[BARKING]
Tom, Tom!
Get your back waddle out of that bed. Bring your shotgun.
Dirty old blimey dogs.
We're coming at you this time.
Them hounds got the scent of something out there, all right.
[BARKING CONTINUES]
Wild dogs.
All I'm saying, by the sound of them.
TOM SR: Damn wild dogs at the swamp, let's get them.
-[DOGS BARKING] -TOM JR: What's that, Pa?
What?
TOM JR: Looks like a body.
Here, Pa, take these dogs.
TOM SR: Stay here, and shut your choppers, you flea flakken fat laps.
Oh, sweet jeepers.
It's Ellie Burrifors, Pa.
-Ellie Burrifors? -Yeah.
Dead?
Anything dead would be stinking by now.
Wild dogs got them themselves a taste of human blood.
Ain't nobody going to be safe out in their houses.
We get together and wipe them off the island.
You go call the sheriff.
Yes, Pa.
All right. What can anyone tell me about it?
Well, young Tom, here, he come on her first.
How'd the rest of you get here so fast?
Brandon Skellar was at the gas station when I called you, Sheriff.
He came on along the park driving back here.
Who else knows about this?
Only Preacher Biggers.
-I called him after I called you. -What for?
Well, I figured somebody ought to tell her brother what happened to her.
Preacher Biggers is the only one in Frenchtown got a telephone.
Well, we're lucky you don't have a whole pocket full of dimes, aren't we?
Well, don't a family got a right to know?
It's up to the authorities.
Now, Ellie and Lawrence Burrifors got a father next to death,
he hears about something like this,
there are going to be two dead bodies. Is that what you want?
I guess not.
Now, what can you tell me, Doc?
Right now?
Only that it's not considered good medical practice to perform autopsies
in the middle of swamps surrounded by howling dogs and scratching rustics.
DOCTOR DRUTEN: I want the remains moved to the hospital
as soon as you can arrange it.
Do you think that can be accomplished by the neighborhood clods
without completely obliterating any chance
there might be of determining cause of death?
LAWRENCE: Ellie!
Ellie!
[SHRIEKING] Ellie!
SHERIFF WHITAKER: All right. Somebody grab a hold of him now.
Go on, stop him.
-LAWRENCE: Let me go... -You don't want to see her like that, Lawrence.
LAWRENCE: You let me go!
[WHISPERING] Ellie...
Ellie...
Anybody know how it happened, Sheriff Whitaker?
Did you bring him here, Reverend?
He'd have stolen my car and come anyway, sheriff.
LAWRENCE: Poor Ellie.
[WHISPERING] Ellie.
Who killed her?
It was the wild dogs, boy. This couldn't be done by a human person.
Take your hands off me, mister.
-Now, you hold on to your manners, boy! -All right now.
All right now. Let's hold it.
Just hold it.
Now, you go on home with the Reverend and wait for me.
Go on... Go on!
Now, you two boys help doc with the body.
Now, the rest of you, get out of here.
I want to look around for myself. Go on, get!
BIGGERS: Come on, Lawrence. Come on.
-He thinks someone murdered her. -Well, what do you think?
Wild dogs do it to her?
Tell me what you mean by do it.
Dogs might very well have done something to her.
There were bite marks.
Well, then they killed her.
You show me a pack of dogs where one of them knows how to hit you
on the side of the head and knock you unconscious
and I'll sign the death certificate saying she was killed by dogs.
-Something struck her. -Someone struck her.
With enough force either to kill her outright
or to render her sufficiently senseless to be dragged out into that field
and left for the dogs to finish off.
Find someone strong enough to do that with his left hand
and you'll have who did it.
WHITAKER: Left hand.
The mark was along here.
That's where a left-handed person would strike you if you were facing him.
You've got a murder, sheriff.
That's just what I needed.
-Hello, Sara? -Sheriff?
I'd like to come in if you'd allow it.
[DOOR OPENING]
Hi, Lawrence, you feeling better?
Did you find out who did it to her?
How's your father? Does he know about it?
I just bathed him. Do you want to pay your greetings?
WHITAKER: That'll pleasure me.
[MUMBLING INDISTINCTLY]
What's he saying?
What he's been saying ever since Ellie was killed.
WHITAKER: Hugh, what are you saying, Hugh?
[MUMBLING INDISTINCTLY]
Lougaroug.
[HUGH SPEAKING FRENCH]
What was he talking about? I don't know French. What's a lougaroug?
I don't know.
Well, you speak French.
Never heard that word before.
LAWRENCE: First time I heard that word
was when I came back from where they found Ellie.
Does he know about Ellie?
-Yeah, he knows. -Who told him?
-Nobody told him. -Well, then how does he know?
Well, I can't tell you that.
He's been talking like that ever since I got back.
Talking about... His pretty Ellie.
Little girl, sweet daughter and the lougaroug.
He knows.
Somehow he knows without anybody telling him.
Nah, doesn't make any sense.
He's just got crazy things going on in his head because he's old and sick.
Let's talk about what's going on in your head.
Well, you know what's going on in my head.
I want to know what got it going.
-It wasn't wild dogs that killed Ellie. -Now, how do you know that?
She was having trouble.
What kind of trouble?
With a man.
-You know who? -I don't know who.
Wasn't anybody from down here on the bayou,
somebody up on Pecan Hill, some other Marsh Island snobbery.
Well, how'd you know? She tell you that?
She didn't tell me anything. That's how I know.
We was good friends. She used to tell me everything.
-Then suddenly she just... -[CLAPS]
Shut up tight. Wouldn't talk a word to me.
And so was last night,
when she was ironing her dress and brushing out her hair.
I asked her...
She wouldn't say.
I know.
Don't you worry about that.
How'd you know there was trouble between them?
You said there was trouble.
I could read her face like a newspaper.
Something had gone wrong. Something bad.
I tried to find out what it was but she wouldn't tell me.
She just sassed me and told me to shut my mouth in gutter French.
So, what'd you do?
-Well, I hit her. -How hard?
Well, hard enough to let her know what I thought about her letting the...
quality put their fat fingers all over her.
Go on, show me how hard you hit her. Show me how you hit her.
Go on, show me.
And I've known you for 10 years.
I never knew you were left-handed.
ANDREW RODANTHE: Sheriff?
WHITAKER: Good morning, Mr. Rodanthe.
ANDREW: Good morning, sheriff.
How are you? Is there something I can do for you?
-[HORSE SNORTING] -Well, I just, uh, came by.
I guess you heard about Ellie Burrifors.
Yes, I did hear, sheriff. It's a terrible thing to happen.
Come on, let's sit on the gallery.
Is it true they discovered her body just the other side of our road?
Yeah, right there at the Gurmandy place.
Have you any idea who might have done it?
WHITAKER: We don't know much yet.
I was just trying to trace where she went after she left the house
before she got to the marshes.
She could've come along the Gun Hill Road
or maybe she took a shortcut across the bayou.
I was half-wondering if you might have been outside
between 8:00 and 12:00 and noticed her pass by?
No, I'm afraid not, Sheriff.
I wasn't being a very happy man about that time last night.
Oh?
Yes, I was doing battle with another bout of malaria.
There was a time there when I thought my shaking
was going to bring the whole house down around my ears
but it finally passed off around 1:00 or 2:00.
And I slept the rest of the night like a dead man.
WOMAN: Andrew?
We're just about ready for lunch.
WHITAKER: Ms. Rodanthe, I didn't know you'd return to Marsh Island.
ANDREW: Just a couple of hours ago. I met her plane in New Orleans.
I guess you don't remember me.
You are Aaron Whitaker. I remember you very well.
When did you meet Sheriff Whitaker, Louise?
Well, he wasn't sheriff then Andrew, he was just plain Aaron Whitaker
and he was too busy hating me in junior high.
