Following the Script: Irvine Plot Thickens
Somewhere in Hollywood, perhaps at this very minute, someone is taking a meeting.
Some sharp-eyed script-development person has seen the newspapers in Orange County, burst into a producer’s office and said, “You’re not going to believe what’s going on down in Irvine!”
“Where’s Irvine?” the producer asks.
“Orange County. Nice little town. Master-planned. Think green space and Starbucks, piano recitals and Little League. Considered one of the safest places around.”
“OK, what have you got?”
“Looks like a contract hit on a business exec. Broad daylight, shot him in the face outside his office in one of the most upscale business parks in the county. Luckily, he survived.”
“Thank God. . . . OK, so we’ve got an attempted hit in a sleepy little town. Unusual, but not unheard of.”
“The police have reason to suspect his business partner.”
“That’s not all that surprising. An associate would be on any logical list of suspects. They simply interview the guy and----”
“The partner apparently shot and killed himself a few days later.”
“Well, that would seem to end the mystery, wouldn’t it?”
“Not exactly. The police think this was at least a three-person operation. They’ve arrested another guy they think drove the getaway car.”
“That’s it?”
“Nope. It gets crazier. This week, the cops order about 50 families in the dead guy’s neighborhood to evacuate. They’re putting them up in a hotel for a few days if they don’t have anywhere else to go. Plus, they closed down a grade school in the neighborhood.”
“You’re kidding. What for?”
‘The cops want to dig up the dead guy’s backyard.”
“What?”
“Yeah, these guys were in the biomedical business. They were apparently trying to develop a female contraceptive that would also prevent AIDS.”
“That is a bit of a twist, but what’s that got to do with a guy’s backyard?”
“While the cops are checking out the dead partner’s house, they find a bunch of stuff in containers that they think might be hazardous chemicals.”
“Weird.”
Wait, It Gets Weirder
“I’m not done yet. They think the guy might have buried a bunch of machine guns and ammo in the yard. If that blows and sends a bunch of toxic chemicals into the air--”
“We’d be talking major special effects. What do we know about the guy who shot himself?”
“Forty-nine-year-old scientist. Once described as a boy genius. Friends say he’s the quiet, brainy sort who marched to his own drummer. Might even be a survivalist, given all the weapons and ammo. Did lots of research, including on AIDS. He was the medical guy; his partner was the businessman. Someone said he was the Good Samaritan type and a good church man, the kind of guy who’d treat a patient for free. But definitely his own man. Liked African safaris. And, oh, yeah, he’d wear tennis shoes on any occasion--whether he was in church or at work or in a business suit.”
“History of bad blood with his partner?”
“Not that we’ve heard so far. In fact, people so far have a hard time believing he’d be the type. Apparently, he talked to his lawyer quite a bit the day he killed himself, but the lawyer won’t say anything.”
“What a cast of characters. And they haven’t found the shooter?”
“Nope, just the alleged driver. Cops say they found a hit man instruction manual at his house.”
“A hit man instruction manual?”
“That’s what they say.”
“So we have attempted murder, apparent suicide, neighborhood evacuation, business intrigue, buried ammo, possible toxic chemicals, and at one point they thought his yard was booby-trapped.”
“All in one of the safest cities around.”
“Well, it’s true, isn’t it, what they say?”
“What’s that?”
“About truth being stranger than fiction.”
“You can say that again.”
*
Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by e-mail at dana.parsons@latimes.com.