Chapter 22 of 27 · 4'28"
Myers has a simple weapon: the calendar. On the very day Mrs French changed her will in Leonard's favour, he was asking about luxury cruises with another woman. "Supposing I did? It's not a crime, is it?" Leonard snaps—and the jury is left weighing his word against the timing.
Myers Presses Leonard on the Cruise
❝ Monologue · 9 lines Vole explains the travel agency
He turns a shabby impulse into a vivid story, sounding foolish rather than guilty.
Leonard Vole takes the witness stand. Sir Wilfrid finishes his brief questioning and leaves him to the prosecution. Myers walks him through the trench coat, the will, and a visit to a travel agency on the same afternoon, then presses on a detail Leonard cannot explain: why plan an expensive cruise just as he inherits.
Myers is not chasing a confession; he is stacking coincidence. Each fact alone is harmless—a coat, a will, a travel agency—but together they sketch a man spending money he did not yet have. Leonard feels the trap and turns sharp: "Supposing I did? It's not a crime, is it?" That flash of temper is exactly what Myers wants the jury to see, because a composed innocent man would not defend himself so fast. Leonard then supplies his own damage: he admits he was "hard up," that the cruise talk was "just an act," and that he cannot explain Christine. Myers closes the net with "we've only your word for it." The scene is less about the murder than about how easily honest details can be arranged into guilt.
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“I am confident that no matter how searching this may be, the prisoner will withstand it.”
He grants the worst the cross-examination can do and still bets on his client, calm and unshaken.
Formal
“Supposing I did? It's not a crime, is it?”
A double question throws the accusation back, cocky on the surface and nervous underneath.
Informal
“And the fact, Mr Vole, is that we've only your word for it.”
The closing line strips the defence down to a single unproven claim and lets it sit there.
Formal
“Very effective, I'm sure. But in this court we deal with fact.”
A polite nod, then a blade: this court runs on facts, not performances.
Formal
I was in a pub and I met a girl. I don't even remember her name. We had a drink and walked out together. We passed the window and saw the fancy posters, all blue seas and palm trees. The Grecian isles or somewhere. We went in for fun and I started asking for folders. Well, the man gave me a funny look because I did look a bit shabby. Anyway, it irritated me, so I kept asking for the swankiest tours, all deluxe and cabin on the boat deck, but it was just an act! No! it wasn't that way at all. It was make-believe and childish but... it was fun and I enjoyed it. I never thought of killing anyone or inheriting any money.
Up next · 23wild-goose chaseThe scene: The Call About the German WifeIt undercuts Leonard's story that he was just killing time with a strange girl. Asking about deluxe cruises the same day Mrs French changed her will makes him look like a man planning how to spend the inheritance.
Myers presses him on how he could afford a luxury cruise while unemployed. Leonard admits he had almost no money, which is exactly why the inquiries look suspicious to the jury.
He insists she must be lying or out of her mind, but cannot explain why she would testify against him. Myers treats this as the weakness in his defence.
No. No witness came forward to confirm he left Mrs French's house or entered his own at the times he claimed, so the defence rests on Leonard's word alone.
