"Get up, you." "Get up!" "Jenny?" "Mr. David Graham?" "Yes?" "I'm Jeremy Clayton." "Your son's lawyer." "Would all the passengers for the 6 A.M. plane to Stockholm please report to the main departure hall." "I couldn't come sooner." "Is it tomorrow?" "Yes." "What time?" "The execution is ordered for tomorrow morning, at eight o'clock." "I have my car." "Is that all your luggage, sir?" "Yes." "Would the passengers for the 6 A.M. plane to Stockholm please report to the main departure hall." "What happened?" "Tell me, what happened?" "I brought the transcript of the trial for you." "I..." "I shant be able to read all that." "I'll try later." "Tell me about it now." "On the night of the murder, your son, Alec called for Jenny Cole." "She is of course the" "The murdered girl, yes." "The two of them went to the Stanford flat that had been lent Alec by Robert Standford for the weekend." "Stanford?" "Stanford car people, East End." "In the morning, the girl was found dead." "Your son was picked up, dazed and distracted hardly knowing where he was or what had happened." "He'd been drinking." "And he was charged with the murder." "The prisoner's name is Alec Graham." "It's all been arranged." "There should be a permit waiting for us here." "And, um...he is?" "The prisoner's father." "Mr. Graham?" "I thought I ought to have a word with you before you go in." "These last twenty-four hours can be a hell and your son has adjusted himself, he's he's built a protective shell around himself." "We all feel here, it's a great blessing." "But it's our job to protect the prisoner as much as possible and if we thought a visit was disturbing to him, we'd be forced to cut that visit short." "If you'll follow him, this officer will take your across." "Oh, Mr. Graham, will you leave your bag here, please?" "Would you rather I waited for you here?" "I think you'll find the boy has been well looked after, sir." "Alec?" "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner, forgive me." "Well you see, I--I didn't know." "Can you hear me?" "I was moving about, I was traveling all the time." "This advance that my publishers gave me" "I'd started to work on a new novel that I'd set in Canada, and" "You were working on one of your longer drunks?" "You were in a sanatorium." "Prosecution brought it up." "They thought it'd be good for their case, I suppose." "A drunken father, bad blood." "I came as soon as I could, Alec." "You're drunk now." "Oh, no!" "I haven't had a drink for a long time." "It was just that I couldn't get here sooner." "I'd been very sick." "Even before this happened, you hadn't written for months." "I know, I..." "I'm sorry!" "Forgive me." "But it didn't matter!" "Somehow, we always knew that we were together, you and I." "Remember?" "I remember every letter you did write." "Every word." "In those frightening boarding schools you put me in." "And the weeks - months!" " that would go by without seeing you." "And then you'd show up with a silly little gift of atonement in your pocket" "I'm here now, Alec." "That's the important thing." "And each time, you'd seem to me so handsome, so charming I was glad to forgive you." "I'd forgive you anything." "But not this time, David." "You left me alone." "I couldn't help it, Alec." "Doesn't matter." "Nothing really matters." "Besides, I...understand now about mother." "You just made use of me to get her back." "Look, Alec, we don't got time to go into all that." "Tell me, what happened?" "I know you didn't do this." "No, I don't want to talk about it." "Don't" "But you've got to let me help you!" "No!" "I'm going to die in a few hours and it'll be over." "It's too awful when you think there's hope." "I went through it once, I'm not going through it again." "But you're..." "letting them!" "You're not even trying to help yourself." "But why?" "Why should I wait until I turn into something like you?" "Oh, no, that's" "Long before this happened, I'd started to drink." "What?" "You've got to let me help you!" "Please!" "Alec..." "Alec..." "There must be something I can do." "I'll study the transcript, I'll get more time of it..." "Only you mustn't give up!" "Why not?" "What difference would it have made if you'd died when you were my age?" "Alec..." "Alec!" "..." "What are you trying to do?" "I mustn't even smell a drink." "What are you thinking, that one drink won't make any difference?" "You're wrong, you know, you're wrong, but there's something wrong here there's something that's been overlooked." "I put all the skill, all the knowledge of twenty years of the law into this..." "....and I found nothing." "Well, you're wrong, you're wrong." "All right, then, Graham, face the facts." "Alec was insanely in love with this girl, he admitted it." "That night she told him they were finished, it was over." "They were seen quarreling violently in a public place." "Well, he's innocent!" "There were signs of a violent quarrel at the flat." "Alec's face was scratched, he admits having fought with her." "No, not Alec." "Alec's gentle like his mother." "He lied to me." "He told me she was so drunk he had to leave her at the flat." "The postmortem showed no trace of alcohol in the girl's blood." "Why should he lie to you?" "Clayton...you believe he's innocent, don't you?" "Well..." "Oh, stop acting like a lawyer, man!" "Tell me what you, what you believe as a man." "I fought this with everything I could." "I've had two stays of execution granted and there's nothing more I can do." "Well then let me fight." "Get me an appointment with the Home Office." "The Home Office can't grant a third stay unless .there's some overwhelming new evidence, or an undeniable doubt." "Somewhere there must be something that everybody's overlooked." "What about the girl who was murdered?" "Didn't