"Give me your hand!" "Give me your hand." " I thought you said no more aches or pains." " It's this darned corset." "It binds." "No three-way stretch?" "How very un-chic." "You know the police department doctors." "No sense of style." "Anyway, tomorrow will be the day." "What's tomorrow?" "The corset comes off tomorrow." "I'll be able to scratch myself tomorrow." "I'll throw this miserable thing out the window." "I'll be a free man." "Midge, do you suppose many men wear corsets?" " More than you think." " Really?" "Do you know that from personal experience or..." "Please." " What happens after tomorrow?" " What do you mean?" "What are you going to do once you've quit the police force?" " You sound so disapproving, Midge." " No." "It's your life." "You were the bright, young lawyer who decided he was going to be chief of police someday." " I had to quit." " Why?" "Because of this fear of heights I have, this acrophobia." "I wake up at night seeing that man fall from the roof and I try to reach out to him and..." " It wasn't your fault." " That's what everybody tells me." " Johnny, the doctors explained to you" " I know, I know." "I have acrophobia, which gives me vertigo, and I get dizzy." "What a moment to find out I had it." "You've got it, and there's no losing it." "And there's no one to blame." "So why quit?" "You mean, and sit behind a desk, chair-borne?" " Where you belong." " What about my acrophobia?" "Suppose I'm sitting in this chair, behind a desk." "A pencil falls from the desk down to the floor and I reach down to pick it up, bingo, my acrophobia's back." "What'll you do?" "I'm not gonna do anything for a while." "Don't forget, I'm a man of independent means, as the saying goes." "Fairly independent." "Why don't you go away for a while?" "You mean, to forget?" "Midge, don't be so motherly." "I'm not gonna crack up." " Have you had any dizzy spells this week?" " I'm having one right now." "Midge, the music." "Don't you think it's sort of..." "What's this doohickey?" "It's a brassiere." "You know about those things." "You're a big boy now." "I've never run across one like that." "It's brand-new." "Revolutionary uplift." "No shoulder straps, no back straps, but does everything a brassiere should do." "Works on the principle of the cantilever bridge." "It does?" "An aircraft engineer down the peninsula designed it." "He worked it out in his spare time." "Kind of a hobby." "A do-it-yourself type of thing." "How's your love life, Midge?" "That's following a train of thought." "Well?" "Normal." "Aren't you ever gonna get married?" "You know there's only one man in the world for me, Johnny-O." "You mean me." "We were engaged once, weren't we?" " Three whole weeks." " Good old college days." "But you were the one that called off the engagement, you remember?" "I'm still available." "Available Ferguson." "Midge, do you remember a fellow in college by the name of Gavin Elster?" " Gavin Elster?" " Yes, funny name." "You'd think I would?" "No." "I got a call from Gavin today." "He dropped out of sight during the war." "Somebody said he went East." "I guess he's back." " It's a Mission number." " That's Skid Row, isn't it?" "Could be." "He's probably on the bum and wants to touch you for the price of a drink." "Well, I'm on the bum." "I'll buy him a couple drinks and tell him my troubles." "Not tonight." "How about you and me going out for a beer?" "Sorry, old man." "Work." "Then, I think I'll go home." "Midge, what'd you mean, there's no losing it?" "What?" "The acrophobia." "I asked my doctor." "He said that only another emotional shock could do it and probably wouldn't." "You're not gonna go diving off another rooftop to find out?" " I think I can lick it." " How?" "I have a theory." "I think if I can get used to heights just a little bit at a time just a little, like that, progressively, you see?" "I'll show you what I mean." "Here." "I'll show you what I mean." " We'll start with this." " That?" "What do you want me to start with, the Golden Gate Bridge?" "Watch this." "Here we go." "There." "Now, I look up, I look down." " You're kidding." "Wait a minute." " There's nothing to it." " Here." " That's a girl." "I'll use that." "Put it right there." "All right, here's the first step." "Okay, now step number two." "Step number two coming up." "There we are." "See?" "I look up, I look down, I look up..." "I'm going right out to buy myself a nice tall stepladder." " Take it easy now." " All right, now here we go." "No problem." "Why, this is a cinch." "I look up, I look down." "I look up, I look down." "How did you get in the shipbuilding business, Gavin?" "I married into it." "Very interesting business." "To be honest, I find it dull." "You don't have to do it for a living." "No, but one assumes responsibilities." "My wife's family is all gone." "Someone has to look after her interests." "Her father's partner runs the company yard in the East." "Baltimore." "So I decided, as long as I had to work at it, I'd come back here." " I've always liked it here." " How long have you been back?" "Almost a year." "You like it?" "San Francisco's changed." "The things that spell San Francisco to me are disappearing fast." "Like all these." "I should have liked to have lived here then." "Color, excitement, power." "Freedom." "Shouldn't you be sitting down?" "No, I'm all right." "I was sorry to read about that thing in the paper." "And you've quit the force." " Is it a permanent physical disability?" " No, no." "It just means I can't climb stairs that are too steep or go to high places like the bar at the Top of the Mark." "There are plenty of street-level bars in this town." "Would you like a drink now?" "No, I don't think so." "It's a little early in the day for me." "I guess that covers everything, doesn't it?" "I never married, I don't see much of the old