red light?
    JAPONICA
    I don't think so... I think that was one of it's eyes.
    DOC
    Oh, well, yes, we can sure dig that, Japonica, but then again --
    BLATNOYD
    No, no, there's no 'it' watching you! Those are not 'eyes,' those are warnings to come to a full stop and wait till the light turns green, don't you remember learning that in school?
    CUT TO:

EXT./INT. STREET - MERCEDES - NIGHT
    They've been pulled over by the POLICE. Doc tries to calm everyone, etc... TWO ROOKIE COPS walk up to the car looking cautious and careful... GUNS RAISED and SHAKING VISIBLY... nervous as they approach the car.
    JAPONICA
    Are you the Great Beast?
    BLATNOYD
    No no no, that's a policeman, Japonica, who only wants to make sure you're all right.
    COP
    You know you were driving without your headlights, miss?
    JAPONICA
    But I can see in the dark.
    BLATNOYD
    Her sister went into labor an hour ago and Miss Fenway promised she'd be there in time to see the baby born, so she might've been a little inattentive back there.
    COP
    That case, maybe somebody else ought to be driving. And we'll need everybody's I.D.s, too.
    DOC
    Sure thing. What's it about, officer?
    COP
    Every gathering of three or more civilians is now defined as a potential cult --
    DENIS
    What!? Charlie Manson again?
    NEXT COP
    (to Cop)
    Did you hear that? He called him Charlie!
    COP
    Shush -- Criteria including references to the book of Revelation, males with shoulder- length hair or longer and endangerment through automotive absentmindedness, all of which you folks have been exhibiting.
    DENIS
    Yeah, but we're in a Mercedes and it's only painted one color!
    DOC
    Denis --
    DOC notices that both COPS are very subtly SHAKING.
    COP
    We'll hand this all in, Mr. Sportello, and unless there's wants or warrants we don't know about, you won't hear any more on this...

EXT. BEL AIR MANSION - NIGHT
    They've pulled up out front of a massive Bel Air home with a GATE AND A MOAT. BLATNOYD gets his BAG, climbs out of the car... goes to the INTERCOM on the gate, says --
    BLATNOYD
    Evening, Henrich.
    -- and the gate opens... he says --
    BLATNOYD
    Won't be a minute.
    JAPONICA
    Aren't you the man you found me and brought me back to my dad that time?
    DOC
    I was only doing my job.
    JAPONICA
    Did he really want me back?
    DOC
    He seemed like your standard worried parent.
    JAPONICA
    He's an asshole.
    She's emotional. DOC gives her a card.
    DOC
    Here, this is my office number. I don't have regular hours, so you may not always find me in.
    JAPONICA
    If it's meant to be...
    FEMALE INTERCOM VOICE (V.O.)
    Dr. Blatnoyd wishes to inform you that he will be remaining as our guest and there is no further need for you to wait...
    CUT TO:
    SHASTA?
    Where's SHASTA? Reminder?

EXT. DOC'S OFFICE - DAY/NIGHT (NEXT NIGHT?)
    DOC walks up to his office, past PETUNIA, who tries to delay him. She isn't wearing underwear and she opens her legs...
    PETUNIA
    Oh, Doc, do you really have to go in right away?
    PETUNIA
    It's been ages since we had one of our interesting chats.
    DOC
    Petunia, are you trying to tell me I have visitors waiting?
    PETUNIA
    Not exactly.
    DOC
    Not exactly visitors?
    PETUNIA
    Not exactly waiting?
    He opens up and looks inside: CLANCY CHARLOCK AND TARIQ KHALIL are on Doc's desk, fucking. TARIQ looks up.
    TARIQ
    Hey, Doctor Sportello, my man. This is all right, isn't it?
    DOC closes the door, and looks at Petunia:
    DOC
    Petunia, I know you have the soul of a matchmaker and normally I'm groovy with intimacy of all kinds, but not between elements in a case I'm working on. Too much information I end up never seeing --
    PETUNIA
    But it's too late, can't you see? They're in love! I'm just the karmic facilitator! I really have a gift for knowing who's supposed to be together and who's not and I'm never wrong. Love is the only thing that will ever save us!!!
    DOC
    Who???!?!
    PETUNIA
    Everybody.
    CUT TO:

INT. DOC'S OFFICE - LATER
    DOC is making them some coffee. CLANCY is sitting by TARIQ, encouraging his sharing with Doc... PETUNIA here, too.
    TARIQ
    Alright... When I came here first time, I should've told you the whole thing. Too late now, but I still could've trusted you more...
    DOC
    Tell me what?
    CLANCY
    (to Tariq)
    You need to tell him the whole thing...
    TARIQ
    Glenn didn't owe me money...
    DOC
    ... What did he owe you?
    TARIQ
    Guns. For my people at WAMBAM. Small arms... and some bazookas.
    DOC
    I can dig why you didn't want to get too specific... WAMBAM being?
    TARIQ
    Warriors Against The Man Black Armed Militia. Glen said he had friends who could score us guns and we're still waiting for our shipment as the revolution rolls on...
    DOC
    And who were these 'friends' of Glen's that were arranging the arms deal?
    TARIQ
    Some bunch of honky dentists out on lower Sunset. Worked out of some weird-ass building look like a big tooth.
    DOC
    Uh-huh. Well. Maybe I can think of one or two places to look.
    CUT TO: OMITTED

INT. PLASTIC NICKEL DINER - NIGHT
    He's out to a dinner with Clancy and Tariq, who are both in the bathroom. THOMAS JEFFERSON's face is on a NICKEL emblem all over this restaurant. THOMAS JEFFERSON appears, sitting in a booth next to DOC, drinking coffee, says:
    DOC
    (You look familiar -- are you the guy on the nickel?)
    THOMAS JEFFERSON
    Thomas Jefferson. So. Guns and Opium. The Golden Fang not only traffic in enslavement, they peddle the implements of liberation as well.
    DOC
    Yeah... but as a founding father, don't you get freaked out a little with this revolution talk?
    THOMAS JEFFERSON
    The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
    DOC
    Yeah, and what about when the patriots and tyrants turn out to be the same people?
    THOMAS JEFFERSON
    As long as they bleed is the thing.
    Doc deep in thought...
    THOMAS JEFFERSON
    A nickel for your thoughts...
    DOC
    Glen Charlock... If Glen was tight with the Golden Fang, could they be the ones who took him out? Is he just another Rudy Blatnoyd, DDS who touched some acupressure point on the mysterious body of the Golden Fang so uncomfortably he had to be dealt with?
    THOMAS JEFFERSON
    Nobody trusted Glen -- the Aryan Brotherhood had him shitlisted as a traitor to his race, the Vigilant California was more than eager to help -- and the raid on Channel View Estates was a cover for the hit on Glen --
    DOC
    And so Mickey Wolfmann...?
    THOMAS JEFFERSON
    Mickey was a witness -- he walked in on something he shouldn't have the V.C. commandoes hustled him off -- Then the Feds found out, here's an acid-head billionaire ready to give away all his money -- and of course, they had their own ideas on how to spend it. As long time associates of the Golden Fang by way of scag-related activities, they got Mickey programmed into Ojai for a little brain work --
    DOC
    Wait, wait, wait -- how do you know all this?
    THOMAS JEFFERSON
    I'm on the nickel. I'm everywhere. I see everything. Every time a hippie puts his hand out for loose change -- there I am.
    DOC
    When you put it that way...
    THOMAS JEFFERSON
    Do you detect a common thread here, Lawrence?
    DOC
    I can trust any of these people?
    THOMAS JEFFERSON
    Excellent -- and what, if anything, are you gonna do about it?
    DOC
    Me? What can I do? I'm feeling pretty short on optimism right now, sir...
    THOMAS JEFFERSON
    Put it another way: What will nag you in the middle of the night, Lawrence?
    DOC
    That little Amethyst... Coy Harlingen's daughter -- ... little kid blues... Amethyst. Amethyst: Coy Harlingen's little kid -- what's her future gonna look like without her dad? Mistakes aside, Coy certainly doesn't deserve to be without his daughter and his wife --
    CLANCY arrives back to the table. DOC looks up:
    CLANCY
    Talking to yourself again? You need to find true love, Doc.
    DOC
    I'm happy for you and Tariq. But what happened to that two at a time?
    CLANCY
    Doc -- this guy is two at a time -- at least.
    CUT TO:

INT. DOC'S APARTMENT - LATER THAT NIGHT
    ... Doc is sitting up straight, sleeping. THE PHONE RINGS:
    DOC
    Idiots Unlimited.

INT. BIGFOOT'S HOUSE - SAME TIME
    His wife in the kitchen and his kids run around in the b.g.
    BIGFOOT
    I'm in an evil mood myself tonight. Dr. Rudy Blatnoyd, DDS?
    DOC
    Uh-huh...
    BIGFOOT
    ... has perpetrated his last root canal, I'm afraid.
    DOC
    What do you mean dead? Real life dead?
    BIGFOOT
    We found him next to a trampoline in Bel Air with a fatal neck injury. So far we have no witnesses, no motives, no suspects apart from you --
    DOC
    Not me. Why me?
    BIGFOOT
    Because you were observed in Blatnoyd's company, both of you riding in a vehicle full of drug crazed hippies.
    DOC
    Yeah, okay, well, the owner of that car? He's a very well- respected lawyer down in Palos Verdes, his daughter was driving... she offered me a ride? Cops never gave her a ticket? And Dr. Blatnoyd was her friend, not mine?
    BIGFOOT
    I think it's time for one of our chats.
    CUT TO:

A75 INT. DOC'S CAR A75
    DRIVING TO SEE BIGFOOT AT JAPANESE DINER.
    Sortilege watches him quietly -- (ALT: No Sortilege.)

INT. JAPANESE COFFEE SHOP - DAY
    BIGFOOT has some PANCAKES that he eats with two forks.
    BIGFOOT
    I'd share these with you, but then you'd be addicted and it'd be something else on my conscience...
    DOC
    .... you ever feel bitter you missed bein' up there at Cielo Drive? Stompin' around that famous crime scene?
    BIGFOOT
    You want the truth?
    DOC
    Um. No?
    BIGFOOT
    Well, here it is anyway: Right now everyone is really scared.
    DOC
    Who? You? Me?
    BIGFOOT
    Odd, that fear should be running the town again as in days of old, like the Hollywood blacklist you don't remember and the Watts rioting you do -- it spreads, like blood in a swimming pool, till it occupies all the volume of the day. And then maybe some playful soul shows up with a bucketful of piranhas, dumps them in the pool, and right away they can taste the blood. They swim around looking for what's bleeding, but getting more and more crazy, till the craziness reaches a point. Which is when they begin to feed on each other.
    BIGFOOT takes a BIG BITE.
    BIGFOOT
    This Coy Harlingen matter. On the face of it, just one more O.D., one less junkie, case cleared.
    DOC
    So tell me what you've got...
    Bigfoot presents some 3x5 INDEX CARDS... displays them like a card trick...
    BIGFOOT
    Pick a card... any card... These are Field Interrogation Reports... see if you find anything that looks familiar...
    Doc picks the card that Bigfoot favors to him.
    BIGFOOT
    Puck Beaverton! Excellent choice. One of Mickey Wolfmann's bodyguards.
    DOC
    Interesting fellow, I hear...
    BIGFOOT
    Sheriff's people happen to run into him at the Venice home of the very dealer who sold Coy Harlingen the smack that killed him.
    DOC
    So what was Puck doing at Coy's dealer's place?
    BIGFOOT
    The interesting thing about this overdose is that Leonard James Loosemeat, AKA El Drano, was known for this three-percent product... but the report says what killed him was Pure China White No. 4...
    DOC
    Like the kind you'd get from the whole-seller? Like whoever's bringing it in?
    BIGFOOT
    I seem to recall that some years ago, just before he went into Folsom, Beaverton used to work for your best friend and loan shark Adrian Prussia...
    DOC
    Your best friend.
    BIGFOOT
    And this dealer El Drano also happened to be one of Prussia's steady customers. Maybe Puck was there on Adrian's behalf? What do you think?
    DOC
    I think you and Adrian have a history you're not sharing...
    BIGFOOT screams to the Japanese WAITERS. CHOOTO, KENICHIRO! DOZO, MOTTO: PANNUKEIKU!:
    JAPANESE WAITER
    You got it, Lieutenant!
    BIGFOOT
    (to Doc)
    Pancakes aren't quite as good as my mother's -- what I really go for here is the respect.
    DOC
    Didn't get enough of that from your mom?
    BIGFOOT
    You probably imagine I have a lot of status up in Robbery-Homicide. Who could blame you for thinking that... The reality, however... No Cielo Drive for Bigfoot. No TV movie rights or book deals for Bigfoot... even the extra work is drying up... God Help Us All. Dentists on trampolines.
    Bigfoot is shaking his head slowly, Doc doesn't know how to deal with this...
    DOC
    Okay, Bigfoot...
    DOC writes something on a napkin...
    DOC
    It was dark, windy roads, couldn't make it back there if I tried in broad daylight --
    He slides the napkin to him.
    DOC
    That's the address where we dropped Dr. Rudy. It was about eleven.
    BIGFOOT
    That's just where we found him. This helps with the chronology. Hair and drug issues notwithstanding, I think you're being very professional about this...
    DOC
    Don't get sentimental on me, man, it fucks up your edge.
    BIGFOOT
    I can be even more emotionally irresponsible than that.
    BIGFOOT
    There are certain polygraph keys on this case that if I told you what they were, then the only ones who'd know would be Homicide, the killer and you.
    DOC
    Good thing you're not telling me.
    BIGFOOT
    Suppose I tell you anyway?
    DOC
    Why should you?
    BIGFOOT
    Just so we know where we're 'at' as you people say.
    DOC
    How about I put my fingers in my ears and scream if you try and tell me?
    BIGFOOT
    You won't do that.
    DOC
    Really? Why don't I?
    BIGFOOT
    Because you're one of the few hippie potheads in this town that appreciate the distinction between childlike and childish. Besides... it's right up your alley -- we're officially calling it a neck injury --
    DOC PLUGS HIS EARS AND STARTS TO MAKE NOISES "blah, blah, blah." BIGFOOT SMACKS HIS HANDS AWAY.
    BIGFOOT
    Dr. Blatnoyd had puncture wounds on his throat, consistent with bites from canines of a midsize wild animal. That's what the coroner found.
    DOC
    Well, now that's mighty weird, Bigfoot. Because Rudy Blatnoyd was one of the partners in a tax dodge that calls itself the Golden Fang Enterprises. I don't suppose you had the SID test out those neck punctures for gold or nothin' like that?
    BIGFOOT
    I shouldn't think there'd be much trace. Gold is all but chemically inactive, as you might have learned in chemistry class if you hadn't been ditching all the time to score dope.
    DOC
    What happened to Locard's Exchange Principle? Every contact leaves traces? It would sure be ironic, man, is all I'm saying, if it turned out Blatnoyd was bit to death by a golden fang. Or even better, like two golden fangs.
    BIGFOOT
    I don't see why anything like that would be material?
    DOC
    Because it's the fucking Golden Fang.
    BIGFOOT
    The descendent's tax shelter. So what?
    DOC
    Not just a tax shelter, Bigfoot. Maybe something much more, more vast.
    BIGFOOT
    And this wouldn't be just more of your paranoid hippie bullshit, would it?
    DOC
    And have the lab look for traces of copper. Not the kind that goes stumbling all over the crime scene contaminating evidence -- more like copper, the metal? See, gold teeth are never pure gold, dentists like to alloy it with copper? If you hadn't ditched forensics class to go steal hubcaps to plant on some innocent hippie, you might have known that.
    Doc gets up and leaves.
    BIGFOOT
    Bet you almost feel like a cop now, Doc.
    CUT TO: OMITTED

R76 INT. DOC'S CAR (DRIVING) R76
    TO CHRYSKYLDON. Doc and Sortilege, driving in a canyon- type area...
    SORTILEGE
    ... Where you off to?
    DOC
    Someplace up in Ojai called Chryskylodon.
    SORTILEGE
    Chryskylodon? Animal tooth?
    DOC
    Ancient Indian word means 'serenity.'
    SORTILEGE
    I minored in the classics at Stanford, that's not Indian, it's ancient Greek.
    DOC
    You went to Stanford?
    SORTILEGE
    It means 'Animal tooth made out of gold.'
    (pause)
    Have I told you lately how strong I think your morals are, Doc?
    DOC
    Thanks, 'Lege.

A77 EXT. GATES AT CHRYSKYLODON - DAY A77
    Doc goes through a security check. Patted down by security guards who are holding GUNS. CUT TO:

B77 EXT. CHRYSKYLODON - DAY B77
    Doc drives up -- ESTABLISH SHOT... see building. CUT TO:

C77 EXT. CHRYSKYLDON - DAY C77
    Arrival and greeting, handshakes outside... CUT TO:

INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
    Doc walking through with DR. THREEPLY and staff...
    DR. THREEPLY
    This is our Administrative Lounge... Our Chenin Blanc comes from the Institute's own vineyard... Hand's steady as a rock today, Kimberly?
    KIMBERLY
    So happy you noticed, Dr. Threeply... more soup, Dr. Igor?
    DR. IGOR
    Thank you, Kimberly.