she have any relatives?" "One sister, Agnes Cole, but before you stir up impossible hopes, I think you should see her." "You'll find her here, this morning." "And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce the lovely ladies of our show." "First we have lovely Yvonne." "Yvonne is what is known as a tall, willowy blonde." "Sometimes she will away, and sometimes she won't." "And here we have Laura..." "Now there's the type of girl who won't go anywhere without her mother." "But boy, can her mother go places." "And here's Deidre, beautiful Deidre." "She likes the little things in life." "Little rolls, little baby toes, a diamond ring..." "I want to see Agnes Cole." "What?" "Agnes Cole." "I'm Agnes Cole." "I'm David Graham, Alec Graham's father." "Miss Cole, Miss Cole, Miss Cole, please, could I have a word with you?" "Your son killed my sister, you keep away from me." "No, Alec could never have done a thing like that" "How could you know?" "You weren't even at the trial." "My sister, Jenny, was a sweet and lovely person before she met Alec." "And then she got so you wouldn't think she was the same girl." "She'd come home, night after night, drunk!" "And then one night she came home, Christmas Eve it was, too and I thought she'd had an accident!" "She was all bruised!" "And her cheeks were all swollen, and her eye" "Well then it couldn't have been Alec, it must have been someone else she must have been going with someone else!" "No, only Alec." "No, it could have been Alec." "What other man was she seeing?" "No one." "Why should a chorus girl go out with a penniless boy especially if he were being cruel to her?" "It doesn't make" "Oh, please, can't any of you tell me something about Jenny Cole?" "You see, I've got to find out, because" "What are you're doing?" "What are you trying to do?" "Dirty the memory of my sister?" "Let me tell you, Mr. Graham, your son killed my sister." "And I'm glad he's going to die!" "Can I help you, sir?" "I want to see Mr. Stanford." "Oh, uh, come in, I've been waiting for you." "Mister..." "Mister Gauge." "Dad, this is Mr. Gauge, you remember I told you about him?" "You told me about Mr. Gauge?" "Yes, I told you about him, he's... he's going to coach me for my bar exams." "I certainly don't remember you telling me about a tutor." "Oh, Dad, you...you were just too busy being enthusiastic about the new model." "Oh, that's quite possible." "When it comes to sports cars, or any cars for that matter I'm not much interested in anything else." "Brian would know better." "Oh Mr. Gauge, this is Mrs. Stanford." "How do you do, Mr. Gauge?" "How do you do." "I'm afraid petrol's in our blood." "You see, I started life as a mechanic." "I've never had the time or the money for tutors." "Will you excuse me, Mr. Gauge?" "I'm in rather a hurry, do you need Henry to drive you?" "Yes!" "He's taking Brian and I over to the proving grounds." "The Stanford sports prototype's going through its ordeal by fire." "It's a very big moment for all of us." "I'm afraid you'll have to talk about this tutor business some other time." "I'm afraid I've got another appointment." "Dad, I think we'd better get this over with." "We need to talk, Mr. Gauge and I." "Then, he'd better come along, we can talk in the car." "Well, we'll go up to the flat, we need quiet." "Perhaps you'd like to come along, Honor?" "I'm afraid I can't." "Oh, is something terribly pressing?" "You know how I hate being alone, especially when the car's being tested." "I'm sorry, Robert but at last I've managed to get an appointment with an MP." "How much longer is this going on?" "Don't you think you've done enough?" "Well what is it?" "Do you think Mister..." "Gauge." "Gauge, Mr. Gauge, is the only man in England that doesn't know a murder's been committed?" "In our flat?" "And by a friend of our son's?" "And that he's going to hang tomorrow?" "I'm afraid Mrs. Stanford's been driving herself unmercifully in an effort to save the poor chap." "I think she's been overdoing it." "Well...now there are no secrets at all!" "Are you coming?" "No, Robert, I'm not." "I don't suppose there's any stopping the army of the righteous." "All right, you can take Henry, I'll drive myself." "Thank you." "Brian, I..." "I hope you'll be able to work something out with Mr. Gauge." "Don't worry about me, Honor, I'll take care of myself." "Yes, of course." "Goodbye, Mr. Gauge." "Goodbye, Mrs. Stanford." "Why did you say I was a tutor?" "Oh excuse me, Mr. Stanford." "What do you want, Graham?" "I came to help Alec." "You're a little late, aren't you?" "I was in hospital, they wouldn't let me leave 'til yesterday." "Did you know about Alec?" "No, they wouldn't allow me to read my mail." "None of it?" "None at all, why?" "Why are you so interested in my mail?" "How did you know who I was?" "I saw your picture in Alec's room." "Alec kept my picture?" "Yes, when he came to stay at weekends he always brought your photograph with him." "You're suprised?" "Yes." "Oh, he used to talk about you by the hour." "In some ways, it was our favorite topic of conversation." "Neither of us had any parents to speak of." "My real father was killed in the Stanford works he was just an ordinary workman." "You didn't really think Honor was my mother, did you?" "I'm adopted." "The Stanfords adopted me when I was eight." "What did Alec say about me?" "I got the impression you were about to write the greatest novel ever written." "Did you?" "In common with quite a lot of other writers I've been about to write it for a very long time." "This is where I live." "I hope I'm not taking you out of your way." "You do want to help, don't you?" "I'm sorry, Graham, I'm going in." "Alec's your best friend, isn't he?" "Well, isn't he?" "Yes." "Yes, he was." "Well, then