- Excuse me. That's not mine. - Oh, I'm sorry.
Aren't you Miss Trout?
We've met, on the plane to New York.
- Reuben. - Excuse me, sir.
Can I leave you for just a second, please?
I'm so deeply sorry, Miss Trout, the way you were treated.
- He could have left a note. - Of course.
Miss Trout, I would like you to understand something.
I have a great loyalty to Mr. Morris. He's treated me very well.
I'm very grateful.
He has done wonderful things for many people...
...and I have been privileged to work for him.
But I do have certain principles...
...especially about how women are to be treated and respected.
Mr. Morris can be very attentive, but once he has a woman...
Oh, God, I think it's almost a sickness.
When he left you that morning...
...you may have felt bad, but believe me, Miss Trout...
...to have him out of your life...
...is the best thing that could have happened to you.
At that point, you may have felt your life was wounded.
It wasn't.
It was saved.
Vince, I was very clear about this from the beginning.
I'm not out to play games with you.
This is why you're being paid a huge amount of money.
This isn't entirely about money, you know.
A million dollars is more than the gross of your last film.
I was somehow under the impression that my life...
...might have been of more than passing interest.
But if my fleeting encounter with a girl named Maureen O'Flaherty...
...is all you really want to talk about, then that's what we'll do.
I have to make an appearance at the clinic tomorrow.
We can come back and talk after that.
It's Wonderland.
I imagine you might remember that.
He was right. I did remember Wonderland.
- You ready? - Ready.
When I was a girl, the entire hospital was devoted to children with polio.
Since that time, it had become a clinic for kids...
... with a variety of different physical handicaps.
Once a year, the children would put on a pageant...
... playing different characters from Alice in Wonderland.
Vince, in his continuing support of the hospital...
... had hired a band and a singer.
Who is that?
I don't know. She's good, whoever she is.
Karen, do you mind if we start this conversation tomorrow?
I'm just... I'm not feeling all that well.
- Vince... - In fact, it won't make...
...any difference over there. The office is closed.
They've been working late.
Then they've been working much too hard.
First thing tomorrow. First thing.
I hope your editors were reasonable.
Reasonable? No, they weren't.
We can go as late as you like.
That's good.
It might take us into the evening.
I had a feeling that might be the case.
So I've ordered a hot and cold smorgasbord to be brought in.
We can work through dinner.
- We'll be having company? - Yes.
I have...
...a surprise for you.
Actually, this is a fairly big deal for me as well.
I've asked Lanny to join us today.
Lanny?
Well, this is something.
Neuman and Newberry will certainly be getting their money's worth.
I thought that if I was going to discuss something...
...that had such an impact on our lives...
...it would be fair for Lanny to hear what I had to say.
Given that we've never talked about it.
I'm sure I'll have lots to ask him. When is he coming?
He should be here any minute now.
This is very exciting.
Shit.
- Yes? - Bonnie, I have to talk fast.
I need you to do exactly as I tell you and I can't tell you why, okay?
Sure.
Excuse me, that might actually be him now.
Yes, hello?
Yes, thank you.
That was my office.
There's a woman... A friend, a relative of yours?
She said she called on a number you gave her.
She's gonna call back.
- Yes? - Hi, kiddo.
Listen, your brother Clifford has just been rushed to the hospital.
He was doing construction when a thing...
- A steel girder? - That's it.
You better come to the city and make your peace with him.
You're booked on the next flight to San Francisco.
I'm waiting here for you in front of the terminal.
They reserved me a seat on the next flight to San Francisco.
- I'll drive you there. - No, no.
Sharon is waiting at the airport for me. You can't stand Lanny up.
Please give him my deepest apologies.
- Hey. - Please, I can explain.
You've broken the law, Bonnie-fucking-Trout.
You've assumed another person's identity...
...to get information from a business competitor.
Obviously I lied about who I was. I'm sorry.
It was a huge untruth. It wasn't planned.
I was just freaked out about suddenly being on the plane with...
With you...
How did you get the seat behind me on the plane?
- It was pure coincidence. - Bullshit!
It's true.
How could you..? How could you have just left me at the hotel like that?
You were asleep.
Reuben woke me to say I had to be a substitute performer...
...at a charity concert at the Hollywood Bowl. I had to get the first flight out.
You could have left a note or called.
- I did leave you a note. - Where?
I don't know why we're even talking about this. I don't like you.
All right? I wish we had never met.
Hello, Vince.
What the fuck's going on?
Vince, a few days after we first met...
...I found myself next to Lanny on a flight to New York.
It was a complete coincidence.
- He asked my name... - And she lied.
I had just finished reading the first chapter of Lanny's own biography.
His lawyers had let me see it in the hope of discouraging our own project.
As a reflex, since I knew he would view me as the enemy...
...I gave him the name of a friend...
...whose apartment I was staying at in Manhattan.
I thought I just had to get through the awkwardness of the flight itself...
...but the trouble is... - You slept with him.
- Vince... - You slept with my ex-partner.
Technically.
Doesn't sound like things were particularly technical.
Now, you listen to me, sweetheart.
Vince doesn't always do what's best for Vince.
That's why he needed me here today.
The story of this girl is the most painful thing in his life.
What happened to her, Lanny?
Well, you're not gonna find out.
Not now.
Not after what you've done to him.
Vince.
Oh, shit.
Vince...
...I made a terrible mistake in New York.
I apologize to you more than I know how to say.
I'm so sorry.
Vince, the realization of your life story...
...shouldn't be threatened because of my failings.
Please let me continue to work with you again.
I'll help you tell your story right.
Come back tonight.
Let me think about it.
- How do you like the wine? - It's magnificent. What is it?
1961 Haut-Brion.
People make a big deal of 1959...
...but I don't think there'll be a year as special as 1961.
It was a great year for French wines.
Will you join me?
What are they?
They're like very mild-mannered Quaaludes.
Must've done a few of those in your time, right?
Are you sure they're okay with alcohol?
Oh, they're even better with alcohol. Believe me, I'd know.
Come on in, honey. The water's fine.
All my life, I've had this idea that I could always be in control.
Ever since I was sick, I had this sense...
... that I could make my body do anything I wanted.
If I could will my polio away...
... I'd certainly be able to will away the effect of any drug.
Do you mind if I close the drapes? The sun's in my eyes.
It's moonlight.
Go ahead.
I remember you.
You're Alice.
In Wonderland.
Oh, I don't know.
I'm really stoned out of my head already.
Is it good?
Jesus, Vince. It's like monster grass.
Do you get this stuff all the time?
All the time.
You're Alice.
You're so beautiful.
She's ours.
Isn't that so, Alice?
I'm yours.
I like you.
I had always been fascinated by how some women could cross the line...
... between who they were and who they would let themselves become.
Maureen...
... Alice...
... and now...
... me.
Morning.
That was not a Quaalude you gave me. I've had Quaaludes.
I said it was like a Quaalude.
And you didn't take one yourself. You palmed the pill.
Somebody had to drive.
Don't worry, you won't get pregnant.
Not from Alice, and certainly not from me.
I never took off my pants, as you may or may not remember.
There are laws against drugging people.
Oh, please. You took it voluntarily. Nobody slipped it into your drink.
And you chased it with one of the most expensive wines in the world.
You're just in a dither because you've discovered you can swing both ways.
You see...
...I needed to get something on you.
Of course, your behavior with Lanny might have been even better than this.
But I'd already set the wheels in motion.
And as I was dying to see you and Alice get it on...
Well, these are just a sample.
Why would she agree to do this? Doesn't she want a career?
Well, it's your career I'm worried about.
You're a journalist playing loose with the rules.
She's just a vulnerable young singer you seduced.
A promising... Oh, good heavens.
Promising artist that I happen to manage.
You met her through me...
...and had your way with her.
What do you want from me?
You're going to continue writing the book.
I'm going to continue telling you juicy stories, funny stories...
...heart-tugging stories.
And you're not going to ask me a single question...
...about what happened to the girl in New Jersey.
You're going to go to your publisher, say you tried every angle...
...but you could find nothing odd or suspicious in what I told you.
I'll even try to spice it up a little, talk about how...
...the night before the telethon, I wanted to sleep like a babe...
...so to cover my bets, I kept a few babes on hand.
Well, not exactly on my hand...
...and that's not my preference, as you might have gathered by now.
So you get your bestseller, I get my million.
Everyone goes home happy.
You've dreaded talking about Maureen O'Flaherty since we met.
If it's something you're so desperate to avoid...
...why would you ever agree to do this book?
I need the money.
Vince, anything you say in my presence is mine to use.
Everything you said last night and everything you've just told me.
And since I'm also allowed to include contextual background...
...I can write about how you set me up...
...how you tried to blackmail me. I'll even include those Polaroids.
It's your word against mine. We have a contract. Everything's in my words.
We've agreed to your answers, but there's nothing to stop me...
...from putting any information I want into a question I ask.
Information that I'd like to be public knowledge...
...or that the police might wanna look into.
Would you like me to fire one of my loaded questions, on the record?
Sure.
Vince...
...in your suite at the Versailles Hotel in Miami...
...was it your or Lanny's idea...
...to put Maureen's body into the case containing shellfish and ice...
...and have it shipped to New Jersey?
No answer, Mr. Collins? So noted.
Oh, and incidentally, by not answering...
...you're in violation of your contract.
What a shame. I understood you needed that money.
Oh, no. Oh, God.
Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God!
Was that how you murdered Maureen?
Ask Lanny.
He's the one who knows.
It wasn't that hard for him to get the suite he wanted.
The Versailles was still one of the fanciest of the hotels along the beach.
But by then, its era had passed.
Thank you, sir.
All the furniture was new.
It had been 15 years...
... but the floor plan...
... was still the same.
In that spot...
... that was where the truth had come out.
That was why she had to die.
Are you Japanese or Chinese?
Vietnamese.
The kitchen tell me you famous person.
Why you famous?
They didn't tell you my name?
No.
What is it?
Lanny Morris.
It's a Jewish name...
...but I'm a nebbish.
You ordered three bottle of champagne.
You want me to open one now?
Or wait until friend come?
Open all three.
Are you really famous, Mr. Morris?
In my day.
Before your time, I suppose.
I come from the north of Vietnam.
In my town, there is no television.
She explained that American movies had been banned where she grew up.
She got better tips pretending she was Madame Butterfly...
... than by telling people where she was really from.
What did you do, Mr. Morris?
I made Vince Collins' life...
...very difficult.
She didn't understand, but her policy was not to linger in the rooms...
... of solitary gentlemen.
He signed the room-service check under Lanny's name.
Thank you.
There was no ice or water left in the buckets...
... when his body was discovered the next morning.
He had dumped the ice into the bathtub and died in it.
He must have felt there was some poetry in it.
His plan was to drink enough champagne...
... with enough sleeping pills...
... so that ending things would become an acceptable idea.
He could manage that.
He knew for certain he couldn't manage anything else.
Hi.
I thought you were gonna be out all afternoon.
I'm sorry.
It's okay.
This was under the door.
What is it?
Chapter three.
John, as my lawyer, I want you to know that this next chapter...
... is to be read after Vince and my death...
... and is only to be used under the most extreme of circumstances.
We knew we wanted to make an early night of it...
... with the telethon starting the next day, so Vince suggested we dine in...
... so Maureen could do the interview for her campus paper.
This is a gift for us from the audience...
...from the people, the people that are out there.
Sooner or later you gotta say, "We wanna give something back."
I think that's really important.
Not many people would take the time out to do that. Thank you.
She actually hid her tape recorder in the room-service cart...
... because she didn't want the hotel to find out.
We finished the interview and then asked her to stay.
To help us get into the mood, I did a Tuinal...
... then she did one...
... and Vince, he did two, because he was always doing two.
We got into the second of the three bottles of Moët we'd ordered.
We thought it would be better to keep the action to neutral territory.
God...
... she was beautiful.
I chain-locked the front door to the living room...
... to make sure that housekeeping, eager to turn down our beds...
... didn't walk in on an employee having a ménage à trois...
... with the hotel's headliners.
Then I went to chain-lock the door to Vince's room.
I took a quick shower, I put on my robe...
... and brought a robe for Maureen, in case she felt a little bashful.
So much for bashful.
I threw the robe on the bed and moved into the room...
... half-worried that they would finish without me.
I've always preferred the missionary position.
I have to see their faces, look into their eyes.
Unless they're acting, and I'd like to think I can tell the difference...
... there comes that moment...
... when, if you're looking...
... if you're really looking...
... you'll see exactly who she is.
This was different.
It was like she saw exactly who I was.
Watch it there, compadre.
It's a little hard to tell who's who, under the circumstances.
I'm the one that's more than a little hard, you dumb fucking limey.
Well, I'm... I'm the one with a foreskin. Don't you forget that.
Watch it. You got the end zone there, Vince.
- Come on, come on. Fuck. - You're gonna like it.
