The Mask of Dimitrios Page #8

You were sentenced to prison

for one month, correct?

Did grodek

tell you this?

No. I took the liberty of

going to the library yesterday,

and what do i find

in our newspaper files?

This little picture.

Ah, yes. A newspaper.

I could not believe my friend grodek-

well, then

you don't deny it?

Oh no,

it is the truth.

Well, then

mr. Peterson...

peters, mr. Leyden.

I decided to change the name.

All right,

peters.

I agree with you, sir.

Peters is a much nicer name.

When i was in istanbul,

i heard some very interesting things

about the end

of those smugglers.

Somebody there said that

dimitrios betrayed all of you.

Sent a dossier to the police,

i think, anonymously.

Is that true?

Dimitrios behaved very badly

to us all.

I was also told that

there was talk of vengeance.

That all of you threatened to

kill dimitrios, as soon as you were free.

- Is that true?

- I did not threaten.

Some of the others did so.

Constantine gullus, for example

was always a hothead.

Oh, i see.

You didn't threaten.

You preferred to act.

I don't understand you,

mr. Leyden.

No...

let me put it to you this way.

I'm just wondering...

wouldn't it be reasonable to suppose

that you killed dimitrios for his money?

I think you

are very indiscreet...

am i?

And very fortunate.

Just suppose i had,

as you suggest, killed dimitrios.

Think what i should

be forced to do.

I should be forced

to kill you also, now, shouldn't i?

There it is.

I knew it.

I knew it.

You see, i lied to you

a moment ago. I admit it.

I was so curious to know

what you were going to do

if you thought

i was unarmed.

You understand my feelings

a little?

So anxious to have

your confidence.

All of which is

as clever a reply

to an accusation

of murder as one could wish for.

Mr. Leyden, this is

not a detective story.

Even if you

cannot be discreet,

at least use

your imagination.

Is it likely that

dimitrios would make a will in my favor? No.

Then how do you suppose

i could kill him for his money?

People in these days

do not keep their wealth

in treasure chests.

Come now, mr. Leyden.

Let us please

be sensible.

Let us have

dinner together,

and after,

talk business.

You probably

disapprove of me.

I really cannot

blame you.

But let us at least

cultivate an illusion of friendship.

I could think of a lot

of reasons why i shouldn't have dinner with you.

Just the same, i will,

but let me warn you,

unless i have this evening

a satisfactory explanation

for your asking me to come to paris,

i shall,

half a million francs or no half a million francs,

leave by the first

available train.

Is that clear?

Couldn't be clearer,

mr. Leyden.

And may i say

how much i appreciate your frankness.

All right.

Where shall we dine?

There's a romanian

place near here.

And afterwards,

we'll go to my apartment for coffee.

Thank you.

Excellent dinner.

Now for coffee.

What about mr. Godfrey?

He's away. At the moment,

i'm in sole possession.

I see.

Peters:

You conclude, i suppose, that i am godfrey?

Mm-hmm.

Thank you.

Peters:

Do you like it?

Well, it's

rather unusual.

Actually, just another

uncomfortable french house.

Immanently an oasis

in a desert of discomfort.

Leyden:
Heh heh.

Dimitrios furnished it.

Dimitrios?

Yes.

He bought this house and the two adjoining.

There are secret doors

leading from one house to another.

In case of police raids,

you know?

Thank you.

Leyden:

Aren't you, uh, a little indiscreet living here?

Oh, no. You see,

dimitrios bought the houses originally in my name.

After my incarceration,

i sold them quite legally to a monsieur godfrey.

Uh-huh.

Do you like algerian

coffee, mr. Leyden?

Pardon me? Yes.

It takes a little

longer to prepare it, but i prefer it.

Oh, by the way,

do you recognize him, mr. Leyden?

Why yes, certainly,

it's dimitrios.

What about it?

You recognize him.

Good.

That, mr. Leyden,

is a photograph of constantine gullus.

Gullus?

Gullus...

what on earth

do you mean?

What you saw on the mortuary

slab in istanbul, mr. Leyden,

was gullus after he tried

to put certain ideas about dimitrios into practice.

I saw the body

of dimitrios with my own eyes.

You saw the body

of gullus, mr. Leyden,

after dimitrios

had killed him.

Dimitrios himself,

i am glad to say, is alive and in good health.

Dimitrios alive.

No, no.

It isn't possible.

I saw his name

inside the coat:

Dimitrios

makropoulos.

It was a french

identification card.

French

identification card.

Ha ha ha!

That i find amusing.

Ha ha ha!

I could get you a dozen

genuine identification cards, mr. Leyden,

and each in the name

of dimitrios makropoulos.

I guess you could.

He's alive...

but where is he?

Here, in paris.

You've been

very reasonable, mr. Leyden,

i shall tell you

everything.

As you may imagine,

we were all very angry with dimitrios.

Some of us

threatened revenge.

I became a wanderer,

mr. Leyden.

A little business here,

a little business there,

travel and meditation,

that was my life.

I met gullus in rome.

He told me that he was

on the track of dimitrios.

Asked me to lend him

3,000 francs to conclude his search.

I gave it to him.

With that money, gullus went to paris.

Well, sir,

he found dimitrios

living in a big home

under an assumed name, a rich man.

Gullus intended

to kill dimitrios, but his nerve failed him.

He settled for blackmail.

That was his mistake.

Dimitrios took him

on a cruise to istanbul.

There, he stabbed him,

put a false

identification card in his clothing,

and tossed him

into the bosporus.

A bloated corpse washed up by the sea.

I think you're guessing.

How could you know?

You weren't there.

Ha! But you forget

the 3,000 francs i loaned gullus.

He sent it to me

in paris with a note

saying he was

going on an aegean cruise with dimitrios.

I decided to meet

him in istanbul,

but when i got there,

it was too late.

The only thing left for me

was to try and find out

those things about dimitrios

that gullus had known.

Then, mr. Leyden,

our paths began to cross.

Mmm.

Well, now that

you've found him, what next?

Come now, mr. Leyden,

surely you are not as obtuse as all this.

You alone can prove

that the man buried in istanbul is not dimitrios.,

if necessary,

you can identify

gullus' photographs

on the police files.

I, on the other hand,

know where to find dimitrios.

Our joint silence

will be worth a lot of money to him.

With gullus'

fate in mind,

we should know, too,

how to deal with the matter.

We should demand

a million francs.

Dimitrios would pay,

believing we would come back for more,

but we shall not be as

foolish as to endanger our lives in that way.

We'll rest content

with half a million each, mr. Leyden,

and quietly disappear.

Blackmail on

a cash basis.

You really expect me

to agree to this plan of yours, mr. Peters?

I don't think i quite

understand, mr. Leyden.

If this is

a clumsy trick...

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes