01x02 - Moscow

[bunniefuu]

I will read to you

from the author's note
of "Duplicity,"

right at the beginning,

why I changed all the names
in "Duplicity."

"Author's note: The events
recounted in 'Duplicity'

"reveal,
with shocking detail,

"the criminal activities
carried out

"by a nefarious group
of people who, consequently,

"stand to lose everything,
including their freedom.

In the interest
of protecting the innocent"--

that's me!

"The names of certain people,
places, and dates

"have been changed.

"Aside from that,
however,

this story is as accurate
as it is unbelievable."

Is your--
what's your real name?

My real name is Paul Finkelman.

Well, I wanted
to keep Paul the same,

'cause, I mean, it's me.

It's my story,
so I had to keep Paul the same.

But Finkelman, that's such a--
you know, it's just a--

eh, it's not a--
it doesn't flow.

It's too kind of disjointed
and odd and funny-sounding.

Goldman has a nice flow
to it, I thought.

And T.?

Well, I'm not revealing
what the T stands for.

Sorry!



Not yet.







Welcome to
"The Know Nothing Show."

And hey, now, and
a good evening to everybody.

We've got a big show here
tonight, don't we?

Yeah, what's
going on tonight? Tell me.

We have a special guest
with us,

and his name is
Paul T. Goldman.

I'd love to say
that he wrote a bestseller

named "Duplicity."

It's not a bestseller yet,

but perhaps after people
listen to our show,

it may become a bestseller.
Yeah!

You know,
I have my weekly p*nis story

about the lizard that
crawled up the man's p*nis.

I may not get to that story
tonight.

Oh, my God!
Paul, I do have

the obligatory question:

who's the best attorney
in Palm Beach County?

Alan Elkins.
Thank you, Paul.

Yeah, I'm Alan Elkins.

The law firm is
Elkins & Freedman.

I've been a practicing attorney
for 35 years.

A large part of my practice
involves divorce cases.

Paul is a really nice,
naive individual

who was taken advantage of.

I mean,
I got to ask you.

So as soon
as you slipped her the ring,

you slipped her the salami?

I don't want to be like

all those
other boring lawyer shows

where people call in and ask
some boring legal questions,

so we try to entertain,
you know,

and that's what we do.

Also had a story about a guy
having sex with a horse.

Guy having sex with a horse!
Uh-uh.

That was my lawyer.
He's...

He's good!
He was good.

He wanted to have sex
with a horse.

You have
so many bestiality stories.

All right, so this
was your first marriage.

No, this was
my second marriage.

So I guess let's take it
from the very beginning, okay?

Let's begin there.



40.

It all started
when I turned 40.

In order to tell
Paul's state of mind

when he met Audrey
four years from now,

I had to go back
to when I turned 40,

before I met my first wife.

Spending hours surrounded

by cold, gray walls
in a 4x6 cell

gives a man
a lot of time to think--

think about what opportunities
he may have let get away

and how life
may be passing him by.

I was working
for an insurance company.

Your basic dead-end job,
not getting anywhere.

Just sitting in a office,
pushing paper,

having a grand, old time.

Paul, do you want
to write your name on the lid?

Um...
It's up to you.

I usually do it 'cause
I'll leave my water wherever.

Uh...
Thank you.

How did I get here?

What did I have
to look forward to?

To make matters worse,

August 6th, 1999
was my 40th birthday,

and I was still single.

I was meeting some women,
but this was Orange County.

They were not interested
in a person that worked here.

Hey!

Happy birthday, Paul!

The big 4-0!

The exclamation was provided
by my coworker, Rob,

who had sent his wishes

through a gaggle
of black balloons

that managed to herald my
entry into seasoned adulthood

while at the same time
mocking it.



Thanks, Rob.

You got any plans to
celebrate this great occasion?

Nah,
just a quiet evening at home.

Jason,
after Rob leaves at the end...

Yes.
I just thought

of some things to say
to the audience.

You can say it
to the camera facing you.

Oh, no,
in the scene.

That's what I mean.
You'll turn.

Oh, that one!