It's like from another planet when you come.
- Get the fuck off me. - I'd never hurt you.
- Get the fuck off me!
- No, trust me. It's like double the sex... - Get the fuck off me!
We don't fuck, Vince!
We're buddies, we're pals, we're partners, we're a duo.
We love each other, but we don't fuck!
We're fucking stars!
- We can travel together. - Okay.
We can hang out together, we can live together, but we can't be queers!
It's not funny!
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
About?
About your nose.
It's not broken, is it?
It's how I am.
Guess the question is, who's gonna pay me?
This surprised me.
The girl was not a hooker.
My wallet was on top of my robe.
I took out some money.
I don't remember how much.
I don't think so.
That's more than you would make in a month of tips.
I'm not looking for a tip.
What the hell are you saying?
Honey, I'm in my last year of college.
This is a summer job.
I wanna write.
I wanna be a journalist.
So I could either use this information...
...or I could use a lot of money.
I promise you this will only cost you once.
I'm so tired, I don't even think I'm going home.
I think it's the Tuinals.
Hey, Lanny, don't take it personally.
You were a great lover.
You have got the cutest little butt.
I guess Vince thinks so too.
Night, Lanny.
I would never see her alive again.
I put a "Do Not Disturb" sign on my door...
... fastened the chain lock, in case the maid didn't read.
I left a wake-up call for 8...
... and went to sleep knowing that a telethon...
... was the least of the ordeals I was going to have to face in the morning.
The Tuinals had really conked me out...
... and I slept through my wake-up call that morning.
The operator had called Reuben down the hall...
... to see if he could wake me...
... but he couldn't get in because we had chain-locked all the doors.
Reuben!
I yelled for Reuben to wake up Vince while I worked on Maureen...
... trying to make myself believe that she was still sleeping.
Fuck.
No, no. Fuck.
The autopsy revealed the drugs and alcohol in her body...
... but I knew it wasn't enough to kill her.
All three doors to the suite...
... were chain-locked from the inside when I found her.
I hadn't touched her.
That's how I know that my former partner and friend, Vince Collins...
... murdered Maureen O'Flaherty.
You must have guessed by now that Vince and I had found a way...
... to relocate Maureen's body to New Jersey.
This is the one criminal act the both of us committed...
... but we were in a panic and needed to create an ironclad alibi.
The crates were delivered to our room.
The publicist had opened the crates for a photo op.
But the official story became...
... that she found Maureen's overdosed body in the tub.
A police officer called Scaglia was there to witness the whole thing.
Live, until they drop dead...
During the telethon...
... I kept telling myself that I could forgive Vince for two reasons.
First of all, I don't think he could have known what he was doing.
He was completely out of it, even more than usual.
The second is that he was terrified...
... that this incident would become public knowledge.
In those days, the slightest hint that he could swing both ways...
... would destroy his show-business career in an instant.
As it was, it was only to destroy us.
We completed the telethon...
... but we both knew we were finished.
The marriage...
... was over.
There was a moment in the middle of the telethon...
... where I actually broke down.
I just couldn't control myself.
I remember I mumbled something...
... to a little girl who was recounting her experiences with the disease.
I don't remember what I said...
... but I do remember feeling worthless.
Everyone thought that my tears were for her.
It made for a great picture in the papers the next day.
Mr. Morris will see you now.
I expected to see you at Vince's funeral.
Kind of heartless of you not to show up, don't you think, Karen?
Considering you're probably the one that...
...drove him to it.
I won't answer that.
So don't.
So get the fuck out of my office.
Lanny, I have interview material with Vince up until the moment he met you.
It would be great if this...
...warm, funny side of Vince could reach the public.
And what the fuck do you know about Vince's warm and funny side?
What about the warm and funny fact that he killed himself?
- Why would he do that? - I don't know.
That's the answer I'm giving you...
...and anyone else that asks.
- "I don't know." - But you do know, don't you, Lanny?
Whatever I know, sweetheart...
...I'm writing in my book.
Except you're never going to finish your book.
You don't have to.
The person who needed your book is dead.
You always wrote the material for your shows.
Every single word was rehearsed.
The book was a manual, a set of notes...
...so Vince would get every detail of the official story.
"A couple of extra babes for him to sleep with that night.
A few of them on hand.
Well, not exactly on his hand. That wasn't his preference."
- So, what's your point? - He quoted that very line to me.
Quoted it from your manuscript as if he were saying it for the first time.
