:58:00
- What do you mean by that?
- Her friends would come to her with their troubles...
:58:03
at all hours
of the day or night.
:58:05
I asked Diane
to answer the door.
:58:08
- Why didn't you go yourself?
- Supposing one of Laura's friends had found me there.
:58:12
- Why open the door at all?
- They must have seen the light.
:58:15
What about the girl? Diane-
what about her reputation?
:58:18
I asked her to tell them Laura had let
her the apartment while she was away.
:58:22
Anybody that knew Laura
would have believed that.
:58:24
- Yeah. Go on.
- Well, then the doorbell rang again.
:58:27
I could hear Diane's mules-
Laura's they were-
:58:30
clattering across the bare boards
between the rugs.
:58:33
Then there was a moment's silence
and then a shot.
:58:37
It was an awful explosion.
:58:40
By the time I reached her,
the door was closed.
:58:43
- She lay there on the floor.
- Did you go out to see who it was?
:58:45
No. I was too confused, too horrified,
incapable of doing anything.
:58:49
The room was dark. I saw only
a vague heap lying on the floor.
:58:52
I- I don't think
I fully grasped the situation.
:58:57
I think I called her name,
but I'm not sure. I-
:59:00
I remember kneeling on the floor,
feeling her heart.
:59:05
My first instinct
was to call the police.
:59:07
- Why didn't you?
- I don't know.
:59:09
Or rather, I was afraid-
not only for myself, but for Laura.
:59:12
In a panicky sort of way, I felt I must
keep out of this to keep Laura out of it.
:59:17
I know now how foolish
and hopeless it was...
:59:19
but there was only
one thing on my mind-
:59:22
the safety of a person whose life
was dearer to me than my own.
:59:24
Don't you understand that?
:59:26
Did you think
Laura had done it?
:59:29
- Did you?
- I don't remember what I thought.
:59:32
- Do you think so now?
- No.
:59:35
- But you didn't?
- No.
:59:37
On Saturday, when our men went to the
hotel to tell you that Laura was dead...
:59:41
- you seemed sincerely shocked.
- I was. I hadn't expected that mistake.
:59:45
But you had your alibi ready
no matter who was dead.
:59:47
Yet you knew the minute
Laura got back it wouldn't stick.
:59:50
Don't you see? I was incapable
of thinking that far ahead.
:59:52
I was incapable
of thinking at all.
:59:55
I was groping for some way
to keep Laura's name out of it.
:59:59
I was heartbroken about Diane
and panic-stricken about Laura.