A Free Soul Page #7

Hey, listen. You haven't a chance.

Not a chance. You've gone too far.

Take your hands off me.

I'm not gonna carry you screaming from

the hotel, but you can't get away from me.

I never was as nuts about you

as I am right now.

You can be walking along the street

or out in your car, but I'll get you.

All I'm gonna do now is kiss you.

Hello, wanderer.

Just heard you were back.

Well, we meet again.

How are you?

Little early for a call, I'm afraid...

...but unusual circumstances.

Oh, that's all right.

Mr. Wilfong was just going.

Sure.

Don't kid yourself for long. I'll be back.

- Keep away from me.

- Don't crowd, old man.

Keep your hands off me.

There's a place for those sort of things.

Any idea you're gonna marry him?

No, not the slightest.

- I hope you change your mind about that.

- Is that so?

Well, when I get through,

he won't have the guts to marry you.

Now, let me lay it on the line for you.

She tossed all the ritz overboard

months ago.

She came to my place

and she stayed there, you get that?

- She's mine, she belongs to me.

- That's all you're gonna say.

Yeah? I'll spread the news so high, wide

and handsome you don't dare marry her.

And you'll come crawling back,

like you did last night.

Maybe I'll step out of my class

and give you a break.

Listen, buddy. Take a tip.

Back out. Right now.

If you don't, you won't live long enough

to start the honeymoon.

And I'm not kidding.

Sorry, Jan.

I simply couldn't think.

That's all right.

There wasn't anything to say

or anything to do.

What he said was true.

Jan.

I've come

to take you to your grandmother.

Not just now.

I'm afraid you must.

She...

She's dead.

Take your hat and coat, sir?

Mr. Wilfong here?

Mr. Wilfong? Uh...

- Who shall I say?

- Dwight Winthrop.

The great polo player?

Yes, the great polo player.

I'm sure he'll be glad to see you.

This way.

- Dwight Winthrop wants to talk to you.

- All right, send him in.

Sit down.

This is a good place to talk.

You're not going to talk anymore.

Davenport 2-0-2-0.

Police department.

This is Dwight Winthrop speaking.

I've just killed Ace Wilfong

over a gambling debt.

I'll wait for you here at his place.

Hello, George.

- Hello, Mike.

Take this chair right here, Miss Jan.

Bring out Winthrop, Mac.

Jan, darling, don't cry.

There's so little to say, isn't there?

Except...

...I love you.

You ought to hate me.

I wish you did.

I'm not worth what you've done.

I wish I'd killed him.

Then I'd be here and not you.

I knew what I was doing.

It had to be done.

Oh, I love you.

I love you as much as I despise myself.

And that's an awful lot.

Oh, Jan, you have nothing

to feel badly about.

The world's better

with that fellow out of it.

I can't let things drift and go on.

Why, this may be

the end of everything for you.

- I can't stand it, I can't.

- Here, darling. Please, please, darling.

Sweetheart.

You've gotta live,

clean and fine as you always have.

- Lf only my father...

- He couldn't do anything.

I killed him deliberately

for a gambling debt.

- Oh, no, no.

- Yes, yes.

There'll be nothing else in court but that.

But, you know...

...he could always do something.

All right. Time's up.

Time for little boys to go to bed.

Tomorrow, sweetheart.

All my heart, please believe me.

Everything.

All right, you tyrant.

Say, what...?

Well, what's the idea, you following me?

Beat it.

Mike?

Ladies and gentlemen,

there's very little for you to deliberate.

All the evidence before you

points to deliberate murder.

There are no other circumstances.

You have no alternative

except to bring in a verdict on the facts.

And the most important fact

is that the defendant confessed...

...he killed Ace Wilfong

for a gambling debt.

There never was a more cold-blooded,

deliberate crime than this.

The penalty

does not enter into the question at all.

And I ask you to return a verdict

for murder in the first degree.

Thank you.

If Your Honor please...

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury...

...as attorney for the defense...

...I have not been able to do anything.

My client has confessed.

- The facts speak for themselves.

Quiet. Quiet, please.

- Will Your Honor pardon me?

Surely.

Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen.

What is it, Stephen?

If Your Honor please...

...I have been informed that there is

more to this case than has been revealed.

There is additional testimony.

I now ask permission

to reopen the case for the defense...

...and to associate Stephen Ashe

as counsel for my client.

I object, Your Honor.

The case is closed.

It has been properly tried.

They want to wreck the dignity

of procedure...

...and turn this courtroom into

a playground for mountebanks.

If Your Honor please,

my worthy opponent has lost his temper.

His record of convictions has been greater

during the absence of Ashe.

I object too.

The case has been put before you.

There can be nothing gained by further...

I have been embarrassed

enough by this case.

- I repeat my request.

- Very well, proceed.

- I object to this unorthodox procedure.

- Court should neglect no evidence.

Mr. Johnson, do you want time

to prepare this new evidence?

No.

- Lf Your Honor please...

...Mr. Ashe is ready to go ahead

with the case immediately.

If it please Your Honor...

...the prosecution

has called me a mountebank.

That's a matter of opinion.

But this is far from being a playground.

As a matter of fact, I'm so ill

that the very effort of talking at all...

...is all that I can endure.

I merely mention this...

...to let you know the importance

of the occasion that brings me here.

However, I am very grateful to you

for your courtesy.

- Proceed, Mr. Ashe.

- I'm only going to call one witness.

I'm going to prove

that this killing was done...

...in a fit of temporary insanity.

The determination of the defendant...

...when he came to his senses...

...to say "gambling debt,"

"gambling debt" and nothing else...

...is one of the finest things

I have ever heard of, in life or fiction.

- Lf Your Honor please...

The decision will rest on facts.

Call your witness.

Jan Ashe.

I protest.

Nothing can make the slightest difference.

We must allow your attorneys

to conduct the case. No interruptions.

Don't you see? Whatever good

I did will be shot to pieces.

You'll just make a lot of talk I've

avoided. You can't change anything.

Son, don't you see?

My hands are bleeding

where the spikes have been driven through.

Now, now.

Will you take the stand, please,

Miss Ashe?

Raise your right hand.

Do you swear the evidence you give

will be the whole truth, so help you God?

- I do.

- State your name.

- Jan Ashe.

- Take the stand, please.

- Where do you live?

- St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco.

On the day of the killing,

did you see Ace Wilfong?

- Yes, I did.

- Where?

St. Francis Hotel. He came there.

Tell us exactly what happened,

in your own way.

- He'd been very brutal the night before...

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