You wrote it because you loved him.
And feared for him.
And feared for yourself.
And then you wrote this:
Where the fuck did you get that?
- Delivered to my room. - Bullshit. You stole it.
Maureen O'Flaherty was killed in the Versailles Hotel, in your room...
...the night before the telethon.
The night before we met.
Get out of my office.
Miss Trout?
We walked through the deserted backlot of the studio...
... and I confessed that I wasn't Bonnie Trout.
That I was writing a book about Vince Collins.
And that I was trying to uncover the secret...
... behind what happened to Maureen O'Flaherty.
I told him what I found out.
He prayed that he would be forgiven...
... for having been there as the murder was concealed.
Miss O'Connor...
...I have a tape recording of the night Miss O'Flaherty was killed.
She had brought a machine.
- For the interview. - Yes.
I found it as I was getting rid of her things.
She kept it on?
Could you use this tape for your book?
Of course.
Miss O'Connor...
...is it something?
Oh, my.
Is it something I could sell?
Reuben, I can't speak on behalf of my publishers...
...but I'm sure that we can settle on a price.
Oh, thank you, Miss O'Connor.
I'll even spice it up a little, talk about how...
... the night before the telethon, I wanted to sleep like a babe.
So to cover my bets, I kept a few babes on hand.
Well, not exactly on my hand.
That's not my preference, as you may have gathered by now.
I need the money.
Did you have a figure in mind?
Would you think a million dollars would be too much?
Vince was being paid a million dollars for his life.
This is one night.
The most important night.
You could have left me a note or called me.
- I did leave you a note. - Where?
Lanny left this for me at my apartment.
It's his version of what happened that night.
On its own, it's absolutely useless to me.
I could have typed it myself.
But if it matched what's recorded on your tape...
...it would make it priceless.
Which is why you sent it to me.
You just said Mr. Morris left it at your apartment.
He was surprised I had it.
Like he was surprised I hadn't found the note he left for me at the hotel.
The note you must've disposed of as you were tidying the room.
I told you how he deals with women. I was afraid.
Really afraid of what he might do to you.
Maybe you were afraid of what I'd...
I'd do to him. And to you.
Why would I be afraid of a schoolteacher called Bonnie Trout?
Because you knew I was Karen O'Connor.
When I woke up, you folded my clothes...
...and placed my pocketbook on the bed.
The pocketbook that had my name and the letter from my publisher.
I was writing about the one thing you wanted to have total control over:
Collins and Morris.
You made me abandon any thought of trying to contact Lanny.
You made me feel like I was less than nothing to him...
...because you were playing your own complex game.
And what exactly was this complex game I was playing, Miss O'Connor?
You were in the room.
That night.
Lanny had a robe. He dropped it on the bed.
After Maureen asked for money...
...the wallet was on top. It had been folded.
Well, I always, always arranged Mr. Morris' things.
After he went to bed. You were there before.
How would I get out? All three doors were chain-locked.
Through Vince's room.
Then, the next morning...
... you must have chain-locked the door before you went to wake him up.
Fuck!
Lanny let me read the first chapter.
Vince sent me the second.
And you stole this.
To whet my appetite.
I wanna write.
I wanna be a journalist.
So I could either use this information...
... or I could use a lot of money.
Is that why you killed her?
To protect them?
For 15 years...
... he tormented Vince and Lanny.
He could never blackmail Vince while Sally Sanmarco was alive...
... so he waited until Sally died to activate his retirement plan:
A million dollars from Vince.
A million dollars for the same tape he offered to me.
He would never get his money, and I would never see him again.
He had taken her life...
... and with it her mother's heart...
... and her father's mind.
And now...
... all that remained of Maureen O'Flaherty...
... was a tree in her mother's garden.
Your daughter learned something about Vince Collins...
...that he didn't want anyone to know.
Because of that...
...she was killed.
If it's of any small comfort, she probably didn't suffer.
I want people to know about this man.
I want them to know why he killed her.
There is someone in all this...
...who is totally innocent of any involvement...
...in the events of that night...
...but whose life will be made infinitely worse if I tell the truth at this time.
I wanna protect this person from any further pain.
I promise you...
I promise you I will write down the truth that I've learned...
...but I have to let matters lie until this person has died...
...and the truth can no longer touch them.
I saw no indication on her face...
... that she knew I was talking about her.
You're a very special girl.
Forgive me.