Brian Clemens' Thriller 1.1 Lady Killer

[michaellevenson]

At an English hotel an American lady in her thirties enquires at the hotel reception if she's got any mail. The answer is no, she reluctantly but almost accepting the enivatable walks back to the lounge, she is a lonely girl with no friends here in England.
Meanwhile an intruder has forced his way into her room using a credit card to prise the door open. He opens her wardrobe and rifles through possessions including a passport.
Later this man, Paul Tanner phones someone at the hotel phone kiosk.
Paul ," yes she's the one, hair colour, height, from Muncie Indiana and receives no mail. Yes, I'm about to fall in love with Jenny Frith....a lonely girl."

In the lounge he introduces himself to Jenny and they talk. Jenny is a lonely girl and Paul claims to be great at guessing accents and deduces she's from Muncie Indiana impressing Jenny though he knew it already of course.

Jenny is in this part of the country to travel to poet Keats birthplace. Paul feigns an interest in Keats and the two of them go together.
A romance starts to form, all the while Paul makes secret phone calls to a third person, a woman, reporting his progress.
Paul," we've been everywhere, I never knew just how exhausting poets could be, but the hook is well and truly baited. I make my move tonight."

It's been three weeks since they met, Paul says his goodbyes in the lounge and prepares to leave hotel. Jenny is upset at the romance ending, but it's a ruse by Paul. He knocks on her bedroom door late that night.
Paul, " Jenny, it's crazy I know but I don't think I can leave without you, say you'll marry me."

They marry in a church near the sea, and afterwards Paul takes her to his house , a lonely detached house by the sea. Jenny settles in and all seems well, Jenny hasn't got any friends here in England, but is excited to meet Paul's. Paul hesitantly says he has loads of friends and she'll meet them soon, but something is troubling him, this isn't as it all seems.

Things are not as they appear, however. Paul continues to make secret phone calls to someone, and Jenny becomes aware of it. Paul says it's a business deal he's sorting out, part of his livelihood.
One evening on returning home Paul gets a shock, Jenny has altered her appearance.
Hair now done in a bun, heavy make up, evening dress, he explodes inexplicably with fury.
Paul, " WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE! YOU DON'T LOOK ANYTHING LIKE..."
Jenny ( crying), " I did it to please you."
Paul ( calmer) ," I'm sorry, it's just that I don't like sophisticated women, scared of them I guess. I love you Jenny just as the way you were, and suddenly seeing you like this, well you weren't the girl I fell in love with."
Things are patched up between them with a kiss and apology from Paul.

A busybody cleaning lady is Jenny's only contact with anyone, and she learns from the cleaning woman that Paul does not own the house, as Jenny had thought.
Mrs Bradley, " it's rented my dear, belongs to Colonel Mullard, I used to clean for him before he died. The executives, you know the people who take care of things when you die asked me to look after the place."
Jenny, " you mean executors, thank you Mrs Bradley."

Paul admits this and tells her buying a house is something for two to do, and in the spring they'll look together for a house, one big enough for a family. Paul surprises Jenny with a dress he claims he's bought for her, but when he goes out again,Jenny notices a cleaning label on the dress and as Mrs Bradley confirms you don't put cleaning labels on new dresses.
There's a knock on the door and a man claiming to be a friend of Paul's introduces himself.

Hardisty, " Jack Hardisty's the name, sorry to bother you, but that man driving away, I saw him in the town, I thought it was a friend of mine, sorry my mistake."
Jenny, " who did you think it was?"
Hardisty, " Paul Tanner."
Jenny, " yes that was Paul."
Hardisty ( happy) " I thought as much, well well, and you must be Toni's sister."
Jenny, " er...who's Toni?"
Hardisty, " Paul's wife."
Jenny, " I'm Paul's wife, I'm Mrs Tanner."
Hardisty, " really, never knew he'd remarried, or even divorced"
Jenny looks very down and confused.
Hardisty, " oh..I'm sorry, forgive me, well perhaps Paul won't be so pleased to see me after all."
Hardisty goes to leave,
Penny," I'll tell Paul you were here."
Hardisty, " thanks, ( scribbling on a notepad) here's my number if he wishes to call me."
After handing over paper Hardisty walks to door, then turns back.
Hardisty, " you know at first I thought you were Toni, you even look like her, superficially you understand, even the Canadian accent."
Penny ," I'm American Mr Hardisty."
Hardisty, " the same to my ear, sorry again."
Hardisty leaves, Jenny goes upstairs to the bedroom and opens wardrobe, she opens a suitcase and sees some personal belongings of Paul including a photo of a woman in the identical dress he has supposedly bought for her, the photo framed and signed..Toni.

 

[michaellevenson]

Jenny confronts Paul with the photo of Toni in the dress he gave her, a blazing row ensues.
Jenny, " look at that dress and look at me, we could be sisters. Now if you loved her and married me as some sort of replacement, I don't want to be an imitation."

Paul " you're wrong."
Jenny, " you must have loved her very much to want to replace her with someone who looks just like her."

Paul, " loved her? I hated her, I don't know why I wanted you to look like her, perhaps to convince myself someone who looked like her doesn't have to be bad. My way of exorcising her from my mind."
Jenny feels sympathetic and a bit guilty ," oh Paul, if that's true, I'm so sorry, I went through your things and everything."
Paul " course it's true."
Jenny, "where is she now?"
Paul," dead, her death brought me nothing but relief."
Penny ," I'm sorry it was just such a shock hearing it from a stranger."
Paul, " what stranger?"
Penny " he was here earlier, Jack Hardisty."
Paul seems taken aback,
" Jack well..well..erm did he leave a number."
Penny hand over the paper with the number, Paul phones but gets no answer.
Paul ( laughing) ," sorry darling, that dress..get rid of it for God's sake."

Jack Hardisty returns and asks to speak to Paul in private. It is near midnight and Jenny retires.
Hardisty, " congratulations on your new wife Paul. You know I went to the Registration Office , there's no record of your divorce from Toni, and you're a bigamist."
Paul, " really."
Hardisty, " I couldn't work it out, where's the profit, because there's always a profit, then it hit me, your new wife and how much she resembles Toni. It's good Paul, one of your best yet."
Paul " I've no idea what you're on about."
Hardisty ( chuckles), " come on Paul, this is Jack Hardisty you're talking to, do you want me to spell it out."
Upstairs Jenny is dropping off to sleep, meanwhile;
Hardisty, " that's it, I may have got the finer details wrong but that's the general plan."
Paul " how much d'you want?"
Hardisty, " half"
Paul, ( shouts)" HALF!!"
Hardisty, ( pointing up) "ssshhh ..half it is and half I'm going to get. I don't even need to bargain, I know the strength of my cards, and you've never dealt a better hand Paul."
Paul, " I need to think, talk to Toni."
Hardisty, " sure, won't change anything because I know what the answer will be, must be."

Paul reluctantly agrees and suggests they celebrate their renewed partnership with a drink. While pouring the drinks Paul unseen removes a sock, places the whisky decanter top inside it, and when Jack isn't looking smashes it down on his head.

Jenny is asleep now and Paul drags the body to his car and goes to the clifftop throwing the body over edge. Next day Paul meets a woman in secret, in a church, it is Toni, Paul's real wife.


Toni is concerned about Hardisty.
Paul, " I had no choice, he wanted to squeeze us."
Toni," but the body!?"
Paul," I threw it over the cliff. Isn't that the plan all along, to let the sea and rocks do our job for us.....hell!"
Toni," what is it?"
Paul," his car, I left it parked at the cliff road."
Toni " I'll take it, put it in some multi storey car park, it'll be there for months probably before anyone gets suspicious. "
Paul," fine."
Toni " what about the old man and his dog?"
Paul," no problem, he walks the same time every day the same place. He'll be close enough to see it but not close enough to say exactly how it happened, by the way Jenny's hair is in a bun today."
Toni, " okay I'll get it set this afternoon."

Paul sends Jenny away for the afternoon by booking an appointment for her with a beautician, his way of apologising for earlier temper tantrum when she changed her appearance. When Jenny is gone, Toni with her hair now in a bun the same as Jenny's comes over, she and Paul walk together along the cliffs; when a neighbour walking his dog is within sight of them, Toni pretends to faint. As expected the neighbour, an old man comes to the house to inquire how Mrs Tanner is, Paul tells the man that his wife is suffering from unexplained fainting attacks.
The Man leaves, Toni comes down the stairs,
Paul ," witness number one, now for number two, the doctor."

Toni sees a doctor in town,
Doctor, " and how many of these blackouts have you had?"
Toni ," three I think doctor."
Doctor ," hmm, I'll book you in for a cardiogram, next Wednesday suit you?"
Toni, " yes that's fine."
Doctor ," meantime get plenty of fresh air exercise, nothing too strenuous, and I'll see you next Wednesday."

Back at the church Toni tells Paul that she's terribly jealous of Jenny sleeping with Paul these past months.
Toni ," no other wife would stand by like I have."
Paul," I know, but that's us Toni, putting emotion to one side and go for the cool money."

Finally the day arrives, Paul and Jenny go for a clifftop walk, Jenny talks and Paul isn't really listening as he mentally steels himself to push Jenny over cliff.
Jenny " ...so I have noticed you've been a bit distracted lately, and I haven't asked you about these business deals you make, I presume you'd talk about it if you wanted to, but if there's money trouble, well I have about a million dollars of my own maybe more."
Paul in the act of pushing her stops himself just in time.

 

[michaellevenson]

Back at the house Paul is a bit shocked to say the least.
Paul," a million dollars!!"
Jenny, " you do need the money then?"
Paul, " good lord no, I wouldn't touch a penny of it, it's just a shock to realise I've married an heiress. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
Jenny, " you didn't ask about my finances and I respected you for that, it's not uncommon for a man to marry for money, but you married me because you loved me."
Paul," yes indeed!"

