The Ninth Gate Page #14

CORSO:
You sure as hell get around.

He sits down with the shoulder bag between his feet. A WAITER

appears at his elbow.

CORSO (cont.):
(to the WAITER): Un caf‚ noir, s'il vous plait.

The WAITER nods and withdraws. BALKAN studies CORSO's face

through his hornrims, notes the glasses with the cracked lens.

BALKAN:
Problems?

CORSO:
Yeah, like someone tried to total me a couple times. Aside

from that, three people have died on me since I took this job.

(thinks for a moment) Well, two. Telfer was dead already.

BALKAN:
1 don't follow you.

CORSO:
It's simple enough. You give me 'The Nine Gates' and they

start dropping like flies. I'm thinking of giving it back.

BALKAN:
Who are you talking about?

CORSO:
My pal Bernie Feldman, for one.

BALKAN:
The book dealer? He's dead?

CORSO:
Murdered. He was holding your book for me. Someone was

after it. He wouldn't give it to them.

A moment is silence. Then BALKAN emits a wholly incongruous

chuckle. The chuckle becomes a guffaw, the guffaw gives way to

peal after peal of uproarious laughter. He slaps his thighs and

rocks back and forth, his face turns puce, his eyes fill with

tears.

His hilarity is so deafening that the cafe's other CUSTOMERS turn

to stare. CORSO, too, stares at BALKAN as if he's gone crazy.

BALKAN's mirth gradually subsides. He removes his hornrims and

mops his eyes. Eventually, still chuckling:

BALKAN:
Poor fellow. Very creditable of him.

COP.SO refrains from commenting on this outburst.

CORSO:
Then there's Fargas.

The WAITER brings CORSO'S coffee. BALKAN waits for him to put it

on the table and retire.

BALKAN:
What about Fargas?

CORSO:
Dead too.

BALKAN:
How do you know?

CORSO:
I saw him - and his copy, or what was left of it. Someone

had snitched the engravings and tried to burn the rest.

BALKAN stares at him for a moment. Then:

BALKAN:
How tragic. What about the Kessler copy?

CORSO:
The old woman says it's authentic, but I didn't get a

chance to look at it closely. As soon as she guessed you were

behind my visit she threw me out. You aren't her flavor of the

month.

BALKAN:
You must see her again. You must get me that copy - or

examine it, at least.

CORSO (derisively): Are you kidding? I'd have to be the Invisible

Man.

BALKAN reaches into his black briefcase and produces a big

manilla envelope.

BALKAN:
Try this.

CORSO takes the envelope and looks at it. it's addressed to

'Baroness Friede Kessler'.

75. KESSLER BUILDING: LOBBY iNT/DAY

CORSO, canvas bag on shoulder, hands the envelope to the

SECRETARY, who takes it and walks off down the corridor.

76. KESSLER BUILDING: OFFICE iNT/DAY

A black and white photo fills the screen: it shows a young and

beautiful BARONESS KESSLER flanked by two men in SS uniform. One

of them is Heinrich Himmler.

BARONESS KESSLER is scowling down at a wartime number of

'Signal', the Nazi propaganda magazine. It's lying open on her

desk with Balkan's envelope beside it.

The SECRETARY shows CORSO in. The BARONESS addresses her crisply.

BARONESS KESSLER: Merci, Simone.

The SECRETARY nods and exits. Fixing CORSO with a cold,

challenging stare, BARONESS KESSLER feeds the magazine into a

shredder beside her desk. She no longer looks such a dear little

old lady.

77. KESSLER BUILDING: LIBRARY, OFFICE iNT/DAY

CORSO is seated at a library table on which reposes the Kessler

copy of 'The Nine Gates'. Beside it lies his notebook and the

photocopies of Balkan's engravings. His shoulder bag is hanging

on the chairback, his overcoat draped over it. He reaches into

his pocket and produces a Lucky, takes out his lighter.

BARONESS KESSLER: Blackmail doesn't entitle you to smoke in my

library, Mr. Corso.

CORSO stops short and looks back through the double doors into

her office:
she's seated behind her desk like a graven image,

watching him intently. He reinserts the Lucky in its pack and

pockets his lighter. Getting down to work, he opens 'The Nine

Gates' and extracts one of the Baroness's handwritten slips,

reads it to himself in a low voice.

CORSO:
'I will recognize your servants, my brethren, by the sign

that adorns some part of their body, a scar or mark of your

making...'

He replaces the slip. BARONESS KESSLER cranes her body largely

obscures her view of the table.

CORSO turns some pages and comes to the engraving of THE KNIGHT

WITH A FINGER TO HIS LIPS. He compares it with the photocopy: the

castle has three towers instead of four. He examines the margin

of the engraving through his magnifying glass to ascertain the

presence of something he already knows will be there: an 'L.F.'

He turns to the chart in his notebook, which has already acquired

a third row of nine boxes. He writes 'Kessler' beside it and

enters an 'L.F' in the first box.

The second engraving - THE HERMIT WITH THE KEYS - appears to be

identical and the signature is 'A.T.' An 'A.T.' goes down in the

second box.

The third engraving is different: THE ANGELIC ARCHER has an arrow

in his quiver, whereas the photocopy of Balkan' s counterpart

does not. This one, too, is signed 'L.F.' CORSO enters an 'L.F.'

in the third box.

We MOVE IN until the chart FILLS THE SCREEN.

78. KESSLER BUILDING: LIBRARY, OFFICE

LONG SHOT of CORSO from behind. He leans back and stretches,

glances in the direction of the office: Baroness Kessler is no

longer at her desk. Absolute silence reigns.

He resumes work, turns to the ninth engraving: THE NAKED WOMAN

RIDING THE DRAGON WITH A CASTLE ABLAZE IN THE BACKGROUND.

There's a loud thud, and the engraving sways and blurs. THE

SCREEN GOES BLACK.

79. KESSLER BUILDING: LIBRARY, OFFICE

FADE IN. An electrical hum, punctuated by a strange, rhythmical

series of clicks and thuds: click-thud, click-thud, click-thud...

CORSO, sitting slumped over the table, comes to. He groans and

laboriously straightens up, feels his head and winces. The

strange sound impinges on his consciousness: he looks around

vaguely for its source and discovers it:

BARONESS KESSLER's wheelchair has been left in forward gear.

Complete with occupant, it's colliding again and again with the

wall beneath a window on the other side of the room. CORSO, who

can just glimpse the top of the old lady's head from behind, sees

it jerk forward at each impact. He struggles to his feet.

CORSO:
Baroness?

No answer. Unsteadily, he makes his way over to the wheelchair

and swivels it around, starts back with a muffled exclamation.

BARONESS KESSLER has been strangled with her Hermes scarf: her

cheeks are blue, her eyes and tongue are protruding.

Unobstructed, the laden wheelchair takes off across the library

and heads for the double doors, which are now closed. it runs

into them full tilt, bursts them open, and continues on its way.

Instantly, smoke comes billowing into the library, accompanied by

a crackle of flames. The wheelchair disappears into the murk.

CORSO wildly scans the table for Baroness Kessler's 'Nine Gates',

but it's gone. Snatching up his notebook and abandoning his

shoulder bag and overcoat, he makes for the office at a run.

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