True Crime Page #3

Women can fetch coffee now...

...because job opportunities

give us new confidence.

Do you think being

the trends editor's getting to you?

I don't know.

Was I an insane person before?

You're a great person.

You take it black?

I do.

Sh*t!

Steve, thank God. Where are you?

I'm at the paper. They roped me in.

Did they call you at the gym?

They tried here.

I stopped by to pick something up

and they grabbed me.

Did you have a good workout?

Yeah, decent.

Good. Anyway, you promised Kate

you'd take her to the zoo.

The zoo!

God, I forgot!

Steve, she really is expecting you.

I'm sorry about that.

I really just forgot.

You worked all weekend.

She didn 't see you at all.

You know how she loves her daddy.

I know it's work...

... but I feel it would be

a bad idea to let her down again.

Barbara, there's been an accident.

Remember Michelle Ziegler?

You met at Christmas?

She piled up her car

on Dead Man's Curve.

That's terrible. There's been

so many accidents there.

They ought to do something.

- What was that?

- They ought do something about that.

- Is she hurt?

- "Not if I heard anything like that."

Yeah, dead.

That's awful.

You're filling in for her?

They've got a ticket

for the execution tonight.

Don 't tell me they couldn 't get

someone else. You worked all weekend.

Finally!

What? Where are you?

Barbara, look, I don't have

to be at San Quentin till 4.

Why don't I pick up Katie, take her

to the zoo and bring her back at 3?

Coffee time!

What about her nap?

She has her nap after lunch.

Her nap?

Isn't today your day off?

She gets cranky without her nap.

Well, I'll bring her a double espresso.

- It's just a joke.

- I'm busting a gut.

I'll be there in a half-hour,

Why'd you go in there

on your day off?

Are you still trying to make up

for that Mike Vargas thing?

I'll be there at 12:30, all right?

More and more workers insist on the

right not to breathe secondhand smoke.

And more and more scumbags don't care.

Well, Bridget,

you're an adorable person.

Sexual harassment.

What are the guidelines?

Who can say?

I hate my job, Ev.

But I love watching you do it.

Don't look now.

Gosh, Mr. Reporter, is that what

real newspapermen get to read?

Well, Dale Porterhouse:

"No, I couldn't have heard the shots.

The windows were rolled up and I had

the radio and air conditioner on.

That's probably why

the car overheated."

Close quote.

That's another wild hunch

down the drain.

My condolences.

No great loss.

Look, anybody calls...

...I'm at the zoo.

Me too.

Good morning, Frank.

I thought maybe...

...if there's anything

I can do for you...

...anything you'd like

to talk about...

...I want you to know I'm here,

I'm available.

I understand

you read the Bible.

That's right, isn't it, Frank?

But, you know...

...just reading the Bible

isn't enough, is it?

No.

Man can't go to his Maker with

the sins of his soul unrepented of.

With the hurt he's caused

folks just, you know...

...unrepented of.

A lot of folks would feel

better to hear...

...you were remorseful

for the pain you caused them.

You could do a lot of good

with those words.

I don't have anything to tell you.

Reverend Shillerman...

...I want you to leave.

I have my own pastor coming later.

I don't need to tell you...

...there will come a time,

and I'm afraid it's not far off...

Reedy!

...when you'll wish you'd made

a different decision.

But it will be too late.

What can I get you?

Get this damn fool out of my face!

Call himself a man of God.

Reverend Shillerman!

Reverend Sh*t-For-Brains.

Now, Frank...

...I wouldn't want to

be strapped to that table...

...with the wrongs

I've committed unrepented of.

When they stick that needle

in your arm...

...feel your blood run to ice!

Reverend, that's enough!

Get him out of here!

I feel sorry for you, Frank.

I'm sorry too. Believe me.

I mean it.

We don't want no trouble.

All right.

I just felt it's my job.

It might be upsetting...

Everyone wants in on the action,

right, Frank?

Twelve hours from now,

convicted killer Frank Beechum...

... will be executed

by lethal injection.

He was convicted six years ago...

... of the brutal slaying of 20-year-old

Amy Wilson and her unborn child...

... at Pocum 's Grocery in the

Richmond section of the county.

Wilson, who was six months pregnant...

... was working

when Beechum shot her...

... during an argument over $96

she owed him and was unable to pay.

Now the weather:

Morning low clouds

with some afternoon clearing.

Help you?

Yeah, I'm a reporter

from the Oakland Tribune.

Isn't this where

Amy Wilson was killed?

It sure is.

She was right behind

this same counter.

Almost six years ago exactly.

Mr. Pocum says...

...the needle's too good for him.

For Beechum.

They ought to bring back the chair.

That's what I say.

Really let him have

a jolt of something.

What's back there?

Bathroom.

Mr. Pocum was always nice...

...about letting folks come in

and do their business.

I'll come back some other time maybe

and do some really serious shopping.

Am I going to be in the newspaper?

Was something here before?

That's where

the potato chips used to be.

But Mr. Pocum moved

the rack over here...

...so it'd be what you call...

...an impulse kind of purchase.

This in that story you're writing?

That's a good point.

I'm writing a human-interest sidebar.

Do you know what that is?

No, I don't think I do.

I don't think I do either.

Sorry, I got hung up.

Daddy!

Aren't we going to the zoo today?

Well, what's holding us up?

Don't you want to get dressed?

- Let's change your clothes.

- What animal do you want to see?

Daddy, I want to go see

the hippopotamus.

Come on, let's change your pants.

I tell you,

looking into those eyes...

... I don 't think...

It was like looking into the eyes

of a goat. Something like that.

They were that cold.

I can 't honestly say that

I've ever wished anyone dead.

But I think I'll feel a lot safer

when Frank Beechum 's gone.

That's Dale Porterhouse, an accountant

with the firm of Stokes and Whitney.

Porterhouse was the state's key witness

in the Wilson case six years ago...

... a case that will culminate

at one minute past midnight...

... with the execution by lethal

injection of Frank Beechum.

Information. What city, please?

Oakland, for a Stokes and Whitney.

It's an accounting firm.

The number you requested is...

Come on, let's go. Daddy's here.

Steve, what is it?

Just a hunch I've got.

Bear with me.

Tonight, finally, is the execution.

It's been a long six years. Do you

feel justice is finally being done?

Is Dale Porterhouse there, please?

- Mr. Porterhouse is at lunch.

- Get off the phone, Daddy.

Right now!

This is Steve Everett. I'm a reporter

with the Oakland Tribune.

Could you have him call me?

It's about the Beechum case.

Nothing will end that rage

except the death of the monster...

... who killed my daughter

and my unborn grandchild.

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