Disappearance

Screen shot of garage door opening with “Cottonwood, Arizona” showing on the screen.

Man is loading boxes in rear of Toyota RAV. Car is parked across the street. Shaded windshield hides driver from view. Driver is snapping photos with cell phone. Man shuts door of SUV, backs out of garage, and leaves.

Man in parked car sends text with photos and message on phone, “Is this the guy?”

Within minutes, cell phone beeps. Message “It’s him alright. Take him out and send me photos of body. Cash will be delivered as agreed.”

Man drives car to restaurant after checking his watch. “5 p.m.” appears on screen as he enters restaurant and sits down at a table.

WAITRESS (62)

Hi there. I’m Rose, and I’ll be your waitress tonight. Can I start you off with a drink?

MAN (35)

A Tanqueray martini please.

INT. Waitress hands him a menu as she leaves. When she returns with his drink, he orders.

MAN

I’ll have your filet, medium well, with a baked potato and broccoli, please.

INT. Man is sipping coffee with empty plate in front of him.

MAN

What time are you folks open until?

ROSE

We take dinner orders until 9, but the regulars at the bar stay until 11. That’s when we close.

EXT. He leaves the restaurant and drives to a spot past the house he was stalking. Puts out the car lights, and walks to a house. Enters the back yard and sees man getting out of his pool. He fires two quick shots from a gun with a silencer on it. Body is in a pool of blood on cement floor. Takes his cell phone and tries to take photo, but light is poor. Drags body into kitchen, closes curtains and turns on kitchen light. Takes new photos. Turns off the light, leaves by the rear sliders and disappears in the night. He is wearing gloves.

He next is seen pulling into car rental return at Phoenix airport. Dumps the gun in trash receptacle and boards shuttle to the terminal. Dumps the silencer in trash bin once he reaches the terminal. Walks to the gate for flight to Boston, Takes cell phone and texts photos. Sitting at gate, cell phone beeps. Message reads “Locker 212, South Station. Key is at front desk of Westin Hotel in Boston. Ask for package for Francis. No ID required.”

He takes out book, crosses out Larry Morgan, Cottonwood, AZ, and looks at next name on his list…Fred Simpson, Bellingham, MA

Screen flashes “Twenty Years Earlier” Screen shows FBI building, Providence, RI

HARRY ESTEN (62)

Have you ever heard of WITSEC, Larry?

LARRY BENEDUCCI (42)

What’s a WITSEC?

HARRY

It’s a protection system that gives you a new identity and location so you can start a new life again.

LARRY

How does it work, Esten. And how do I know I’ll be safe from the family? All I have is Rose, no other family left. Rose has nobody either.

HARRY

In a way, that’s good. If it’s only Rose and you, they can’t intimidate anyone in your family to try to get you out of hiding. We’ll put you in a new location only known to a few U.S. Marshals, give you and Rose new names, Social Security numbers, and drivers licenses. You can keep your first names, and you’ll have a few choices on a new location to live. The marshals will help you find a new legitimate job, and help out with expenses for a while until you can handle it by yourselves. If you’ve got some money stashed away, I’d get Rose to get it pretty fast, if I were you. It’ll probably come in handy until you start making decent money legally.

LARRY

Can Rose and I go places, you know, do some traveling?

HARRY

Not anywhere around here. You’re more likely to stay safe if you stay close to your new location. These places have been checked out by the marshals as being very safe places to work and live, and you’re very unlikely to bump into anyone from around here. But you can’t have any contact with anyone you and Rose knew before. It’s a clean break, and just about your only chance to do right for Rose, and maybe some kids if you want to start a family.

LARRY

Hah, not a chance. Rose and I talked about it a few times. We’re both in our forties, and we can’t see ourselves with kids. But I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder every day, thinking today might be the day I get whacked.

HARRY

Of all the people in WITSEC, and there are thousands, the protection system has never lost a single witness who stayed in the program. That’s over 25 years, and no one has been lost, no one. These people know what they’re doing, trust me on this. If you stay around here, and try to do this on your own, you’ll never make it. There are too many details to take care of, and that’s what these guys know how to handle.

LARRY

You know what, I believe you. I’m a dead man if I stay here, and maybe Rose too. Right now, I’m a two-time loser, and I’m running out of luck. So much for being called Lucky Larry. I’ll take the deal. You’d better get Rose off the street right away.

HARRY

Consider it done. After your testimony, I hope I never see you and Rose again. You’ve made a smart decision here today.

LARRY

Thanks for all your help. I won’t forget it.

EXT. Screen fades to “Narragansett, Rhode Island 2016” seaside home with ocean view. Esten is sitting on back deck. Doorbell rings. Esten opens door but sun glare blinds him.

VOICE

Hi, Harry. How’s retired life treating you?

HARRY

Well, I’ll be, Sean Connors. If it isn’t the Irish mafia himself. Come on in. Damn, how the heck are you? I’d offer you a beer or something, but I know you’re working, and you’d have to refuse it, right?

SEAN CONNORS (50)

You know, I normally couldn’t accept your fine hospitality, Harry, me boy, but then again, that would be impolite, wouldn’t it?

INT. Harry grabs two beers from the refrigerator and they head for the back deck.

SEAN

My God, what a place you’ve got here. After Lucy died back in ’89, I thought you’d never buy a place at the shore again. Then Laura came along and brought you back to life again. Is she still with the ‘Gansett police?

HARRY

Sure is. She’ll be home in about three hours. Maybe I can interest you to stay for dinner, unless we run out of beer before then. I don’t figure you came here today just to visit, though it would be nice if I was wrong?

SEAN

We’ve got a situation, and the bureau chief wanted to hear your opinion on what’s happening. Do you remember the Lawrence ‘Lucky Larry’ Beneducci case back in 1996? He was the small-time mobster from Providence who decided the only way he would ever make it big was by turning state’s evidence on several mob members in exchange for protection by us. He especially liked you. He thought you were a square guy. No bullshit talk.

HARRY

Yeah, I remember him. He was in so far over his head. He came to us as the only way to get out of the mob alive. He knew too much, and he knew that he knew too much. He went into WITSEC, and I never saw him again after he testified against maybe a dozen guys he saw who beat up on poor store owners or threatened to break some limbs if they wouldn’t pay for protection. I think he even fingered a couple of them for hits on a couple of people who had filed complaints of extortion with the police in Cranston and Providence.

SEAN

Ever hear of Larry Morgan from Cottonwood, Arizona?

HARRY

No, that name doesn’t ring a bell. Who is he?

SEAN

Larry Morgan was Lucky Larry Beneducci, and he’s dead. It happened two weeks ago. His wife came home from her waitress shift at a local restaurant about eleven o’clock at night and found him dead on the kitchen floor, two bullets in his head. Nobody saw or heard anything.

HARRY

Wow, that’s a first. The U.S. Marshals Service had never lost anybody before under their witness protection program. We’re talking about a program that has over 8000 witnesses here, and not a single person killed while staying in the program. This has been around for over forty years, and a lot of witnesses had families moved with them too. These are closely guarded moves we’re talking about here, Sean. What happened?

SEAN

His widow says they were very careful not to attract attention in Cottonwood. They kept mostly to themselves, except for a few couples they hung around with in the small community they lived in. Lucky ran an internet mailing label company out of their home, hardly ever went out, except to an occasional dinner at local places. Rose was very happy with the life they led as Mr. and Mrs. Morgan. They had no kids, which made it easier to adjust to their new surroundings, and they never ever contacted people from Providence. She’s looking for answers, and you’re the only guy around here who knows Paul O’Malley, the head of the U.S. Marshals Service. Interested in taking a trip to D.C. with me to meet with O’Malley? I guess the chief thinks that’s the least we can do for Rose, his widow.

HARRY

Think about it. You finally come to your senses, do the right thing against these hoods, and your reward is not a pat on the back, or a handsome sum of money. Instead, you have to pick up your life, family and all, and disappear into the night, leaving everything and everyone behind, as if they never existed. If you want to stay alive, you have to alienate yourself from your former life completely, and from where you lived. If Lucky played by the rules, he should have died of old age from natural causes, not from two bullets to the back of his head.

SEAN

From what we’ve been told and that’s not very much, Larry played by the rules, even though most witnesses in the program are not law-abiding citizens. Rose said they avoided getting any pictures of themselves, fearing it would get on Facebook or some other internet site. They never contacted former friends or neighbors, had no relatives, and had never returned to Rhode Island. They had been in Arizona for nearly 21 years. There are only a handful of U.S. Marshals who work on this stuff. So, either they’re dealing with somebody on the inside who sold Larry’s name and whereabouts for a price, or somebody hacked the U.S. Marshals’ files somehow and sold the information. Either way, this could be very dangerous if it happens again. Paul O’Malley asked to talk only to you. He’s worried.

HARRY

Paul O’Malley and I worked closely together about 10 years ago. At the time, he was running their office in Providence. His office was responsible for moving a convicted murderer to the federal prison in Guantanamo. After they arrested this guy, they searched his house and found all kinds of weapons, pipe bombs, and a set of plans of the federal courthouse in Providence. The bureau was sure he was affiliated with some terrorist movement, and Guantanamo was the likely place to put him in. Paul and I worked on a lot of prisoner exchanges over the years, and Laura and I had him and his wife, Kim, over for dinner a few times. I knew he had been transferred to the D.C. main office, but we sort of lost track of each other over the years.

SEAN

I guess if you work on putting people in witness protection, you really can’t talk about it, can you?

HARRY

Are you saying that he now heads WITSEC?

