"Mr. Mannix?" "Will you go in, please?" "The bishop is expecting you." "Thank you." "(knocking)" "Ah, you'd be Mr. Mannix." "I am delighted." "Thank you." "Sit down, please." "Mr. Mannix, I presume Mr. Wickersham told you why I asked for your help." "No, sir." "Well, didn't it strike you as odd that a priest would have need for a private detective?" "A bit, yes." "And yet you didn't ask Mr. Wickersham for an explanation?" "Well, uh, he wouldn't explain." "He said, uh, I wouldn't believe him." "The problem is difficult, urgent and delicate." "Mr. Mannix," "I want you to investigate a... a miracle." "(theme music playing)" "¶ ¶" "¶ ¶" "Excuse me?" "Where could I find Father Mancino?" "You almost found him on your head." "I'm Father Mancino." "Father." "Well, what'll it be?" "Communion, confession, consolation, or are you a bill collector?" "No." "I, uh..." "This color doesn't match." "You think if I called it pop art," "I'd get away with it?" "Why not?" "They laughed at Michelangelo when he laid down to paint." "What can I do for you?" "I'm Mannix from Intertect." "And the bishop sent you?" "Mm." "Now, there's a man for you." "He probably thinks I'm crazy, but he's giving me every benefit of the doubt." "I'm supposed to find out, uh, why you believe in this miracle." "Well, we've put machines on the moon, spy holes in the heart of an atom." "The bishop mentioned the possibility of your losing this parish." "(sighs)" "What's the bishop to do with a priest who tells his flock that a miracle appeared on property owned by hoodlums?" "Well, you'd be given another parish, wouldn't you?" "For me, there is no other parish." "This one-- it's a part of me." "Maybe when I get it built up, do the work that needs doing." "I don't want to leave." "Look, Father, um," "I'm not a miracle expert." "I don't know what I might turn up or who might be hurt." "Come on, I'll show you Mancino's mishegoss." "I can go over there myself, Father, if you're, uh, busy." "You don't want me to see the look on your face when you don't believe." "Oh, I don't want to see your face." "It might make me believe." "¶ ¶" "(quiet, indistinct chatter)" "(liquid burbling)" "(loud burbling)" "(sniffing)" "Old man Pucci sent you?" "No." "What are you doing here?" "Oh, nothing." "Uh..." "Well, do nothing someplace else." "A natural spring that's pink and smells like roses is sort of unusual." "I thought I'd take a sample." "The old man sent him." "You ain't gonna ruin this." "WOMAN:" "It don't belong to him no more." "No matter what it says in the Hall of Records, it ain't his anymore, and you can tell him that from us." "If I see him." "You better believe we just ain't talking, Mister." "MANCINO:" "Have all of you people completely flipped?" "(throng murmuring)" "I'm sorry, Mr. Mannix." "We thought the old man sent him." "This is Rico Pucci's land." "No." "Cool it!" "Pucci, huh?" "I must say, Pucci's past performances have leaned toward murder, not miracles." "The moment the wrecker hit that wall, the bricks fell away, and there it was-- the cross." "And out of nowhere, the spring." "Are you having that analyzed?" "Yeah." "Beautiful." "We can compare notes." "Hmm." "Mr. Mannix, this thing didn't just grab me." "I checked and rechecked." "I checked with the wrecker and the appearance of the cross." "I checked with the geologist on the spring." "I really looked for a natural explanation." "Well, uh, I've got to be running along." "Uh, Mr. Mannix, if you hear anything, or, well, if I can do anything, just keep in touch." "Sure." "(throng murmuring)" "Hey, Mr. Mannix?" "(car engine starting)" "(engine revving)" "(engine chugging noisily)" "¶ ¶" "(engine revving)" "(brakes squeak)" "Are you looking for me?" "I wasn't going to run." "I was just trying to work up nerve enough to talk to you." "All right, talk." "Well, uh, don't you think this is a little public here?" "Yeah, well, why don't we go to my office?" "I'll drive." "All right." "(gunshot)" "(rhythmic whirring of computers)" "Stanley Blake, age 54, ex-con." "Anything else?" "Well, we're getting a rundown now." "Oh, uh, I wonder if I can get a fast analysis on that from the lab." "(sniffing)" "Nice." "A miracle?" "I'd like to think it is." "Not what Father Mancino calls his mishegoss." "Mishegoss?" "What kind of a priest did you get wound up with?" "Well, he's a nice