---

EXT STREET - ON WAY TO DOMINO - NIGHT

BILL walks.
INT/EXT BAKERY - BILL BUYS A CAKE - NIGHT

Seen through the window.
EXT. DOMINO STREET - NIGHT

Bill walks down the street where he was picked up the night before

by the young prostitute, Domino.
He carries a small cake-box tied with a blue ribbon.
He finds the address and rings the bell. The buzzer sounds and he

goes in.
INT DOMINO STAIRCASE CORRIDOR - NIGHT

An arty looking woman in her forties opens the door on the chain.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

ARTY WOMAN

Hi. What can I do for you?
BILL

Good evening. I'm looking for Domino
ARTY WOMAN

Domino?
BILL

Yes. Is she in by any chance?
An attractive girl in her twenties, wet hair and wrapped in a towel

robe, pokes her head out.
SALLY (smiles)

You're looking for Domino? You'll

have to excuse the way I look. I just

got out of the bath..
BILL

Yes. Is she in?
SALLY takes the door off the chain.
SALLY

Come in for a minute.
INT DOMINO APARTMENT - NIGHT

Bill enters the apartment.
SALLY

Hi. I'm Sally. This is Pietra.
Ad-libs of hellos.
Bill looks around - no Domino.
SALLY

Well, as you can see, Domino's out.
BILL

Okay. Do you expect her back soon?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

SALLY

I don't think so.
ARTY WOMAN

Maybe tomorrow.
BILL

Okay. Well, I'll just leave this cake for

her, if I may.
ARTY WOMAN (akes the cake)

Okay. Great. We'll see that she gets it.
BILL

Is she out of town?
ARTY WOMAN

Uh--no, actually, she's in the hospital.
Sally gives her a look.
BILL

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope it's

nothing serious.
ARTY WOMAN

We're not really sure. It was for some

kind of tests.
Sally gives her another look and moves close to BILL, her towel robe

parting a little to show her naked underneath.
SALLY

Listen, I'm not sure what's was on your

mind but if it was more than cake,

there's nothing wrong with me.
BILL hesitates.
BILL

Look, I'd love to but some other time.

Okay? I was just passing by with the

cake.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

SALLY

You sure?
BILL (nods)

I've really got to go.
EXT DOMINO STREET - BILL WALKING - NIGHT
V.O.

Was this another and final sign that

everything he put his hand to was

bound to turn out a failure for him?
But why should it be. Wasn't the fact

that he had just escaped a possibly fatal

infection from the girl a good sign?
Everything now seemed so unreal; his

home, his wife, his child, his profession,

and even himself.
Bill felt choked with tears. He had not

slept for two days and his nerves were

gradually giving way.
He intentionally struck up a quicker

pace than he was in the mood for.
EXT STREET - BILL FOLLOWED - NIGHT
Suddenly, BILL feels he is being followed.
He glances back and sees a man about half a block behind him

walking at the same rapid pace.
As soon as the man notices BILL has seen him, he stops and looks in

a shop window.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

SHORT SEQUENCE OF THE MAN FOLLOWING BILL - SEVERAL

STREETS
STREET - NEWS-STAND NEAR COFFEE SHOP

BILL stops at the news-stand and buys a paper.
He looks back again.
The man is still there, walking slowly towards him.
BILL goes into a nearby Coffee Bar.
INT COFFEE BAR - NIGHT

Bill sits down at a table against the wall, keeping an eye on the door.
A waitress comes over with a glass of ice water and a plastic menu.
WAITRESS

Hi. Would you like to order now?
BILL

Sure.
BILL manages a tired smile and looks at the menu.
BILL

I'll have...a cup of coffee and...maybe

a cheese Danish.
WAITRESS

Okay, great.
She leaves, taking away the menu.
BILL opens his eyes as wide as possible, arches his neck and drinks

some water. He looks terrible.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

He idly picks up the newspaper he just bought and starts to look

through it.
A story catches his eye.
EX-BEAUTY QUEEN IN HOTEL DRUGS OVERDOSE

Kelly Curran, 30, a former Miss Wisconsin, was

taken to New York Hospital this morning in critical

condition after taking a drugs overdose.

She was found unconscious when police broke into

her room at the San Carlos hotel after she failed to

respond to efforts to contact her.

The night manager told police she had returned to

the hotel at four o'clock in the morning accompanied

by two unidentified men.
V.O.

Four o'clock in the morning! The

same time he returned home!
And accompanied by _two men_!
Wasn't it two men who took Nick

Nightingale from his hotel only an hour

later?
There was no compelling reason to

believe that Kelly Curran and a certain

other woman were one and the same.

And yet - his heart throbbed and his

hand trembled.
BILL looks for the waitress to get his check.
At the same time, he notices the man who had been following him

sitting at another table.
The man slowly raises a newspaper, partly covering his face.
BILL pays his check.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the door, he turns to look for the suspicious character at the table

but he is already gone.
EXT HOSPITAL - NIGHT

Establishing shot
INT HOSPITAL
BILL the signs to the Emergency Room Waiting Area.
He walks up a young black woman at the information desk.
BILL

Good evening, I'm Doctor Harford. I'd

like to see a patient of mine who I

believe was admitted this morning.
He shows her his identity card.
CLERK

Okay, thanks, Doctor. What did you

say the name was?
BILL

Curran, Kelly Curran.
CLERK

C..u..r..r..a..n?
BILL

Yes.
The woman keyboards the letters into her computer.
Something comes up on her screen that makes her stop.
CLERK

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kelly Curran, right?
BILL

That's right.
CLERK

I'm sorry, doctor, but I'm afraid she

died this afternoon.
BILL

What?
CLERK

Yes, at three-forty five, p.m.
BILL stares at her.
He feels strangely relieved.
BILL

Is the body in the hospital morgue?
INT HOSPITAL CORRIDOR ON WAY TO MORGUE
BILL follows a black male orderly down a hospital corridor.
INT MORGUE

The morgue is a brightly lit, white-tiled room with six autopsy tables

and fifty numbered crypts.
There is no one else working in the room.
The black orderly checks a slip of paper and goes to that crypt.
He opens the door, slides out the pallet and pulls down the sheet

covering the body.
BILL stares down at the naked body of a young woman.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The orderly gives BILL an inquiring look. BILL nods and the orderly

crosses the room and lights a cigarette.
BILL lifts the woman's head a little.
Her face is white. Her half-closed eyes stare at him. The lower jaw

hangs down limply, the narrow upper lip is drawn up, revealing bluish

gums and a beautiful set of white teeth.
He gently lays her head back on the pallet.
His eyes follow the lines of her body.
He touches her forehead and her cheeks, her shoulders and her arms,

doing so as if compelled and directed to by an invisible power.
He twines his fingers about those of the corpse, and rigid as they are,

they seem to make an effort to move, to seize his hand.
He bends over her, as if magically attracted.
V.O.

Was this the woman he was seeking?
Were these the eyes that had shone at

him the day before with so much

passion?
Was this the alluring body for which,

only yesterday, he had felt such

agonising desire?
He bent lower, as if he could extract

an answer from the rigid features.
But he had only seen her face for an

instant, and he knew that if it were

_her_ face, and _her_ eyes, he would not,

could not - and in reality did not want

to know.
He also realized that from the time he

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

read the account in the newspaper, he

had imagined her as having the

features of his wife.
And he shuddered to realise that his

wife had constantly been in his mind's

eye as the woman he had been

seeking.
He frees his fingers from those of the corpse, and taking her thin

wrists, places the ice cold arms alongside the body very carefully.
He looks at the orderly.
BILL

Okay - thanks. I'm finished.
Bill watches the orderly slide the pallet back into the crypt and close

the door.
ORDERLY

Want to wash up, Doc?
He gestures to a row of sinks.
BILL

Thanks.
BILL goes over and carefully washes his hands with disinfectant.
His cellular phone goes off.
BILL

Hello... Yes... That's perfectly all

right... Okay... Oh, I guess about

twenty minutes... Okay... Goodbye.
EXT ZIEGLER MANSION - NIGHT

BILL's taxi pulls up.

There are only a few lights on inside, giving the house a more

sombre appearance from the night of the Christmas party.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The butler opens the door and takes BILL's coat.
Ziegler's assistant, HARRIS, appears.
HARRIS

Good evening, Dr. Harford.
BILL

Good evening.
HARRIS

Thank you for coming over so quickly.
BILL

What seems to be the problem?
HARRIS

I'm afraid I don't know. Will you follow

me, please?
BILL follows HARRIS. Their footsteps sound loud in the quiet house.
They stop in front of the library door and HARRIS knocks.
ZIEGLER (o.s.)

