1:33:04
Your name?
- Richard Harland.
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- Your profession?
- Writer.
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If you don't mind, Mr. Harland, I shall
ask you for a moment to be a reader.
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I have been asked how I happened
to investigate the death of Mrs. Harland.
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This letter is my answer.
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I ask you to read it.
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- Aloud?
- Please.
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"Dear Russ,
I'm writing this letter to you...
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...because we once meant
a great deal to each other...
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...and there is no one else to whom
I can go for help. Richard is leaving..."
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Proceed, please, Mr. Harland.
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"It was after I left the hospital I first
began to sense a change in my husband.
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At first I thought it might be due
to the loss of our child...
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...and then the truth, the awful truth,
began to dawn on me.
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The reason for the change was Ruth.
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Russ, they love each other,
and want to get rid of me.
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When Richard suggested a divorce...
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...I went to Ruth and begged her
to give him up.
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She said she intended to have him
and would stop at nothing.
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I told Ruth I would never
give Richard a divorce.
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Then she threatened to kill me."
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Go on, Mr. Harland.
1:34:26
"Russ, I know she means it,
and is capable of it.
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She will kill me first chance she gets."
1:34:31
If you don't mind, Mr. Harland, would
you read that last paragraph louder?
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"She will kill me
the first chance she gets."
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Go on, Mr. Harland.
1:34:44
"I'm afraid to stay in the house,
but I can't leave without Richard.
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I'd rather die than give him up.
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I don't know what to do
or where to turn, except to you.
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- Please help me. Ellen."
- Mr. Harland...
1:34:53
...identify the handwriting in this letter.
- Ellen's.
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I call your attention
to the first sentence:
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"I am writing this letter to you because
we once meant a great deal...