guy, but he may be out of his league if Rico Pucci is involved." "Report on Stanley Blake." "Thanks, Corey." "Yeah, here it is." ""Stanley Blake, currently on probation" ""after serving 18 months of a one-to-five sentence for grand theft."" "Widower, one daughter-- Sandy, unmarried." "His address isn't in Father Mancino's parish, but that's where he picked me up." "Last conviction-- theft of test equipment from the chemistry lab where he was working." "Lab technician, huh?" "Maybe he could have told us what was in that miracle water without the analysis." "(doorbell ringing)" "Yes?" "I'd like to see Mr. Rico Pucci." "Come in." "I'm Rico Pucci." "Rico Pucci, Jr." "What can I do for you?" "I'll talk to your father." "Tell me what you want." "The property on Twelfth Street is in the name of Rico Pucci, Sr." "I'll talk to him." "Don't you think I know about the property?" "Who told you I couldn't answer any questions?" "(door opens)" "SALVATORE:" "Hey." "You're being very noisy, Riccolino." "I can handle this." "I'm Salvatore Pucci." "Joe Mannix, Intertect." "Looking for your father." "Oh, he's out of the country right now." "If you care to..." "I was talking to him." "He can tell me..." "Hey, get out of here!" "(door opens and closes)" "What do you want to tell my father?" "Stanley Blake is dead." "In case you hadn't heard." "I don't know any Mr. Blake." "He was a chemist." "A friend of your father's?" "Possibly so." "I'll deliver your message." "Thank you for your courtesy." "Blake did live long enough to, uh, talk a little." "Obviously, you think this should be of interest." "Well, the name Pucci was mentioned in connection with a miracle." "Do you believe in miracles?" "You're referring to the cross and the spring?" "I don't know if that's your concern." "Assume it is." "We are only interested in real estate development on the land in question." "We plan to build on it." "There's big money in miracles." "You know, you can milk every dime there is out of those poor people who think they're paying for a piece of paradise." "We don't market fraud, Mr. Mannix." "And that property is too valuable to be a shrine to superstition." "We intend to build a shopping complex, as planned." "Good." "Then you won't mind my exposing Blake for putting chemicals in that spring and giving it color and a nice smell." "Convince the priest, you'd do us a favor." "He can't stop us, but we would prefer to avoid the inconvenience he might cause us." "Who stands to gain from a miracle, if not the Puccis?" "Father Mancino?" "There's One who's been in the miracle business 2,000 years longer than the Puccis." "BISHOP:" "But He wouldn't need a poor man like Stanley Blake to assist Him." "I just can't believe Rico Pucci would fake a miracle." "It would destroy his hope of Heaven." "I don't know what his chances are of getting there, but he needs the hope." "The sample submitted for analysis shows the major contaminant to be an organic substance of enormous complexity." "There are millions of possible organic compounds." "Given six months, I might-- underscore "might"-- give you an accurate analysis." "Well, can you make an educated guess?" "Mr. Wickersham, any guess would be a weak maybe on a couple of hundred thousand possibilities." "Well, that spring water's showing color for five days." "It doesn't seem to get any paler, and the scent still remains the same." "I can tell you this much." "Whatever we're dealing with is only slightly soluble in water." "That means a small quantity would last a long time." "How long, I won't attempt to guess, nor how it got there." "Thank you, Masson." "Yeah, Masson, thanks a lot." "Now, this stream is above ground just outside the city limits." "It goes underneath the ground right here and meanders around underneath the Twelfth Street area." "I've checked it." "It's pure, ordinary water." "How many miracles do you want on Pucci property?" "That, too?" "Yeah, he's owned it for years." "Now this stream empties into a river." "It wouldn't be difficult to divert part of it to come up where that building was wrecked." "Well, there's your answer." "Coloring matter dropped in there and allowed to dissolve slowly." "It would show up downstream." "Now that's your guess and I buy it." "Now, would you like a shot at convincing the people in Father Mancino's parish?" "No, the