L'homme du Timon

         

L'homme du Timon

A tabloid reporter follows rumors to the whereabouts of his missing brother-in-law, only to find an end more gruesome than he could ever have imagined.

Int. Car on a busy street - midday

Buster is sitting in the driver seat of his grey, 1980's Buick speaking into his cell as the rain is pouring down outside. Buster is wiping blood from his knuckles as he cradles his phone in his shoulder then rubs his temple with closed eyes, lightning flashes outside and a deafening thunder clap immediately follows.

Buster

(into the phone)

Jan its Buster. Listen I've been trying to reach you all day but I guess a voice mail will just have to do. I was right before when I went to Henri's, Bruce was there. I'm going back, I'm hoping I can find out what happened to him. Look I've heard some rumors about this guy Henri, racketeering, murder and some other nasty stuff. I just wanted to let you know I never gave up looking, I also needed someone to know where I was going, I'm not taking my press pass with me this time. I love you.

Buster takes a deep breath as he rubs his forehead. Bruce tosses the phone onto the passenger seat and pulls off the curb into traffic.

Ext. Outside Henri's

Buster is holding an old McDonalds bag over his head as he runs up the front door. Once out of the rain and under the awning he tosses the paper bag onto the street and fixes the tail of his shirt as if covering something.

Int. Henri's Foyer

Buster walks into the foyer of the Bistro takes a deep breath as he walks straight up to the bar and sits down on a stool as a large man leans over the bar at him.

John Mark

(French accent)

What are you doing here? Henri says for you to stay away! Your bad news paper makes this Bistro look low brow!

Buster

Oh come on John Mark, I just came in for a glass of Old Crow, you wouldn't deny a man a drink would you?

John Mark stares at Buster, judging him silently and takes the bourbon off the shelf behind him and pours him a glass on the rocks and slides it to him.

John Mark

One glass, ok tabloid man? Just one!

Buster

Yeah, just one.

Buster looks around and see's that the dining room is empty except for another man at the end of the bar reading a book and a couple close to the kitchen doors. The man is eating a stuffed bone on a bed of greens and the woman is eating a slab of meat that is drizzled with colorful sauces.

Buster

Why is it so dead in here today?

John Mark

The kitchen is technically closed for a few more hours. Wednesdays we butcher the meat for the week.

Buster gestures to the couples table.

Buster

Looks like they got something from the kitchen.

John Mark

Oui missiours, they are preferred customers.

Buster

Oui huh? Rumor is something's in the food here, people can't get enough. Actually...

John Mark looks knowingly at Buster as he takes another swig of his drink.

Buster

Word around town is that if people need some money the bank won't lend them that they can come down here and good ol' Henry will help them out but if they don't pay...well.

Buster looks at the chuck of meat as the woman cuts into it exposing the bright red of the meat in the middle as blood pools in the plate.

Buster

Well...word is he gets his money out of them one way or another.

John Mark makes a face that is both playful and ominous.

John Mark

Oh come now missiours, these vicious rumors of this mafia activity is slanderous. If Henri was a worse man he wouldn't tolerate you here saying such things!

John Mark walks to the other end of the bar and Buster turns his chair facing the couple twenty feet away and watches them eat. Behind him we can see John Mark speaking to the man at the end of the bar. When he is done he goes back to polishing glasses as the man gets up and disappears behind the doors leading into the kitchen. Buster is sipping his drink in silence as he is approached by Kelly, a gorgeous young waitress with dark hair.

Kelly

Mr. Jacobs?

Buster

Call me Buster darl'n everyone else does.

Kelly

Certainly, Buster, Chef Besson would like to see you.

Buster

He would? How does he know I'm here?

Kelly smiles politely

Kelly

Should I tell him you don't want to talk to him?

Buster looks at Kelly and nods apprehensively.

Buster

Yeah, just give me a minute will ya? I'll be right there.

Buster gets up and heads for the restroom when Kelly interrupts him.