INT. OTHER AREA - DAY
    Tour continues... picture of Sloane Wolfmann... sign under construction that partially reads, "Made Possible Through The Selfless Generosity Of A Devoted Friend Of Chryskylodon."
    DOC
    What's in here?
    DR. THREEPLY
    A brand new wing for housing our Noncompliant Cases Unit...
    Doc sees a bunch of kids cleaning the place... etc... Photo of Sloane, etc...
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    Doc was visited by the creepy feeling that somewhere close by, in some weird indeterminate space whose residents weren't sure where they were, inside or out of the frame, might indeed be some version of Mickey, not quite in the same way that the lady with the big check was a version of Sloane, but altered and -- he shivered -- maybe mentally or even physically compromised. If Sloane was endowing looney bins with Mickey's money, why not take some credit? Why be anonymous?
    DOC
    Nice.
    DR. THREEPLY
    Come, let's continue...

A79 INT. MOVIE THEATER - LOBBY/HALLWAY - DAY A79
    Walking the hallway -- TWO VERSIONS -- with dialogue and without.
    STAFF ASSISTANT
    Have you been with us here before, Mr. Sportello? I know I've seen your face...
    DOC
    First time I've been down here... normally I don't get much south of South City.
    DR. THREEPLY
    And ab-normally?
    DOC
    What?
    DR. THREEPLY
    I only meant that with any number of qualified facilities in the Bay Area, why bother coming all the way down here to us?
    DOC
    I believe that just as chakras can be identified on the human body, so does the body Earth have these special places, concentrations of spiritual energy, grace, if you will, and that Ojai, for the presence of Mr. J. Krishnamurti alone, certainly qualifies as one of the more blessed of planetary chakras, which regrettably cannot be said for San Francisco or its immediate vicinity... Burke Stodger?
    DR. THREEPLY
    Part of our Burke Stodger marathon. All Burke, all day. 24 hours of Stodger. It's quite popular with our patients...
    Doc and the tour poke their heads in... BURKE STODGER on the screen... Doc watches all the kids watching Burke Stodger... CUT TO:

INT. STEAM TUNNEL - DAY
    Doc and tour continue...
    DR. THREEPLY
    Come... see our Advanced Therapy Group...
    Doc advances, sees a bunch of chanters in white robes... ... THE SOFT SOUND OF DISTANT CHANTING. A group of six or so in flowing robes/hoods... Doc looks a little closer -- one of them is Coy Harlingen... A BIG ORDERLY is sitting in a nearby chair. He's rolling his TIE up under his chin, holding it there, then lifting his chin and letting the tie fall back down.....
    DOC'S POV
    THE TIE unrolls, revealing HAND PAINTED NAKED SHASTA WITH HER ASS STUCK OUT. Straight from Mickey's Tie Collection. The orderly rolls the tie back up to his chin... Doc's POV TILTS UP FROM the tie to see the SWASTIKA ON TOP OF THE ORDERLY'S HEAD... is this Puck Beaverton????
    BACK TO SCENE
    DR. THREEPLY
    Any questions?
    DOC
    Does that man have a swastika on his head?
    DR. THREEPLY
    No, he doesn't. That's an ancient Hindu symbol meaning 'all is well.' It brings good fortune, luck and well-being, what do you mean?
    DOC
    Only that it looks like a swastika to me...
    DR. THREEPLY
    He isn't a regular employee of the Institute, perhaps you should pay no attention to that man...
    DOC
    Ah-huh.
    A MOMENT OF EYE CONTACT between ORDERLY/PUCK and DOC... CUT TO:

INT. LOBBY
    Doc continues on tour...
    DR. THREEPLY
    Next, we'll see the Institute's own Zen garden imported from Kyoto. Each pebble, each grain of white sand was transported and reassembled here exactly in place...
    A STAFF ASSOCIATE RUNS UP.
    STAFF ASSOCIATE
    Doctor -- there's a problem with the volt generator in the Dungeon...
    (ALTERNATE)
    Doctor, there's a broken volt generator in the Dungeon...
    (ALTERNATE)
    Doctor -- the electroshock machine is acting fussy again...
    DR. THREEPLY
    Excuse me, Mr. Sportello...
    He leaves. Doc goes snooping...

INT. HALLWAY - DAY
    Kids cleaning hallways... Doc walks down... O.S. voice "pssssssst." He goes into a --
    ROOM
    Coy is there...
    COY
    Thinking of checking yourself in?
    DOC
    More like lookin' for a way to get outta here. Couldn't afford it. I thought you were supposed to be clean these days -- what are you doing here?
    COY
    Bi-monthly checkup.
    DOC
    Why can't you just leave, Coy?
    COY
    It's part of the job, it's part of being dead...
    DOC
    You can't go back to your family, because if you did...?
    COY
    It would be my ass. I've told you.
    DOC
    Or maybe you're as addicted to this as you were some other things...
    COY
    This is a higher discipline. They saw something in me I didn't know I had.
    DOC
    You're a snitch, man.
    COY
    I have a gift for projecting alternate personalities --
    DOC
    A spy and a weasel --
    COY
    I have an addictive personality.
    DOC
    You're a stool pigeon, what about your girls, then? What about THAT?
    COY
    Why are you mad at me?
    DOC
    I'm not mad at you...
    COY
    What else was I gonna do? The baby was gonna die --
    DOC
    -- you made a choice, Coy --
    COY
    I made the only one I had, man -- doesn't everybody wish they had a different life?
    DOC
    I'm not mad at you, Coy, I'm just -- what the fuck?
    With that, COY is gone again... DOC hears CHANTING AGAIN... Something draws Doc to the window... he sees: PUCK BEAVERTON... leading the group of CHANTERS IN ROBES...
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    It was occurring to Doc now something someone said once about vertical integration... that if the Golden Fang can get its customers strung out, why not turn around and sell them a program to help kick? Get them coming and going, twice as much revenue and no worries about new customers... as long as American life was something to be escaped from, the cartel could always be sure of a bottomless pool of new customers.

A82 EXT. GROUNDS - DAY A82
    Doc follows Puck...

EXT. ANOTHER AREA - DAY
    Doc follows Puck through the water... leads him to a BUNGALOW surrounded by FBI... Doc sees MICKEY WOLFMANN. Doc gets closer... and talks to Mickey... who's lounging on a patio/deck area --
    DOC
    Mickey...
    MICKEY
    ... (Hello, little hippie... how are you?)
    DOC
    What are you doin' here?
    MICKEY
    They're helping me wake up from my bad hippie dream...
    DOC
    What did you dream? Mickey... what did you dream?
    MICKEY
    I dreamed I gave away all my money... (I spent my whole life making people pay for shelter... ...when all along I didn't realize it should've been for free...)
    DOC
    Who's brought you here?
    MICKEY
    My friends...
    DOC
    (...)
    MICKEY
    The bigger my setback, the bigger my comeback...
    DOC
    ... Mickey... where's Shasta?
    Mickey gets emotional...
    FBI
    Step away from the subject...
    CUT TO: 83, 84 OMITTED 83, 84

INT. FBI - HOLDING ROOM - DAY (VERSION 1)
    FLATWEED and BORDERLINE questioning DOC:
    FLATWEED
    You're making things awkward. This curiosity of the Michael Wolfmann matter is inappropriate.
    DOC
    Mickey? No longer even a active case for me, man, fact, I never even made a ticket on it, 'cause nobody was payin' me.
    FLATWEED
    Yet, you're up here.
    DOC
    Looking into something totally else. I can see how busy you fellows are, so rather than keep you, I think I'll just... LIKE, FUCKIN' RUN?

INT. HOLDING AREA (VERSION 2)
    FBI AGENT FLATWEED comes in...
    FLATWEED
    Your somewhat out on the probability curve and sure merits a closer look.
    DOC
    How close is that, you're already upside my face here.
    FLATWEED
    I'd say you're the one who's too close. You recognized that subject, didn't you?
    DOC
    Elvis, was it?
    FLATWEED
    You're making things awkward. This curiosity of the Michael Wolfmann matter is inappropriate.
    DOC
    Mickey? No longer even a active case for me, man, fact, I never even made a ticket on it, 'cause nobody was payin' me.
    FLATWEED
    Yet, you pursue him all the way here.
    DOC
    I'm here looking into totally something else.
    FLATWEED
    Then you won't mind my sharing a thought. It's you hippies. You're making everybody crazy. We'd always assumed that Michael's conscience would never be a problem. After all his years of never appearing to have one. Suddenly he decides to change his life and give away millions to an assortment of degenerates -- Negroes, longhairs, drifters. Do you know what he said? We have it on tape. 'I feel as if I've awakened from a dream of a crime for I can never atone, an act I can never go back and choose not to commit.
    FLATWEED
    I can't believe I spent my whole life making people pay for shelter, when it ought to've been free. It's just so obvious.'
    DOC
    You memorized all that?
    FLATWEED
    Another advantage of a marijuana- free life. You might want to try it.
    DOC
    I can see how busy you fellows are so rather than keep you, I think I'll just... LIKE, FUCKIN' RUN?