bishop can decide whether or not he wants to continue with the investigation." "I'm telling him we've nothing to work with but guesses." "That's what we had." "Has something been added?" "A dead man." "(footsteps approaching)" "MANNIX:" "Miss Blake, your father wanted to talk to me, but he was killed before he could say anything." "Do you have any idea what he wanted to say, tell me?" "I don't know anything about that." "Well, even if it's some little thing that seems unimportant, it could give me a lead as to who killed him." "Mr. Mannix, I hardly knew my father." "I don't know the man who killed him." "Whoever he is, you wouldn't want to see him go free." "You're a private detective." "You get paid for what you do." "Well, I mean, it's all right, but it's not exactly lofty, is it?" "No." "So there's a... a reason why you come digging around here." "It's not pure unselfishness." "Well, there seems to be a miracle taking place on the other side of town." "Have you read about it?" "What if I have?" "Well, miracles are supposed to be good things." "Now a guy I like very much, a priest, stands to get hurt pretty good by this one." "I don't see what that has to do with me." "I think your father arranged that miracle." "I met my father when I was six years old, Mr. Mannix." "He, uh, he'd left my mother and he'd only come back because he was broke." "He only stayed a few weeks." "He made his next appearance a year after my mother died." "I was 19 and he was just passing through town, and wondered if I could loan him a few dollars." "I could and he left." "I didn't see him again until last week, when..." "I know he'd been in jail." "That last week, did he, uh, have any visitors or receive any calls?" "Yes, he made one phone call one night." "He said that he'd made something in the kitchen and... and that it would work." "Did he say what?" "No." "Did he drop the name of the man on the phone?" "I know he'd-he'd been in the kitchen because he made an awful mess of some pots and glasses." "I don't know what he was making." "I had a heck of a time cleaning it up, though." "Well, thanks, Miss Blake." "I haven't been much help." "And I wasn't very nice either." "Now why don't you let me, uh, file my own complaints, huh?" "Mr. Mannix?" "If I should think of anything else, I'll-I'll call you." "You know, there's no rule that says you've got to remember something before you can call." "I appreciate your frankness, Mr. Wickersham." "Even before you called, I'd been having second thoughts about the investigation." "You believe it's a miracle?" "It seems improbable, doesn't it?" "But then, miracles are, by definition, improbable." "I've been asking myself," ""Who seeks to gain by trickery of this kind?"" "I can't answer that question, can you?" "You mentioned the Puccis yourself." "The Puccis intended to build, but neighborhood opposition has caused a change in plans, and they've given up the idea of building and are selling the land as is." "They may have staged a miracle to inflate the price." "I know the man who's buying, Norman Kiley." "I don't think he can be duped." "Well, what about the people who believe in the miracle?" "Tomorrow or next week or next year, the spring may revert to being plain water, or it may not." "Meanwhile, members of the parish who haven't been to church in years are flocking to Mass." "Don't you think I'd be wise to let God determine if the miracle of St. Angelo's is a fraud?" "Oh, I learned a long time ago never to argue religion with a bishop." "You should." "Bishops need to be argued with occasionally." "Keeps them on their toes." "You will ask Mr. Mannix to drop the case?" "Of course I will." "If you're putting that to a vote, you can count me on the side of the nays." "You know, Bishop, you've got a pretty rough class of miracles in your diocese." "(groans)" "Excuse me." "Mannix, what happened to your face?" "A funny thing happened on the way out of your house." "You wouldn't happen to know a couple of gentlemen who get their kicks out of hitting people?" "What?" "That's probably just a coincidence they were waiting for me." "I'd like to see Kiley." "Oh... funny." "For just a minute, I, uh," "I thought you'd come here to see me." "No, I didn't know you were working for Kiley." "Another coincidence." "You're hinting at something," "Mr. Mannix." "Why don't