10بخش

I feel bad. I let him down.

Ah, that’s crap, kid.

He’s proud of you.

We’ve been friends a long time so I know him as good as anybody.

A smart fellow, ain’t he? As smart as they come.

He used to be a banker on the outside.

What’s he in here for, anyway?

Murder.

The hell you say!

You wouldn’t think it to look at the guy.

He caught his wife in bed with some golf pro.

He greased them both.

What?

About four years ago,

I was in Thomaston on a two-to-three stretch.

I stole a car. It was a dumb-** thing to do.

About six months left to go,

I get a new cellmate in.

Elmo Blatch.

Big, twitchy **er.

Kind of roomie you pray you don’t get.

You know what I’m saying?

Six-to-twelve, armed burglary.

He said he’d pulled hundreds of jobs.

Hard to believe, high-strung as he was.

You’d cut a loud fart, he’d jump three feet in the air.

Talked all the time, too.

That’s the other thing. He never shut up.

Places he’d been in,

jobs he’d pulled, women he’d **ed.

Even people he’d killed.

People who gave him shit.

That’s how he put it.

So…

one night, like a joke,

I say to him, I say, “Yeah, Elmo, who did you kill?”

So he says…

I got me this job one time bussing 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.

He gives me shit.

So I killed him.

Him and this tasty bitch he was with.

That’s the best part.

She’s **ing 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.

I have to say that’s the most amazing story I ever heard.

What amazes me most is you were taken in by it.

Sir?

Well…

it’s obvious this fella Williams is impressed with you.

He hears your tale of woe

and quite naturally wants to cheer you up.

He’s young, not terribly bright.

Not surprising he wouldn’t know what a state he’d put you in.

Sir, he’s telling the truth.

Well, let’s say, for the moment, this Blatch does exist.

You think he’d just fall to his knees and cry,

“Yes, I did it! I confess!

And by the way, add a life term to my sentence”?

That doesn’t matter. With Tommy’s testimony, I can get a new trial.

That’s assuming Blatch is even still there.

The chances are he’d be released by now.

They’d have his last address, names of relatives.

There’s a chance, isn’t there?

How can you be so obtuse?

What?

What did you call me?

Obtuse. Is it deliberate?

Son, you’re forgetting yourself.

The country club will have his old timecards,

records, W-2s,

with his name on them. If you indulge this fantasy, that’s your business.

Don’t make it mine. This meeting is over. Sir, if I were to ever get out,

I would never mention what goes on in here. I’d be as indictable as you for laundering money.

Don’t ever mention money to me again, you sorry son of a bitch!

Not in this office.

Not anywhere! Get in here now.

I’m just trying to set your mind at ease, that’s all. Sir, I…

Solitary. A month.

Yes, sir. What’s the matter with you?

Get him out of here. This is my chance to get out! Don’t you see?

It’s my life! Don’t you understand?

Get him out! Get him out! This is my life!

No!

A month in the hole.

It’s the longest damn stretch I ever heard of.

It’s all my fault.

Oh, bullshit.

You didn’t pull the trigger and you certainly didn’t convict him.

Red, are you saying that Andy is innocent?

I mean, for real innocent?

It looks that way.

Sweet Jesus.

How long’s he been here now?

1. What is that?

19 years. 19 years…

Williams, Thomas. Yeah, over here.

Paxon, Edward. Yeah.

What you got? Board of Education.

The son of a bitch mailed it. Looks like he did.

Are you gonna open it or stand there with your thumb up your butt?

The thumb up my butt sounds better.

Hey, Skeet, come on, give me that, you shithead.

Floyd, come on. Over here, over here!

Hey, Red!

Come on, will you throw that away, please?

Well, shit.

The kid passed. C+ average.

Thought you’d like to know.

The Warden wants to talk.

Out here?

That’s what the man said.

Warden?

Tommy.

Tommy…

I’m asking you to keep this conversation just between us.

I feel awkward enough as it is.

We got a situation here.

I think you can appreciate that.

Yes, sir.

I sure can.

I tell you, son, this thing really came along and knocked my wind out.

It’s got me up nights, that’s the truth.

The right thing to do.

Sometimes it’s hard to know what that is.

You understand?

I need your help, son.

If I’m going to move on this,

there can’t be the least little shred of doubt.

I have to know if what you told Dufresne was the truth.

Yes, sir.

Absolutely.

Would you be willing to swear before a judge and jury,

having placed your hand on the Good Book

and taken an oath before Almighty God himself?

Just give me that chance.

That’s what I thought.