The Killing Call The Honourable Woman

This programme contains some strong language.

NESSA: 'Who do you trust?' Thank you. 'How do you know?'

-JULIA:

-The winner of the Phase Three contract

is Samir Meshal.

'By how they appear?'

Look away from Samir Meshal.

Happy to agree.

'Or what they say?'

Nessa Stein.

Not quite the woman she appears to be.

'What they do?'

If I'd told you the truth, would you have stayed?

'We all have secrets.'

Kasim!

'But sometimes...'

MAN SCREAMS

'..something can happen that leaves you no choice...

'..but to reveal it,

'to let the world see who you really are...

'..your secret self.'

They know.

'But mostly we tell lies,

'we hide our secrets from each other,

'from ourselves.

'So, when you think about it like that...

'..it's a wonder we trust anyone at all.'

WHOOSHING

ENGINE STARTS SUDDENLY

Modeh ani l'faneykha.

-ATIKA:

-Don't be afraid.

-KASIM:

-I'm safe.

NESSA: I can't do this.

If it's the price...for a nation.

RADIO COMMUNICATION IN ARABIC

ELECTRONIC WHIRRING

DOOR CLOSES

MONITOR BEEPS STEADILY

ALARM CLOCK BEEPS

BEEPS INTENSIFY

WOMAN SIGHS

Morning.

SHE GRUNTS

Oh, fuck.

Oh...

SHE SIGHS

PHONE RINGS

Hello?

FAINT BREATH ON PHONE

'Is your secret safe?'

Tell me what it is.

Tell me something no-one else could know.

'You burnt my face.

'Is your secret safe?'

Yes, it is.

It's them.

-Yes.

-What do they want?

They haven't said.

Why not?

I don't think they're ready.

I think they've taken him in reaction to something...

..that they weren't expecting.

-What?

-Samir Meshal's death.

You don't know that.

Why else would they have taken him?

So I think we should expose them.

I think we should tell the world what happened to us.

It's their shame! Whatever it is they want, they'll lose.

And we'll lose Kasim.

I should never have done this.

I should never have agreed to this.

Oh, I should've just told everyone what happened, right from the start.

You didn't have a choice.

I did have a choice. I made the wrong one.

For the right reason! We both did.

Look what this has done to us!

We don't know what it's done.

All we can do now is wait and find out.

But, Nessa...

Nessa, look at me.

NESSA SIGHS HEAVILY

Nessa.

NESSA GASPS

SHE SOBS

SHE BREATHES HEAVILY

SHE EXHALES

We must be very, very careful now.

Tell no-one.

-(Rachel and Ephra already know.)

-About this?

-What happened to us.

-Oh, not everything.

Er...

They know enough. If they go to the police...

They won't. I'll speak to them.

They'll listen to me.

I am his mother...after all.

-RACHEL:

-Who else knows?

No-one, just the four of us.

Well, I think that circle

-should be widened now to include the police.

-No.

Atika, you were kidnapped for nearly a year

and we weren't allowed to tell a soul.

Now your son's been taken, apparently by the same people,

and still you're telling me to say nothing.

Yes.

Why?

Because it's the best chance I have of getting him back.

-You don't know that.

-I am the only one that does.

I am the only one who know what these people are like...

first-hand.

I say we go to the police.

It isn't their world.

Atika, it's our world you're living in!

But Kasim's in theirs!

And the best thing I can do right now is to wait,

find out what they want

and then decide whether or not...we give it to them.

Nothing the police can do will change that.

But if they try...it may kill him.

I'm not comfortable with this.

Then be uncomfortable!

He's MY child!

Ephra!

She's right.

Rachel, please, you must say nothing.

Actually, you know what? I'm happy with "Mrs Stein".

Rachel...

You'd better be right...

-I am.

-..because if I were you,

I'm not sure I'd be able to make that kind of decision.

If you were me, you'd be a Gazan,

born in a refugee camp that's still there today.

You'd have spent your whole life a stranger...

on your own land.

No home, no nation.

Nothing.

But if you were me, you would have learned one thing.

How to wait.

Not everyone's going to be so patient.

With a hole like this...

..they're going to start filling it with all sorts of shit, Atika.

Let them.

What?!

That's ridiculous!

Mr Stein is not Kasim's father.

That's unbelievable.

What we're doing here, it's just routine, belt and braces.

Except you're not the one having to drop his trousers!

Miss Halabi,

-Kasim's father was...

-Killed.

Seven years ago. In a car crash in Gaza.

