"Hold the elevator, please!" "Thank you." "Good morning, everybody." "Good morning, Ms. Hayes." "I love Mondays." "We know." "Mr. Addison here?" "David, it's Maddie." "Mr. Addison isn't in?" "Oh, he's in." "The problem is, he might be out." "Excuse me?" "Good morning!" " Good morning." " I'll be the judge of that." "He's all yours." " David." " I know that name." "David, what are you doing down there?" "I think I was aiming for the chair and I missed." "Low ceilings." "I hate that." "This is so much easier with you around." "Bet you'd cut my food up great too." "David, who or what is responsible for this?" " This?" " This." "This condition you're in." "No one thing." "No one person." " It was great." " It was or they were?" "All of the above." "And below." "You're disgusting." " You mad?" " Mad?" "Mad?" "If I calm down, I'll be mad." "Look at yourself." "I never could understand how to do that." " Maddie." " You enjoy undermining me." " Maddie." " I'm trying to run a business." " In a businesslike way." " Maddie." "And you show up looking like a landfill!" "Stop that, will you?" "I'm sorry." "I'll clean it all up." "Soon as the blood rushes back into my head." " You should be ashamed of yourself." " For having a weekend?" " A weekend?" " Yeah, a weekend, you remember." "Saturday and Sunday." "The time between work and more work." "Two days of Dionysian delight Bacchanalian binges." "The time when you look for happiness and end up hunched over a toilet." "A weekend." "That may be your idea of a weekend, but it's not mine." "Look at you." "How are you gonna work today?" "Relax, it only hurts when I banter." "Maddie, look." "All I gotta do is zip, tuck, comb and shave and I'll be the David you've known and loved." " Is that a promise or a threat?" " Come on, Maddie, give me a break." "So I had a rough weekend." " So I went to Vegas." "Hit it a little hard." " A little hard?" "The real trouble began when I met the topless tuba player." " I don't wanna hear this." " Set of lungs that wouldn't quit." "I have more important things to do." "Wanted me to go to her room." "Ms. DiPesto." " Do you know the weather number?" " But you know me I had to marry her first." " You what?" " Not to worry." "I had it annulled in the morning." "Bell captains can do that, can't they?" " Gotcha." " Did not." " Gotcha." "Gotcha." " Did not." "Did not." " Gotcha, gotcha." " Did not, did not." " Did not." " Gotcha." "You know what's really sad?" "The last 10 minutes of Lassie Come Home." " That you feel this need." " Could you be more specific?" "This need to prove to everyone that you can go out, drink like a fish, get no sleep indulge in narcissistic self-destruction" "Narcissistically self-destruct till you puke." " Like you're still some kid." " What's that mean?" "What do you think it means?" "David, you're a grown man." "Look at you." "Acting like you're still 19..." " ...and can get away with it." " Get away with it?" "Get away with what?" "There's nothing that I could do at 19 that I cannot do today." " Except recover." " Recover?" "Recover." "Look at yourself." "You think this is all terribly cute, don't you?" "Well, I find it terribly pathetic." "David, you're a grown man." "Not a schoolboy." " Really?" " Really." " I wonder who that could be." " My truant officer, no doubt." " Is this a bad time?" " I've had better." " What is it, Ms. DiPesto?" " A man's outside to see you." "I knew this would happen." "Now he's gonna see you looking like that." "Park your attitude." "I'll slip into something less comfortable." "Wait." "You ought to see this man as soon as possible." " Why is that?" " Why is that?" " Hello, I'm Madelyn Hayes." " David Addison." "My name is Lawrence Everette." "This is my daughter, Amy." "Wait outside, dear." "Ms. Hayes, Mr. Addison." "I'm 90 years old." "Born on the Fourth of July, 1896." "My first memory is as a little boy what must have been New Year's Eve my family taking me to a special dinner in Baltimore." "I remember there being a sudden pandemonium outside." "The clock must have struck midnight." "People shouting, screaming thrilled and terrified." "We had been delivered to the 20th century." "I remember the first time I saw an electric light bulb." "The first time I saw an airplane in the sky." "I served in World War I." "I served again in World War II." "I was married for 47 years." "I have three children." "They have children." "Their children have children." "And their children have children." "I have lived a life." "Mr. Everette, I'm afraid I don't understand." "I've come to you because a murder is going to take place tonight." "And you must be there before it happens." "Mr. Everette, isn't this a matter for the police?" "Oh, no." "They would stop it." "I don't want it stopped." " You don't?" " I don't." "You don't?" "Say something." "Certainly." "Mr. Everette, if you don't