you wouldn't hide anything that might help him." "You still haven't told me why you said I was a tutor." "Well, that was an impulse." "I wanted to help you." "How?" "Oh, I don't know." "People don't always act logically." "Not everything's thought out." "Is this where it happened?" "Yes." "It is." "At the trial Alec said he thought he heard a door slam as though someone had come in by way of the back door." "Was that someone you, Brian?" "I was playing poker all night." "It's all right, the police checked up." "Hello?" "No, no." "But there is a back door?" "Mr. Brian, I hope you're not expecting lunch." "The cook and the rest were told to take the afternoon off." "Um, hold on a minute." "No, Mrs. Johnson, we're not expecting lunch and you can take the afternoon off, too." "If there's anything I can do, Mr. Brian..." "No no, he's not here now." "Well all right, I'll tell him you rang." "No, there's nothing, thank you." "Look, you know that if you're hiding anything, you're a murderer." "I am?" "Yes." "You do know something." "Now stop wasting Alec's time!" "Well..." "It's about a letter." "What sort of letter?" "Oh, I don't know." "Brian, please!" "We'd been sending you our old magazines..." "Alec said you'd liked the English magazines." "He was always worrying about you" "I know all that!" "Go on." "Well when one of the servants sent off the last package of magazines she thought she saw a piece of blue writing paper between the pages of one of them." "I don't..." "I don't understand." "Slowly, please." "What makes you think that this piece of blue writing paper was a letter?" "Well, I don't know that it was" "You just said it was a letter!" "Well, I think it was something personal." "Personal?" "Family, private!" "Private?" "How..." "What makes you think that this letter is so important?" "Well, it may not be..." "Well anyway, you should have done something about it, the letter..." "...the letter was sent to you!" "I couldn't do anything about it." "But you kept silent, all through the trial!" "And what did you do all through the trial?" "They had to put you in one of those places for alcoholics." "Alec told me about your drinking." "Then you must have known when those magazines were sent off that I should never read that letter!" "Look, Brian, I'm not a detective, you've got to help me!" "You see, sometimes when it's someone one loves, you well, it would only hurt them." "And it wouldn't help Alec!" "Operator?" "Yes, I want to call..." "I want to call to Canada." "Montreal." "Who is this that you're protecting, Brian?" "Who is it?" "What?" "Oh, um..." "Curzon, 7712." "Hello, are you there, caller?" "Hello, hello, are you there, caller?" "I want the Morningsign Hospital." "Yes, I know the number." "It's Montreal 14161." "What?" "I..." "I almost rang you myself once or twice." "There's a delay." "Now, operator, please." "This is urgent!" "It's an emergency, yes." "Yes!" "Yes, a matter of life and death, that's what I I'm sorry, I'm sorry." "That's all right, well as quickly as you can, please." "There's no reason not to tell me now, Brian." "Now is there?" "That only leads to our bedrooms." "That's your room, I don't think that interests me." "What are you doing?" "Trying to find out some of the answers that you won't tell me." "What's in here?" "Oh, that's my mother's-- that's Honor's room." "Was the letter written on this paper?" "Oh, it's a very ordinary kind of paper." "Yes, but it happens to be blue." "Why does she need a gun?" "That's dad's gun." "I don't know how it got here." "Do you know about these things?" "Yes." "Is that loaded?" "Yes, it's fully loaded." "That's the telephone." "No, it's the front door." "What do you want?" "Is your father in?" "No, he's not." "He rang me." "The message said it was urgent, so I thought I'd pop in myself." "Well, he's not here." "He did say it was urgent." "All right, you've convinced me." "You're a devoted Stanford employee." "How dare you speak to me like that, Master Brian." "All complaints should be filed through the appropriate channels." "I'll tell him you popped in." "Please do." "Who was that?" "Vickie Harker." "Dad's secretary." "Or used to be." "Why does she put on that act?" "Well, she goes to the pictures!" "Secretaries do, you know." "What have you got against her?" "Hello?" "It's Montreal!" "Hello?" "Hello?" "Give me Dr. Pollack, please." "Go quickly, it's long distance." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Dad's just driven up!" "You'll have to hurry." "Hello, Dr. Pollack?" "This is Graham." "David Graham." "No, I'm calling you from London, England." "Are you there?" "You have to hurry!" "Look, some magazines and newspapers were sent to me." "Well, they should have been kept in my locker with my other mail." "Can you hear me?" "Well, look in one of those magazines was a note written on a piece of blue paper." "Look, it got slipped in with one of the magazines by mistake." "Now listen, you've got to find me that note." "Well, ring me if you find anything." "He's just getting out of the lift." "Oh..." "Curzon 7712." "Seven, seven, one, two." "Call me the moment you find anything!" "Who'll pay for the call?" "I'll pay for the call." "Tell him I'll wire him the money." "Stop him." "At the door." "We'll pay." "We'll wire you the money!" "No, I'm quite all right, thank you." "Only, please, please call." "It's my son's life." "Curzon, that's right." "Can I trust you, Brian?" "Yes." "Yes, I promise." "Brian?" "Brian?" "Brian!" "Your name's not Gauge!" "It's Graham!" "David Graham!" "Alec's father!" "My wife just telephoned me." "She's on her way back here." "She thought she recognized you!" "Why have you done this?" "I was only trying to help you." "Help me how?" "What's this nonsense about helping?" "Well speak up!" "I was going to tell you, but you didn't give me the chance." "Help me, help me?" "Well, protect you, then, if you don't like the words I use." "Protect me from what?" "What makes you think I need protection?" "I thought there might be some unpleasantness at the office, and..." "I thought it'd be better to talk here." "I thought it wouldn't look good for Stanford's." "All right, all right." "I suppose you meant well." "But next time, confide in me, Brian." "I'm your father!" "Remember that, old lad!" "Exactly what did you hope to get from us, Mr. Graham?" "Help." "Why did you think we could help?" "I just came to find out if you could." "I don't think you understand what we've been through, Mr. Graham." "I think we're entitled to be left alone." "I'd follow up anything, Mr. Stanford anything that offers the slightest hope." "Then you still think there's a hope." "Yes." "Yes, I do." "Then you know something." "No...but I hope to soon." "We befriended your son." "We treated him as if he were one of our own." "To bring that poor girl in here and murder her..." "I'm asking you to leave, Mr. Graham!" "It's important for me to have access to this flat." "There must be something here that will lead me to the truth." "Mr. Graham?" "I don't understand why you had to..." "We want to do everything we can to help you." "Honor!" "..." "You're to do nothing more." "We're so distressed." "I want no member of this family  to have anything even remotely to do with this case." "I want it forgotten!" "Finished!" "Your son and mine were just friends at the university." "You can't expect us to do anything more than we've done!" "Hello?" "Yes, Stanford speaking." "No, no tests without me, do you understand?" "Well tell them all to wait 'til I get there." "No, she's not to be touched until I've ripped her apart myself." "Alright." "Miss Vickie Harker called to see you." "It was something to do with the office." "How dare you intrude in this way?" "Mr. Graham, what can I do to help you?" "Why are you doing this to me?" "Can't you understand what I'm going through?" "I'm sorry." "This thing has affected me more than I thought." "Hey Brian!" "I'm going out for a walk." "Would you like to come?" "I can't, Dad." "I can't leave the flat." "I mean, I'd rather not." "What does Vickie Harker mean to this family?" "Mr. Graham?" "If you want to see Miss Harker, Henry can drive you there." "Nothing very luxurious, Mr., um..." "Gauge." "Gauge." "Still, it's a cozy little corner, as you might see." "Excuse my hair being so untidy, but I never expected anybody to see." "Here you are." "Oh, thank you." "Look at this." "Recently acquired because of my daughter's latest promotion." "It was your daughter I was wanting to see, Mrs. Harker." "Oh, Vickie's never around at this hour." "No, I thought, well..." "Here you are, have a drink." "No, thank you." "C'mon, it'll do you good." "No, please!" "I'll have a cigarette if you don't mind." "Oh, come off it." "One old tippler can always smell another a mile away." "You'll never give it up." "We never do!" "Why try at your age?" "Come on, have a drink." "No, thank you." "Come on, drink up!" "Now, then, what's all this about?" "You needn't be delicate with me, Mr. Gauge, I'm a woman who's lived." "I saw you out there in the car, looking very grand." "But it's mostly Mrs. Stanford's car, isn't it?" "Yes, that's right." "Yeah, it would be a dark day when I didn't know where I was going." "What'd she send you for?" "Well, there are one or two questions I'd like to ask you." "Well, you tell Mrs. Stanford if she wants any evidence for a divorce.... ...she doesn't have to send a detective, she can come around and get it herself." "No, but now that I am here, if I could just ask you whether" "Well, well my Vickie was right after all." "Fancy Mrs. Stanford giving up a man like Stanford, eh?" "And here was I thinking that Vickie was throwing away the best years of her life." "Not that Mr. Stanford's mean, you know." "Oh, no." "She's just been given a job at the head of one of his most important agencies." "Yes, I did know that." "Well, it just goes to show you, Mr. Gauge I'm not a very good judge of life, am I?" "Do you know what I said to my Vickie when she told me about the promotion?" "I said, "Vickie, my girl, you've had it." "Absolutely had it."" "Farewell gift, bon voyage." "Farewell, my love!" "One of the little pleasures in life, Mr Gauge, I can now give myself." "Just to hear it ring and know that you don't have to go anywhere." "It's wonderful." "Why don't you have another drink?" "It might take the tremble out for your hands." "Oh, I'm much tired." "Just tell your lady she's got nothing to worry about." "I'll see my Vickie cooperates!" "But she's not to start getting any fancy ideas about alimony." "Because we're not throwing good money down the drain!" "If she starts for asking for any fancy amount, she better watch out." "Watch out for what?" "Well, you never know, Mr. Gauge." "Somebody might just mention just supposing, possibly. about Mrs. Stanford and that boy!" "What boy?" "The boy that's being hung tomorrow." "Alec?" "Um, Alec Graham?" "My Vickie once said to me, "I wouldn't be at all surprised if--"" "Alec and Mrs. Stanford?" "Is that what you mean?" "Why should Vickie say that?" "Tell me." "Who are you?" "Why aren't you drinking?" "What have you come for?" "I don't believe you are a private detec" "Tell me!" "Oh no!" "I'll tell you nothing!" "Nothing..." "No more to say!" "Not another word!" "I've had a hard life." "Not another word!" "Alec and Mrs. Stanford, what was it?" "Get out!" "Get out, I think!" "Mrs." "Harker!" "Get out!" "But why should Mrs. Stanford have killed this girl?" "She was in love with Alec, she was jealous of the girl." "Oh, it's utterly