London Spy
Page 16
We don’t yet see who they are.
Amazed, Danny stands, coming face to face with --
A man similar in appearance to Danny.
Same build, same age, same hair colour - dressed in an identical, expensive, mauve suit.
Same shirt, same tie, same tie clip, same shoes.
With the two directly opposite each other, tailored identically, we marvel at their parallels.
Although not strictly a doppelganger, we’ll use the name.
DOPPELGANGER
Well, this is weird.
The doppelganger tries hard to sound sophisticated, in fact, he’s street, poorly concealed by a patchwork of gentlemanly traits. But the man has edge & darkness.
That said, he is very, very handsome. And exudes a powerful sexual presence.
The doppelganger takes a seat.
Danny sits opposite, wary, but accustomed to these games.
DOPPELGANGER (CONT’D)
I’ve never done anything like this before --
DANNY
Like this? What is this?
DOPPELGANGER
A job. And my job - this evening - is to tell you a story.
DANNY
About?
DOPPELGANGER
Boy meets boy.
DANNY
Who?
DOPPELGANGER
Me.
DANNY
And?
DOPPELGANGER
Alex.
Danny isn’t surprised by the use of Alex’s name and remains cool, playing along, with wry distance.
DANNY
Where?
DOPPELGANGER
Right here.
DANNY
This table?
DOPPELGANGER
His regular.
DANNY
You’re right. It was.
DOPPELGANGER
Where he’d order his usual --
DANNY
You’re going to tell me what that is.
DOPPELGANGER
Poached eggs. Rye toast. Steamed spinach. And one pot of strong coffee. With cream, on the side.
The details are correct. But Danny doesn’t yet give any clue that’s he concerned. Or hurt. Or upset.
DOPPELGANGER (CONT’D)
Your boyfriend ate breakfast here almost every morning, for a while.
DANNY
You were watching him?
DOPPELGANGER
Serving him.
DANNY
You’re a waiter?
DOPPELGANGER
At that time, pretending to be.
DANNY
Who pretends to be a waiter?
The Doppelganger places on the table the elegant business card that Detective Taylor showed Danny in Episode Three.
Danny is struck.
DOPPELGANGER
My agency specializes in a very particular and expensive service: one where the recipient, of my talents, is entirely unaware that they’re dealing with an escort.
DANNY
How is that possible?
DOPPELGANGER
We pretend to meet them by chance. We pretend to be won over by their charms. We pretend to fuck them for pleasure. We pretend.
Danny holds back, refusing to be pulled in. He observes how that pretence has hollowed this man out.
DANNY
How are you paid?
DOPPELGANGER
Correct. Our clients aren’t the people we sleep with. And their motives, for employing us, are not normally very nice. They want secrets. How they use those secrets is entirely up to them. Blackmail. Divorce. Entrapment.
(shrugs)
Not my business.
DANNY
You just do the fucking.
DOPPELGANGER
Exactly.
Though the doppelganger speaks without emotion, he’s not malicious or cruel. Matter of fact.
DOPPELGANGER (CONT’D)
Alex was a job.
FLASH BACK TO:
INT. FASHIONABLE RESTAURANT. MORNING
Without dialogue.
Alex on his own, eating breakfast, reading an incomprehensible academic paper.
Doppelganger serving him. He wears a cute waiter outfit, tight white shirt. Very attractive.
He appears frazzled and spills a drink it. He apologizes profusely, tidying, fluttering about - disarming.
Alex is clearly reassuring him that it’s alright and not to worry. Doppelganger is ever-so grateful.
INT. FASHIONABLE RESTAURANT. NIGHT
Danny listens and is finding it increasingly difficult to hold his emotions in check.
DOPPELGANGER
To speed the process along, I was given a persona.
DANNY
Who?
DOPPELGANGER
You.
DANNY
And who am I? When played by you?
DOPPELGANGER
Plucky. Friendly. Street-smart. A romantic. With a shambolic love life. Downtrodden. Yet never self-pitying.
A fake persona modelled on Danny. A character distillation as written by his enemies.
DOPPELGANGER (CONT’D)
Acting like that, Alex wasn’t a particularly difficult job.
Doppelganger is casual with that observation.
DOPPELGANGER (CONT’D)
The key to him was that he needed to believe he was being good even when he was really being bad.
FLASH TO:
EXT. FASHIONABLE RESTAURANT. MORNING (PAST)
Alex leaving the restaurant, alone.
Doppelganger is in the back alley, smoking a cigarette, forlorn, clearly troubled.
Alex sees him. They begin to talk. Alex listening patiently to Doppelganger’s ‘problems’.
FLASH BACK TO:
INT. FASHIONABLE RESTAURANT. NIGHT (PRESENT)
Danny listening, part measured, part agitated.
DANNY
I don’t believe you.
