"Oh, why would anyone buddy up with a big, fat, stupid slob like me?" "Maybe because I like big, fat, stupid slobs." "What's the matter?" "Every time I think of where we stashed that Model A," "I gotta laugh." "They'll never find it." "Well, lieutenant, I'd sure hate to see someone claim it." "With a little fixing I could use it around here." "Whoever dumped it there, sure picked a good place." "It's a dead lake." "Nobody ever uses it." "Anybody see who ditched it there?" "Oh, yeah, yeah." "Fellow in a gang working on railroad ties." "He spotted it." "Railroad gang, huh?" "Are the, uh, tracks near the lake?" "Oh, yeah, yeah, they go right by it." "Any sidings there?" "Anywhere a man could hop a freight?" "Oh, yeah, yeah, the freight yard's about a half mile down." "Well, maybe I can pick up something there." "Thanks." "Yeah, anytime." "Anytime at all." "This is really beautiful, David." "All this part of the Lambert ranch?" "Yeah." "House is on over." "Why didn't you tell me." "Tell you what?" "Well, I didn't expect all this." "You didn't?" "How big is it?" "I don't know." "I mean, not exactly." "I- I used to but..." "I forgot." "Something wrong, David?" "Huh?" "No." "I'd like a drink, Bill." "Let's go to town and have a drink." "Why do you want a drink?" "You afraid of something?" "No, I'm not afraid." "I just want a drink, that's all." "It was all different then." "All different." "What was, David?" "Nothing." "Nothing, Bill." "Nothing, I'm sorry." "Well, well." "Look who's back." "Hi, Frank." "What are you doing here, Davey?" "Mom wrote that Pop was sick." "How would she know where to write you?" "Well, there's a bar in Los Angeles, lets me use its address." "Last time I was there, there was a letter from mom." "Funny she didn't tell us you were coming." "Or did you ask her not to, Davey?" "No, I didn't write." "I just got here as fast as I could." "Bill." "Bill, this is my brother, Frank." "How do you do?" "Bill and I worked together in Los Angeles." "He's gonna stay for a while." "Okay?" "That's a silly question, Davey boy." "You know he's gonna be just as welcome here as you are." "How's Pop?" "Wasn't feeling too bad this morning." "But that's not saying how he's gonna feel when you walk in on him." "How do you like that new barn, Davey boy?" "It's got it all over the old one, hasn't it?" "What's the matter, brother David?" "Don't you feel so good?" "Well, I'm feeling all right." "Hop in, Mr. Carter." "You, too, Davey boy, if you can make it." "What do you think of this part of the country?" "All right." "Come on, brother David, up and over." "Davey." "Davey!" "Hello, Ma." "Oh, Davey." "Oh, it's so good to see you." "It's good to see you too, Mom." "Real good." "Oh, I've been so worried about you." "Have you been all right?" "Oh, I've been doing fine." "Real great." "Oh." "Uh, this is my friend, Bill, Mom." "I bumped into him on the way out here, and feel as though I knew him all my life." "Glad to know you, Mrs. Lambert." "How do you do, Bill." "I'm glad to know you, too." "I thought you said you worked together, Davey." "Oh, sure." "Oh, sure, but you see, I-I left that job." "Oh, who says prayer doesn't work?" "I prayed so hard, Davey, you just had to come home." "Come on, come on, let's all go in the house, huh?" "Davey, you'll find your room just the way it was when you left." "I kept your clothes all cleaned and pressed and hanging up for you." "Thanks, Mom." "Make yourself at home, Mr. Carter." "Gee, Mom, the place looks great." "Mom?" "Mm?" "Does, uh-?" "Does Pop know you asked me to come?" "No, Davey." "I don't believe I mentioned it." "Davey looks good, doesn't he, Mom?" "Yes, he does." "Why, when I drove up I hardly recognized you, Davey." "Lost quite a bit of weight haven't you, boy?" "Frank." "Don't." "Oh, no, Mom, I'm not kidding." "Why, I mean it." "Davey boy, you're really in the pink." "Mm-hm." "Uh, Bill, will you excuse us, please." "Davey, we'll go tell your father you're here now." "We won't be long." "Frank, come on." "Yeah." "Yeah, yeah, in the pink." "In" "In the pink, just like before." "Pink." "I'll have one with ya, David." "Yeah, sure, Bill." "After you've seen your father." "Hey, Bill, but you'll come with me, won't you please?" "I think you oughta see him alone first." "No." "No, when I go in there I want you to come with me." "Please, Bill." "Please." "Okay." "I'll come with ya." "All right." "You can come in, Davey." "Hello, Pop." "Uh..." "I, uh..." "I'd, uh" "I'd of come back a long time ago but" "I" " I wrote a couple of times, Pop." "I" "I guess you got my letters." "I don't know what to say, Pop." "Please, David." "Please." "Uh, thi" " This is- This is Bill, Pop." "W-w-we're friends." "We've been traveling together." "Hello." "I'm sorry to see that you're sick, Pop." "Um, you do what