fantastic!" "Something utterly fantastic happened." "So fantastic that no one thought of it." "Graham, has it ever occurred to you to wonder who was paying my fees?" "It's the Stanfords, they've been paying me." "Oh, well, what does the prove?" "Stanford testified they were together that night." "Well, Stanford could be lying, too." "They both lied, one for the other!" "Do they strike you as people who have a secret of this kind on their minds?" "Everyone has a secret, it's not always written in the face." "Mr. Graham, I'm very sorry, but your son doesn't wish to see you." "The prisoner doesn't wish to see you, sir." "Alec?" "I don't believe you." "You think you're protecting him, but" "Mr. Graham, I told him that you said it was urgent." "Well then, go back and tell him that there's still a chance." "Tell him we mustn't give up fighting!" "Oh, please!" "He told me that he doesn't want another chance." "Then tell him that" "He doesn't want to see you, Mr. Graham." "Your son has given himself over to other hands." "More compassionate, perhaps, than those of the Earth." "You mean he's given up hope." "Well I won't have it!" "All of you trying to make it look so humane and decent." "But you can't!" "I want my son to live!" "I'm not going to let you kill him." "Mr. Maxwell, I don't think you got the point of my last question." "Why have you called a press conference a few hours before Alec Graham is due to be hanged?" "And why not?" "Every time a particularly sensational execution is about to take place your campaign for the abolition of capital punishment seems to flare up." "Oh, no." "No, it's just that we get more newspaper attention when there's a legalized killing about to take place." "You see, we feel that the public should know the full horror which happens when the state decides to take the life of a human being." "The cold, calculated planning." "The way the executioner and his assistant make sure of the weight of the prisoner." "And then they check on the rope." "The rope that hangs down from the scaffold." "They'll be doing that tonight." "That scaffold which is so conveniently placed in the cell next to Alec Graham." "What is it that you supporters of the bill actually object to?" "Is it what you call legalized killing?" "Or is it the method of killing?" "I should say it's the killing." "What about war?" "Oh, war..." "But don't you see that even in war the prime objective is not to kill the enemy, it's to protect yourself." "And what about the victim's relatives?" "Her sister, for example, how's she supposed to feel?" "And what about Alec Graham's father?" "Why should he be put through all this torture?" "Gentlemen, this is the only punishment which is irrevocable." "Now can we be absolutely certain that we've never made a mistake?" "And that we won't ever make a mistake?" "Are you suggesting that young Graham is not guilty?" "I'm not interested in whether young Graham is guilty or innocent." "Another double." "Don't." "Why?" "You mustn't drink now." "Alec is relying on you." "There's no one else!" "What do you want?" "Somebody told me something about you...who was it?" "Names..." "I can't do names." "They're too hard!" "How long have I been here?" "Has it happened?" "No, no." "You've only been here a few minutes." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Clayton here." "Hi, this is Graham." "Well, I'm glad you called." "The Home Office will see you at 7:30 tonight." "And Alec?" "He's still refusing." "He won't talk to me, either." "Well Alec must talk to me." "You've got to make him talk to me, I" "I don't know what to suggest." "Are you there?" "Yeah." "You won't forget?" "7:30 tonight." "No!" "I won't forget. 7:30." "7:30 tonight." "Mr. Graham?" "Alec will talk to me." "Please let me go to the prison with you." "He will see me." "Why are you doing all this for my son?" "What difference does it make, why." "Hm, quite." "Why not?" "You must stay sober, you mustn't drink any more." "Please, Mr. Graham." "From the moment we set eyes on him, you've attempted to help him!" "That isn't true!" "You didn't anything you could to encourage him!" "And one more, you didn't engage in ordinary..." "I told you" "Please, Robert." "I told you I wanted you to have nothing more to do with him." "Now why did you bring him here?" "You know I didn't want him here!" "We were on our way to the prison when he broke down completely." "Where else could I have taken him?" "Now you just listen to me." "I've had enough, see." "You're my wife and you'll do as I tell you, do as I tell you!" "Robert, you're hurting me!" "No more." "Stay away from him!" "His son means more to you than I do, doesn't he?" "Admit it!" "Admit what?" "Robert." "Have I ever shamed you?" "But you've done nothing but humiliate me since the day we were married." "Would I have gone to her if my wife had given me the love I needed so bad?" "Love?" "You didn't marry me because you loved me." "You married me because I was something different." "Something you'd never had before!" "So you thought you wanted me." "What you really wanted was the pleasure of trying to break me and then drag me in your own dirt." "Robert Stanford." "The mighty Robert Stanford!" "You're like a sick schoolboy peering through half-open windows." "Don't you say that to me." "Honor?" "Honor!" "Keep away from me." "No, Honor, don't leave me alone!" "Keep away!" "Honor!" "Do they do that often?" "Never as bad as that." "Your call came." "What call?" "There was a letter." "Well what did it say?" "David Honor's been wonderful to me, she's she's always stood up for me, and" "Well, you stood up for her, and now you're even." "What was in the letter?" "I wrote it down." ""There's no other way out."" ""Try to forgive me."" "How was it signed?" "It wasn't signed." "How