DOPPELGANGER
They warned me you wouldn’t. That I’d have to work hard.
DANNY
I won’t listen to any more--
Danny fully intends to leave but not because he doesn’t believe - he’s afraid of being convinced.
DOPPELGANGER
When I asked Alex to write down my phone number, he told me he didn’t need to. He said: ‘Numbers, I have no problem with’. It sounded like he’d said it before...
With the details Danny’s defences are being broken down. He looks to the door.
DOPPELGANGER (CONT’D)
We both know you want to hear how this story ends.
Danny desperately wants to leave but desperately wants to know. He remains seated.
DOPPELGANGER (CONT’D)
I rang Alex a few days later. I made up some personal-life crisis. He offered to come round, under the pretext of wanting to help.
FLASH TO:
INT. RUNDOWN APARTMENT. DOPPELGANGER’S ROOM. DAY (PAST)
An apartment staged to look much like Danny’s apartment, tiny rooms, cramped and chaotic.
Alex is standing in Doppelganger’s bedroom. His possessions are ramshackle, eclectic and endearing.
Doppelganger in revealing jogging pants and a T Shirt. Casual, not overt, yet calculating.
Alex sits on the bed, earnestly listening as the doppelganger paces the room, telling some made-up tale of woe, with the energy of a person under pressure.
Alex listening, trying to appear helpful, but eyes give him away, stealing glances up and down.
Tempted & unsure.
With perfect & professional timing, the doppelganger stops pacing, standing close to Alex.
FLASH BACK TO:
INT. FASHIONABLE RESTAURANT. NIGHT (PRESENT)
Danny listens, grim faced. The doppelganger speaks as though describing a mere chore. Which it was.
DOPPELGANGER
They told me his sexual preference was for confidence. Experience. Dominance. A fancy way of saying he liked to b
e...
Danny’s about to ask a question but catches himself.
DOPPELGANGER (CONT’D)
You want details? Proof? A birthmark? Some sensitivity? The smell of his skin? Anything, you need, Danny, like I said, my job, tonight, is to convince you.
(beat)
He was passive. But very responsive. Had a thirst, like a man late to the game, catching up on all those missed years...
FLASH TO:
INT. RUNDOWN APARTMENT. DOPPELGANGER’S ROOM. DAY (PAST)
Alex having sex with the doppelganger, who is expert, and in great shape.
Alex is enjoying it.
FLASH BACK TO:
INT. FASHIONABLE RESTAURANT. NIGHT (PAST)
Danny fighting back belief.
And these two men, dressed the same, so physically similar, couldn’t be further apart in terms of character.
DOPPELGANGER
For what it’s worth, it was only that one time. Well, a few times that one time, it has to be said, but never repeated. I rang him, afterwards. He didn’t answer. The client wanted more. But Alex wasn’t interested --
Danny leaps on this.
DANNY
Why wouldn’t you tell me that he loved it so much he kept coming back? Unless it was all a lie?
DOPPELGANGER
(impressed)
Very smart, Danny. But I can see you’re good at sussing a lie. So I’ve told you the truth.
DANNY
You tell them, I know --
(voice cracks)
I know it’s not true.
But Danny now believes.
DOPPELGANGER
I’ll finish this quick.
(beat)
To avoid me, Alex stopped eating here, at this table. What did he tell you? That he wanted breakfast at home? That he didn’t feel the need to eat out so much?
The pain in Danny is sharp and precise. We realize that this must have happened. Those words were said.
DANNY
Why did they hire you?
DOPPELGANGER
I don’t know - I don’t care.
DANNY
Who hired you?
DOPPELGANGER
I don’t know - I don’t care.
DANNY
Why are you telling me --
DOPPELGANGER
I don’t know -
DANNY
And you don’t care?
The doppelganger tries to be reasonable.
DOPPELGANGER
It’s a job. Not much of a job, you might say. Maybe I agree. But I’ve done worse. For worse money.
And we believe he has.
DOPPELGANGER (CONT’D)
You might find this hard to comprehend, because, I can see you care lots about things, but - honestly - deep down - all there is to me is this:
(beat)
I don’t know and I don’t care.
DANNY
He’s dead.
The doppelganger reacts. He didn’t know. A flash of fear.
DANNY (CONT’D)
Your ‘job’ - Alex.
(beat)
He was murdered.
The doppelganger is troubled.
DANNY (CONT’D)
Do you think you’re not involved?
The doppelganger stands, sharply. He throws down a hundred pounds, with no joy, completing his task.
DOPPELGANGER
I was instructed to pay for dinner.
He leaves, walking away.
Danny grabs the doctored phone he left behind. He stands.
DANNY
Hey?
The doppelganger turns.
Danny throws him the phone, not aggressively, across the restaurant. The doppelganger catches it.
DANNY (CONT’D)
How else you going to tell them what a great job you’ve done?
