Act Five
[Scene: Manor. Living room. PAIGE is laying on the sofa as LEO heals her. MELINDA is watching while CHRIS impatiently paces next to her.]CHRIS: This wouldn’t have happened if you’d kept your Wiccan nose out of things.
MELINDA: Well clearly it was a good thing I was there otherwise-
CHRIS: You weren’t supposed to be there! Obviously Aunt Paige was supposed to meet and help the innocent, not me, like I tried to tell you earlier.
MELINDA: Oh don’t act all high and mighty! You had no idea Aunt Paige was ever going to come in contact with the innocent-
CHRIS: But I did know that we weren’t! And you, (he points) are probably the reason she’s hurt now because you distracted her from the way things were supposed to go!
PAIGE: Enough! (She sits up and rubs her head.) Your father can’t heal headaches so I would very much appreciate it if you’d both just put socks it in! (She waves her hand.) Do that weird telepathic thing you do, just don’t carry on where I can hear you. (CHRIS and MELINDA glare at each other. PAIGE stands up.) Where’s Lewis?
LEO: Your innocents are in the kitchen.
PAIGE: Marge and Lewis? (LEO nods.) What about the family from the beach? They saw us use magic-
MELINDA: They’re witches and they’re fine. I spoke with them before Dad orbed you back here.
PAIGE: Right. Okay, (she rubs her head again) good. (She points in the direction of the kitchen.) Right then. (She walks off. LEO, MELINDA and CHRIS exchange looks.)
MELINDA: (pointing) I’m just gonna- (CHRIS grabs MELINDA’s arm and holds her back. MELINDA glowers.)
CHRIS: No you’re not, you’ve done enough damage as it is. You’re going back to Grandpa’s with me. (to LEO) And you?
LEO: I’m going to go see what Paige is up to and then I need to get back to your mother.
CHRIS: (glaring at MELINDA) Perfect.
[Cut to the kitchen. MARGE and LEWIS are sitting at the table. PAIGE is filling the tea kettle up with water.]PAIGE: Are you sure you don’t want anything-
MARGE: Marge. And no…thank you. I’m fine. (PAIGE nods.) I really just need to go.
(MARGE starts to stand as PAIGE sets the kettle on the burner. LEO walks in.)
PAIGE: Marge, why were you at the beach today?
MARGE: The demon, why else?
LEO: But how did you find it? (MARGE looks away.) Please, it’s important. It’s no accident that Paige has come into contact with you today and so we need you to be honest with us.
MARGE: The demon’s dead, why should it matter?
(PAIGE rounds the island and stands in front of MARGE. She places her hands on her hips.)
PAIGE: Look, we’re asking nicely, but we don’t have to do that. There are other ways for me to obtain information from you, but I don’t think either of us want that, do we?
MARGE: (sighing) I scried for him, okay?
PAIGE: Why?
MARGE: Because he’s evil.
PAIGE: No, why him? Why Ahriman? Did he attack you?
MARGE: No.
LEWIS: (softly) Did he hurt someone you know?
MARGE: Not exactly…
(LEO narrows his eyes.)
LEO: Are you saying you were scrying for random evil?
MARGE: So what if I was?
LEO: That’s incredibly dangerous!
MARGE: Yeah, and so is letting demons roam free to kill more innocent people! Someone’s gotta stop them!
PAIGE: Yeah, when you know what you’re up against! (She motions to LEWIS.) If we hadn’t of been there, you would’ve been killed. I bet you didn’t know that the only one with the power to vanquish him was someone who has escaped him, did you?
MARGE: (to LEWIS) He tried to kill you?
LEWIS: Yeah…but he killed my parents instead.
MARGE: (stunned) I…I’m sorry.
[Scene: Lorenzo’s house. Garage. PRUE and PHOEBE are there. PHOEBE is bent down in front of the blue Lotus Elise, inspecting the front bumper and the license plate. She nods confidently.]PHOEBE: This has to be the same car from my vision.
(PRUE waves her arm at the driver’s side door and it pops open. PHOEBE rounds the car and pokes her head inside. She reaches into the car and places the back of her hand against the steering wheel.)
[Premonition: Once again, the vision is seen through the point of view of the driver. A pair of hands are rapidly moving the steering wheel. The back of KENNETH’s car can be seen through the front window.]MAN's VOICE: (worriedly) You aren’t really going to kill him, right? Just scare ‘im a bit?