old Doc Hallem tells you to do." "He'll fix ya up." "I think your father's tired, Davey." "He'd better get some sleep now." "Davey." "Yeah, Pop?" "How do you like the new barn?" "Wanna bite of apple?" "Huh?" "No, no." "I, uh, just had breakfast, remember?" "Good for you, vitamins." "Yeah." "David." "Hm?" "How old were you the first time Frank called you fatso?" "Look, I never ask you any questions." "Why don't you leave me alone?" "Just thought talking it out with a friend might help." "Friend?" "You're not a friend." "I thought you were." "Now, you're shooting needles into me like he always does." "David, uh" "Mine's a different kind of needle." "The kind a doctor might use." "You eat because you're scared." "You drink because you're scared." "That's why you're fat, David, not because you were born fat." "You know more than a doctor, huh?" "David, I wanna tell you something but I need your word that you'll keep it to yourself." "Well, sure, Bill." "Sure." "I'm a doctor." "Yeah, I" "I'm a doctor." "I've treated cases like yours." "You're kidding." "No, I'm not kidding." "Would you do me a favor?" "Yeah." "Go in that barn and show that horse you're not afraid of him." "Doctor, huh?" "Let's go." "You know, Bill," "I was on a lot of diets, but none of them ever worked." "Maybe this will." "I hope so." "Bill, you mean to say that" "That if I'm not scared the fat just drops off?" "Uh, well, not, uh... all of it, David." "Not right away." "Okay, doc." "Don't call me that." "Not even out here when we're alone." "You understand?" "Oh, sure." "Sure, Bill." "Anything you say." "Come on." "Let's go." "I can't." "I can't, Bill." "I can't go in." "Why not, David?" "Well, it's- It's not just the horses." "It's" " It's the barn." "Look, why don't you go in." "I gotta think about it." "Come on, boy." "Come on." "Want some apple, boy?" "Would you like another piece?" "There we go." "There we" "How am I doing Bill?" "Fine." "Want a carrot?" "Good boy." "Good boy." "Hey, fatso!" "Come here a minute." "I wanna talk to ya." "Yeah, what do you want, Frank?" "You stay away from the horses and the barn." "Now, go on." "Hit the road." "Look, don't tell me what to do." "I'm not scared of you." "Oh?" "Now, suppose I were to tell the old man you were hanging around the barn." "Hm?" "Go ahead!" "Tell him!" "Davey, you think maybe the Lord's gonna listen to Ma, huh?" "Forgive and forget." "Change the will." "Leave you a piece of the ranch, huh?" "Maybe most of it." "After all, you are the oldest, Davey." "David, Jr." "You're mama's chubby little darling." "You shut your filthy mouth!" "Aren't you, fatso?" "Shut up, you!" "Stop it, I tell you." "Stop it." "From now on you let him alone." "You know, mister, there's something I don't understand about you." "You show up here acting like you're on the bum, and yet you talk like a teacher." "One minute he tells me he worked with you in L.A., next minute he says he met ya on the way." "What do you want with him?" "What are you hanging around with a fatso like him for?" "Who are you anyway?" "Maybe I ought to make it my business to find out, huh?" "Come on, David." "Well, Mom and Po" "Oh!" "Go ahead, David." "Well, Mom and Pop were at a horse auction in Louisville," "Frank was in the Army so I had to stay here and take care of the place... alone." "I, uh" "I got drunk, passed out." "When I came to that night," "I was laying in the corral." "Barn was burning, horses were inside." "I can still hear them screaming." "Don't ask me why I did it." "I don't know!" "I" " I- I don't remember." "I don't wanna remember!" "And they hopped a freight headed for Springfield." "Railroad watchman saw them, but he certainly didn't see him." "What makes you so sure that it was Kimble?" "The other fellow was built like a blimp and I've had a hunch from the start that Kimble's been traveling with the fat man he was in jail with." "Five foot eight, 260 pounds and not too bright." "Captain, nobody could miss a target like that." "Are you absolutely positive they got off before Springfield?" "Positive." "I phoned ahead." "There's no doubt about it." "They're within 80 miles of here." "You mean they were." "Okay." "But I've got a new lead on the Norton murder, and I want you back here on Monday." "Okay." "Hi." "Well, surprise, Bill." "I didn't get drunk." "Good." "You know, Bill, something funny happened." "I said I w" "Wasn't going to remember and wasn't even tryin' but all of a sudden things started to happen and" "What-?" "What are you putting those clothes on for?" "I'm leaving David." "You're leaving?" "I can't take a chance, David, after what happened with Frank." "I'll write you." "Where?" "Here." "Oh, no, no, no, you can't leave me alone." "I thought you were my friend." "I can't stay, David." "If you knew why I was running you would understand." "Sure." "Sure, but you don't trust me enough to tell me." "Afraid the big brain might spill the beans by accident." "Okay, Mr. Carter." "David, my name isn't Carter." "It's Kimble, Dr. Richard Kimble." "I'm wanted by the police." "I was convicted on a murder charge." "I was innocent, I managed to escape." "Murder?" "Oh, I don't believe it." "You see, David, I, uh... had an argument with my wife." "I went out of the house." "I drove around for awhile." "When I came back she was dead." "There was no way to prove that I, uh... wasn't there at the time." "Witnesses had heard us arguing." "On my way to death row, I managed to get away." "The police have been after me ever since." "And I've been after the man that murdered my wife." "You- You know who it is, Bill?" "When I got home that night, I" "I saw a man running from my house." "A man that had one arm." "I think it was him." "One arm, huh?" "I'll help you find him, Bill." "I'll help you." "No." "No, that's my job, David." "Your job is to stay here." "Stay here, find yourself." "It's your home." "Well, isn't there something I can do, though, to help you out." "Yeah." "If Frank, uh" "If Frank starts to asking what happened to me, you tell him I picked up a ride, uh, to Louisville." "You'll really be going the other way, right?" "Right." "Well, good luck, Dr. Kimble." "Mr. Lambert." "Bill." "Davey told me you were leaving." "Well, I, uh" "I went in to say goodbye, but you were in with Mr. Lambert." "Couldn't you possibly stay a little longer?" "It would mean so much to Davey." "I wish I could." "Well, I'm sorry." "Where do you get your ride to Louisville?" "I can take you there." "Well, uh" "Any place on the other side of town." "Okay." "Come on, hop in." "And Davey's..." "Well, it isn't that he's retarded." "It's just that he's- He's a slow learner." "At least that's what they said in the school." "Just a slow learner and there isn't anything anybody could do about it." "I tried too hard I guess." "I coddled him like a baby." "And Frank was jealous because you didn't baby him." "I know." "Mrs. Lambert, I" "I'd like to get the name of a doctor that could help David." "Would you let me send it to you?" "No." "No, it's too late for that, I'm afraid." "Something happened a few years ago, and..." "I don't think Davey'll ever get over it." "Uh, tell me about burning the barn." "I still can't believe it." "Well, he must have planned it for days." "Buying the kerosene, and hiding the cans, and then pouring it all around the barn." "I, uh" " I didn't know it was premeditated." "I thought it was an accident." "I can't picture David doing anything deliberately like that I" "But he did." "You see, our ranch hand was visiting relatives in Texas, and Frank was 15 miles away at Camp Wetherton." "And then they found Davey's penknife in the barn." "I don't care what they found." "Davey couldn't do a thing like that." "Hello, sheriff." "Hello, Frank." "How's your father doing?" "Oh, one day good and one day's bad, you know." "All right if I come by?" "Why, sure." "That's the reason I'm here, as a matter of fact." "You can make a pickup while you're there." "Oh?" "Fatso's back." "Davey?" "Home to see his father?" "Well, uh, that's what he says, but, uh... there's still a warrant out for him." "Isn't there, sheriff?" "Came back because he heard his father was dying, and you want me to pick him up." "Wait a minute." "Did Davey come back alone, or with somebody?" "He was with somebody." "Why?" "Had a call today from the Springfield Police." "I knew there was something wrong with that fellow." "What did he do?" "Is he still there?" "No, left today." "What did he do, sheriff?" "Springfield, this is Crowley in Ellsmore." "Is Lieutenant Gerard there?" "No." "Well, he telephoned about an escaped murderer who might be traveling with a fat man." "Next time he checks with you, tell him I'm picking up somebody, might be the fat man." "Yeah." "Should we both go in your car, sheriff?" "No." "I just had it cleaned and polished." "Yeah, anything wrong?" "Uh, no, uh, you going to the camp?" "Yeah." "Could you give me a lift?" "Yeah, okay." "Hop in." "Come on, now, Davey." "Where did he really go?" "I told you, Louisville." "Look, why don't you leave him alone." "He's such a nice man." "He's a" " He's a doctor." "He helps people." "I'm only doing what the law says has to be done." "That's your duty as well as mine." "Where did he go?" "Man like him- A doctor." "A doctor convicted of murder." "No, he didn't do it." "I know he didn't." "How do you know?" "Well" "Well, the reason I know it is because I'm the one you want, not him." "All right, Davey." "Tell me all about it." "Well, I, uh" "I heard him arguing with his wife so I" "I figured that if I did it, they would blame him." "I, uh, um" "I