Kelly

I'll be waiting here to take you back when you're ready.

Buster stares at her for a moment and walks to the end of the bar passing John Mark. He is polishing brandy glasses with a sly grin. Buster turns the corner of the bar and disappears behind the wall into the hallway. From this angle no one can see him and he lets out an exasperated breath. Buster goes into the restroom and stands with his back against the door.

Buster

Shit...ok...ok

He pulls out the snub nose pistol out of the waist of his jeans from his back and checks to make sure it's loaded then puts it back and walks over to the sink and splashes water on his face and looks at himself in the mirror as if for the first time or maybe the last. Turns and exits the bathroom to find Kelly waiting for him at the end of the hallway with her innocent smile.

Kelly

Ready Buster?

Buster fakes a grin

Buster

Oh yeah, I'm ready.

Kelly walks past the bat where John Mark is talking to the guy who was reading the book. They both look at Buster as he walks past. As they approach the double doors leading into the kitchen, Buster sees the couple watching him walk into the back and a look of almost excitement comes over their faces. She takes another bloody bite and he holds the bone between his hands, eating the meat from the center like a wolf, bared teeth and eager. Nothing ridiculous. They walk through the doors and Buster looks over his shoulder again and before the doors close obscuring his view into the dining area he sees the woman wiping blood from the mouth with a white cloth napkin.

Buster turns his head around as a man is yelling at him to get out of the way as he is moving towards him quickly with a stock pot of furiously steaming liquid. He side steps out of the way and quickly moves up to where Kelly is a few paces ahead of him in the middle of the kitchen. To his left we see the butcher at his station cutting steaks and a human rib cage is next to him on the block. Buster eyes the ribs with a furrowed brow.

Buster

What kind of animal has ribs like that?

Kelly

Wait here Buster.

Kelly stops him just before the dark oak door ignoring his question. The door is just past the saucier station and over the station is a window into the office where he can see Henri sitting behind a desk. Kelly knocks and from the other side a thick French accent says "enter". Kelly disappears behind it for a moment and Buster surveys the busy kitchen. He does his best to make eye contact with all of them. The Sous chef who is standing now with the butcher where he wasn't a moment ago is staring back at him intently like a stone. Kelly is behind him calling his name but Buster doesn't seem to hear her. She touches an unresponsive Buster on the shoulder.

Kelly

Chef Besson would like to see you now.

Kelly says smiling and Buster nods as he is led into the kitchen office that resembles a lawyer's office more than a chefs.

Int. Chef Bessons office.

Chef Besson

(Thick French Accent)

Mr. Jacobs I thought your investigation was over. This is a Bistro, best in Philly, nothing criminal here yet I hear you are here again bothering John Mark.

Buster

I don't think I said anything was over Henry.

Chef Besson

Please, it's Henri, you know this. Why is your Exploiter magazine interested in my fine dining Bistro? You make rumors about us, about me. I don't find it favorable. No, not at all Buster.

Buster

Where is Bruce Clemmet?

Swear beginning to shine on Busters forehead and his breathing has gotten a bit faster.

Chef Besson

Who is Bruce Clemmet? I don't know this man.

Buster

Bruce Clemmet is the manager and owner of Bruce's Auto Repair. He's a hell of a poker player and father to two beautiful little girls. He's the husband of Janet Clemmet. Three weeks ago he came here to ask for more time to pay the money owed to for the initial invest for his repair shop four years ago. But he never came home. His wife, my sister, has been worried sick. Everyone knows what you do out of here. You're a loan shark and when people can't pay, you get rid of them. Don't you?

Henri claps his hands as he laughs leaning back in his chair.

Chef Besson

Mr. Jacobs, you have a wonderful imagination, I find you entertaining but I do not like the rumors you spread about me or my Bistro. I am no loan shark, I am no murderer. I don't know any Bruce Clemmet. Come let me make you something excellent.

Buster

I don't think so, I saw that shit you call food here. Bones with muck on it and damn baby cow tongue.

Chef Besson

Prepared marrow, placed back into the bone. Very good I assure you and it's not cow tongue, L'humme du Timon, it's a delicacy.

Buster stands and goes to the door and locks it and turns revealing the snub nose, pointing it at Henri.

Buster

Just shut up already and tell me where my brother is! What did you do with him?

Henri stares at Buster coolly and places his hands folded on the desk.

Chef Besson

Why would you do this Mr. Jacobs? This will only end badly for you now.

The saucier on the other side of the window looks up into the office and sees Buster with the gun. Buster rushes over and closes the blinds as the saucier is shouting something.

Buster

I just want my brother back you son of a bitch!

Someone kicking at the other side of the door makes Buster whirl around and point the gun at the door. Henri pulls a gun from under his desk and stands pointing it at Buster.

Chef Besson

Buster!

Buster turns and fires a shot hitting Henri in the left shoulder As Henri falls he squeezes the trigger and a bullet fires through the window into the kitchen and the door is kicked in. The Sous chef on the other side who kicked in the door barrels into Buster, knocking the gun from his hands and him to the floor.

Int. slaughter room

Buster's hands are tied and so are his ankles. He is sitting on a chair in a small room with a drain under him and the chain around his feet lead up to the ceiling to a pulley system. He is alone except for the Sous chef patching up the shoulder of Chef Besson and the butcher who is smoking a cigarette in the doorway. Buster is looking at them through squinted eyes from the blow he took hitting the ground. He groans.

Buster

What are you doing?

Anton

(French accent)

Ah, buster. Welcome back. Chef was worried you had hit your head too hard and would not wake up. But I assured him you would. And here you are.

Buster tries to move his hands and finds them bound, his feet as well. He looks down and sees that he is naked.

Buster

What the hell is this? What are you doing?

Buster struggles in his chair.

Anton

Ah yes, well you started vicious rumors about Chef Besson. That he was some sort of racketeer and murderer. Oui? It is a shame, because he is a good man, a very good man.

Buster

He tried to shoot me, what kind of good man shoots someone?

Anton

You tried to shoot him first did you not? Tell me Buster, what kind of man doesn't defend himself? A coward, a coward is not dependent on if a man is good or not only if he lacks will. Chef Besson is a man of incoryable character and will. I promise you.

Buster breathes heavily through his bloody nose and sees Anton thumbing a ring that looks like Bruces on his pinky.

Buster

Where is my brother

Anton squats down at eye level to Buster and cocks his head to him in a cold manner.

Anton

Missiours, your brother is dead.

Buster

You said Henri was a man of character, a good man, that what I thought of him was a rumor! Why is he dead if I was wrong!

Anton

Oui, you slander Chef's character but it was not him who killed Bruce. It was Moi. He tried to stop payments, he tried to be tough. I'm afraid Henri Besson is only a chef. A name, a face. He is the clean cook, but this is my Bistro. This is my kitchen and I control everything that happens. You want to know where Bruce is?

Anton stands and walks to a small counter and puts on a black rubber apron and black rubber boots and gloves and pulls a metal spike from the sink and wipes with a cloth.

Anton

You will be with him soon. First I will take your tongue, it is a delicacy. L'homme du Timon is a best seller, then I will make a pate from your liver.

Buster is hyperventilating now as Anton walks over and grabs him by his hair

Buster

No! WAIT!, NO!!!

Anton

Begging is the mark of a coward buster. Human flesh is a delicacy and of all the rumors I will admit to one, at Henri's Bistro, there is something in the food mon ami.

Chef Besson pulls a level on a wall next to him and Buster is lifted from the chair by his feet, flipping him and making him crack his head on the tile floor. Once he's hanging upside down Sous Chef Anton moves the chair away and then stabs Buster in the throat. Blood spurts out and drains into the grate on the floor.

         

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