SEAN

He and three other guys handle all of them, and the information about these witnesses doesn’t go beyond these four guys.

HARRY

And Paul suspects one of his own men might be involved in Lucky Larry’s killing?

SEAN

I don’t think he knows what to think right now. There aren’t too many people he trusts talking to about the program, and you happen to be one of them. The bureau chief figured since you officially are no longer with the FBI, someone with official credentials should be there, too. As your former partner, I’m elected.

HARRY

When does he want me in D.C.?

SEAN

I’ve got two tickets in my pocket for the ten o’clock Delta flight tomorrow morning.

HARRY

Laura’s going to be pissed when I tell her.

EXT. Laura Esten pulls into driveway dressed in a policewoman uniform. She sees Sean’s car out front and enters the house.

LAURA ESTEN

Hey, Sean, what are you doing here?

SEAN

I just stopped by to see an old friend and former partner. You look great, Laura.

HARRY

Paul O’Malley contacted the bureau about a witness protection program problem and asked if I’d meet him at his office in D.C. with Sean.

LAURA

Do you really want to do this?

HARRY

Paul has never asked me for anything, not in all the years we’ve known him and Kim. This must be very important for him to want my opinion and fly me to Washington to hear it. I promise I won’t do anything foolish when I see him, like go back to work.

LAURA

Sean, I’m asking you to keep an eye on Harry for me when you’re down there. No high-powered hookers for him; his knees can’t handle it. And what time will you be back tomorrow, or did you plan on staying overnight?

HARRY

I don’t know how long the meeting will last, but I’ll call you when we’re done and let you know if we’ll stay over or not.

SEAN

I’ve got to go, but I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning at 8.

EXT. Scene shifts to T. F. Green Airport, and then they are seen debarking at Dulles and entering the terminal. Guy in suit holding a sign with Esten and Connors on it. Harry walks up to sign holder.

HARRY

I’m Esten, and this is Connors.

MAN

I’m Jason St. Clair from Paul O’Malley’s office. Paul has spoken often about you, Mr. Esten. My car’s right outside.

EXT. SUV with tinted windows arrives in front of federal building.

St. Clair

You can leave your carry-ons in the car. Once you get inside, you will need to go through the security scanner. After that, go to the receptionist desk and tell them who you are. The director is expecting you. I’ll stay in the car out front until you’re ready to leave, no matter how long it takes.

INT. A guard greets them as they approach the security area.

GUARD

Are either of you carrying a weapon?

SEAN

I am. Here are my FBI credentials.

GUARD

Your name, sir?

SEAN

Sean Connors, FBI agent from Providence, Rhode Island.

HARRY

Harry Esten, retired FBI agent, and I have no weapon.

GUARD

Mr. Connors, sir, would you please remove your weapon and any other metal objects from your person and place them in this tray. Mr. Esten, would you do the same, please, and walk through the detector one at a time.

INT. Harry walks to receptionist desk.

HARRY

Harry Esten and Sean Connors to see Paul O’Malley.

RECEPTIONIST

Please have a seat, gentlemen. Someone will be down to escort you to Mr. O’Malley’s office in a few moments.

INT. Woman appears and they enter an elevator to the top floor of the building. They enter an office with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Capitol. O’Malley walks in. He is short, semi-bald, and carries a grayish beard.

O’MALLEY (60)

Goddamn it, Harry, so good to see you again. Retirement hasn’t aged you a bit.

INT. They hug.

HARRY

Hello, my good friend. This is my former partner, Sean Connors, the guy who watched my back more often than I can remember. Laura sends her love and to say hi to Kim for us.

O’MALLEY

You can say hi to Kim yourself tonight. She’ll be meeting us for dinner at The Occidental Grill & Seafood Restaurant around seven. I’ve booked you guys for the night at the Courtyard Arlington Crystal City, real close to the airport. I don’t see the point in you guys flying out tonight.

HARRY

You’ve done well. I’m impressed. You don’t get to head the U.S. Marshals service by screwing up. You’ve come a long way, buddy.

O’MALLEY

Right place at the right time, nothing more than lucky, I guess. And besides, I’m only in charge of the witness protection program, not the whole U.S. Marshals Service.

HARRY

Only the witness protection system? Maybe there’s luck in the timing, but you still had to impress somebody to be considered for this job.

O’MALLEY

Have a seat, fellows, I’ve got a little story I’d like you to hear.

INT. O’Malley picks up phone and doesn’t want to be disturbed.

O’MALLEY

As you know, the Marshal Service is responsible for protecting the federal judiciary, transporting federal prisoners, and seizing property acquired by criminals through illegal services. It is one of the oldest federal law enforcement agencies in the country. We do fugitive investigations through our task forces, and we locate and apprehend criminals. But we’ve handled WITSEC, or the witness security program, since 1971. I could tell you about the thousands of witnesses we’ve given new identities to over the years, but I think you already know that. Our success