JFK Page #44

JIM:

Ferrie was the only one to express

some kind of remorse about this whole

thing. I think it got him killed.

Susie Cox walks in, a new message written on her face.

SUSIE:

Boss, we just got bad news from Miami.

They found Ferrie's Cuban friend -

Eladio del Valle - this morning,

hacked to death with a machete in

his car. He was tortured, shot in

the heart at point-blank range and

his skull was split open with an

axe...

LOU:

Jesus - if that ain't the Devil's

piss! Those bastards!

Jim's mood darkens, and he heads back into the living room

as Ferrie's corpse is being trundled out the door. The

sickness is everywhere; an oppressive mood. Bill comes up.

BILL:

Found another note, same thing, no

name, no signature. "When you receive

this, I will be quite dead, so no

answer will be possible. I offered

you love. All I got in return in

the end was a kick in the teeth."

JIM:

Jesus, they must've been hard pressed

to come up with that one.

Jim, feeling ill, wanting to leave, stops the coroner before

he exits...

JIM:

(gives the coroner

the empty bottle)

Nick, what would happen if a man

suffering from hypertension were to

take an entire bottle of Proloid?

CORONER:

He'd die pretty quick, either a heart

storm or a ruptured blood vessel in

the brain.

JIM:

Can you ascertain if there's Proloid

in his system?

CORONER:

Not in a routine autopsy, but if we

looked at the spinal fluid, there

might be a high level of iodine, but

it's difficult to know. Whatcha

thinkin', Jim?

JIM:

Well, it doesn't make sense, Nick -

he was afraid of dying, then he kills

himself in a way that leaves no trace,

but he leaves two unsigned suicide

notes.

CORONER:

(shrugs, skeptical)

If it's a suicide, I seen weirder,

Jim.

(exits)

BILL:

The fact is he's gone, chief, and

so's our case.

LOU:

Not unless we go for Shaw now.

BILL:

With whose testimony? Willie O'Keefe?

A male prostitute. Jack Martini? A

drunk? Vernon Bundy? A dope fiend.

Shaw's got respect, the newspaper

editors, the American Bar Association -

they're not...

SUSIE:

I'm afraid I'm with Bill on this

one. We haven't got the goods yet.

LOU:

We wait, Shaw's gonna get whacked.

Oswald, Ruby, Ferrie, del Valle,

Banister, Bowers... how many corpses

you lawyers gotta see to figure out

what's going on?

JIM:

All right, all right. Break it up.

BILL:

Where you going, boss?

JIM:

I don't know, Bill, I just don't

know.

OUTSIDE FERRIE'S APARTMENT THAT SAME NIGHT

As Jim, questioned by reporters, gets in his car and leaves,

Bill waves goodbye to Lou and walks toward his own car,

dejected. The area is cordoned off and humming with activity.

Frank, an FBI man who knows Bill from previous cases,

approaches him out of the crowd. He wears a hat, suit, and

tie.

FRANK:

Bill.

BILL:

Hey, where y'at, Frank? You're

wasting your time here. Big Jim

gave strict orders. No FBI allowed.

FRANK:

It's you I want to talk to, Bill.

BILL:

(laughs)

Boss would fry me in hog fat if he

knew...

(motions to car)

FRANK:

(getting in the car)

Your boss got a serious problem,

Bill. Real serious. We know what's

been going on at your office

BILL:

(smiles)

Yeah, I guess you do.

FRANK:

You've got nothin', Bill. I'm talking

as a friend now. You're riding on

the Titanic. Time to jump off before

you get destroyed along with Garrison.

BILL:

Frank, I don't want to hear it.

FRANK:

Senator Long set your boss up, my

friend.

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