INT. CHRYSKOLODON - HOLDING AREA - LATER (VERSION 3)
    FLATWEED and BORDERLINE questioning DOC:
    FLATWEED
    You're somewhat out on the probability curve and sure merits a closer look.
    DOC
    How close is that, you're already upside my face here.
    FLATWEED
    I'd say you're the one who's too close. You recognized that subject, didn't you?
    DOC
    Elvis, was it?
    FLATWEED
    You're making things awkward. This curiosity of the Michael Wolfmann matter is inappropriate.
    DOC
    Mickey? No longer even a active case for me, man, fact, I never even made a ticket on it, 'cause nobody was payin' me.
    FLATWEED
    Yet, you pursue him all the way here.
    DOC
    I'm here looking into totally something else.
    FLATWEED
    Then you won't mind my sharing a thought. It's you hippies. You're making everybody crazy.
    DOC
    So you guys have your own ideas about how Mickey should be spending his money?
    FLATWEED
    Yes we do. There's better places it can go -- just look at Mr. Howard Hughes...
    DOC
    ... Howard Hughes...
    FLATWEED
    Bought the Desert Inn Hotel and Casino, a fine investment in the future of Las Vegas.
    DOC
    ... Las Vegas...
    BORDERLINE
    -- we'd always assumed Michael's conscience would never be a problem after all his years of never appearing to have one. Suddenly he decides to give away millions to Negroes, longhairs and drifters.
    DOC
    My bad luck and lousy timing. Man sees the light, tries to change his life, my one big chance to rescue somebody from the clutches of the system, and I'm too late. I can see how busy you fellows are, so rather than keep you, I think I'll just... LIKE, FUCKIN' RUN?
    CUT TO: 86, 87 OMITTED 86, 87 CLOSEUP - NEWSPAPERS "MICKEY WOLFMANN RE-EMERGES! Opens New Casino in Las Vegas."
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    So in the never-ending battle between the FBI and the Mafia for control over Las Vegas... score one for the FBI... Mickey Wolfmann's money would be now spent a different way, opening the Kismet Hotel and Casino... no more acid-head philanthropist, no more Arrpentimiento... he was now back with Sloane and the kids and back to his greedy-ass ways...
    IMAGES INCLUDE A GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY WITH MICKEY,
    looking reprogrammed. Sloane smiling. FBI lined up behind him... etc., etc., etc.
    CUT TO:

INT. DOC'S APARTMENT - DUSK
    Doc at home. Watching "ADAM-12" with Bigfoot doing some extra work. DOC LOOKS UP TO HIS DOOR.
    DOC
    Hi, Shasta.
    REVEAL: INSIDE THE APARTMENT, in beach wear, T-shirt, flower print bikini bottom.
    SHASTA
    Hi, Doc.
    Which is all it takes. He slides the newspaper casually down to conceal his hard-on.
    DOC
    Either I'm on the time machine or you're back.
    SHASTA
    I've been away.
    DOC
    Where?
    SHASTA
    Up north. Family stuff. Anything been happening down here?
    DOC
    Your friend in the construction business?
    SHASTA
    Oh, that's all over...
    DOC
    You got a load of people out lookin' for you, Shasta...
    SHASTA
    Well, here I am.
    DOC
    ... he isn't back by any chance?
    SHASTA
    Some rumors. He's back with Sloane and the kids and so what? C'est la vie.
    DOC
    Que sera, sera?
    SHASTA
    Something like that...
    DOC
    I like your necklace...
    CUT TO: ANOTHER ANGLE THE PHONE RINGS... Doc answers. Shasta mingles around the edges, gets a beer, smokes a joint, Doc watches her... INTERCUT WITH:
    INT. BIGFOOT'S HOUSE
    His kids screaming and killing each other in the b.g.
    BIGFOOT
    Word is your girlfriend's back.
    DOC
    Oh, yeah? And her front's not so bad either.
    BIGFOOT
    Where've you been?
    DOC
    No place I'd recommend.
    BIGFOOT
    Any developments on the Coy Harlingen matter? Any of them include young, what was his name again... Beaverton?
    DOC
    Any results on those Fang marks?
    BIGFOOT
    Nothing yet from Dr. Noguchi's people. They seemed very upset with me for suggesting lab work --
    DOC
    Only thought it'd be a helpful tip to a fellow professional. Just trying save you some trouble down the line, is all.
    BIGFOOT
    How's that?
    DOC
    When your own hearing comes up.
    BIGFOOT
    My, Sportello -- what are you suggesting?
    DOC
    One county supervisor with a bug up his ass is all it takes to bring you down, Bigfoot --
    TOTAL SILENCE.
    DOC
    Bigfoot?
    An extension is picked up and we hear MRS. BIGFOOT get on the phone.
    MRS. BIGFOOT
    This is Mrs. Chastity Bjornsen, and if that is one more sociopathic 'special employee' of my husband, I'll thank you to stop harassing him on his day off --
    BIGFOOT
    There, there my little boysenberry. Sportello's only been indulging in his idea of humor.
    MRS. BIGFOOT
    Doc Sportello? The Doc Sportello? Mr. Moral Turpitude himself! Have you any idea of the therapist bills around here for which you are directly responsible?
    BIGFOOT
    The Department picks up most of that, honey --
    MRS. BIGFOOT
    AFTER A DEDUCTIBLE THAT WOULD
    DOC hangs up...
    SHASTA
    What kind of girl do you need, Doc? Maybe a thing for those Manson chicks?
    DOC
    Well, thing... that depends what you -- are you sure you wanna be doing that?
    She's unbuttoned her shirt and is rubbing her nipples.
    SHASTA
    Submissive, brainwashed, horny little teeners who do exactly what you want before you even know what that is. You don't even have to say a word out loud, they get it all by ESP. Your kind of chick, Doc?
    DOC
    You the one that's been stealin' my magazines?
    She slides out of her shirt and down on her knees, crawls over and grabs his hard-on...
    SHASTA
    Now, what would Charlie do?
    DOC
    Probably not this...
    Doc lights a joint... he holds it for her to smoke...
    DOC
    Look, I'm sorry about Mickey, but...
    SHASTA
    Mickey... Mickey could have taught all you swinging beach bums a thing or two. He was just so powerful. Sometimes he could almost make you feel invisible. Fast, brutal, not what you'd call a considerate lover, an animal, actually, but Sloane adored that about him, and Luz -- you could tell, we all did.
    SHASTA
    It's so nice to be made to feel invisible that way sometimes...
    DOC
    Yeah. And guys love to hear this shit like this.
    SHASTA
    He'd bring me to lunch in Beverly Hills, one big hand all the way around my bare arm, steering me blind down out of those bright streets into some space where it was dark and cool and you couldn't smell any food, only alcohol -- they'd all be drinking, tables full of them, in a room that could have been any size, and they all knew Mickey, they wanted, some of them, to be Mickey... He might as well have been bringing me in on a leash. He kept me in those micro minidresses, never allowed me to wear anything underneath... just offering me to whoever wanted to stare. Or grab. Or sometimes he'd fix me up with his friends. And I'd have to do whatever they wanted...
    DOC
    Why are you telling me all this?
    She drapes herself over him and plays with her pussy.
    SHASTA
    Oh, I'm sorry, Doc. Do you want me to stop? If my girlfriend had run away to be the bought-and-sold whore of some scumbag developer? I'd just be so angry I don't know what I'd do. Well, no, I'm even lying about that, I know what I'd do. If I had the faithless little bitch over my lap like this --
    And they're fucking. CUT TO: SAME SCENE - LATER Doc and Shasta together.
    SHASTA
    This doesn't mean we're back together.
    DOC
    'Course not.
    BEAT.
    DOC
    You didn't get that necklace up north did you?
    SHASTA
    I went on a boat ride.
    DOC
    Like a three-hour tour?
    SHASTA
    They told me I was precious cargo that couldn't be insured because of inherent vice.
    DOC
    What's that?
    SHASTA
    I don't know... something on your mind?
    DOC
    I met a friend of yours...
    SHASTA
    Who's that?
    DOC
    Coy Harlingen. And he's clean.
    SHASTA
    Glad to hear it. Long may he wave.
    DOC
    He's been working as a snitch for the LAPD, and I also saw him on the tube working undercover for this outfit called Vigilant California... and you don't look surprised enough, Shasta, he's meant to be dead...
    SHASTA
    Then I guess that one's on my ticket because it was me who introduced him to Burke Stodger and Burke who set him up with the Viggies...
    DOC
    Help me out here, how do you know Burke Stodger?
    SHASTA
    We were neighbors in Hancock Park.
    DOC
    Didn't think you liked those kindsa movies...
    SHASTA
    I saw him on a 'Brady Bunch' episode once. We walked our dogs at the same time each morning...
    DOC
    Which one?
    SHASTA
    Which one what?
    DOC
    Which episode?
    SHASTA
    Jan gets a wig. Gets tired of being a blonde.
    DOC
    Not the same thing as changing your politics, I guess.
    SHASTA
    I told him I had a friend who needed to kick drugs -- and he told me he knew a program that really worked... and then Coy just disappeared.
    DOC
    ... and were you seeing Mickey then?
    SHASTA
    ... god, you're a nosy fuck, aren't you?
    DOC
    Put it this way... how did you and Coy's wife get along?
    SHASTA
    Was I running around on Mickey? What a thing to ask.
    DOC
    When did I --
    SHASTA
    In case you haven't figured it out, I was never the sweetest girl in the business...
    SHASTA
    ...but there was no reason for me to waste a minute on a sick junkie like Coy... he wasn't my charity project and if you stop to think about some of the girls you've hung out with...
    DOC
    Alright -- whatever you meant to do, Shasta, you ended up saving Coy's life... now he's a snitch for the LAPD and an undercover agent for the Viggies and maybe the Golden Fang -- the outfit, not the boat -- and there's a few stiffs so far that may or may not be on his karmic ticket.
    SHASTA
    I should be saying 'Coy's a big boy and he can take care of himself,' but the only thing is I don't think he can...
    DOC
    But whatever these people are into, it ain't helping junkies get back on the straight and narrow... What did he think was gonna happen? That cover story about him being dead fell apart from the second he started using it? What the hell was he thinking?
    SHASTA
    ... what do you think was gonna happen when you got into your whole P.I. trip?
    DOC
    Different situation.
    SHASTA
    Oh? Far as I can see, you and Coy, you're peas in a pod.
    DOC
    How's that? I'm not working for them.
    SHASTA
    Cops who never wanted to be cops.
    DOC
    Yeah, but I'm not working for any of those folks...
    SHASTA
    Rather be surfing or smoking or fucking or anything else but what you're doing.
    DOC
    Yeah, but I'm not working for anyone, Shasta, I'm a force for the good.
    SHASTA
    You guys must've thought you'd be chasing criminals, and instead here you are both working for them.
    DOC
    Ouch.
    SHASTA
    Courage, Camile. You're still a long way from LAPD material... (Sorry... I'm just being actressy, Doc. I love those zingers, I can't resist 'em...)
    CUT TO: BEACH (NOTE: see pg. 314. Shasta and Doc walking, etc...)
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    Could that be true? All this time, Doc assumed he'd been out busting his balls for folks who, if they paid him anything it'd be half a lid or a small favor down the line or maybe only just a quick smile, long as it was real. He began to run through the cash customers he could remember, starting with Crocker Fenway and going on through studio executives, stock market heroes of the go-go years, remittance men from far away who needed new pussy or dope connections, rich old guys with cute young wives and vice versa... It was sure a piss-poor record, not too different, after all, he guessed, from interests Coy had been working for. Forget who -- what was he working for anymore?
    (NOTE: Poss. actressy line here on beach, post-narr.)

EXT. WASTE A PERP SHOOTING RANGE - DAY (OR INT. PHONE
    CALL)
    Doc comes to see Bigfoot who's in the Chicano/Negro/Hippie section.
    BIGFOOT
    Mrs. Bjornsen sends her regards.
    DOC
    Can I say something out loud, is anybody listening?
    BIGFOOT
    Everybody. Nobody. Does it matter?
    DOC
    Alright, then: Correct me if I'm mistaken, Bigfoot, but it's clear to me that you're desperate to have a word with Adrian Prussia but can't let on, because otherwise you're in deep shit with powers unnamed -- so you're using me instead -- have I got that more or less right?
    BIGFOOT
    We're in sensitive territory here, Sportello.
    DOC
    Well, somebody's gonna have to be less sensitive for a minute and just wipe off their chin and stand up and deal with it. If there's something you need, just come on out and say it, how hard can that be?
    BIGFOOT
    Pretty hard. Internal Affairs has it all locked down.
    DOC
    Internal Affairs, what does Internal Affairs have to do with this?
    BIGFOOT
    Figure it out. Use what's left of your brain. The trouble with you people is that you never know when somebody's doing you a favor -- you think you're entitled because you're cute or something. Go look in the mirror sometime.
    BIGFOOT
    'Dig' yourself, 'man,' till you understand nobody owes you anything. Then get back to me.
    CUT TO:

INT. HALL OF JUSTICE - DAY
    DOC comes into see current girlfriend: PENNY KIMBALL. Her cubicle mate is a straight-looking DA RHUS FROTHINGHAM.
    RHUS
    Are you all right? Should I call security?
    PENNY
    (to Doc)
    Am I?
    DOC
    Only wondering when you'd be free for dinner. Didn't mean to freak you out. I'll even spring for it.
    PENNY
    I'm fine, Rhus, thank you.
    (as he leaves)
    Listen, would you mind if we just went back to my place?
    DOC
    Wait... what?
    PENNY
    And we can pick up a pizza on the way.
    DOC
    A pizza?
    PENNY
    I can hear you getting a hard-on.
    DOC
    Well, okay, I'll see you back at your place -- no, no, no, wait a minute, I came here for a reason --
    PENNY
    What is it?
    DOC
    I need to look at somebody's jacket. Ancient history, but it's probably under lock and key...
    PENNY
    That's it? No big deal, we do that all the time.
    DOC
    What, break into officially sealed records? And here I had all this faith in the system.
    PENNY
    Oh, Doc. Grow up. What's the name?
    DOC
    Adrian Prussia.
    PENNY
    Ewwwwwwww. Really?... that'd be an Internal Affairs file.
    DOC
    Internal Affairs? What does Internal Affairs have to do with this?
    PENNY
    Adrian Prussia has been booked on murder one charges more times than I can remember... and each time, he's walked...
    DOC
    So what are you guys doing wrong?
    PENNY
    Last time was called a justifiable homicide of one of the LAPD's very own...
    DOC
    Who?
    PENNY
    Your friend's partner...
    DOC
    What's that? Which friend? Hang on.
    PENNY
    Bigfoot.
    DOC
    What what now?
    PENNY
    Adrian's like the LAPD'S own personal hitman, doing deeds for them that they won't do themselves...
    DOC
    And you know all this because...?
    PENNY
    Everyone does. State Attorney General's office has been after him for years but nobody can touch him, partly because of this interesting portfolio of
    IOUs he has -- and that's always enough to guarantee obedience.
    DOC
    Obedience to who?
    PENNY
    Commanders. Controllers. The Department itself.
    DOC
    So someone inside the LAPD ordered a hit on Bigfoot's partner?
    PENNY
    You think it's all some monolithic fun fest down here, Doc? Nothing to do all day but figure out new ways to persecute you hippies?
    DOC
    Did you change your hair?
    PENNY
    Somebody talked me into seeing this hotshot on Rodeo Drive. He put these streaks in and called it the Surfer Chick Special --
    DOC
    For me?
    DOC
    Who else?
    PENNY
    Or maybe you'd go for Lynette Squeaky Fromme-type look?
    DOC
    Long and curly? Well, huh?
    PENNY
    Thing for those Manson chicks?
    DOC
    Wait a minute...
    PENNY
    Word around you go in for that sort of thing...
    Doc is speechless.
    DOC
    Why was I here again?
    PENNY
    You wanted to see a restricted file. (Adrian Prussia.)
    DOC
    So Adrian Prussia kills Bigfoot's partner with the apparent collaboration of elements within the Department. Everybody knows he did the deed but there's no back channel outcries in the paper, no vigilante revenge by horrified fellow officers... No, instead it's locked up tight for the next thirty years, everybody pretending it's another cop hero fallen in the line of duty. Forget about decency, or respecting the memories of all the real dead-cop heroes -- how can people be that fuckin' unprofessional?
    Penny is tearing up... Doc sees she's human.
    DOC
    Penny?
    CLOSEUP - DOC looking at Adrian Prussia's INTERNAL AFFAIRS FILE. He sees of picture of Adrian onboard the GOLDEN FANG...
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    What Doc was seeing now was something that made his heart hurt... that Bigfoot's pain was deep. That Adrian Prussia worked not only as a what seemed to be a personal loan shark for the LAPD but moon-lit as their own personal contract-killer -- doing deeds for them that they couldn't do themselves. Time after time, he was pulled in, questioned, arraigned, indicted, no matter -- somehow the cases never quite got to trial, each being bargained down in the interests of justice, not to mention Adrian, who invariably walked. And one of those deeds appeared to be
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    labeled 'the justifiable homicide' of one of the LAPD'S very own named Vincent Indelicato... Bigfoot's partner. Lieutenant Detective Christian F. Bigfoot Bjornsen... This was mourning all right, and it was deep. Bigfoot's air of possessed melancholy now made sense.
    CUT TO:

EXT. AP FINANCE - DAY
    Adrian Prussia Finance is somewhere between downtown and South Central and the Wash. Doc pulls up, parks, looks around... There's a BUNCH OF MEN LOITERING AROUND... Doc notices them, they notice him...
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    Doc knew he had needed to see Adrian Prussia at some point... he'd really been avoiding it, mostly because Bigfoot was pushing him towards it -- but here he is: looking for something he doesn't want to find and seeing someone he doesn't want to see -- (and where's the partner to watch Doc's back?)
    (ALTERNATE)
    (wondering, 'where's the partner to watch my back?)
    OFF IN THE DISTANCE
    Bigfoot watching...
    CUT TO:

INT. AP FINANCE - DAY
    It's nondescript offices. A SECRETARY is here:
    SECRETARY
    May I help you?
    DOC
    I'm here to see Adrian Prussia, my name is Doc Sportello.
    SECRETARY
    Yes. May I tell him what it's regarding?
    DOC
    (...)
    SECRETARY
    What is it regarding?
    DOC
    Bigfoot Bjornsen.
    CUT TO:

INT. ADRIAN'S OFFICE - MOMENTS LATER
    DOC is let in by the Secretary. He enters. It's covered... wall-to-wall with BASEBALL BATS... ADRIAN is sitting behind a desk...
    DOC
    Afternoon...
    ADRIAN
    So, you here about... (Bigfoot)
    DOC
    Good question.
    ADRIAN
    Wait-a-minute. This is bullshit, I remember you -- the kid from Fritz's shop out in Santa Monica, right? I lent you my special edition Carl Yastrzemski bat once, to collect from that child-support deadbeat you chased down the Greyhound and pulled him off of, and then you wouldn't use it.
    DOC
    I tried to explain at the time, it had to do with how much I've always admired Yaz?
    ADRIAN
    There's no place for that in this business. So what are you up to these days? Skip tracing or'd you go into the priesthood?
    DOC
    P.I.
    ADRIAN
    They gave you a license? So who sent you here? Who you working for today?
    DOC
    All on spec. All on my own time.
    ADRIAN
    Wrong answer. How much of your own time do you think you got left, kid?
    Adrian presses a buzzer under his desk...
    DOC
    I was just about to ask...
    ENTER: PUCK BEAVERTON.
    DOC
    Howdy... Puck...
    PUCK
    Do I know you? I don't think I do.
    DOC
    You look like somebody I ran across once. My mistake.
    PUCK
    Your mistake.
    ADRIAN
    I have a busy day ahead. And I know nothing of any of this.
    PUCK sits at Adrian's desk and lights up A VERY LARGE JOINT. He takes a hit, hands it over to Doc... Doc notices PUCK wearing the same seashell necklace as Shasta.
    PUCK
    It helps to have a bad memory sometimes..... (You didn't take my advice.) So what can I help you with today?
    DOC
    I'm not sure. It's these cases I'm working on... wondering if you can shed some light on the winding out at Channel View Estates with Glen Charlock?
    PUCK
    Glen was the target all along. That outfit he was runnin' guns for didn't trust him anymore than the Brotherhood who shitlisted him for being a traitor to his race...
    DOC
    And what about Mickey Wolfmann...
    PUCK
    Mickey just saw things he shouldn't've. The boys in the John Wayne outfits at Channel View panicked and hustled him away -- then the Feds found out -- here's an acid-head billionaire about to give away all his money -- and, of course, they had their own ideas on how to spend it -- then they programmed Mickey into Ojai for a little brain work.
    DOC
    While we're just talking here -- did you know a detective named Vincent Indelicato?
    PUCK
    Sure.
    DOC
    He met an untimely end -- any ideas on what might have happened
    PUCK
    That was Adrian's. But I got to pull the trigger...
    DOC
    ... So who hired Adrian?
    PUCK
    It's cop-on-cop. Kind of a waste of time to try and figure out...
    DOC
    ... Why are you telling me all this?
    PUCK
    After faithful attendance at Ninja School in Boyle Heights, I have become a master in the technique known as false inhaling -- Acid invites you through a door. PCP opens the door, shoves you through, slams it behind you and locks it.
    CUT TO BLACK.: OVER BLACK
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    So commencing a classic and memorable bummer...

INT. ROOM WITH WINDOWS
    PCP TRIP.
    There are two Docs, one on each side of a window in a strange room.
    DOC #2
    Hi.
    DOC
    You look just like you do in the mirror.
    DOC #2
    Groovy, because you don't look like anything, in fact you're invisible.
    DOC
    How can you see me?
    DOC #2
    Because I'm lookin' right at you. How come you ask so many questions?
    DOC
    That's my job. Like, what I do.
    DOC #2
    And perhaps you could get a fuckin' haircut.
    Docs turn and look at another window. There's a LARGE BLACK-HOODED FIGURE WITH NO FACE.
    GOLDEN FANG
    As you may have already gathered -- I am the Golden Fang.
    DOC
    Like J. Edgar Hoover 'is' the FBI?
    GOLDEN FANG
    Not exactly... they have named themselves after their worst fear. I am the unthinkable vengeance they turn to when one of them has grown insupportably troublesome, when all other sanctions have failed.
    DOC
    Okay if I ask you something?
    GOLDEN FANG
    About Dr. Blatnoyd. Dr. Blatnoyd had a fatality for rogue profit sharing activities of which his coadjustors have taken a dim view.
    DOC
    So you... ate him up?
    GOLDEN FANG
    Sunk these into him --
    Doc walks towards the Golden Fang, unable to do anything else, it embraces him, and then EATS HIM ALIVE.
    VOICE (O.S.)
    He's freaking out...
    DOC
    Am not.
    ANOTHER ANGLE - LATER Doc comes out of the PCP fog and realizes he's been HANDCUFFED to something. A bed? His gun is gone. He's in deep shit. He's able to peer out a window, he's on the second floor of someplace with a warehouse. There's a CAR and a MOTORCYCLE parked here... Puck is here ....
    PUCK
    Didn't know you were a weekend warrior... I could have gone cheap and used beer... Special treat for you today, Doc. We just got in a shipment of Pure Number Four, not a white guy's finger laid on it between the Golden Triangle and your own throbbin' vein, and there's worse ways to be removed forever from the major-pain-in-the-ass list. Just let me step out here and get you some. Don't go away now.
    PUCK leaves... closes the door and locks it on the outside... DOC, still in a PCP fog... STARTS PULLING THE HANDCUFFS AROUND HIS WRIST THAT IS ATTACHED TO THE BED POST... BREAKS IT. LIKE AN ANIMAL HE TEARS THE BEDPOST APART. He stands up on the chair, unscrews the light bulb. It's pitch black. He waits. Puck opens the door... Doc whips the TOILET SEAT INTO HIS FACE, then instantly smashes his foot down into Puck's knee, bringing him down .... A TRAY AND NEEDLE AND DOPE FALL TO THE FLOOR FROM PUCK'S HANDS. Doc takes the syringe from the floor, draws up the dope and plunges it straight into Puck's jugular. He gets his gun off Puck...
    ADRIAN (O.S.)
    Puck? Puckie?
    DOC gets his GUN off PUCK'S DEAD BODY... and goes into the hallway... Adrian FIRES A SHOT THAT HITS A GONG BEHIND DOC -- THAT RINGS OUT THROUGH THE REST OF THE SCENE. Doc crouches behind a sofa, takes off his SANDAL and throws it in the general direction of Adrian... THIS DRAWS A SHOT FROM THE PATIO FROM ADRIAN. MUZZLE FLASH. SMOKE... DOC trains his gun up... Waits until he sees a DENSE PATCH OF MOVING SHADOW AND FIRES OFF THREE ROUNDS... THERE'S A FAINT SOUND... AND THERE'S NO SOUND AFTER THAT. DOC WAITS UNTIL HE HEARS SOME INVISIBLE CRYING, BREATHING IN THE ROOM SOMEWHERE:
    DOC
    That you, Adrian?
    ADRIAN
    I'm fuckin' lunch meat... oh, shit...
    DOC
    Did I get you?
    ADRIAN
    You got me.
    DOC
    Fatal, I hope?
    ADRIAN
    Feels like it.
    DOC
    How can I know for sure?
    ADRIAN
    Maybe it'll be on news at 11, asshole.
    DOC
    Stay there. Try not to croak, I'll call this in.
    DOC gets into the KITCHEN AND CALLS AN AMBULANCE... BELOW THE KITCHEN, HE HEARS MOVEMENT IN THE GARAGE. He creeps down for a look, his pistol ready -- INSIDE THE GARAGE It's BIGFOOT, who's unloading a bunch of HEROIN PACKS from Adrian's Lincoln Continental and into a '65 Impala...
    DOC
    Bigfoot? Bigfoot, what the fuck?
    BIGFOOT
    Take care of 'em okay, Doc?
    DOC
    You fuckin' lunatic. What is this?
    BIGFOOT
    I'm in enough shit personally with the captain and I've seen you on the range... Nice work.
    BIGFOOT puts the PARCEL into his car...
    DOC
    And that there, is that what I think it is?
    BIGFOOT
    Well... it's only one. There's more. Enough left for evidence.
    DOC
    Bigfoot, Bigfoot, I saw the movie, man, and as I recall, that character comes to a bad end.
    BIGFOOT
    I have obligations. Expenses.
    DOC
    This is the Golden Fang you're about to rip off here, man. The fully fuckin' weird outfit that kills people --
    BIGFOOT
    That's according to your own delusional system --
    ... COPS AND STUFF START TO APPROACH IN THE DISTANT
    B.G...
    BIGFOOT
    Get in the car.
    DOC
    Fuck you, Bigfoot. You're a fucking lunatic.
    BIGFOOT
    Get in the car.
    Bigfoot gets Doc in the car. CUT TO:

