Leave Her to Heaven Page #8

She preferred it that way.

- Ellen liked doing things for you?

- Yes.

- Did Ruth visit you during this time?

- No.

Where did you go

after you left Warm Springs?

To a fishing lodge I have

at a place called Back of the Moon.

- Did anyone come with you?

- My brother, Danny.

- When was that?

- In June.

- In June, you happy with your wife?

- Yes.

- How about July?

- Yes.

You loved her in July.

How about August?

Did anyone come to visit you

in August?

- Mrs. Berent.

- Anybody else?

- Ruth.

- You loved Ellen in August?

- Well, how about August?

- My brother was drowned in August.

Yes, that must have saddened you.

But did it affect your love for Ellen?

Danny meant a lot to me.

- So did Ellen?

- Yes.

Danny was drowned in August.

Come to September.

Did your love for Ellen continue

in September?

- In a different way.

- In what different way?

- We were to have a baby.

- Your love for Ellen increased...

...because she was going

to have a baby?

- No, not exactly.

- Did it grow less?

- I don't know.

- What do you mean in a different way?

- I don't know.

- During this time you were living...

- ...in Bar Harbor at the Berent home?

- Yes.

- Ruth was there all the time?

- Yes.

- Your wife was confined to her room.

- A good part of the time.

- Did you see a great deaI of Ruth?

- Yes.

- Practically every day?

- Yes.

When did you stop loving Ellen?

I don't know.

Isn't it true that shortly

before your wife died...

- ...you quarreled with her?

- Yes.

What about?

- I can't say.

- Wasn't it because Ellen...

- ...was jealous of Ruth?

- She had no reason to be.

Wasn't she?

- She was jealous of everybody.

But was she jealous of Ruth?

- I refuse to answer.

- Perhaps you'll answer this:

- Are you in love with Ruth?

- We're very good friends.

In love?

- I'm fond of her.

I want you to answer yes or no.

I'm asking you a very simple question.

Perhaps you didn't understand.

I shall repeat it.

Are you in love with Ruth?

Are you in love with Ruth?

Are you in love with Ruth?

I hand you a copy

of Richard Harland's new book.

Kindly turn to the dedication page.

Would you please read the dedication?

"To the gaI with the hoe. "

- To whom does that refer?

- To me.

Isn't it strange Mr. Harland

didn't dedicate his new book to his wife?

I don't think Ellen was interested

in the book.

- But you were?

- Very much.

- You worked with him on it?

- The finaI draft.

- Written while Ellen was in the hospitaI.

- Yes.

You were together a great deaI

during Ellen's time in the hospitaI.

Well, we were...

- Working on the book.

- Yes.

Will you tell the jury where most

of the action in this book takes place?

Taxco, Mexico.

- Had you been to Mexico before?

- No.

During the time you lived

with the Berents...

- ...had you gone away on a trip alone?

- No.

- Why did you decide to go to Taxco?

- I wanted to get away.

- Expect to meet anybody there you knew?

- No.

- Expect to be joined there by anybody?

- No.

- Did Mr. Harland suggest to go to Taxco?

- No.

Get back to the dedication.

Why did Mr. Harland refer to you

as "the gaI with the hoe"?

- I'm rather fond of gardening.

- You did all of the gardening?

- Yes.

- Did you ever use chemicaI sprays...

- ...or insecticides?

- Yes.

- Any containing arsenic, for example?

- I don't know.

I show you a bottle here in evidence.

Do you recognize it?

Yes, it was mine.

It held bath salts.

- You aware of what it contains now?

- Yes.

By what chemicaI process do you

suppose bath salts turned into poison?

- I don't know.

- I show you a leather jacket in evidence.

- Recognize it?

- It's mine.

I show you an envelope in evidence.

Recognize it?

- It's the envelope containing sugar.

- Which the State chemist testified...

- ...was 60 percent arsenic.

- Yes.

Which the sheriff testified

was in the pocket of this jacket?

- Yes.

- Did you wear this jacket...

- ...on the day of the picnic?

- For a while.

- Then I gave it to Ellen.

- Why did you do that?

- She complained of feeling chilly.

- So you loaned her the jacket?

- Yes.

- Will you tell the jury who prepared...

- ...the food in the picnic hamper?

- Ellen and I.

Who prepared the sugar?

- I don't know. It must've been Ellen.

- Why do you think it was Ellen?

She was the one who took sugar

with coffee.

- Who served coffee on the picnic day?

- I did.

- You gave her the sugar.

- Yes.

- That night she was dead.

- Yes.

And the very next day...

- ...her body was cremated?

- Yes.

The following day Harland left with

the ashes for the New Mexico ranch...

- ...to dispose of them?

- Yes.

- So that no autopsy could be possible?

- No, no! That wasn't the reason.

Ellen always wanted to be cremated

and have her ashes scattered...

- ...with her father's.

- Then why did she...

...have a clause inserted in her will

requesting her buriaI at Mount Auburn?

- I can't explain it.

- There's many things you can't explain.

You can't explain how poison

got in the bath salt bottle.

Can't explain how it got in the sugar.

Can't explain why Ellen's body...

...was cremated

to make an autopsy impossible.

Can't explain why you made plans

to leave the country...

...shortly before your sister

was poisoned.

Perhaps you can explain this:

When did you fall in love

with Richard Harland?

- Did you ever tell him you loved him?

- No.

When did you fall in love?

You've dodged long enough.

You can answer a simple question

and I demand you do so!

When did you fall in love

with Richard Harland?

Did you love him after his brother

was drowned?

Did you love him after the death

of his stillborn child?

After his wife died?

Did you love him last week?

A month before?

A year before?

Are you in love with him today?

Yes. Yes, I am in love with him.

I think I've always loved him.

The State recalls Richard Harland

to the stand.

That's all.

Get some water, please.

Order in the court!

Richard Harland...

...you heard that woman finally

tell the truth.

And now I want the truth out of you.

You heard Ruth Berent confess

her love for you.

And now I ask you, as I have asked you

over and over, time and again:

Are you in love with her?

Are you in love with the woman

who murdered your wife?

My wife was not murdered.

She killed herself.

You honestly believe

Ellen committed suicide?

- Yes.

- Knowing her as you and I did...

...you think her capable,

not only of committing suicide...

...but falsely accusing her sister

of her death?

- Ellen was capable of anything.

- You want the jury to believe...

- ...that she was that sort of monster?

- Yes, she was that sort of monster.

A woman who sought to possess

everything she loved...

...who loved only for what

it could bring her.

Whose love estranged

her own father and mother.

Whose love possessed her father

untiI he couldn't call his souI his own.

Who, by her own confession to me,

killed my brother...

...killed her own unborn child...

Rate this script:5.0 / 2 votes