college gang." "I'm a retired detective and you're in the shipbuilding business." "What's on your mind, Gavin?" "I asked you to come up here, Scottie, knowing that you'd quit detective work but I wondered whether you'd go back on the job as a special favor to me." "I want you to follow my wife." "No, it's not that." "We're very happily married." " Well, then..." " I'm afraid some harm may come to her." " From whom?" " Someone dead." "Scottie, do you believe that someone out of the past someone dead, can enter and take possession of a living being?" "No." "If I told you I believe this has happened to my wife, what would you say?" "I'd say take her to the nearest psychiatrist or psychologist or neurologist or..." "Or maybe just the plain family doctor." "I'd have him check on you, too." "Then you're of no use to me." "I'm sorry I wasted your time." "Thanks for coming in, Scottie." "Okay." "I didn't mean to be that rough." "No, it sounds idiotic, I know." "And you're still the hardheaded Scot, aren't you?" "Always were." "Do you think I'm making it up?" "No." "I'm not making it up." "I wouldn't know how." "She'll be talking to me about something." "Suddenly the words fade into silence." "A cloud comes into her eyes and they go blank." "She's somewhere else, away from me, someone I don't know." "I call to her, she doesn't even hear me." "Then, with a long sigh, she's back." "Looks at me brightly." "Doesn't even know she's been away." "Can't tell me where or when." "How often does this happen?" "More and more in the past few weeks." "And she wanders." "God knows where she wanders." "I followed her one day watched her coming out of the apartment, someone I didn't know." "She even walked a different way." "Got into her car and drove out to Golden Gate Park, five miles." "Sat by the lake staring across the water at the pillars that stand on the far shore." "You know, Portals of the Past." "Sat there a long time without moving." "I had to leave, get back to the office." "When I got home that evening, I asked her what she'd done all day." "She said she'd driven to Golden Gate Park and sat by the lake, that's all." "Well?" "The speedometer on her car showed that she'd driven 94 miles." "Where did she go?" "I've got to know where she goes and what she does before I get involved with doctors." " Have you discussed this with the doctors?" " Yes, but carefully." "I want to know more before committing her to that kind of care." "I'll get you a firm of private eyes to follow her for you." " They're dependable, good boys." " I want you." "Look, this isn't my line." "Scottie, I need a friend, someone I can trust." "I'm in a panic about this." "I'm supposed to be retired." "I don't want to get mixed up in this darn thing." "Look, we're going to an opening at the opera tonight." "We're dining at Ernie's first." "You can see her there." "Ernie's." "Say, will you tell me something?" "That lady sitting there." "Who's the woman in the painting?" "That's Carlotta." "You'll find it in the catalogue." "Portrait of Carlotta." " May I have this?" " Yes." "Yes?" "Is there something I can do for you?" " Yes." "You run this hotel?" " Yes." "Would you tell me who has the room on the second floor in the corner, that corner?" "I'm afraid we couldn't give out information of that sort." "Our clients are entitled to their privacy, you know." "And I do believe it's against the law." "Of course, I don't think any of them would mind really, but still I" "Has she done something wrong?" "Please answer my question." " I can't imagine that sweet girl" " What's her name?" " Miss Valdés." "Spanish, you know." " Carlotta Valdés?" "Yeah, that's it." "Sweet name, isn't it?" "Foreign, but sweet." "How long has she had the room?" "It must be two weeks." "Her rent's due tomorrow." "Does she sleep here ever?" "No, she just comes to sit two or three times a week." "I don't ask questions, you know, as long as they're well-behaved." "When she comes down, don't say I've been here." "But she hasn't been here today." "I just saw her come in five minutes ago." "No, she hasn't been here at all." "I would have seen her." "I've been right here all the time, putting olive oil on my rubber plant leaves." "And there." "You see?" "Her key is on the rack." " Would you please go up and look?" " To her room?" " That's right." " Yes, of course, if you ask." " But it does seem silly." " Thank you." "Mr. Detective?" "Would you like to come and look?" " Her car's gone." " What car?" "Midge who do you know that's an authority on San Francisco history?" "That's the kind of greeting a girl likes." "None of this:" ""Hello, you look wonderful" stuff." "Just, "Do you know an authority on San Francisco-"" " Want a drink?" " No, thanks." "Well, who do you?" "You know everybody." "Professor Saunders over in Berkeley." "No, I don't mean that kind of history." "I mean the small stuff, people you never heard of." "You mean the gay old bohemian days of gay old San Francisco." "Juicy stories, like who shot who in the Embarcadero..." "... in August, 1879." " Yeah, that's right." " Pop Leibel." " Who?" "Pop Leibel." "He owns the Argosy Book Shop." "What do you want to know?" "I want to know who shot who in the Embarcadero in August, 1879." "Wait a minute." "You're not a detective anymore." "What's going on?" " You know him well?" " Who?" " Pop Leibel." " Sure." "Come on." "I want you to introduce me." " Get your hat." " I don't need a hat." "Johnny, what's it all about?" "Wait a minute." "Yes, I remember." "Carlotta." "The beautiful Carlotta." "The sad Carlotta." "What does an old house on the corner of Eddy and Gough have to do with Carlotta Valdés?" "It was hers." "It was built for her many years ago." " By whom?" " By..." "No." "The name I do not remember." "A rich man." "A powerful man." " Cigarette?" " No, thank you." " Cigarette, miss?" " No, thanks." "It is not an unusual story." "She came from somewhere small, to the south of the city." "Some say from a mission settlement." "Young, yes." "Very young." "And she was found dancing and singing in a cabaret by that man and he took her and built for her the great house in the Western Addition." "And there was a child." "Yes, that's it." "The child." "The child." "I cannot tell you exactly how much time passed or how much happiness there was but then he threw her away." "He had no other children." "His wife had no children." "So, he kept the child and threw her away." "You know, a man could do that in those days." "They had the power and the freedom." "And she became the sad Carlotta." "Alone in the great house walking the streets alone her clothes becoming old and patched and dirty." "And, the mad Carlotta stopping people in the streets to ask:" ""Where is my child?" ""Have you seen my child?"" " Poor thing." " And she died." " She died." " How?" "By her own hand." "There are many such stories." " Thank you very much." " You are welcome." " I appreciate it." "Good-bye." " Good-bye." "Wait a minute!" "Good-bye, Pop." "Thanks a lot." " Now then, Johnny-O, pay me." " For what?" " For bringing you here." "Come on, tell." " There's nothing to tell." " You'll tell or be back in that corset." " Come on." "I'll take you home." "There we are." " You haven't told me everything." " I've told you enough." " Who's the guy and who's the wife?" " Out." "I've got things to do." "I know." "The one that phoned." "Your old college chum, Elster." "Midge, out, please." "The idea is the beautiful, mad Carlotta has returned from the dead and taken possession of Elster's wife." "Johnny, really." "Come on." "I'm not telling you what I think, I'm telling you what he thinks." " What do you think?" " Well, I..." " Is she pretty?" " Carlotta?" "Not Carlotta." "Elster's wife." "Yes." "I guess you'd consider that she would be" "I think I'll go take a look at that portrait." "Good-bye." " Midge..." " Good-bye!" "You've done well, Scottie." "You're good at your job." " That's Carlotta Valdés." " Yes." "There are things you didn't tell me." " I didn't know where she'd lead you." " But you knew about this." "You notice the way she does her hair?" "There's something else." "My wife, Madeleine, has several pieces of jewelry that belonged to Carlotta." "She inherited them." "Never wore them." "They were too old-fashioned." "Until now." "Now when she's alone, she takes them out and looks at them handles them gently, curiously puts them on and stares at herself in the mirror and then goes into that other world, is someone else again." "Carlotta Valdés was what, your wife's grandmother?" "Great-grandmother." "The child who was taken from her whose loss drove Carlotta mad and to her death, was Madeleine's grandmother." "And the McKittrick Hotel is the old Valdés home." "I think that explains it." "Anyone could become obsessed with the past with a background like that." "She never heard of Carlotta Valdés." "She knows nothing of a grave out at the Mission Dolores?" "Or that old house on Eddy Street?" "The portrait at the Palace of the Legion of..." " Nothing." " When she goes to these places" "She's no longer my wife." "How do you know all these things she doesn't?" "Her mother told me most of them before she died." "I dug out the rest for myself here." " Why wouldn't she tell her daughter?" " Natural fear." "Her grandmother went insane, took her own life." "Her blood is in Madeleine." "Boy, I need this." "Madeleine." "Madeleine!" "Yes?" "No, it's all right." "Yeah, I'll call you back." "Yes." "You all right?" "You'll want this." "You'd better come over here by the fire where it's warm." "What am I doing here?" "What happened?" "Well, you fell into San Francisco Bay." "And I tried to dry your hair as best I could." "Your things are in the kitchen." "They'll be dry in a few minutes." "Come on over by the fire." "I'll get you some cushions." "There you are." "Would you like to have some coffee?" "Here, you'd better have some." "Or perhaps you'd like a drink?" "I fell into the Bay and you fished me out?" "That's right." " Thank you." " You don't remember?" "No, I..." "Do you remember where you were?" "Yes." "Of course I remember that." "But then I must have had a dizzy spell and fainted." "Where were you?" "At Old Fort Point." "Out at the Presidio." "Of course I remember." "I often go there." "Why?" "Why do you go there?" "Because I love it so." "It's beautiful there." "Especially at sunset." "Thank you for the fire." "Where were you before?" " When?" " This afternoon, I mean." "Wandering about." "I know, but where?" "Where were you just before?" "Downtown, shopping." "Here, you'd better have some coffee." "I think it's still warm." "You're terribly direct in your questions." "I'm sorry." "I didn't mean to be rude." "You're not." "You're merely direct." "And what were you doing there, at Old Fort Point?" "Just wandering about." " You like it, too?" " Yes." "And where had you been just before?" "I'd been to the Palace of the Legion of Honor, the art gallery." "Yes, that's a lovely spot, isn't it?" "I've never been inside, but it looks so lovely driving past." "It's lucky for me, you were wandering about." "Thank you." "I've been a terrible bother to you." "No, you haven't." "When you..." "There were some pins in my hair." "The pins, yes." "Right in here." "I'll get 'em for you." "And my purse, please." " Here you are." " Thank you." "You shouldn't have brought me here." "I didn't know where you lived." "You could have looked in my car." "But you didn't know my car, did you?" "I knew which one it was." "It's right outside here now." "But I didn't think you wanted to be taken home that way." "No, you're right." "I'm glad you didn't take me home." "I wouldn't have