"Hiya." "I'm not Hitchcock." "I'm Alfred, his stand-in." "Someone has to stand here while the lights and the cameras are adjusted and all that stuff, see?" "And the old boy just don't have the time." "I got the job 'cause I look like him." "That's what they say, but not to my face." "I see they're rolling him in." "You suppose I'll look like that when I'm his age?" "That will be all, Alfred." "Arrivederci, daddy-o." "Cheeky fellow, isn't he?" "Unfortunately, he may soon be more than a stand-in." "We are planning to send out a second company to tour the provinces, and Alfred will play my part." "Which brings us to tonight's thrilling shocker." "It is called "Jonathan"." "Everything Jonathan ever told me I remember." "Even what he said about the water in the boathouse." "Was I five or six when I asked him about Mother?" ""The waves," he said. "Your mother's dying was like the waves." ""Drawn away by a tide," ""no longer an individual wave," ""but once again a part of a total surface. "" "Every important moment of my life is a moment I had with Jonathan." "Every incident, everything in this room is a memory of Jonathan." "This table, we made it together." "It took nearly six months, because Jonathan insisted it had to be perfect." "And this, for the men's doubles at the club." "We'd lost the first set, and were down four games in the second." "And Jonathan looked at me with that funny little grin he had, as much as to say," ""All right, Gil, it's all right." ""There's still time, and we can do it!"" "And we did." "We were the perfect team." "Why, I wouldn't even call him "Dad" or "Father," like other kids did." "To me, he was always Jonathan." "Jonathan, I was right about Rosine." "She made you think I was spoiled and unreasonable." "Gil!" "Well..." "I expected you hours ago." "Hello, Rosine." "I read your wire on the way down." ""Jonathan dead." "Please come." "In sorrow. "" "Couldn't you even use the whole 10 words?" "Well, I tried to call you while he was ill, but nobody could locate you in Mexico." "Then yesterday he had a relapse, so I took a chance you'd gone back to the university and I wired you there." ""In sorrow. " I liked that part." "I thought that was the best part." "Gil." "I know how you must feel." "On top of everything else, you're probably exhausted after that all-night drive." "I stopped at the funeral parlor on the way down." "He looks fine." ""Well laid out," I suppose that's the right phrasing." "I delayed the funeral to wait for you." "That was very thoughtful of you." "The man in the grey flannel shroud, the usher, told me it'll be tomorrow." ""Tomorrow," he said." "And all the while he was looking out the window, seeing how they were doing with the big, black limousine." "They're getting it shined up." "By tomorrow, they ought to have a pretty high gloss on it, don't you think, Rosine?" "You know, this isn't pleasant for me, either." "Jonathan lies in a box and you're left with nothing." "Nothing but your youth and your looks." "The car and this house, and the furs and the jewels..." "No, it isn't pleasant for you at all, is it, Rosine?" "I'm trying to remind myself that you're his son." "And it's for that reason that I'm not gonna lose my temper, Gil." "Does your heart feel heavy that he's lying in the vault next to my mother?" "Do you feel badly that there's room for Jonathan, but there is no room for you?" "Well, maybe you want my little niche, too." "Huh?" "You've taken everything else." "Take that, and you're welcome to it." "We made such a perfect team in everything." "Tennis, golf, swimming, everything." "All these cups..." "And you won them all together, I know." "Do you?" "Do you really know?" "Yes." "Yes, I know how much you meant to each other." "You never gave me a chance to forget it." "I remember when we won this one." "This was the doubles at the men's club." "It didn't take you long, Rosine, to tie him in knots." "Or untie me." "Gil, that was for your own good." "He wanted you to have friends your own age to live your own life and stand on your own two feet." "So you could stand on his." "Well, he was entitled to something of his own, too." ""Something of his own, too. "" "I remember when he said the same words." "I thought they were his words, and something inside of me died when he said them." "They were your words, weren't they?" "From the very beginning, they were your words." "I remember when it was." "We were out on the lake, Jonathan and I, and it was just when we were coming up to the boathouse." "Here we..." "Jonathan." "The pills are in my shirt pocket." "You all right?" "That's better." "The old gray mare." "Now, you see," "I've been warning you for a long time to get yourself a younger partner." "A team's only as good as its weakest player, and it looks like I've just about had it." "But I can remember a time not too long ago when I could take you at least three out of four sets on the tennis court." "Yeah!" "Three out of five, Jonathan." "All right." "I could swim with you on my back out to that island." "Bring me home, too." "Yeah." "Look, son, when you go back to college next week," "I want you to make friends." "Not like last year, understand?" "I'm not going back, Jonathan." "What do you mean you're not going back?" "Look, I talked to Dr. Mack about your heart." "Oh." "Oh, he told you, huh?" "Well, then, now, come on." "He also told you that this wasn't too serious, provided I took it easy." "Sure I could go on for years, but not with you hanging around here, watching every move I make." "No, sir, back to school for you, and this time, you're gonna be one of the gang and mix with the fellows." "Dad, I hate school." "I hate the fellows in it." "Now you give it another try." "It'll be all right, you'll see." "But they're so immature, they're so stupid." "Jonathan, compared to you, they're..." "Well, they're just plain dull!" "That's very flattering, son, but it's not the case at all and you know it." "But it is." "Look." "Yeah?" "Suppose that I forget school." "Suppose that you and I take off somewhere, like Mexico." "Mexico?" "Look here, young fellow, I've got an office and I work in it, remember?" "How do you think I support us?" "I'm sorry." "No, son, I want you to go out and meet some nice girls your own age, have a ball, have..." "I don't wanna be with girls my own age." "What would you do if I went off and I led my own life?" "Well, I'd probably settle down and then marry again." "Marry?" "Gil, your mother died 18 years ago." "And during that time, I never thought I could meet another woman that I would really care for." "Well, I thought that you and I had such a great life together that you wouldn't even want..." "Sure, son." "Of course we do." "But, you know, when a man gets to be about my age, he misses having a woman around to fuss over him, put him in his place." "Besides, a man is entitled to something of his own." "You know such a woman?" "Yes." "Oh." "And you intend marrying her, is that it?" "That's right." "Son, I didn't mean to break this news to you just like this, but maybe it's better..." "It's all right." "I mean, very surgical, the operation was a success." "There was hardly any bleeding." "I'm sorry." "It's all right, son." "Who is she?" "My secretary." "I think you'll like her." "She had a pretty rough time from her first husband." "What does she look like?" "I think she's very lovely." "When are you getting married?" "Next month." "That's why I want you to begin developing your own life, be with your friends, with kids your own age." ""Kids my own age!"" "Gil, you just don't..." "Oh, she fooled you!" "Wasn't it enough for you that she was married before?" "She did not fool me." "She loves me very much," "I love her, and so will you!" "Well, I hate her!" "And I always will hate her." "And I wish she were dead." "There is nothing I could do to prevent you from marrying Jonathan." "I couldn't compete with you, Rosine." "Well, I tried to be friendly, Gil." "I'll see you at the funeral tomorrow." "You're not staying here in the house?" "With you?" "You hate me that much, huh?" "All right." "I'll go to a hotel and you stay here." "Well, after all, he left you the house." "It belongs to you." "You know the contents of the will." "That's interesting." "Yes, he read it to me last year." "I see." "Well, Rosine, I shan't ever live in this house again." "You may have it." "The tennis courts, and the lake, the lock, stock and barrel." "Isn't there anything you wanna ask me about your father?" "No." "But how did he die?" "And why?" "Where were you, Rosine, when he had a relapse?" "No questions." "Just the overwhelming, driving need to know how did you manage to kill him?" "Here you are." "Go ahead, drink it." "It'll do you good." "Sherry." "That's kind of an unusual drink for you." "Why?" "It's so mild." "You see," "I knew about your drinking, Rosine, the week after you married him." "I didn't wanna say anything to him because I knew how much it would hurt him." "Well, I doubt if he'd have believed you." "Like most of your ideas, that's a fantasy in your mind." "'Cause I drink neither more nor less than most people." "Well, I thought the funeral was very simple and dignified, didn't you?" "Just the way your father would've liked it." "It was a good show, Rosine." "Can't you say one sentence that isn't horrible?" "All through the whole thing, from the mock sermon to the mock tears, I watched you." "I could see the wheels going around inside your head." ""Jonathan Dalliford is gone." ""In a few more moments, mourning will be officially over." ""Sorrow will be officially ended... "" "I don't have to listen to this." "I think you'd better." "Will you stop threatening me?" "Stay here, Rosine." "Now, my father was a very wealthy man, and he left not only you, but me, very well provided for, so that I don't have to worry about anything for the rest of my life," "except the answers to some very important questions." "Where was his lovely wife when he had a relapse?" "Oh, I think you already know those answers, don't you, from Dr. Mack?" "Now, weren't you satisfied with his answers?" "You fooled Jonathan." "You probably found it easy to fool Dr. Mack." "How did you kill him?" "I didn't." "My father did not die from a coronary." "Oh, you're questioning Dr. Mack's word?" "You must have done it before I left for Mexico." "Why did you go to Mexico, Gil?" "Now you knew that Jonathan and I were coming back from our vacation." "We expected to find you here." "Why did you run off to Mexico?" "That ought to be obvious." "Couldn't stand being here, and watching you..." "My friend, Don," "I really put him through it that last day." "He was staying here in the house with me." "He was very anxious to meet you and Jonathan." "I put an end to that." "I was right here in this room." "Well, where the devil did you disappear to?" "Town, shopping." "Intelligently, I can see." "More intelligent than this is the jalopy I just bought." "Jalopy?" "Yeah." "It's out in the driveway." "Let's hope that it gets us to Mexico City." "Mexico City?" "Have you flipped?" "It was you who praised the virtues and the vices of Mexico City." "Well, sure, but I..." "All right, let's take off." "We'll drive down, have a ball and stay through the summer." "What's this all about?" "You invited me up here as a guest until Labor Day." "Yeah." "Well, it's been swell, but your father and Rosine get home tomorrow..." "I don't wanna be here when they arrive." "Look, Gil, it's none of my business, but don't you think..." "Don, you want to go down or not?" "If not, fine, you stay here, you greet them." "I'll go down alone." "All right." "I'll go with you." "Buddy." "Hey, let's not leave that behind!" "This is a present." "French brandy." "Very expensive." "Enough to drown the sorrows of a lifetime." "Not for us." "A present?" "It's their first anniversary, day after tomorrow." "I thought you told me Jonathan never drinks." "Oh, no." "He doesn't." "But his wife likes a few more than he suspects." "I don't get it." "Well, don't you?" "Jonathan doesn't drink." "Well, with this, the lady will know that I'm wise to her drinking." "Come on, let's go look at the car." "And so, Rosine," "I spent all those dull weeks in Mexico City, came back to school and got your telegram." "Well, that's interesting." "It doesn't answer my question." "Oh, it will." "I'll be back in a few days." "Well, where are you going?" "Back to college, close up my room, say goodbye to formal education." "Quitting?" "Yep." "Why?" "I only stayed in the first place because Jonathan wanted me to." "Now I have enough money not to have to study medicine or law, or even industry." "At present, I'm interested in only one profession." "Criminal investigation." "Don't you think I have a flair for it?" "Good gracious!" "Mr. Gil." "You startled me." "Hi, Mrs. Duffin." "I didn't know you were expected home tonight." "Well, I wasn't." "Is Mrs. Dalliford in?" "No." "She left hours ago." "She didn't even have her dinner." "It's a good brand, Gil." "Oh, don't you want to keep it?" "Oh, Gil." "Now you're gonna leave me here all by myself." "This big house with all my money, hmm?" "Here." "Now you take that." "You hold it." "Cherish it." "Well, you've been wondering what happened, haven't you?" "But you've been a little too afraid to ask." "You know now or do you want me to tell you?" "Yes, I was fond of Jonathan." "I really tried to make that marriage work." "The two of you were so close that it was a little difficult for anybody else to get into the game." "And I guess we both knew that the marriage wasn't gonna work if it broke the two of you up completely." "Come here." "Look at me." "Well." "You were pretty smart." "But not quite smart enough." "Oh, Gil, if you'd only been here to greet Jonathan instead of running off to Mexico," "now, you would've seen that he couldn't do without you." "He didn't really need me." "See, you almost won and you didn't even know it." "Because you hated me more than you loved him." "So before you went to Mexico, you bought me that nice bottle of brandy." "Oh, I appreciated that gift." "I saved it." "You know, Jonathan used to brag about how well you were doing in chemistry." "He said that you had finally found something that really interested you." "And he was so right, wasn't he, Gil?" "You know, Dr. Mack prescribed alcohol for Jonathan after he had his heart attack." "So I used to give him a highball every now and then." "Oh, he enjoyed that." "He was getting so much better." "He was so excited about your coming back from Mexico." "Making all sorts of plans for the two of you." "Which didn't include me." "Well, then I knew you'd won, and I'd be left with nothing." "So I just suggested that he have one little drink of your brandy." "From that bottle that you intended for me." "Well, I had noticed that the cellophane was torn." "There was just that tiny little pin prick in the cork." "Took hours for it to work." "I thought maybe I'd been wrong about you." "But I hadn't." "Oh, now, why did you do that?" "I wasn't going to turn you over to the police." "After all, they couldn't possibly have anything on me, could they, Gil?" "I didn't put the poison in the bottle." "I was just following doctor's orders." "So it was you, Gil." "You killed Jonathan." "You're going to have to remember that for the rest of your life." "Those of you who like to see nasty people receive their comeuppance, will be delighted with the result of tonight's tale." "Gil took his story to the police, and he and Rosine were promptly punished." "She for murder, and he for intent to murder." "There is, however, a brighter side to all this." "Both have become model prisoners." "This concludes tonight's divertissement." "But please remain tuned to this channel." "I am not familiar with the program which follows, nor the one after that." "But I have seen the story we are presenting next time, and I think it's worth waiting for." "Good night."