Detective Story Page #4

- Five years.

Then how did you manage to

accumulate $56,000 in the bank, Karl?

How?

My name is Karl Schneider,

I live in Oakdale, New Jersey.

Look, I checked.

$56,000, that's a lot of lettuce.

You've got it in four banks.

Oakdale, Newark, two in Passaic.

Here are the figures.

How'd you get that money, Karl?

My name is Karl Schneider.

I live in Oakdale, New Jersey.

You treated Miss Anderson, didn't you?

She identified your picture.

Come on, Karl,

make it easy for yourself.

You're still operating

the old baby farm grist mill, aren't you?

When a doctor gets his license revoked,

he can't let all that talent go to waste.

And what was your specialty, Karl?

Obstetrics.

A girl's best friend when she's

going to have a baby nobody wants.

Takes care of both mother

and child for a fee. A fat fee.

No questions asked,

all very hush-hush, eh, Karl?

- My name is Karl Schneider...

- My name is Karl Schneider.

I live in Oakdale, New Jersey.

Lieutenant, I want you to meet

Karl Schneider.

- He lives in Oakdale, New Jersey.

- You still here?

Dr. Schneider fascinates me.

Lieutenant, I'm leaving my client

in your hands. Is that understood?

You've made it clear.

Remember, Karl,

just your name and address.

Come on in, Karl. Over there.

Jim.

Your identifying witness.

What's her name?

- Hatch?

- She's on her way over.

Good. Say, Lou, get some boys

for a line-up, will you?

- Right, Jim.

- How good a witness is she?

Will she stand up?

Schneider didn't cut her in

on his last job. She's plenty burned.

Besides, we got the Anderson girl

in the hospital.

- She's critical. No visitors.

- But she already identified Karl's photo.

Between the two of them,

it's a set-up for a signed confession.

- Good.

- I'll get it.

- How?

- Persuasion.

You keep your big mitts off.

- Jim? The Hatch dame's downstairs.

- Thanks.

- I'll bring her up, Lou.

- Right.

All right, Karl, pick your spot.

End, middle, any place you like.

No alibis later.

- Well, how are you, Miss Hatch?

- Just fine, thanks.

- What's the matter?

- Rushing the season, aren't you?

Mink?

Dyed squirrel.

Looks real, though, doesn't it?

You know, it was nice of you

to come down as a witness.

We appreciate that.

Don't mention it. Well, let's get it

over with, huh? I got an engagement.

All right, Miss Hatch,

you just come with me.

You, too, Charley.

I don't want you to get lonesome.

Just stand in line here. Get your hat on.

All right, well, play it fair

in the car, huh? Okay.

All right, Miss Hatch.

Now, you know what to do.

Yes. I look them all over

and touch the shoulder of the right man.

That's the idea. Now, you just

take your time, Miss Hatch.

Go ahead, Miss Hatch.

Hats off, boys. Now, look at each one.

I never saw one of them

before in my life.

You identified a photo

of one of these men.

Say, what are you trying to do?

Make me give a wrong identification?

Well, I ain't going to do it.

The smell of this changed your mind,

didn't it?

You cops are all alike.

Give you a badge

and you try to push the world around.

Look, you identified one of these men

from a photo.

Now, point him out

or I'll throw you in the clink.

- You'll do what?

- That's enough.

All right, Miss Hatch, you earned

your fur-piece. I hope you enjoy it.

You can't talk to me like that.

I'm no tramp.

- You never saw this face before?

- No! Never.

All right, get lost.

Take a couple of drop-dead pills.

Big cheese.

I'll see my lawyer about you.

Get out of here.

All right. Thanks, fellows.

Hey, Lou, I thought she was going

to put the finger on you.

- This way, Charley.

- What a performance. Sarah Heartburn.

- May I go now?

- No. Sit down.

- There goes your case.

- A year's work.

Take it easy, Jim.

Thought you had a date.

- Yeah. A killer like that going free.

- Relax, Jim. Tomorrow's another day.

The thieves and murderers could have

written the penal code themselves.

Proof, Jim, proof, that's what counts.

Bunk. Look, evil's got a smell of its own.

A child can spot it. I know, Joe. I know.

- How?

- I lived with it.

I learned it early and deep.

My own father was one of them.

Every day of my childhood...

I saw that father of mine,

with that criminal mind of his...

abuse and torment my mother and

drive her straight into a lunatic asylum.

She died there.

Yeah, I know it when I smell it.

Every time I look at one of those babies,

I see my old man's face.

Lieutenant, what about

the Anderson girl, in the hospital?

- She can identify him.

- I told you, she's critical. No visitors.

This is an emergency. She doesn't

have to talk. Just look at him and nod.

Let me use the wagon

and take him down.

- All right. Go ahead.

- Thanks.

But take easy.

Remember, you're going to a hospital.

Yes, sir.

Lieutenant Monaghan speaking.

Okay McLeod for the wagon to Bellevue.

- Karl, come with me.

- Where?

- We're going for a ride.

- Where are we going?

My name is James McLeod.

I live on West 85th Street.

Hey, Phil, do me a favor, will you?

Call my wife

and tell her I'll be a little late.

Okay, Jim.

- Thanks.

- You're welcome.

- Where are you taking me?

- You've been lucky, Karl.

You got away with it once,

but the postman rings twice.

This time we've got you.

We're going to visit one of your patients.

Miss Anderson, in the hospital.

She's going to put the finger on you,

Karl.

- What are you laughing at?

- Nothing.

That's right, that's just what

you've got to laugh about. Nothing.

- You're on the bottom of this joke.

- Maybe I am, maybe I am not.

- Maybe somebody else is.

- What's that mean, Karl?

Hey, Fay. Bellevue Hospital.

Where are you going?

We just got a call from the dispatcher.

The Lieutenant wants us to return

to the precinct. Your witness died.

- When?

- A couple of hours ago.

Congratulations, Karl.

You're still a lucky man.

You must have been kissed

in your cradle by a vulture.

- The girl died.

- That's too bad.

You knew she was dead all the time.

Then you bought off Miss Fur Piece,

and turned yourself in.

What have you got

in place of a conscience?

Don't answer, I know. A lawyer.

I ought to fall on you

like the sword of God.

That sword has two edges.

You could cut your own throat.

I'm going to give you

a piece of advice, Karl.

When they let you free again,

get out of New York.

You butcher one more patient

and law or no law, I'll find you.

I'll put a bullet in the back of your head

and I'll drop your body in the East River.

And I'll go home and I'll sleep sweetly.

You don't frighten me.

Now, I'll give you some advice.

I have plenty on you, too.

I know why you're so vindictive.

- Why?

- Just watch your step.

Because I happen to have friends,

downtown, with pull.

- Have you?

- Lots of pull.

Well, what do you know?

Aren't you the big shot? Pull.

Have you got any friends with push,

like that?

No, everybody else

is going to let you go.

The courts, the judges, the juries.

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