The Changeling Page #4

Yes, sir.

You goddamn son of a b*tch.

What is it you want?

What do you want from me?

I've done everything I can do!

There's nothing more to do.

- Mr. Russell?

- Yes?

- My name is DeWitt, Captain DeWitt.

- Oh, yes.

- I'd like to talk to you if I may.

- All right. Come in.

- Quite a house.

- Yes.

You're a musician, a composer-

is that right, Mr. Russell?

Yes.

You're teaching a course at the faculty

of music out of the university?

That's right.

Is this where you held your seance?

What was it you wanted

to talk to me about?

You were out at Boeing Airfield

this morning, Mr. Russell.

They tell me you caused

quite a scene-

screaming, yelling,

acting like a lunatic.

Sergeant Durban tells me you were up to

some strange things last night too.

Seems you dug up some bones

under a lady's house...

that some ghostly voice told you

were there, is that correct?

Only Sergeant Durban said

you told him you had no idea...

who those bones were-

no idea at all.

Now, it seems a little odd, then,

don't you think...

that you'd go charging across

that airfield this morning...

making crazy accusations

against Senator Carmichael?

- I made no accusations.

- The senator has served this state...

- for 36 years and is not about to...

- I told you-

- give in to a dirty blackmail scheme.

- Blackmail?

- You heard me.

- What are you talking about?

I understand you lost your wife

and daughter a little while ago.

Maybe it shook you up-

maybe too much.

Maybe you need help.

- I'd like you to leave now.

- We can see that you get it.

- Do you understand what I'm saying?

- Out, now.

Listen to me, Russell.

You've got something of the senator's.

He wants it back.

It's a little gold medal,

a family heirloom. He lost it.

He thinks you've got it.

I don't know

what you're talking about.

I'm sorry to barge in on you like this,

but I am so damn mad.

This mor-

This is Captain DeWitt,

he's with the police.

You're Miss Norman?

Yes.

I take it now, or I come back in an hour

with a warrant and a crew...

and we tear this place apart.

"Tear this place apart"?

- What's going on here?

- I'll be here.

Suit yourself.

Well, what was that all about?

Senator Carmichael thinks

he's being blackmailed.

They canceled your lease and forced me

to resign from the society.

No explanation, no reason, nothing,

just "get out."

I have an appointment with the head

of the board of directors.

I'll see what I can find out.

I'll call you and let you know.

Yes? Yes, Claire?

I was driving by,

and I recognized the car.

I don't know how it happened.

I don't know how it could have happened.

There are no other cars.

There's nothing.

It's upside-down

in the middle of the road.

It's that man- that policeman

who was just at your house.

DeWitt. He's dead.

Carmichael. Any messages?

Oh, yes. Captain DeWitt.

What'd he say?

What?

Yeah.

Oh, my God.

What?

Who? Russell.

All right.

Let me have that number.

- John Russell.

- The senator's expecting you.

- Still busy?

- Yes.

- Where are you going? Claire-

- I'll be back in a little while, Mom.

All right.

Just what the hell do you want?

You must have some idea.

Well, I'm a busy man.

Make it fast.

The house on Chessman Park-

your family lived there

until 1906.

It's had a history

of strange happenings.

There's something in that house,

a manifestation.

This afternoon, Captain DeWitt

came to see me...

presumably on your behalf...

so you must have known what's happened,

at least as much as DeWitt could say-

the disturbances, the seance,

the bones found in the well.

I tried to talk to you

at the airport.

I showed you this.

DeWitt said you'd lost it.

I found it in the grave...

where the child was buried.

There's no logical explanation

for what I'm going to say to you now.

The boy was badly crippled.

I believe he was killed...

in an attic room of that house.

I saw what happened...

and I believe it was

Richard Carmichael, your father...

who murdered the boy,

his natural son...

Joseph Carmichael.

Then there was a substitution

from the Sacred Heart Orphanage.

The boy was taken to Europe...

cured miraculously

and returned to inherit an empire.

That changeling was you.

So, that's your story.

Whatever you want to call it.

- How much?

- My God.

All right, how much do you want

for this farce that you've concocted?

This isn't blackmail.

I've been dealing with

vermin like you for years.

You wait your chance, then you come in

with a story so patently incredible-

Truth terrifies you, doesn't it?

It's the truth.

It won't be buried.

- Get out.

- None of this belongs to you.

Get out of here

with your filthy lies.

I should have gone to that dead child.

You suspected something all your life.

You're not Joseph Carmichael. You're

the beneficiary of the cruelest murder-

murder for profit.

My father was not a murderer.

Nobody in this world can say that.

My father was a great man.

He was a loving man.

And for you to come in here

and accuse him of-

How can you?

Damn you!

I will not allow you

to slander his good name.

These documents are on file

with the city.

This is a tape of the seance.

There's no copy.

Take it.

I've done what I had to do.

I'm sorry.

If I find that you've breathed

one word of this-

one word-

to anyone...

you'll wish you'd never

come into this world.

What was all that shouting about?

Nothing.

Get out.

Leave me alone.

John, I've tried to ca-

This isn't like me.

John, where are you?

John, what are you doing?

Please.

I don't wanna come up there.

I followed you.

I followed you.

I thought you were here.

I kept calling and calling you.

It's okay. Calm down.

- I want you to wait in the car for me.

- No, you're not going back in there!

- No, please, please, don't!

- Claire, Claire.

Get ahold of yourself. Go on.

I'll be right back.

Don't worry.

Joseph, no!

Father.

My medal.

Father, don't.

Help.

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