you just come out and say it?" "Somebody wanted me worked over, so they had me picked up at your place." "Now, I come here and find you working for the man who's going to buy the miracle property from the Puccis." "Your name is Mr. Mannix." "I, uh... assume you want to see Mr. Kiley." "If you'll wait just a minute, I'll tell him you're here." "Mr. Kiley?" "A Mr. Mannix here to see you." "A private detective." "No, I don't know." "Fine." "If you'll wait just a minute, he'll be with you." "I've seen injured innocence." "I'm a little more impressed with a touch of truth now and then." "Mr. Mannix, come in." "Have a seat." "Thank you." "If you're investigating the Pucci property," "Mr. Mannix, I'll hold up my purchase until you've finished." "Are you aware of the Pucci reputation?" "Of course." "I sold Mr. Pucci his home down the hill 15 years ago." "And I've had other dealings with him now and again since then." "This deal is different." "How?" "The religious aspect." "Oh, has the price been jacked up?" "Quite the contrary." "That property should be worth a million." "I'm buying it for half that." "That's what worries me." "Well, when, uh, Pucci's willing to give something away, it's time to worry." "He agreed, on the grounds that I donate the land to the church through a foundation I'm setting up." "We'll both receive certain tax benefits, but that's hardly my motive." "I've got my hands and my pocketbook full with this subdivision." "I've got more land than I know what to do with, and more money I'm just not interested in." "Now, let me get this straight." "You don't want money, you just want to make a charitable contribution." "I've got an option to buy I haven't exercised yet, simply because Pucci's generosity is a bigger miracle than a stream and a cross." "I can believe that last, but the first is sticking in my craw." "(engine starts)" "I want the chem lab to phony up a report." "Show that miracle water to be cheap perfume and vegetable dye." "I'll be in to pick it up." "(buzzing)" "Yes?" "SECRETARY:" "Mr. Mannix is here to see you." "Yes, you tell Mr. Mannix to... come right in." "I, uh, ordered a lab report." "I have it." "A fake." "Under the imprint of Intertect." "Come on, Lou, don't play big daddy with me." "I need the report." "If this were an ordinary case, there'd be no question." "Well, it isn't." "So ask the question." "I know your methods:" "Anything goes as long as you come up with the right answer." "Well, not this time." "Lou, I didn't come here to argue." "Time's running out." "I want to know who'll see this report." "Nobody, if you don't give it to me." "Regardless of your good intentions," "I can't afford to have Intertect appear unethical in this situation." "There's too much emotion riding on this case." "And in religion and sometimes politics, we go by the book and we walk on eggs." "Okay, Lou." "Wait a minute." "Wait a minute, now." "You never gave up anything in your life without a fight." "You're too stubborn." "Do you see me fighting?" "What are you going to do about this report?" "Well, I, uh, have a couple of, uh, Intertect letterheads." "I thought I'd have a fake analysis typed up on one of them." "That's forgery!" "Mm-hmm." "And blackmail!" "Now wait a minute, Lou, you can't have 'em both." "I mean, if I forge a report, then I don't have to blackmail you to get the one that's on your desk, right?" "Right." "All right, you get the report." "I won't threaten you." "Threats never stopped you, anyway." "But I'd suggest you talk to Father Mancino once more before you destroy somebody's faith." "Now, you poke the chief of police in the mouth," "I'd probably back you." "I'd figure you had justification." "Take on a politician, no matter how big, and I'd be in your corner." "But this is religion, where the heart is." "And a lie can hurt and bleed." "There's a lie making the rounds now, Lou, disguised as a miracle." "I hope you're sure, Joe." "I wouldn't want to be responsible for tearing it down if it happened to be true." "(slap)" "MANCINO:" "Wait." "We've had a lot of excitement in this parish-- a miracle." "But there's one thing that I think slipped somebody's mind." "A miracle is the handiwork of God, not God Himself." "I've got a hunch some of you are kind of mixed up." "You're hooked on the deed and not on the doer." "This church is a part of