True Crime Page #7

No such thing as Santa Claus.

Warden?

You're not really sure, are you?

You drive safe now.

- Cecilia, I want to talk.

- Not a good time.

Not now. Call my office.

- This is important.

- Please, just back up.

Back off, will you?

What are you, a court attorney?

Hit a reporter.

See how long you keep your job.

- Why don't you get in the car?

- Yeah, why don't you?

New York a**hole!

- What is it?

- Frank Beechum. Who else was there?

Are you back on the bottle?

There was Frank Beechum, Nancy

Larson, Porterhouse...

- Who else?

- What's the difference?

That's the one who shot Amy.

I don't know what kind of conspiracy

theory you're working on...

...but we've got a solid case.

I don't send innocent men to death.

I know that. I do.

But you made a mistake.

He was just using the bathroom.

He went in for steak sauce.

You've always been

a gullible son of a b*tch.

Read the transcripts.

A witness saw Beechum with a gun.

He couldn't have.

Not through the potato chips.

Is that what he said?

I saw it in his eyes.

I could tell.

- You haven't got jack sh*t.

- How much jack sh*t do I need?

There was somebody, wasn't there?

A kid got a Coke from the machine.

He didn't even look inside.

He's the one who killed Amy.

We interviewed him.

We issued a description of his car.

His story checked out...

The plain fact is you had

Beechum in custody.

You didn't have the right person.

- This was the right guy.

- He was nothing!

He was in a lineup with Beechum.

Both witnesses still fingered Beechum.

He was gone before the witnesses

even got there. Just give me his name.

How can I remember after six years?

- You've got files!

- He was nothing to the case!

Call in the morning.

I'll try to help.

You wait till morning,

you better sleep well tonight.

Because after today, I'm gonna haunt

the sh*t out of you.

I'm gonna haunt your ass all over

this goddamn town.

I am not Wally.

I'm a lot bigger than Wally.

Threaten me and I'll have

pieces of you in the gutter...

...and I'll blow the rest away.

One more thing, barfly.

You ought to know this before your

latest lost cause confesses.

Did you know Beechum volunteered

for a lie detector test?

And he flunked it bigtime.

Sure, it's inadmissible.

It wasn't

in the transcripts...

...but it certainly captured

our attention.

So why don't you just go pour yourself

a tall one and think about that?

You want a nip?

No, thanks. I'd better not.

Sorry, I forgot.

What's with Bob? He's been

giving you the evil eye all day.

Know something?

It's starting to work.

Did something happen at the

prison? Some big uproar?

Why would a guilty man volunteer

for a lie detector test?

Happens all the time.

Perp thinks he can slide one by.

Of course, innocent men

flunk them sometimes too.

Does Bob want you to take one?

That's a cute idea.

I don't think

my guilt's in any doubt.

Where's Bridget?

I want her to do some scutwork.

Women feel much more secure

in the workplace now.

She left. But I'll get

your coffee if you give me head.

Better yet, track down an

investigator in the Beechum case.

See if there was another...

...witness on the scene.

A kid. Just an address

and a name will do.

You got it.

After that, get me some coffee.

Oakland Police.

Sgt. Bartlett.

Donaldson at the Tribune.

Who headed the Beechum case?

Anyone there know the Beechum case?

All of us. Anyone here.

Before Beechum comes to the store...

...there's another witness

in the parking lot, right?

Wrong. There's nothing

like that in the files.

- How do you know? Have you looked?

- Believe me, we know.

Everybody here has

memorized these files.

No other witnesses.

Porterhouse and Larson, that's it.

But a lot of circumstantial.

This is Donaldson at the Tribune.

On the Beechum case, was there

a record of a kid who was a witness?

A kid?

I don 't think so.

- You're sure?

- Thanks anyway.

All right, thanks.

That was the whip in the investigation.

Says it rings a bell.

But he doesn't remember any names.

Ardsley, who headed the investigation,

retired. Florida somewhere.

Sh*t!

Everett! Come here.

Sh*t!

- Don't look so happy about it.

- Who said anything about being happy?

I understand your prison interview went

beyond just a human-interest sidebar.

I colored outside the lines a bit,

but the warden wasn't sore about it.

He just probably thought

you were back on the booze.

- There's no smoking in the building.

- You got a minute?!

I can't tolerate this.

Steve, say you're sorry.

Bob, punch his lights out.

This isn't personal.

I gave him an important story

with specific instructions.

The newspaper promised...

- The guy is not guilty.

- Come on!

This isn't a human-interest sidebar.

It's a crucifixion.

Want me to look at the cross and say

"How's the weather up there?"

I've got all the personal crap

here in this book.

He believes in God.

Thinks he's going to heaven.

He's happy as sh*t.

He's glad they're juicing him.

- Go write your sidebar!

- That's not the point.

Of course it's not the point.

Fine. Take Steve off the

execution and put Harvey on it.

- That's still not the point.

- We know what the point is.

I can't work with you, Steve.

You're a good reporter...

...but there's plenty of good

reporters here who follow instructions.

I can't work with him.

Why don't you hit me in the face?

I'll fall down. I'll bleed.

I'll do all that. I deserve it.

Then go home and hit your wife.

She likes it.

Nice one, babe.

We can't all live in the world

of your imagination.

I won't hit anybody, because that's

exactly what you'd want.

If Patricia needs to find something

outside our marriage, she can find it.

My marriage isn't your business,

number one.

Number two, you're a thoughtless...

...unbalanced man.

I can't work with him!

I've enjoyed this episode of Oprah...

I got the shooter.

- We shouldn't confuse the issues.

- I got the guy who killed Amy Wilson.

- Even if it's the guy who shot JFK...

- Bob, shut up!

How have you got him?

I've got him. I know who he is.

All right, who is he?

He's a guy.

He's a guy who was there.

You're telling me that the shooter

is a guy who was there?

Great! Should I hold the front

page or wait for two sources?

The D.A. Won't give me the name.

- What about the defense?

- The defense doesn't have it.

This is ridiculous.

Shut...

...up.

What about the cops?

They're sitting on it.

Jesus!

Sorry, Alan. This is just too much.

Alan, I gotta be clear

on this, okay?

This is causing problems for everybody.

I love the paper

but I'm ready to go.

I can't work like this.

This environment's become intolerable.

"Intolerable environment"?

Are you a feminist?

Are you a cooze?

What's wrong with you?

You gotta give me notice.

My contract says if you dump me,

you gotta give me notice.

How much notice do you want?

Six hours and seven minutes.

Testing red. Testing red.

Testing tan. Testing tan.

Testing white. Testing white.

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