AACT I, SCENE I

THE SCENE OPENS ON A LARGE ROOM. IT IS THE LIBRARY OF A MANOR HOUSE. IT IS EMPTY EXCEPT FOR THE MAJOR-DOMO (LOUIS) WHO IS BUSY PLACING GLASSES ON A TRAY. HE CHECKS THAT THE SELECTION OF BOTTLES IN THE BAR AREA OFFERS A CHOICE FOR EVERYONE’S PALATE. HAPPY THAT EVERYTHING IS IN ORDER AND READY FOR THE GUESTS, HE LEAVES THE ROOM. VOICES CAN BE HEARD IN THE CORRIDOR. LOUIS OPENS THE DOOR AND EMILY ENTERS.

EMILY POURS HERSELF A GLASS OF WHITE WINE. SHE IS LOOKING AT THE BOOKS ON THE SHELVES, THINKING ALOUD.
EMILY: My, my, I never thought Alan was such a successful writer. He has never told us how he made his money but now I understand where it might have come from. The Heaviness of being, No man no fool, Craters of Venus, The heart of stones… (Here she hesitates). The gang of murderers, I say this sounds interesting.
MORE VOICES CAN BE HEARD IN THE CORRIDOR. THE DOOR OPENS AND RACHEL ENTERS THE ROOM.
RACHEL: Emily! You have not changed in fifteen years. What is secret for eternal youth?
EMILY: The same as you, obviously by the way you look. You could pass for a thirty year old any time.
THERE ARE MORE VOICES COMING FROM THE CORRIDOR. THE DOOR OPENS, PETER AND JONATHAN ENTER.
PETER: Rachel, Emily! If I did not know you I would be quite attracted to you both. By god, you haven’t changed a bit. What’s your secret? THEY HUG.
RACHEL: Avoiding men! By the looks of it you could do with some magic ingredients yourself.
PETER POURS TWO GLASSES OF RED WINE AND HANDS ONE TO JONATHAN AND WINKS.
JONATHAN (giggling): Nice to see you too Rachel! You haven’t lost any of your venom either. And how is my sweet fair Emily?
EMILY: I am as sweet as ever and as single as ever. I despair of ever finding the right pair of shoes.
JONATHAN: A pair, why not just the one shoe?
EMILY: That would be really boring. You know me Darling, I need variety in my life!
PETER: Yes, we do remember. That’s probably why you are still single.
MORE VOICES CAN BE HEARD FROM THE CORRIDOR. ENTER GREGORY AND KELLY. THEY ALL HUG EACH OTHER.
Gregory: “Hey guys, nice to see you all. Now that we are here the party may begin.”
GREGORY POURS KELLY A GLASS OF RED WINE AND A WHISKY FOR HIMSELF.
Kelly: “Where is Alan by the way?”
Rachel: “Louis told us he would join later and to start without him.”
ENTERS LOUIS THE MAJOR-DOMO.
LOUIS: Ladies and gentlemen, if you would please be seated in the dining room, dinner is about to be served. Sir Gray has been delayed but he will be joining you as soon as he can.
THEY ALL LEAVE THE ROOM.

