A Dark Secret

A Dark Secret
By: Alicia Jarrell
Act 1, Scene 1

Characters:
Lisa Easton, a 30-year old police officer who is always working her hardest to achieve greatness.
Amethyst is a 22-year old woman who has been falsely accused and convicted of crimes multiple times in the past. She had an accident as a teenager and does not remember her real name. During the accident she had on a necklace with an amethyst gem, and that's all she remembers.

Setting:
Lisa and Amethyst walk into the questioning room together, Amethyst's hands cuffed around her body. Easton leads Amethyst to the chair on the side of the table facing the wall parallel to the door and sits her down into it. Amethyst smirks slightly, her hands resting in her lap calmly. Easton walks around to the other side of the metal table and sits down slowly, leaning across the table with her hands clasped, her face entirely serious.

Amethyst can't help but chuckle lightly, knowing she'd most likely be falsely convicted again. Easton is actually the officer who found the faulty evidence at the crime scene leading to Amethyst the first time she was convicted.

Easton takes in a deep breath, closes her eyes, and lets it out again. She pulls from a small drawer in the side of the desk a pack of cigarettes, holds it out to Amethyst as an offer, while keeping the same serious facial expression. Amethyst shakes her head, holds her handcuffed wrists up, as if to say, "You put me in these, remember?" and then returns them back into her lap. Easton places the pack down on the table beside the small glass ashtray. She then pulls Amethyst's file from the file cabinet and puts it onto the table. The file is a large manila folder filled with a messy stack of papers, paper clips holding bunches of it together.

Easton: (opening the file to three handwritten letters in the back) So, Miss Amethyst, do you know why you're here today?

Amethyst: (smiling) Of course. If I didn't know why I was here, I wouldn't be so calm, now would I, Miss Easton? (There is obviously no respect shown for one or the other between the two.)

Easton: (nodding, with a small smile coming to her lips before it disappears) I suppose not. You have been accused of committing the murder of Janet and Christopher Hurley, as well as their three-year old girl, Molly. We have two letters that were transferred between you and an accomplice a week before and two days before the murder. We also have a note scrawled on a scrap piece of paper that was transferred between you two on the night of the murder, calculated to be exactly four hours before the police arrived. (The awkward smile appears on her face again.) The note was foolishly left at the scene of the crime, on the floor next to the doorway leading out the back door, most likely dropped as you and your accomplice ran out. We also have footprints of a pair of muddy combat boots, size nine in women's, matching the boots that you have on today.

Easton pauses a moment, and glances up from the file to look at the accused. Amethyst has a rather bored expression on her face. She knows the way that cops think; she's known ever since she was first convicted of armed robbery of a clothing store on her eighteenth birthday. Amethyst now yawns, not bothering to cover her mouth with her hand, and crosses her right leg over the other, the rip on her pant leg exposing a very bruised knee.

Amethyst: (raising her eyebrows as she glances over to the file, looking over the scrawled note that Officer Easton was talking about.) And?

Easton: (now pulling the evidence from the file and closing it, pushing it to her right side) Do you know what the letters say?

Amethyst: (shrugs) How on earth would I know?

Easton: (becoming slightly frustrated now, she clenches her teeth and reads) The first one reads ‘Hey, I thought we were supposed to meet up to talk about this ages ago. Gimme a call at the usual time, same number. If I don't pick up, might be better to drop by the same old place. Later.'. (Here, Officer Easton glances up to Amethyst to see if her facial expression has changed.) Does this mean anything to you? The letter is dated for February 27th.

Amethyst: (shrugging again, after a pause) Well, I'm assuming it's from my old friend Fangs, who I was actually supposed to meet up with two weeks before the last week in February.

Easton: (interjecting) And what were you two going to meet up about? Where's this "same old place" that he talks about?

Amethyst: (She doesn't say anything for a moment, her dark green eyes blankly looking to the officer, obviously offended that she was interrupted.) You know, officer, I'd expect that if you're trying to pull some bullshit evidence from me, that you'd keep your mouth shut while I'm trying to explain something.

There is a pause here, the tension between the two women is growing slightly. Amethyst's hands are clasped tightly in her lap, her anger already building up against the officer. She knew how to play it cool, though, and she knew if she blew up in the cop's face that she'd definitely be convicted again. Officer Easton leaned back slightly in her chair, realizing she had been leaning so far forward across the table that she could appear too oppressive. Amethyst nods and continues...

Amethyst: I was supposed to meet up with him to talk about a couple things I was going to buy from him. I think I was supposed to get a camera or something. I don't remember. And, the same old place was the pizza shop we used to meet outside of, across the street from where my accident was so long ago.

Easton: What's the name mean? Fangs?