No, that one.

Yeah.
Yep.

That one, that one.
Yeah.

Yeah, you'll say it--
Yeah, yeah.

So don't cut right away.
That's what I was gonna say.

Oh, okay.
All right.

Why don't you come over
to the house later?

I mean, Cheryl and the kids
always love to see you.

He asked hopefully.

Was that pity I detected?

Thanks, Rob, really.

I've got some reading I'd like
to catch up on at home.

Great, and let's
just pull the balloons.

We'll just do one for safety--
Jason!

Yeah? Oh!
No, I wanted to say the line.

Oh, okay, we'll do one
more take with the balloons.

And then, Paul, go and do
whatever you want to say.

You know
what camera to talk to.

This one.
Yep.



You know,

I think I'd like to be
one of these balloons.

Ready?

Be free!

Whee!

Okay, let's move on.

He's, like, the--
he's the guy?

He's the main guy that's
gonna be doing all of it?

Wow, that's weird. Wow.

Uh...

he just was like--
like, kind of like a kid.

He's kind of like--
just put a kid in the movie,

and that would be
like what he does.



So he's got, like, a kid's
kind of approach to it,

you know,
like if my son were to--

just put him here,
and, you know.

As I made
my daily drive home,

I considered how the big day

had really proven
to be pretty pedestrian.

The wishes were thoughtful.

The cake was a nice touch.

And the even the adult diaper
left on my chair

made for some good laughs.

Aside from that,
today was just another day.



Something needed to change.

Despite my gloom,

the familiar greeting
of my most trusted companion

was always
a warm welcome home.

If I had a tail,
I would have wagged it too.

Hi, Bas. How was your day?

Good to see you too.

I slumped down in my chair to
see what the mail had brought.

A card
from one of my brothers.

Two bills.

A coupon
for a discounted oil change.

And then there was something

more
than a little interesting.





It seemed as though
the beautiful woman

was staring right back at me.

Realizing the nature
of the mailing,

I let out a loud laugh

accompanied
by some exaggerated eyerolling

as I tried to imagine

how lonely
a guy really needed to be

to resort to buying a wife.





It said women
from foreign countries

were not like American women.

They were more family-oriented

and didn't have
an old age stigma.

Well, I wasn't getting that
in Orange County, California.

And I started corresponding
back and forth

with Svetlana.

After that came
letters to Svetlana,

phone calls to Svetlana.

And then, it was like...

gotta go.



What the hell was I doing?

Was I crazy?

I had seven short days
to find the person I came for

or return to my gray cubicle
to continue my gray life.



There was still
a lot of trepidation

about going to Russia.

This is only
about seven, eight years

after things changed there.

Going to Russia?
Yeah.

Oh, Gerry can tell you
how he felt.

Well, my only feeling was,
well, that's Paul.

So I had on a thin jacket
and white sneakers,

which, you know, that's
what you wear in California.

Paul?

Welcome to Moscow, Paul.

I am Natasha,

business manager
for Russian Brides.

Nice to meet you, Natasha.

Svetlana!

You're even more beautiful
than your pictures.

Hi, Paul.

Nice to finally
meet you in person,

although I feel
that I already know you

from your letters
and our phone calls.

How's Basil?

He's wagging his tail.



You're so funny!

Svetlana and I talked
about the city, the weather,

and all the usual little
things people talk about

on their first meeting.

Are you cold?

Um, maybe a little.

"Svetlana likes me,"
I thought.

"Maybe I could find
my soul mate in one week."



So I went to Moscow
to meet Svetlana.

And that night, we had dinner
at this restaurant.

Oh, nice.



Well, I mean, like, I'm
actually a mail-order bride.

Really?

I went
through the same process.

I was at the agency.

And I met my husband like that.

We didn't know that,
actually.

I mean,
that's why I'm actually--

as soon as I read the script,
like, I was so drawn to it,

because it's like I felt like
I was talking about my life.

And how did it work out?

You're still married?
Yes, pretty good.



How do you like that,
everybody?

Yeah.

Unbelievable, huh?



