revenge E X T R A C T * |
BILL: ....Listen, lady. I don't know who you are, or what you're after, but I'm not the sort of man you can play these games with. MARY: No. I'm sure you're not. BILL: Try and get clever with me and you'll find I can play very rough. MARY: Is that what Mark Tilling found out? (PAUSE.) You look taken aback, Bill. BILL: Mark Tilling? Is that where you got all this filth? MARY: Why - did he know about it too? (PAUSE) Bit of a slip, that. Rather given yourself away there, haven't you? BILL: Who the bloody hell are you? MARY: The question is, who are you? Are you an honourable man? Do you play according to the rules, or are you someone whose confidence can mean a stab in the back at any moment? (HE STARTS TOWARDS HER. SHE INSTANTLY RAISES THE VASE.) Don't come any nearer. (HE STOPS) BILL: You're on the wrong track. I'm not the villain you appear to think. MARY: The evidence would not appear to support you. BILL: What evidence? MARY: The evidence Mark Tilling found, for one. BILL: I thought so. You've been talking to him. MARY: I can't talk to him any more though, can I? He's dead. Smashed up and burned to a cinder in his car. How convenient for you. BILL: That was nothing to do with me. I was miles away, on my way to Frankfurt. MARY: You weren't miles away the day before yesterday. BILL: What the hell are you suggesting? MARY: I'm asking whether you'll go to any lengths to get what you want. I'm asking whether you'll commit murder. (HE STARTS FOR HER WITH HIS FIST RAISED. SHE CALMLY LETS THE VASE FALL. IT SMASHES IN THE HEARTH. STUNNED PAUSE. HE STAGGERS BACK.) BILL: Jesus Christ! You're insane! MARY: I don't think so. It's only a vase. What's that against a man's life? BILL: That was worth hundreds of thousands! MARY: But you have millions more. (PICKS UP 'THE THINKER') There must be half a million's worth here. BILL: (FRIGHTENED NOW) Don't! Don't please! MARY: Oh, I imagine it would be hard to damage this. Bronze, isn't it? It's very heavy. (REPLACES IT AND MOVES TOWARDS THE BOOKSHELVES.) Fine collection of old books too, I see. (TAKES ONE DOWN.) Pilgrim's Progress. Very appropriate. BILL: And very fragile - it's a first edition. MARY: 'I saw there was a way to hell, even from the gates of heaven.' Wasn't that John Bunyan? BILL: What do you want? MARY: Just the truth. BILL: What is your connection with Mark Tilling? MARY: None. He's dead. BILL: What was your connection? MARY: I was hoping to marry him. (LONG PAUSE.) * |
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