The sole survivor of a dead revenge killer struggles to move on with her life, but when she encounters a man who looks just like him, and the murders begin again, she must fight to prove they're the same person.

SYNOPSIS:

Rabbit Cove, a feature screenplay synopsis

By Thom Reese

LOGLINE: The sole survivor of a dead revenge killer struggles to move on with her life, but when she encounters a man who looks just like him, and the murders begin again, she must fight to prove they're the same person.

College student, Bailey Eskra is attacked by revenge killer, Clayton Voss, who she fights off, maneuvering him in front of an oncoming car. He is struck, knocked unconscious, and captured. Nine years later and after a string of poor relationships and substance abuse issues, Bailey moves to the small town of Rabbit Cove with hopes of a new beginning. As she sits in a diner, she notices a fry cook. He turns, makes eye contact, and waves. The face is older, the beard gone, but she’s certain its Voss. But this is impossible. Voss was executed five years earlier. As weeks go by, Bailey frequently encounters the cook, Danny Lindholm, about town. He’s very childlike and seems confused as to why Bailey is frightened of him. True, it’s a small town, but she has the sense he’s stalking her. Bailey’s boss, Judith, often asks Bailey about her encounters with Lindholm and seems overly curious about Bailey’s past. Bailey dismisses this as simply Judith’s domineering personality.

There’s a murder in Rabbit Cove soon after Bailey’s arrival. It matches Voss’s M.O. in every detail. Bailey goes to the police with her suspicion that Lindholm is Voss, but since Voss is dead, she’s dismissed as a crank. Detective Malachi McCorkle of the County Sherriff’s Department is assigned the case. His wife was one of Voss’s victims. After a second murder, Bailey connects with McCorkle, explaining her theory. Not only does he not dismiss her, but he is very interested in her story. As the murder investigation continues, McCorkle is frustrated at the lack of progress. He finally reveals to Bailey that, yes, Lindholm is Voss. He was the subject of a top-secret experimental mind-wipe program and released into society. McCorkle is not allowed to reveal this even to the local authorities and cannot treat Lindholm as a suspect unless he finds substantiating evidence. Bailey offers to come forward as a witness with the claim that she saw Lindholm kill the second victim. Bailey’s false testimony does nothing to help the investigation as Lindholm has solid alibis. Worse yet, McCorkle’s partner sees Bailey as a suspect because there was perfume transference on the second victim indicating that the attacker may have been female. She believes Bailey is trying to frame Lindholm in order to put him back in prison.

Bailey and McCorkle decide they can’t let Lindholm get away with this. They approach Lindholm, taunt him, even beat him, and when he shows a flash of anger, McCorkle shoots and kills him. In order to make it look like Lindholm was the attacker, McCorkle cuts Bailey. They get away with their ruse, but Lindholm was innocent. The real killer, Bailey’s boss Judith, is still at large. Her sister was a victim of Voss and she’d worked for the state during the time of the mind-wipe and was privy to the truth. She relocated to Rabbit Cove specifically to frame Voss and hired Bailey in order to get her to Rabbit Cove where she could be Voss’s final victim – the one that got away finally falls beneath his blade. Judith attacks Bailey. McCorkle intervenes. There’s a knife fight where both Bailey and McCorkle are injured, but Judith is finally subdued. The truth about Lindholm’s death never comes out, but Bailey and McCorkle must live with the fact that they allowed themselves to fall so far.

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