Spellbound Page #10

I've heard of it.

The patient dreamt

the proprietor of the place came in and

began accusing Dr. Edwardes of cheating.

He ordered Edwardes out and said,

"I won't allow you to play here.

This is my place.

I'm going to fix you. "

The dream gives the locale

a double identity.

The 21 Club and Green Manors.

The proprietor seems to belong

more to the latter.

In fact...

I would say that this angry proprietor

who threatened Dr. Edwardes...

...was myself.

It seemed that way to me.

I presume you only arrived

at this solution tonight?

Yes.

And have confided your

psychoanalytic findings to nobody?

Not yet.

Was there any more to the dream?

Yes.

The patient dreamt he and Dr. Edwardes

were on a high sloping roof,

and that he saw Edwardes plunge

over the edge to his death.

He also saw the angry proprietor

hiding behind the chimney laughing,

holding a small wheel in his hand.

He dropped the wheel.

The symbolism of

the small wheel escapes me.

It was a revolver.

The proprietor who threatened

Edwardes' life in the 21 Club

dropped a revolver in the snow

in Gabriel Valley

after shooting Dr. Edwardes in the back.

The weapon is still there

at the foot of a tree

with the murderer's fingerprints on it.

I can't agree with this part

of your interpretation,

for the good reason that

the weapon is now in my hand.

I imagined something

of this sort would happen

when I made the slip tonight

about knowing Edwardes.

That started your agile,

young mind going.

You were having a breakdown.

In a state of panic, you heard that

Edwardes was to take your place here.

So you sought him out

in his favorite restaurant,

where he was lunching

with John Ballyntine.

You accused him of stealing your job.

You threatened to kill him.

He calmed you down, told you he was off

on a skiing vacation.

You followed him there

and shot him from behind a tree.

That's enough. Your story is ridiculous.

You'll make a fool of yourself.

A love-smitten analyst

playing a dream detective.

There'll be no dreams for the police.

They'll find out from the waiters

in the 21 Club that you were there.

You'll be identified as the man

who had a row with Dr. Edwardes.

There will be people who saw you

on the train to Gabriel Valley,

who saw you there.

There will be no dreams

necessary for this case.

I see.

You're an excellent analyst,

Dr. Petersen, but a rather stupid woman.

What did you think I'd do when

you told me all this? Congratulate you?

You forget in your imbecilic devotion

to your patient

that the punishment for two murders

is the same as for one.

You're not going to commit

a second murder, Dr. Murchison.

I hadn't planned to, but you're here.

You're not leaving.

A man with your intelligence

does not commit a stupid murder.

You're thinking you were not

mentally responsible

for that other crime in the snow.

They'll find extenuating circumstances

in the state of your health.

They'll not execute you

for the death of Dr. Edwardes.

You can still live,

read, write, research,

even if you are put away.

You're thinking that now, Dr. Murchison.

If you shoot now,

it is cold, deliberate murder.

You'll be tried as a sane murderer,

convicted as a sane man,

and killed in the electric chair

for your crime.

I'm going to telephone the police now,

Dr. Murchison.

And remember what I say.

Any husband of Constance

is a husband of mine, so to speak.

All right.

- Goodbye. Good luck.

- Goodbye.

Rate this script:4.5 / 2 votes