Detective Story Page #9

He's facing five to ten.

Wait till the boys start wising him up.

Hey, what makes you think

he'll want you then?

Shut up.

He'll keep coming back

for a second rap, for a third rap.

Then he'll be a four-time loser like me.

- Shut up, I tell you.

- Look at Lewis, here.

That's you five years from now.

Ain't it, Lewis?

- Shut up. I'll crack your skull!

- That's enough!

Stay over there, Arthur.

Why don't you shut up?

Oh, Officer...

Now, now, take it easy.

He's not convicted yet.

The judge might put him on probation.

A lot of things might happen.

Yeah, yeah.

One more peep out of you, one!

Have you got a lawyer?

I know a good one.

I'm not supposed to do this,

but I'll call him myself.

Here's your picture.

Hide it from your kids.

We've been partners

about eight years now, Jim.

Did I ever ask you for a favor?

What is it, Lou?

That kid downstairs.

I want you to give him a break.

I can't do it, Lou.

He reminds me of my boy.

- Mike? Mike was a hero.

- Why, because he was killed?

If Mike were alive today, he'd have

the same problems this kid has.

What do you say?

Don't ask me, will you, Lou?

But I am asking you.

No, Lou. No dice.

Louder, please.

I can't seem to hear you so good.

I can't drop the charge.

Jim, this is me, Lou Brody.

Remember me?

What do you mean,

you can't drop the charge?

- Mr. Pritchett left it up to you.

- I can't start compromising now.

Compromise.

Heart, Jim, heart.

The world is crying for a little heart.

You shouldn't drink so much.

It melts the lining of your brain.

Maybe that's what you need.

Maybe it would melt that rock

you've got for a heart.

Lay off, will you?

My partner. Arrest his own mother.

Lay off. I'm warning you.

What's the matter, Jim?

I'm drowning, Lou.

Drowning in my own juice.

I wish I could understand you.

I don't expect you to.

I know I'm different from the others.

I'm here out of principle.

All my life

I've lived according to principle...

and I couldn't change,

even if I wanted to.

Jim, you've got to bend with the wind,

or break.

Don't be such a monument.

How?

How do you compromise?

I hate softness. My mother was soft.

It killed her.

I don't believe in turning

the other cheek.

You ask me to compromise on this kid.

Who's he?

Now, right now, I'm faced

with a problem of my own, Lou...

that's ripping my guts out,

and I can't compromise on that.

So what do I do?

Here's your aspirin.

- Listening at keyholes, Joe?

- I don't have to.

I've had that story for a long time.

She's one in a million, your Mary.

She loves you.

You don't know how lucky you are.

She brought warmth and tenderness

into your life.

I know.

- I know better than you do.

- Then go to her.

Get down on your knees, crawl.

She's downstairs, Jim.

Mary...

I'm leaving now, Jim. Here are the keys.

- Come inside.

- My taxi's waiting.

- We'll send it away.

- No, my things are in it.

- What things?

- My bags and my trunk.

Please come inside.

I can't talk to you here.

- The meter's running.

- Let it run.

Look, Mary, this isn't the time

or place to discuss our lives.

Let's go home, we'll work this out there.

You think we can?

We'll have to.

I don't. I don't think it's possible.

Wait a minute. I don't get this.

What are you so bitter about?

Who's to blame

for what happened tonight?

You put me through a cement mixer

and now you're acting as if I were the...

The tramp?

- Don't say that.

- I didn't invent the word either, Jim.

- I wasn't myself.

- You were never more yourself.

I've thought everything over

and over again...

and I don't see any other way out.

- We couldn't go on from here.

- Stop that kind of talk, will you, Mary?

I'm trying. I'm trying.

- To what?

- To put all this behind me.

- And you can't do it.

- lf you'll let me.

No, the rest of our lives

we'll be living with this.

If you won't be saying it,

you'll be thinking it.

And I couldn't take it.

I'd just dry up and die.

Please, I'm so tired, let me go now.

To what?

- Please, Jim.

- Where will you go?

You, who turn on every light

in the house when I'm not there.

You can't fall asleep

unless my arms are around you.

Stop it.

No. I'm not going to let you go.

Jim, you're hurting me.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, Mary, but you just don't stop

loving someone.

I need you. Don't leave me.

I love you.

Then help me. Help me, Jim.

It's no use, baby.

I couldn't go home

if you weren't waiting for me.

I'd blow my brains out.

I would, Mary.

If I went home to an empty flat,

I wouldn't dare take my gun with me.

Yeah.

Well, his lawyer is here now,

waiting to find out. All right, I'll hang on.

Where's McLeod now?

Well, he...

What? Yeah, okay.

They're bringing Schneider in

at 10:
00 a.m. to book him.

You can see him at the hospital

after 9:
00.

All right, I'll go over there.

Just a minute, McLeod.

- Some other time, Counselor.

- No, now.

They're bringing Schneider

back here tomorrow.

Then advise him again

to keep his mouth shut.

- And see that he does.

- I'm going to break you from the force.

If it's the last thing I do,

you're gonna pay for this.

How much was Miss Hatch paid?

Why don't you clean up your own house,

before you start to throw stones?

What do you mean by that?

You know what I mean.

No, I don't know what you mean.

Don't you?

- What's the matter, dear?

- Nothing.

- This has been a horrible day.

- Yes.

I'm sorry, darling.

Yet I'm glad it's out in the open.

I've had such a terrible feeling

of guilt all the time.

All right.

I needed help and there was no one.

I couldn't even go to my parents.

- You didn't tell them?

- No, I didn't want to hurt them.

You know how sweet

and simple they are.

You didn't go home then, after?

No.

- Where'd you go?

- I came to New York.

- How long was that before I met you?

- Two years.

Who'd you go with then?

No one.

How many others were there, Mary?

- Others?

- How many other men?

None. What's the matter with you, Jim?

Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute.

No. What's the matter with you?

At an autopsy the other day...

I watched the medical examiner

saw off the top of a man's skull...

take out the brain

and hold it in his hand.

Like that.

Why are you telling me this?

Because I'd give my soul

to take out my brain...

hold it under the faucet

and wash away...

the dirty pictures you put there today.

- Dirty pictures?

- Yes.

Oh, I see.

I see.

Yes, that would be fine...

if we could.

But when you wash away

what I may have put there...

you'll find you've a rotten spot

in your brain, Jim...

and it's growing. I know, I've watched it.

- Mary, that's enough.

- No, let's have the truth.

I could never find it in me

to see tiny flaws in you...

because I loved you. Oh, I still do.

But let's have the truth for once.

You think you're on the side

of the angels? Well, you're not.

You haven't even a drop

of ordinary human forgiveness...

in your whole nature.

You're a cruel and vengeful man.

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