Scoop Page #10

at my father's country house.

You could have come.

That's okay. She gave

me this number to call.

May I speak with her?

Yes, one second.

Hi, Sidney.

Listen, I got a treasure

trove of information here.

I just was snooping with...

On Elizabeth Gibson.

She's called Betty. Betty!

She's called Betty.

And she had some kind of

a long relationship...

A special relationship

with some young guy, Peter.

The last name doesn't click,

but I'm sure it's the same.

This is crazy.

Look, stop making trouble,

Sidney. The case is closed.

Listen, this thing adds up.

You're alone up there with

a very, very dangerous man.

That's two verys.

You got to get back to town

right away.

Sidney, if I thought there was

a shred of proof,

I would never let my personal

feelings get involved, all right?

The truth is,

I'm crazy about the guy.

I can't keep obsessing over

tantalizing conspiracy theories.

You know, I'm sure

that he killed her

and made it look

like a Tarot killing.

You know, you don't see it because

you got stars in your eyes.

Look, I don't...

This is crazy!

I don't want to talk

about this anymore.

It's too upsetting for me,

all right?

Let me have my nice weekend.

I'll talk to you

when I get back.

Stop putting these paranoid

thoughts in my head!

- Is Sidney okay?

- Yes, yes.

You know, I love Sidney,

I really do,

but he's just...

He's got a part missing,

you know, he's crazy!

Yes, really?

Like what?

We'll talk about it later.

Let me change, okay?

Yes? Oh, yes, sir.

Yes. My daughter is in the

country with Mr. Lyman.

And I'm gonna be driving up

there later and she asked me

if I could pick up her red cashmere sweater.

She thinks she left it upstairs.

Red cashmere?

Yes, it's a red sweater.

It's a kind of a red,

tomato red,

like a fire engine.

A red. A rouge.

- I understand, sir. Red.

- Yes, yes.

I'll see if I can find it.

Sir?

Oh, I was just

checking out the Stradivarius.

I play a few pieces myself on the violin.

Prokofiev and Bartok, the Hot Canary...

But Mr. Lyman is the only person to

have the combination to that room.

Yes, but he wanted to share

it with me because, you know,

in case something happened,

you know,

life is very capricious.

A stroke, a sudden embolism or lightning...

You know I...

Darling, I love you.

I mean that sincerely.

You're a wonderful woman, you're a tremendous

servant and a credit to your race.

And I mean that. From the bottom

of my heart I say that to you.

I notice you didn't

get the red sweater.

She probably left it

in another bedroom.

You know, she's got a little

problem with promiscuity.

But...

So, I'll be going. I'll call you.

We'll have lunch.

Mr. Lyman, sir, Mr. Spence has been

here and he's been into the music room.

What do you mean?

A most unusual

sequence of events.

Mr. Spence came by looking

for his daughter's sweater.

Said she'd requested it.

Next thing I knew,

he was in the music room.

Sir, I think he'd been

drinking, from his behavior.

Yes, yes.

Yes. Okay, Margaret,

thank you. Goodbye.

Is everything okay?

Yes.

Yes, it will be.

It's so nice to be out

here with you, just away

from the rest of the world and...

Yes, I often come out here

to read and, well, and fish.

There's trout in the lake.

What are you thinking about?

- You really want to know?

- Yes.

Just how ironic life is,

and tragic.

Why?

Well, that I met you

by rescuing you from drowning

and found you

totally enchanting and

now we've come

full cycle and, alas,

you're going to have to drown.

What?

Oh, I imagine by now Sidney's

confirmed that I killed Betty Gibson.

I mean, in my own defense, there

really was no other way out.

At first I managed

to hide my identity from her,

but I saw her too many times

over the years

and she learned who I was,

and...

Well, it became

a constant demand for money

and I just could not let

that go on, could I?

I mean, my whole life

and career

would be just hostage to

her moods at all times.

So, I studied the Tarot case,

I rehearsed my plan,

and, well, you know the rest.

If you do something to me,

Sidney's gonna find out!

He'll tell someone.

No, no, no. You see, you will

go in a boating accident,

and Sidney will go

later tonight.

No one knows

of your relationship with him,

because, after all, you're not

actually father and daughter, are you?

And no one will think twice to investigate

the death of some obscure vaud...

Are you listening?

No one will think twice

to investigate the death

of some obscure vaudevillian called

Splendini, who is really a stranger to me.

Help!

Help! Someone help me!

Yes, very quiet, isn't it?

This is the advantage

of a private lake.

Get off me!

Get off me!

Get off me!

Come...

Yes, police.

Yes, this is Peter Lyman.

I need the police immediately.

At the Lyman estate.

There's been a terrible boating accident.

A woman has drowned.

It's awful.

Please come right away.

Thank you. Thank you.

They think they know

where the body is.

I'm so sorry, sir.

When last I saw her, she...

She just said she wanted to go out

there to communicate with nature.

Just to think she wanted

some peace and quiet and...

She wasn't depressed, or anything

like that, was she, sir?

God, no. No.

I mean, unless she was

keeping it from me.

You heard no cries for help?

No! No, I was listening to

music in here, damn it.

It's just so ironic.

Because the way

I first met her

I rescued her from

drowning in our club pool.

And she was a very,

very weak swimmer.

Hello?

I was faking it at the pool

to get your attention.

Actually, I used to be captain of

the Brooklyn Community Swim Team.

Fascinating observation.

Lyman lost a cufflink

at the flat of a prostitute,

who was later killed

by the Tarot Card Killer.

Well, this upright chap certainly

enjoyed patronizing some dodgy women.

Unfortunately for Elizabeth Gibson,

she elected to blackmail him.

It's a beautifully

written story

and one of the best bits of investigative

journalism in a long time.

And this paper

is proud to run it.

Oh, I have to share the

credit with Joe Strombel.

An inspiration,

who taught me more than I

could ever explain to anyone.

And to the late

Sidney Waterman.

Splendini.

A nice guy who helped out

with the investigation

and without whom

I never could have made it.

Sidney, wherever you are,

I'll never forget you.

How did you get here?

Me?

I couldn't get used to driving on the

goddamn wrong side of the street!

You know, I was driving

up to the country,

and in the United States,

I would have been a hero.

I would have saved her.

I would have...

But here, you know...

That's the one drawback

of living in London.

Granted, the

theater's better,

there's many good

Indian restaurants.

Well, what did you do?

What do I do?

I'm Splendini. Magician.

- Would you like to see something?

- Oh, yes, please.

- Do we have time for a card trick?

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