| Sophie |
Look at that. |
| Charlie |
What? |
| Sophie |
Up there. |
| Charlie |
Oh. Yeah. |
| Sophie |
They’ve branded the clouds. |
| Charlie |
I know. I’m sorry, I haven’t slept for a week and I’m really pissed. |
| Sophie |
I know. And the cocktail of pills in your stomach is quite dangerous. |
| Charlie |
Looking up’s not very pleasant. What? |
| A huge firework lights up overhead. People cheer. |
| Sophie |
Wow. How do they get writing inside a firework? |
| Charlie |
With lots of money. |
| Sophie |
How much?
|
| Charlie |
You don’t wanna know. |
| Sophie |
Happy New Year then. |
| Charlie |
Yeah. |
| Sophie |
And all that. |
| Charlie |
And all that. |
| Sophie
|
I’m Sophie. |
| She offers her hand. They shake. |
| Charlie |
Hello Sophie. |
| Sophie |
And you are?
|
| Charlie |
Charlie. |
| Sophie |
Charlie. Right. Aren’t you going to ask me what I do?
|
| Charlie |
No. |
| He tries to take his hand back but she holds onto it. She indicates the watch on his wrist. |
| Sophie |
Tell me about this watch.
|
| Charlie |
What? |
| Sophie |
Where did you get it?
|
| Charlie |
What does it matter? |
| Sophie |
Tell me.
|
| Charlie |
Why? |
| Sophie |
Take it off.
|
| Charlie |
No. |
| Sophie |
Look at the back. There’s an engraving.
|
| Charlie |
I. Hadn’t noticed. |
| Charlie |
takes the watch off and looks at the back. |
| Charlie |
Harry Lewis. |
| Sophie |
That’s my Dad.
|
| Charlie |
Really? |
| Sophie |
Yup.
|
| Charlie |
It’s a common name. |
| Sophie |
What else does it say?
|
| Charlie |
'On your twenty-first'. It’s gone all blurry. ‘Twelfth of the seventh - ’ |
| Sophie |
1975.
|
| Charlie |
Right. |
| Sophie |
Right. |
| Pause. |
| Sophie |
He was a fisherman. One night he went out on his own. His boat was found further up the coast, intact. How did you get his watch? |
| Charlie |
Who are you? |
| Sophie |
I’m a pathologist. Your body was retrieved from the Thames last night. You had no identification. I’ve been working all day to discover who you are. |
| Charlie |
Have you drugged my drink? |
| Sophie |
I can tell you had a stressful lifestyle because you have the beginnings of a stomach ulcer.
|
| Charlie |
You’re one of those goth girls right?
|
| Sophie |
Your liver shows signs of alcohol damage. |
| Charlie |
Into death and stuff.
|
| Sophie
| Your stomach contents show a final meal of scampi and chips, which suggests that you might have been in a seaside town. Would that be right?
|
| Charlie |
I have had. A very long day. |
| Sophie |
Your blood shows high levels of alcohol, cocaine – |
| Charlie |
And you’re doin my head in. |
| Sophie |
- sleeping pills and anti-depressants.
|
| Charlie |
You know, at first you looked quite normal. |
| Sophie |
You must have been in quite a state.
|
| Charlie |
I even quite fancied you. |
| Sophie |
How did you break your knuckles?
|
| Charlie |
But now you’ve fucked it up. |
| Sophie |
And get the slashes on your arms? |
| Charlie |
This isn’t happening. |
| Sophie |
Touch the edges of your mouth. You see that foam? It’s a mixture of water, air and mucus whipped up by respiratory efforts. It indicates that you were alive at the time of submersion. |
| Charlie |
I feel sick. |
| Sophie |
How did you get my father’s watch? |
| Charlie |
I’m leaving now, and going home to be sick. Then, if you leave me alone, I promise to get some sleep. |
| Sophie |
Here’s my card. |
| Charlie |
What? |
| Sophie |
I like you. You’re different. |
| Charlie |
Different to what? |
| Sophie |
All the other dead people. |
| Charlie |
Oh good. That’s nice. |
| Sophie |
Call me. |
| Charlie |
You have a very unusual approach to dating. |
| Sophie |
Call me. |
| Charlie |
Right. |
| Sophie goes. |
| Charlie |
Fuckin hell. |
| |
He takes out one of the pill jars and has a few. |
| |
He checks the time on the watch. |
| Charlie |
You go home. Throw up. Have a painkiller, a leading brand. You watch the 24-hour auction channel on cable.
Going. Going. Gone. |