TAYLOR (V.O.)
Six months since I hung out my
shingle, and business was slower
than a decades-old computer. The
bills were piling up, my spirits
were low, and I was just starting
to wonder if I should quit the
gumshoe biz and go back to
installing workerbots at the
microchip factory... when she
walked in.

A woman’s silhouette appears outside the door. Then the door
is pushed open and ALICE walks in: five foot nine of
gorgeous redhead, in a dress she could have been poured
into, on the wrong side of forty but looking none the worse
for it.
ALICE
Mr. Taylor?

Taylor sits up very quickly. Remembering in time that she’s
a customer, he tries to look professional.
TAYLOR
Yes, ma’am? What can I do for you?
ALICE
My name is Alice Flynn. Are you
taking new cases?

TAYLOR
I imagine I can fit you in.

Her eyes pass dubiously over the mess on his desk.
ALICE
Yes, well, you’re the last private
detective in the city who hasn’t
refused to help me. The moment I
tell them my problem, they’re
suddenly busy, or not taking new
cases, or about to go on an
extended vacation.

TAYLOR (V.O.)
That should have been a bad sign
right off. But if my colleagues
were capable of refusing a woman
like that, I certainly wasn’t.

TAYLOR
Why would they do that? What’s your
problem?

ALICE
I need you to find my daughter
Suzie.

She pushes a photo across the table: a young girl, smiling
innocently at the camera.

ALICE
She’s only sixteen, and she’s run
away from home. Please, I don’t
know what to do. She could be in
danger.
TAYLOR (V.O.)
I admit it, I can never resist a
damsel in distress. But something
about what she was telling me
didn’t add up.
Taylor looks up at her, his eyes narrowing.
TAYLOR
You daughter’s missing, but you
haven’t gone to the police and
every gumshoe you’ve gone to has
turned you down. What is it you’re
not telling me?

ALICE
First promise me you’ll take the
case.

TAYLOR
Lady, I promise nothing without
knowing what I’m getting into.
You’re mixed up with something
dangerous, and I want to know what
before I stick my neck out.

Alice hesitates.

ALICE
Well... I suppose I have no choice
but to tell you. But you must at
least promise that what I’m telling
you doesn’t leave this room.
Whether or not you take the case.

TAYLOR
All right, I promise. Now what kind
of trouble has your daughter gotten
into that no one wants to touch?
Gangs? Drugs? Prostitution?

ALICE
No, no, nothing like that! Suzie is
a good girl. She’s never given us
the least trouble before this. Even
when she threatened to run away, I
never for a moment thought she
would really do it.

TAYLOR
So why exactly did your daughter
run away, Mrs. Flynn?

She pauses just a moment before taking the plunge and
telling him.

ALICE
Because she took a childish notion
into her head that she didn’t want
to join the Collective.

Taylor leans back in his chair and whistles.

TAYLOR (V.O.)
I knew then why nobody else would
touch the case with a ten-foot
pole. And damned if I shouldn’t
have known better than to take it,
too. But like I said, I’ve always
been a sucker for a damsel in
distress.