Dolores Claiborne Page #8

I can't.

No, Daddy, please.

Come on, now. You know how to do it.

I showed you.

Remember how I showed you?

Nobody's gonna see us.

Come on, baby.

You remember?

You remember how I showed you?

Please.

Come on.

Come on, that's it.

Oh, that's it.

You're my good girl.

I love you, Selena.

You're my good girl.

You want your change or what?

No. You keep it.

I was gonna kill her, Your Honor.

She tried to do it herself...

...but she was still alive.

She begged me to finish what she started.

I didn't know if I could do it or not.

By the time I got back from the kitchen

she was dead.

Just your good luck, I guess.

They tell me you've waived your right

to council.

Yes, sir.

I tell you, I've married people

who've brought lawyers with them.

Let's just get this over with.

Before I sign Detective Mackey's report...

...there are a few things

I'd like him to clarify for me.

Ms. Claiborne...

...I have several witnesses...

...who say they were present when

you threatened the life of Vera Donovan.

Now that's true, is it not?

Why don't you just go ahead and ask me

what you really want to know?

In due time, Ms. Claiborne. In due time.

-Is it true you made those threats?

-Of course, it's true.

She told you herself on Saturday.

I'm sorry. This is a closed hearing.

The woman sitting over there, the one

without a lawyer, that's my mother.

This isn't a trial.

I have every right to be here with her.

Selena St. George.

Don't stop. Let's just wrap this up

and get back to the mainland.

This report is incomplete.

Maybe before you sign off on this...

We're in the middle of a questioning here,

Miss St. George.

My mother did not kill Vera Donovan.

That's funny. I've got 30 pages here

that say she did.

This thing is totally circumstantial.

I've covered enough courtrooms

to know he's got no hard evidence.

Circumstantial? Samuel Marchant, page 6!

Tell him what's not in the report.

You've had the whole weekend

to get yourself a lawyer.

What is it that's not in the report?

These two women loved each other.

Oh, really?

Now that's something we'd like to hear.

That's something...

...we definitely missed

in our investigation...

...isn't it, Frank?

Why don't you tell us

about this great mutual affection?

Your personal observations.

How'd they get along when you'd visit?

Christmas, birthdays, holidays...

...whenever you could tear yourself away

from your judicial reportage.

Why don't you tell us, Miss St. George?

When was your last visit?

Miss?

Fifteen years ago.

You must have some memory.

These women were together for 22 years.

My mother spent the last 10 caring

for Vera...

...24 hours a day, 365 days a year...

...for $80 a week.

You should quit while you're ahead.

He says they hated each other.

I want to know if you hated each other

so much why you stayed together?

There were other jobs...

...better jobs.

Why go through 20 years of hell?

-Why, Mother?

-Please, Miss. This is embarrassing.

You're supposed to be a professional,

aren't you?

We know I never visited.

Who did?

In the past few years,

who else has been in that house?

Doc Collin came once a month.

Let's not forget Sammy Marchant.

Nobody else gave a damn

whether they lived or died.

All they had was each other.

That's why you stayed together.

I mean, is that what you do

when you hate someone?

You trade off your life for...

...what, 20 cents an hour

just to keep them going?

Please, all this is very touching.

But $1,600,000...

...is a little more than 20 cents an hour.

My mother never knew about the will.

Come on, Miss St. George.

The will is eight years old.

You were there, Frank.

When Mackey told her about the will.

You think she knew?

He is not on trial.

Neither is my mother.

Constable?

She seemed pretty surprised, I guess...

...to me.

That's how I saw it.

You want us to believe

that they were best friends...

...and alone for eight years

and they never even talked about it?

I think people can keep secrets

a lot longer than eight years.

A $1,600,000 secret?

Come on!

Did you know about the will,

Ms. Claiborne?

No, sir.

Vera made it pretty clear she was plannin'

on takin' it all with her when she went.

I figured when she died there'd be

some laundry and a fare-thee-well.

Isn't that convenient?

You don't believe her?

Then I tell you what, Detective.

We may be in the presence

of a truly gifted criminal mind.

For eight years she's a heartbeat away...

...from being the richest woman

on the island.

So what does she do?

Does she wait one year

and let Vera drown in the tub?

Three years starving her?

You're digging in deeper.

Smother her in her sleep?

Drug her?

My mother's plan is far more brilliant

than that.

She waits through eight years of bed pans,

sponge baths, diapers and bed sores.

She waits eight years until Vera's

already got one foot in the grave.

Then what does she do?

-We know.

-That's your theory, isn't it?

She waited eight years

to throw her down the stairs.

Yes. To make it look like an accident.

An accident? She ransacked the kitchen

for a rolling pin.

Calm down!

How will beating Vera to death

look like an accident?

She panicked, just as you're doing now.

Sammy Marchant brought the mail

every day at noon.

-Why not wait?

-She panicked.

-She knew she had to finish...

-How do you know?

Fourteen years' experience.

-You've never been wrong.

-Not when it counted.

-That's right, you're 85 for 86, aren't you?

-Yes, I am.

-One case away from a perfect record.

-This report is the truth.

Truth? Bullshit! Why don't you tell him

why we're really here?

Go on.

Tell him.

Because she's done it before.

Wait a minute.

Is there some prior felony here, John?

No, there's not.

They wouldn't indict her.

Eighteen years ago...

...my father drank some scotch...

...and fell down a well.

Detective Mackey didn't think

it was an accident, which is...

...why we're here today.

What do you think, Selena?

I think that I owe you an apology.

I called you a son of a b*tch.

You said you thought we were a lot alike.

And you were right.

We've both spent the past 18 years

prosecuting this woman.

We came out here...

...I know I did...

...believing she was guilty.

We forgot this case is

about Vera Donovan...

...not my father.

And what if it wasn't an accident?

Look...

...it's been 18 years.

I don't know what this has done to you...

...but let me tell you, it's consumed me.

I have lived with this every day of my life.

Every day.

But it was wrong...

...and I won't do it anymore.

And if I can say that, my God...

...can't you?

She didn't kill Vera Donovan.

You've been out here looking

for a smoking gun.

There isn't one.

All you've got is a 30-page description

of a suicide.

I'm asking you...

...as an honorable man...

...with all of your experience...

...all that you've seen...

...would we be here now...

...if this was anyone other

than Dolores Claiborne?

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