mind my asking..." " ...who is it that's being murdered?" " Me." " You?" " You?" "Me." "Mr. Everette, I don't think we can help you." "Understand me, young lady." "I want to die." "I'm supposed to die." "I've lived a long life." "Instead, people I don't know are working furiously to forestall the destiny I don't wish them to forestall." "Machines clean my blood." "Machines pump my heart." "Machines push air into my lungs." "It's not a miracle." "It's a horror." "Every morning, I wake up in pain." "Every breath I take is an effort." "It gets worse each day." "But thanks to science well they tell me I can live another three or four years." "Mr. Everette, I sympathize, but" "I understand your hesitation." "I still don't understand, just what is it you want us to do?" "I need a reliable witness to a crime." "You're both trained observers, are you not?" " Well" " Yes, we are." "Fine." "I've already found someone sympathetic to my situation." "And who understands what has to be done." "Matter of turning one knob." "Tonight, at five past 8 he will enter my room at the Golden Hour Nursing Home." "He will do as I have asked." "At 8:07 he will leave." "The deed will be done." "He will never be found." " And you need us to-?" " Be in the rest home when it happens." "To watch him leave to go into the room and document that someone murdered me." "Clues will be obvious." "You'll have to describe it all to the authorities." " But, Mr. Everette, why?" " Why?" "Because I can't sit by while every penny I have every penny my children have coming to them is used up to prolong my pain." "I have an insurance policy." "It won't pay off for suicide." "I only regret that I require anyone's help." "I have told the nurses I am expecting an investigator who's helping to arrange my affairs." "That's why Amy believes she brought me here this morning." "I'm in the process of selling everything anyway." "The bastards keep you alive so they can drain you of every nickel." "I know you want some time." "Talk it over." "There's $25,000 in that folder for waiting in a hallway." "Call me if you want to help me do what's right." "Now if you'll help me out." " Well?" " Well." "How do you wanna handle this?" "I like to get the bathroom steamy my beard nice and soft, my razor clean and sharp." "And then close my eyes and shave." "No, I mean this." "I didn't have the heart to give it back in the office." "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" "You saying you already made your mind up?" "Like them?" "I'm thinking of getting a pair with pockets." " I don't know why I came in here." " Wait a second." " I'll just send this back." " We should talk about this." "Now." "I can't have a serious conversation with a man dressed in those." " Want me to slip them off?" " Look, let's just get this over with." "For once I can't imagine that we disagree." "Disagree?" "Us?" " You and I, yes." " Us." "Obviously, we cannot accommodate this poor little man." "Oh." "What does that "oh" mean?" ""Oh" means that it's not that obvious to me." "And I'm sorry, but I didn't see any poor little old man." "What would you call Mr. Everette?" "The man's given up hope." "I don't know." "Looks like he's fighting back to me." "I don't believe this." " You wanna help him, don't you?" " I'm not saying that." "If you look at that man and say, "Here's a man with no cards to play who's trying to fold and cash in his chips," you missed the point." " I did?" " You did." "The guy just pulled an ace out of his sleeve." "He's gonna win for his kids." "Before you can say "Amarillo Slim" he's on the train to forever." " You think it's a good idea." " I think it has merit." "David, he's talking about murder." "By choice, Maddie." "He wants to quit before he's fired." " It's wrong." " Says who?" "Says you?" "At the ripe old age of 35 you decide what's right for a man who's lived almost a century?" "I am not gonna be a party to this." "I'm not going to help him, and neither are you." "Nobody says a word." "Roll back to "and neither are you."" "I've called a messenger service." "Put these in an envelope." "Yes, ma'am." " I'm talking to you." " You're trying to." "I have no interest in talking to you." "Since I'm the boss, that's a problem." " What?" " Boss." "Remember that word?" "That's what I am." "I own this place." "You know what that means?" "I get to decide what gets done around here and how it gets done." " Oh, really?" " Yes, really." "I haven't been doing that for a while." "Been letting you charm me into things for a couple of months." "But that's changing." "I'm making the decisions." "Know what I've decided?" "Give me a clue." "I don't appreciate your cavalier attitude towards your appearance in my business." " Oh, you don't?" " No, I don't." "There's an old expression:" ""You don't dress for who you are, you dress for who you want to be."" "Do you