Читать книгу A Tricky Game - Seraphima Nickolaevna Bogomolova - Страница 24

Sunshine streams in through the large windows, playing on the rows of book spines in the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.

In the middle of the room, facing the windows, a French style sofa, upholstered in linen, stands. On a glass coffee table, a vase with pink tulips is placed.

Angela sits on the sofa, looking at the screen of her laptop. On the screen stock exchange graphs and figures are displayed.

Maria Alekseevna opens the door and peers in.

MARIA ALEKSEEVNA

There are two men here for you.

ANGELA

(keeping her eyes on the laptop screen)

Which men?

MARIA ALEKSEEVNA

They say they’re your friends.

Angela looks up at Maria Alekseevna, holds her gaze for a second then shuts her laptop.

ANGELA (CONT’D)

Show them in, please.

INTERCUT

Maria Alekseevna grabs MacBride and Pavel by their arms. MacBride tries to twist his arm out of her grasp.

MACBRIDE

Let me alone, woman!

Tightening her grip, Maria Alekseevna drags MacBride and Pavel along the hallway towards the living room.

MACBRIDE (CONT’D)

Pavel, tell her it’s a mistake!

PAVEL

Take it easy, man.

Maria Alekseevna pushes MacBride and Pavel into —

THE LIVING ROOM

Angela rises from the sofa.

Engulfed in silence, MacBride and Pavel stare at her.

Maria Alekseevna heads into the adjacent room and returns with a bottle of Russian Standard vodka and three goblets. She puts them onto the coffee table by the sofa.

Angela pours vodka into the goblets and hands them to MacBride and Pavel. They hesitate.

ANGELA

Please, MacBride and… I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.

PAVEL

Pavel Nekrassov.

ANGELA

Delighted to meet you, Pavel.

PAVEL

Likewise.

Pavel takes the goblets, passing one to MacBride.

An awkward SILENCE lingers around them.

Angela sits down on the sofa. MacBride and Pavel follow her.

Seated, MacBride and Pavel look down at the floor. Angela looks at them.

ANGELA (CONT’D)

(to MacBride)

What are you doing here?

MACBRIDE

I don’t really know.

ANGELA

What do you mean?

MacBride looks into his goblet.

MACBRIDE (CONT’D)

You see…

Fiddling with the goblet, MacBride glances up at Pavel then at Angela.

MACBRIDE (CONT’D)

Well, I was supposed to meet you at the Ritz, but instead I met an elderly man there.

ANGELA

What elderly man?

MACBRIDE

The rather suave looking bloke. He gave me a note from you.

ANGELA

I haven’t written any notes to you.

MACBRIDE

He said it was from you.

Reaching for the bottle, MacBride refills his goblet and takes a swig.

ANGELA (CONT’D)

What was in the note?

MacBride pulls the note out and hands it to Angela.

ANGELA (CONT’D)

(reading the note)

What’s the name of the elderly suave man, you say?

MACBRIDE

Jack. No. Jacques. Yeah, Jacques.

Angela gives the note back to MacBride.

ANGELA (CONT’D)

Never heard of him.

MACBRIDE

Are you telling me you don’t know who they are?

ANGELA

I thought there was just the elderly suave man in the Ritz.

MACBRIDE

(whispering)

I think I was followed.

ANGELA

By who?

MACBRIDE

There was this blacked-out Benz S500 sitting on my tail all way to the Ritz.

ANGELA

There is a certain Kazimir I know who drives in a S500.

MACBRIDE

Yeah. But where were you? I thought we were supposed to meet at the Ritz!

ANGELA

In hospital. I’d been shot at.

MACBRIDE

By who?

DISSOLVE TO: