The Dark Half Page #3

All right. OK.

Come in near the stone.

I'll just be a minute now.

Damned if it don't look real.

- What are these?

- (Homer) That's it. That's it.

Now, how about you two, uh...

- (Homer) What? Oh. All right, all right.

- Oh, much better.

- How about you two shakin' hands?

- Shaking hands now?

Yeah, shakin' hands over top of the stone.

Come on! It's all in fun.

That's it. Now, smile.

Act like you're enjoyin'

the hell out of this.

- (Thad) Oh, we are.

- For all the world to see.

- (Liz) Are you sorry you did it?

- (Thad) I'm only sorry about two things.

One, we look like a pair of idiots.

What's number two?

(sighs) I just know we can't

hide from publicity any more.

We've had it pretty easy

in that department.

You'll be flavour of the month, they

forget you, then you win the Pulitzer.

- What else? Come on.

- Nothin'.

Honestly?

Honestly.

You gotta be kiddin', pal.

At one in the damn a. m.?

Hey, that looks like...

What the hell...?

The American way of death, Homer.

Without any folderol!

Digger, calm down. I'll get somebody

over right away. Right away.

(clears throat) Digger Holt.

- Seein' ghosts again?

- Yep.

- Hm.

- Where's Norris?

Out on a call.

You want me to track him down?

- (phone rings)

- No. I'll go myself.

- I'll be over at Homeland.

- All right.

I'll be here. Castle Rock Police.

H... here we are, Sheriff.

Don't it look like what I said?

Don't it look like somebody

dug his way out of there?

Like somebody was buried alive

and dug his way out?

Someone dug a hole in your graveyard.

That's all it is, nothin' more.

But somebody was in there, Sheriff.

Look here.

He set his hands in the dirt here

to boost hisself out.

So whoever dug the hole

got down in it to do the diggin'.

You got yourself a clear case

of vandalism. That's the way I see it.

This is where they set up

for that picture in the magazine.

- Yeah. Picture of the Beaumonts. I saw it.

- Well, this here's the Beaumont plot.

And this hole is a-sittin' right smack

where they set up that fake tombstone.

It's just a hole in the ground.

Forget it, Digger.

Fill the damn thing in and forget it.

- Pangborn here.

- Yeah, Sheriff, it's Marty.

Me and Norris just found old Homer

Gamache, deader than a squashed coon.

(siren)

- Jesus!

- Guy across the street saw Homer...

...stop last night to pick up

a hitchhiker about, uh, 1am.

White male.

We figure he popped him for his truck.

We got a description out on it.

He took his leg. He took his damn leg.

No, he didn't take it. It's over there.

That's what he beat him with.

Beat him with his own wooden leg.

He was just an old man,

you son of a b*tch.

Why didn't you just clip him one,

take his truck and leave him be?

Why this? I hope I get

a chance to ask you.

I want everybody in the world lookin'

for that truck. I wanna get this f***er.

Ask Mama if she believes this.

He drove it like this? All the way

from Maine, he drove it like this?

Ask Mama if she believes this.

- So, how was it? How was New York?

- Noisy.

God, I'm so sick of the same old

questions, over and over again.

"Tell us about the pencils. "

"Why'd you give him a prison record?"

"Why do you suppose

Machine is so popular?"

- Thanks a lot, Donna.

- You're welcome. They were great.

Listen, I know they're a handful.

Say hi to your mom for me.

- Are you Elizabeth Beaumont?

- Yes.

- Alan?

- Is your husband home, Mrs Beaumont?

Well, yes, he is.

Alan, is there some kind of problem?

It's all right. I know these folks.

We have to talk to Thad, Liz.

Well, sure. Come on in. I'll call him.

Alan. What are you doin' in Ludlow?

Are you Thaddeus Beaumont?

Yeah.

What's goin' on, Alan?

We're here to question you

in connection with a capital crime.

- You have the right to remain silent...

- Jesus, what is this?

You have to right to legal counsel.

If you cannot afford legal counsel...

...such will be provided for you.

I don't know why you're 160 miles

out of your territory...

...lookin' at me like I was birdshit

on a new car, but I'll tell you this:

I won't answer any questions

until you tell me what's goin' on.

It's about Homer Gamache.

Uh...

- Oh, the photographer. What about him?

- He's been murdered.

- Jesus. By who?

- Evidence says you did it.

- This is a... Alan! This is a joke.

- Can you account for your whereabouts...

...during the time period from 11 pm

last Friday until 1am Saturday morning?

Yes. I was in New York.

I just got back today a little while ago.

- (Alan) How long were you there?

- I left Friday, four o'clock out of Bangor.

Anyone meet you there?

Did you do anything that night?

No. I... Let's see. I called my agent, Rick

Cowley, to let him know I was comin' in.

You called him, but you didn't see him.

- You think I'm lying to ya?

- There is that possibility...

...and I've got to consider it.

From what I know about you, you're not

the kind of person to do a thing like this.

None of that counts

when it comes to doin' my job.

Look, call TWA,

or the hotel, Sherry Netherland.

They must have a record

of when I checked in.

(Liz) We haven't been

up to Castle Rock for weeks.

Why are you so determined

to lay this off on Thad?

Because he thinks I did it. He thinks I did...

(twittering)

(Liz) Thad? Are you OK?

Honey, are you all right?

- (twittering subsides)

- Hm?

Are you OK?

Yeah. Yeah, I'm all right.

If this turns out to be a mistake...

...I will personally find the man who

screwed up this ID and pull his skin off.

What ID? What's this evidence you have?

I mean, why? Why me?

First off, there's the connection

between you and Homer.

- (Thad) The pictures.

- One was taken in Homeland Cemetery.

- Yeah. So?

- Someone went there Friday night...

...and dug a hole in your family plot.

A hole big enough to bury a man.

Homer was murdered

less than a mile away.

Look, Thad, this can't be.

Somebody is doing this to...

It's that creep. It's Clawson.

- Who?

- There's this guy, Fred Clawson.

Lives in New York. I don't know where. He

found out I wrote the George Stark books.

He was threatening to blackmail me.

That's why I went public.

We'll ask NYPD to check him out.

What else you got, Alan?

I don't believe you'd track me all the way

here just because of a hole in the ground.

The killer took Homer's pickup truck.

A Connecticut trooper found it in

a used-car lot just north of the state line.

They found fingerprints in the truck,

some of 'em stamped in Homer's blood.

They fed 'em into a graphics computer

and your service record came back.

Your prints match up.

Exactly.

(Elvis Presley)

I wonder if... you're lonesome tonight.

You know, someone said that the world's

a stage, and each of us must play a part.

Fate had me playing in love,

with you as my sweetheart.

Act One was when we met.

I loved you at first glance.

You read your lines so tenderly.

(eerie laughter)

Then came Act Two.

Using the change, you acted strange...

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