The baby carriage has passed E. Hopkins and is waiting for the walk light on E. Main. We see the gloves come off the older woman’s hands, as she tucks them under the blankets in the carriage. Sam Cooke sings “You Send Me” like it’ll never end.
EXT. ENTRANCE, HOTEL JEROME, E. MAIN. CONTINUOUS.
The ghost of the hippie girl is ignoring the cowboy doorman, but someone off camera gets her attention. It’s a relief that “You Send Me” is fading.
ANOTHER ANGLE: the cowboy doorman sees the woman with the baby carriage coming. The tall hippie approaches the carriage and peers inside; she seems puzzled by what she sees, as the woman wheels the carriage past her, going inside the Jerome.
She is the older, gray-haired woman Matthew saw at the bookstore. She has aged more noticeably than Paul Goode, since their time together in The Wrong Car. She is that same woman, but she’s almost Paul’s age. Unlike Paul, she looks seventy.
INT. LOBBY, HOTEL JEROME. CONTINUOUS.
Jerome B. Wheeler sees the woman with the baby carriage cross the lobby. Wheeler regards her with regret and resignation. It’s as if he knows everything that’s going to happen, just as he seems to know everything that has happened.
Jerome B. Wheeler returns his attention to the still-bleeding Aspen volunteer—as the woman with the baby carriage passes through the lobby, and Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me” FADES OUT OVER.
INT. BREAKFAST ROOM. HOTEL JEROME. CONTINUOUS.
Adam and Grace see the gray-haired woman in profile—just her head and shoulders, as she walks by. From where they sit at their table, Adam and Grace don’t see the baby carriage.
ADAM (V.O.)
Usually, a ghost won’t kill you—more often, it’s not a ghost.
Matthew not only recognizes the gray-haired woman from the bookstore; from where he’s sitting at the table, Matthew sees the baby carriage, too.
MATTHEW
(to his dad)
She was at your book signing.
(he whispers)
She’s cuckoo.
Matthew draws imaginary circles around his ear with one index finger. With his other index finger, Matthew points to the older woman who walked by their table. Adam must be daydreaming.
ADAM
(whispers back)
Who’s cuckoo?
MATTHEW
(still pointing)
The woman with the baby carriage.
Adam stands up, seeing the woman with the baby carriage from behind. She is standing at Paul Goode’s table.
MATTHEW
She didn’t bring the baby to the bookstore.
A WIDER ANGLE: Billy and Otto are engrossed in a Playboy centerfold.
ANOTHER ANGLE: Paul Goode looks up from his breakfast at the woman with the baby carriage. It’s been forty years. Paul doesn’t recognize her—not until she speaks, reprising her dialogue from The Wrong Car.
WOMAN WITH THE CARRIAGE
It’s your turn with the baby, little fella.
She pulls the sawed-off shotgun out of the baby carriage, shooting Paul Goode point-blank.
CLOSE ON: the woman with the double-barreled twelve-gauge. She puts both barrels under her chin, shooting herself.
CLOSE ON: Grace covering Matthew’s eyes with her hands.
CLOSE ON: Otto and Billy, standing paralyzed at their table.
A WIDER ANGLE: on Adam, standing over his father’s body.
CLOSER ON: the blood-spattered author photo on Adam’s novel.
CLOSER ON: the body of the woman with the baby carriage; one of her arms blocks our view of her head, or her head is gone.
ADAM (V.O.)
Like something Paul Goode would write—more noir than noir.
INT. ELEVATOR, HOTEL JEROME. MOMENTS LATER.
Clara Swift is pounding her head against the elevator. The cowboy holds her, letting her pound her head against his chest. Marty Robbins, singing “Streets of Laredo,” PLAYS OVER.
ADAM (V.O.)
Noir is the new Western.
EXT. ENTRANCE, HOTEL JEROME, E. MAIN. MOMENTS LATER.
Three of the usual cowboy doormen keep the entrance clear for the arriving police cars and an ambulance. COPS and EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIANS rush past the tall hippie girl, who is showing her breasts to no one now. “Streets of Laredo” CONTINUES OVER.
