Woman Into Wolf: the play

Scene 7
(Later. PERSEY’s house. She wears cleaning overall and carries duster & spray can. NED the cop in plain clothes knocks at the door. She’s surprised to see him.)

NED
(Very relaxed, strides in carrying folders)
Some place you’ve got here.
Looks like your help has help.

PERSEY
We’re do-it-yourselfers.
Um…how can I assist?

NED
Ready to work?
(Shakes the folders at her)

PERSEY
I am working.

NED
This is real work,
Not playing house.
Aren’t you supposed to be
My confidential Informant?
Saw your husband depart so figured
Now’s a good time.
Keepin’ it downlow.
How about coffee?

PERSEY
(She looks appalled but can’t think how to get out of this. DIGGER lifts an uninterested head and goes back to sleep.)
Um…sure.

(She wanders out. NED strides around the room, looking at everything. Scratches DIGGER behind ears, Pokes into things, wanders up to the portrait, which glares at him)

NED
Whoa, Nellie!

(PERSEY returns sans housecoat & duster, bearing a tray of coffee. NED gestures at the portrait)

NED
This is quite something.

PERSEY
Yes, isn’t it?
(She pours)

NED
That’s a lot of knives.
Your husband’s a collector?

PERSEY
Boys love toys.
Sugar? Cream?

NED
I could use something sweet.
One of those painted kids is
Your man, I presume?

PERSEY
(Sitting down – she’s had it with that portrait)
That’s what they say.
But no one knows which.

NED
Oh, I think I can tell.

PERSEY
(Very disbelieving)
They’re identical twins!

NED
(Confident)
Sure. One is a felon and the other
Married you. Think that wouldn’t show?

PERSEY
A felon?

NED
(Less certain)
Nobody told you?

PERSEY
Bruce went to jail?

NED
The guy was a rapist.
(He opens file)
He served four years.

PERSEY
My God!

NED
That’s my question, in fact.
There’s a gravesite and obituary…
But I can’t find a certificate.

PERSEY
Let me see.

(He hands her the file – contents projected on walls. Disturbing newspaper articles, black and white photos)

I was worlds away in college
Roy was in the army.
I never met Bruce.
Babe– she’s my mother-in-law
Says Bruce killed himself.

NED
Suicide never makes obits.
Family shame – there’s the rub.
Good coffee by the way.
You like it strong, just like I do.
Most people can’t handle that.
(Studied calm)
So you think something’s funny
About Bruce’s demise?

PERSEY
For the first time that seems likely.
A handsome young man,
With his own trust fund,
A bully who adored showing others his power.
Suddenly he has an actual motive for offing himself.

NED
(His turn to be disbelieving)
Family shame, you are thinking?
Some sense of remorse?

PERSEY
I know his mom pretty well.
Rape she could cover.
But prison…

NED
Mom’s OK with rape?

PERSEY
She’s a tad narcissistic.

NED
Ah. Would you say that it’s possible…
That Bruce is alive?

(WOLVES howl. DIGGER lifts his head and joins in. NED catches PERSEY’s cup as PERSEY drops it)

PERSEY
JESUS!

(DIGGER goes to window – all excited.)

It’s those coyotes. I’m afraid
Digger’s in love with them.

NED
Hey, we all envy the wild.
Sorry I upset you.

PERSEY
(Filled with revulsion and distaste)
Bruce CAN’T be alive.
. If he is alive, then where is he?
Roy says that he’s dead and
He couldn’t fool Roy.
Roy hated his brother but now
He’s been set free. He replaced
Bruce with Jarod who
Gives him esteem.
Not even their mother
Keeps that kind of secret.

NED
Work with me here.
Let’s imagine –
Just for argument –
Bruce was paid to vanish and
The money ran out.
What would he do?

PERSEY
(Cynically)
The money NEVER runs out.

NED
Wow. If you say so!

PERSEY
Roy’s mom isn’t clever
And she’s not really subtle.
I can read between HER lines.
She acts like something’s missing
That Roy took away.
Bruce’s death explains that.

NED
You think your husband
Murdered his brother?

PERSEY
What is it with everyone?
That’s NOT what I think!

NED
But somebody does?

PERSEY
One thing’s guaranteed;
If Bruce is alive,
Roy knows nothing about it.

NED
(Gentle irony)
So, in your case the wife
Is the first one to know?
Your husband can’t lie?
Kudos to both of you.

PERSEY
I know my own husband!
YOUR marriages didn’t take
So, what do YOU know?
Bruce was Roy’s twin!
It’s a special relationship.

NED
Would you say he loved his brother?

PERSEY
Hated him. Bruce was the favorite.
Roy never came into his own
Till his brother died.
But if he thought for a moment that
Bruce could appear…he’d act totally different.
I just know it.

NED
You’re pretty confident
In your ability to read people.

PERSEY
I can read THESE people.

NED
Kudos to ME picking
Confidential Informants.

PERSEY
(She fears he is mocking her but he’s very straight faced.)
So, what is it you want
Me to do for you exactly?

NED
Get me a death certificate.

PERSEY
This was supposed to concern Jarod!

NED
I say what this concerns.
That’s how this thing works.
You’re a better authority
On this family than on Gunver.

PERSEY
(She just hates this job)
Well, Babe is a packrat and
Bruce’s room is a shrine.
Her house is a castle.
I could look for it there. Or…
I could ask her.

NED
I’d appreciate it.
She won’t return calls.

(PERSEY rises as if to show him out but NED sits like a log. He not going anywhere.)

PERSEY
(A bit desperately)
Why Bruce?
And why now?

NED
His fingerprints turned up
Recall that pink shoe in the woods?

PERSEY
Really? You’re kidding!

NED
Who knows how long
A fingerprint lasts? Still –
There’s no coincidences
Only new patterns.
Bruce gets out of jail…
Disappears – bodies appear. They say
Rapists who serve time
Stop leaving witnesses.

(WOLVES howl. Now DIGGER wants to go out.)

PERSEY
(To DIGGER)
You lie down!

(DIGGER plays dead)

(To NED)

But that’s horrible!

NED
Horrible’s my job.
How long have you had
This feral dog problem?

PERSEY
There isn’t a problem!
If Digger’s friends choose to go feral
We can respect that.

NED
You promise to help me?

PERSEY
(Pacing, trying not to panic)
You’re looking in the wrong place.

NED
What makes you think so?

PERSEY
(Determinedly)
MY suspect’s a cop, that’s why
You’ll never see it.

(NED leans forward)

NED
Jarod’s got no criminal jacket.
He isn’t good for this. The question is
Why your husband has bad taste in friends.
Gunver physically violent
That you personally know of?

PERSEY
He brags about hurting prisoners.
The whole street’s afraid of him.
He and Stormee fight constantly.

NED
He’s got no complaints.

PERSEY
It’s a rigged system!

NED
This is circular reasoning.

PERSEY
He’s a parasite!

NED
Parasites don’t kill.
If they know what is good for them.
You’re emotionally involved.

PERSEY
And that cancels evidence?

NED
Hey, everyone’s suspect.
I promised to study it.

PERSEY
(Points to the folders he hasn’t opened)
So, what’s that doing here?
Those extra files?

NED
Oh. You wanted those names.
Of the missing.

(WOLVES emerge howling and gather around house.)

Sounds like…they’re singing.

PERSEY
Wouldn’t we all if we could?

NED
You mean feel one with nature?

PERSEY
Dance with the trees.

(She whirls. THE WOLF-SPIRITS stand up as humans with wolf heads & masks)

NED
In our dreams!

(Words & photos projected on walls. Names.)

WOLF SPIRITS
(Eerie chanting)
Cookie Louise, Monica Falkin, Jean Jane McComber, Ernie
“DaToy”, Jo Lee Ann Jeffries, Miss Mina Ha, Jane Does 1 through Jane Doe 4, John Doe 1,2,3.

PERSEY
Can I keep these?

NED
Do you want them?

PERSEY
Names are important.
I’d like to study them.

NED
The murderer didn’t care who they were.

PERSEY
I think he killed them because of
Who they were becoming.

(The TREES send protective vines over the house; DIGGER howls)

NED
That’s an eerie effect!
Really makes you shiver.

(PERSEY opens the door and looks out pointedly)

How about your name – Persey.
Where did that come from?

PERSEY
It’s an old one.
Persephone. It’s Greek.

(NED exits; having to push vines aside.)