[CHUCKLING] And I had this terrible crush on him.
Louise.
You probably didn't know a single thing about that, did you?
And I wish I had, we could've compared them.
Compared what?
Crushes, I had one on you too.
Well, why ever didn't you say something about it?
-To a Rodanthe? -Well, we're human, aren't we?
I mean practically, aren't we Andrew? Like anybody else.
Even though we're a fine, old family and settled Marsh Island and all that.
Even though there's always been a Rodanthe living in this great old house here,
you know you can't keep it warm when it's cold out,
cool when it's hot or dry when the rain is filtering in through the cracks.
-Uh, Louise. -Well, it's true, isn't it?
At least was five years ago when I left.
Has anybody fixed the roof since then or put in heating?
Louise. Now, Sheriff Whitaker is attending to a small matter
and I'm sure you are impatient to get on with it, isn't that so, sheriff?
It's nice seeing you again, Ms. Rodanthe.
But you will come to call, won't you?
Oh, I have to remember all the way they say things here.
Come to call? Is that it?
Or pay a visit?
[CHUCKLING] In New York, it's ring up, drop in, hop over.
Things are much more active in New York.
Louise, I'll be right along.
Oh, dear, I'm talking too much.
You noticed that I suppose. I'm a compulsive talker, everybody says so.
You know, it happened to me shortly after I graduated from junior high school.
What a pity it didn't happen sooner,
I could have mentioned that terrible crush I had on you.
LOUISE: Oh, Andrew is staring at me.
Well, goodbye, Sheriff Whitaker and do...
Ring up or drop in or hop over.
[CHUCKLING] Well, my, that does sound energetic, doesn't it?
Oh, put your hat on or you're going to get a sunstroke in this climate.
I'm going, Andrew. I am going.
My sister has been ill, Sheriff.
That's why she's come home.
WHITAKER: Then I hope she'll be feeling better soon.
Oh, yeah, she will be with a lot of rest, quiet, no excitement of any sort.
What you mean is I shouldn't bother to ring up, drop in or hop over?
It hadn't occurred to me you were taking the invitation seriously, sheriff.
I wasn't.
-Mr. Rodanthe. -ANDREW: Sheriff.
TOM SR: You got yourself a clue, Sheriff?
-Either one of you ever seen this? -I don't know.
-What did the fellow call it? -You identified Ellie Burrifors.
That means you knew her.
Oh, we knew her all right. She did cleaning for us a while.
-Back after Ma died. -How long?
A year or near about.
Afterwards, she went to work at the hospital.
-You ever date her? -Sure didn't.
You mind telling me what you were doing the night she was killed?
I was down in town at the bean wagon, a lot of folks seen me.
Well, when'd you get back, what did you do?
I came back around 10:00, went to bed, that's what.
Did you see him?
Well, I didn't get in till about 12:00.
-Where were you? -Leedville.
Well, when you got home, did you look in to see if Tom was home?
Tom, Jr. here is a grown man and I don't bed check him no more.
Anyhow, why are you asking us things?
It was wild dogs who had done it, wasn't it?
You saying it wasn't wild dogs?
There's more than one kind.
I'll see you.
[ENGINE STARTING]
[SIGHS]
-WHITAKER: Good morning, Sara. -Sheriff.
-What brings you to town? -Oh, Hugh sent me up to the store
to buy some things.
-Some acifiditive and some sulfur. -What for?
For the lougaroug.
-For it? -To drive the lougarougaway.
Sara, do you know what a lougarougis?
No, Sheriff, I don't.
But Hugh thinks the lougarougkilled Ellie
-and now he's scared it's going to get Lawrence. -Well, did he say that?
Yes, sir.
Only, I'll tell you something, Sheriff.
Didn't no lougaroug kill Ellie, no matter what the old man says.
And Lawrence didn't do it either.
And that's what you've been thinking.
Oh, I'll say, he had a reason and he's left-handed.
He didn't kill her, Sheriff.
