Dolores Claiborne Page #3

Started by housekeeping in a hotel.

By the time I left there and high school...

...I was cleaning three floors all by myself.

I took care of my father's house

after my mother passed on.

I'm married and I have a daughter.

This is a big house, but I'm a big woman,

and I can do a good job.

I do not pretend to be an easy woman

to work for.

'"Dolores.'"

This house has a number of rules.

I'm sure you've heard them second-hand.

But I'll tell you in person...

...so we can avoid a teary scene later on.

I like all the windows open every day

for at least two hours...

She did have her ways, did she ever.

I don't know where she got them,

but I know she was a prisoner of them.

The silver has to be checked and...

...cleaned every week. It may look clean

to you, but I like to see my f ace in it.

The tubs had to be scrubbed out every day

with vinegar and baking soda.

Tablecloths, napkins, handkerchiefs...

...everything hand-washed,

ironed and starched.

Mildew was grounds for firing.

The sheets.

Now, that was one thing you didn't...

...ever want to get wrong.

You could've cut off

her high-flown snobbish nose...

...and she'd still smell a sheet

that had hung outside...

...from one baked in the dryer.

Excuse me, Mr. Donovan.

Do you have to do that now?

Talk to the Missus.

Her husband...

...Jack.

He only came up once all summer.

Most of which he spent

ignoring her anyway.

She could've easily had the clothesline

near the house.

But not Vera Donovan. No, ma'am.

She had to have the south wind blowin'

through her linens.

And that meant trampin' up and down

that hill twice a day when it was f air.

Isn't this glorious, Jack?

Six pins, Dolores!

You know that's the way I like it.

Six pins, not five!

Jack?

It's 4:
30.

Don't you want a cocktail?

Three square meals of bitchery

all summer long...

...but I kept my head down

and my mouth shut.

Every week that $40 went in the bank.

There wasn't a damn thing

she could say about it.

Thanks a lot.

As much as she crabbed

that whole summer...

...I must have done something right.

Come Labor Day...

I'm sure your winter schedule

is rather hectic...

...but I need someone to touch up

the house once a week.

Dusting.

Keeping the mice company.

I could do that for you.

$12 a week was...

...what I had in mind.

That'd be fine.

I'll see you next Memorial Day.

That winter, Jack Donovan passed on.

He died in a car crash in Maryland.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Vera.

Gorry if she didn't show up in high spirits.

I believe I told you more than once...

...I want the welcome mats

with the letters facing out and not in.

Yes, ma'am.

She'd sold her place in Baltimore.

She was moving up permanent.

Get that out of here and put that there.

And take away this disgusting sofa.

It took two days to load in

her majesty's palace.

She offered me full time and I took it.

I took it.

I knew what kind of hell it would be.

Hell ain't something

you get thrown into overnight.

The real hell comes on you as slow...

...and steady as a line

of wet winter sheets.

Snot leaking off your nose.

Your hands so cold and raw...

...you start wishing they'd go numb.

It's only December.

You know by February...

...the skin's gonna be cracked so bad, it'll

break open and bleed if you clench a fist.

But you go to the next...

...and the next and before you know it,

those sheets stretch out 20 years.

Nobody made you stay there.

-I needed the money.

-Not in the beginning, not $40 a week.

That's when I needed it the most.

Not for me, for you.

That's perfect.

So it's my fault.

You think your father cared

if you ever got off this island?

Here we go.

I put that money...

...every week, I put it away

in your account...

...for school.

To get you out of this place,

once and for all.

Well, it worked like a charm.

Hello, ladies.

A little morning walk?

Nope.

Just packing up the speed boat

so as I can make my big escape.

Something we can help you with?

We need a hair sample.

How was that?

We need a piece of your hair.

We're running some tests.

-Are you now?

-Just a strand.

I think we'll take a pass on that.

Look...

...right now it's voluntary.

I'd appreciate it, is all.

Bring your scissors, did you?

I said we'll pass.

I'll have a warrant here this afternoon.

You want it...

...you cut it.

Actually, I need to pull it.

We need the root.

Go on.

Take what you want.

I ain't doing any beauty pageants

this week.

-Anything else?

-Mother, enough.

We spoke to Sheila Jolander last night.

She said she'd heard you more than once

threaten to kill Vera Donovan.

Is that true?

If she'd come every day not once a week,

she'd have heard more.

-Get in the house.

-Vera, at the end...

...the way she got, it's a wonder

I didn't say it every hour.

You go ahead, Mr. Mackey.

You scribble that down in your pad there.

You make a note on that.

As long as you write down

that saying a thing and doing it...

...are two separate things.

But, your wife probably

already told you that.

Dolores, that's enough.

My wife...

...Ms. Claiborne...

...died 12 years ago of bone cancer.

Natural causes.

Okay, I guess we'll press on here.

Frank.

I want to get into Vera's.

I got things up there I need.

Clothes and my personals.

We can go over tomorrow. We're shipping

out Vera's body this afternoon.

Fine by me.

What the hell did I just see?

That's the last guy in the world

you want to make an enemy out of.

I ain't making one, I'm keeping one.

What is that supposed to mean?

You're gonna tell me

you don't remember him?

That's all well and good, Miss St. George...

...but you told me that at the time

of your father's death...

...you were working as a maid in a hotel

at Jonesport.

Yes.

Well...

...Mrs. Devereaux...

...at the hotel...

Remember?

Mrs. Devereaux said...

...she was surprised to see you.

She said your mom was pretty strict about

not letting you spend the night there.

Isn't that true?

I guess.

So why did she let you stay

on that particular weekend?

Problems at home, perhaps?

Your mom and dad...

...is that a happy situation?

Miss St. George?

The eclipse.

Because of the eclipse, the hotel was full.

So the money...

They said that we'd make twice as much.

So this was all about money?

My mom let me stay.

They said that we'd make twice as much.

So your father...

...that was just a coincidence, was it?

How long are you gonna let this go on?

The sooner she starts telling the truth,

the sooner we'll be done.

If he's out to torture someone,

I'd be happy to get back in the hot seat.

Anybody who accuses me of killing

my husband, go ahead and call me Dolores.

Detective Mackey, you understand,

he's just doing his job.

Trying to turn an accident into a murder?

Making a girl who just lost her father

cry her eyes out every night?

If that's just doing his job then

you'd better put him down for overtime.

All right, let's split them up.

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