You are charged with the murder of Mrs Emily French.
- How do you plead? - Not guilty.
He did it, he was here! It was him, it was Leonard Vole!
My wife. I was at home with Romaine by 9.30.
She can tell them and then all this can be over.
He was with me.
Prepare yourself to hear some difficult things.
That they were lovers.
Hang.
- Romaine! - Prosecution's witness now.
You stay back.
You're lying. You're sending him to the gallows.
(Embers crackling)
(Birds twittering)
(Coughing)
Nice clean shirt for Leonard.
He should look his best.
I'll be back late tonight, so...
don't wait up.
I'll leave a covered plate for you.
(Coughs)
- Good luck. - Thank you.
(Footsteps)
Hello?
What do you want? (Coughs)
ROMAINE: I was frightened.
That night when he came home...
I was... frightened.
I knew he had done something.
Fame, notoriety, revenge - we all know why she's doing this.
I betrayed her.
It's time to start fighting dirty.
Has she ever been a prostitute?
What?
No.
You don't have to say that she was.
You just have to say you can't be certain that she wasn't.
Think about it.
(Door is unlocked)
I'm not saying something like that.
It's not true.
We need to damage Romaine.
If there's anything...
...anything...
...we can use against her...
...you need to say it now.
She was never even late with the rent.
I knew straightaway.
He gets this look.
This look he gets.
I felt sick because I knew...
...he had done something terrible.
These marks.
Animal prints?
It was Mrs French's cat, Your Honour.
The cat was in the room. It er... well...
it walked through the blood.
Detective Breem, how did Mrs French meet her death?
The victim received three blows.
One to the side of the head -
this would've stunned Mrs French.
(She gasps)
The second blow was to the back of the neck.
Likely it was aimed at Mrs French's skull
but the assailant missed his mark.
The third blow was to the back of the skull.
Death, if not instantaneous, would have arrived quickly.
Brain matter was visible.
- (Shocked murmurs) - There was a lot of blood.
I want to be clear.
This means Mrs French's assailant was standing over her?
- Yes. - So the assailant must have had
blood on their person, on their clothes.
Yes, particularly on the arm.
The cuffs of a shirt or a jacket.
When you arrested Leonard Vole, you searched his home.
What did you find?
A shirt had been burned in the grate.
We know Mrs French was alive
at approximately 9.20 on the night of her death.
- Is that correct? - Yes.
She was seen drawing her curtains by a neighbour.
And ten minutes later, she was dead
and Leonard Vole was seen leaving the house.
Clifford Starling.
My firm have acted as legal counsel to the French family
for three generations.
Mrs French came to see you on 17th October,
a mere two weeks before her murder.
What was the purpose of that meeting?
She wanted to change her will.
I want Leonard named my sole inheritor.
Everything.
- Including Janet's stipend. - Miss McIntyre?
She doesn't want me to be happy.
She wants me to be miserable and alone
and untouched and unloved, just like her.
That's what she wants.
She was always capricious.
Everything left to Leonard Vole.
- Was he aware of this meeting? - He wasn't in the room.
But I looked out of the window as Mrs French was leaving
and a man was waiting by her motor car.
Is that man in this room?
He is.
(Murmuring)
It was your diligence in protecting your mistress
that uncovered Mr Vole's deceits.
That he was involved with another woman
he called his wife.
That he was... dallying with Mrs French's affections.
I should have stayed in.
Then he'd be dealing with me.
You came home from your meeting at half-past nine.
And you saw him.
(Cigarette lighter clicks)
You know that man well?
I do, I'd recognise him anywhere.
The prosecution calls Romaine Heilger.
You're looking really sweaty, Mayhew.
Wipe yourself down, chum.
Romaine.
Please.
JUDGE: The prisoner will remain silent.
Place your left hand on the Bible and speak the oath.
I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give
shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,
so help me God.
You are Romaine Heilger, formerly known as Romaine Vole?
Yes, I have decided to call myself
by my father's name again.
An Austrian national from Vienna.
I was born there, but when I was quite small,
my parents moved to Liége in Belgium.
And you were there during the invasion of 1914?
Yes, Your Honour.
There cannot be a man or woman in this court,
or in Britain and her dominions,
who does not know of the slaughter and bloodshed
suffered by Belgium during the invasion.
What happened to your parents, Miss Heilger?
They were murdered.
Along with many other friends,
neighbours and people in my town.
Jesus Christ.
