When a Man Knows 

The Characters
Edward Harris
Pamela

The Setting: A deserted factory    Time: The Present

(Approx running time: 35 minutes)

Sample Scene

The Setting is a deserted factory. Eddie Harris finds himself being held captive by a woman he doesn't know, but who claims to know him. He is chained by his leg to a huge concrete block and she refuses to answers his questions or let him go. By this scene, Eddie is stumbling upon the reason.

EDDIE There's nothing they can't be bargained, Pamela. You've obviously got an agenda here. So cards on the table, OK? I'd ask you to pull up a chair, but seems like I've got the only one.
PAMELA Still flippant. Still dismissing your predicament.
EDDIE And what exactly is that? As I see it, I'm held by a person, seen but unknown, aided and abetted by persons unseen and unknown.
PAMELA Nicely summarised, Eddie. Very businesslike.
EDDIE Yes, the business. You seem very interested in that. Too interested. Is that what all this is about?
PAMELA (laughs) Your business?
EDDIE Industrial espionage, right? My company's high tech. Specialised components for some pretty big companies. You must know that. But you've got it sadly wrong if you think you can extract any valuable info by kidnapping yours truly. OK, we have two government contracts. But not military. Sorry. No big secrets. And, yes, we're having problems with the bank, but, hell, what business doesn't?
PAMELA Eddie, I couldn't give a toss about your precious business.
EDDIE What then?
He gets up and moves to the limit of his chain, as if discovering how far he can reach, and, in the process, unsettling her. She makes sure she is always well out of reach.
It has to be ransom. I hate to disillusion you, but the company can run without me, and both junior managers would love to get their names on my office door. They'd pay you more to keep me. Who else? My wife... of course. Or as your painstaking research will undoubtedly have revealed, my ex wife. Oh dear, Pamela. You got it even more wrong there. The divorce was very messy. She got a fraction of what she expected. So no love lost there. Last time I heard, she was shacked up with some kitchen salesman half her age. You won't get any change out of her.
He notices a length of pipe on the floor and stretches towards it, as if measuring the distance. Unfortunately for him, it is tantalisingly just beyond his reach.
PAMELA I don't want your money, Eddie.
EDDIE Ah... wait a minute. I've got it now. Why didn't it dawn on me before?
PAMELA What? 
EDDIE All this. Handcuffs. Chains. Blindfold. Just a bit on the kinky side, yes? What else is in that bag? The leather whip? Is this what turns you on, Pamela darling?
PAMELA Is that sad fantasy the best your twisted little mind can conjure?
EDDIE You're the one with the twisted mind. All these games you're playing. The way you're torturing me.
PAMELA Torture doesn't begin to describe what I've been through.
EDDIE Excuse me, darling. Let me remind you? I'm the victim here.
PAMELA You!
EDDIE I'm the one who got kidnapped. I'm the one being held against my will. I'm the victim.  Don't forget that.
PAMELA Wrong way round, Eddie. You're the criminal.
EDDIE Prove it in  court.
PAMELA I don't need a courtroom to get justice.
EDDIE Justice, for what?
PAMELA You really don't have a clue, Eddie. Or maybe you're just pretending you don't. Or you simply don't listen. Just think for a minute.
EDDIE About what?
PAMELA Think!
EDDIE I can't think straight. Not like this. My throat's so dry. I need something to drink. (He sits again)
PAMELA A nice dry martini perhaps? That was your usual.
EDDIE How do you know that?
PAMELA You're still not listening. I told you. We've met. Remember?
EDDIE I honestly don't. That's the problem.
PAMELA Come on, Eddie. (She moves closer) Take another look. Go on.
EDDIE I've told you how many times, I don't know you. Just tell me what you want.
PAMELA In a word; you.
EDDIE Me?
PAMELA Yes, Eddie. I want you.
EDDIE Why?
PAMELA Why not? You once wanted me.
EDDIE Wait a minute... when you say we know each other, do you mean in the "biblical" sense?
PAMELA Congratulations! Give the man another cigar!
EDDIE So that's all you are? Somebody I once screwed?
PAMELA Eloquently, but typically put, Eddie.