Come in.
HARRIS opens the door for BILL and closes it behind him, remaining

outside.
ZIEGLER gets up from an armchair and shakes hands.
ZIEGLER

Hi, Bill. Sorry to drag you over here at

this time of night.
BILL

No problem.
ZIEGLER

What are you drinking?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

BILL

Well, I suppose a brandy would be

nice.
ZIEGLER (going to the bar)

It was lovely to see you and Alice the

other night.
BILL

It was a wonderful party and we had a

great time.
ZIEGLER

It's a shame you had to leave so early.
BILL

We hated to go but I had a couple of

early appointments.
ZIEGLER hands him his brandy and they touch glasses.
BOTH

Cheers.
BILL

Nice..
ZIEGLER

Napoleon, 1935.
BILL looks suitably impressed.
BILL

So - what seems to be the problem?

Someone under the weather?
ZIEGLER looks into his brandy glass.
ZIEGLER

Can I be frank, Bill?
BILL

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Of course.
ZIEGLER

I'm afraid what I've got to say is a bit

awkward to talk about.
BILL

I'm your doctor.
ZIEGLER rotates his brandy.
ZIEGLER

This isn't a medical problem.
BILL

Oh.
ZIEGLER

No.
BILL looks at him, quizzically.
ZIEGLER nods and returns a tense smile.
ZIEGLER

I'm not exactly sure how to begin this.

But maybe the best thing is to just to

put the cards on the table and say that

I happen to know quite a lot about

what you've been doing for the past

twenty-four hours.
He lets this sink in
BILL

Sorry, Victor but may I ask what the

hell are you're talking about?
ZIEGLER (quietly)

Bill, please believe me, I know this is

awkward - perhaps as awkward for

me as it is for you. Okay?
Bill says nothing.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

ZIEGLER

Okay?... Now, the reason I wanted to

talk to you is that I think you may be

harbouring one or two

misapprehensions about last night,

which I would like to clear up.
Silence
ZIEGLER

Okay. I think I should also tell you that

I was there. At the house.
ZIEGLER says this in a very matter-of-fact way.
ZIEGLER

I saw everything that happened.
A long pause.
BILL

Well, what an amazing coincidence.
ZIEGLER

The words practically right out of my

mouth. An amazing coincidence.

That's what I first thought. But then I

remembered seeing you and your

musician friend, Nick, renewing old

acquaintances at the party, and it didn't

take me very long to realize that the

rotten little prick was the reason you

were there.
Bill gets to his feet. There's no point in denying anything and he has

to protect Nick.
BILL

Look, Victor, this was all my fault. Nick

did his best to talk me out of it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

ZIEGLER

Yes, I know. He told us. But the fact

remains that the little cocksucker told

you in the first place and gave you the

password and the address.
BILL

It was all down to me pressurising him.
ZIEGLER

Maybe so, but I recommended him

to these people and he betrayed my

trust.
BILL hesitates.
BILL

I went to his hotel this morning.
ZIEGLER

I know.
BILL

How's that?
ZIEGLER

That was my man following you. He

told me you spotted him.
BILL shakes his head incredulously.
BILL

Why did you have me followed?
ZIEGLER

For your own good? To avoid any

foolishness?
BILL

The hotel clerk said two men took him

away at five-thirty this morning.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

ZIEGLER

That's right. They gave him an airline

ticket and took him to the airport. By

now he's probably back with his family

in Seattle.
BILL

The clerk said he had a bruise on his

cheek.
ZIEGLER

Is that all?
BILL

Is he okay?
ZIEGLER

He's a lot better than he deserves to

be.
BILL

Nothing else?
ZIEGLER

He's okay. Phone him in Seattle if

you're concerned. I'll give you his

phone number.
ZIEGLER pours more brandy.
BILL

Nick never said anything about a

second password. Was that what gave

me away?
ZIEGLER

There was no second password. You

gave yourself away as soon as you

arrived. Invited guests come in limos

not taxis, and they don't get out of

their cars half a block from the gate.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the servants took your coat, one

of our people went through your

pockets and found the receipt for the

rented tux and cassock made out to

Doctor W. Harford, a name obviously

not on the guest list.
ZIEGLER sips some brandy.
ZIEGLER

Bill, these were not just _ordinary_

people. I don't think you have any idea

how fortunate you are to have got out

of that situation as easily as you did.