As she's told you before, but you obviously don't believe her.

Excuse me.

You know what I think? I think I think time's ticking on

and you have absolutely nothing to show for it...

..which is why you're now clutching at straws, or my balls.

-Ephra...

-What?! He's the one fucking it up!

-What if it was true?

-Rachel!

-Mrs Stein!

-How would it help?

If it was true...

-This is crazy.

-..it would mean you have a secret,

one that they may be willing to exploit.

But, as I say, I'm sure it's not.

No, you're not, or you wouldn't even ask.

-Why were you so aggressive?

-What?!

Because he was an idiot.

Is this it?

Is this why you agree with Atika on everything she says?

I agree with her because she is the child's mother.

And now it seems you have a vested interest all of your own.

Rachel...

-So take the test.

-What?

-Take the test.

-No.

Why not?

Because it is ridiculous!

But if it's so crazy, why not just do it to placate them?

I'm not even going to justify this with an answer.

I'm certainly not going to give... the Keystone Kops any of my sperm!

-They won't need sperm.

-Oh, thank you, doctor(!)

You, Nessa, Atika - what you three are up to, I don't get.

But you schtupping the housekeeper

and not wanting anyone to find out about it - this, I do!

-No.

-It is possible.

-Just don't. Please...

-I've worked it out,

it's possible. Atika was your translator before she was Nessa's.

You gave her to Nessa before she went out there.

-Why'd you do that?

-Because she was a good translator!

So, how come she became a housekeeper,

here, in our house?

You know why.

I know she and Nessa went through a terrible experience,

one that we are unable to let anyone else know about, but...

..how come she didn't go and live with Nessa?

How come she had to come and live with us?

-Because it was the right thing to do.

-Who for?

When I said, "The United Colours of Stein," I didn't mean it literally.

-Rachel...

-Take the test.

Thank you for agreeing to do this.

So, they take a mouth swab from the mother and from the male.

And something from the child.

A strand of hair.

Does Kasim have a hairbrush?

No.

Well, then perhaps from his bed.

No.

What about a toothbrush?

Why, yes, that would be excellent.

Well, there we are, then.

Let's use that.

MONITOR BEEPS STEADILY

Why do you keep staring at me?

You're awake!

I have been for some time.

Hmm.

BREATHES HEAVILY

BREATHES HEAVILY

-NURSE:

-What are you doing in here?!

It's OK.

I've got gloves on.

You're not allowed in here!

You're just making it worse.

I need a phone.

PHONE RINGS

-Anjelica Rosen's office.

-'Hello, Jenny.'

It's Hugh.

Oh...hello, Hugh. How are you?

'I-I'm very well, thank you.'

Is Anjie available?

Um, just let me check. Hold the line.

'Thank you.'

Hugh's on the line.

-What does he want?

-Didn't say,

just wants to know if you're available.

Tell him I've gone to lunch.

I'm sorry, I'm afraid she's not here.

'She's gone out to lunch.'

Oh, er...would you mind giving her a message?

'Sure.'

Would you tell her that I love her?

Of course.

Please, tell her exactly that, it's very important.

-I'll let her know.

-'Thank you.'

GENTLE KNOCK ON DOOR

He told me to tell you that... he loves you.

Go on, smile!

"He does not know what it...means."

-Apparently, you've been giving them the run-around.

-Hmm!

-Well, it's my job.

-Your job is to get better.

-My job is to get that boy back.

-No,

-that's the job of the police.

-Hmm.

Yeah, well...

They're not doing it, though, are they?

(Will you get back in bed?!)

Don't you start!

Come on.

-Where are we going?

-I want to show you something.

(I can't cross this.)

OK. Stay there.

This is the room in which Michael Gatz, the kidnap driver, killed himself.

He was...

He was rigged up to this monitor when he did it, so...

..in effect...

..it's a...it's a recording of the last moments of his life.

OK, so here you can see he's dead.

Great(!)

Don't be sarcastic.

OK, here you can see where he's dying.

If we take it back...

HE BREATHES HEAVILY

..to about five minutes beforehand...

OK, there, you see that? You see that interference?

Yeah, what is that?

That's what I wondered.

I reread the profile I had drawn up on you before I gave you this job.

You have someone watch the watcher, that's interesting.

You wouldn't expect me not to.

No, I wouldn't. I'm glad that you do.

What did it tell you?

That you're acutely sensitive to...

TOGETHER: To threat.

-Yes!

-Yeah.

Isn't that why you employed me?

