Mildred Pierce Page #2

juicy item for the morning edition?

-Nope. Not today.

-What's she in for?

Parking gum under her seat

in a movie. Satisfied?

Okay, Charley. Okay.

-l'm sorry. l just couldn't help it.

-No talking.

Take a seat.

You know that guy?

Yes. We were married once.

Paper, lady?

No, thank you.

Okay.

He wants you now.

Now you can talk.

lnspector Peterson, Mrs. Beragon.

-How do you do?

-How do you do?

Won't you sit down?

Sorry about your husband.

lt must be a shock to you.

Well, l....

l'm afraid l don't quite know

how to begin.

You see, the fact of the matter is,

Mrs. Beragon, we don't need you.

You don't need me?

l don't know how to apologize for

bringing you down here for nothing.

But, you understand, we had to be sure.

Well, now we are sure.

Aren't you going to ask me questions?

l thought you would.

l know. Everybody thinks detectives

do nothing but ask questions...

...but detectives have souls,

the same as anyone else.

-Cigarette?

-No, thank you.

Go ahead. lt's all right.

Mrs. Beragon, being a detective is like,

well, like making an automobile.

You take all the pieces

and put them together one by one.

First thing you know, you got

an automobile. Or a murderer.

And we got him.

You're in the clear, Mrs. Beragon.

The case is on ice.

Well, you can go now.

All right, men.

Could you--?

-Would you tell me who---?

-Who did it?

Sure. You're entitled to know.

No.

No!

Yes, he did it.

-Your first husband. Pierce.

-No, Bert, l won't let you do this.

And Wally Fay?

How do you know he didn't do it?

Fay had no motive. This man had.

You see, we start out with nothing.

Just a corpse,

if you'll pardon the expression.

We look at the corpse and we say,

''Why? What was the reason?''

And when we find the reason,

we find the man that made the corpse.

ln this case, him.

Come on.

-But he didn't do it. l know he didn't.

-Do you?

The murder was committed with this.

-Do you know who it belongs to?

-No. l don't know.

We do. lt belongs to Pierce.

That's fact number one.

Fact number two:

He doesn't deny killing Beragon.

He seems to think it was a good idea.

But he didn't. He couldn't.

He's too gentle and kind.

Okay. He's kind and gentle.

He's wonderful.

But if he's so wonderful, Mrs. Beragon,

why did you divorce him?

Because l was wrong.

lt's taken me four years to find

that out, but now l know l was wrong.

Let's see. Four years ago he was

in the real-estate business, wasn't he?

Yes. He and Wally Fay were partners.

For a long time they made good money.

They built a lot of houses.

Suddenly, everybody stopped buying.

-The boom was over.

-Yes?

Then one day they split up.

Wally was in and Bert was out.

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