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    Now We Know Why You Died
    Now We Know Why You Died
    Now We Know Why You Died
    Ebook105 pages1 hour

    Now We Know Why You Died

    By Carl Reader

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    About this ebook

    Now We Know Why You Died, a play, is a dark psychological crime thriller in three acts set in New York City before the Twin Towers fell, when everybody seemed to be their own worst enemies. Allie Slayton, a disturbed and burnt-out private detective and veteran working by fax, phone and computer from an apartment he is afraid to death to leave, sets a trap for a young, psychotic criminal, Joey Narducci. When the police fail to nab Narducci, he turns the tables and shows up at the Slayton apartment to terrorize Slayton's dysfunctional family of idiots. Narducci is seemingly put under control, but with a foul mouth and an arrogant personal charm he victimizes and violates Slayton, his girlfriend, his girlfriend's beautiful teenage daughter and his best friend, who's a brutal flake himself. All the crazed personalities of the Slayton clan turn out to be nearly as much a danger to each other as the knife-wielding, gun-toting, foul-mouthed Narducci. They prove your lunatic friends and weirdo family can get you killed just about as easily as a violent criminal can.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCarl Reader
    Release dateApr 24, 2012
    ISBN9781476256382
    Now We Know Why You Died
    Author

    Carl Reader

    Carl Reader trained as a journalist at Temple University and has worked as a reporter, photographer and editor in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Montana. He's published short stories in literary magazines and on the Internet and has self-published a children's Christmas story called THE TWELFTH ELF OF KINDNESS.That book was partially published in Russia under the Sister Cities program. He's also self-published a novella called THE PERSECUTION OF WILLIAM PENN, which has been well-received in several college libraries. He works as a professional photographer and freelance writer.

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      Book preview

      Now We Know Why You Died - Carl Reader

      Now We Know Why You Died

      By

      Carl Reader

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2012 Carl Reader

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. All characters in this play are purely fictional. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is strictly coincidental.

      CAST OF CHARACTERS

      LIZZIE LEWIS, a teenage girl

      ALLIE SLAYTON, an irrational private detective

      CLARA LEWIS, a former doctor, Lizzie’s mother and Allie’s lover

      RICHARD KALIBAN, a friend to Allie and a madman

      JOEY NARDUCCI, a young, psychotic killer

      JACK WARREN, a police detective

      Act I

      It's late evening in Allie Slayton's apartment in New York City during a day early in January, 1994. The living room is large with floor-to-ceiling drapes over the big window on the back wall. The drapes are open and show the New York City skyline. The kitchen is stage-right and without a wall to divide it from the living room. Doors to the two bedrooms are stage left and stage right, and there is a bright red door to the hallway in the back wall just left of the big window. All of this we can barely make out due to low light. Shadows occupy the room. There is a glowing computer screen on a desk, a fax machine, a sofa, coffee table, chairs and lamps. ALLIE and LIZZIE are sitting in the dark, slumped in chairs.

      LIZZIE

      Are you thinking?

      ALLIE

      Uh-huh.

      LIZZIE

      What are you thinking? You get scared when you think.

      ALLIE

      Oh, of lying in a field one summer night with a bottle of wine and a friend and two girls. Of looking up at the sky. It's not too frightening.

      LIZZIE

      It sounds nice. You could look up at the sky outside.

      ALLIE

      No! Just let me think.

      LIZZIE

      Can we turn the lights on yet?

      ALLIE

      Not with the curtains open.

      LIZZIE

      I hate sitting in the dark waiting for mom, with you so quiet and dreamy.

      ALLIE

      Somebody could be in one of those building with a rifle.

      LIZZIE

      O-oh ...

      The phone rings

      LIZZIE

      (jumping up) I'll get it!

      ALLIE

      No, don't! (he stands and grabs for the gun in his shoulder holster)

      LIZZIE

      I'm expecting a call. If I don't pick it up, my friend ...

      ALLIE

      It could be the fax, and that means my plan worked. Don't pick it up! This is what I was waiting for.

      LIZZIE

      You're pitiful.

      ALLIE

      (agitated) It's my job, and the fax won't come through if you pick up, we have only one phone line, and I'm expecting a fax from ... somebody. He's got to fall for it, he's got to.

      LIZZIE

      Who?

      ALLIE

      This is the kind of guy you don't refuse a fax from.

      LIZZIE

      I can't see in here.

      ALLIE

      There's a little light coming in from outside. Walk slowly by that light.

      (LIZZIE flicks on a cigarette lighter. She is standing by the fax machine)

      ALLIE

      You're not smoking again, are you?

      LIZZIE

      No, I never really did. I just pretended to smoke so everybody else would think I had a reason to carry this lighter.

      ALLIE

      Carrying around the lighter for light?

      LIZZIE

      For light. I got tired of stubbing my toes. I'll give it two more rings, then ... God, I hate it when you turn off all the lights and hide in back of the couch. (The phone rings twice more and then a paper begins its journey out of the fax machine)

      ALLIE

      Don't look at that! (he turns on the lights and runs to the fax machine) And stay away from the window!

      LIZZIE

      (wearily) I can't see anyway, but, I know, it'll scare the life out of me. (she rips off the fax and hands it to ALLIE).

      ALLIE

      (reading) Thank god. I've got him! The stupid fool ...

      LIZZIE

      You got who? Can I use the phone now? Or will you put a bullet through me?

      ALLIE

      I'm still working. Just one call to the police and then I don't care if you talk on the phone till the next century, as long as the drapes are closed. (to the fax paper) You bastard. (he picks up the phone and dials) Hi, Detective Warren, please. (while waiting, he shows the paper to LIZZIE) Look, you see this? It's Joey Narducci's fax number, this little number on the top of the page. You shouldn't even know his name, but he's the guy who ...

      LIZZIE

      Who what?

      ALLIE

      Who blew up the Gibson Dance Studio and burned fifty-seven people to death. The bastard got the wrong night. His buddies weren't there and ballerinas were flying all over the place ... Hi, Jack. Here's the number ... What? ... Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure! ... Don't use that tone of voice with me ...It's on the fax paper! ... Why don't you trust me? Am I your idiot boy of the week? ... Yeah, yeah ... I'm absolutely certain, damn it! It's 212-487-0187, okay? Got it? ... Yeah ... Now don't be dumb. Trace the number and pick him up right away ... Right away! ... So you'll send the check in the mail? ... No, I can't come over and get it. No way ... What? ... No, we don't want to enter the witness protection program. I had a scrambler on the line. I gave him one number, but it rang here, at another. He'll never trace me ... Yeah, I'm sure ... Yeah, bye ... Okay ... Call me if you have any more work for me.

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