Don't go wasting' no time on Lawrence. I know that.
Now, how do you know that, Sara?
Because I know who did kill her.
Who?
You find out whosoever made Ellie pregnant
and you'll find out who killed her.
WHITAKER: Doc, I'm not getting any more answers
out of the back of your head than I was out at the front.
How come you didn't tell me Ellie was pregnant?
I knew she was pregnant.
I was third in my class.
How come you didn't say anything?
Aaron, I was performing an autopsy to determine cause of death.
Pregnancy didn't cause her death.
Well, I'm not so sure.
Well, I am.
Doc, if she was pregnant, somebody got her that way.
And that's a clear lead to... To who killed her.
No.
No, it isn't.
-Antibiotics anyone? -[MUMBLES INDISTINCTLY]
Not at all.
Because I got her pregnant.
And I didn't kill her.
I loved her.
Then I guess I'll have some of your antibiotics.
Sorry, there's only one glass.
I didn't say anything about needing a glass.
-I know what you're thinking. -Oh, I think you do.
Burrows Druten, MD. FICS.
Grandson of Senator Jefferson Druten of Louisiana,
out of his mind in love with a girl who does cleaning,
isn't that what you're thinking?
Lawrence said she had a date. He didn't say who with.
Do you know who she had a date with?
Of course.
Me.
But she never came.
I waited until I decided she wasn't going to come then I went home.
Where were you supposed to meet?
Down at the bottom of Pecan Hill,
in the grove, across the wall from the Rodanthe property.
That's where we...
Met a lot... One time in particular.
Lawrence said she looked worried.
She was.
That's what we were going to talk about.
The baby.
I wanted to abort it.
She wanted to marry me and have it.
She wanted us to go someplace to live,
somewhere else where people wouldn't know us.
-And leave Marsh Island? -And the hospital and my whole life.
-You didn't want to? -I didn't have the guts to.
I'm almost 50, Aaron. When do you start over again at 50?
I wanted to go on loving her.
Not having to give up anything for it.
She said no. We were going to talk it out that night...
But she never came.
So, I went home.
I never saw her again.
Until I've been in that clearing.
Torn apart.
Sounds like I killed her, doesn't it?
You ever see this before?
DRUTEN: No, never did. Where'd you get it?
You never saw Ellie wear it?
This?
Ellie never owned anything like that.
Okay.
Aaron.
I didn't kill Ellie.
Oh, boy, I sure hope not.
Hey, Doc, what do you use sulfur and acifiditive for?
You don't, not anymore.
Well, when you used to use 'em, what did you use 'em for?
-My grandmother used to claim they kept wolves away. -Wolves?
-I see. -DRUTEN: You're not going to arrest me?
-Are you left-handed? -No.
Of course, whoever made that mark on Ellie,
could've come up from behind her and that would make him right-handed.
-Maybe. -I'll see you.
[DOOR CLOSING]
-Hello. -Hello.
Andrew had a terribly important meeting with town council
so I made him drive me in with him.
Well, have you found out who did that awful thing to that girl yet?
Not yet.
Do I, do I have to call you Sheriff, the way Andrew does?
Could I call you Aaron?
Aaron would be fine.
-[CHUCKLING] -Well, then you've got to call me Louise.
All right. Thank you.
I was wondering if, um...
Was there something you wanted to say, Aaron?
Yeah, I was wondering if you'd have a cup of coffee with me?
Over at Eddie's.
Well, I'd admire to do that very much, Aaron.
LOUISE: You know, I've never went in all my life in this place, you know that?
So, now that you are, what do you think?
Well, I think...
I think Eddie doesn't make a very good cup of coffee.
Maybe you'd like something else to drink, not much you can do with a burger.
They're all staring at me now. What would they do if they saw me take a drink?
Hey, listen, when Eddie finds out he had a Rodanthe in here,
tomorrow all the prices are going to go up.
[CHUCKLING]
We really own this town, don't we?
Well, your great-granddaddy established it.
Oh, I know. It all got drummed into me when I was just little.
"You're FFL child, First Family of Louisiana.
"Don't you ever forget it, child."
You know, I forgot it.
Oh?
Look at everybody concerned about me coming back so suddenly after all this time.
What's Andrew been telling them?
Well, Andrew...
-Said you were sick. -[LAUGHING]
Oh, that is Andrew.
He'd rather everyone thought I was a terminal case or something than know the truth.
You want to know the truth, Aaron?
You want to know why I finally came back to the ancestral manor?
Well, I can hardly say no, can I?
No, I guess not after my leading you on this way.
I was living with a man. That's what was happening.
That's why Andrew just can't bear anyone knowing.
And what is worse, the man I was living with was not socially acceptable.
And what is worse...
-Oh, there's something worse? -Oh, yes, when you hear.
The socially unacceptable man I had been living in sin with,
walked out on me.
Well, I would think that Andrew would have been relieved.
Oh, no, he was furious.
Well, if they had dueled him, he'd have dueled him dead.
You don't walk out on a Rodanthe even if you are living in sin with her.
That's socially unacceptable.
You know what Andrew did? [CHUCKLES]
He hired some detectives and they came to New York and found me.
They packed me right back here.
Well, you didn't have to go, you could've said no.
He's got all the money. He'd cut me off.
-Could've gotten a job. -Doing what?
There's the curse of the Rodanthe again.
All we women folk were ever taught was...
Piano and how to talk French.
[CHUCKLING]
So here I am, back at the old homestead, having been saved from myself.
And Andrew's running around telling everybody I've been sick.
I'm glad you're back.
Are you, Aaron?
Oh, well, stop telling myself how unhappy I am because Andrew is such a stinker.
MAN: Mr. Rodanthe. How do?
ANDREW: Good afternoon.
Good afternoon, gentlemen. Please, don't let me interrupt your pleasures.
I've been looking all over for you, Louise.
Sheriff, this is where your sleuthing has taken you?
Oh, Andrew, don't be so stuffy.
Aaron just invited me in here for a cup of coffee.
Oh... Well, I'm much obliged to you, Sheriff,
for occupying my sister while I was doing town business.
I'm ready to go home now, Louise. And you ought to get some rest.
ANDREW: You're looking a little piqued
and you remember what the doctor told you.
Andrew, it's no use. I've spilled the beans to Aaron.
LOUISE: That is right.
I have told him the whole ugly truth about why I'm back in Marsh Island
so there's no point in going on and on and on about...
How I need rest and how I've been sick and what the doctor said.
I see.
Well, it's comforting to know
that Sheriff Whitaker is not the town gossip.
ANDREW: Sheriff, I hear it being said that Mr. Gurmandy and his boy
are organizing a hunt for tomorrow.
Aiming to wipeout the wild dog population around here.
Would you care to join in?
We don't often get sport like that in these parts anymore.
I just might...
Mr. Rodanthe.
Of course, if the Gurmandy's kill off all those wild dogs,
I don't know what they're going to have to talk about the rest of their lives.
Are you ready Louise?
Lougaroug!
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
Papa, it's okay.
[SCREAMING IN FRENCH]
Papa!
[HUGH WHIMPERING]
[HUGH TALKING INDISTINCTLY IN THE DISTANCE]
[SCREECHES]
[HUGH SOBBING]
Dr. Druten, quick, he's looks bad this time, real bad.
-Get up, Lawrence. -[MUTTERING]
[BLUBBERING]
[WHIMPERING]
[HUGH CRYING]
Lougaroug...
DRUTEN: You might as well start thinking about him dying, Lawrence.
If you're not already.
He can't last much longer.
Oh...
Lougaroug, is that French, Lawrence?
It's not any French I ever heard.
Well, that shot will keep him quite for a few hours.
Okay.
Dr. Druten.
-Yes, Sara, what is it? -What did you find when you examined Ellie?
Just that she was murdered. Dogs didn't do it.