Other customers are staring at these two handsome, similar looking guys in identical clothes.
The doppelganger nods: he quite likes Danny.
The doppelganger leaves.
Danny remains, standing, upset, all eyes on him.
EXT. HAMPSTEAD HEATH. DAY
On the heath. A secluded area.
Scottie and Danny walk.
SCOTTIE
You were Alex’s first experience of love. If he enjoyed a second would you seem less important? Could the thrill of the new replace the comfort of the old? Would he realize there were others like you? That what felt unique, and special, could easily be replaced?
(beat)
In the end your relationship became a threat to their relationship with him. He changed you. You changed him. Priorities altered. Loyalties altered. I noticed it in our friendship...
(Danny can’t deny it)
The two of you were... besotted. The rest of the world ceased to exist. But Alex was one of their most important minds. Did you imagine they’d allow him to drift away?
DANNY
I didn’t think about it.
SCOTTIE
That’s all they would’ve thought about. What binds this brilliant young man to us? The Queen? Our history? His parents?
Yet Danny remains troubled and distant. Scottie observes.
DANNY
I accept that I didn’t know about Alex’s work. His job. But the truth is that I didn’t really know him as a person. Either. I didn’t know him.
(beat)
I don’t know him.
Scottie’s tone changes. He’s unimpressed.
SCOTTIE
Of all the attacks they’ve used, including your health, the one which has proved most effective is smut. For you, of all people.
DANNY
He made a mistake, that’s not it. But why didn’t he tell me? Some of it? Any of it?
SCOTTIE
Because you wanted him to be perfect. He saw that more clearly than you.
DANNY
It was his funeral last week. Do you know how I found out? I heard about it on the news. He was buried at a private ceremony. For close friends and family.
SCOTTIE
I can’t count how many men I’ve comforted when their partners died and the families refused to allow them into the hospital, or the church where they’re buried. I’m tired of it. Tired of hearing about it. He wasn’t close to his parents. He was close to you. Hold your own funeral. Say your own goodbye.
DANNY
(exasperated)
That’s what I should be doing! Saying goodbye. What am I doing all this other stuff for? Because Alex discovered some government secret? So what? So they lied about a war? So they spy on us? What’s it got to do with me?
(beat)
And, you know - I don’t know any code. I don’t. So, maybe, whatever those secrets are, maybe they weren’t meant for me.
Scottie notes his resignation. It’s unlike Danny.
SCOTTIE
Then, that’s that.
INT. DANNY’S APARTMENT. BEDROOM. NIGHT
Danny seated on the floor, cross-legged.
In front of him is a shoebox. He opens it.
Inside are items that belonged to Alex. The everyday possessions of someone who regularly stayed over.
A T shirt for sleeping in. Expensive aftershave.
A collection of receipts. Meals they’ve eaten. Shows they’ve seen. Movies ticket stubs.
A razor. A tub of shaving cream.
Danny picks up the cream, unscrews the lid. There’s a distinct finger indent where a scoop was last taken.
Danny puts it down, next to a paperback novel - Isaac Asimov. The first part of his Foundation trilogy.
Dog-eared at the page Alex reached. We see the number.
Danny studies the spine: the demarcation line between the read and unread part of the novel.
The last item is an Ordnance Survey map of the estuary walk. Danny’s eyes glance across the contours.
He places his finger on one of the latitude lines, moving up the map --
MATCH TO:
EXT. COUNTRYSID
E. ESTUARY. DAY (PAST)
Danny’s finger moving up one of the latitude lines on the same map. Into frame comes Alex’s finger, moving along one of the longitude lines.
They almost touch. But not quite. Pull back to reveal their first date. At the end of the picnic scene.
Danny smiles at Alex’s hesitation to touch.
EXT. COUNTRYSIDE. ESTUARY. DAY
Danny stands with that same Ordnance Survey map in hand. A return to their first walk.
An emptiness. Whereas it had magic with the two of them, on his own this landscape is melancholy.
EXT. COUNTRYSIDE. ESTUARY. DAY
Danny at the same spot where he was once with Alex. From Episode 1. An empty grey sky merging with the grey sea.
FLASH TO:
EXT. COUNTRYSIDE. NIGHT (PAST)
A camp fire burns. Not the estuary but we can’t see the landscape beyond the flames.
Alex and Danny are seated beside the fire.
DANNY
Do you believe in soulmates?
ALEX
No. Not only do I not believe in them - it’s not even a nice idea.
DANNY
Not a nice idea?
ALEX
That there’s just one other person out there for you? The ‘perfect partner’? What are the odds this person would be in the same country? Or the same city? That your paths would cross? It would mean almost everyone in the world is with the wrong person. If it’s a way of saying ‘we’re good together’ why not just say ‘we’re good together’? But if you mean it literally --
DANNY
(interrupting)
You think there are better people out there for you?