did you know that it existed?" "The morning that Jenny was found murdered, I I drove my father and Honor in from the country" "They'd spent the night there?" "That's what they said." "Later that morning, I was in the living room the phone rang, I answered it it was the police, they wanted to talk to Father so I went over to his room." "I could hear Father and Honor in here." "I knocked, but they didn't hear me, so I just came in." "Father was standing there." "Honor was facing him." "They both looked ghastly." "Honor had a gun in her hand;" "it was Dad's gun, the one you saw." "When she saw me coming, she quickly tried to hide it." "I told them that the police wanted to talk to them." "What did they say?" "Well Dad asked me to tell them that he'd be at their disposal anytime they wanted." "Then I went over to the phone, here..." "I picked up the phone, and while I was on the phone, I I could see the two of them in that mirror, there..." "I thought I saw Honor put a piece of paper in amongst some old magazines on the table, there." "Later, of course, a secretary sent the magazines off to you." "I didn't think anything about it at the time." "Until Dad and Honor started to ask about it." "Now, wait you said you saw her trying to hide it?" "I suppose so." "Then you didn't try to find out what it was?" "I didn't want to know." "Why not?" "You see, I I thought that Honor and and Alec..." "Well, one night, I saw Honor..." "We'd better go now, if you'll feel all right." ""There's no other way out."" ""Try to forgive me."" "On the morning after Jenny Cole was found murdered you wrote this suicide note." "Why?" "I didn't write that note." "Who did?" "Who did?" "That morning my husband tried to kill himself." "Your husband?" "Yes." "I'd known about him and the Harker girl for a long time." "The night of the murder, he was not with me." "He was with her." "He was afraid it would all come out." "The scandal, and it was too much for him." "He tried to kill himself." "I told him that I'd say that he'd spent the night with me, and  there'd be no scandal." "That is, if Miss Harker agreed not to say anything." "Apparently, Miss Harker agreed." "Your husband, a man like Robert Stanford threatened to commit suicide because of a breath of scandal." "I don't believe you." "You're lying." "No, I'm telling you the truth." "You're lying." "You lied in the witness box, and you're lying now!" "Mister Graham there's not much time." "We'd better go, if we're going." "I'll drive you." "It's not breaking the regulations that I'm concerned about." "I'm thinking of the prisoner, your son." "But do you suppose I'm not thinking of him?" "Do you think I want him to be tortured, and..." "There's a chance of saving his life, it's a risk worth taking." "Wait here a moment." "I've got to see him alone at first." "No." "I must speak to him privately." "No, no." "If this is a trick, I want to know." "I want to be told before it happens." "I don't want to be dragged, I want to know!" "Honor!" "Alec, darling." "Alec..." "Alec..." "I wanted to tell you something." "I don't know if it'll mean anything to you, but but I want you to know, anyway." "You mean so very much to me." "For a long time, I didn't realize it myself." "You brought something to me I'd never had." "Something to me I needed, badly." "Gentleness." "And someone to love." "Does this mean anything to you?" "This moment?" "Yes, it does." "I thought about it a great deal." "I wondered, perhaps, if I should try and see you here." "But now..." "No, I'm glad you came." "Honor would you kiss me?" "Father!" "Alec!" "I'll wait outside." "Oh, father, I'm..." "Alec." "...sorry I was cruel to you." "Oh, that doesn't matter now." "Father I want to live, I don't want to die, please save me!" "Alec, listen, there is hope." "Hope!" "How?" "I've got an appointment, shortly, with the Home Office." "No, I'm not drunk." "I've been drinking, but, look, I'm not drunk." "Come, sit down." "Alec, look, you've got to trust me." "Yes." "I've got to ask you a few questions." "Yes, Father." "What did Mrs. Stanford mean just now?" "When?" "Has there ever been anything between you?" "Between Honor and me?" "Yes." "Yes, late one night, she was seen coming out of your room, Alec." "Oh, that must have been Christmas Eve." "Well, what was she doing in your room?" "Well, uh..." "You see I'd been looking forward to Christmas for weeks." "I expected to spend the holidays with Jenny." "I could hardly study." "Everything I saw or felt or touched was Jenny, I wanted her so much." "Yes, yes, I understand." "And then and then suddenly Jenny said she was too busy even to see me." "Well, Honor knew how upset I was." "What was it you asked me about, Father?" "About Mrs. Stanford in your room." "I suppose she heard me crying." "She came into the room to comfort me." "Christmas Eve somebody said something about Christmas Eve..." "What that the hope?" "That you thought there was something between Honor Stanford was that the hope?" "Let me think..." "Don't lie to me, Father!" "Alec, they're going to send me away, they won't let us stay together anyore." "But please, there is hope, you mustn't give up!" "What hope?" "Why do you say there's hope?" "You're lying." "Just as you did about mother, you, you you wouldn't let me see her unless she promised to come back to you!" "That's true, that's perfectly true, but I'm not lying now, I" "There's nothing to be done, they're going to kill me!" "No, Alec, no, my boy..." "Stop them, don't let them!" "Now, please, just give us one more minute!" "Father, you come back!" "Promise me you'll come back!" "Yes, I promise you, Alec." "No matter what!" "Take it easy, son, take it easy now." "No!" "No!" "Yes I'm in love with Alec." "I never tried to do anything about it." "I knew nothing would come of it, ever." "But there all the same." "What happened?" "Is there any hope?" "There's always hope." "Look out for Honor, Brian." "Home Office, Henry." "There's been some horrible combination of circumstances the boy is innocent, he" "Every relative believes that." "It would be unnatural of you to think otherwise." "And yet murders are done by someone." "The law must be guided by facts, not faith or justice would never be meted out." "But there's a chance if..." "I've only just arrived." "Mr. Graham was confined in a sanatorium." "Yes." "Yes, I know." "But what could you hope to do in a few hours that all the agencies of the law have been unable to do in all these weeks?" "People will tell me things that they don't tell everybody." "This office undertook long investigations of its own after the trial." "I myself spoke to psychiatrists who examined your son." "They told the prison medical officer the judge that presided at the trial counsel for the prosecution governor of the prison." "I'm deeply sorry, Mr. Graham." "Please." "Forgive me." "May I speak?" "What is to be gained by this execution?" "After all these thousands of years of torture and hanging haven't we advanced at all?" "Haven't we learned anything?" "Please, please give him another day." "Another twenty-four hours." "What, you again?" "He's always asking for Christmas carols, this chap, he's crazy." "Oh, come on, just let up a bit." "Beat it out!" "Where were you on the silent night?" "Christmas Eve." "I was at home." "With my family." "With my son." "And your son." "He always spent his holidays with us." "Didn't you know that?" "How drunk are you?" "Oh, yes, you were a father to him." "I'm very drunk." "But not enough." "Well, stop drinking." "D'ya hear?" "Stop it!" "He's waiting for you." "You promised you'd go to him." "How can you bear to let him face it alone?" "I don't know, I don't know, I..." "I don't know anything." "You don't know what it's like to be alone, do you?" "Do you?" "How drunk are you?" "It's frightful to be alone." "Ah, go to Alec, go to your son!" "Stop shouting at me!" "You mustn't let him face it alone." "I can't stand it." "Can't stand it..." "Can't stand it!" "Sometimes a man has to make big decisions terrible decisions and carry them with him alone for the rest of his life." "Can you understand what I'm saying?" "And you won't go to him?" "You won't go to Alec?" "I can't." "I can't." "You see this?" "Now, this blacks out everything." "This sort of golden egg." "But it can't black out the man with the rope." "Black him out." "Black him out." "I see a hand and in the hand is a golden locket." "It opens and there's Alec's face!" "Someone had a locket like that." "Used to sit there opening it and closing it opening it and closing it." "Sometimes in the middle of the night that hand's there and the locket and Alec's face!" "That's why I'm staying with you tonight." "But we mustn't let it get out of control!" "That's the wonderful thing about the car." "Control!" "You step on the accelerator she roars!" "You let it go, and she whines!" "I'm gonna test her tonight." "Do you know what the proving grounds are, Graham?" "They're insurance against the unforeseen." "The sudden curve in the road." "The pothole!" "The obstacle!" "All foreseen." "All controlled." "And I'm gonna test it tonight." "Tonight..." "Well, they'll still be there!" "I told them to wait until I got there." "Christmas Eve..." "Christmas Eve..." "Christmas Eve..." "Christmas Eve..." "Christmas Eve..." "Christmas Eve..." "Christmas Eve..." "Christmas Eve..." "Christmas Eve..." "Christmas Eve..." "Christmas Eve..." "Christmas Eve..." "It was her sister, Agnes." "Agnes Cole." "What's the time?" "Eh?" "What time is it?" "I'm sorry, I've got no watch." "What's the day?" "I beg pardon?" "What day of the week is it?" "It's Tuesday, near Wednesday now." "Here, here, what's the row?" "We're all locked up!" "Agnes Cole." "I want to see Agnes Cole." "Huh?" "Try the little cafe down the alley." "The girls usually get around there." "Agnes!" "Christmas Eve." "No, no." "Don't do that." "You said your sister went out on Christmas Eve." "Don't remember what I said." "No, no, no, you said you said that she came home drunk?" "Yes." "All black and blue." "Alec wasn't with her on Christmas Eve." "No, I've got witnesses who can prove it." "She refused to see him on Christmas Eve." "She was seeing somebody else." "She was meeting somebody else, secretly." "Yes, yes, somebody who didn't wish to be seen with her." "Well...well, I-- ...Jenny didn't tell me!" "It was that man that murdered Jenny!" "I didn't know..." "Mr. Graham!" "Where is Vickie?" "Vickie!" "I'll call the police!" "Where is she?" "Who is it?" "It's Alec Graham's father." "Oh, so that's who are you." "Miss Harker, I..." "I..." "What are you doing here?" "What do you want?" "Miss Harker..." "Shortly after the murder, you were given a much better job, weren't you?" "Weren't you?" "He has no right to question you!" "Answer me." "Answer me." "Yes, my promotion was after the trial." "Vickie!" "Why did Stanford want to see you at the flat today?" "I don't know "why," I couldn't reach him." "Don't lie to me." "How much did he pay you that was worth my son's life?" "Pay me?" "Yes." "What did he pay you that made it worthwhile to stand by and be silent while a young man dies?" "What did Stanford pay you?" "Why should Mr. Stanford have paid me?" "What am I supposed to keep silent about?" "The murder." "The murder of Jenny Cole." "On the night of the murder, where were you?" "Vickie!" "Vickie!" "I was..." "Shut up, Vickie!" "Don't say anything until you've seen Mr. Stanford!" "I was at Brighton." "My aunt has a cafe there." "I sometimes help with the weekend rush." "You fool." "You little fool!" "I thought he'd paid you to be his alibi, but but he didn't have to pay you, he..." "Mrs. Stanford would never have thought of checking on it she'd have taken his word!" "She'd have taken Stanford's word that he spent the night with you!" "She didn't say she went alone to Brighton." "Maybe she was accompanied by a certain gentleman." "Vickie!" "Shut up, Mother." "Robert Stanford was not with me the night of the murder." "Vickie!" "Vickie!" "Wait for me." "You saw him?" "Yes." "It was one of the clerks." "The undersecretary had gone to bed." "But you told him that Mrs. Stanford was willing to testify that she'd lied?" "There was a report from the prison of Mrs. Stanford's unfortunate visit to Alec." "They couldn't accept her testimony." "Stanford!" "Let them, let them question Stanford!" "You've got to try to understand something, Graham." "It happens every time there's to be an execution." "They get dozens of last-minute alibis, sometimes even confessions!" "The clerk told me the Home Office had already got four false confessions on this case." "It's as I told you this morning, only some concrete evidence something tangible!" "I'll be at my flat." "I'll be at my flat!" "Stanford!" "Stanford!" "Come out!" "Come out of that car!" "There's still time, you can't run away!" "I've seen Vickie Harker!" "You weren't with her!" "And Agnes Cole!" "You murderer!" "Help me!" "Help me stop him!" "That's Robert Stanford in the car" "He's a murderer!" "Stanford." "She's wonderful she's jumpy and" "The guy must be a drunk." "No, he's not drunk." "Take no notice of him." "Well, she stood up to it." "She took everything I could give her." "Stanford." "Stanford." "Well, what do you want, Graham?" "Telephone the Home Office tell them that you killed Jenny Cole." "You're too late." "You know that, don't you?" "No, no, not if you telephone." "Why, you're overexcited, Graham." "You've lost control." "Look at your hands." "They're trembling!" "You can hardly speak." "If Alec dies, I..." "You can't get away with this, Stanford, I know the truth." "What truth do you know?" "I know why Alec kept insisting that that girl was drunk." "That counted against him at the trial." "But she wasn't drunk, of course, she was she was just pretending to be drunk." "She wanted to get rid of Alec because she was waiting for you!" "And you arranged it that way!" "It was exciting, wasn't it, to have the girl brought to you by a young man." "It was much safer, too, because nobody would suspect anything." "What happened then, Stanford?" "Did she want too much money?" "Was that it?" "Or...or was it one of your rages?" "Now listen to me, Graham." "I'd like you to try and think clearly for once in your life." "I'd like to do something for you." "I feel sorry for what's happened." "I'd like to try and make it up in some way." "Perhaps even give you a few shares in Stanford's." "Enough so that, for the rest of your life, you wouldn't have to worry." "Are you trying to buy me?" "Go away, Graham." "Don't bother me." "I've offered to keep you in whiskey for the rest of your life." "What they want, and what you'll never get is something tangible." "What do you think you're doing?" "Are you trying to frighten me?" "What proof have you got?" "Put that thing down!" "Agnes Cole." "Agnes will be like her sister Jenny." "Only she'll be cheaper." "Vickie!" "Is it Mr. Clayton's apartment?" "Vickie Harker loves me." "When it comes to the point, she won't do anything to hurt me." "Well, get me Mr. Clayton." "Well, come on, Graham, what proof have you got?" "Speak up, speak up!" "Wake him up, then!" "They've been searching for months." "Police, detectives, lawyers - searching, searching!" "And nobody's searched harder than I have!" "There's nothing to connect me with her." "Do you understand that?" "I was never seen with Jenny Cole." "Hello, Clayton, this is Graham." "Look, you asked me to find something tangible." "You don't know what it means to be a success." "Do you?" "Tangible, tangible!" "Well I finally got something tangible." "You don't know what success means." "Do you, Graham?" "Yes, I understand what it means." "Well, you see all this?" "This is me!" "Stanford's in here, with me now." "And you see this?" "That's you!" "Which do you think they'll believe?" "He's threatening to kill me." "To kill you?" "Stanford?" "Are you there?" "Look, if anything happens to me tell Alec to live a full and wonderful life." "This is your gun, Stanford." "Now I'm being realistic." "You won't save Alec by killing me!" "I know that." "Stay away from me, Graham." "I don't want to hurt you." "Don't make me angry, Graham!" "What are you afraid of, huh?" "You've already killed Jenny Cole!" "And you're going to kill Alec!" "Don't talk to me about Alec!" "Don't tell me how much you love him!" "What have you ever done for him?" "What'd you ever give him?" "Nothing!" "I've given him more than you have in all of your life!" "What was he to you?" "Someone to weep over when you're drunk?" "What are you doing?" "Graham!" "You didn't think I'd let Alec die, just like that, did you?" "Graham!" "Graham!" "Father!" "Father!" "The door's locked..." "Is there another door?" "Well, yes, it's around this way." "Robert!" "Well, let's try the other door, quickly!" "Honor." "Honor." "I didn't do it!" "He killed himself!" "He's dead." "Yeah...yeah." "Oh, but I didn't do it!" "It was...the way he..." "What are you doing, Brian?" "Honor!" "Tell him to stop it!" "Tell him to stop it..." "But I didn't do it!" "I swear, I swear, I swear I didn't do it!" "Mr. Clayton, this is Brian Stanford." "I think you'd better ring the Home Office right away." "My father's just killed David Graham." "Yes." "Yes." "Now you can stop them hanging Alec." "All right." "All right, Mr. Clayton."