INT. J-BAR, HOTEL JEROME. CONTINUOUS.
The Aspen volunteers and the Ute are looking out the windows of the empty J-Bar, together—as Marty Robbins keeps singing.
ADAM (V.O.)
For melodrama, noir has replaced cowboys and Indians.
INT. LOBBY, HOTEL JEROME. CONTINUOUS.
As the cops and EMTs rush through the lobby, where Jerome B. Wheeler and the still-bleeding Aspen volunteer are having coffee, “Streets of Laredo” PLAYS OVER.
ADAM (V.O.)
Cops and EMTs are the new Aspen volunteers. My father might have appreciated what Juliette Leblanc told Paige what’s-her-name: maybe a woman he slept with, or one he didn’t, was going to kill him.
INT. BREAKFAST ROOM, HOTEL JEROME. CONTINUOUS.
NO SOUND but Marty Robbins. Grace is holding Matthew’s hand, while she talks to one policeman. Both Grace and the cop agree that the crime scene is no place for Matthew. The policeman escorts them out of the dining room.
ANOTHER ANGLE: a POLICE PHOTOGRAPHER finishes taking pictures of the two bodies, which the EMTs cover. The photographer takes pictures of Paul Goode’s breakfast table, before he allows Otto to pick up Adam’s novel. Billy is talking to another cop, while Otto takes a clean napkin from an unused table; he dips the napkin in Paul’s water glass, wringing the napkin out in the glass. Otto wipes the bloodstains off the author photo, before giving Adam back his book. Adam lingers, to talk to the cop who’s been talking to Billy. The cops are nodding. What happened is incontestable. Marty Robbins keeps singing.
ADAM (V.O.)
Like the Western, there is no mystery about what’s noir—what happens is what was always going to happen; it’s what always happens.
EXT. ENTRANCE, HOTEL JEROME, E. MAIN. MOMENTS LATER.
The tall hippie girl watches the EMTs carry the bodies to the ambulance. The cowboy porter, with the cart holding Grace and Matthew’s stuff, has to wait for a police car or the ambulance to leave. For a moment, there’s no place for the Jerome van to park. Adam and Grace and Matthew wait. The hippie ghost sees Grace take the photo from her parka pocket and give it to Adam, who puts the photo in the copy of his novel. The tall hippie is interested in the novel. Adam is wary of the inquisitive ghost.
As the ambulance leaves, the Hotel Jerome van takes its place at the curb. Adam says goodbye to his family. Marty Robbins’s “Streets of Laredo” CONTINUES OVER.
Adam is shivering with cold—he’s not dressed to be outside, and the hippie’s curiosity about his novel is weird and annoying. Adam goes back inside the hotel, while Grace and Matthew wait for the Jerome van to be loaded. The tall hippie girl is upset that Adam has taken the book away.
INT. ELEVATOR, HOTEL JEROME. MOMENTS LATER.
The cowboy is still consoling Clara when Adam gets on the elevator. Clara is distraught to see him, but she’s curious about the book. Adam holds it up, showing her his author photo. He points to himself. Clara is unimpressed that he’s a writer—likewise the cowboy. “Streets of Laredo” FADES OUT OVER.
INT. BEDROOM, HOTEL JEROME. CONTINUOUS.
Adam drops his novel on the bed. The photo of his mom falls out. My Father’s Dragon is on the night table. He grabs it and runs out of the room.
INT. STAIRCASE, HOTEL JEROME. CONTINUOUS.
Adam running down three flights of stairs—it’s faster than waiting for, and riding on, the elevator.
EXT. ENTRANCE, HOTEL JEROME, E. MAIN. CONTINUOUS.
Adam runs out of the hotel. There are no cowboy doormen. Two police cars are parked at the curb, but there are no cops. The Jerome van is gone. Matthew will not be able to hear the last two chapters—not on the plane, and not at home in Vermont. The tall hippie ghost is the only one there. She is as interested in My Father’s Dragon as she was in Adam’s novel. Reluctantly, Adam shows it to her. The hippie girl smiles, pointing to herself.