known you." "Thank you." "But I don't know you and you don't know me." " My name is Madeleine Elster." " My name's John Ferguson." "Good, strong name." "Do your friends call you John or Jack?" "John, mostly." "Old friends call me John." "Acquaintances call me Scottie." "I shall call you Mr. Ferguson." "Gee whiz, I wouldn't like that." "After what happened this afternoon, I should think you'd call me Scottie." "Maybe even John." "I prefer John." "There, that's done." "And what do you do, John?" "I wander about." "That's a good occupation." "And you live here, alone?" " One shouldn't live alone." " Some people prefer it." "No, it's wrong." "I'm married, you know." "Will you tell me something?" "Has this ever happened to you before?" "What?" "Falling into San Francisco Bay." "No, it's never happened before." "I've fallen into lakes, out of rowboats, when I was a little girl." "I even fell into the river once trying to leap from one stone to another." "But I've never fallen into San Francisco Bay." "Have you ever before?" "No, it's the first time for me, too." "I'll get you some more coffee." " Hello?" " What happened?" "She's not home yet." "She's all right." "She's still here." "I'll bring her home soon." " What happened?" " She went into the Bay." " Hello?" "Hello?" " Did she hurt herself?" "No, she'll be fine." "There's nothing to worry about." "But she doesn't know." "Do you understand?" "She doesn't know what happened." "Scottie, Madeleine is 26." "Carlotta Valdés committed suicide when she was 26." "Just hold on a minute, Gavin." "Well now, Johnny-O." "Was it a ghost?" "Was it fun?" "That letter for me?" " Yes." "Hello." " Hello." "I worried about you last night." "You shouldn't have run off that way." "Well, I suddenly felt such a fool." "I wanted to drive you home." "Are you all right?" "Yes, I'm fine." "No aftereffects." "As I remember now, the water was cold, wasn't it?" " It sure was." " What a terrible thing for me to do." "You were so kind." "It's a formal thank-you note and a great big apology." " You've nothing to apologize for." " Yes, I do." "The whole thing must have been so embarrassing for you." "Not at all." "I enjoyed talking to you." "I enjoyed talking to you." "I'll get my mail." " Would you like to have a cup of coffee?" " No, thank you." "I couldn't mail it." "I didn't know your address, but I had a landmark." "I remembered Coit Tower." "It led me straight to you." "That's the first time I've been grateful for Coit Tower." " I hope we will too." " What?" " Meet again sometime." " We have." "Good-bye." "Where are you going?" "I don't know." " Shopping?" " No." "Anywhere in particular?" "I just thought that I'd wander." "That's what I was going to do." "That's right." "I forgot." "It's your occupation, isn't it?" "Don't you think it's a waste for the two of us..." "To wander separately?" "But only one is a wanderer." "Two together are always going somewhere." "I don't think that's necessarily true." " You left your door open." " Be right back." "How old?" "Some 2,000 years or more." " The oldest living things." " Yes." " You've never been here before?" " No." "What are you thinking?" "Of all the people who've been born and have died while the trees went on living." "Their true name is Sequoia sempervirens." ""Always green, ever living. "" " I don't like them." " Why?" "Knowing I have to die." "Here's a cross section of one of the old trees that's been cut down." "Somewhere in here I was born and there I died." "It was only a moment for you." "You took no notice." "Madeleine." "Madeleine, where are you now?" " Here with you." " Where?" " The tall trees..." " Have you been here before?" " Yes." " When?" "When were you born?" " Long ago." " Where?" "When?" "Tell me." " Madeleine, tell me." " No!" " Where do you go?" "What takes you away?" " I can't tell you." "When you jumped into the Bay, you didn't know where you were." " I didn't jump." "You told me I fell." " Why did you jump?" " I can't tell you." " What was inside that told you to jump?" " Please." " What?" "Please, don't ask me." "Take me away from here." "Shall I take you home?" "Somewhere in the light." "Promise you won't ask me again." "Please promise me that." "Why did you run?" "I'm responsible for you now." "The Chinese say that once you've saved a person's life you're responsible for it forever, so I'm committed." "I have to know." "There's so little that I know." "It's as though I were walking down a long corridor that once was mirrored, and fragments of that mirror still hang there and when I come to the end of the corridor there's nothing but darkness." "And I know that when I walk into the darkness that I'll die." "I've never come to the end." "I've always come back before then." " Except once." " Yesterday?" "And you didn't know what happened till you found yourself with me." "You didn't know where you were." "But the small scenes, the fragments of the mirror, you remember those." " Vaguely." " What do you remember?" "There's a room and I sit there alone." " Always alone." " What else?" " A grave." " Where?" "I don't know." "It's an open grave and I stand by the gravestone looking down into it." " It's my grave." " How do you know?" " I know." " But is there a name on the gravestone?" "No." "No, it's new and clean and waiting." "What else?" "This part is a dream, I think." "There's a tower and a bell, and a garden below." "It seems to be in Spain a village in Spain." "It clicks off and it's gone." "Well, a portrait?" " Do you see a portrait?" " No." "If I could just find the key, the beginning and put it together, I..." "And so explain it away?" "There is a way to explain it, you see." "If I'm mad, then that would explain it, wouldn't it?" "Madeleine!" "Scottie!" "I'm not mad!" "I'm not mad!" "I don't want to die." "There's someone within me, and she says I must die." "Scottie, don't let me go." "I'm here." "I've got you." "I'm so afraid." "Don't leave me." " Stay with me." " All the time." " Hi, Johnny." " Hi." " Did you get my message?" " I did, indeed." "I'll get you a drink." "Okay." "Since when do you go around slipping notes under men's doors?" "Since I stopped being able to get them on the phone." "For a man who has nothing to do, you're certainly a busy little bee." "Where do you go these days?" "Just wandering." " Where?" " Round about." "What was this desperate urge to see me?" "All I said in my note was:" ""Where are you?"" "Doesn't sound very desperate to me." "I detected a little undercurrent." "I just thought that if I gave you a drink and fed you some dinner you'd be so grateful you'd take me to a movie." "That's fair enough." "What'll we talk about at dinner?" "This and that." "What I've been doing?" "If you want to." "We won't talk about anything you don't want to." "Naturally." "What have you been doing?" "Wandering." "What have you been doing?" "Thank you, dear." "I've been having a wonderful time." " I've gone back to my first love: painting." " Good for you." "I always said you were wasting your time in the underwear department." "It's a living." "But I'm really excited about this." "What is it?" "A still life?" "No, not exactly." "You want to see?" "I thought I might give it to you." "It's not funny, Midge." "I just thought..." "Let's make that movie some other night." "Marjorie Wood, you fool!" "Idiot!" "Stupid!" "Stupid!" "Madeleine!" "What's the matter?" "I should have phoned, but I wanted to see you, be with you." " Why?" "What's happened?" " I had the dream." " The dream came back again." " It's gonna be all right." "It'll be all right." "I'll get you some brandy." "Drink this down." "Just like medicine." "There now." "It was a dream." "You're awake." "You're all right now." "Now, can you tell me?" "It was the tower again, and the bell and the old Spanish village." " Yes?" " Clear, so very clear for the first time." "Tell me." "It was a village square and a green with trees and an old whitewashed Spanish church with a cloister." "Across the green, there was a big, gray wooden house with a porch and a balcony above a small garden and next to it a livery stable with old carriages lined up inside." "Go on." "At the end of the green, there was a whitewashed stone house with a lovely pepper tree at the corner." "And an old wooden hotel from the old California days?" "And a saloon?" "Dark, low ceilings, with hanging oil lamps?" " Yes." " It's all there." "It's no dream." "You've been there before." "You've seen it." "No, never." "A hundred miles south of San Francisco, there's an old Spanish mission San Juan Bautista it's called and it's been preserved exactly as it was 100 years ago as a museum." "Think hard, darling." "Think hard." " You've been there before." "You've seen it." " I've never been there." " What is it?" "I've never been there." " Think hard." "Go on about your dream." "What frightened you?" "I stood alone on the green searching for something and then I started to walk to the church but then the darkness closed in and I was alone in the dark being pulled into the darkness, and I fought to wake up." "You're going to be all right now." "You've given me something to work on now." "I'll take you to that mission this afternoon." "When you see it, you'll remember when you saw it before." "It'll finish your dream." "It'll destroy it, I promise you." "All right?" " Come on, now." "I'll take you home." " No." "I'll be all right." "You'll come back here around noon." "Madeleine, where are you now?" " Here with you." " And it's all real!" "It's not merely as it was 100 years ago or a year ago or six months ago or whenever it was you were here to see it." "Now, Madeleine, think of when you were here." "There were not so many carriages then." "There were horses in the stalls a bay, two black and a gray." "It was our favorite place but we were forbidden to play here." "And Sister Teresa would scold us." "Look at this." "Here's your gray horse." "Have a little trouble getting in and out of the stall without being pushed." "You see?" "There's an answer for everything." "Madeleine, try." "Try for me." " I love you, Madeleine." " I love you, too." " Too late." "Too late." " No." "We're together." "No, it's too late." "There's something I must do." "No." "There's nothing you must do." "There's nothing you must do." "No one possesses you." "You're safe with me." "No." "It's too late." "It's not fair." "It's too late." "It wasn't supposed to happen this way." "It had to happen." "We're in love." "That's what counts." " Please let me go!" " Listen to me." " You believe I love you?" " Yes." "And if you lose me, then you'll know I loved you and wanted to go on loving you." "I won't lose you." " Let me go into the church, alone." " But why?" "Madeleine!" "Mr. Elster, suspecting all was not well with his wife's mental state took the preliminary precaution of having her watched by Mr. Ferguson lest any harm befall her." "And you've heard that Mr. Elster was prepared to take his wife to an institution where her mental health would've been in the hands of qualified specialists." "Mr. Ferguson, being an ex-detective, would have seemed the proper choice for the role of watchdog and protector." "As you have learned, it was an unfortunate choice." "However, I think you'll agree that no blame can be attached to the husband." "His delay in putting his wife under medical care was due only to the need for information as to her behavior which he expected to get from Mr. Ferguson." "He had taken every precaution to protect his wife." "He could not have anticipated that Mr. Ferguson's weakness his fear of heights would make him powerless when he was most needed." "As to Mr. Ferguson you have heard