INT. BIGFOOT'S CAR (MOVING)
    They're driving. DOC is silent, he looks out the window that's open... wind blowing... Bigfoot's driving fast.
    DOC
    You're the LAPD's own Charlie Manson... where are we going?
    BIGFOOT
    We had to impound your car again.
    CUT TO:

EXT. CANOGA PARK TOW YARD - NIGHT
    DOC is waiting out front of the tow yard... filling out some paperwork... Bigfoot is around back... he takes a KILO out of his trunk and plants it in Doc's trunk... Bigfoot brings Doc's car around, hands him keys...
    DOC
    Maybe I should take a small commission for doing your dirty work.
    BIGFOOT
    BUT THAT WOULD PUT YOU ON THE
    FUCKING PAYROLL, WOULDN'T IT?????
    Bigfoot gets in his car and drives off... Doc gets in his car...
    SORTILEGE
    (whispers)
    Doper's ESP, Doc... doper's ESP... listen to it...

INT. DENIS' APARTMENT - NIGHT
    Doc has put the heroin into an CARDBOARD TV BOX. Denis is here with Jade... they hide it in Denis' apartment.
    DENIS
    What is it?
    JADE
    A new TV!!!!
    CUT TO:

INT. DOC'S PLACE - MORNING
    It's the next morning. DOC is sitting on his couch. He's waiting for the phone to ring, drinking coffee. TV playing something... JOHN GARFIELD, He Ran All The Way. THE PHONE RINGS.
    DOC
    Hello?
    MALE
    It's sure been a long time...
    DOC
    And your name was...
    MALE
    This is Crocker Fenway.
    DOC
    Japonica's dad? Japonica's gone missing again?
    CROCKER FENWAY (V.O.)
    You have something that belongs to some people I represent and they'd like it back...
    DOC
    So not that it's any of my business, but you're a principal in all this?
    CROCKER FENWAY (V.O.)
    It's only because of me and our small transaction over Japonica that you're still alive...
    DOC
    Ever so grateful, sir... so what do we do? I'd come to your house, but don't you live behind a gate in an already gated community?
    CROCKER FENWAY (V.O.)
    You people do humor?
    DOC
    Well... more like practicality.
    CUT TO:

INT. RESTAURANT (LOCATION TBD) - LATER
    Doc is here, trying to keep it together. Crocker Fenway (50s, white, lawyer) slides into a booth with him and looks at him, orders a rum and Coke.
    DOC
    ... How's the family?
    CROCKER FENWAY
    Mrs. Fenway still looks like the Gross National Product and Japonica is fine, if that's what you mean.
    DOC
    Yeah, thought I saw old Japonica at my doctor's office just the other day... By the way, did you ever run into a dentist named Rudy Blatnoyd?
    CROCKER FENWAY
    Yes, I do seem to recall the name, perished in a trampoline accident, didn't he?
    DOC
    The LAPD's not sure it was an accident.
    CROCKER FENWAY
    And you're wondering if I did it? What possible motive would I have? Just because the man preyed on an emotionally vulnerable child, tore her from the embrace of a loving family, forced her to engage in sexual practices that might appall even a sophisticate like yourself -- does that mean I'd have any reason to see his miserable pedophile career come to an end? What a vindictive person you must imagine me.
    DOC
    You know... I did suspect he was fucking his receptionist.
    DOC
    But I mean, what dentist doesn't, it's some oath they all have to take in dentist school, and anyhow that's a long way from strange and weird sex. Isn't it?
    CROCKER FENWAY
    How about when he forced my little girl to listen to original cast albums of Broadway musicals while he had his way with her?
    DOC
    Japonica's legal age now, isn't she?
    CROCKER FENWAY
    In a father's eye, they're always too young.
    BEAT. They look at each other.
    CROCKER FENWAY
    To the matter at hand.
    DOC
    So I suppose you want your drugs back. And I also suppose you think I want some money -- but what if it didn't have to be in the form of money...
    CROCKER FENWAY
    Well, money would be a lot easier.
    DOC
    I've been more concerned about the safety of some people.
    CROCKER FENWAY
    ... How much of a threat are they to my principles?
    DOC
    There's a saxophone player named Coy Harlingen, who's been working undercover for different antisubversive outfits, including the LAPD. He's come to feel lately that he made the wrong career choice. It lost him his family and his freedom. Like you, he has an only daughter.
    CROCKER FENWAY
    Please.
    DOC
    Okay, well, anyway, now he wants out.
    DOC
    I think I can square it with the heat, but there's this other bunch called Vigilant California and... well, whoever's running them, of course.
    CROCKER FENWAY
    My guess is that they'd prefer he didn't disclose any confidential information.
    DOC
    Last thing he'd ever do.
    CROCKER FENWAY
    Your personal guarantee.
    DOC
    I'll go after him myself he tries anything.
    CROCKER FENWAY
    That's all you wanted. No money, now, you sure?
    DOC
    How much money would I have to take from you so I don't lose your respect?
    CROCKER FENWAY
    People like you lose all claim to respect the first time they pay anybody rent.
    DOC
    And when the first landlord decided to stiff the first renter for his security deposit, your whole fucking class lost everybody's respect.
    CROCKER FENWAY
    Ah, so you're looking for what? A refund? Plus how many years interest?
    DOC
    Course. Nothin' to you. Just a couple hundred bucks to roll up and snort coke through...
    CUT TO:

EXT. SHOPPING MALL (ARTESIA AND HAWTHORNE) - MORNING
    It's Sunday morning. Empty parking lot. DOC has brought DENIS along. JADE is in the backseat... They sit in (some borrowed?) car and wait...
    DENIS
    ... You should be getting something for your trouble...
    DOC
    I'm getting their word they won't hurt somebody.
    DENIS
    You believe that?
    JADE
    I thought I was naive.
    DOC
    Good people get bought and sold every day. Might as well trust somebody evil once in a while, it makes no more or less sense.
    A '53 BUICK ESTATE WAGON carrying a BLOND FAMILY: MOTHER, FATHER, EIGHT-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER AND SIX-YEAR-OLD SON. GOLDEN FANG OPERATIVES. The MOTHER is wearing a TENNIS OUTFIT, smoking a cigarette. The son has buzz cut and already looks like a Marine and stares Doc down. The Daughter looks like she has a future in drug abuse. The FATHER and DOC take the dope and put it in the back of the station wagon... MOTHER hands over something to DOC.
    DOC
    What's this?
    DAUGHTER
    A credit card. Don't hippies have them?
    DOC
    I must have meant, why's your mom handing me this?
    MOTHER
    It isn't for you.
    COY HARLINGEN's name on the card. They drive off. The Daughter gives Doc the finger. HOLD. CUT TO:

EXT. TOPANGA CANYON HOUSE - DAY
    Doc is waiting in the car out front. There's a BUDDHIST PRIEST walking around the yard with some girl groupies ... he's performing an exorcism... Coy emerges from the house... looking a little paranoid and confused, walks to Doc, gets in the car...
    COY
    Everything's cool...
    DOC
    Drac's a part of the band? So... The Boards aren't so evil anymore?
    COY
    Maybe just confused now and then... you know a band that isn't? I'm officially off everybody's payroll. Burke Stodger called me personally...
    CUT TO:

EXT. COY/HOPE'S HOUSE - LATER AFTERNOON
    Drops Coy off at his place. Coy just breathes, emotional...
    COY
    You know what the Indians say. You saved my life, now you've --
    DOC
    Yeah, yeah, some hippie made that up. You saved your life, Coy. Now you get to live it.
    Coy gets out, walks up to his house and is greeted at the door by HOPE and AMETHYST. Hope and Coy start making out... HOPE waves to DOC... DISSOLVE TO: FISH PLACE - DOC AND SAUNCHO - DAY
    DOC
    Anything you can tell me about an inherent vice clause?
    SAUNCHO
    It's what you can't avoid.
    DOC
    Like... original sin?
    SAUNCHO
    Stuff Marine policies don't like to cover. Usually applies to cargo like eggs break -- chocolate melts -- glass shatters, that sorta thing... thinking of --
    THE PHONE AT THE BAR RINGS, SAUNCHO RUNS FOR IT... he listens, then hangs up...
    SAUNCHO
    They got her --
    Sauncho runs out as fast as he can -- Doc on his heels. CUT TO:

EXT. SAN PEDRO - DAY
    Department of Justice and Coast Guard boats have taken hold of the Golden Fang... Doc and Sauncho watch from the shore...
    SAUNCHO
    If she could be brought back in, into some kind of safe receivership and the owners don't come and claim her within a year and a day -- then she's officially abandoned.
    DOC
    And then what?
    SAUNCHO
    I don't wanna jinx anything -- everybody starts coming out of the woodwork -- multiple insurers; ex- old ladies -- maybe one of your lowlife millionaire friends will end up stealing her at auction -- but!... say there was a legal marine policy in force --
    DOC
    ... you didn't happen to take out a policy yourself, Saunch...
    SAUNCHO
    If there's litigation -- I'll be on it.
    DOC
    Well... I hope it works out for you, man. That boat and you really do belong together...
    Sauncho starts singing "We Should Be Together," from Little Miss Broadway. CUT TO:

INT. DOC'S PLACE - DAY
    Doc is on his couch. LONG PAUSE, THEN: BIGFOOT'S FOOT SMASHES HIS DOOR DOWN... The door is shattered in a thousand pieces. Doc looks up scared shitless:
    BIGFOOT
    Don't get up...
    DOC
    Bigfoot. Bigfoot, man... smash down my door?!?! Come on, man...
    BIGFOOT
    After a long and busy day of civil rights violations, I found myself in the neighborhood and compelled to drop in... just to check and see the current state of affairs of my old stomping grounds. Seeing as your effort to keep lines of communications open with me have been limited to say the least...
    DOC
    I've been busy...
    BIGFOOT
    Trying to figure out which side of the Zig-Zag paper is the sticky side?
    Then... they both talk at the same time...
    DOC/BIGFOOT
    Listen... I'm sorry about last night. You? Why should you be sorry?
    The spell is broken.
    DOC
    Weird.
    BIGFOOT
    Extraordinary...
    Bigfoot looks over Doc's weed supply... BIGFOOT starts to EAT DOC'S WEED BAG AND JOINTS. HE SWALLOWS... BIGFOOT takes another BIG BITE OF DOC'S DRUGS... FINDS SOME PILLS, EATS THEM UP, TOO.
    BIGFOOT
    This fucking Gordita Beach has been cursed from the jump. I've been trying my whole life to get out of here. Indians lived here long ago, they had a drug cult, smoked toloache which is jimsonweed, gave themselves hallucinations, deluded themselves they were visiting other realities -- why, come to think of it, not unlike the hippie freaks of our present day.
    BIGFOOT
    Their graveyards were sacred portals of access to the spirit world, not to be misused. And Gordita Beach is built right on top of one.
    DOC
    Yeah? And these spirits, can you, like, catch them, Bigfoot?
    BIGFOOT
    You plod along in pursuit, maybe only wanting to apologize and they fly away like the wind, and wait their moment...
    He heads for the door and WALKS INTO THE WALL.
    DOC
    You okay, brother?
    BIGFOOT
    I'm not your brother.
    DOC
    No... but you could sure use a keeper.
    Bigfoot walks out the door and falls over the balcony...

INT. DOC'S CAR (DRIVING) - NIGHT
    Doc driving on the freeway. Shasta is curled up in the passenger seat. A fog is rolling in on the Santa Monica Freeway. Headlights drift ahead and behind him...
    SHASTA
    Remember that day, the Ouija board set us off into that big storm?
    DOC
    One of a couple things I never forgot -- don't know why.
    SHASTA
    This feels the same way, tonight. Just us. Together. Almost like being underwater. The world, everything gone someplace else.
    DOC
    Figured it was Sortilege just settin' us up.
    SHASTA
    No, she...
    DOC
    Her Ouija board...
    SHASTA
    She knows things, Doc... maybe about us that we don't know...
    DOC
    This don't mean we're back together.
    SHASTA
    Course not.
    She drifts -- off to sleep.
    SORTILEGE (V.O.)
    Doc fell into a car convoy, moving slowly, single lane through the fog. He figured if he missed the Gordita Beach exit, he'd take the first one whose sign he could read and work his way back on surface streets. He knew that at Rosecrans, the freeway began to dogleg east, and at some point, Hawthorne Boulevard or Artesia, he'd lose the fog, unless it was spreading tonight, and settled in region wide... Maybe then it would stay this way for days, maybe he'd have to just keep driving, down past Long Beach, down through Orange County, and San Diego and across a border where nobody could tell anymore in the fog who was Mexican, who was Anglo, who was anybody. Then again, he might run out of gas before that happened, and have to leave the caravan, and pull over on the shoulder, and wait. For whatever would happen. For a forgotten joint to materialize in his pocket. For the CHP to come by and choose not to hassle him. For a restless blonde in a Stingray to stop and offer him a ride. For the fog to burn off, and for something else this time, somehow, to be there instead.
    FADE OUT.: THIS SCRIPT WAS PREPARED BY WARNER BROS. PICTURES SCRIPT PROCESSING DEPARTMENT
    (818) 954-4632

Summary: In 1970, Shasta Fay Hepworth visits the beach house of her ex-boyfriend, Larry "Doc" Sportello, a private investigator and hippie in Gordita Beach, Los Angeles County. She tells him about her new lover, Michael Z. "Mickey" Wolfmann, a wealthy real estate developer, and asks him to help prevent Mickey's wife from abducting Mickey and committing him to an insane asylum. Doc meets with Tariq Khalil, a member of the Black Guerrilla Family, who hires him to find Glen Charlock, a member of the Aryan Brotherhood he met in jail, who owes him money and is one of Wolfmann's bodyguards. He visits Mickey's Channel View Estates project, entering the only business in the developing strip mall, a massage parlor, where he meets an employee, Jade. He searches the premises for Charlock, but is hit with a baseball bat and collapses. Doc wakes outside, lying next to Charlock's dead body and surrounded by policemen. Interrogated by LAPD detective Christian F. "Bigfoot" Bjornsen, he learns that Wolfmann has disappeared. His attorney, Sauncho Smilax, arranges for his release by the LAPD. Doc is hired by former heroin addict Hope Harlingen, who is looking for her missing husband, Coy. Although told that Coy is dead, she believes he is alive due to a large deposit to her bank account. Jade leaves Doc a message apologizing for setting him up with the police and telling him to "beware the Golden Fang." He meets her in an alley, where she explains the Golden Fang is an international drug smuggling operation. Jade introduces Doc to Coy, who tells him he is hiding at a house in Topanga Canyon. In a later meeting, he explains he is a police informant and fears for his life, wanting only to return to his wife and daughter. Doc talks to Sauncho, who tells him about the suspicious boat, the Golden Fang, which the last time it sailed, Shasta was on board. Thanks to a postcard from her, Doc finds a large building shaped like a golden fang and meets dentist Rudy Blatnoyd. Bigfoot calls Doc and tells him that Blatnoyd has just been found dead with fang bites in his neck. Bigfoot decides to help Doc find Coy and tells him to search for Puck Beaverton in Chryskylodon, an asylum run by a cult connected to the Golden Fang. There, Doc finds Mickey, who is being watched by the FBI. Mickey tells him he felt guilty for the negativity his real-estate business caused and wants to give his money away, appearing to be a happy member of the cult. Doc also glimpses Puck and Coy. When Doc returns home to his beach house, he is greeted by Shasta, who has returned and is indifferent to the trouble her disappearance has caused. She tells him Mickey is back with his wife. Shasta confesses to having been on the Golden Fang with Mickey on a "three-hour tour" and says she was brought along to be used sexually by all of Mickey's friends. She brags about what she did on the boat to provoke Doc into sex, then tells him they still aren't back together. Penny, an assistant district attorney with whom Doc is having a fling, gives him confidential files from which he learns that the LAPD pays the loan shark Adrian Prussia to kill people and that one of his victims was Bigfoot's former partner. Prussia is tied to the Golden Fang, and Doc learns that Charlock was involved with a deal, which is why he was killed. Doc visits Adrian, noticing his obsession with baseball bats, but is abducted and drugged by his partner, Puck. He manages to escape, killing both Puck and Adrian. Bigfoot appears and rescues him, driving him home, but Doc discovers he has been set up: Bigfoot has planted heroin in his car (stolen from the Golden Fang as revenge for murdering his partner). Doc arranges for the drugs to be returned to the Golden Fang in exchange for Coy's freedom. Doc and Shasta drive off together, and he tells her this doesn't mean they are back together.