Amethyst: (chuckling softly and shaking her head) That kid, he was so crazy when he was a teen, y'know? He convinced himself that he was a vampire and got his scissor teeth sharpened. Looks kinda scary to other people, but to me it's pretty normal. Every now and then we joke about it, I call him Dracula sometimes. We're good friends.

Easton: (nodding slowly, not really caring about this, just waiting for something that would help to convict this woman, since she was the only outstanding suspect) So, what about this second letter here from March fifth? ‘Where you been, man? I thought you were supposed to bring the tools yesterday to my place. Gimme a call or somethin.' What tools is he talking about?

Amethyst: Oh, well that week I was supposed to go over his place and fix up his computer, but I forgot about it. He's talking about my tools set made for hardware, a few screwdrivers of different sizes, and a bunch of spare parts. That's what I do in my free time, you know, fix up computers and technical equipment.

Easton: Yeah, we know. We've seen your hideout--.

Amethyst: Would you please not call it a hideout? It's my home, okay? I live there, I don't hide there or anything like that.

Easton: (sighing with frustration) Your home, then. We've been inside there about three times to date, each time you have more of your technical junk strewn across your halls.

Amethyst: (with a mocking smile on her face) I'm sorry, but my maid left the first time I was arrested, officer.

Easton: Anyway, this is all a very convincing story, Amethyst. But where were you on the night of March twelfth of this year?

Amethyst: Well, Friday the tenth was my friend's birthday, so I spent the weekend over his house. We got pretty drunk and ended up having a huge party with all his friends. I don't really remember much from that night or the day after, I just remember vomiting after dinner on Saturday night. (Here, she starts laughing to herself. For someone who was being accused of three counts of murder, she was pretty calm and collected.) That Sunday I probably had one of the worst hangovers of all time. He had it even worse, could barely get out of bed. We stayed home all day, ordered a couple pizzas, and wasted time watching movies and stuff.

Easton: (After a pause, she realizes her hands are clenched so tightly her knuckles were turning white, and unclenches them. Her voice is lined with that dangerous thread of anger.) You're lying to my face, Amethyst. You're really lying... I almost want to drag you to a lie detector just to show you that you're lying. Just to have proof.

Amethyst: Really now? First of all, why don't you tell me who's behind that wall there? Is it a camera... or your higher-ups? Because I'm sure they would be able to tell how absolutely pissed off you're becoming now. You're pissed off because you can't get me to tell you what you want to hear. You should know by now that I only tell the truth. I turned myself in once before, and if I really did the crimes you're now convicting me of tonight, I would not lie to you. I would tell you exactly what happened, why I did it, the whole nine yards. You could put it in the goddamned papers if you really wanted to. But you know what, Officer Friendly? (Here, Amethyst pauses, that queer smile returning to her face as she leans forward, her hands clasped together onto the table, the metal chain linking the cuffs together scraping across the metal of the table. Her voice lowers and becomes entirely serious.) I'm not ever gonna lie just to tell you what you fuckin' want to hear.

Easton: (She stands up quickly, her hands clenched tightly at her sides. Her jaw is clenched, lips pressed tightly together.) Don't mock me, Amethyst. Get up.

Amethyst: (She stands.) Heh, to the slammer it is then. Forgot to mention, my friend's a certified lawyer. Used to work for kids like me who thought they were oppressed by the man. Only lost one case, and that was when the cop had planted fake evidence. The cops always get their way, right? It's your way or the highway, isn't it, Officer?

Easton: (Taking a hold of Amethyst's shoulder, she leads the woman towards the door.) Just shut up and walk.

Amethyst: (Shrugging Easton's hand off her shoulder.) Sure thing, Lisa.

Lisa walks to the door and opens it, looking up to Amethyst's face. Amethyst is smiling eerily, and she tilts her head back some, her emerald eyes aimed upwards to the fluorescent lighting in the ceiling. She walks out into the hallway, turns around to face the questioning room, and begins laughing. Lisa shakes her head and walks out into the hall with Amethyst, shutting the door behind her. The audience can see that the door was not completely shut; the light from the hallway makes a visible crack in the door. We can hear Amethyst's laughter turn into shouts of incomprehensible insanity, and then fade down into a deep, unsettling chuckle...

We hear Easton's voice in a confused cry before she suddenly comes tumbling backwards into the questioning room. Amethyst has Officer Easton's gun in her hands, the safety off, pointed straight at Easton's face. She takes a couple steps in closer, and the light from behind her creates an eerie silhouette of her body.

Amethyst: (her eyes open widely, smiling from ear to ear) Game over, Lisa. I win.
Easton's face is showing nothing but fear for her own life. She says nothing, and cannot take her eyes away from the shadowed face of her assailant. Amethyst pulls the trigger, and blood and brains smear across the floor. The curtain falls.