(The point of view shifts from looking out the front window shield to the passenger seat, where LORENZO’s partner is sitting.)
LORENZO's VOICE: Scare him? He’s gonna rat us out! Take us down, we’ll go to prison, don’t you get it? We have to take care of him! (The car suddenly speeds up and rams into the back of KENNETH's car.)
[Cut back to the present. PHOEBE pulls her hand back from the steering wheel. PRUE’s cell phone begins to ring. PRUE pulls out her cell phone and looks at the caller I.D. She holds it up to PHOEBE and it says “Darryl Morris.” PHOEBE nods and PRUE flips the cell open.]PRUE: Darryl?
DARRYL's VOICE’s Voice: Hey, I may have some interesting news for you.
[Scene: San Francisco Police Department. Darryl’s desk. DARRYL has an open manila folder on his desk, covered with photographs taken from the site where KENNETH was found with his crashed car. The photograph on top is of a close up of the cracked back bumper, revealing small streaks of blue paint.]DARRYL: I was curious after your call, so I collected the crime scene photos from Kenneth Beckett’s crash and while I was looking at them, I noticed that the back bumper had blue paint on it.
[Cut to Prue. She looks smugly at PHOEBE.]PRUE: Let me guess, mid-knight blue?
(PHOEBE lifts her eyebrow questioningly.)
[Cut to Darryl.]DARRYL: Exactly. I’m about to announce that we just got an anonymous tip. (quietly) Are you guys still over at the house?
[Cut to Prue.]PRUE: In the garage, actually. Phoebe and I were just looking at the car when you called.
DARRYL's VOICE: Well before I can really do anything, I’m going to need a sample of the paint from the car so that we can test it against the paint chips collected from Beckett’s car.
PRUE: Well we can-
DARRYL's VOICE: No, don’t! I don’t want to have to explain where I miraculously got the chip from. Just, finish whatever you’re doing and then call me when you’ve left. After that, I’ll set things into motion down here.
PRUE: Will do, Darryl. Thanks! (She hangs up.) Looks like Darryl isn’t going to have too much trouble finding these guys guilty of the crash. (She motions to the car.) There was blue paint on Kenneth’s back bumper.
PHOEBE: Well that’s good news…sort of.
PRUE: Sort of?
PHOEBE: Well, we still don’t know why they went after him in the first place. I have a feeling that part of the reason Kenneth was trying to get my help is because he wants the secret he was nearly killed for out in the open.
(PIPER walks into the garage.)
PIPER: Hey, I think I found something. (PRUE and PHOEBE look at her.) You should come look at this.
[Cut to Lorenzo’s room. Racy posters are spattered across the walls. There is a collection of barbells in one corner of the room, a couple of dressers, and a locked gun cabinet. On a desk opposite the gun collection is a laptop computer, which is opened and turned onto the Internet. PIPER, PHOEBE and PRUE walk in.]PRUE: How’d you get into his computer?
PIPER: How do you think I got in?
PHOEBE: I didn’t know you knew how to hack.
PIPER: (glaring) I used a spell.
PHOEBE: Really?
PRUE: Is that even allowed?
PIPER: I’m trying to help Phoebe figure out why this guy was after her innocent, not trying to steal his identity…I’m pretty sure it’s fine.
(PIPER sits down and pulls her tissue out of her pocket and uses the mouse to bring up another screen. She shifts her eyes away from the screen. PRUE instinctively touches her stomach as PHOEBE presses her hand to her mouth.)
PHOEBE: Oh my god.
PIPER: (viciously) I want these people behind bars…for life!
[Scene: Manor. Kitchen. MARGE and LEWIS are sitting at the table. They each have their hands wrapped around mugs of hot tea and LEWIS is talking.]LEWIS: …I’m sorry about your son. (He stares down at the pale yellow liquid in his mug.) But coming from someone who knows what it’s like to have lost his parents, I’m sure he was glad it was him and not you and your husband.
MARGE: Parents aren’t supposed to bury their children, Lewis. It’s not the order of things. (She closes her eyes, but a tear escapes from the corner of each of her eyes and roll down her cheeks.) I would give anything to bring him back…I should’ve saved him. I just keep thinking that if I’d done one thing differently, maybe I wouldn’t have failed as his mother.
(LEWIS reaches across the table and places his hand on MARGE’s.)
LEWIS: I don’t think you failed…but I also don’t think risking your life to vanquish meaningless demons is what your son would want, do you? I know you want to see him again, but not that way; it’s not worth it. (He pulls his hand back.) Besides, it’s not like you’d want your husband to go around feeling what you feel all the time…but twice as bad.
