Crossfire Page #7

Something he brought with him.

Something he'd been nursing

for a long time.

Something that had been waiting.

The killer had to be someone who could

hate Samuels without knowing him.

Who could hate him enough to kill him,

under the right circumstances.

Not for any real reason,

but mistakenly and ignorantly.

The rest wasn't too hard.

I looked at my suspects. I thought back

over the answers I'd had. Some of them fit.

I knew who'd kill Samuels.

I should have known right away.

But the motive was so simple...

...that it slipped through the machinery.

You're smart enough to know

what I'm talking about.

You don't have to draw me pictures.

I know what you mean.

I think you're right.

What do you want me to do?

It'd take months to polish this off

the usual way. I've nothing on Montgomery.

I might never get anything. I wanna

take a long chance on nailing him quick.

- How well do you know him?

- I tried to like him. Not my type.

- Does he have many close friends?

- One. Bowers. I think he killed him.

- So do I. What about Leroy?

- I don't think so. He's in Monty's platoon...

- How does he feel about Monty?

- You're getting ahead of me.

- I was hoping he didn't like him.

- He's scared to death of him.

Is he as dumb as Monty says?

He's kind of young.

He doesn't always know which end is up.

Monty doesn't think

he's smart enough to lie.

What if Leroy told Monty a fantastic story?

Would Monty believe it?

He might.

I'll risk it.

Keeley's on his way. I don't wanna see

anything about Floyd's killing.

Not a word. As far as we know,

he's still alive. We've never heard of him.

I want you to get Leroy without being seen

and bring him here. Can you do it?

- I can try.

- Be back in an hour if you can.

I'll talk to your CO

and tell him what's up.

It isn't that I don't wanna help,

it's just... Well, I don't...

I've never been around

Monty and Floyd much.

Monty never wanted me around.

He says I'm stupid.

I guess I am.

How do you know he killed him

like you say?

- That's what we want you to help us prove.

- I don't wanna get in any trouble.

You won't. And stop worrying

about Monty.

Captain Finlay won't let

anything happen to you.

Maybe you're right, but I can't think he'd

do a thing like that without no reason.

He thought he had a reason.

You know the way Monty feels.

You've heard the things he says.

Well, yes, I guess I heard him say

a couple of times...

...about the Jewish people living off

the fat of the land while he was out there.

You say that's all lies.

I guess it is, but...

Look, maybe Monty roughed this guy up

a little, and that's all.

That was all he started out to do, yes.

He didn't have a plan,

or anything like that.

This business of hating Jews comes

in a lot of different sizes.

There's the "you can't join

our country club" kind...

...and "you can't live around here" kind.

Yes, and the "you can't work here" kind.

And because we stand for all of these,

we get Monty's kind.

He's just one guy. We don't get him very

often, but he grows out of all the rest.

Look, Leroy...

...you know we have a law

against carrying a gun?

Sure.

We have that law

because a gun is dangerous.

Well, hate, Monty's kind of hate,

is like a gun.

If you carry it around with you,

it can go off and kill somebody.

It killed Samuels last night.

Sir, I don't feel right

getting mixed up in anything.

- Don't you see what I mean, major?

- Yes, I see what you mean.

- Ought I do what Captain Finlay wants?

- Well, that's up to you.

I can't tell you what to do.

This isn't an Army matter.

- Monty was in my outfit.

- The Army isn't proud of that.

The Army has never been proud of men

like Montgomery.

So don't worry about

being disloyal to your outfit.

You think, sir, that Monty would

kill anybody, like he says?

- He might.

- He killed Floyd.

I hate to think of anything like that

happening to Floyd.

After going through the Philippines

and everything.

And I hate to see Monty

get away with anything.

- But I'm getting out soon, and...

- This won't change that.

I might get into trouble.

I don't see this as any of my business.

Leroy...

...has Monty ever

made fun of your accent?

- Sure, lots of times.

- Why?

He calls you a hillbilly, doesn't he?

Says you're dumb.

He laughs at you because you're

from Tennessee.

He's never even been to Tennessee.

Ignorant men always laugh

at things that are different.

Things they don't understand.

They're afraid of things they don't

understand. They end up hating them.

You get me all mixed up.

You know about these things

I know nothing about.

How do I know what you're trying to do?

How do I know you aren't

a Jewish person yourself?

- Something.

- You don't.

But would it make any difference?

Well...

...all right, Leroy.

But I'd like to tell you one more thing.

Then you can go, if you want to.

About 100 years ago, in Ireland...

...the potato crop failed. It was serious.

Lot of the Irish came

over here. Immigrants.

Their talk was different.

Like yours, Leroy.

Their religion was different.

They were Catholics, most of them.

They settled down in different places.

They liked it here.

One of them I knew about.

He'd been a farmer.

Stayed in Philadelphia.

He worked and saved to buy some land.

He thought of himself as

just another man living in America.

But suddenly one day he looked around

and saw that something had happened.

It frightened him.

Fear and hatred of all Irish Catholics had

developed and spread like a terrible disease.

He saw that he wasn't

an American anymore.

He was a dirty Irish Mick.

A priest lover. A spy from Rome.

A foreigner trying to rob men of jobs.

He didn't understand.

He didn't know what to do.

He didn't do much of anything.

He couldn't.

But one day, when a bunch of men

attacked his parish priest on the street...

...he waded in to help the priest.

He managed to get him inside a store.

That night, on the way home from work,

he stopped off for a beer.

When he left the bar...

...two men followed him

carrying empty whiskey bottles.

They didn't mean to kill him.

They were just going to

rough him up a little.

They didn't start out to kill, they just started

out hating. The way Monty started out.

But 20 minutes later

my grandfather was dead.

That's history, Leroy.

They don't teach it in school,

but it's real American history just the same.

Thomas Finlay was killed in 1848 just

because he was an Irishman and a Catholic.

It happened many times.

Maybe that's hard for you to believe,

Leroy, but it's true.

And last night, Joseph Samuels was killed

just because he was a Jew.

Do you see any difference, Leroy?

Any difference at all?

Hating is always the same.

Always senseless.

One day it kills Irish Catholics,

the next day, Jews.

The next day, Protestants.

The next day, Quakers. It's hard to stop.

It can end up killing men

who wear striped neckties.

Or people from Tennessee.

Will you tell me exactly what to say?

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