Stage Fright Page #10

I'll have a word with you in a minute.

Oh, good. They got him.

Jonathan, what have they done to you?

Why are you arresting him?

Mellish, stand by Miss Inwood there!

Heavens, that must be Cooper.

Where's Miss Inwood?

Cover the alleyway in case he used

an emergency door.

- Where do those stairs lead to?

- Dressing rooms.

Eve! Eve, come back!

Where's the nearest telephone?

- Eve.

- He came through an emergency door.

Hurry up downstairs. Go on, hurry!

Get back into the theater.

Have you been told

to keep an eye on me?

In a manner of speaking, yes.

- In that case, may I sit down?

- No harm in that.

Get me a chair, then.

Surely, ma'am. Surely.

- Done with the mike?

- Yes.

Okay. I wonder if they caught...

What's the point of going up to the roof?

He may have doubled back along the alley

and gone up the fire escape.

- So they've heard everything I said?

- Yes.

- And it's all in that book?

- All in there, in shorthand.

How clever of you.

Things look bad for me, don't they?

I'm what you'd call an accessory...

I suppose.

- George!

- Yes?

Smith wants you down

at the stage doorkeeper's office.

Thank you, darling.

We'll need more men to cover

all the rooms in this place...

It's not all in there.

- What's your name?

- Mellish.

- Do you like dogs, Mellish?

- Yes, ma'am, I do.

But not all dogs.

If they don't love you,

you don't love them.

- That's right, isn't it?

- I suppose so.

I had a dog once. He hated me.

At last he bit me, and I had him shot.

When I give all my love and get back

treachery and hatred, it's...

It's as if my mother

had struck me in the face.

Do you understand that, Mellish?

I've heard it takes them

that way sometimes.

Yes. It takes some of them that way.

- Has Miss Inwood gone yet?

- No, she's in the theater.

- Don't you think he's well away now?

- I'm sure I saw him run down the alley.

This is Smith.

We're covering the theater

from the roof to the storeroom.

- Fine, sir.

- You heard what Miss Inwood said.

You can't have anything

against Cooper now.

Nothing, except murder. He killed

Charlotte's husband, all right.

He's killed before.

What? What do you mean?

He got away with it last time with a plea

of self-defense. He won't this time.

- But Eve.

- She's alone with him now.

Can't you see, sir?

She's in very great danger.

It all adds up to a confession,

except she said you killed him.

Anyone in their right mind

could see she was telling a lie.

But I don't understand why Smith

arrested you. What happened?

Somebody phoned and said

the police were on their way.

I made a bolt for it, and they

grabbed me at the street door.

Funny, that.

Getting me out into the street.

I suppose Smith didn't want me

to be caught in your house.

That would have been awkward for you,

wouldn't it?

I don't think they'll look

for us here for a bit.

After a while, maybe we can make

a dash through an emergency exit.

Eve. Eve. Eve, wherever you are,

come away from him.

Come away from him.

He's dangerous. He's a killer.

Eve? Eve?

You're right, you know.

Charlotte was telling the truth.

What she didn't tell you was that

she goaded me into doing it.

She set me against him

in every way she could.

She made me think she was crazy

about me, but she wasn't.

I was to kill her husband to leave

the coast clear for that Freddie Williams.

I know that now.

She knew the sort of man I was.

She knows I can't control myself

if I get into a rage.

Like a fool, I told her

about that girl I'd killed.

Oh, Jonathan. Jonathan,

you don't know what you're saying.

I can't help it, Eve. I can't control

myself, even when I was a kid.

I was lucky that last time. The little

fool threatened me with a gun.

But you don't know what it's like

to have a thing like this hanging over you.

Eve, I hated to tell you that

phony story in your car that time...

...but there was no other way.

Charlotte did go on to my flat

after I'd killed her husband.

Her dress was stained a bit,

so I brought her a clean one.

Then when she went to the theater...

...I made a big stain on it

to make you believe me.

I'm telling you the truth now.

Jonathan...

...I feel desperately sorry for you.

Really, I do.

No, you don't. You're not sorry at all.

You don't care what happens to me.

Jonathan...

...you could give yourself up.

They'd take care of you.

You couldn't do all these things

unless you...

Unless...

They can't do anything to a sick man,

and that's what you are. You must be.

No. They're going to hang me.

They'll hang Charlotte, too, for planning it.

They've never forgiven me for getting

away with it the first time.

There's nothing wrong with my mind.

Nobody can prove that there is, unless...

Unless I do it a third time...

...with no reason whatever.

That would be a clear case of insanity.

Wouldn't it?

Wouldn't it?

Jonathan. Jonathan,

I don't hear a sound now.

I think we can go now.

We'll go out through the orchestra pit,

and then I'll take you to my father's boat.

Come along.

Here he is!

Look! In the orchestra pit!

Mathews, quick! Down in the orchestra!

- They've got him!

- Where?

- They found him.

- Where was he?

- He was in the theater after all.

- Call Smith!

- He was at the stage doorkeeper's office.

- Drop the iron curtain, cut him off!

Get out! Move your head

out of the way!

- Take the curtain up.

- Don't touch anything.

Mellish, you'd better phone

up the photographer.

Someone find out if Byard's here yet.

Tell him what's happened.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes