The Guilty

The old street.

Wet, dirty, miserable.

Never know I'd been away at all.

Wreaks of murder.

Senseless murder.

Why did they have to be twins, estelle and Linda?

Forget it.

Linda's dead.

I'll just have one more look at estelle

and that” be the end of it.

The old room.

Wonder who's living in it now?

Bet they never heard of Dixon and me.

Mcginnis's.

I'm a sap to be going in there but...

Well, as long as I've gone this far,

I might as well go through with it.

She doesn't show, that'll be okay, too.

I'll just have a beer and say hello to old Tim.

Hi, Tim.

Well, well, if it ain't Michael carr.

I'm glad to see ya, me boy.

How ya been, Tim?

Fine, fine.

You coming back to this neighborhood again?

- No, I'm just keeping a date with somebody.

Shall I guess who?

That's right.

Special occasion?

I don't know, maybe.

Haven't seen her in six months.

After all that stuff in the papers,

I figured we'd better have some time

to wipe the ghosts out of our eyes,

so I told her to meet me here

at this bar at half past eight, six months from that night.

This is it.

That's good, that's good.

Eh, I guess I'm a little early.

What'll ya have?

Two beers, Tim.

Still up to your old tricks, eh?

Mmhm.

Bourbon on the side for me.

She probably won't even remember the date we made.

Oh, I'm not so sure about that.

Women have memories like elephants.

She was in here once or twice while you were gone.

Alone?

No.

She sat there right where you're sitting now,

and she says to me, "two beers," just like you did.

Hey, Tim, two more of the same.

Excuse me.

- Wonder who she's playing around with now?

As if I cared.

But she did order two beers like old times.

She must have been thinking of me.

Why don't I get out of here before I get tangled up again?

It's not too late.

I remember that girl very well.

Say, there was a fellow by the name

of Dixon mixed up in this some way, wasn't there?

Yeah, he was my roommate.

Or don't you read the papers?

- Of course, but that was the time of the world series,

and that is pretty important, too.

But all kidding aside, Mike,

there was a lot of stuff in the newspapers

but I couldn't get head nor tail of it.

Nobody could.

Say, you and this Dixon

were pretty good friends, weren't you?

- We were in the army together, that's all.

He was my lieutenant and I was only a corporal.

Nobody in the outfit liked him very much.

- You must have, rooming with him the way you did.

That was just one of those things.

I bumped into him after he got out

of the hospital with a psycho discharge.

Is that so?

Yeah.

He'd had a run-in with a mortar shell during

the battle of the bulge.

Threw a fountain pen clear through his shoulder

and knocked him goofy.

Once he found out I had the place across the street,

I couldn't shake him anymore.

He was scared to death to go home

and have his folks see him in the shape he was in.

Still used to go all to pieces ever so often.

Of course, he couldn't hold down a job for very long.

So, all he did between spells

was drink and chase around with dames.

That's how he got to be my roommate.

Not that I wanted any part of him, but...

Well, I guess that's the way it is with guys

who've been in a war together.

You put up with a lot of things without knowing why.

Come in, doc.

Hello.

Hello.

I'm sorry to bother you,

but I'm looking for my sister, estelle, estelle Mitchell.

I'm Linda.

Yeah?

Isn't this where Johnny Dixon lives?

Yeah.

Are you Mr. Carr?

That's right.

I thought she might be over here,

so I just dropped around to pick her up.

Did she say she was coming over here?

- Why, I thought I heard her say so to Johnny on the phone.

She isn't here.

Perhaps they're out some place.

Thanks anyway.

Wait a minute.

Johnny's right here.

He's been sick all evening.

Oh.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Is there anything I can do?

No, thanks.

- Oh, come in, doc. - Good evening.

Wait, I'll be with you in a minute.

You fixed him up once before, doc,

so I guess you know what's wrong.

He's been awful nervous lately.

Anything you want, call me, will ya?

Mm hm, yeah.

What's wrong with Johnny?

He looks awfully sick.

Oh, it's nothing serious.

He'll be okay tomorrow.

Shall I tell him you were here?

I'd rather you didn't.

I'm a little embarrassed about the whole thing.

Well-

- tell me, something I don't quite understand,

why should Johnny be going out

with your sister if he's always talking about you?

I guess you don't know my sister.

No, I guess I don't.

Wait, I'll take you home.

Oh, that's all right, Mr. Carr.

Mike.

Johnny's told me a lot about you.

He says you're the only friend he has.

Sure you don't want me to take you home?

- No, thanks, it's only a couple of blocks.

Okay.

Night.

Night.

That was Linda.

I might have known

that she'd look exactly like her sister, estelle.

After all, they were twins.

Only Linda was the nicer of the two,

and I lied to her when I told her

I didn't know estelle because I did.

I found out later that Linda

went straight home after she left me.

Her mother and sister were in the middle

of an argument about Dixon.

You never think of me, do you?

Sitting here worrying myself sick

not knowing where you are half the time,

and so many dreadful things happening to girls nowadays.

Just you wait, young lady,

until you have a daughter of your own.

Maybe then you'll understand.

Oh, for Pete sakes, mother.

Don't you think I'm old enough to take care of myself?

At it again, huh?

I had to work late.

Johnny came along and wanted to bring me home, so I let him.

He's crazy about me, what's wrong with that?

- You'll be the death of me yet.

Boy crazy.

I thought he was supposed

to be in love with Linda.

Can I help it if he likes me better?

I don't know this Dixon,

but he's a fool if he let's you go.

Nice of you to think so, Alex.

Sorry I messed up our movie date.

Oh, that's all right.

I played cards with your mother for awhile and...

Alex tremholt had been living

with the Mitchells for years,

and was just like one of the family.

The girls never got along,

but now that estelle knew that Johnny Dixon

had given her the gate for Linda,

she made up her mind to break 'em up.

That's probably why she left

the gold bracelet on the dressing table,

so Linda would see it.

Is this something new?