your lives, with or without miracles." "Am I getting through?" "Don't give God faith times seven on Sunday when there's no faith the rest of the week." "Don't worship a miracle that doesn't reflect a constant love of God." "Do it like it should be, is what I'm saying." "Father, was, uh, what I just heard your way of saying that you're not too sure about that miracle?" "A cop-out?" "I've never been sure there was a miracle." "I've just never been sure there wasn't." "And I like to give God the benefit of the doubt." "Collections bad?" "Too good." "These people can't afford to give what they're giving." "I tell them not to give so much, and they sneak money in behind my back." "Some of them will go hungry." "WOMAN:" "Father Mancino!" "He is all right, Father." "He's all right." "I'm hot." "Do I gotta wear all this junk?" "Shut up your mouth." "I touched his head, with the water from the spring, and the fever went away." "The doctor told me." "Oh, he's gonna get cold, Father." "Only if you put him in an icebox, and maybe not then." "For the Holy Mother." "You've given enough." "Buy Tony a new football." "Yeah, Mom, why don't you?" "Shut up your mouth!" "For the Holy Mother." "You can't knock it, Father, if that spring water did cure him." "If." "I asked the doctor." "A big help." "Maybe yes, maybe no." "He didn't know for sure, because he didn't know what Tony had in the first place." "Hey, here I am doing all the talking, as usual." "Have you got some news?" "Like the doctor, I'm not much help." "I can't prove a thing, but I can shake you up." "Start shaking." "Well, a man's been murdered." "I've been, uh, beat and pushed around, probably by some of Pucci's goons." "Now, murder and beatings don't just happen." "Somebody's behind this who's got a lot of money at stake." "Must it be related to the miracle?" "I don't know how, but it is." "Somehow Pucci has got to be behind all this." "(thud)" "You don't learn easy, do you?" "Guns aren't necessary, Mr. Mannix." "Neither are gorillas, but you use them." "Well, they carry out their habits of the old days." "They don't like snoops." "They won't bother you." "Since when?" "Now, when I say so." "What's he want?" "Do you have another message for my father?" "What do you want?" "You wanted me to convince the priest." "I can do that now." "You can go ahead with your building." "The miracle's a fake." "Liar!" "Go ahead, Mr. Mannix." "What's it worth to you for me to tear up this chemical analysis of the spring water?" "(thud)" "(groans)" "You worry me, Mr. Mannix." "In my present condition?" "I've asked questions about you." "Nobody doubts your intelligence or your skill." "Thank you." "You come here attempting blackmail." "And you're shocked?" "You blunder in here like an amateur." "Now, how do you expect to get away with that?" "Nothing ventured." "No, I don't believe you." "What's your game?" "What are you really up to?" "I tell you, you untie me and we can negotiate for the answer to that." "Blackmailers have been killed, Mr. Mannix." "Aren't you afraid of that?" "Oh, I was." "But I'm not now." "You wouldn't be talking to me if..." "Now listen," "I'm not an animal." "I don't kill without a reason." "I don't do that." "If you could be trusted, you'd be paid to keep your mouth quiet." "There's too much risk in trusting." "Now, you don't make any trouble, you'll be freed in a couple of days, maybe a week." "Otherwise..." "(door closes)" "If he knows about the spring, maybe other people know, too." "Anybody that knows will come to us for a payoff." "I'd kill anyone who'd talk." "Well, I'll keep your offer in mind." "Meanwhile, let's just hope that time runs out." "(scraping)" "(clattering rustle)" "(door opens)" "Who are you?" "You'd be Rico Pucci, Sr." "Answer me!" "Mannix." "Private detective." "What are you doing here?" "Just putting together the pieces of a puzzle." "While you're supposed to be in Sicily, the land is sold." "You're in the clear." "You didn't even know about the phony miracle." "The miracle on my land is real." "It's a sign of God's forgiveness." "It's a good act, but I don't buy it." "You're crazy!" "The cross and the spring come from God." "I come back to find it happened." "A true miracle." "You were chosen?" "For the good life you've led?" "Salvatore, Riccolino!" "Come!" "Madman!" "SALVATORE:" "Papa?" "Papa?" "Hey, Papa." "That