Witness for the Prosecution Page #3

- Toffee?

- Oh, yes, please.

At this time you had no idea

that Mrs French was well-off?

No. Absolutely not.

We were sitting in the cheap seats.

All I knew was she seemed to be

very lonely, had no friends whatsoever.

She and her husband

lived abroad in British Nigeria.

He was in the colonial service.

He died in '45, of a heart attack.

Please, Mayhew, not when I'm smoking.

Go on, young man.

Well, they finally

polished off Jesse James,

and after we left the movie

she invited me to her house for tea.

(Mrs French laughs)

I think it's the most fascinating thing

I've ever seen. Janet, come and look.

I've seen eggbeaters before, ma'am.

But this beats so quickly

and it separates too!

It must be cen-trifugal

or centrifugal, which is it?

It's specific gravity,

but it whips cream too.

Did you hear that, Janet?

It whips cream too.

We must have one. Is it expensive?

Compliments of the inventor,

manufacturer and sole distributor.

Thank you. We'll use it constantly,

won't we, Janet?

Come, we'd better get out of here.

Janet doesn't like visitors in her kitchen.

Ha!

It's a bit chilly in here, isn't it?

Shall we have a fire?

Why not?

This is a charming room.

Hubert and I collected all these things

when we lived in Africa.

Hubert was my husband.

Well, now, there's a loveable chap.

That's the mask of the witch doctor.

He wore it when he pulled

our servants' teeth.

So Hubert used to call him a witch dentist.

- Hubert was so witty.

- Yes, I can see that.

Oh, here's tea.

- Let's use our good silver and china.

- Oh, no, don't bother, Mrs French.

- This is perfectly all right.

- Lemon or milk, please?

- I don't really care.

- Would you prefer sherry?

- That'd be fine.

- We've no' got any.

Oh, but we have. There's that bottle,

the one we bought last Christmas.

If you care for an eggnog there's a wasted

egg in the kitchen ready and separated.

Do sit down. Don't mind Janet, Mr Vole.

It's just that she's terribly Scotch.

Oh, is she? I thought

she came with the collection.

You know, maybe

I'll take a glass of sherry myself.

I feel like Christmas, somehow.

After that I saw her once or twice a week.

She always kept a bottle of sherry for me.

We'd talk, play canasta,

listen to gramophone records,

Gilbert and Sullivan mostly.

It's so weird to think of her now,

lying in that living room, murdered.

I assure you she's been moved by now.

To leave her would be unfeeling, unlawful,

and unsanitary.

Tell Sir Wilfrid about

the evening of the murder.

I went around to see her

about eight o'clock.

She fixed a sandwich,

we talked, listened to The Mikado.

I left about nine. I walked home.

I got there about half past.

I can prove that. I can swear to it, in or out

of court, in the witness box, anywhere!

How much money did you get

from Mrs French?

- Nothing.

- The truth. How much?

- Why should she give me any money?

- Because she was in love with you.

That's ridiculous. She liked me.

She pampered me like an aunt.

But that's all, I swear.

- Why didn't you tell her you had a wife?

- I did!

But you never took your wife along

when you went there. Why not?

- Because...

- Because what?

Because she was under the impression

we didn't get along too well.

- Is that true?

- No! We love each other.

- Then how did she get that impression?

- She just seemed to want to believe it.

- You never corrected her. Why?

- I was afraid she'd lose interest.

Because she was rich,

and you were after her money.

Well, yes, in a way.

I was hoping for a loan for my new

invention. Just a few hundred pounds.

An honest business proposition, that's all.

Is that so wicked?

You knew it was

the housekeeper's day off?

- Well, yes.

- You went there because she'd be alone?

No, because I thought

she might be lonely.

All right, lonely. You and the rich

lonely widow all alone in that house

with a gramophone blaring The Mikado.

Perhaps you turned up

the volume to drown her cries.

- When I left her she was alive!

- When Janet came back she was dead.

The house had been ransacked! It said

in the papers. It must've been a burglar.

I didn't do it. No matter

how bad things look, I didn't do it!

You must believe me.

You do believe me, don't you?

I do now, but I wasn't sure.

That's why I subjected your eyes

and my arteries to that ordeal.

- I'm sorry.

- That's all right.

As for things looking bad, they

don't look bad, Mr Vole, they look terrible.

- Apparently you've no alibi at all.

- But I have. I left Mrs French's at nine.

- By bus or underground?

- No, I walked. It was a fine night.

- Did anyone see you?

- Christine saw me when I got home.

It was 9.26. I know because I went right to

work on a clock I've been tinkering with.

- My wife will tell you.

- Your wife loves you, yes?

Very much.

We're devoted to each other.

You realise, Mr Vole, the testimony of a

devoted wife does not carry much weight.

People might think

Christine would lie on my account?

It has been known, Mr Vole.

Blood is thicker than evidence.

- Ah, Brogan-Moore. Come in, come in.

- So good to have you out of hospital.

I didn't get a full pardon, I'm out on

parole. You know Mr Mayhew, I believe.

- This is his client, Mr Leonard Vole.

- How do you do?

- How do you do?

- The Emily French murder.

- Oh, how do you do?

- Badly, thank you.

A mass of circumstantial evidence.

No alibi whatsoever. It's a hot potato.

- Tossing it into your lap.

- Much obliged.

Your line of defence,

however, will be lack of motive.

You will agree that we can rule out

a crime of passion, hm?

That leaves us with a murder for profit.

If Mr Vole had been sponging off Mrs

French, why cut off the source of supply?

Or, if he'd been hoping for a golden egg,

why kill the goose before it was laid?

No motive. No motive whatsoever.

- You find some flaw in this reasoning?

- No, no, it's very sound as far as it goes.

Well, it's all yours. You'll find Mr Vole

very responsive and quite candid.

So candid, he's already told me

we'll have to sue him for our fees.

Oh, we'll simply put a lean

on Mr Vole's 80,000.

- What? 80,000?

- The? 80,000 Mrs French left you.

Left me?

They opened Mrs French's

bank vault today and found her will.

- Congratulations.

- ? 80,000!

And I was worried about a couple

of hundred for that silly eggbeater.

I must call Christine.

Oh.

This doesn't make things

look any better for me, does it?

- No. I wouldn't think so.

- So now they'll say I did have a motive.

They will indeed.? 80,000 makes for

a very handsome motive.

I thought you were crazy

but now they will arrest me!

It's not unlikely.

(car pulls up)

As a matter of fact, it's quite likely.

They're on their way up now.

I knew nothing about that will. I'd no idea

she'd any intention of leaving me money.

- If I didn't know, how can it be a motive?

- We'll certainly bring that out in court.

- It's our old friend Inspector Hearne.

- Chief Inspector as of last month.

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