(A look dawns on MARGE’s face.)
[Cut to the dining room. PAIGE is there with LEO, listening to MARGE and LEWIS's conversation.]PAIGE: (whispering) I can’t believe it, he’s actually getting through to her.
LEO: (whispering) They share a common loss…they understand each other. (He motions his hand.) Isn’t that how you said you originally got Lewis to talk to you?
PAIGE: (whispering) Well…yeah, that and magic.
LEO: (whispering) I think it also probably helps that he reminds her of the son she lost.
PAIGE: (whispering) How can you tell that?
LEO: (whispering) Just her demeanor. The way her voice wavers when she talks to him, the way her eyes glaze just a little.
(PAIGE slowly begins to nod.)
PAIGE: (whispering) Yeah, now that I think about it, you’re right. I can’t believe I didn’t pick up on that earlier. (She folds her arms in contemplation.) Leo, you don’t think- (MARGE walks out of the kitchen and PAIGE flashes a smile.) Marge!
MARGE: Would you mind if I used your phone, Paige?
PAIGE: No! Of course not. (She motions her arm.) It’s just back in the kitchen, c’mon.
LEO: Paige?
PAIGE: Yeah?
(LEO waves his arm upwards.)
LEO: I’m going to go now, (he pats his pants’ pocket) I’m getting another call.
PAIGE: Right. Thanks again. I’ll see you later. (She and MARGE walk into the kitchen as LEO heads the opposite direction.)
[Time lapse. Prue, Piper and Phoebe at San Francisco Memorial Hospital, across from Kenneth’s room. PRUE has her arms folded over her stomach and PHOEBE is scratching her chin as they stare at the closed door.]PHOEBE: I wish I could just walk in there all Jennifer Love Hewitt and help them.
PIPER: Unfortunately real life isn’t that easy, Pheebs. (The sound of the elevator doors opening catches their attention and they look behind themselves, but only a woman and small child walk out. PHOEBE looks down at her watch.)
PHOEBE: It seems like Darryl should’ve been here by now.
(LEO walks up.)
PHOEBE: Leo! (She raises her eyebrows.) Where ya been?
LEO: It was Paige…a demon-
PRUE: A demon? Is she okay?
LEO: She’s fine. It’s been vanquished already. I stayed around a bit because we were talking with her innocents and I was about to come back here when I got a call from another charge. (He kisses PIPER on the cheek.) Sorry about the wait.
PIPER: Don’t be. We’re still waiting.
LEO: What’s going on? (The sisters look at each other and LEO attempts to gage their expressions.) What’s wrong?
PHOEBE: It’s our innocent.
PRUE: Turns out he wasn’t so innocent after all.
PIPER: He was a thief…selling things on the black market. He was in business with that Lorenzo guy.
PHOEBE: But he found out that Lorenzo was trying to sell little girls on the black market and he was going to go to the authorities and blow the whistle on the whole operation.
LEO: How did you-
PIPER: Pictures.
PHOEBE: And a premonition.
PRUE: Darryl should be here any minute to talk to the family.
(The elevator dings again and when the doors open, DARRYL walks out. PHOEBE waves her hand and DARRYL walks over to him.)
DARRYL: Hey. Sorry about the delay. Rae and I were picking up the Siever brothers. She’s taking them down to booking as we speak.
PIPER: What about the children?
DARRYL: The police and social services are already on it. (He looks around.) Where’s-
PHOEBE: Kenneth’s room is right over there. (She points.)
DARRYL: Thanks.
DARRYL heads over to the room, knocks, and the door opens to reveal KENNETH’s father. DARRYL flashes his badge and MR. BECKETT allows him to walk inside. PIPER sighs.)
PIPER: It’s too bad his parents have to hear about what he did for a living.
PRUE: But at least they’ll also know what he was willing to do.
(All of the sudden a few nurses rush past the sisters and burst into KENNETH’s room. The sound of flat lining heart monitor can be heard, followed by the sound of KENNETH’s mother’s wailing cries. A transparent form of KENNETH in his hospital gown appears before PHOEBE.)
KENNETH: Thank you. (He looks over his shoulder as his father escorts his sobbing mother out of his room. He looks back at PHOEBE.) They needed to hear the truth. Everyone did. Thank you. (PHOEBE nods. A white light shines down on him and he disappears.)
BREAK