"Here I am
in romantic Italy," I thought.

"What a romantic place to be,
especially with Svetlana,

the most beautiful woman
in the world."

Sveta, being here with you now,

it's like a dream come true.

I said daringly.

And then I reached
across the table

to hold her hand.



And she recoiled.

That was...

a bit disconcerting to me.

I was shocked and confused.

What's the matter?

I'm sorry.

I don't feel comfortable.

Why?

Is the KGB watching?

No, it's me.

After that,
things were not the same,

so, you know,
I never contacted her again.

I think
it's just too much pressure.

You know,
I've been on those dates.

I know what it's like
when the guy comes to see you.

And it doesn't mean that
I think she's not sincere.

It's just
the situation is so weird.

Her reaction
could be just like,

"I wanted something established

before we started
touching each other."

It could be that too.

See, now if she had been,
like, over my shoulder,

my life would've
been totally different.



And I would have
never met Audrey.

And I'd be a happy camper now.

Think about that.

I like that.
Where were you?

I'm here now, so...

should I get on your shoulder?

Yeah.

And, like, whisper?

I realized that
Svetlana was simply using me

for a plane ticket
to a better life.

Half the week gone, and I felt
I had nothing to show of it.

I only had, like,
three days left.



Yep.



Svetlana doesn't want me.

I think she's just doing this
to get out of Russia.

I don't know
what to do, Natasha.

She bit her lower lip

as she seemed
to consider a solution.

Sensing an idea
coming into view,

Natasha reached
for her card file.

I've got her.

She says, "Why don't you
meet this other girl?

She came to the office a few
weeks ago with her sister."

And she's Jewish!

Well, she's not
model-quality gorgeous

like Svetlana, but...

sure.



Making my way to
the Red Square Metro Station,

I found myself surrounded

by dour faces
starting at nothing.

Trying not to succumb to the
bleakness surrounding me...





Compared to the picture,

Talia in person
exceeded all expectations.

Talia had something
that Svetlana didn't have,

and that was,
uh, she was funny.

I couldn't help but notice
how often Talia laughed.

I was carried away
by her joyfulness.

When you're looking for a mate,

that's up
near the top of the list.

Was it everything, like,

that you kind of
imagined it would be?

Because you're in
California clothes right now.



Are you okay?

Uh-huh.
Don't die on me, please.

I took Talia to dinner
at the same Italian restaurant

I had been dining
with Svetlana.

I wasn't concerned
that I might look like

some kind of gigolo because

none of the other diners
ever looked at me.

By the time
we finished dinner,

I felt like
I already knew her well.

Without thinking,

I reached across the table
to take her hand.

And she put her other hand
on top of mine,

looked me directly
in the eyes,

and smiled.

That was it.
I knew she was the one.

And I married her.





It seems like,
in these relationships,

you would always
go in headfirst.

Guilty as charged,
Your Honor.

I guess I'm just
the ultimate romantic.

I know what you're thinking.
I'm an idiot.

Getting engaged in a week?

Well, did I want to go back

to my gray-walled
office cubicle job

without having
accomplished anything?

No.

Johnny arrived
in October of 2002.

The nurses kept remarking
how unusual it was

to have a baby who didn't cry
at the moment of birth.

The same could not be said
for his father.

I shed tears of joy.

I bought him
Mickey Mouse underwear,

and put them on him and said,

"Don't pee on Mickey Mouse!"

And he didn't.

And that's
how he became potty-trained.

And this is
where the magical fairy tale

that it was so far,

um, took a turn.

She wanted to become a doctor.

So every day, Talia would go
to a medical library

and study 10, 12 hours a day.

She started whining, nagging,

and complaining
about everything.

She didn't want
to have relations anymore.

She didn't like it.

And so, she moved in to the
second bedroom of the house.

And so...



It wasn't much
of a relationship after that.

It was just like
living with a tenant.

She would just go to her room
and study some more.

And that was my life with her.

And just think about how
miserable you are once again.

My days became routine,
robotic,

and not at all fulfilling.

And I found myself
even lonelier than before.



