LA Confidential.pdf - Screenplay.com

DEN
Innocuous except for the smell. It hits Bud right off.
MRS. LEFFERTS
Don't mind the smell. I think a
rat died behind the wall... My
Susie was a good girl!
BUD
Easy. Tell me about the ruckus.
MRS. LEFFERTS
I came home that night and there
was blood on the floor. Susan
said Stams -- Stens had cut
himself. They were acting
nervous. And that Stens kept
going under the house.
As Mrs. Lefferts goes shrill, Bud beelines out the door.
EXT. LEFFERTS' HOUSE (SAN BERNARDINO) - DAY
Holding a flashlight, Bud crawls under the house, into...
CRAWLSPACE
Bud elbow-crawls over the dirt, between wooden pilings.
There's a long burlap sack ahead. It smells bad. Bud
rips burlap. A rat's nest explodes. Bud sweeps a
forearm at them. As they clear, he sees a gristle-caked
human skull staring back, a .38 hole in the forehead.
Undaunted, Bud tears the burlap back further. He pats
the corpse's pockets, comes up with a wallet. Bud checks
the ID. "Turner Meeks." Bus knows him by that name and
another.
BUD
Buzz Meeks... Holy shit.
EXT. LEFFERTS' HOUSE - DAY
Bud crawls out, blinking sunlight and gulping fresh air.
Mrs. Lefferts is there. She's scared.
MRS. LEFFERTS
Was it... a rat?
BUD
Yeah. A great big one.