Not to be compromised, Nathaniel.

I'm not going to.

Crossing that line - you already have. Don't do it again.

-You want that boy back, don't you?

-I already

told you to leave it to the police.

MONITOR BEEPS

Who are you calling?

Doesn't matter.

Look.

Do you see?

Yeah.

So...

..five minutes before Gatz killed himself, he made a call,

which is very odd, cos when he came in here,

the police had taken his phone away.

So someone gave him another one?

-Yeah. And I have an idea who it might've been.

-Who?

-CLEARS THROAT

-Someone who's been watching over me.

Mrs Dalloway?

You know who I am?

You know what I represent?

Trouble for you

on every level, unless you co-operate.

-I thought...

-Is that your daughter,

up there in your flat?

And you're afraid because of what they threatened to do to her,

am I right?

I understand.

Believe me, I do.

Now, let me tell you what I think's happened.

They sent you a phone

and then they called it, and they threatened you with your daughter,

unless you did what they said.

And what they wanted was for you to pass a phone on to that man.

And so that's what you did.

What did you do with it after?

Put it in the incinerator.

And that's it?

(Yes.)

That's everything?

And then they gave her £5,000.

So you were right.

I didn't guess about the money.

Well, you would've done if you'd seen her Prada bag.

I thought you were going to tell the police.

No.

Well, who's crossing the line now, Nessa?

I don't want to put another child in danger because of me.

Telling the police about this, hers could be.

Mm-hm.

Did you see her on your own? No security with you?

Now, don't start checking up on me.

That's not what I meant.

I mean it's a hard thing to do.

It wasn't that difficult.

The only way to get someone like that to talk

is to make them more afraid of you than of anyone else.

That's...

That's difficult.

It was quite dark.

She must've seen something.

Hmm.

I am quite chilly, wouldn't you say?

No, I wouldn't say that.

I'd say that you're full of anger.

No.

Rage.

Which is curious, given your public role as peacemaker.

NESSA MOANS

I can't.

It's professional suicide.

THEY LAUGH

You're nothing more than a professional.

(OK.)

-I'll need to go away and think about that.

-No, don't.

Nessa, please?

OK, nothing...

Nothing's happened, OK? We're fine.

OK?

You almost killed me.

So...what do you want to do now?

OK.

I don't think we should go to the police.

-Good.

-I don't think the nurse is important.

What is interesting...

BOTH LAUGH

OK, what is interesting

is what it's told us about Kasim's kidnappers.

OK, they have a method. They... they threaten, but they also reward.

Now, when Gatz made that call, she said that he didn't say a word.

So I think that he heard a repeated threat,

which, if he didn't do what he did to himself, they would carry out.

But he did and having done it,

my guess is that his family got a reward.

-So?

-So...

who did the profile on me, before you took me on?

Caleb Schwako.

OK.

No, that's OK.

While I'm still in here, I need him to get me some equipment.

-It's a program for my laptop. He'll know it.

-What'll it do?

Start giving me some answers.

Lady Stein, it is a pleasure to be seeing you again.

Mr Schwako, there is something I need you to do for me.

Who would you like me to be watching?

-Perfect.

-What are you looking for?

What you always look for in these situations.

Are you Mr Gatz?

No, he's my brother. My husband's recently deceased.

Oh, I'm sorry.

-Whose name will the car be insured under?

-Mine.

So this is your e-mail address?

Yes.

And that's £15,000.

Yes.

Cash?

Yes.

Well, your insurance is up and running now.

They'll send you an e-mail to confirm.

But once I've counted that...

the vehicle's yours.

Congratulations.

COMPUTER BEEPS

Gotcha.

A guy goes to see a rabbi and tells him his wife is trying to poison him.

So the rabbi says, "Don't worry, I'll talk to her."

The next time they meet, the guy asks him how it went

and the rabbi says...

.."Look, I've been talking to your wife for five hours.

"Take the poison."

NESSA LAUGHS

I can't give you a contract, Shlomo.

HE SIGHS

It isn't true, you know.

It was what we found.

Who found it?

Me, work with Hezbollah?!

That kind of crazy I'd be sitting in front of you now

-surrounded by a pool of piss!

-Can you prove it?

Do I have to?

-You know you have a scar...here.

-Long since gone, Shlomo.

But I know it's there because you sat on my knee

when the doctor stitched it.

We can't be compromised, Shlomo.

You already have been.

Do you ever enter a restaurant from the front?

Rarely.

Have you been offered anything?

I didn't ask.

-It's free.

-I don't think so.

Thank you.

You people own this place?

We've come to an agreement.

Does that involve skimming the till?

No, we leave that to the VAT man.

SHLOMO CHUCKLES

"And pig was man and man was pig."

It's all kosher, Mr Zahary.

It's Italian.

If we were to meet in public,

I think it would be you who would feel more compromised.

Don't fuck with me, you scrawny little shit!

-I didn't ask to meet you at all.

-I understand.

No, you don't understand nothing!

Look at you, pasty-faced arsehole!

What are you, a fucking vampire or something,

-you can't see sunlight?

-I want to help you, Shlomo.

HE SCOFFS

You should have been given that contract.

Oh, now you're my fucking business advisor!

Chutzpah!

But never mind fingers. I shake your hand,

I'm going to check I've still got a soul.

You didn't deal with Hezbollah.

We looked.

And this...proves it.

Oh.

Seven years ago, the Stein Group launched its first phase

of the telecommunications roll-out into the Palestinian territories

and you got that contract.

-So?

-So,

maybe you can tell me,

how come it was Ephra Stein launched it and not his sister?

How come he was in the lead back then,

but now their roles are reversed?

Take your time, it was seven years ago.

Why don't you ask him that question?

Oh, I will.

And maybe in the future I can ask you a few more.

NESSA: That's not proof, Shlomo.

-Looks pretty like it to me.

-But you would say that, wouldn't you?

Hmm.

So you've got two bits of paper.

One says you can't trust me, the other says you can.

Which are you going to choose?

I think I already have.

HE SIGHS

You chose wrong, dear.

Do you know why I know that?

Cos I can feel it.

Here.

I don't need no bits of paper to tell me what to think.

And nor should you.

Except it doesn't work that way, Shlomo,

-and you know that.

-What the fuck are you talking about?

It's the only way it works!

Forget about all this papieren geschift.

It's all bullshit! Anyone can write anything,

but this...

This you write for yourself.

This, darling, is the only thing you should ever trust.

Have you ever lied to me, Nathaniel?

No.

-No?

-No.

Would you?

No.

Who told you about Shlomo Zahary's Hezbollah connection?

-I can't tell you that.

-Why not?

HE SIGHS

What people are willing to say to me, they have to do in confidence.

I'm your employer.

Yeah, and you employ me to find things out, which is what I do.

But how I do it, the methods I use,

you should leave that to me.

How do you know people are telling the truth?

You don't.

You have to use your judgment.

What do you do if you've made a mistake?

Then you try and rectify it, which is what I'm trying to do here.

(Will you stop?)

Stop, stop.

Stop.

Stop what?

Stop looking for him, let the police do it!

No, I don't think so.

Then I'll fire you.

What, money?

-Ah, well, you've got me there!

-Good!

I'm joking.

I'm not! You saved my life.

Look at me.

I'd do it again...

..whether you paid me or not.

Mr Bloom, he has his laptop, and mine, it is being its mirror

and this is what he is finding.

The family Gatz.

-The kidnap driver.

-Yes.

Well, the police already know about him.

But not that they are spending money. Lots of it.

In cash.

In Rye. It's a very nice place, Rye.

And that's where Mr Bloom will go next?

He is very good, very thorough.

He has the bite between his teeth.

Nothing will stop him, I think. Nothing.

PHONE RINGS

NESSA SOBS

PHONE CONTINUES TO RING

NESSA'S SOBBING INTENSIFIES

PHONE CONTINUES TO RING

SHE SNIFFLES

'Is your secret safe?'

No, it's not.

'Why not?'

KNOCKING

Oh, Atika.

I've done something terrible.

What?

What's this for?

My face.

MIMICS RIFLE SHOT

TOILET FLUSHES

So, we have the results.

Mr Stein...

..no trace was found of your DNA on Kasim's toothbrush.

Actually, no trace of paternal DNA was found at all, only Atika's.

But then that's not unusual,

and as we had Mr Stein's sample to cross-match,

if it had been on the toothbrush, it would have shown up.

So...you are not the father.

So, where now, Commander?

No, no, don't tell me.

-Now you're the one with your dick in your hands.

-Excuse me.

Thank you.

DOOR CLOSES

HE SIGHS

I wondered how long it'd be before you came out of the woodwork.

And as it turned out, it was the rose beds.

Well, woodworm, blackfly, it's all the same, isn't it?

-I'm sorry for your troubles, Ephra.

-Mm.