his former superior Detective Captain Hansen, from that great city to the north testify as to his character and ability." "Captain Hansen was most enthusiastic." "The fact that once before, under similar circumstances Mr. Ferguson allowed a police colleague to fall to his death Captain Hansen dismissed as an "unfortunate incident. "" "Of course, Mr. Ferguson is to be congratulated on having once saved the woman's life when, in a previous fit of aberration, she threw herself into the Bay." "It is a pity that, knowing her suicidal tendencies he did not make a greater effort the second time." "But we are not here to pass judgment on Mr. Ferguson's lack of initiative." "He did nothing and the law has little to say on the subject of things left undone." "Nor does his strange behavior after he saw the body fall have any bearing on your verdict." "He did not remain at the scene of the death." "He left." "He claims he suffered a mental blackout and knew nothing more until he found himself back in his own apartment in San Francisco hours later." "You may accept that, or not." "Or you may believe that, having once again allowed someone to die he could not face the tragic result of his own weakness and ran away." "That has nothing to do with your verdict." "It is a matter between him and his own conscience." "From the evidence of the state of mind of Madeleine Elster prior to her death from the manner of her death and the postmortem examination of the body showing the actual cause of her death you should have no difficulty in reaching your verdict." "Gentlemen, you may retire if you wish." "Hold it, Mr. Jones." " We've reached a verdict." " Thank you." ""The jury finds that Madeleine Elster committed suicide..." ""... while of unsound mind. "" "Your verdict will be so recorded." "Dismissed." " Scottie, let's go." " Mind if I speak to him for a minute?" "Go ahead." "Sorry, Scottie." "That was rough." "He had no right to speak to you like that." "It was my responsibility." "I shouldn't have got you involved." "No, there's nothing you have to say to me." "I'm getting out, Scottie, for good." "I can't stay here." "I'm going to wind up her affairs, and mine get away as far as I can." "Europe, perhaps." "And I probably never will come back." "Good-bye, Scottie." "If there's anything I can do for you before I go..." "There's no way for them to understand." "You and I know who killed Madeleine." "Come on, Scottie." "Let's get out of here." "It's Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus." "I had a long talk with that lady in Musical Therapy and she says that Mozart's the boy for you the broom that sweeps the cobwebs away." "It's what the lady said." "It's wonderful how they have it all taped now, John." "They have music for dipsomaniacs, and music for melancholiacs and music for hypochondriacs." "I wonder what would happen if somebody got their files mixed up." "I brought a lot of other things, and you can see what you like." "It shuts off automatically." "Johnny, please try." "Try, Johnny." "You're not lost." "Mother is here." "Time?" "I'll be in again, John." "You want me to shut that off?" "You don't even know I'm here, do you?" "But I'm here." "Nurse, could I see the doctor for a moment?" "Doctor, Miss Wood." "Won't you go in, please?" "Yes, Miss Wood?" "Doctor, how long is it going to take you to pull him out of this?" "It's hard to say." "At least six months." "Perhaps a year." "It really could depend on him." " He won't talk." " No." "He's suffering from acute melancholia together with a guilt complex." "He blames himself for what happened to the woman." "We know little of what went on before." "I can give you one thing:" "He was in love with her." "That does complicate the problem, doesn't it?" "I can give you another complication:" "He still is." "And you want to know something?" "I don't think Mozart's going to help at all." " Where'd you get this car?" " I beg your pardon?" "I bought it from a man who used to live in this building." "Mr. Gavin Elster." "I bought it from him when he moved away." "You knew him and his wife!" "The poor thing." "I didn't know her." " Is it true that she really" " I'm sorry." " Good evening." " Good evening." "Give me a scotch and soda." " What is it?" " Could I ask you a couple of questions?" " What for?" "Who are you?" " My name is John Ferguson." "Is this some kind of Gallup Poll?" " There are some things I'd like to ask." " You live in this hotel?" "No." "I happened to see you when you came in, so I" "Yeah, I thought so." "A pickup." "You've got a nerve, following me into the hotel and up to my room." " Now, you beat it." " Please." "I just want to talk to you." "I'm gonna yell in a minute." "I'm not gonna hurt you." "Honest." "I promise." "Please." "Just let me talk to you." " What about?" " You." " Why?" " Because you remind me of somebody." "I heard that one before, too." "I remind you of someone you were madly in love with but then she ditched you for another guy and you've been carrying a torch ever since." "Then you saw me and something clicked." "You're not far wrong." " It's not gonna work, so go." " Please, let me come in." "You can leave the door open." "I just want to talk to you." "Please." "Well, I warn you, I can yell awful loud." "You won't have to." "You don't look much like Jack the Ripper." "What do you want to know?" " I want to know your name." " Judy Barton." " Who you are." " I'm just a girl." "I work at Magnin's." " How do you happen to be living here?" " It's a place to live, that's all." " But you haven't lived here long?" " Yeah, about three years." " Where did you live before?" " Salina, Kansas!" "Listen, what is this?" "What do you want?" " I just want to know who you are." " Well, I told you." "My name is Judy Barton." "I come from Salina, Kansas." "I work at Magnin's and I live