A Locomotive For Murder
Romance
INT. CORRIDOR NEAR PRIVATE CABINS - NIGHT
Cindy runs down the corridor holding the bloody knife. She tries a door to a private cabin, but it is locked.
SECURITY GUARD 1 (O.S.)
I think she went this way.
Security Guard 1 and Security Guard 2 appear in shadow at the end of the corridor. Cindy hugs the wall, trying to hide. The Guards shine their flashlights down the corridor.
SECURITY GUARD 2
She’s gone.
SECURITY GUARD 1
I’m going to report to the conductor. You check the dining car. Radio me if you find anything.
SECURITY GUARD 2
Will do.
The guards exit. Cindy, relieved, comes out of hiding. She continues her way down the corridor, trying doors, until one opens. She enters the private cabin.
INT. PRIVATE CABIN
Cindy shuts the door behind her and takes a moment to catch her breath. The cabin is dimly lit. Cindy, thinking she is alone, begins to wipe her bloody knife on a jacket hanging nearby.
OLDER GENTLEMAN (O.S.)
Is someone there?
Cindy hides the knife on her person and turns on the light. She sees an OLDER GENTLEMAN sitting by the window, drinking a glass of wine.
OLDER GENTLEMAN
Oh, hello there. I thought you were an angel come to take me away.
CINDY
I’m no angel.
OLDER GENTLEMAN
Why don’t you have a seat, my dear. I’ll pour you a glass of wine.
Cindy hesitantly approaches the man and sits next to him. He gives her a glass of wine.
OLDER GENTLEMAN (CONT’D)
What shall we toast to? You pick.
CINDY
(shyly)
I don’t know. I’m not good at these things.
OLDER GENTLEMAN
Oh, it’s easy! Don’t worry. Just pick something. Anything.
CINDY
Okay. To. To revenge.
She raises her glass.
OLDER GENTLEMAN
(puzzled)
Ah. Yes. To revenge.
They clink glasses and drink. Out the window the moon is large over the landscape.
OLDER GENTLEMAN (CONT’D)
Barbara was shy too. She never liked to pick the toast. You remind me of her. Barbara, my wife. My wife, I say, but mine no longer. She’s somewhere else now, with someone else. With the one true partner that awaits us all.
She takes the man’s hand in hers.
OLDER GENTLEMAN (CONT’D)
I’m speaking of course of death. The reaper. It’s been fifteen long years since I’ve held my Barbara. Do you know what it’s like to lose someone you love?
EXT. FLOWER PATCH - DAY
Young Cindy, holding a bouquet, looks off to a distant plume of smoke and hears the RUMBLING of a locomotive.
INT. PRIVATE CABIN
CINDY
I do.
She strokes the man’s cheek with the backs of her fingers.
OLDER GENTLEMAN
I thought so. I could see it in your eyes, my dear. They have. A certain depth.
(beat)
Every year I make this journey, from one coast to the other. Barbara and I had always talked about it, but her time was cut short and we never made the trip. So every year I make the pilgrimage alone. In her honor.
CINDY
Oh, you poor, poor man.
She kisses him gently on the cheek.
OLDER GENTLEMAN
It’s been a long time since I’ve been kissed. It’s kind of funny, don’t you think? You wandering in here like a dream. Two strangers bound by the profundity of loss. Would you do me the honor of having this dance?
He stands and takes Cindy by the hand. She obliges. Holding each other close they sway in the silence.
OLDER GENTLEMAN
I do love this old train, don’t you?
Cindy pushes him away.
OLDER GENTLEMAN (CONT’D)
(shocked)
I’m terribly sorry. Was it something I said?
CINDY
I love no train!
She produces the knife, which gleams in the moonlight.
OLDER GENTLEMAN
I didn’t mean anything by it. If I said something to offend you, my dear--
Cindy raises the knife.
CINDY
Say hi to Barbara, creep!
She buries the knife deep in his shoulder. He falls over. She stabs him again to finish the job. She wipes off the knife and takes her seat, topping off her glass of wine from the bottle. She sips and looks out the window.