man said the miracle is a lie." "No, Papa." "No, no." "Now, he said it." "I want the truth." "Papa, you want the truth, but you don't want the truth from him." "He tried to extort money." "He's a nobody, he'll be taken care of." "Why did he say it?" "Tell me!" "He's a cheap detective looking for a handout." "Papa, on my hope of Heaven, that man is lying." "On your hope of Heaven?" "I'm tired." "You get the rest of the men." "I want Mannix shut up." "Old Man Pucci believes in that miracle." "Your forged analysis doesn't prove a forged miracle." "His sons know it's a lie." "Are you sure, Joe?" "Well, I haven't got a guarantee from your computer, if that's what you mean." "Look, now, why would they want to keep me quiet for a week?" "To put over a deal?" "Oh, yeah, sure, they're rushing to sell that property for half of what it's worth, so I won't blow their big chance to lose money." "Very logical." "Joe, I'm just trying to eliminate..." "(buzzing)" "Yes?" "Ma-Mannix?" "Joe." "Mannix." "Please, please help me." "What's wrong?" "Th... th... they're going to kill me." "Where are you?" "I..." "One week, Mannix." "Take a vacation... out of town." "If you stay, you got a reservation for a pew at a lady's funeral." "(phone clicks)" "(shuddering)" "(gun hammer cocks)" "How'd you get in here?" "Never mind." "Go on, kill me;" "I won't tell you anything." "I haven't asked yet." "(choking):" "Hey...!" "Once more and you'll be talking in a whisper as long as you live." "What do you want?" "An address." "Now, what are you going to do when I send you back to Papa and big brother crying like a baby, huh?" "What do you want?" "Where's the girl?" "I don't know." "(sobbing):" "I don't!" "Please, please!" "It's you or the girl." "Now, which one do I worry about?" "(clattering)" "(clattering)" "(clattering)" "(gun cocking)" "(wiping window)" "(window creaks)" "(thud, blows landing)" "(thudding stops)" "You all right?" "Yes." "How'd he get you?" "I found an envelope in my father's coat." "It was addressed to Father Mancino with a hundred dollars in it." "I was on my way to the church when he grabbed me." "Your father a Catholic?" "No, I don't understand why he'd give money to the church." "Well, that hundred dollars must have been to pay for a guilty conscience." "They killed him so he wouldn't be able to tell me about that miracle." "Come on, let's go." "Excuse me, I'm looking for Father Mancino." "He's away." "Any idea where?" "Administering last rites at the home of Rico Pucci." "Thanks." "¶ ¶" "You wait here." "(gun hammer cocks)" "MANCINO:" "...receive your confession and give back to you that robe of grace which was first given to you in baptism, and I, by the power given to me by the Apostle See, grant you a full pardon and remission of all your sins" "in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." "Amen." "(moans gently)" "(weakly):" "God has forgiven." "The miracle is real." "Yes, Papa." "You did it for him?" "My father is dying, and he's afraid." "Stanley Blake didn't have time to be afraid." "I told you the truth;" "I didn't know him." "Will you testify against the man who did?" "I don't inform." "Rico Pucci is going to learn about the miracles of modern chemistry." "No, no." "Now, you listen, we were blackmailed to keep from telling my father the truth." "The man is waiting downstairs for his pay." "JUNIOR (sobbing):" "Papa!" "Papa!" "Mr. Mannix." "Papa!" "Teach chemistry to my father now." "Teach it now." "It wasn't a miracle," "Father." "You'll have your proof." "Kiley arranged the miracle, and then he came to us." "Papa was dying." "A miracle on Pucci land would seem like a sign of God's forgiveness, and Papa would die happy." "Kiley said that if we didn't sell him a million dollars worth of land for half a million dollars, he'd tell Papa there was no miracle." "(gunshot)" "(muffled scream)" "Mannix, behind me." "(gasps)" "(gunshots)" "Kiley!" "Throw the gun down here, Mannix." "Throw it down or I'll kill her." "Stay back." "Are you crazy?" "Stay back!" "(gun clicks)" "(groaning)" "It was my sin..." "that was my penance." "Is he all right?" "He'll be fine." "I'd like to thank you, Mr. Mannix." "For destroying a miracle?" "You can't destroy what never was." "But Salvatore Pucci saving your life..." "I think I have my miracle." "(theme music playing)"