Compulsion Page #2

All right, what do you think that is, huh?

It looks like a moth hole.

Oh, no, Sid. He got that

running whiskey in from Canada.

- Just for the fun of it.

- Yeah, sure. Just for the fun of it.

You don't believe it, huh?

All right. I tell you what we'll do.

We'll all go down there tomorrow night,

the whole bunch of us. Okay?

The Four Deuces. Judd,

you know the place, don't ya?

We're almost late now, Artie.

All right, now wait a minute.

I gotta get this set.

Sid, you can ask Benny himself about me.

He runs the joint.

On, uh, Rush Street. 26.

Looks like a store.

- Mike? Mike, you'll be there. Sally, Pete.

- Yeah!

You can bring Ruth, can't you?

I'm supposed to work

the late shift at the Globe.

So? What time

do you get through?

No! No, no. Wait a minute. I tell you what.

Just meet us there. I can pick up Ruth.

OrJudd can. Oh, wait a minute.

You know Ruthie Evans, don't you?

- Hello.

- I don't believe I've had the pleasure.

- You do now, so that's all set.

Sid, okay? Ruthie? - Yeah, fine.

Perhaps Miss Evans

would rather wait for Sid.

- No. I don't mind.

- Great. We'll meet there at, uh, 9:00.

- We'll make it a big celebration.

- Yeah. - Sharp.

- What are we celebrating?

- Oh, uh

A little business deal

we got cookin', huh, Juddsie?

- We'd better get going, Artie.

- Okay! What are you hanging around for?

Bank job. Nothin' to it.

Open it up with a hairpin.

- See ya later.

- That's like talkin' to a Roman candle.

- I know.

- Look, how come you told 'em you'd go?

You know, those boys

are millionaire's sons.

I haven't got that kind

of money to throw around.

It was Artie's idea.

Let him pay.

How many times do I have to

say it? When I go someplace

- "I like to pay my own way".

- "I like to pay my own way". I know.

Hey, I'll starve for a week.

Don't worry. Mother'll feed you again.

- Hey, Brooks.

- Yes, sir?

I like it. It's

good human interest.

Have they really got

that mouse in a physics lab?

I wouldn't have written it

if they didn't, sir.

- It might be good for a picture

on the feature page.

- I'll get the mouse! Give me a photographer

- Oh, relax.

I'll get one out of the files.

I got something else for you to do.

There's been a report on a drowned kid

that was pulled out of a culvert...

out in Hegewisch Park, uh

Now, here's the dope. And check

with Tom Daly before you run off.

He's working on a kidnapping.

There may be a tie-in.

Yes, sir.

Ten thousand.

Two thousand in 20's,

and 8,000 in 50's, right.

That's all old bills, and all typewritten,

Mr. Kessler?

Ah, Mr. Kessler, of course I won't. The story

is safe with me until you give me the word.

Daly, sir.

Tom Daly of the Globe.

- Thank you very much, sir.

- Kidnapping?

Yeah, the guy's afraid we'll run the story

and scare the kidnapper off.

Big millionaire

out in Hyde Park.

Ryan wants me to look at a drowned body.

Think there's any connection?

I doubt it. Kid

probably just wandered off.

Still, with all that dough

Don't waste any time

getting out there.

Here's what I've got on the description,

and call me back, huh?

Right.

They brung him in

about 8:
00 this morning.

Drowned, they said.

Hmm!

Wait'll the coroner

sees that report.

- Why do you say that?

- This kid wasn't drowned.

All them cops wanted to do

was dump him on us.

Show ya somethin'.

Oh. Kid's glasses.

Now, you see this here?

Them lumps under the hair?

This kid was slugged.

See how stiff this is?

Dried blood.

- What's the matter?

- Nothing.

- Glasses.

- Oh.

Now, in my opinion, this boy was hit

on the head with a blunt instrument.

- Two, three times. That was the cause of death.

- Jennings?

- What?

- Meat wagon's here.

- Okay. Comin'.

- Look, have you got a phone I could use?

Right there. Leave

a nickel on the desk.

- Number, please.

- State 1097.

- Chicago Globe.

- Tom Daly.

- Daly here.

- This is Sid.

- Oh, hello, kid.

- I'm at the morgue. I think I've got something.

The description

fits to a "T".

This boy didn't drown. He was killed.

Hit over the head with a blunt instrument.

All right, listen. Stay right where you are,

and don't say anything to anybody.

I want to see if I can get somebody from

the Kessler family to come over with me...

and make

a positive identification.

- Yeah, okay.

- Right.

Just one more question, sir.

Did Paulie wear glasses?

Glasses? No. No.

- Of course not.

- Mr. Kessler? You're Mr. Kessler, aren't you?

I'm Jonas Kessler,

the boy's uncle.

- And there's no question it is your nephew, sir?

- No, there's no question.

What's that about glasses?

Well, they must have been beside

the body when they found him.

But they weren't the boy's.

I tried them on him, and they didn't fit.

- Where are they now?

- I shoved them way down under the sheet.

Nobody'll notice. Do you think whoever did it

could have dropped them there?

Well, I don't know. But if nobody notices

them for a little while...

we got a clean beat for the morning edition,

and you got a bonus.

Come on. Uh,

excuse me, fellas.

- All right. Can we see the body?

- Sure.

If we use

Plato's system, you see...

all children would be

wards of the state...

and assured of being

educated correctly.

Wouldn't that be terribly sad

and impersonal?

Children do have feelings

and emotions, don't they?

Of course they do,

but for whom?

Why should it be their parents?

They didn't choose them.

I certainly

didn't choose mine.

It's pure biological accident.

Do you feel that way about

your own mother and father?

I have very little

in common with my father.

Or my mother. My mother died

when I was eight years old.

- Judd! Hey, Ruth!

- She must have meant a great deal to you.

You gotta hear this!

Old Sid's the biggest man in town!

Hey, Sally. Sam, take a seat, will you?

Come on. Just sit down.

Hey, Sid. How are ya, boy?

- Sit down and have some drinks.

- Betty, where's the can?

Sh, sh! No, no.

No, no, no, no, no.

Now, to hear him tell it,

it sounds like nothin'.

But you know about the kidnapping?

The little Kessler punk, yeah?

- I read about it

- Shut up!

Didn't you notice that every paper in town

had to say it was a Globe reporter...

- who found out the kid had been murdered?

- So?

- So, who do you think it was?

- Sid? No!

- Cut it out, Artie.

- Cut it out, he says. The hero of the hour!

Hey, gimme that.

Okay, set 'em up

Wait a minute, Sidney first.

Okay. Now some for you.

Just a little. Okay.

Okay, everybody. Come on.

To Sid.

Artie, will ya sit down?

It was just a lucky break.

Boy, it sure was.

You know, if he hadn't

identified the body when he did...

the Kesslers would

have paid the ransom.

- How 'bout that?

- Lucky break?

Well, what about the paper?

Do they give you a bonus?

- Yes, but not for that exactly.

- You mean there's more?

Oh, there's more! Listen!

He didn't tell it all.

Stop hollering!

- Oh, sure, sure. Just tell us.

- It'll be in the early morning editions.

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