The Unknown Man Page #9

He is flesh and blood.

He could stand right up in this court.

And say:

"I am the man who dropped

by unexpectedly. The .."

"The .."

"Friend who was given the drink, and .."

"Left his fingerprints

on the brandy glass."

"I .. wear a .."

"A brown hat with a

dark ribbon around it."

"I .."

"Was there that night in the apartment

behind the closed door, waiting."

"I killed Andrew Layford."

Members of the jury.

I can't tell you.

What to think or ..

Who to believe.

It is for you.

And .. only you.

To decide whether ..

The defendant has a

debt to pay to society.

Whoever killed ..

Andrew Layford.

Has a debt to pay.

I don't believe you will say.

Wallchek must pay.

He killed him.

No.

I don't believe you will say that.

Because.

It isn't so.

Will it be long, the verdict?

I hope not.

Just the waiting.

When do you think?

I hope in the morning.

Darling.

If they ..

Whichever way it goes ..

Don't worry about us.

You do whatever you think.

Hi.

Oh hello, Bob.

Tough luck, Dad.

Well, I guess you didn't have much of

a chance anyway. But you did a fine job.

How are the exams coming?

Oh, it got through the written stuff

alright, but .. the orals begin Monday.

Rough.

I had the shakes on the orals, too.

You did alright.

You'll do better.

You'll be taking over pretty soon.

And you're going to do

quite a job of it. How's Ellie?

She's fine. What was

that about taking over?

Say hello to her for me, will you.

She's outside in the car.

You through here yet?

No. Not quite, Bob.

Well, I'll see you later.

Alright. Oh, Bob.

Er .. you know the ..

The watchmaker over

there on the corner of ..

8th and Garrison?

Uhuh.

Take this in will you.

It loses ten minutes.

Have him fix it up for you.

Okay.

For me?

It's coming down the line to you.

One day.

Going to be home for dinner?

Uhuh.

Look after your mother for me, will you?

What do you think? Bye.

[ Buzzer ]

Yep?

"Mr Masen to see you."

Oh.

Alright. Send him in.

A cup of coffee and a doughnut and I'm

as soft and as sweet as a nurse myself.

Almost mellow in fact.

Hello, Lancelot.

Hello, Joe.

I had a hunch you'd show up.

You had a hunch, huh?

Uhuh.

Well I'm glad. That will make it easier.

Always getting hunches.

Usually over a cup of java.

Just had a humdinger.

It's about Andy Layford.

I want to talk to you, Joe.

You like doughnuts?

-I'm crazy about 'em.

I want to talk to you too, Brad.

It's about Layford.

You know it's an odd thing.

Since Andy left us ..

The organised crime .. has

dropped to an all-time low.

Of course it all depends on

which way you look at it.

But it struck me there might

be some connection.

What do you say?

Whichever way you look at it, Joe.

It's still murder.

Murder.

Yep.

Murder.

From where I sit you

don't condone it, ever.

You can't. No man can take the law into

his own hands and get away with it.

But sometimes you ..

Understand it better than others.

Which makes it tough when

you have to go after the guy.

Because that's your job,

whether you like it or not.

You can't let him off the

hook, no matter what.

All you can do is ..

Try and show them that

you're not exactly having fun.

No fun at all.

Thanks, Joe.

Okay, let's get it over with.

You came here to tell me that you ..

The Judge's compliments

and it's all yours, Joe.

Thanks, Sam.

Yeah, that Wallchek

is a bad boy. Real bad.

Break my heart to see him go free.

Ah well ..

One more for the chamber of horrors.

Hey, what do you know? We caught Molly.

Look at that. Isn't she

a cute little devil, huh?

Sam.

Hey, Sam.

Look who's here.

Well, for Pete's sake.

Say, she's kinda cute, ain't she.

The little son-of-a-gun.

There you go, Sam.

What will I do with her? Drown her?

Drown her?

Sam, take her out and

buy her a nice lunch.

And walk her for about six blocks and ..

Let her go. On parole.

Yes, sir.

You know, I'm going to miss her.

That's the toughest case

I ever had to handle.

Parole?

I wonder.

I ..

Guess you couldn't extend that to me.

Could you, Joe?

Brad, the rules for mice and

men are kinda different.

Yeah.

Their needs are different too, Joe.

A man may need more than a ..

A piece of cheese or a rind of bacon.

He may be reaching for something

higher. Something that's ..

Probably beyond his reach.

What are you reaching for?

Justice has always

been a religion with me.

And it breaks my heart too ..

To think of that boy going free.

Joe.

Let me have five minutes

upstairs with him, will you?

Why?

Come on. Just five minutes.

Okay, five. I'll be waiting

right here for you.

Thank you.

Alright, sir.

Cigarette?

Okay, what now?

I'm not sure.

To tell you the truth, I'm worried.

You're worried?

Yes.

Of course, we can appeal.

Claim misdirection of the jury.

Ask for a retrial or ..

There are a dozen

ways to postpone things.

I'm afraid it's a waste of time.

Well if you think I'm going to give

up without a fight, you're crazy.

I wouldn't call it giving up.

I'd call it .. facing the facts.

Facts? I'm innocent and I want to live!

There's a couple of facts for you.

Look, get this. If you can't beat this

rap for me, I'll get somebody who can.

You can get yourself

another lawyer, Rudi.

I don't think it's going

to help very much.

No-one can help you now.

I'm sorry. I've done everything I could.

Ha! You say.

No, really.

After the verdict,

I went to see the D.A.

To tell him the truth, but ..

Well, he knew already.

You what?

I went to his office to tell

him who killed Layford.

It wasn't necessary.

The brandy glass had already told him.

That and the hat with

the dark rim around it.

It was right on the desk in front of him

while I talked .. and he recognised it.

But by then he wasn't interested.

I am afraid he ..

I'm afraid he doesn't care

now who killed Layford.

You're going to the chair and

that's all that matters to him.

When I realized that,

I didn't even bother to ..

Show him this key.

This key to your apartment.

The old man, Peter

Hulderman gave it to me.

The day before he died.

I had no idea I was going to use it.

Strange how ..

You can't foresee the future.

Perhaps it's just as well.

You were right about the

visitor in the living room.

I ..

I waited there while Layford

went out in the hall to ..

Talk to you.

When he came back.

I killed him.

With this.

I .. just took it from

the D.A.'s closet.

I think perhaps we ..

Never really know ourselves completely.

I'm not sorry I killed him and ..

I can't say I'm sorry you

are going to die for it.

You cheated the law once.

If I burn it won't be for

something I didn't do.

Is that a bible there?

It's in the Old Testament, isn't it.

"An eye for an eye,

a tooth for a tooth".

I'm not sure, but I

think it's Leviticus 24.

Yes, here it is.

"As he hath caused a blemish in a man,

so shall it be rendered unto him".

"And he that killeth a man".

"Shall be put to death".

He said that he killed Layford.

I'm innocent!

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