Deadline at Dawn Page #7

- Shh. Don't you hear the captain talking?

- Don't run.

the hour grows late.

And this has a double significance,

my friends...

...as it may also appertain

to the span of life.

- The hour grows late.

Ahem.

- Who's that?

- You know who it is.

Val?

- Val, I just heard. A woman whispered.

- You just heard? What you just heard?

Edna. She...

No, don't hit me. Don't hit me.

I didn't do anything. I can't take it.

Don't hit me.

I loved her. I always loved her.

If I get burned to ashes, I love her.

Let him alone.

You can see he didn't do it. Let him alone.

Which one of you

spoiled the captain's party?

- You're sure of that?

Yes.

You're not lying?

- No, sir.

Let's go back a bit.

Miss Bartelli kept teasing you all night

to give her a hug?

- Yes, sir.

- But you wouldn't.

- No, sir, I wouldn't.

- Why?

- I guess she didn't appeal to me in that way.

You don't say so.

She puts her arms around you and you say

no? You expect us to believe that baloney?

I expect you to believe it, yes.

Why would I lie?

I never had a time like this

since my aunt won a car...

...and the whole family had a fight.

Yes?

Right.

They don't want Bartelli.

In Narcotics long time ago, they say.

You got no call to keep me here.

Phoned your lawyer, didn't you?

Lieutenant Kane is outside to see you.

Homicide squad is in the hall. You're gonna

see the foundations of the building.

It's very sweet of you, June.

Gee, look at the time.

What is Captain Sterling gonna say

when I don't report for duty?

What'll my father say

when he hears this?

Listen to the murderer, how he talks.

A punch in the nose, remember that.

June, there's something I've got to tell you.

No matter what happens...

...I don't know how I existed

before I met you. That's the truth.

You'll have to go back

to your seat, sister.

So that means Babe Dooley's in the case

with both feet.

- But I don't think he done it.

- This gets more complicated every minute.

- What do you think of the girl?

- Oh, she's airtight.

- She never left the dance hall till 1:00.

- Why did she go to the apartment?

It seems her brother's

a belly gunner. Sympathy.

What about Bartelli?

We can't hold him

for Sleepy Parsons' death.

It's obviously heart failure.

Do you think he tapped his sister?

I doubt it, but I'm open to conviction.

I don't like him.

How about the cabby?

We went through him one, two, three.

Clean record.

- I think we're wasting our time.

- Why?

The boy done it,

but you can't break him down.

- Maybe he's innocent.

- Maybe he ain't.

- Ready for work, Smiley?

- Say when, lieutenant.

When.

What's the radio for? Turn it off.

I hear the whistle blowing.

- Hello, Bartelli. Still making book?

- I never had no interest in that, lieutenant.

You killed her?

I did not.

Stand up. What'd you say?

What? What's that?

I said I did not.

- Get up.

You're taking orders around here.

Get out of that chair.

No, I'm too tired. I won't get up.

You're in line for a grave in potter's field.

Don't yell at me, please.

My friends will tell you I'm all right.

Your friends?

Put them out in the hall

with the mops and brooms.

Now you're alone. No friends.

A murderer has no friends.

Are you ready to sign a confession?

I'm ready to lay down and sleep for a year,

that's the truth.

Do you realize the position you're in?

Do you know what it's like

to fry in the electric chair?

- Stop this. Stop talking like this.

- Now, just a minute, detective.

- You're getting pretty rough there.

Kids like this make my blood boil.

Now, let's calm down, detective.

We're in the United States.

Officer, bring this lad some cold water.

What's happening in there now?

Now the other one steps in, sympathetic,

soothing the troubled waters...

...and Alex tells him everything.

But what can he tell him?

- About the blank hour in his life.

- But he didn't do it, Gus.

I know he didn't.

Do you want these others to leave?

Oh, no, they don't annoy me.

I mean, I'm annoyed anyway.

I don't get it, lieutenant.

Why you coddling this prisoner?

- He don't deserve it.

- Don't see any reason to lose your head.

Do you?

Did you enlist or were you drafted, lad?

I enlisted the day after Pearl Harbor.

The president spoke on the radio.

You didn't kill that woman, did you?

- No, sir, I didn't.

- Who do you think did?

- I honestly don't know.

We thought it was her husband,

but I don't know.

But you didn't?

- No, sir, but...

- But what?

Well, sometimes you just wish

you had a sore toe or something...

...so you could sit down

and not worry about things.

That's the mood I was in last night.

No place to go. Disgusted.

Then she kept offering me these drinks.

I don't have any sales resistance,

as my father says.

After a few drinks, well,

non compos mentis.

- Non compos mentis.

- Yes, sir.

I just didn't know where I was for a while.

Like swimming underwater in the dark.

Next thing I know the money was

in my pocket and I'd run away.

- You were unaware of what you had done?

- I was unaware.

- But the money was in your pocket?

- That's right.

You wanna help us find the killer,

don't you?

I certainly do.

Did you do it?

I mean, when you were non compos mentis

and didn't know that you took the money?

Is it possible?

Be sincere.

Yes, sir, it's possible.

I might've done it and not know I did.

- Did Miss Bartelli drink a lot?

- More than I could count and I'm not dumb.

No, you're not dumb.

No, he's not dumb.

What's he doing in there?

Shh, shh.

So you think it's possible you did it...

...when you were fuzzy in the head?

Be sincere.

Yes, sir, it's possible.

You've pinned the tail on the donkey, lad.

- That's all we wanna know.

- But it's only possible.

That's a technical distinction,

out of my hands.

- Book him on a murder charge.

Lieutenant.

Tell my lawyer to go back to sleep

when he gets here.

- Gus.

- Yes?

Do you know what that means?

Yes, I know what it means.

The boy is innocent.

In a minute, he'll be free.

Look at me, June.

Your face is very beautiful when it's sad.

A certain party is guilty.

All night he's been sawing off the branch

he's sitting on.

- Who is it?

- Do you want to come in with me?

Lieutenant.

The murderer of Edna Bartelli...

...has just confessed to Captain Dill

down at Homicide.

Who?

- A man.

A man I never heard of.

What are you keeping my wife

waiting for?

- What's your hurry?

- We have a baby home.

No one appreciates babies more than me.

- Does my smoking bother you?

- No.

Come in.

Oh, hello, Kane.

Ever see them before?

- Nope.

Mm-hm.

Just walked in and confessed

like a baby doll.

Make fun, that's right, make fun.

- Why did you wanna kill her?

- That's my business.

- Not now it isn't. It's our business now.

- I killed her, that's enough.

Now why don't you let my wife go home?

She's exhausted.

Do you love your wife?

- Yes.

- Where did you get the gun?

I don't care to answer that.

Let my wife go home. Do you hear me?

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