Like I said.
-Well, you were right. Excuse me. -SARA: Nothing else?
No... Nothing.
-Goodbye. -Nothing?
[ENGINE STARTING]
What's troubling you, Sara?
If he says he didn't find nothing,
either he's lying about being a doctor
or he's lying about what he found.
What are you talking about?
If I tell you something, Lawrence,
will you promise to keep your head on your neck?
SARA: Hmm?
What is it you're going to tell me?
Promise?
Promise.
We'll have a good bunch.
Well, Sheriff, you coming on the wild dog hunt?
Nah, you bring me a pelt, Tom.
I'm disappointed you're not joining us, Sheriff.
Well, somebody's got to mind the store.
-Good hunting. -Somebody's coming this way like he's being hunted.
Must be old Hugh again.
-What is it Lawrence? -You let me by, Sheriff.
-Hey, Lawrence, what is it? -He killed my sister!
WHITAKER: Come on, grab him now. Lawrence, now, cool it off.
It was her... She was having a baby. It was his baby!
WHITAKER: Now, Lawrence, we know you're grieving, boy.
Come on, down boy or you're going to take a shot on your head off.
[ALL TALKING INDISTINCTLY]
Come on now, Lawrence. Now, just stand right up there, come on over here.
Now, you all go hunt your wild dogs, now get out of here.
WHITAKER: Now, you come with me, come on.
We better get going with it,
while we still have the light.
LOUISE: Aaron?
[SIGHS] I was just cutting some roses.
Well, come on in if you're not looking for clues.
Well, I found the clue I was looking for.
-What clue? -For you.
I was wondering if you were home.
Well, where else would I be?
Not shooting down dogs with the rest of folks in these parts.
Would you care for a glass of lemonade? It might cool you off.
WHITAKER: Thank you. It's mighty hot.
LOUISE: You would've just driven on by.
WHITAKER: Oh, I suppose so, if you hadn't stopped me.
LOUISE: Well, why didn't you just come calling like everybody else?
WHITAKER: Anybody just wouldn't come calling, not here,
not without an invitation, I was brought up on Marsh Island.
LOUISE: So was I. I guess that's why nobody ever came calling.
Well, have you solved your murder yet?
[CHUCKLING] Not quite.
LOUISE: Well, do you have any suspects? Is that the word? Suspects?
WHITAKER: Yes, that's the word. And I got three of them.
And I don't want anyone of them to have done it.
Now, Dr. Druten is a...
Well, he's the closest thing I got to a friend here in this town.
[SIGHING] And Lawrence...
Lawrence was her brother, if he did it...
-LOUISE: Sit down. -Thank you.
All the folks of quality around here will, uh...
Will say, see what kind of people there are down in Frenchtown,
they're half foreign and everything.
And if it was Tom Gurmandy,
that'd mean there was something between Tom and Ellie.
I wouldn't like to think she'd lower herself that much, I liked her.
And I'm some Sheriff, aren't I?
I've never heard you talk so long before.
I've never heard myself keep still so long.
What do you suppose that means?
Well, I don't know what it means to you
but when I feel out lot of place, I just shut up.
When I do, I just keep talking.
I guess that's what it means.
Well, I guess you'd better drink your lemonade.
Yeah.
[WOLF HOWLING]
They shot eight dogs today, it took 20 of them to do it.
The only wild dog is Dr. Druten because he's the one
I'm going to get as soon as I get out of here.
You'll get a long sentence for what you did today.
You take my advice and just let him alone.
-He killed Ellie. -You don't know that.
Go on, get yourself some sleep.
I'll see you later, Teddy.
Do you want me to lock him in?
You planning to escape, Lawrence?
No.
It wouldn't be worth it.
Well, only lock it if he has visitors.
-All right, Aaron. Good night, now. -WHITAKER: Good night.
[SHALLOW BREATHING]
[RASPING]
[RASPING CONTINUES]
[RATTLING]
[CRASHING]
-What was that? -Beats me.
But I'm going to do like Aaron says.
I'm going to lock you up.
Nobody's going to be fooling around with my business.
TEDDY: Now, you be a real good boy. Sit down. I'll be right back.
-All right. Come on out. -[SHALLOW BREATHING]
[GROWLING]
[GUN SHOTS]
[SCREAMING]
[RATTLING]
Oh, no...
What do you want? Hey...
[RATTLING]
Ahhh!
Get back. No, no! What... What is...
[BREATH TREMBLING] God... No!
[SCREAMING]
Same except for the blows.
This time whoever did it, tore them both apart with his fingernails.
Cover him up.
Aaron, what in devil's own name is it?
Well, you and the boys could've saved yourself
the trouble of shooting all them dogs, Mayor.
They didn't kill Ellie or Lawrence or Teddy.
Well, who did?
Damn, look at them bars.
You get through those bars, Tom?
Sure couldn't.
I don't believe you could either.
So I've just run out of suspects.
Hey, Sheriff, is there anything you can tell us?
There are three people who were killed by somebody strong enough to tear down bars.
Find somebody around here who's strong enough to do that
and you got yourself a killer.
Well, ain't nobody that strong.
There are no marks of any instruments used on the bars.
They were torn up by bare hands.
I'll send someone to take the bodies, Sheriff.
Okay, Doc.
I'd like to have four or five deputies for volunteers.
Anyone volunteer?
What do you need deputies for, Aaron?
If Ellie and Lawrence Burrifors were murdered by this... Wild man.
WHITAKER: There's only one Burrifors left, old Hugh. How do we know he's not next?
I want to post 24-hour guard down at his house.
All right, I want volunteers.
Yeah, I thought so.
Look at what happened to that deputy of yours who was guarding Lawrence.
You want me going out there and getting myself all torn apart
guarding some old boy who's three-quarter dead anyhow?
All right, go on home, all of you.
Go on, get out of here. Go lock your doors.
That ain't no joke, Aaron. I'm locking and I'm bolting.
And I ain't my feeding my dogs. You catch whatever, whoever it is
running around doing them things.
I've seen them bodies.
Tom Jr., come along.
I'm getting on home.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
Good morning, Mr. Rodanthe.
-Little quiet, wouldn't you say, Sheriff? -Uh-huh.
There are probably eight or nine guns on us right now.
Is that so?
Well, I heard you were lacking deputies so I thought I'd come
and offer my services. If you think I'd qualify.
I appreciate that but what happens when I'm supposed to give you orders?
I guess you'll just have to forget who I am.
And remember who you are, Sheriff.
All right. Come on. I'm going to drive you over to Hugh's,
I was going there myself.
[ENGINE STARTING]
Marsh Island was settled by my people, Sheriff.
And I've never been into this part of town.
You and your sister are seeing a lot of new things these days.
I believe you're right, Sheriff.
-Go this way. -It appears to be just as quiet here as up in town.
Twice as many eyes watching us.
ANDREW: You seem to have a tremendous knowledge of everything
that's going on around you, even when it's completely invisible.
I am the Sheriff. Good morning, Sara. How's Hugh?
Oh, he seems a little weaker today, Sheriff.
Good morning, sir, Mr. Rodanthe.
-You know me? -Oh, yes.
Won't you come in, sir?
My daddy used to work for you,
when your granddaddy had more than a hundred hunters.
Well, there's only a few of them left now
and most of them are hunting for pastureland.
Oh. What's that smell?
[COUGHING] What's that smell?
[SCREAMS]
-What's wrong with him? -He's had a fit.
Doctor, you were third in your class,
I never went to college. I knew he was having a fit when he started having it.
He's had a fit and it was brought on according to what you've told me,
by something he smelled.
Now, until he comes to, I can't say anything more.
Well, haven't you had anything like this before?
-You've been the Marsh Island doctor for 20 years. -Oh, yes.
But not the Rodanthe, doctor. I wasn't good enough for them.