don't- I don't know why I did it." "It was just something that came over me, like when I burned the barn." "Well, th-the sheriff'll tell you that." "Go on." "Well, I... waited till Carter left." "I-I mean, Dr. Kimble." "And...when he talked about the man with the" "The one arm." "That was me." "And, uh, how do you account for that, Davey?" "W-well" "Well, a couple days before that I" "I, uh- I sprained my wrist, see, and I- I had it stuck in my coat 'c-cause then I could look like a one-armed man." "Yeah, and of course, you were much thinner at the time." "Oh, yeah, yeah." "Yeah, I wa- I wasn't fat then." "I don't know how to say this but, um, he's talking real crazy, like be never did before he went away, about being a one-armed man who committed a murder, killed a woman." "What?" "Oh, no, no." "He couldn't have." "But it was in the Kimble apartment." "You remember that." "I told you I did." "And on the sixth floor?" "You're positive?" "Yeah." "Yeah, yeah, the sixth floor." "Good." "Well, that puts you in the clear, Davey, because it was a house." "It wasn't an apartment at all." "W-well, th-that- That's what I meant." "Yeah, I know." "Good try, Davey." "Now, where did Carter go?" "I told you, Louisville." "Davey, if I ever commit a murder" "I hope I have a friend like you to cover up for me." "Think I better drive you home now." "Come along, Davey." "I'll ride along with you." "I wanna talk to his mother." "Bill." "I wanna talk to Mr. Lambert." "Oh, Bill, I'm so glad you're back." "What's the matter?" "It's Davey." "Something terrible's happened to him." "What's happened?" "The sheriff called and said that" "That Davey's just confessed to a murder." "He said that he killed somebody." "Some" " Some woman." "And that he was pretending he only had one arm." "Davey didn't kill anybody, Mrs. Lambert." "I know." "B-but why would he say a thing like that?" "I think I know why." "Now, uh, take my word for it." "He didn't kill anyone." "Well, I just- I don't understand." "I'll have him explain it to you." "Right now, I want to talk to Mr. Lambert." "David." "Huh?" "David." "Huh?" "Oh." "It's Davey's friend, Bill." "He wants to talk to you." "What do you want?" "Mr. Lambert, I checked on something you should have looked into eight years ago." "I got a lift from a soldier, we had a cup of coffee at the camp, got to talking." "I asked him to do me a favor." "He found out that Frank was absent without leave the same night your barn was burned." "No." "Oh, no." "You expect me to believe that?" "Now, here's something you can believe." "He was court-martialed." "Court-martials are a matter of public record." "Maggie." "I still can't believe it." "Phone the judge advocate's office at the camp." "They'll tell you it's true." "Hello, Billy boy." "Just back up into the room." "That's it." "Right over there." "I thought I heard you." "I couldn't believe my ears." "Frank!" "Put down that gun." "Aren't you the one though, coming back here." "You know, there's a fellow in town asking about you." "The sheriff." "Put that gun down." "I want to ask you something." "Did you burn the barn?" "Me?" "You did, didn't you?" "Now, Ma, y" "You're not gonna listen to him, are you?" "Do you know what he is, Ma?" "And what are you, Frank?" "To do a thing like that and let everybody think your brother did it." "How could you let Davey suffer like that all these years?" "He's lying, Ma." "He's lying so that Davey can get the ranch and cut him in on it." "You don't believe I did it." "Do you, Pa?" "Come over here Frank and put that gun down." "Oh, no, Pop, please." "You got to believe." "I didn't do it." "Put that gun down." "They're looking for me." "Go out the side door." "I'll hold them here as long as I can." "Put that gun out of sight." "Tell David I'll write to him." "You get back there, Frank." "And when these men come in, don't you open your mouth." "Davey." "Oh, Davey." "It's all right, Mrs. Lambert." "Everything's all right." "Lieutenant?" "This is Lt. Gerard." "He'd like to talk to you." "How do you do, lieutenant?" "Would you excuse me just a minute, please?" "Davey..." "I think your father would like to talk to you about something." "Sit down, son." "I'm sorry, Davey." "Forgive me." "You're sure he said he was going to Louisville." "Oh, yes, yes." "And if he got the ride he expected he should be there by now." "And you don't know anything else?" "No." "How about your son?" "Frank, did you hear the lieutenant?" "I don't know anything else, lieutenant." "Not a thing." "Thank you." "A letter from an old friend." "No return address." "No name." "A fugitive has to watch his step, every step he takes, every hour, every minute, every second." "Any move he makes might lead to death row." "There's no way of knowing in advance." "There's never any way of knowing."