Raven the Little Rascal Page #4

---

than a "honey-making thing",

a meaningless cog

bound for destruction

within the machine of nature.

It's brilliant, Mrs. Bradley!

It's terrifying, but it's brilliant.

I'm so sorry to interrupt.

- Someone's here to see you.

- Excellent. Who?

Mr. Poe?

Barbarian with a badge.

What's going on?

- Why is hair attracted to a magnet?

- What?

Soot is merely carbon residue

from coal and wood.

Am I under arrest?

I'm Detective Fields.

Please, sit down, Mr. Poe.

Yes, the infamous Detective Fields.

Am I under arrest?

No. Not as yet.

Then I'd rather stand.

It makes it easier to leave.

I am...

I'm a reader of your work.

I admit my admirers have gone

to great lengths to meet me.

I didn't say I was an admirer.

And yet you read them.

The night before last a girl

and her mother were found murdered,

the daughter lodged in a chimney,

the mother's head nearly severed

with a straight razor.

The killer ed through a window

in which a lock was feigned

with a nail sawn in half.

Does any of this

sound familiar to you, Mr. Poe?

But you're talking about my story.

A work of fiction.

I'm afraid I'm not.

According to various witnesses,

you were seen drunk two nights ago

in a tavern near the harbour.

What time did you leave?

I don't remember.

My leaving was... involuntary.

Do you actually think

that I murdered these people?

May I see your hand?

Which one?

Either will do.

Perhaps with the aid of accomplices

such a scenario

might be conceivable,

however improbable.

Yet what cannot be disputed

is the fact that your imagination

has inspired a horrendous crime.

Am I to be charged, then?

Is imagination now a felony?

Come!

Inspector, can I have a word?

This is Henry Maddux,

editor of the "Baltimore Patriot".

He was brought in

to identify the body.

His name is... I mean, was...

Gris... Griswold.

- Ludwig Griswold.

- He worked for you?

- Freelance writer.

- What things did he write?

Some poetry. Mostly criticism.

You know, the easy stuff.

Did he have a relationship

with Edgar Allan Poe'?

Of course. They hated each other.

Had a vicious feud a year ago.

Sold a lot of papers.

- How long have you known Mr. Poe?

- Edgar? Well, the past ten years.

You published his story,

"The Murders in the Rue Morgue".

He wrote that several years back

in Philadelphia.

I reprinted it

a couple of times here.

People love the gory ones.

So they do.

Edgar isn't a suspect,

is he, Inspector?

At this point everyone is a suspect,

Mr. Maddux.

Forgive me.

I know there is a darkness

to Edgar, but...

they're all up in here.

Every woman he's ever loved

has died in his arms.

I believe that God gave him a spark

of genius and quenched it in misery.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes