Libel Page #8

be Sir Mark Loddon?

Behind those terrible scars

couldn't you recognize him?

No, I couldn't.

But he did.

I saw his face.

He did.

He did! He did!

I think the witness should

be allowed to rest.

I have no further questions, My Lord.

This noise in court, please.

In that case we should

adjourn until tomorrow morning.

Margaret!

Maggie!

Open the door!

Open the door!

Maggie.

If you won't let me in,

at least listen to me.

- Please, please, listen to me.

- I'm listening.

Please, open the door.

I must see you.

I won't come in.

I swear, I swear.

Margaret.

I need you.

- Who needs me?

- I do. I do.

The man you loved,

the man you married.

- You did love me, didn't you?

- Yes.

And all through the years you

went on loving me, didn't you?

Yes.

And it was me, wasn't it?

Not just someone called Mark Loddon.

But me, me, myself.

Nothing can make that love unreal.

Yes, because you were unreal.

I believed you were Mark.

So I imagined I saw in you the man

I'd fallen in love with.

The man who had changed because of

all he'd suffered.

And who needed me all than more

because of that.

And I gave him all

I had to give.

And now, now I find I've been living

with a stranger.

- I love you.

- Don't touch me.

A stranger who stole my love,

my sympathy, my understanding,

everything.

By a confidence trick.

It wasn't. You can't believe that.

You can't believe that everything

about me was false.

My love,

my need for you.

Not everything.

Your terror was real.

But it wasn't the terror of something

you couldn't remember.

Your terror was of something

you couldn't forget.

The murder of a friend.

My Lord, with your permission I must

bow to my client's insistent demand.

That I should call him

to the witness box.

- Certainly.

- Are you going to the box, Sir Mark?

Sir Mark, you had the opportunity

yesterday of seeing the jacket,

produced by Dr. Schrott.

Yes, I did.

Whose jacket is it?

I have no doubt at all

that it is mine.

- You identify it as yours?

- Yes, My Lord.

You mean that your jacket was on Number

15 when he was discovered by Dr. Schrott?

- Yes, I do.

- Will you tell the court,

how your jacket came to be

on the man, known as Number 15?

I put it on him.

After Buckenham went to find

some food that night,

Welney and I waited for him.

I beat him and beat him.

I only knew it was my life or his.

And I wanted it to be mine.

When he was still...

I ripped off his leather jacket

and changed it for my battle dress.

But they heard me and fired some shots.

One shot hit my hand.

But I got away and two

days later I was picked

up by a forward patrol

of British troops.

When you first gave evidence, did I

hear you take the oath?

Did you swear to tell the truth

the whole truth?

Yes.

Why didn't you tell

the whole truth then?

I did.

Up until yesterday that's all

I could remember.

And what is it that has so miraculously

opened the book of your memory?

Seeing Number 15 standing

before me yesterday.

For years now I've been haunted

by a sort of dream.

In which there was always

mist and water.

And something moving in the water.

And running through my

head the fragment of a

tune always ending at

exactly the same place.

I only knew that these things

meant violence.

When I saw Number 15 yesterday,

I knew quite clearly in that instant

that his terrible twisted face,

was the image in the water.

But I knew no more than that.

When my wife...

denied me in the witness box,

I knew quite clearly that

one of us was Welney,

one of us was Loddon

but I didn't know which was which.

- What then?

- All night I tried to remember.

And then just before dawn...

I was standing by a canal,

watching my own reflection

in the water pulling and twisting.

And suddenly the tune started again.

And broke off in

exactly the same place.

And my reflection...

became his.

Twisted and mad with hatred.

And it was Welney.

And now my memory is quite clear.

Is that the truth? Have we got it now?

Or are we still hiding something?

The truth is that

Number 15 is Welney,

and I am responsible for him.

So you admit to being a man capable

of a brutal murder?

Is there any evidence to

substantiate your story?

Apart from my own word,

- No, My Lord.

- I see.

Mr. Foxely, would you like to make

your final address to the jury?

May it please, your Lordship?

Members of the jury. This case

which began as a case for libel,

has turned into a case for

attempted murder.

So it seems to me, members of the jury,

that you are confronted...

- My Lord!

- You're interrupting counsel.

May I be permitted to examine

my jacket again?

Well certainly. I don't see how it can be

of any help to us.

Asha, pass the jacket to the plaintiff.

There might be something inside.

Something I hid in the lining.

It should be a... little medallion.

Silver and the enam...

enamel.

Here it is.

This was the last thing my wife gave

to me before I went to France.

I even asked Buckenham

to give it back to her.

If anything should happen to me.

He said nothing would.

Oh, my God!

Tell them. Tell them!

You must tell them!

My Lord!

If you wish to give an evidence

you must say it from the witness box.

My Lord!

The story about the medallion

is true.

Mark and I were alone

when he gave it to me, so...

Welney couldn't possible

have known about it.

He is Mark Loddon.

My Lord, it's abundantly clear that

the plaintiff has been the victim

of an appalling mistake.

If your Lordship will allow me a moment

to confer with the plaintiff's counsel

the jury won't be troubled in this case.

Certainly, certainly.

I feel sure Sir Wilfred will not find my

clients ungenerous.

I will adjourn the case to allow council

time to come to terms of settlement.

Will you leave the question of

the damages to me, yeah?

Sir Mark.

Will you leave the question of

damages to me? - Yes yes, anything.

Enough to keep Welney for his life.

Congratulations.

I never had any doubts.

Come along Hubert. Your client can

pay for the champagne.

That's not all he'll have to pay for.

My dear Mark, let me be the first

who congratulate you.

Thank you.

Hello Jeff!

There are no words.

Just thank you.

Thank me?

After what I have done?

What you have done,

you did for me.

And I shall never forget for

that, ever.

You've restored me to myself.

You've given me back everything.

Everything?

Yes.

Everything.

Thank you.

Darling.

Are you coming home?

Mark!

THE END:

Karagarga@2014

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