Feeling I owed it to my son,

I decided it was time

to take a stand
and confront Talia.

I can't stand this.

What?
The lo mein?

No, not the stupid lo mein.

Our sham of a marriage.



You moved out of our bedroom
months ago.



I want a divorce.

You heartless b*stard!

You have a child with me,
then you divorce me?

How can you leave me alone
with a son to raise?

You raise him?

You're going off on
your medical residency program.

And I will raise Johnny.

Enjoy your food.

Okay,
let's reset for a second.

Can you sit down, Natasha?

How did that feel, Paul?
Great.

Did that feel like

how it was?
Nice anger.

Let's try a version more like

how the real Talia played it
in the audition.





This is Angie.
And this is Paul.

Angie, hi. How are you?
Hey there. Hi.

Hey, Paul.
Anastasia.

Anastasia. Good to meet you.
Hi.

Nice to meet you, Paul.
Nice to meet you.

I am reading for Talia.
I'm Talia.

Hi.
I'm reading for Talia.

So Talia is my first wife
who I met in Moscow.

But the marriage was pretty
not much of a marriage.

She just didn't want
to have sex with me anymore.

And, as a matter of fact,
she's standing right there.



This is a true story.
Yes, this is a true story.



So, um...

this is the scene

where I'm telling her
that I want a divorce.

Okay.

I can't stand this.

What?
The lo mein?

What? The lo mein?

No, not the stupid lo mein.

It's this sham of a marriage
that we have.



You were never a wife to me
or even a mother to Johnny.

I haven't been
much of a mother to him?

You have not been
much of a father!

What, you bring me here

and you make me
have your babies,

and then you just
treat me like a dog?

Having sex with you
is like, "Blow me."

That's your idea of sex.

I'm this fantasy
from Russia, right?

It sounded authentic to you?

So I would, uh...

Tell us about that night
and if that part is true, or--

That's an embellishment.

What was?

The throwing of the lo mein

was something I created.

I took a little
artistic creativity there.

And what made you lead
to embellishment?

Mm-mm-mm,
to make it more interesting.

But most of the story
is true?

"Duplicity" is 99% true.

Embellishments
had to happen on...

little things.

How did it end?
Why didn't it work out?

You know, I guess...

You know?



I think maybe, you know,
like, to make it more natural,

just to make it more authentic.

I don't know.
It's up to you.

So do you want to do it?



What?

Do you want to play
the scene with me?



And you gotta speak--
speak loudly.

Okay.

I can't stand this.

You're at--
you're at the medical library



And you moved out
of our bedroom

a long time ago.

It's--I'm unhappy
in the marriage.

It's taken me many years
to realize this,

but I need to be happy
in my life.

And so...



I want a divorce.

So you want...

Uh, what are you saying?

Johnny will be fine.

Fine?
Yeah.

Many families these days
have divorced parents.



All right.
All right.

We had my actual ex-wife
come and do the scene.

And she had said, "Oh, that's
not really how I remember it."

Would you like Natasha
to do it like that?

Let's try one
maybe a little closer

to what actually happened.

All right.

Camera mark.

I can't stand this.

You've changed.

You're not that sweet girl

that I met in Moscow.

I want a divorce.

How can you do this to me?

How can you leave me alone
with a son to raise?

No, you'll be off on
your medical residency program.

I'll be there for Johnny
every day

just as I have been
since he was born.

You think I'm happy about this?

You've completely destroyed
my hopes and dreams

for a normal, happy life.

How did that feel?

Better than the anger.
Yeah, for sure.

More powerful.

If you ask me.





Johnny.

So we moved to Florida
in 2001,

where my father spends
half the year,

and I divorced Talia.

Oh, you like this spot?
Yeah.

Okay, I got a picture of you.

Let me see.



Cool!

Although my hopes and dreams

for a normal marriage
were gone,

raising Johnny was
the greatest thing

I'd ever done in my life.

Still, I came to believe that,
in his best interest,

Johnny would need a new mommy.



So all the red flags
that you wrote about

is you thinking back

on every single thing...
Exactly.