ACT I SCENE II
VOICES CAN BE HEARD. BY THE SOUND OF IT ALL GUESTS ARE NOW IN MERRY SPIRITS AS LAUGHTER CAN BE HEARD. KELLY ENTERS FIRST STILL LAUGHING FOLLOWED BY THE OTHERS. SHE SITS DOWN.
Kelly: I wonder if Alan is going to turn up at all. It’s almost ten o’clock.
EVERYONE ELSE SITS DOWN. A CRACKLING LIKE THAT OF A RADIO CAN BE HEARD. A VOICE STARTS SPEAKING.
VOICE: Good evening all. I hope that you have had a pleasant time, thus far. Well let’s not dally over your reason for being here. It is a reunion but perhaps not the kind of reunion you had in mind. You were invited and came freely but you are not permitted to leave of your own free will.
GASPS FROM ALL. RACHEL RUNS TOWARDS THE DOOR AND TRIES TO OPEN IT. IT IS LOCKED. KELLY LIFTS THE TELEPHONE TO HER EAR BUT THERE IS NO TONE. JONATHAN GIGGLES.
JONATHAN: Alan? Trust you to play a joke on us. You always did and we always took the bait. Well you win again. Come and join us now.
VOICE IGNORING JONATHAN: You have been invited here to clarify a few things, mainly to find out what happened to Richard twenty years ago.
RACHEL: Alan, is that you?
VOICE: Perhaps it is and perhaps it is not, it is for me to know and for you to find out.
JONATHAN: It sounds like Alan but 20 years is a long time.
VOICE: You are right Jonathan, 20 years is a long time let me refresh your memories. 20 years ago you were all on holidays in Corsica. There were 8 of you but it seems only 7 returned to England? What happened?
RACHEL: Alan pushed Richard down the cliff.
VOICE: Did he really? (He hisses) Is that what happened? Did you try to stop him, Rachel?
RACHEL: I didn’t know what to do. They were having a fight. Either could have fallen off that cliff or anyone who had interfered.
VOICE: But you didn’t say anything to stop it, Rachel, did you? Neither did Emily. Why not Emily, you were also having a secret relationship with him, but I’m not sure anyone knew at the time.
RACHEL: Emily was what? (She is looking at Emily in complete shock).
VOICE: Tell her Emily, what a conniving vixen you were or is that too painful for sweet Emily to admit to?
EMILY: It was such a long time ago (she sighs) and Richard stopped seeing me as soon as he had made up his mind that it was Rachel he wanted to marry. In any case, it was not me who made up the explanation for the police that day, was it? It was Kelly, butter would not melt in my mouth Kelly who was not involved with anyone else, yet was infusing venom in Alan’s ears?
KELLY (impatient): I had to tell Alan that Rachel had accepted to marry Richard since none of you had the guts to do it. I did what was best for all of us at the time. We were only twenty for Christ’s sake, what would the truth have done for all of us? Ruined all potential for career? Where would we be now if we had told the truth?
VOICE: The truth about Peter and Jonathan delaying calling the police? The truth about Alan being the last person to see Richard alive? But he was not, was he Gregory?
GREGORY: (swallowing hard and bending his head): No, he was not. After he…fell, I went to look for Richard.
VOICE: And what did you see Gregory?
GREGORY (shaking violently):I…err, saw Richard kill Alan.
RACHEL (standing up): You what? (She sounds afraid).
VOICE: Think Rachel! (Raising his voice). Has any of you seen either Richard or Alan since that day?
RACHEL: I don’t know. I haven’t but it doesn’t mean no one else has.
VOICE: Well, has any of you seen Richard or Alan in the last twenty years?
THEY ALL SHAKE THEY HEAD AND SAY: NO!
KELLY (standing up and facing towards where the voice can be heard): So if Alan is the one who died that night, was it Richard in the wheelchair all those years?
VOICE (sounding angry): Who says Alan died that night? The story of the wheelchair was a good one and it made you feel guilty all these years, didn’t it? This is why none of you tried to be in touch with each other. If you pretended nothing had happened, life could go on and you could become the writer, musician, publicist or wife you wanted to be.
JONATHAN: Whose funeral did we attend ten years ago? We were grieving Richard who had spent ten years of his life in a wheelchair. Now you tell us that Richard was never in a wheelchair, so who did we burry? It could not have been Alan if he was already dead, it wasn’t…”
VOICE (interrupting him): Whose funeral do you think it was Jonathan? Could it have been Peter’s lover? You found out Peter had a lover, a younger man. After all these years you could not believe Peter could have been seduced by anyone else. Oh, you did not think for one minute that your relationship with Peter was a secret, did you? We all knew about it. A ten year old would have sussed it out. Wherever we went, there was Peter and Jonathan, come on, it was not that difficult even in those days.
PETER (looking shaken and guilty): Jonathan, you knew about Matt? I felt so relieved when he did not turn up for our next date. All the time I was seeing him, only a couple of weeks, I was feeling so guilty and that day I had made up my mind to tell him it was all over.”
JONATHAN: I know Peter, that’s why I approached him and told him you were having second thoughts. I pretended to be your brother and he believed the whole story and I forgave you.”
EMILY: But, if it wasn’t Alan or Richard or that guy, Matt, we buried on that day, who was it Alan… Richard?”
THERE IS NO REPLY.