MEREDITH: You were spared.
A young girl who can sing the favourite songs
of an invading army is a prize.
Yes, I was spared, although it didn't feel like it at the time.
When did you meet Leonard Vole?
In 1918.
Almost at the end of the war.
I fell in love with him and...
...I followed him to England after the war as Mrs Vole.
But you were not married?
No.
Can you tell the court exactly what happened
on the evening of 28th October?
I was frightened.
I knew straightaway.
(Door opens)
He had this look...
...this look he gets.
I felt...
...sick, because I knew he had done something.
The defence case rests on two arguments.
The first, that Leonard Vole left Mrs French alive
before 9.00, in order to be at home with you by 9.30.
But he came home at ten past ten, covered in blood.
Could you tell us what happened next, please, Miss Heilger?
And then... he smiled at me.
This strange smile.
And said...
"I don't need your stinking pennies any more.
I'm a rich man now."
- (Courtroom gasps) - It's not true.
None of it is true. She's lying!
Why are you lying?
Silence!
Stay back, thank you. Out of the way.
Out of the way, please. Thank you.
We will not be answering any questions at this time.
- (Clamouring) - Thank you. This way.
Thank you. Stay back.
LEONARD: No, I'm not going in there! Please, please!
I didn't do nothing! Please, I didn't do nothing!
I didn't...
(Grunting)
Please, I didn't do nothing!
Get off! Get off me!
Get off!
- Hold him. - Hold him.
- Calm down. - (Leonard gasps)
(Rasping breaths)
- Leave him. - Scum.
Can't you put him on the bed?
(Door is locked)
(Leonard breathes heavily)
(Mayhew coughs)
CARTER: You were right, she's impressive.
The judge believes her, the jury believes her
and now have the whole night to think about how much they do.
And I have nothing on her.
There is something but Leonard won't say.
How helpful!
Perhaps I should tie the noose myself
and save everyone else the time and trouble.
- Janet McIntyre... - No one cares about the maid!
I do! Please, stop!
Sir Charles... (Gasps and coughs)
Mrs French always grew bored of the other young men.
None of them lasted.
So Janet McIntyre had her mistress all to herself
until Leonard came along.
She was jealous.
This is your contingency plan?
To paint a recently murdered woman
as a predatory nymphomaniac
and her maid as a deranged lesbian?
Janet McIntyre had blood on her cuffs.
(Coughs)
(Continues coughing)
♪ Keep the love-light glowing
♪ In your eyes so true
♪ Let me call you sweetheart
♪ I'm in love...
♪... with you
(Electricity buzzes)
(Exhales)
(Coughs)
(Cheering and applause)
(Cheering continues)
(Coughs)
(Glass jar clinking)
Hello?
You have been watching me.
Who are you?
Christine. Christine Moffat.
I was the girl in the moon before her.
Did you bring money?
I need money.
I don't know... what I'm buying yet...
...or if I want it. - (Laughs)
Oh, you'll want it. A hundred pound.
Oh... I don't have anything like that.
But you will, you will when you win.
When you've ruined that pissy German bitch.
Show yourself.
I can't... deal with someone whose face I can't see.
She done this to me.
Boiling sugar and water and she laughed while she done it.
I was beautiful once.
And now I have to hide in this shithole.
But I've been following her.
And I got these... to her fancy man...
...what was my man that she stole from me.
She went to the Cross Keys hotel at Blackfriars with my man.
And her surname isn't Heilger.
That's not her maiden name, it's her husband's name.
You want them now, don't you?
(Coins clinking)
This is everything I've got.
That's... That's not enough. That's not nearly enough.
No, no. I can bring more.
I... I promise.
Swear.
Swear on what you love.
I swear on my wife.
I swear on the memory of my son.
She took my face, she took my man.
Now you take her.
You take her.
Mister.
You will come back with my money, my money to live?
- I'll come back. - I need it, Mister.
(Grunts and coughs)
(Coughs)
(Coughing continues)
You're very hot, John.
I'm going to save us, Alice.
I'm going to save him.
But I'm going to save us.
Not long to go now. Give 'em your best face.
You hear me, son?
JUDGE: The defence may proceed.
Sir Charles Carter, KC, for the defence.
Call Romaine Heilger.
This is your contract of employment for the theatre?
Yes.
And this is your handwriting, your signature?
Yes.
To clarify your testimony, made under oath,
Leonard Vole came home at ten past ten, covered in blood.
He burned his bloodstained shirt in the grate
and told you he was a rich man now?
That's correct.
And that is your handwriting?
ROMAINE: I said so.
You're a liar, aren't you?
No.
I'm not, sir.
This is your handwriting too, isn't it?
I can't see. Can you bring that closer?
No, I don't think I will. I think I'll just read it out.
"My darling Max.
My lover, my flame, my wolf, my brute.
(Gasps of shock)
Not long now, my sweetheart."
Where did you get that?
"Not long now until I'm yours and yours alone.
Not long until Leonard is gone forever,
out of my way for good.
Poor stupid Leonard,
as innocent as a lamb.
Well, lamb was always my favourite meat."
Please, give that to me, it is mine.
"So simple, so easy, my last theatrical role."
Please give it to me.
- "This will be my..." - It is mine! Give it to me now!
"This will be my greatest performance
and soon, my darling, soon, my love, I will be free.
In your arms, your hands on me,
your mouth on me.
Oh, how I burn for you."
Leonard Vole...
as innocent as a lamb.
From her own mouth.
You didn't go to theatrical digs that night, did you?
You went to the Cross Keys hotel at Blackfriars
to meet your lover.
The night porter will go on oath
that you arrived at one in the morning and went up to a suite,
where he was assured you were expected.
Why would you want Leonard Vole dead?
Why would you want to send this young man to the gallows
for a murder he did not commit?
Because Leonard Vole is the only person who knows
that if you marry your lover, which you so clearly long to do,
you will be a bigamist.
- (Courtroom gasps) JUDGE: Silence.
Heilger is not the name of your beloved father,
killed with your mother during the invasion of 1914.
That was a lie.
Heilger is the name of the husband you already have.
That is why you and Leonard Vole never married.
And my client, through some misguided...
...but honourable chivalry...
chose to keep your shame to himself.
You have lied to the court.
You have lied under oath.
There is a penalty for that.
Expect to pay it.
- You men. JUDGE: Take her down.
You men.
Congratulations.
You men. You fucking men!
You fucking men!
- You men, you fucking men! - Order! Order!
- Romaine! - You fucking men!
- Order! - You fucking men!
You...
men!
(Breathes heavily)
Are you an expert in lip-reading, Mr Starling?
No.
So when you observed Leonard Vole
and Mrs French through your office window,
you can't tell what she said to him,
whether she told him the purpose of your meeting or not.
No.
Leonard Vole freely admitted he went to visit Mrs French
to take her a present of a cat-shaped brush for her cat.
Did you find such an item in your search of the house?
Yes.
So Leonard Vole, who is as innocent as a lamb,
was telling the truth.
I saw him as bright as day. I saw him leave the house.
But you can't have done, Miss McIntyre,
unless you returned from your church meeting
earlier than you previously stated,
at which point Mrs French was still alive.
It was half-past nine and it was him.
Mr Vole was at home, Miss McIntyre.
Are you trying to say I'm mad?
Are you trying to say I'm seeing things?
Has the prosecution been coaching you on your answers,
Miss McIntyre?
The murder of Mrs Emily French was a terrible, brutal crime.
But it wasn't committed by Leonard Vole.
The evidence here is circumstantial,
fuelled by speculation and jealousy.
And the police should have seen through it straightaway.
Yet Leonard Vole has been imprisoned,
he has been beaten.
His name, his reputation, traduced,
every calumny of the state, the law, visited upon him.
The threat of death by hanging
haunting his every waking moment -
an innocent man.
Good God, what world is this?
Gentlemen of the jury,
the greatest contumely that Leonard Vole has endured
is the monstrous, vicious...
...infinite heinous perfidy...
...of women.
Leonard has left the court.
You, however...
...will be charged with perjury and go to prison.
(Mayhew coughs)
You've lost your career, such as it was.
You've lost your lover,
and the man who, more fool him, loved you.
(Coughs lightly)
So...
who's easy to hurt now?
(Hisses)
(Coughs)
(Coughing continues)
You... you.
- What you've done. - All right, all right. Come on.
The blood's on your hands!
- Calm down, Miss McIntyre. - Your hands!
Your hands!
Oh.
(Groans)
(Footsteps)
(Birdsong)
John?
(Footsteps)
(Liquid is poured)
It's bronchitis, according to the doctor.
He says he doesn't know how you kept going.
I said, "That's John Mayhew for you, he just keeps going."
Here.
