Short screenplay for the 2017 Halloween contest.

BRILLIANT DISGUISE

FADE IN:

EXT. SUBURBAN HOUSE - GARDEN - NIGHT

Decorated for Halloween, carved pumpkins, grinning plastic
skeletons, fake spider webs, spooky orange lighting.

Two rustic scarecrows with pumpkin heads sit together on a
bench, a larger man with his arm around a smaller woman,
their heads touching. Kinda romantic.

CLOSE UP OF THE HOLLOW PUMPKIN HEADS

reveals very unhappy human faces inside. Eyeballs rolled
up, lips turned down. The people wearing the pumpkin heads
are dead.

CAMERA FLASHES light up the dead couple.

DETECTIVE JERRY DONNER has seen it all before, nothing
upsets him any more. He puts a cancer stick between his
lips and flicks his lighter.

MEDICAL EXAMINER BO NILES gives Donner a sour look. Niles
wears a crime scenes snowsuit (white plastic coverall) and
has the camera.

                       NILES
           Jesus Christ Donner I told you a
           thousand times, no smoking around
           crime scenes.

                       DONNER
           I'll put it out if they object.
           You figure out what killed them
           yet?

Donner looks around, his eyes taking in every detail of
the garden, the house.

                       NILES
           I only just got here, but if I had
           to guess? Cardiac failure caused
           by ingestion of poison.

Donner raises a surprised eyebrow, color him impressed.

                       DONNER
           How'd you figure?

                       NILES
           No visible knife or bullet wounds.
           Which makes me think it could be
           poison or barbiturates. I'll have
           to run--

Niles breaks off, stares at a little girl (ALICE) who has
appeared nearby, dressed as a witch. She carries a goodies
bag and trails a broom behind her.

Alice looks from Donner to Niles, then stares at the couple
on the bench. Her forehead crinkles into a frown as
thoughts form in her head.

Donner notices her.

                      DONNER
          Hey, how'd she get past the tape?
              (to girl)
          What the hell are you doing here?

Alice jerks her head back over her shoulder.

                      ALICE
          I live next door. Are they dead?

                      NILES
          You shouldn't be here, honey.
          Don't come any closer.

                      DONNER
          You know them?

                      ALICE
          Sure. Mr. and Mrs. Warwick. Her
          name's Melissa and he's Andy, though
          she calls him Spud.

                      NILES
          Go home and tell your mom the police
          are here and we're taking care of
          Melissa and Andy.

                      DONNER
          When was the last time you saw the
          victims alive?

                      NILES
          Jesus, Donner.

                      ALICE
          This morning. Melissa said I should
          come over tonight. She said she
          had candy for me.

                      DONNER
          Okay, you can go. But don't leave
          town, I might want to ask you some
          more questions later.

Alice stares at the dead couple for a moment longer, feeling
something. She turns around and trudges away, head bowed.
She disappears behind a hedge.

                      NILES
          I'm going to complete my examination
          of the scene, then get these nice
          people back to the lab so I can
          see if my guess is right. Maybe
          there are some more kids you can
          terrify while I'm doing that?

                      DONNER
          Little bitch wasn't terrified, she
          was bummed she didn't get her candy.

                      NILES
          Hey, you think maybe she was here
          already but they didn't give her
          enough, that's why she killed them?

                      DONNER
          Right now that's the best theory
          I've got. If it's poison, I want
          to know what type and where I'd
          buy some.

                      NILES
          All part of the service, Detective
          Donner.

                      DONNER
          You check inside?

                      NILES
          C.S.I. Hammond is doing that now.

Donner gives the bench a wide berth as he heads for the
house.

                      NILES (CONT'D)
          Don't scare her.


INT. HOUSE - HALLWAY - NIGHT

Donner enters, looks around, heads into--


INT. HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Couch and chairs have been pushed to the edge of the room,
clearing the varnished wood floor. A big five-pointed
star has been painted, in red, on said floor.

CSI MILLY HAMMOND, wearing a snowsuit, is examining the
star with a UV flashlight. Milly's backstory is unimportant
right now but she is an attractive woman and Donner knows
this.

                      DONNER
          Blood?

                      MILLY
          Red paint, interior gloss. I can
          tell you the manufacturer and where
          and when it was purchased.

                      DONNER
          That's damn clever C.S.I. work.

                      MILLY
          The paint tin's in the next room
          and there's a receipt from a local
          hardware store on the kitchen table.
          Are you smoking at a crime scene?

Donner holds up his cigarette.

                      DONNER
          I can tell you the manufacturer
          and where and when it was purchased.
          So you can distinguish my ash from
          all the other ashes you find. So
          what's with the star?

                      MILLY
          It's a pentagram. Often linked to
          occult rituals. The five points
          represent the four elements, water,
          fire, earth and air, and the fifth
          which is the spirit, or life.

                      DONNER
          Like that Bruce Willis movie.

                         MILLY
          Die Hard?

                      DONNER
          Leeloo Dallas multipass.

                         MILLY
          Leeloo what?

                      DONNER
          Why would anyone paint a pentagram
          on their living room floor? It's
          a nice floor.

                      MILLY
          Damned if I know. That's taking
          this Halloween thing a little too
          far, you ask me.

                      DONNER
          You checked out the rest of the
          house?

                      MILLY
          Not in detail. Uniform did a room
          to room. I'll work through them
          all, see what turns up.

                      DONNER
          What's your theory?

                      MILLY
          I dunno. Could be a killer with a
          really weird sense of humor. Or
          it could be a suicide pact. What
          about you? Any thoughts forming?

                      DONNER
          Might be a sex game gone wrong.

                      MILLY
          They had air holes, they'd still
          be able to breathe.

                      DONNER
          What if you stretched food wrap
          around the pumpkins, then took it
          off again once they were dead?
          Asphyxiation, no obvious cause.

                      MILLY
          If I find food wrap in the kitchen,
          I'll let you know.

                      DONNER
          Andy and Melissa Warwick. She
          called him Spud.

                      MILLY
          That's damn clever detective work.

                      DONNER
          We do our best.

Donner turns and exits back outside.


EXT. SUBURBAN HOUSE - FRONT DOOR STEPS - NIGHT

Donner throws his cigarette into some flower bushes.

He becomes aware that Alice stands nearby, watching him.

                      DONNER
          You're not supposed to be here.

                      ALICE
          Clarence didn't want Melissa to
          give me candy, he said it was all
          for him.

                      DONNER
          Who's Clarence?

Alice circles a finger beside her head.

Donner's eyes widen in realization--


INT. HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Milly enters, picks up a receipt from the kitchen table,
reads it.

ACME HARDWARE STORE - YOUR RECEIPT - some numbers - THANK
YOU CLARENCE

                      MILLY
          Andy and Melissa...

The FRIDGE, which is not really a fridge, it's a MAN
(CLARENCE) wearing painted boxes so he LOOKS like a fridge,
comes alive behind Milly.

Milly's face is suddenly covered in food wrap! Clarence
tugs hard, cutting off her air.

                      CLARENCE
          You're not taking my candy, you
          bitch!

Milly chokes and struggles but it's no good... can't...
breathe!

Clarence's eyes flick left. Then widen in surprise.

Donner's in the kitchen doorway, looking over the barrel
of his gun.

                       DONNER
          Freeze!

Clarence spins Milly around and pushes her at Donner and
makes a desperate box-legged run for the back door.

BLAM! Donner hits him in the leg box, Clarence the Fridge-
Man falls, wailing.

Donner steadies Milly and unwraps the food wrap.

                       DONNER (CONT'D)
          You okay?

                       MILLY
          I am now. Jesus, is that...?

                     DONNER
          Yep. It's a man disguised as a
          fridge. Pretty clever disguise,
          you ask me.

                      MILLY
          You saved my life.

                      DONNER
          We do our best. Dinner later?

                      MILLY
          Not in a million years, Donner.
          But thanks for asking.

Footsteps -- NILES and a uniformed COP come running in.
They skid to a stop, seeing Clarence on the floor. Clarence
whimpers.

                      NILES
          You got this?

Donner lights a smoke.

                      DONNER
          I got it.

                      MILLY
          Why did he paint a pentagram on
          the living room floor?

Donner circles a finger beside his head.

                      DONNER
          Maybe the voices in his head made
          him do it.


INT. HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Looking down at the red pentagram.

The five-pointed star GLOWS.

The glow fades.  It's just a painted pentagram again.


FADE OUT
                                                        Nov 2017