here." "My gosh, do I have to prove it?" "All right, mister, my Kansas driver's license." ""Judy Barton, number Z296794." ""425 Maple Avenue, Salina, Kansas. "" "See the address on this one?" "It's this place right here." "A California license issued May 25, 1954." "You want to check my thumbprints?" "You satisfied?" "Whether you're satisfied or not, you can just beat it." "You have got it bad, haven't you?" "Do I really look like her?" "She's dead, isn't she?" "I'm sorry, and I'm sorry I yelled at you." "Yes, that's me with my mother." "And that's my father." "He's dead." "My mother married again, but I didn't like the guy so I decided I'd see what it's like in sunny California." "I've been here three years." "Honest." " Will you have dinner with me?" " Why?" " I feel I owe you something after all this." " You don't owe me anything." " Then will you?" "For me?" " Dinner and what else?" " Just dinner." " 'Cause I remind you of her?" "Because I'd like to have dinner with you." "I've been on blind dates before." "Matter of fact, to be honest, I've been picked up before." "Okay." "I'll get my car." "I'll be back in half an hour." " Give me time to change and get fixed up." " An hour?" "Okay." "Dearest Scottie:" "And so you found me." "This is the moment that I dreaded and hoped for wondering what I would say and do if I ever saw you again." "I wanted so to see you again, just once." "Now I'll go, and you can give up your search." "I want you to have peace of mind." "You've nothing to blame yourself for." "You were the victim." "I was the tool and you the victim of Gavin Elster's plan to murder his wife." "He chose me to play the part because I looked like her." "He dressed me like her." "He was quite safe because she lived in the country and rarely came to town." "He chose you to be the witness to a suicide." "The Carlotta story was part real, part invented to make you testify that Madeleine wanted to kill herself." "He knew of your illness." "He knew you'd never get up the stairs to the tower." "He planned it so well." "He made no mistakes." "I made the mistake." "I fell in love." "That wasn't part of the plan." "I'm still in love with you, and I want you so to love me." "If I had the nerve, I'd stay and lie hoping that I could make you love me again as I am, for myself and so forget the other and forget the past." "But I don't know whether I have the nerve to try." "Here." "I'll do it." " There you are." " Thanks again." "Good night." "Can I see you tomorrow?" " Tomorrow night?" "Well" " No, I mean tomorrow morning." "But I have to go to work." "I've got a job." " Don't go to your job." " What'll I live on?" "My oil wells in Texas?" "Let me take care of you, Judy." "Thanks very much, but no, thanks." " No, Judy, you don't understand." " I understand, all right." "I've been understanding since I was 17." " And the next step is?" " No." "No?" "Then what?" "We could just see a lot of each other..." "Why?" "'Cause I remind you of her?" "It's not very complimentary." "And nothing else?" "No." "That's not very complimentary either." "I just want to be with you as much as I can." "Well I guess I could phone the store in the morning and make some excuse." "There you are." "I like that one." " Like that?" " Yes." " That's very nice." " It's beautiful." "There we are." "We'll get this, then we'll buy you those clothes." " Honest?" " Right over there's Ransohoffs." " Nothing but the best." "How much?" " That'll be 50 cents." " Thank you." " You don't have to." "I want to." " No, that's not it." "Nothing like it." " But you said gray, sir." "I just want an ordinary, simple gray suit." " But I like that one, Scottie." " No, it's not right." "The gentleman seems to know what he wants." "All right." "We'll find it." " What are you doing?" " I'm trying to buy you a suit." "But I love the second one she wore." " And this one, it's beautiful." " They're none of them right." "I think I know the suit you mean." "We had it some time ago." "Let me see." "We may still have that model." "Thank you." "You're looking for the suit that she wore, for me." " You want me to dress like her." " I just want you to look nice." " I know what suit would look well on you." " No, I won't do it!" "Judy." "It can't make a difference to you." "I just want to see" "I don't want any clothes." "I want to get out of here." " Do this for me." " Here we are." " Yes, that's it." " I thought so." " I don't like it." " We'll take it." "Will the thing fit?" "It might need some slight alterations, but it's madam's size." "We'll have it for you to try on in a moment." " How long will the alterations take?" " Well..." " May we have it by tonight?" " If it's absolutely necessary." "Yes, it is." "Now, we'd like to look at a dinner dress short, black, with long sleeves and a kind of square neck." " Scottie!" " My!" "You certainly do know what you want, sir." "I'll see what we have." " That's it." "Do you have them in brown?" " Yes, we have." "Fine." "Here, Judy." "Drink this straight down, just like medicine." "Why are you doing this?" "What good will it do?" "I don't know." "No good, I guess." "I don't know." "I wish you'd leave me alone." "I want to go away." "You can, you know." "No." "You wouldn't let me." "And I don't want to go." "Judy, I tell you this." "These past few days are the first happy days I've had in a year." "I know because..." "Because I remind you of her." "And not even that very much." "No." "No, Judy." "It's you, too." "There's something in you that..." " You don't even want to touch me." " Yes, I do." "Couldn't you like me, just me, the way I am?" "When we first started out, it was so good." "We had fun." "And then you started in on the clothes." "I'll wear the darned clothes if you want me to if you'll just like me." "The color of your hair." "Judy, please." "It can't matter