NICK VINCENT (Producer)
(holding up his hands)
Laila, -I-
HUGO FRASER
(sarcastically)
Andof course it would make suchgreatTV, wouldn’t it, Nick? You could choreograph the whole damn thing, all those so-called discoveries, the big reveals—
MITCHELL CLARKE
(nodding)
The perfect story arc.
NICK VINCENT (Producer)
Bill – come on, help me out here.
There’s a silence; they’re all now looking at Bill.
HUGO FRASER
Well? We’re waiting.
BILL SERAFINI
(takes a deep breath)
Look, I heard about the series through the grapevine – that some British TV company was looking at making a series about the Luke Ryder case. And yes, of course I was interested, I’m not going to apologize for that.
JJ NORTON
So you’re admitting you knew that Eric Fulton and Luke Ryder were one and the same, even back then.
BILL SERAFINI
Yes, I did.
The team react with varying degrees of anger and indignation. Bill holds up his hands.
And yes, for that I apologize. But I’m not apologizing for wanting to be involved. I knew it might be my best chance to get some closure for the Shulmans once and for all.
LAILA FURNESS
But you said you’ve known about Eric for years. Isn’t that enough ‘closure’? Why are the Shulmans still paying you after all this time? What can they possibly hope to find?
BILL SERAFINI
Simple. Their money. If we can nail this man’s real identity then there’s a chance we can find the missing cash too.
There could be bank accounts out there in his real name. Not to mention Rose Shulman’s Cartier diamonds—
HUGO FRASER
And no doubt you’re on a percentage of value recovered. Nice work if you can get it—