That was a little off?
Yes.

But you accept it completely
with no question.

Thank you very much.
Yeah, yeah.

But that's so pure
and beautiful.

It is.

You are so kind to me.
But it's true.

And maybe
she was really good at it.

She was an excellent actress.
Yeah.

I would like to make a toast.

To Paul.



To my soul mate and my husband.

I feel so lucky that I met you.

And I'm looking forward
to growing old with you.





It happens to a lot of people.
Mm.

And they're ashamed of it

because they feel like
they should have known

or that they weren't very smart
to fall for her.

But that's why I admire you,

because I think
you're really brave to say,

"Look, I'm a bright guy.

"And because
I was open-hearted.

"this happened to me.

And I don't want it
to happen to anybody else."



After our wedding,
we went to a restaurant

with Daniel and his wife.

He supervised the crews
of my painting business.

Honey, Daniel is amazing.

I don't know how he does it,
supervising all our guys.

I really enjoy my job.

Before Paul, I was miserable.

I learned that it really
does take two people

to run a service-oriented
business like this.

Paul?
Yes?

What happened with Daniel?

We were doing this big
condo job in Delray Beach.

And then I get a call.

"What the hell is going on?
You guys aren't here

and you're only, like, 10%
or 20% done with the building."

So...

I had paid for 90%,

giving him the checks.

Daniel ended up defrauding me

out of a lot of money
of my business.

And that was the end
of my painting business,

sadly.

Where'd he go?

Nowhere.
You know, he didn't care.

Did you ever
confront him about it?

Nope.
Never saw him again.

Thanks a lot, pal.





No, I never tried
to track Daniel down.

What was I gonna do?

Try to get
some of the money back?

There were rumors that
he had gambling problems,

so there probably
wasn't anything left.

I'm not the only scammer
at the table, in other words.



Yeah, I had two.

Yeah, you had two.

Unfortunately,
he's vulnerable,

because of the fact
that he trusts everybody

and can't believe that anybody
would do these things to him.

He's too good a person,

and these things
happened to him.

I don't think somebody

could pull the wool
over his eyes again.

I don't think so.

Well, I hope so, but I don't
know how he would be able to...

I think
he's just vulnerable forever.



Time to get back to
"The Know Nothing Show"

with Alan Elkins.



And we're back, everybody.

Now, Richard, I have to say,

I think we're even
outdoing ourselves tonight.

I know.
This is a great story.

I wish we could go on
for more than an hour tonight.

All right,
so back to this amazing story.

So you made out
a second check

to her.
Yes, I did.

But I wrote the words

"Blue Cross Blue Shield"
on the check.

And the next day,
I find Mr. Alan Elkins

in the phonebook.
You called me up.

So you came to see me.

And then,
I imagine it wasn't long.

We went ahead
and filed the divorce.

When Paul first came in

to my office
in the Palm Beach Gardens,

it was like Paul is
kind of one of those guys

that you just really want
to help out

because he's a good guy.

All right, here we go.
Quiet all around.

You all right?
Yeah, I'm good.

Awesome. All right.
Mm-hmm.

Action.

Okay, so I've subpoenaed
Audrey's bank statements

from September 2005
to the present.

If you find
anything interesting, call me.

I will.

You know, having done this
as long as I have,

you always take everything
with a grain of salt

that you're told,

but he was convinced early on

that she was trying
to fleece him out of money.

So you see what I did?

These are actually what I did.
This is my handwriting.

Every debit charge...
Hmm.

I wrote down
where it was from.

You can see
she's got debit charges

on Mondays, Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, Thursdays,

but not stores up
where she said she was.

But the longer
I was in the case,

the more evident it became

that there was really
something there.

You called me up one day

and told me to come down
to your office

because you had subpoenaed
her cell phone records.

And you're looking
at the pile, Paul,

and admiring it.

And action.

That looks like
a lot of work.

For you.

They're
Audrey's cell phone records.

I'll look through them.

Alan, are we ever
gonna get a trial date?

We can't set a date until
our discovery is complete.