to you." "If I let you change me, will that do it?" "If I do what you tell me will you love me?" "Yes." " Yes." " All right." "All right, then, I'll do it." "I don't care anymore about me." "Come on." "We'll sit by the fire." "I'm afraid it's going to take several hours." "The young lady thought you'd like to go home." "She'll join you when she's finished." "No." "Tell her I'll go to her hotel and wait for her there." " You're sure about the color of the hair?" " Yes, it's an easy color." " All the rest of" " Yes, we know what you want." "Thank you." "Well?" "It should be back from your face and pinned at the neck." "I told her that." "I told you that." "We tried it." "It just didn't seem to suit me." "Please, Judy." " Where shall we go for dinner?" " Anywhere you like." " Ernie's?" " You have a thing about Ernie's, don't you?" "After all, it's our place." "Hello, my love." "Like me?" " Is that the best you can do?" " Come here." "No." "You'll muss me." "That's what I had in mind." "Come here." "It's too late." "I got my face on." "I'm suddenly hungry." " Would you rather go somewhere else?" " No." "Ernie's is fine." "I'm gonna have one of those big, beautiful steaks." "Let me see." "To start I think I'll..." "Help me with this, will you?" "I have it." " How do you work this thing?" " Can't you see?" " Now, there you are." " Thank you." "I'm just about ready." "All I've gotta do is find my lipstick." "Where did I put it?" "I had it a minute ago." "I wonder if it's here." "Here it is." "There, I'm ready." "But first, muss me a little?" "Scottie, I do have you now, don't I?" "How would you like to go someplace out of town for dinner?" " Maybe we could drive down the peninsula." " All right." "If you'd like." "We're going awfully far." "I just feel like driving." "Are you terribly hungry?" "No, it's all right." "Where are you going?" "One final thing I have to do and then I'll be free of the past." "Scottie, why are we here?" "I told you." "I have to go back into the past once more." "Just once more, for the last time." "Why?" "Why here?" "Madeleine died here, Judy." " I don't wanna go." "I'd rather wait" " No, I need you." "Why?" "I need you to be Madeleine for a while." "And when it's done, we'll both be free." " I'm scared." " I have to tell you about Madeleine now." "Right there." "We stood there, and I kissed her for the last time." "She said, "If you lose me, you'll know that I love you..." ""... and wanted to keep loving you. "" "And I said, "I won't lose you. " But I did." "And then she turned and ran into the church." "When I followed her, it was too late." "I don't want to go in there!" "It was too late." "I couldn't find her, and then I heard footsteps on the stairs." "She was running up the tower." "Right here." "See?" "She was running up the stairs and through the trapdoor at the top of the tower." "I tried to follow her, but I couldn't get to the top." "I tried, but I couldn't get to the top." "One doesn't often get a second chance." "I want to stop being haunted." "You're my second chance, Judy." "You're my second chance." "Take me away!" "You look like Madeleine now." "Go up the stairs." " No!" " Go up the stairs." "Go up the stairs, Judy and I'll follow." "This was as far as I could get, but you went on." "Remember?" "The necklace, Madeleine." "That was the slip." "I remembered the necklace." " Let me go!" " No." "We're going up the tower, Madeleine." "You can't!" "You're afraid!" "We'll see." "We'll see." "This is my second chance." "Please!" "You knew that day that I couldn't follow you." " Who was up there?" "Elster and his wife?" " Yes." "And she was the one who died." "The real wife, not you." "You were the counterfeit, weren't you?" " Was she dead or alive" " Dead!" "He'd broken her neck." "He'd broken her neck." "Wasn't taking any chances, was he?" "When you got up there, he pushed her off, but it was you who screamed." " Why did you scream?" " I wanted to stop it." "I ran up to stop it" "Stop it?" "Why did you scream, since you tricked me so well up to then?" "You played the wife very well, Judy." "He made you over, didn't he?" "He made you over just like I made you over, only better." "Not only the clothes and the hair, but the looks, the manner and the words and those beautiful phony trances." "And you jumped into the Bay, didn't you?" "I'll bet you're a wonderful swimmer, aren't you?" " Aren't you?" " Yes!" "Then what did he do?" "Did he train you?" "Did he rehearse you?" "Did he tell you exactly what to do, what to say?" "You were a very apt pupil, too, weren't you?" "Why did you pick on me?" "Why me?" "Your accident!" "The accident!" "I was the setup, wasn't I?" "I was a made-to-order witness." "I made it." " I made it." " What are you going to do?" "We're going up and look at the scene of the crime." "Come on, Judy." "This is where it happened." "The two of you hid there and waited for it to clear then you sneaked down and drove into town, is that it?" "And then?" "You were his girl?" "What happened to you?" "Did he ditch you?" "With all of his wife's money and all that freedom and power, and he ditched you." "What a shame." "But he knew he was safe." "He knew you couldn't talk." " Did he give you anything?" " Some money." "And the necklace, Carlotta's necklace." "There was where you made your mistake, Judy." "You shouldn't keep souvenirs of a killing." "You shouldn't have been that sentimental." "I loved you so, Madeleine." "I was safe when you found me." "There was nothing that you could prove." "But when I saw you again, I couldn't run away." "I loved you so." "I walked into danger and let you change me because I loved you and I wanted you." "Scottie, please." "You loved me." " Keep me safe." "Please!" " It's too late." "It's too late." "There's no bringing her back." "Please." "I heard voices." "God have mercy."