LORD OF ILLUSION

CHAPTER 20

EXT. SWANN'S MANSION - POOLSIDE - GROUNDS - DUSK

The house could not look more reassuringly calm. A SWAN

struts beside the pool. A long, HUSHED MOMENT...

SHOCK CUT TO:

DOROTHEA'S DREAM

A BABOON SHRIEKS, its mouth filling the frame.

CUT WIDE, to reveal the Baboon, racing around Nix's Sanctum,

crazed.

Hanging on the sculpture that swings from the roof is a

shadowy figure. Is it Nix? We can't quite see. Black BLOOD

runs from the figure and splashes on the ground.

NOW WE SEE DOROTHEA, being pulled by the Cultists towards the

falling gouts of dark fluid --

-- she struggles, SOBBING --

CUT TO:

INT. SWANN'S MANSION - DOROTHEA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

She tosses around on the bed

BACK TO:

DOROTHEA'S DREAM

-- Dorothea has a GUN in her hand. The Cultists shake it

from her grip, and pull her directly under the BLOOD -- as it

SPLASHES on her upturned face --

INT. SWANN'S MANSION - DOROTHEA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

A SOUND. Dorothea wakes, distressed by the dream. She gets

up and goes out onto --

INT. SWANN'S MANSION - LANDING - DUSK

Looks down the stairs.

DOROTHEA

Who's there?

Silence. Then, Valentin speaks behind her. She jumps.

VALENTIN

I'm sorry.

BLOOD runs from his cut face.

DOROTHEA

Jesus. Valentin. What did you do

to your face?

BUTTERFIELD (V.O.)

It was me.

She turns. He's on her in a heartbeat, pressing her back

against the wail.

BUTTERFIELD

Guess who we're going to see?

INT. HARRY'S CAR - DUSK

Harry drives. Swann takes a throatful of brandy. Then he

stares at Harry.

SWANN

You think I'm an asshole.

HARRY

Didn't know you read minds.

SWANN

(a warning)

I can do a lot of shit, D'Amour.

But you know that.

(an apology)

So I like playing games with

people. Gives them something to

wonder about...

HARRY

Is that all?

SWANN

I distract them from their banality

for a few minutes. It's like a

public service. It doesn't mean

much in the end. They're all going

to die.

HARRY

And you're not?

Silence for a moment.

SWANN

Oh, I was going to discover the

secret of the universe. That's why

I liked Nix. He promised me all

these explanations.

HARRY

And he didn't have them?

SWANN

He had something. He showed me how

to bend the rules. A little

levitation. A few fireworks.

HARRY

Is that all?

SWANN

No.

(a beat)

At the end... when we had him

cornered, he got into my head. He

showed me what we really look like,

when the veneer's gone. Jelly.

Shit...

HARRY

And you believed him?

SWANN

I saw it with my own fucking eyes!

See, that's his best trick. No

illusions. Just the truth.

(he looks at Harry)

Are you ready for that?

Harry grabs the brandy bottle from Swann.

SWANN

Hey!

Harry drinks.

SWANN

Thought not.

EXT. SWANN'S MANSION - NIGHT

PAN DOWN from the palms to Harry's car, outside the front

door.

INT. SWANN'S MANSION - VARIOUS - NIGHT

Harry puts his head in the study, the library, the bedroom.

HARRY

Dorothea?

Now he's on the landing. Swann's below.

SWANN

She's not here.

Harry spots Valentin's BLOOD on the carpet.

HARRY

Did she know where Nix was buried?

SWANN

No.

HARRY

Who else did? Did Valentin?

SWANN

Yes.

HARRY

Jesus!

EXT. DESERT HIGHWAY - NIGHT

Butterfield's SEDAN crosses the desert, under a sky full of

stars.