And you just wanted to help, hmm?

How many countries have you people destroyed with that kind of offer?

I'm not sure,

but I'm certainly glad not to be standing here in a pair of jackboots

and I'm sure you are, too.

Given the history of my tribe, hmm?

"Never Again." Isn't that the military motto?

Shayetet 13?

-I wouldn't know.

-Really?

The Israeli SBS. I would have thought your father helped set them up.

If he had, it would've been a long time ago.

When your family pursued a very different agenda

to the one you have today.

Radically.

Except...

you and Unit 13, your paths have crossed,

haven't they, seven years ago, in their role as specialists

in hostage rescue?

I know your secret, Ephra.

I know Nessa and Atika Halabi were both kidnapped in Gaza,

-seven years ago.

-No, you don't.

-Yes, I do.

What's that?

The car from which they were both taken.

And who's that?

The driver.

I don't think so.

All the same, there it is.

Take it.

That's not right.

I wouldn't put it in the family album.

But I wouldn't pretend it doesn't exist.

Not any more.

Tell me about him.

Who?

Kasim's father.

I really did not know him.

Sometimes...

in situations like that...

..things happen...

..much faster than they should.

He was...

..hopeful.

And if he hadn't died?

But he did.

On the day you were kidnapped.

I can't imagine how it must've been for you...

..to have to see that and then go through this.

In all that horror.

I had Nessa.

-And she had you.

-Hmm.

We were strong together.

You still are.

Much stronger than me.

MULTIPLE LOCKS CLUNK

She says you can go.

When?

Straightaway.

Everything you do, car hire, whatever,

I want it done with a false ID.

-Why?

-I understand right now you've agreed to

withhold information from the police.

Technically, that's obstruction of justice.

At her request.

Exactly.

So whatever proof you need to find,

I want you getting it before the police catch wind of you looking,

because if they do, our employer could be dangerously compromised.

Do you understand?

Yes.

No trail.

Agreed.

LIFT BEEPS

'Doors opening.'

And she told me to tell you you were right about what you saw.

What did I see?

I don't know, she just told me to tell you.

John Hopkinson?

Are you going to cause trouble?

If everything goes as it should,

no-one will even know I've been here.

COCKEREL CROWS

CHICKENS CLUCK

DOOR CREAKS

FOOTSTEPS

FAINT CREAK

Gail Gatz?

There's a man downstairs in the kitchen.

He's dead.

Who is he?

Gail, if I wanted to kill you, I'd be putting holes in the ceiling.

FOOTSTEPS

He's my brother.

Who killed him?

I heard them arguing.

My brother told him I wasn't here. I hid.

Where did he say you were?

At his house. I clean it.

When was this?

I don't know.

We have to get you out of here.

Your husband was on a contract that went wrong.

To cover it up, his employers took you

to make sure that he did what he was meant to do,

so...which he did, he saved your life.

Now they seem to have changed their mind. Why?

Who gave you the money? Gail! Who gave you the money?

-Where are you taking me?

-To the police.

-I can't go to the police.

-You have to.

-Just stop the car.

-No.

-Just stop the car!

-Jesus Ch.... Gail!

SHE SOBS

-I can't go to the police.

-Yes, you can.

-I can't...

-Gail, you have to...

-I killed him!

I killed my brother.

He was going to spend the money, all of it.

-GAIL SOBS

-OK.

You still have to go to the police.

Please, I've got to see my mother first.

I have to tell her where I've left the money.

Please! Just let me see my mother first.

Please!

I'll tell you everything.

-Where is she?

-At work.

It's a stone factory.

She does their books at night.

-Where is she?

-In the back.

Stay here if you want.

This isn't a stone factory.

I didn't kill my brother.

Who did?

I had to bring you here.

I had to.

He said he'll kill my mother if I didn't.

Who?

GUNSHOT

SHE WALKS CAUTIOUSLY

What happened when you were kidnapped?

What do you mean?

What happened to Kasim's father?

-You know what happened.

-Well, tell me again.

He was driving the car the day we were taken.

He was killed.

RAPID GUNFIRE

SCREAMING

The toothbrush wasn't Kasim's.

It was new. I saw you use it.

Is Kasim mine?

-No.

-Well, then, whose is he?

-I just told you.

-No, you haven't.

No, you haven't.

Because that was the driver of the car.

She was the driver of the car.

I'm going to ask you again, and I want you to tell me the truth.

Who is Kasim's father?

TV PLAYS IN NEXT ROOM

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