Bill Raisch credited as playing...
Fred Johnson • Fred Carson
- Arthur 'Art' Howe: They don't want you to come back.
- Fred Johnson: What do you mean?
- Arthur 'Art' Howe: I mean there's another thousand for you if you jump bail. My client's instructions.
- Fred Johnson: A thousand bucks? Gimme it!
- Arthur 'Art' Howe: Not yet. I said, I want to know why someone thinks you're that important.
- Fred Johnson: Who cares? Gimme the money!
- Arthur 'Art' Howe: Gimme the money! Gimme gimme gimme! You sound like a greedy child.
- Fred Johnson: I need the money.
- Arthur 'Art' Howe: Of course you do. But wouldn't you rather have more? Say, 50,000? Who knows how high the pot may run!
- Fred Johnson: What are you talking about?
- Arthur 'Art' Howe: Fred, I've got a name, and you've got the reason why he hired me.
- [Lt. Gerard enters a police interrogation room. Fred Johnson is seated at the table. Capt. Lee is in the room as an observer. Gerard sits down at the table opposite Johnson]
- Lt. Philip Gerard: You know who I am, don't you?
- [pause]
- Lt. Philip Gerard: I think you do.
- Fred Johnson: You're a cop.
- Lt. Philip Gerard: That's right, from Indiana. Stafford, in fact. You know that town, Johnson?
- Fred Johnson: That's not my name.
- Lt. Philip Gerard: It'll do for now.
- [pause]
- Lt. Philip Gerard: Have you ever been to Stafford? Just a few minutes ago we had a call from a man who claims he saw you there a few years back.
- [pause]
- Lt. Philip Gerard: His name is Richard Kimble.
- Fred Johnson: [quickly] I ain't ever been to any Stafford!
- Lt. Philip Gerard: You ever hear of Richard Kimble?
- [Johnson nods]
- Lt. Philip Gerard: I thought you might have. He's been after you for quite some time now.
- Fred Johnson: He's got something wrong in the head.
- Lt. Philip Gerard: Claims you killed his wife.
- Fred Johnson: He's lying.
- Lt. Philip Gerard: Take it easy, Johonson, we're on your side. Now I think he invented that story... then saw you one day, and finished up believing his own lie.
- Fred Johnson: Then get him off my back!
- Lt. Philip Gerard: We will. And when we do, I want you to throw that lie in his face.
- Fred Johnson: What do you want from me?
- Lt. Philip Gerard: Just tell us where you were that night.
- Fred Johnson: What night?
- Lt. Philip Gerard: September 19th, 1961, the night Helen Kimble was murdered.
- Fred Johnson: [thinking out loud] September '61, September... oh, yeah, Texas.
- Lt. Philip Gerard: Whereabouts in Texas?
- Fred Johnson: El Paso, I was there all year.
- Lt. Philip Gerard: And you didn't leave El Paso the whole of 1961.
- Fred Johnson: That's right.
- Lt. Philip Gerard: And you've never been to Stafford.
- Fred Johnson: No.
- Lt. Philip Gerard: [Lt. Gerard is interrogating Fred Johnson. Capt. Lee observes from a corner] You ever been to Indiana?
- Fred Johnson: Oh, I mighta been through there, hoppin' freights and all...
- Lt. Philip Gerard: Do you know a man called Gus Evans?
- Fred Johnson: [Johnson's manner suddenly gets harder] No.
- Lt. Philip Gerard: That's odd. FBI says your fingerprints match his.
- Fred Johnson: They're wrong.
- Lt. Philip Gerard: Using the name Gus Evans, you took a job as a night watchman for an electronics firm. They were dong government work, so your fingerprints were taken for clearance purposes.
- [pause]
- Lt. Philip Gerard: Any of this coming back to you?
- Fred Johnson: I don't know... maybe...
- Lt. Philip Gerard: On September 5th, 1961, just two weeks before Helen Kimble was murdered, you were fired for drinking on the job!
- Fred Johnson: So what?
- Lt. Philip Gerard: So that plant was located in Indianapolis... only 75 miles from Stafford!
- Fred Johnson: I told you I'd been through there!
- Lt. Philip Gerard: You told me you didn't leave El Paso all year.
- Fred Johnson: I got confused.
- Lt. Philip Gerard: You're lying.
- Fred Johnson: No... just forgot, that's all.
- Lt. Philip Gerard: [hotly] Did you forget about Stafford, too?
- Fred Johnson: You got me all mixed up!
- Lt. Philip Gerard: [ironically] Tell the truth, Johnson... then you won't get mixed up.
- Fred Johnson: I don't have to talk to you.
- Lt. Philip Gerard: Did you kill Helen Kimble?
- Fred Johnson: I wanna see a lawyer.
- Lt. Philip Gerard: Why did you lie?
- Fred Johnson: I don't have to answer any more questions.
- Lt. Philip Gerard: [grabs Johnson by the shirt, then savagely] Did you kill Helen Kimble?
- Lt. Philip Gerard: Did you kill Helen Kimble?
- Fred Johnson: I wanna see a lawyer.
- Lt. Philip Gerard: Why did you lie?
- Fred Johnson: I don't have to answer any more questions.
- Lt. Philip Gerard: [grabs Johnson by the shirt, then savagely] Did you kill Helen Kimble?
- Capt. Ralph Lee: [restraining Gerard] Phil!
- Fred Johnson: Kimble! he's been buggin' me for years, says I killed his wife.
- Arthur 'Art' Howe: [looks at him] Well, did you?
- Fred Johnson: [pause, then] No... but I was there and saw who did.
- Arthur 'Art' Howe: But you never said anything?
- Fred Johnson: Wasn't supposed to be in that house, pal. No skin off my nose if the doctor burned.
- Arthur 'Art' Howe: [with admiration] You dirty dog.