All the Money in the World Page #9

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CHACE:

Can I take this?

Gail eyes him warily.

GAIL:

Do you carry a gun, Mr. Chace?

(off his look)

You said you used to be a spy.

CHACE:

That's not how I put it on my taxreturn, but yeah.

GAIL:

Spies carry guns.

CHACE:

I never bothered. Ruins the line of

your suit. Guns are for people whodon't have money.

(a beat)

All that spooky paperback stuff -chasing

around blowing poisoned dartsat the KGB in the Arab Quarter --

that's not what I did for a living.

GAIL:

What did you do, then?

CHACE:

I made deals. I bought people. I

whispered in Generals' ears.

Gail looks at him, then nods.

GAIL:

Take it.

Chace pockets the address book, rises, and returns to theliving room. The mustached Surveillance Officer from the

kitchen -- his name is CORVO -- approaches Gail.

CORVO:

One final question, Signora. About

your testimony earlier. Why did youthink the kidnapping was a joke?

(MORE)

45.

CORVO (CONT'D)

(off her look)

You said that when you first receivedthe phone call from Cinquanta youthought it was a joke.

GAIL:

That's what passed through my mind.

CORVO:

It's a strange reaction, is it not?

Someone tells the mother her son is

kidnapped and she thinks it's funny?

GAIL:

I didn't think it was funny at all.

It seemed unbelievable.

CORVO:

You didn't believe the man on the

phone?

GAIL:

It's a figure of speech. The whole

situation was unbelievable. It still

is.

CORVO:

Tragic, yes. But not unbelievable.

CHACE:

It's not tragic yet. Maybe you oughtto work on keeping it that way.

CORVO:

A figure of speech, as you say.

Please let us know, Signora, if youplan to leave Italy for any reason.

Corvo bows slightly and heads for the door with his partner.

GAIL:

Why do you think he said that?

CHACE:

Do you want me to get rid of them?

GAIL:

When the time comes I'll do it myself.

Good evening, Mr. Chace.

EXT. GAIL'S APARTMENT -- NIGHT

Chace exits the building by a side entrance, past the half-

dozen paparazzi camped outside.

46.

He casts a final glance up at Gail's glowing window, thendisappears into the night.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. CALABRIAN CAVE -- DAY

We DESCEND into a cave deep in the Calabrian mountains. An

army cot has been set up in here, with wooden boxes for tablesand chairs. Years of crude graffiti on the walls.

Deep inside the cave Cinquanta finds an unlit oil lamp. He

takes out a match and lights it -

-- REVEALING a bunk bed set up in here, and Paul is chainedto it. Cinquanta reaches into his bag. He brings out a canof beans and a composition notebook.

CINQUANTAWrite another letter to your mother.

Tell her if she doesn't pay, we'llmail her your finger.

Cinquanta sets down a BALLPOINT PEN. The boy takes it.

Cinquanta eyes him suspiciously.

CINQUANTA (CONT'D)

Why doesn't your family love you?

PAUL:

I think they love me. I hope so.

CINQUANTAWhat's wrong with you? Are you abad boy?

PAUL:

No.

CINQUANTA:

Don't lie. What did you do?

PAUL:

I set a fire at my school and theykicked me out.

Cinquanta considers this. He shrugs.

CINQUANTABoys play with fire. I did. If myson was kidnapped, bad, good, I wouldpay any money to get him back.

PAUL:

They're going to pay. They justneed to get used to the idea of it.

47.

CINQUANTAI would get the money. I would borrow

it. Steal. OK, I steal anyway, butI would steal more.

PAUL:

You have a kid?

(realizes)

I shouldn't have asked that.

CINQUANTAOnce. For a few weeks, that's all.

My wife put him to sleep in the crib.

In the morning the baby was cold.

No life. The doctor gave no reason.

No answer. Nothing.

Cinquanta suddenly seems angry.

CINQUANTA (CONT'D)

Americans! I don't understand you.

For us, family is everything. We

are obbligo. I was born into myfamily, and that decides my wholelife. My whole life.

PAUL:

I'm obbligo too. As much as you.

Cinquanta looks at Paul. He smiles.

CINQUANTAWhen we get the money, we'll runaway from them. To America, eh?

Cinquanta gazes out of the cave at a patch of blue sky.

CINQUANTA (CONT'D)

A Corvette. That's a nice car.

Just drive away.

He snaps out of it. He hits the boy on the back of the head.

CINQUANTA (CONT'D)

Cazzo! What are you doing? Write.

Convince her to pay us our money orMother of God I'll kill you myself.

Cinquanta takes the notebook and exits, leaving the pen andmatches. Paul slips them into the sleeve of his shirt.

INT. GAIL'S APARTMENT -- MORNING

The reel-to-reel tape recorder sits in the center of thetable. The kids eat their cereal beside it in their pajamas.

Gail throws open the curtains to let the light in -

48.

-- spray-painted in dripping red on the wall outside thewindow is a FIVE-POINTED STAR. It seems the remnant of some

satanic ritual. Painted above it, the words ROSSO BRIGATE.

She pulls the curtain shut. Her kids continue eating, oblivious.

INT. PORTO ROMANO YACHT CLUB -- MORNING

Isabelle and Julian, Gail's friends, wait for her at thefoot of the gangplank as she boards their 47-footer.

ISABELLE:

Gail, I'm so sorry.

Isabelle embraces Gail. For a moment Gail allows herself to

melt into her friend's arms.

CUT TO:

Gail's hosts serve a light lunch on deck. Gail can't eat.

ISABELLE (CONT'D)

We're torn up for you. What you

must be going through.

JULIAN:

And the papers can't help any.

GAIL:

It doesn't matter what I'm goingthrough. I sleep in a warm bed everynight. God only knows where Paul'ssleeping. I mean, look at me, I'mon a yacht.

JULIAN:

That's the spirit.

GAIL:

(summoning her nerve)

I don't know how else to say this.

You're my friends, so I thought I

could turn to you. I need money.

For the ransom.

ISABELLE:

We don't have that kind of money.

We're not Gettys.

GAIL:

We could get some friends together.

Here aboard your boat. The moneywould be paid back in full, I can'tsay when but --

49.

ISABELLE:

I mean, when you think how fortunatethat boy has been. The money he'llinherit one day.

GAIL:

All of us are fortunate.

ISABELLE:

Not like that. He's set for life.

GAIL:

He has to live that long first. The

money shouldn't matter. He's just aboy, an ordinary boy.

ISABELLE:

Of course it matters, Gail. You'd

be asking us, asking our friends, togive a fortune to a boy who's worthmore money than they'll ever have.

GAIL:

If I could think of another way Iwouldn't be asking.

JULIAN:

And let's be honest, Paul was no angel.

GAIL:

You're saying he deserved this?

ISABELLE:

Of course not, but it wasn't entirelya surprise, either. Privileged kidsget into trouble. If it's not drugs -

JULIAN:

Everything comes too easy.

GAIL:

I forgot how you built yourselves upfrom nothing.

A silence. A crewman comes to take away their salad plates.

ISABELLE:

(a forced smile)

You'll see. In a few weeks we'll

all be sailing to Portofino again,

like none of this ever happened.

EXT. VIA PANSIPERNA, ROME -- EVENING

Fletcher Chace walks with a newspaper folded beneath his

arm. He passes a streetlight with an "X" marked in chalk.

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