Someday you can thank me for that.
BILL

What about the woman?
ZIEGLER

Not at all what you think.
BILL

Why did she try to warn me?
ZIEGLER doesn't answer immediately.
BILL

Why was she willing to sacrifice

herself for me?
ZIEGLER

Bill, are you so sure she was the kind of

woman for whom the things you

imagined were actually a sacrifice?
If she attended these affairs and knew

the rules so well, do you suppose it

would have made any difference to her

whether she belonged to one of the

men, or to all of them?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bill, she was just a

thousand-a-night- hooker - no more,

no less.
BILL stares at him blankly.
ZIEGLER

Bill, tell me, did you never consider the

possibility that the whole thing might

have been nothing more than a

charade?... A charade played out for

the benefit of someone who didn't

belong - to frighten them and make

sure they keep quiet?
BILL takes a deep breath and tries to absorb what he has just been

told
Then takes the newspaper from his pocket with the story about the

drugs overdose.
BILL

What about this?
ZIEGLER

What about it?
BILL

Is it her? I went to the morgue but I

couldn't tell.
ZIEGLER

It is her.
BILL (quietly)

Is this what she meant when she aid

she would redeem me?
ZIEGLER

No - it wasn't But I was afraid you

might think it was, and that's why I

wanted to see you.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

BILL

You say it was a charade but isn't a

but strange, a woman offers herself as

a sacrifice and the next morning she's

dead?
ZIEGLER

That _was_ a coincidence. An amazing

coincidence, perhaps but a genuine

coincidence, nonetheless.

Bill, please believe me, nothing

happened to her that hadn't happened

before. She got a lot of attention, that

was certainly true, but nothing she

didn't want. And later, when my

people left her at the hotel, they said

everything was absolutely okay.
What then happened in her room, she

did to herself, as she had done many

times before. But, sadly, this would be

the last time.

She OD'd on crack, like the papers

said. No chance for foul play. Her

door was locked from the _inside_ and

the police had to break it down.
No, I'm afraid for her it was always

going to be just a matter of time - you

said as much yourself when she passed

out in my bedroom at the Christmas

party.
BILL

My God, was that her?
ZIEGLER nods, yes.
Several moments of strained silence go by.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then ZIEGLER stands up with a comfortable end-of-conversation-sigh.
ZIEGLER

So, Bill, I hope you understand why I

thought it was important to tidy this

up. But now I think all the dishes are

washed and put away. Nobody killed

anybody. Someone died. That's sad.

But life goes on. It always does. Until it

doesn't. Okay?
INT BILL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Bill quietly enters and goes to his study to undress, as he did the night

before.

He enters the bedroom as quietly as possible.
He hears ALICE breathing softly and regularly and sees the outline of

her head on the pillow.
Unexpectedly, his heart is filled with a feeling of tenderness and even

of security.
Then he notices something dark quite near ALICE'S face.
It has definite outlines like the shadowy features of a human face,

and it is lying on his pillow.
For a moment his heart stops beating, but an instant later he sees

what it is, and stretching out his hand, picks up the MASK he had

worn the night before.
V.O.

He thought he must have dropped it in

the morning when he packed the

costume away, and Alice had found it

and placed it on the pillow beside her,

as though it signified _his_ face, the face

of a husband who had become an

enigma to her.
All at once he reaches the end of his strength.

Clutching the mask, he utters a loud and painful

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

sob - quite unexpectedly - and sinks down beside the bed, buries his

head in the pillows, and cries.
A minute later he feels a soft hand caressing his hair.
He looks into ALICE'S worried eyes.
BILL

I will tell you everything.
ALICE raises her hand, as if to stop him, but he takes it and holds it.
BILL

No, I will tell you everything.
BEDROOM - IT IS NOW DAWN

The grey light creeps through the curtains.
ALICE sits expressionlessly at a small table near the window, finishing

a cigarette. A full ashtray next to her.
BILL sits miserably on the edge of the bed staring at the carpet..
He sighs and looks at Alice.
She smiles at him sadly and reaches out her hand.
He gets up slowly and goes over to her.
BILL

What are we going to do now?
She gazes into his eyes.
ALICE

I think we should both be grateful that

we have come unharmed out of all our

adventures, whether they were real or

only a dream.
BILL kneels down in front of her.
BILL

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Are you really sure that?
She takes his hands in hers and looks at them.
ALICE

Only as sure as I am that the reality

of one night, let alone that of a whole

lifetime, is not the whole truth.
BILL

And no dream is entirely a dream.
She presses his head to her breast.
ALICE

But I think we're awake now.. And

for a long time to come.
BILL (whispers)

Forever.
Almost before he finishes the word, ALICE lays her fingers on his

lips.
ALICE (whispers as if to herself)

We should never look into the future.
They kiss tenderly and lie down on the bed, dozing a little,

dreamlessly, close to one another - until with the usual noises from

the street, and a victorious ray of sunlight through the opening of the

curtain, there is a knock on the door and their seven-year-old

daughter, HELENA, runs into the room and, laughing, jumps into

their bed. And a new day begins.

The End

---

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