Big twitchy ****er. Kind of roomie you pray you don't get. You know what I'm sayin'? 6 to 12 for armed burglary. Said he pulled hundreds of jobs...So one night like a joke, I say to him, I say, 'Yeah, Elmo? Who'd you kill?' So he says...
EB Elmo Blatch
(flashback)
I got me this job one time busin' tables at a country club. So I could case all these big rich pricks that come in. So I pick out this guy, go in one night and do his place. He wakes up and gives me shit. So I killed him. Him and this tasty bitch he was with. That's the best part. She's ****in' this prick, see, this golf pro, but she's married to some other guy! Some hotshot banker. And he's the one they pinned it on.
Oh, Andy loved geology. I imagine it appealed to his meticulous nature. An ice age here, million years of mountain building there. Geology is the study of pressure and time. That's all it takes, really. Pressure, and time. That and a big damn poster. Like I said, in prison, a man will do almost anything to keep his mind occupied. Turns out Andy's favorite hobby was totin' his wall out into the exercise yard, a handful at a time. I guess after Tommy was killed, Andy decided he'd been here just about long enough.
[in a letter to Red after being released on parole]
Dear fellas, I can't believe how fast things move on the outside. I saw an automobile once when I was a kid, but now they're everywhere. The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry. The parole board got me into this halfway house called "The Brewer" and a job bagging groceries at the Foodway. It's hard work and I try to keep up, but my hands hurt most of the time. I don't think the store manager likes me very much. Sometimes after work, I go to the park and feed the birds. I keep thinking Jake might just show up and say hello, but he never does. I hope wherever he is, he's doin' okay and makin' new friends. I have trouble sleepin' at night. I have bad dreams like I'm falling. I wake up scared. Sometimes it takes me a while to remember where I am. Maybe I should get me a gun and rob the Foodway so they'd send me home. I could shoot the manager while I was at it, sort of like a bonus. I guess I'm too old for that sort of nonsense any more. I don't like it here. I'm tired of being afraid all the time. I've decided not to stay. I doubt they'll kick up any fuss. Not for an old crook like me. P.S: Tell Heywood I'm sorry I put a knife to his throat. No hard feelings. Brooks.
DA District Attorney
Mr. Dufresne, describe the confrontation you had with your wife the night she was murdered.
[on the stand]
It was very bitter. She said she was glad I knew, that she hated all the sneaking around. And she said that she wanted a divorce in Reno.
DA District Attorney
What was your response?
I told her I would not grant one.
DA District Attorney
"I'll see you in Hell before I see you in Reno", those were the words you used, Mr. Dufresne, according to the testimony of your neighbors.
If they say so. I really don't remember that I was upset.
DA District Attorney
What happened after you argued with your wife?
She packed a bag...she packed a bag to go and stay with Mr. Quentin.
DA District Attorney
Glenn Quentin. Golf pro at the Snowden Hills Country Club. The man that you had recently discovered was your wife's lover. Did you follow her?
I went to a few bars first. Later, I drove to his house to confront them, but they weren't home. So I parked in the turnout and waited.
DA District Attorney
With what intention?
I'm not sure. I was confused...drunk. I think...mostly I wanted to scare them.
DA District Attorney
When they arrived, you went up to the house and murdered them.
No. I was sobering up. I got back in the car and I drove home to sleep it off. Along the way, I stopped and I threw my gun into the Royal River. I've been very clear on this point.
DA District Attorney
Well, where I get hazy is when the cleaning woman shows up the following morning, and finds your wife in bed with her lover riddled with 38.caliber bullets. Now, does that strike you as a fantastic coincidence, Mr. Dufresne, or is it just me?
DA District Attorney
And yet, you still maintain that you threw your gun into the river before the murders took place. That's very convenient.
DA District Attorney
The police dragged that river for 3 days, and nary a gun was found. So, there could be no comparison made between your gun and the bullets taken from the blood-stained corpses of the victims. And that also...is very convenient. Isn't it, Mr. Dufresne?
Since I am innocent of this crime, sir, I find it decidedly inconvenient that the gun was never found.
DA District Attorney
Ladies and gentlemen, you've heard all the evidence, you know all the facts. We have the accused at the scene of the crime, we have tire tracks, we have bullets strewn on the ground that bear his fingerprints. A broken bourbon bottle, likewise with fingerprints, and most of all, we have a beautiful young woman and her lover, lying dead in each other's arms. They had sinned. But was their crime so great as to merit a death sentence? Now while you think about that, consider this: a revolver holds six bullets, not eight. I submit that this was not a hot-blooded crime of passion; that at least could be understood if not condoned. No. This was revenge of a much more brutal, cold-blooded nature. Consider this: four bullets per victim. Not six shots fired, but eight. That means that he fired the gun empty, and then stopped to reload, so that he could shoot each of them again: an extra bullet per lover, right in the head.
Judge You strike me as a particularly icy and remorseless man, Mr. Dufresne. It chills my blood to look at you. By the power vested in me by the State of Maine, I hereby order you to serve two life sentences back-to-back, one for each of your victims. So be it.
