The Postman Always Rings Twice Page #5

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Nick, you shove over.

You can't sing and drive at the same time.

All right, all right.

No, Cora, you keep straight on.

I've always wanted to see Malibu Lake.

It's only a few miles to the other road.

Okay.

See, Cora, look what you're doing.

This is the worst piece of road

in all of Los Angeles County.

No, no!

Look at that gauge.

She's boiling over.

You're gonna ruin this car.

- Should I pull over and let it cool off?

- Sure, Cora. Pull over and stop.

We gotta save this little bus

to take us to Canada.

There.

Hey, Nick, what happened to your voice?

We were going pretty good.

I gotta get out.

Nick! Hey, Nick. Nick!

Come on back in the car.

Listen!

- It's an echo, yeah.

- Sure, it's an echo!

Let's go back in the car.

- It's a wonderful echo.

- It's a swell echo.

It's a wonderful echo.

It's the best echo I ever heard.

Cora, there's an echo out there. Listen.

Ahh

See? Which is best, me or the echo?

The echo can't take your high note, Nick.

Here, listen.

Ahh

Ahh...

It's gonna be tough going now.

Can you go through with it?

- After that, I can go through anything.

- All right, let's get down there.

We gotta mess ourselves up to prove

we've been in the accident too.

- Right.

- Come on.

It's hardly smashed up at all.

It didn't go down far enough.

Look, Frank, a car is coming!

- Can they see us?

- I don't think so.

There are no marks on us,

but it's too late.

Go yell for help, I'll get the car down

the rest of the way.

No!

Frank!

Help! Help! Help!

Help! Help!

Help!

Help!

Help!

Help! Help!

You can stop yelling, Mrs. Smith.

Sure. I've been following you.

It's too bad I couldn't

have been closer behind.

Hello there, laddie. How do you feel?

I'll be all right.

You're not very hospitable for a patient

who hasn't had a single visitor.

There's nobody in this part

of the country that's interested.

Not even Mrs. Smith? Cora?

Come on, laddie.

You and she murdered her husband.

The sooner you admit it,

the better it'll be for you.

You're wrong, Mr. Sackett.

How about a full confession?

A plea of guilty, and I'll do

what I can with the courts.

- Clemency for you.

- You're crazy.

Interested to know I've been wise

to you ever since that bathtub business?

Nick's death was an accident.

Why should I wanna hurt a nice,

harmless guy I was working for?

A motive? The girl herself, for one thing.

A nice-paying business, for another.

That's no good, Mr. Sackett.

I never wanted to be tied down...

...to anything or anybody in my life.

All right.

Then we'll come to the real motive.

That brand-new $10,000 insurance policy

Nick Smith took out on his life.

Here.

Have a drink of water,

you'll feel better.

- Insurance policy?

- For $10,000.

And he took it out

the day before you came back.

I give you my oath.

I never heard about any insurance

policy until this very minute.

No? Why did you turn white

as a sheet and nearly pass out?

I don't know anything about a policy.

You leave me alone!

- You think I'm going to stand for that?

- I didn't do it! That's what I stand for!

It all started when you

and Cora Smith had a great idea.

Nick's had an accident,

get him to take out a policy.

I left before Nick came home

from the hospital.

And two days after you came back,

he got killed.

You were in touch

with her by phone.

And the day after the policy was granted,

you ran into Nick and what do you think?

She'd fixed up this Santa Barbara trip.

And for old time's sakes,

you had to go along.

Then she had to see Malibu Lake.

Wasn't that an idea, now?

- Would you like to pick it up from there?

- No. No!

Well, it was all planned.

You crowned him from behind...

...then she slid out

and started the car.

Then it was your turn to climb out, so you

could both claim you'd escaped in time.

She moved too quick,

you couldn't make it.

- She jumped, you went over the cliff.

- That isn't what happened!

How do you know?

You were drunk.

- I mean, I don't think that's--

- You were drunk!

You don't know what happened.

- I...

- Wait a minute.

Maybe you didn't have

anything to do with it.

Maybe she did it.

Listen, laddie, she did do it.

There were three people in that car,

Nick, you and Cora.

It's a cinch Nick didn't do it.

So if you were too drunk,

that leaves her.

- Who says anybody did it?

- I do.

If you told the truth,

you didn't have interest in her...

...except as the wife of your boss,

then you gotta do something.

I-- Do something? I don't follow you--

You've got to sign a complaint

against her!

A complaint?

If you were in that car, drunk and helpless,

then she tried to kill you too.

You've got to do something about that.

Because it'll look pretty funny

if you didn't.

She couldn't have meant to kill me.

You were drunk, you couldn't know

what was going on, could you?

- Uh, I guess not.

- Then it was Cora who crowned Nick.

Then she slid out and sent the car

over the cliff.

- You saying it don't make it so.

- Yes, it does.

When I drove around,

that car was turning over...

...but she was already

on the road, yelling.

She felt the car going over,

so she jumped.

She jumps out of a car turning over

and has time to pick up her handbag.

Because I can testify she had that white,

beaded bag when she ran up screaming.

Oh, no. Cora wasn't in that car

when it went over, but you were.

You were still in it

when I climbed down.

It wasn't nervousness on Cora's part that

sent that car over with you and Nick in it.

She wanted that sweet property

and insurance money all to herself...

...instead of sharing it with you.

- Now, are you gonna sign this complaint?

- No.

- You got it mixed up.

- It's you or her.

If you didn't have anything

to do with it, sign this.

If you don't, I'll know.

So will the judge, the jury...

...and the guy in the poison gas

chamber in San Quentin.

So will the boys who bury

you alongside the others...

...who were too dumb to make a deal...

...while they still had a chance

to save their necks.

Officer, you may come in.

- Hello there, Kyle.

- Arthur.

- Been hitting the headlines, haven't you?

- In a mild way.

Can I see your friend here

for a minute?

You his lawyer?

- No, hers. Mrs. Smith's.

That so? Laddie, I pity you.

- For how much money?

- A hundred bucks even...

- ...she's a gone goose.

- That's a bet.

Of course, maybe I shouldn't

take your money. Look.

Mm-hm.

I like to play a hand without any trumps.

- The bet goes.

- I'll be seeing you.

What about dinner tonight?

Seven o'clock. Same place.

You pay the check.

- And give my regards to the missus.

- Right.

- Goodbye, laddie.

- Goodbye.

Chambers, my name's Arthur Keats.

I'm Mrs. Smith's attorney.

I shouldn't have signed it,

but he got me going.

Mr. Keats, do me a favor

and tell Cora--

You shut up.

I'll tell her what's good

for her to know.

As for the rest of it,

I'm handling it.

And that means I'm handling it.

- Yes, sir. But I--

- You don't count now.

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