The Verdict Page #16

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She looks at him. HOLD.

EXT. JUDGE SWEENEY'S HOUSE-NIGHT

Snow falling. Galvin standing outside, having just rung the

bell. The door is opened by a gangly teen-age boy. CAMERA

FOLLOWS Galvin into...

INT. JUDGE SWEENEY'S HOUSE - NIGHT

...the hall of the house. The boy motions toward a closed

sliding door and then goes into the living room opposite.

Galvin hangs up his coat on the hall coat rack, we hear the

boy resume the practice of a passage of Chopin on the piano.

Galvin knocks on the sliding door.

JUDGE (O.S.)

Yes?

Galvin opens the door and goes into the Judge's darkened

study. The Judge is watching a basketball game on TV, drinking

a beer. CAMERA FOLLOWS Galvin into the room.

JUDGE:

What is it?

GALVIN:

Thank you for seeing me.

JUDGE:

That's perfectly all right.

Judge turns down the volume of the game, but keeps watching

it.

GALVIN:

I need an extension for my case.

JUDGE:

You should have taken their offer.

Especially if you were unprepared.

GALVIN:

I had a witness disappear on me.

JUDGE:

That happens.

GALVIN:

I could subpoena him if I had a week.

JUDGE:

I don't have a week. This case never

should have come to trial. You know

better. You're Mr. Independent. You

want to be independent? Be independent

now. I've got no sympathy for you.

Judge leans forward, turns up the volume on the game.

EXT. STREET - GALVIN - PHONE - NIGHT

LONG SHOT of cars whooshing in the snow past a lonely street

corner. A MAN at an open telephone stand. The sound of the

telephone on the far end ringing.

ANGLE:

Galvin at the stand, shivering in the cold, talking on the

phone. An open note pad in his bare hand.

VOICE:

Continental Casualty...

GALVIN:

Mr. Alito, please.

VOICE:

Business hours are over, Sir. This

is the switch...

GALVIN:

I have to reach him. This is an

emergency. Could you give me his

home number?

VOICE:

I'm sorry, Sir, we're not allowed...

GALVIN:

...Would you, would you call him up.

I'll give you my number, and ask

him...

VOICE:

I can't guarantee that...

GALVIN:

I understand. Thank you, my name is

Galvin. I'll be at the following

number in a half an hour. It's urgent.

INT. GALVIN'S OFFICE - NIGHT

Galvin is sitting at his desk, a stack of files piled on his

desk, he is sorting through them looking for something. The

phone rings, he snatches it up.

GALVIN:

(into phone)

Hello. Yes. Thank you for calling.

Frank Galvin... I'm representing

Deborah Ann Kaye...? I'd like to

discuss your firm's offer of the two

hundred th... In the sense that I

feel that we'd like to accept it.

(beat)

Well, it's rather a shock to me,

too; but it's my client's wishes...

She's changed her mind as of this

evening... I must say that I tried

to dissuade her...

He wipes his sweating forehead, he hears the sound of his

office door opening, he looks up.

ANGLE - P.O.V.

Mickey opening the front door to the office, carrying an

armful of lawbooks, and a couple of files, he turns on the

lights in the anteroom, and we SEE that he is surprised to

see Galvin in the office.

ANGLE - GALVIN

On the phone.

GALVIN:

...Well, she, on the eve of the

case... You understand... I think

quite frankly she's come down with

nerves and she'd like...

A beat. Mickey comes tentatively into the room and sits at

the desk across from Galvin.

GALVIN:

When was that arrived at...?

(beat)

I, I know what Mr. Concannon said,

but... I... Well, I think you're

making a mistake... I think that you

should reconsider; why don't you

check with your principals, and I'll

call you in the...

(beat)

No?... you... uh. All right. No.

That's fine. I understand. Sorry to

bother you at home.

He hangs up the phone. Sits rock still. Beat.

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