How long have I been here?
Four days.
- Four days? - No, no.
It's covered.
It's all covered, for as long as you need.
The bank likes me now.
I'm going abroad.
I don't know if I can stay in England.
It's too much, you know?
I wonder if...
when you're better, you could do something for me?
Sell the house.
I won't live there, I couldn't.
Shall we say 40 per cent commission?
That's too generous.
I owe you my life, John Mayhew.
My life.
There is one thing that's worrying me.
I think I should make a settlement for Janet.
Financial settlement?
She's lost everything - her home, her job.
I could help her.
Anonymously, of course.
No.
Well, I'll be guided by you.
I think you're going to be very busy.
You've become rather famous.
I've left something for you.
Goodbye, John.
Thank you.
(Coughs)
(Ticking)
Alice.
I saved him.
(Indistinct chatter)
(Indistinct chatter continues)
Shall we take these first, sir?
No, no, no. Take the ones upstairs.
They need to go first.
(Soundtrack over dialogue)
(Thunder rumbles)
The cat walks through the crime scene.
Its paw prints are photographed.
And then it's gone.
At the police station, Janet McIntyre's hands are clean.
But the white cuffs on her dress are stained... with blood.
A dead cat isn't evidence of murder.
It's evidence of Miss McIntyre's state of mind.
This happened right under your nose, Detective Breem.
It's all been right under your nose.
Well... congratulations.
You've just solved the murder of Emily French.
You can thank me later, when you get promoted.
- (Bell tolls) - Good morning, Mr Mayhew.
- Good day. - Sir.
- Good day, sir. - Hello.
- Mr Mayhew. - Good to see you.
- Mr Mayhew, if you could... - (Overlapping voices)
MAYHEW: Thank you.
Miss McIntyre?
You have to come with us now.
- There you are, sir. - Jolly good.
(Typing)
- Good morning, Beryl. - Good morning, Mr Mayhew.
- Good morning, sir. - Morning.
Ah, welcome.
(Mutters) Hail Mary, full of grace...
And two weeks before Leonard Vole's trial,
Miss McIntyre came to you for advice, didn't she?
What advice did she want?
She wanted to know what would happen to Mrs French's will
when Leonard Vole was convicted of her murder.
I said there was a strong case to argue
that it revert to its previous iteration.
The version which contained a generous stipend
for Miss McIntyre?
Yes.
She was licking the blood, Mimi, the cat.
Erm... licking the blood.
She wasn't even sorry, she wasn't sad.
She was licking the blood. I just snapped.
You just snapped?
Did you snap with Mrs French, arguing about the will?
You were jealous, weren't you?
She was yours.
And Mrs French wouldn't believe anything you said about Vole.
(Soundtrack over dialogue)
Perhaps she didn't care.
And now she'd given him your money.
You came back from church earlier than you stated.
You argued with Mrs French and you snapped.
(Emily gasps)
You don't understand! I loved her!
- So much. - Too much.
Much too much.
(Cries out)
(Gasps)
(Breathes heavily)
What's the matter?
(Mayhew panting)
Nothing.
It's nothing. Nothing.
Nothing. Go back to sleep.
(Continues panting)
(Ticking)
I love you. I love you.
Alice?
We'll miss the train.
(Sighs)
How pretty you are.
Thank you.
JANET: No, no. No, not today, thank you.
It's not convenient, not today.
Not today, thank you.
Not today, not today, not today.
Not today, thank you.
It's not convenient. No.
No. No, no, no, no.
No, no, not today.
- No, no. No, not today. PRIEST: Shall never die.
Not today.
PRIEST: I know that my redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.
And though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see God.
Whom I shall see for myself,
and mine eyes shall behold...
...and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away.
(Trapdoor opens, body falls)
(Laughter and lively chatter)
(Dog barks)
(Giggling)
Hah-oh!
(Gulls cry)
(Inhales and exhales deeply)
(Chatter)
(Car hooter)
(Applause, chatter in French)
(Lively chatter)
(Knocks)
(Ticking)
Hello, Leonard.
John.
(Clattering)
- No, no, no. Ssh, ssh, ssh! - (Muffled cries)
No noise.
Don't make a fuss. We can't have that.
- (Muffled cries) - Sssh!
(Muffled cries)
Leonard, leave him alone.
It'll go everywhere now, John. It's all shaken up.
We're celebrating, we're having champagne.
(Cork pops)
Told you.
You're... You're in prison.