really wanna be Soupy Sales?" " Wait a second!" " No, you wait a second." "This is my place of business." "I make the decision here." "What this man wants to do is euthanasia." "Euthanasia." "Do you know what that is?" "A charity for kids from Vietnam?" "It's murder, and I'm against it." "And since you work for me, that's that." " You're against it." " I'm against it." " You're against it." " That's right." " You don't want us to help him." " Right." " But you're not gonna stop him." " What's that mean?" "If you're so horrified, call the police." "Tell them what we know." "A murder's gonna happen." "Why not stop it?" "Can't quite get up for that, huh, boss?" " Because" " Because you're a hypocrite." "It's fine as long as the blood's not on your hands, right?" " That's not it at all." " That's it precisely." "It's so easy for you to judge the one option this man has." "What's that supposed to mean?" "Every morning we have options, you and I." "Thousands of them." "What to do, where to go, who to see, what to eat." "Routine to you and me." "Then there's Mr. Everette." "This man has one option." "One." "But that's not an option." "That's decided for you." "By whom?" "By what?" "By providence?" "Or by machines that keep the heart beating and lungs blowing?" "It's a noble thing to prolong life." "No argument." "But this man has already lived a life." "That doesn't change the fact that this is murder, is fraud, is wrong." "Look." "You know how I feel." "You do this, you do this without me." "I don't wanna know about it or hear about it." "This agency, my agency, is not involved." "So that's it, huh?" "You give an order, I'm supposed to follow it." "Yeah, something like that." "Fine." "Well, excuse me, boss." "I'm gonna get some sleep." "I got plans tonight." " You do?" " Yes, I do." "Excuse me, sir." "I'm sorry, sir, but no one is allowed inside without signing in." "I'm here to see Mr. Everette." "Has anyone come to see him tonight?" "Well, no, I only came on two seconds before you came in." "Sir the pen must've been out of ink." "No need to hurry." "Mr. Everette will be with us for a long time." "Mr. Everette?" "Mr. Everette, I know I'm early." "I can't." "I don't think you should, either." "Mr. Everette." "Mr. Everette." "Nurse!" "Nurse, come on!" "Mr. Everette." "Nurse." "Hey, nurse!" "I think we got a man dying in here." "Nurse!" "What are you doing?" "Oh, my God." "You've killed him." "It's okay." "Look." "I know you didn't want to be a part of this." "I know you said that you didn't want to be a party to it." "I know you said this was a case that you didn't feel any responsibility for." " David, what happened?" " This is a tough one to walk into and walk out of." "I know you said all that." " I know how you feel, I know" " What happened?" "I feel funny coming to you now and saying to you what I'm about to say." " But" " Would you tell me what happened?" " I killed him." " What are you saying?" "I'm saying I killed him." "Listen, you didn't kill him." "I don't agree with what you did, but you didn't kill him." "You just didn't save him." "No." "No, that's not it." "I did it." "I killed the man." " I don't understand." " There's nothing to understand." "The plan worked." "The man is dead." "Gone." "The plug is out of the socket." "I just happened to be the guy who tripped over the cord, that's all." "I went to the nursing home." "Got there a little early." "I wanted to give Mr. Everette the witness that he wanted." "I really thought that what he was doing was what he really needed to do." "That he'd seen one too many birthdays." "That he had a right to blow out the last candle for himself." "I couldn't go through with it." "So I go to his room and tell him." "He's not mov" "He's not moving." "So I go over to the machine to make sure it's on." "And I turn the knob on the machine, nothing happens." "I turn..." "David." "I feel like like I have this hole in my belly." "Nothing there." "Just cold air rushing through." "You didn't mean to do it." "It was an accident." "You have to go to the police." " Tell them." " Tell them what?" "Tell them what?" "That a man came into my office and asked me to witness his own murder?" "That a funny thing happened on the way to the scene of the crime?" " It isn't that black and white." " Isn't it?" "I'm a detective, Maddie." "I know a little bit about what convicts a person of a crime." "Fingerprints, prior association with the deceased an eyewitness who saw me crouching over the dead body." "So, what are you gonna do?" "Oh, God." "I better get the door." "Yes, who is it?" "Madelyn Hayes, Lieutenant Tappia, police department." "I'd like to ask you a few questions." "I'm sorry to bother you this hour of the evening" "Morning." "You have a partner at the Blue Moon Detective Agency, a David Addison?" " Yes." " Do you happen to know where he is?" " Right now?" " Tonight, right now." "He could be anywhere." "Is something the matter?" "Police business." "Mr. Addison was at the Golden Hour Rest Home this evening, about 8:00." " Was he there on business?" " Business?" "Business." "See a client, investigate a case." "I'm sorry." "You'll have to ask Mr. Addison about that." "I'd like to." " A man died there tonight." " Died?" "Mr. Lawrence Everette." "Did Mr. Everette have any connection with Blue Moon?" "Ninety-year-old man wheelchair, oxygen tank?" "Had an early morning appointment with you which his daughter said he kept." "Oh, yes." "You know I have an 88-year-old father not in the best of health either." "I know how I'd feel if someone turned off his oxygen stood there, and watched while he suffocated." "That's one someone I'd plan to find." "That's why I'd like to talk to Mr. Addison." "My guess is he'd be a lot of help." "Good night, Ms. Hayes." "David, I just lied to a police detective." "David?" "David." "Hey." "David." "It's me." "In the flesh." "Trust me." "It's flesh, it's just hidden under an inch of scum." "What are you doing?" "Where did you end up last night?" "Here and there." "Here mostly." "Tried going home but the police had their annual ball in my building." "The place is crawling with them." "You could have stayed at my place." "I don't think so." "I heard you lie." "You didn't have to do that." "I wanted to do it." "David, I want to help." " You're acting like a fugitive." " I am a fugitive." " I don't believe that." " It doesn't matter." " Look, I didn't want to leave without" " Leave?" "That's it?" "Break into a person's house, break into a person's life tell her you may have killed a man, then, "Adios, I'll handle it myself"?" " Maddie, I don't have a lot of choices." " Oh, yeah?" "Well, can't do that, David." "I can't let you do that." "You can't go." "There's too many unanswered questions." "What about the man he hired who was supposed to do the job?" "Showed up, heard the commotion and got out." "You don't know that." " What if he was early?" "What if-?" " Listen to me." "I am the one they're looking for." "I caused Mr. Everette's death." " Don't go." " Gotta go." " Don't go." " Gotta go." " Don't- - "Don't go." "Gotta go."" "Maddie." "I'm sorry things turned out like this." "Yeah." "Me too." " Well." " Well." "Will I ever hear from you again?" " What's that mean?" " I mean..." "Are you gonna write, are you gonna call?" "Maddie, I'm not going away to camp." "I'm going underground." "You don't write or call when you're underground." "At least not while you're down there." "Years later, when you come up from underground, then you write." "Big book, becomes a big movie but you don't write while you're down there." "I'll call." "I'll write." "Come here, stupid." "It's okay." "It's okay." " I'll be just fine." " No, it's not that." " What then?" " You smell awful." "Hey, I didn't mean it." "Come here." "Hey, I was only kidding." "Come here." " What was that?" " What was what?" "That, that." "Weren't you here?" "What we did, what was that?" "I don't know." "I didn't do it." " You tell me, what was that?" " What do you mean, "You tell me"?" "It wasn't me, it was you." " You did it." " I did not do it." " Well, I did not do it." " Well if you did not do it and I did not do it, I guess" " It didn't happen." " It didn't happen." " Well." " Well." "Gotta go." "Okay, go." "I'll call, write." "Write, call." "Bye." "Bye." "I'll tell you, it doesn't surprise me, the family putting somebody on this." "Strange case as it is." "Of course, it's not that strange." "Place like this, you get used to people dropping out all the time." "Never have had one get murdered, though." "We're not supposed to let anyone in." "It's been sealed up ever since they carted the old man away." "I understand." "What the hell." "A lot of things I can do with 100 bucks." "Besides, it's not like I knew the guy." "Just one less bedpan to empty, you know?" "Don't forget, this place is out of bounds." "Don't touch nothing, okay?" "Not even the light switch." "Morning, Ms. Hayes." "Missed you at your office." "Thought you might show up here." "Since no one was in, I took a little look." "Someone was in and out of your partner's office in a hurry last night." "Drawers left open, light switch on in the bathroom." "Of course, I could be wrong." "Your partner still hasn't been in touch?" "Nothing's changed since last night." "Too bad." "That makes my job a little harder." "See, I got the prints back from Forensics this morning for the knob on the respirator." "They belong to your Mr. Addison." "A warrant for his arrest." "For the murder of Lawrence Everette." "That being the case I'm sure you will be in touch as soon as you have something to tell me." "The slippers!" "Who is it?" "Ms. Everette, it's Maddie Hayes." "I have to talk to you." "Ms. Everette, I know it's 3 in the