They've only got two more weeks
to respond

or we file a motion
for contempt.

Who knew a lawyer
would subpoena

my ex-wife's cell phone logs?

I mean, jeez, that just
totally came out of the blue.

That's
what you're supposed to do.

You're supposed
to subpoena the records.

Without
those cell phone logs,

we would've
never discovered anything.

Okay.
And what did they reveal?

You brought me a stack like
this, and I checked them out.

And I'm starting
to look down them,

and I see one number

that she called
ten times a day, every day.

Ten times a day, every day.

Bye.

Oh.

Who were you talking to?

I keep flipping down.
There's that number.

All throughout
the day and night.

Every single day.

I'm going back in time--
a year, a year and a half.

Oh, unbelievable.

About 18 on this page. Jeez.

Every single day.

Well, then it hit me.

Oh, this is what she was doing

when she excused herself
to go to the ladies room.

Whenever we were out
to dinner,

she would
mysteriously disappear

for 15, 20 minutes at a time.

Alan had told me that

my wedding day
was at the bottom.

So I went like this.

And I flip over the stack, go
to the page of our wedding day.

Oh, what the f*ck?

And there's the number
that she called three times

before she met me
at the courthouse.

What the f*ck?

And three times
on our wedding night

after I had fallen asleep.

Yeah.

Wow.

I had absolutely no idea

who this number belonged to...

until I got home.

The first thing I did

was put that number
into Google Search.

It came up with a webpage
of a guy selling a boat.

"If interested, call Royce."

And it was that number!

Now Mr. Paul T. Goldman,

are we talking
about Royce Rocco?

Yes, we are, as it turns out.
All right.

So ultimately, who did we
determine Royce Rocco to be?

So I called Bob Thompson,
Audrey's second husband.

Hello?
Bob.

Do you know a guy named Royce?

I am so sorry, Paul.

That's Royce Rocco,

and he's been
Audrey's boyfriend since 2003.

He's the reason--

He's--sorry.
No worries.

Did you get him?
No, I didn't.

Oh, sorry.

He's the reason
I made the court

order a DNA test for my son,

'cause I couldn't be entirely
sure that I was his father.



Is that fly
still buzzing around?

No, something happened.
You got it.

Yeah.
All right, great.

Let's settle, everyone.
Action.

Then she made calls
to different men.

Lots of them.

Bob, what do you think
is going on?

He never proved it,
but my private eye told me

that he thought Royce...

was a pimp.

Royce is a pimp?

That makes Audrey...



Holy sh*t! I married a hooker?

I am so sorry, Paul.

I tasted a bitterness
rising in my throat.

And I did some quick math.

Ten tricks a week worked out

to about 500 tricks a year
for a period of four years.

Acknowledging the probability
of a few regular customers,

the equation was staggering.

Audrey had had sex
with over a thousand men,

therefore, biologically,
so had I.

Next thing I did was
go back to the phone logs,

and I saw this number
that she had called

five times a day
for over a year.

"This is AT&T.

"If you have a voicemail box
on this system,

please enter it now."

Why would she need
an outside voicemail box

that she's calling four
or five times a day every day?

I put every single number
from the phone logs

into the Google Search.

Calls to the ten girls
that work for her.

Calls to hotels.

And calls to hundreds of men,

called one time
and one time only.



Audrey was running
a huge business.

When you first started
to figure this out

and discover this, like, what
was going through your mind?

It was just shock.
Yeah.

Audrey rose from being
a hooker to being a madam.

I mean,
I'm just a nice Jewish boy.

These things don't happen

to nice Jewish boys.
Mm.

And then I made a decision.

I would not allow myself

to drown in the bleak waters
of depression.

I would set forth
to chart my own course

and determine
how this story would end.

I would no longer
play the role of the fool.

I stood up and began what
would be a series of showers,

showers that would allow me

to emotionally wash away
the memories of Audrey,

the feelings for Audrey,

and the idea
of who I thought Audrey was.

I would no longer be a man

who had something horrible
done to him.

I would bring down Audrey

and her sleazy
prostitution ring...

No matter what.