INT. CITY HALL - NIGHT
Young Junior and Heather are flipping furtively through
various desk drawers and filing cabinets. Both are clad
completely in black; the only light in the room comes from
the mini flashlights in their hands.

JUNIOR
Are you sure it's here?

HEATHER
That's what Montag said.

JUNIOR
Can we trust him?

HEATHER
Isn't it a little late to be asking
ourselves that? Unfortunately,
neither of us seems to have the
answer. All we know is that he
provided us with the only clue we
have to go by.

JUNIOR
Then I guess we don't have much of
a choice: we either give up the
case or take the risk.

Unnoticed by Junior, Heather slips a piece of paper onto the
desk she is looking through. She picks it up and appears to
study it.

HEATHER
(fearfully)
Uh-oh.

Junior attempts to peer over Heather's shoulder, but she
quickly crumples it into a ball and shoves it into her
pocket.

JUNIOR
What was that?

HEATHER
We need to get out of here now!
Look, you take the back stairs;
I'll go a different route and meet
you at the bikes. It's the only
practical way: that way, if one of
us gets caught, it's just one, not
two.

JUNIOR
I don't like the idea of us
splitting up; we started together
and we'll end together.

HEATHER
Look: I found a file that might be
useful. No matter what happens,
keep it safe until I--.

JUNIOR
Is there something you're not
telling me?

HEATHER
Just get going!

Junior hesitates. The doorknob slowly turns; Junior rakes
off for the back stairs and Heather dives under a desk. The
door opens and the night watchman scans the room with a
large flashlight.

NIGHT WATCHMAN
Hey! Who's in here?

The flashlight catches Heather's foot, which is sticking out
from her hiding place.

NIGHT WATCHMAN
(traps Heather fully in
the beam of his
flashlight)
Come out of there!

Heather crawls out from under the desk and gazes straight at
the watchman.

HEATHER
Have you heard of the Picasso Case?

NIGHT WATCHMAN
Isn't that the one with all that--

HEATHER
Yes, that's the one. Look, the
culprit was getting suspicious, so
I needed to come up with something
that would make him think we were
out of commission.

NIGHT WATCHMAN
Aren't you a bit young for this
kind of work?

HEATHER
The few adults who know about the
case either don't care to do
anything, or they just can't do
anything.

NIGHT WATCHMAN
Just be careful--trust me, you're
better off out of this business.

HEATHER
Don't worry about us; for my plan
to work, it's going to take some
time. How much time, I'm not sure,
but by the time he feels it's safe
to come out again, I'll older and
wiser.

NIGHT WATCHMAN
And what am I supposed to do about
all this?

HEATHER
Get me in trouble, of course.

NIGHT WATCHMAN
What?

HEATHER
Just do it. I just hope this won't
damage Father's reputation too
much.

NIGHT WATCHMAN
It's a bit late to second-guess
yourself now.

HEATHER
This had better work.