I was.
Time has gone by.
You probably didn't notice, so busy being a success.
You deserve it, John.
And you look well, so much better than you did.
Being rich suits you.
She wanted you hanged.
- Christ. - John...
what jury would believe a besotted woman?
She'd say night is day to save her man.
But a vicious, scheming bitch
lying through her foreign teeth...
to put a noose around his neck...
Well, they'll disbelieve her...
...and find that man innocent, won't they?
No.
I went to see Christine Moffat.
I saw what you've done to her.
You honestly believe that I threw boiling water and sugar
in a girl's face?
What do you take me for?
Christine was... pregnant.
WARDROBE MISTRESS: Breathe in.
Ow! Careful.
We're ready for you now, Miss Moffat.
She went off to have her baby.
Did you go back to see her, give her the money?
I'm guessing not.
(As Christine) And you swore you would.
You swore... on your wife...
...and on the memory of your son, you swore...
...Mister.
Make-up.
Lighting. The stage was all set. Performance.
It was all just pretending, John.
Here, John.
Have a drink before you pass out.
It was all lies.
I told the truth on oath.
Leonard came home at ten past ten.
There were a few... little untruths.
I've never been married before.
Heilger is my father's name.
And I burned the shirt.
Oh, God.
Oh, God... Janet.
Oh, God. Oh, God.
(Mayhew hyperventilates)
John.
Get your murdering hands off me.
Murder? Just one life after so many.
You monster.
You monsters.
We are what happens when you butcher the young,
when you cheat us, you lie to us,
expect us to be grateful just for being alive.
And you are no different from us, John.
You went after Janet.
I wanted to give her money, you wanted her dead.
ROMAINE: You have a ruthless streak in you, John.
What you'll do to win, how far you'll go.
Here's to John Mayhew.
Fellow monster.
You have made it all possible.
You... and your guilt.
It wasn't Leonard you wanted to be innocent.
It was you.
(Applause and cheering)
♪ Let me call you sweetheart
♪ I'm in love with you
♪ Let me hear you whisper
♪ That you love me too
♪ Keep the love-light glowing
♪ In your eyes so true
♪ Let me call you sweetheart
♪ I'm in love
♪ With...
(Ticking)
Did you have a nice walk?
Mm.
I love you.
Yes.
You're always telling me.
You never say it back.
Everything I've done was for you. Everything.
All of it...
to make you happy.
- I love you. - Mm.
Please say it back.
No, stop.
The windows are open, someone will hear.
Let them.
No.
Alice, say... say it back.
- John! - Please.
- No... - Alice.
- Stop! - Alice, please.
S...
Stop!
- Stop it! - Aargh!
Everything I've done... Everything!
Every single thing was for you!
All of it!
Every single thing was to make you love me.
Say it back, so I know that that was worth it!
You don't want to be loved!
You want to be forgiven and I don't!
I don't! I don't forgive you!
(Alice grunts)
Because you came home and he didn't!
Did you think all it would take was a holiday
and some new clothes?
I didn't want him to go.
He was too young.
You let him lie about his age so you could go off together...
...father and son.
And I've tried to forgive you.
And I've tried to love you and I can't.
Because you came home...
...and he didn't.
(Alice inhales deeply)
(Exhales)
I will always look after you...
...cook for you, clean your house.
I'll stand by your side.
I will be proud when you do well.
But love you?
I can't.
And the way you paw at me...
I can't bear it.
I won't endure it. You'll have to go elsewhere for your needs.
You can afford a mistress now.
I don't want anyone but you.
You came home.
And now we have to carry on.
It's... better to be honest for both of us.
No false hope.
I'm going to have a bath now.
Then we can have dinner...
...knowing each other better.
Everything.
All of it.
Everything was for you.
Then it really wasn't worth it.
But I think we can be happier now.
Don't you?
I expect so.
- (Reception bell pings) - (Chatter)
Now you can inherit...
I was thinking, what would happen if you got tired of me?
(Both chuckle)
Then don't be tiresome, Leonard.
Merci, monsieur. Au revoir.
Au revoir.
(Car hooter)
(Gulls cry)
♪ Let me hear you whisper
♪ That you love me too
♪ Keep the love-light glowing
♪ In your eyes so true
♪ Let me call you sweetheart
♪ I'm in love
♪ With you
Ripped & Corrected By mstoll February 2017
Ripped & Corrected By mstoll Released on www.Addic7ed.com