Next morning Paul persuades Jenny to stay an extra hour in bed because he thinks she looks a little pale, and when Jenny says she's fine he wants her to humour him, so she agrees to stay in bed a bit longer. This is part of Paul's plan as he now speaks to Mrs Bradley downstairs.
Paul, " Mrs Tanner will be staying in bed a bit longer this morning she's not feeling too well."
Mrs Bradley ," yes, she fainted the other day at the cliffs."
Paul," how did you know?"
Mrs Bradley, " Mr Pembury told me, I clean for him too."
Paul," yes well, Mrs Tanner is a bit self conscious about it all so it really would be better not to mention it to her, it might make her even worse, we don't want her collapsing on you."
Mrs Bradley, " no sir, I'll say nothing."
Paul happy, witness number three sorted.


Later that afternoon Paul falls asleep upstairs, while Jenny receives a strange phone call from the doctor that Toni saw, he has phoned to tell "Mrs. Tanner" that he must reschedule her appointment.
Doctor, " for your cardiogram Mrs Tanner."
Jenny," you must have the wrong Mrs Tanner. What am I supposed to be suffering from?"
Doctor, " fainting fits and blackouts. I'm afraid you must have suffered another blackout, why else would you not remember being here."
Jenny " because I never was."

Jenny after putting the phone down puzzled at the call goes through the mail that arrived this morning including a package addressed to her, she opens it to reveal a tape recorder. She turns it on, it's from Jack Hardisty.
Hardisty, " Mrs Tanner this is my insurance so to speak, I've left it with a good friend with instructions to mail it if he doesn't hear from me for 24hrs. I know a lot about insurance, so does Paul, yes he's the best conman I've ever known. He's taken out a policy on Toni, that's his real wife, yes he's still married to her, and her life is insured for a big sum. Three years ago they took out that policy, that's how long they've been planning this."

Hardisty, " But Toni doesn't fancy dying yet. That's where you come in, you look like the woman who took out that insurance plan three years ago, and who would guess Paul has two wives. You get the picture, Toni isn't going to die, you are. Goodbye Mrs Tanner, If you hear this Mrs Tanner then this goodbye is final."

Suddenly the doctor's phone call makes sense to her. Jenny becomes hysterical. She runs from the house to the cliff , rushing past Toni on the way. Toni has come to the house to see why Paul did not follow through with murdering Jenny. Toni finds Paul upstairs, awake now in the bathroom shaving.
Paul, " Toni ! What are you doing here, get out quick."
Toni," don't worry she's not here."
Paul," I was going to phone you."
Toni, " Yeah sure, you obviously couldn't do it."
Paul, "listen , she has a million dollars of her own. I was about to push her....a million makes what we're after seem chicken feed. We'll have to rethink."
Toni, " how long?"
Paul, " a few months, maybe six, now get out of here."
Toni, " oh no we do what we agreed."
Paul," don't be stupid, she has a MILLION dollars."

Toni," I know what's in your mind Paul, ditch me and stick with her, it's written all over your face. Well I haven't got a million dollars but I have you and I'm not giving that up. She's out there now, all it takes is one little push, Jenny is about to have one of her blackouts."


Toni runs out, Paul chases after her,
"TONI NO....COME BACK...TONI"
Meanwhile Jenny crying , stumbling hurls the tape recorder over the cliff edge. She turns and Toni attacks her trying to push her over the edge. Paul intervenes and pulls Toni off, Toni pushes back at Paul who strikes Toni, and Toni falls to her death from the cliff as the old man neighbour looks on.

In the meantime, Jenny has rushed back to the house, and Paul returns as well. Knowing the neighbour will have sent for the police already, Paul tries to invent an explanation for what has just happened, but he can't change the fact that the neighbour saw him push Toni to her death.
Paul is desperate, " the old man saw everything, I saw him scuttling away, the police are probably on their way. I don't know how she found us, I should have had her committed years ago. That's why I lied about her being dead , she's not dead, not until just now. She's MAD , not jealous, but MAD INSANE. To think she came close to destroying you. Because you're the only one I've ever loved."

Jenny is calmer, still tears down her face, but trying to breathe easier. Paul goes on as he grabs her shoulders kneeling beside her.
" You'll tell them what happened, how I tried to rescue you, because the old man he really couldn't see."
Jenny, " yes I'll tell them everything....Jack Hardisty everything."
Paul, " no not Jack Hardisty, what happened just now , it's all they'll be interested in."
Jenny, " just now?"
Paul, " yes on the cliifs."
Jenny, " I don't remember that."
Paul ( snarling) , " what d'you mean you don't remember, it just happened 5 minutes ago!"
Jenny, " I remember nothing, I must have had a blackout ! If you check with my doctor you'll find I have a history of blackouts. Even you said I've been looking pale."
Paul realises she's turned the tables beautifully.
Paul, " if the old man tells his version without you to back me they'll hang a murder charge around my neck."
Jenny rises from the settee, " I remember NOTHING."
The doorbell rings, the police are here, Jenny calmly walks to door.
Paul ( sobbing), " JENNY....I NEED YOU
..JENNY...."


Cast;
Paul.......Robert Powell
Jenny......Barbara Feldon
Toni......Linda Thorson
Hardisty...T.P. McKenna
Mrs Bradley.....Mary Wimbush
Doctor......Ivor Roberts

 

[michaellevenson]

Thriller (1973)