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?
- [chuckles] 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!
[chuckles]
Not yet.
[dramatic music]
* *
[upbeat rock music]
- 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 penis story
about the lizard that crawled up the man's penis.
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...
[giggles] 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.
[indistinct chatter]
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.
[chuckles]
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.
[exhales sharply]
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.
[laughs]
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.
[sighs]
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.
[all singing in Russian]
* *
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.
[inquisitive music]
* *
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.
[dramatic music]
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.
[laughs]
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. - [chuckles]
- "Svetlana likes me," I thought.
"Maybe I could find my soul mate in one week."
[indistinct chatter]
So I went to Moscow to meet Svetlana.
And that night, we had dinner at this restaurant.
Oh, nice.
[laughter]
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.
[laughs]
- How do you like that, everybody?
- Yeah. [laughter]
Unbelievable, huh?
[tender music]
"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.
[music stops]
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.
[laughs]
- 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.
[indistinct chatter]
- Yep. - [cheers]
[melancholic music]
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.
[hopeful music]
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...
[tender music]
* *
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.
[laughing]
- [coughs] - 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.
[exciting music]
* *
- 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...
[exhales sharply]
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.
[somber music]
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.
[tense music]
You moved out of our bedroom months ago.
* *
I want a divorce.
You heartless bastard!
You have a child with me, then you divorce me?
How can you leave me alone with a son to raise?
- You raise him? [scoffs]
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.
[quirky music]
* *
- 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.
[laughter]
- This is a true story. - Yes, this is a true story.
* *
- [laughs] 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?
- [muffled] What? The lo mein?
No, not the stupid lo mein.
It's this sham of a marriage that we have.
[tense music]
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?
[sighs]
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?
[chuckles]
What?
- Do you want to play the scene with me?
[laughs]
- And you gotta speak-- speak loudly.
Okay.
I can't stand this.
You're at-- you're at the medical library
15 hours a day.
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...
[sighs]
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.
[laughter]
- 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.
- [chuckles] - 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.
[tense music]
* *
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.
[flips display screen]
[chuckles] 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.
[eerie music]
- 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.
- [laughs] - 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.
[tender music]
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.
[chuckles]
* *
- 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."
[gentle music]
- 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. - [chuckles]
- 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... [chuckles]
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?
- [sighs] Nope. Never saw him again.
Thanks a lot, pal.
[tense music]
* *
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.
[laughter]
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.
[upbeat rock music]
- 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 fuck?
And there's the number that she called three times
before she met me at the courthouse.
What the fuck?
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-- [smack]
- 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.
[smack]
- 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...
[suspenseful music]
Holy shit! 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.
[scoffs]
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.
[water running]
[Sylvie Vartan's "Le Testament"]
* *
[singing in Russian]
* *