Di Angelo

POLICE CAPTAIN’S OFFICE          CHICAGO                          LATE AFTERNOON

Disbelief mixed with anger fills Captain  RALPH  GILLIS’s face as he confronts  Detective ANGELO DI ANGELO

                                   CAPTAIN

 Four times, Angelo! You

shot him four times!

                                  

DI ANGELO

Yeah.

                                  

                                   CAPTAIN

What were you thinking?

                                   DI ANGELO

 He was killing my partner.

  What’d you expect?

                                  

                                   CAPTAIN

        But four times. Once wasn’t

 enough? Maybe twice?

                     DI ANGELO

                     You weren’t there.                           

CAPTAIN

You’re right. And it isn’t the

number, anyway. It’s the how.

                                  

DI ANGELO

                     How?
                                   CAPTAIN

How you did it. You blew

out his knees and his elbows

DI ANGELO

I immobilized him

CAPTAIN

You think?

A brief calm dissipates the tension. The Captain motions DiAngelo to sit as he takes his seat behind his paper-laden desk.

                                   CAPTAIN

What I don’t get is,       

how could you shoot him

so strategically. What were

you thinking?

                                   DI ANGELO

                     It was a right brain action,

                     Captain

                            

CAPTAIN

                     What the hell does that mean,

right brain action? Our shrink’ll

have a hell of a time with that.

  

DI ANGELO

I mean I was operating off

the right side of my brain,

the creative part.

DiAngelo leans in toward the desk, his forearms touching the edge.

             

              DI ANGELO

Captain, he had John wedged

up against the pillar, his forearm 

crushing John’s Adam’s apple.

DiAngelo’s right arm raises, his hand making a simulated handgun.

                                  

DI ANGELO (Con’t)

Shooting his legs out from under him changed all that. He fell to the ground 
like a lead weight

                                   CAPTAIN

You couldn’t stop then?

                                   DI ANGELO

Of course not. This guy’s

a soldier. He’s been shot

before.

 DiAngelo leans back into his chair

DI ANGELO (Cont’d)

A bullet or two was not

going to take him out.

As he fell, I saw he had

a gun in his hand.

DiAngelo Raises his two arms, bent at the elbows to demonstrate:

       DI ANGELO (Cont’d)

He landed flat on his

back with both arms up,

so I shot his elbows, first the one with the gun, then the other.

DiAngelo drops his arm, rests again in his chair, smiles broadly a Cheshire Cat grin

DI ANGELO (Cont’d)

I thought I did it creatively,

don’t you? In fact…

DiAngelo lifts his arms gently, his fingers outstretched as if conducting

DI ANGELO (Cont’d)

...I heard music playing in 
my mind while it happened.  
Beethoven, I think.

The captain shakes his head in wonderment, then looks up to see JOHN MERCER walk through the door. Di Angelo stands up, moves toward his partner. They embrace heartily, John kisses Angelo on his left cheek. Mercer pulls back slowly, smiles

                                 JOHN MERCER

I owe you one

                                 DI ANGELO 

Nah, not at all. I was telling

the captain, here, it gave

me a chance to be creative…

Di Angelo touches his right index finger to his right temple

            DI ANGELO (Cont’d)

…to give my right brain

free rein over the left. I can’t

wait to tell the guys in my

writing class

                                 CAPTAIN

                            Enough of that crap, Angelo                                 
                            Save it for the shrink

Captain leans back in his chair, his right arm raised, a pen in his hand.

     CAPTAIN (Cont’d)

Tell her how you cost the

City  half a mil to reconstruct

this guy’s limbs.

                                DI ANGELO 

                            Don’t forget the 50 thou a year 

                            to keep him in prison.

       He’s a young man.Could 
      be millions

  The captain shakes his head, chin to chest                                        
                            
                                CAPTAIN

                     One bullet to the head and

we’d have had closure   

Captain shakes his head wryly, looks directly at Di Angelo, who returns the look with a grin

                                   
                               DI ANGELO 

That’s not closure, Captain.

Not for me,

Angelo again moves toward the desk, eager to reinforce his opinion

                                  

                                   DI ANGELO 

He and his friends blew out

a building. They killed eleven

civilians and two rent-a cops.

Di Angelo sits back slowly, continues

                                   DI ANGELO (Cont’d)

If I killed him, there’d be

open wounds, and questions.

‘Why them, why today, what

were they thinking?’

DiAngelo pauses for effect, looks at the two men in turn

              

            DI ANGELO (Cont’d)

 It’s no difference with suicide,

 all that sadness and anger– but 

 without answers. Now it’s 

 different. Better.

                                   CAPTAIN

                      Tell that to the Comptroller.

                      You just blew the budget for

                      the year on hospital bills.

                                   DI ANGELO

                       I’m not responsible for budgets

   sir, just my partner.”

The captain pushes himself from his chair using the arms

CAPTAIN

                      File your reports, both of you       

Captain turns to Di Angelo, a softer look on his face

      CAPTAIN
And, Angelo. Make your 
appointment with the shrink. 
Now.