FSW: Witness Protection

(A gray, grimy interrogation room. One table, two chairs, harsh fluorescents. MARVIN HENDERSON sits nervously opposite DET. JASON DETWILER.)

MARVIN
It's not fair.

DETWILER
Life's not fair, Henderson.

MARVIN
I need guarantees.

DETWILER
Guarantees? Haven't you figured out from all of this that there are no guarantees in this life? Or the next?

MARVIN
He'll kill me. You've got to protect me.

DETWILER
Witness protection? You give us what we need and testify against that sonuvabitch and we'll talk.

MARVIN
I'm just an accountant!

DETWILER
And I'm just losing my patience, Henderson. Spill.

MARVIN
(Sighs deeply) Okay. At first, I just thought it was an error in the numbers. Doesn't happen much, I make sure of that, but once in a while a mistake creeps in and sticks around. So I started tracking it back. It took me a while - he's got books going back forever - but once I found it, things started falling into place.

DETWILER
Found what? Spell it out.

MARVIN
I should have realized. 144K isn't that much. I mean, there's billions of people, right? Why only 144,000? Why is that his magic number?

DETWILER
You tell me.

MARVIN
Timeshares.

DETWILER
What?

MARVIN
It's timeshares. He bought up some swampland in the Everglades and drained it, put in condos, a little town, a man-made lake. A whole, self-contained little community. 2000 units, some one bedroom, some two. Week-long shares. You see, it's not really 144K. That's just approximate. Could be more, could be less.

Heaven is a timeshare in Florida.

DETWILER
Sounds more like hell.

MARVIN
His old accountant was clever, but he couldn't hide the payments. The boss had to grease a lot of palms to get that through. Plus, he had to pay off the masons.

DETWILER
Tough union?

MARVIN
No, the Freemasons. They wanted a piece of his action, and Jehovah didn't want to start a war. He was trying to fly under the radar.

DETWILER
This is good stuff, Henderson, but I don't know if it's enough to nail him. You've got to give us more.

MARVIN
I've got more. He's been skimming money off the top for years. His kid doesn't even know, not that he'd do anything about it but pout anyway. It took me a month of going through the books, line by line but I caught it. You see, once you know what to ask, the answers can be found in his books.

You know the X Prize?

DETWILER
No.

MARVIN
Big fund to build a private spaceship. Ten mill.

DETWILER
What's that got to do with your boss?

MARVIN
It's him. He's the guy behind it.

DETWILER
What does god need with a starship?

MARVIN
Nothing. He's been using it as a tax shelter. An illegal tax shelter.

DETWILER
We've got him!

Tell me Henderson, why? Why did you turn against him?

MARVIN
My wife died last year. Cancer. I asked him why. "Why, Lord? Why did you take her?" He just sat there and said nothing. Bastard.

BLACKOUT

(A small, neatly furnished living room. Marvin and MARIE sit next to each other on a couch. Marvin's hair color has been changed and he looks a few years older.)

MARIE
Ben, honey? I'm going to get a beer. You want one?

MARVIN/BEN
Sure, that'd be great.

(Marie gets up and starts to head to the kitchen. The doorbell rings...)

MARIE
I'll get it.

(Marie crosses and opens the front door. A bright shaft of sunlight streams in through the opening. As the visitor speaks, Marvin's expression changes from neutrality to abject terror.)

MAN (O.S.)
Have you heard the good word?

BLACKOUT