morning but believe me, it's very important, please." " I'm sorry about your father." " Are you?" "Of course, that's why I have to talk to you." " I think we can help each other." " Help each other?" "Ms. Everette, why didn't your father tell anyone he could walk?" "You were saying?" "I'm curious why a person who could still walk would choose to constrain himself in a wheelchair and keep it a secret." "Am I allowed to ask you who told you that?" "Of course." "Nobody." " How did you know?" " I didn't." "I think it's time for you to go." "I was in your father's room this morning and I noticed his slippers on the floor, facing his bed." "The way a person might leave them if he walked up to it and took them off before climbing in." "Please, Ms. Hayes, I am not interested in slippers." "My father has just passed away." "Ms. Everette, wouldn't a person in a wheelchair face the other way?" "Wouldn't the same be true for his slippers?" "Please, Ms. Hayes." "My father has just been murdered." "I think your father just committed suicide." "Ms. Everette, he wanted to die." "He came to our office and asked us to be witnesses to his death." "I think what he really wanted was someone to blame for his death." "Please leave now, Ms. Hayes." "I do not wish to discuss this any further." "David didn't go into that room to kill him." "He went in to save him." "I don't expect you to admit anything to me but if your father could walk" "Please!" "I know it's been difficult." "I know you've lost someone who meant a great deal to you." "I'm losing someone too." "I'm looking for Lieutenant Tappia." "It's open." "Lieutenant, excuse me." "We have to talk." "Ms. Hayes." "This is your lucky day." "I'm usually not here" "Lawrence Everette could walk." " What are you saying?" " Lawrence Everette could walk." "I'm saying that that 90-year-old man, who was very sick who wanted to die, got up, walked over to that machine and turned the knob himself." "Is this a fact or a theory?" "His daughter saw him walk." "The day before he died, she went to see him unannounced." "She saw him walk from his dresser to his bed and climb in by himself." "It wasn't easy, but he did it." "When she asked him about it, he got angry, denied it ever happened." "Forensics." "She didn't know what he was planning." "That he was hiding the fact he could walk." "He wanted his suicide to look like murder." "It's Tappia." "I want Everette's life-support equipment redusted." "I'm looking for a second set of prints." "If all this pans out you can tell your partner to come in out of the cold." "I'd like to, lieutenant." "Los Angeles Times?" "Chicago Tribune?" "New York Times?" "Classified, please." "Classified?" "I'd like to place an ad in the personals." "Yes, personals." "All caps." "All caps." ""David A." "Please come home." "All is well."" ""All is well." "We love you."" "" We love you."" ""We love you." "And miss you." "Maddie."" "Thank you, I'll send the check right out." "It's okay." "Oh, I knew you were gonna say that." "Okay." "All right." "I admit it." "I ran into some trouble." "Going underground is not as easy as I thought." "I mean, it's not like you can ask anybody directions." "I'm getting the hang of it, though." "Like yesterday hitched to the edge of town had a conversation with a skinny dog opened a can of beans with my teeth." "Okay, it was a bag of beans." "After dinner, I went to the tracks to hop a train." "It was okay." "None of the other vagabonds would talk to me though." "You're not supposed to eat beans before you hop the train." "Anyway, everything was rolling along and the train stopped." "End of the line." "Vegas." "I'm broke, Maddie." "Say something, will you?" "Oh, David." "Does that mean you'll give me the money?" " Hello." " Hello." " So safe and sound." " Not even a scratch." " It's good to have you back." " Good to be back." " Well." " Well." "When you're done, come into my office, I'll catch you up." "Will do." " Maddie." " David." "Mediocre minds think alike." "You first." "Well, it wasn't really anything important, I just wanted to..." " What did you?" " Me?" "No, I just sort of wanted to say..." " You first." " No, you first." "Okay." "All right." "About the garage." " Well?" " Well, what?" "That's what you came back to talk about." " Isn't it?" " No." "What about the garage?" "Nothing about the garage." "It was a farewell hug." "Goodbye kiss." "It happened to be a false alarm, that's all." "Next time I leave you forever don't go to the trouble." "You have credit for this one." "And that's what you wanted to say?" "That's what I wanted to say." "Okay." "Fine." "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second." "What did you come in here to say?" " Me, say?" " You, say." "Well, it was really pretty much the same thing." "Oh." "Yeah, well I'll see you in my office in a couple minutes." "Yeah." "See you."