They went to New Orleans.
-He said something about malaria. -This isn't malaria.
Well, do you got any ideas?
Not until I can talk to him.
If I just knew something about his medical history.
-I'll find out for you. -How?
I'm the sheriff.
LOUISE: Is he all right, Aaron?
Well, the doctor says he doesn't have a temperature.
And his pulse is all right.
It's just as though he was sleeping it off.
Sleeping what off?
Whatever seized him.
Did he ever have a fit like that before or anyone in the family?
Granddaddy used to have what they called his spells.
What were they?
Oh, I don't know. Please, sit down.
I mean, nobody would ever talk about it.
Oh, I was just little, all I remember was a lot of running around
and whispering and people talking about granddaddy
having one of his spells upstairs, long time later
I was sure they meant he'd been drinking.
Well, maybe it wasn't that at all.
Maybe it was the same thing your brother just had.
Oh, what is it Aaron? What are you looking at?
WHITAKER: This.
LOUISE: That was my mother's, she gave it to me.
-You know where it is? -Oh, good heavens, no.
Well, I mean, I might know if I look for it.
I left it here when I went to New York.
I suppose it's around here somewhere, why?
Well, it is somewhere.
-Oh, what are you doing with it? -Is that it?
Of course it is. Where'd you get it?
I found it near where they discovered Ellie's body.
She stole it?
Not necessarily.
Well, how else could she have gotten it?
I'm going to find out.
You mean Andrew?
I don't mean anything. I just mean I'm going to find out,
-I'm going to the hospital. -Oh, Aaron, could I come with you, please?
You have to wait in the other room while I question him.
-I gave it to her. -WHITAKER: When?
The night she was murdered.
Now, Mr. Rodanthe, maybe I oughtn't to be questioning you in your present condition.
Although the doc did say he was going to send you home tonight.
And now, if you don't know what you're saying...
Oh, I didn't kill the girl, Sheriff. And I know perfectly what I'm saying.
I gave her that bit of bright work
in return for, uh...
certain favors she did me over the past year.
Favor?
Not the kind you're thinking, Sheriff.
[GROANS]
[SIGHING]
You ever heard of Seibert's Syndrome?
Well, it's an offshoot of blackwater fever, the one form of malaria.
They don't know anything about it really.
And once you got it, you got it forever.
And the only time you know you've had an attack
is when you wake up after it's all over.
I've had it for over a year now.
-What do you do about it? -You take trakpyradone.
It's the only thing that keeps it under control.
-Where do you get that? -Here at the hospital.
-Then Doc Druten would've known about it. -No.
Sheriff, I have an interesting aversion
to my maladies being paraded around the town.
Being the subject of gossip in ballrooms and bathrooms.
Ellie Burrifors used to bring me the medicine in the evening,
a month's supply at a time.
And those were the favors she did me in return for some money.
And the night she died, that locket...
Mr. Rodanthe, are you telling me that Ellie brought you
some medicine on the night she was murdered?
That's right.
What time?
Oh, between 8:00 and 9:00.
-What were she wearing? -I don't know...
It was a pretty dress, it was a sort of brown, I think with, uh...
With checks.
But she wasn't in a pleasant mood that night,
she had something on her mind it seemed like.
So I gave the locket to Ellie, saying,
"Here. Maybe this will brighten you up a little."
-Did it? -Not noticeably.
But she thanked me and I hung...
Hung it around her neck and closed the catch
and then she went away to get murdered.
What did you do after Ellie left?
Something stupid, Sheriff. Nothing.
Nothing?
I should've gone right back upstairs and taken two of the pills but I didn't.
I just sat there, thinking to myself,
what a pretty girl that Ellie Burrifors was.
Just sat there thinking.
-And... -And?
The next thing I knew I was taking a shower
and it was about 5:00 in the morning.
Mr. Rodanthe, when you came home last evening after hunting,
-what did you do then? -I dined with my sister.
-And after that? -I went straight to bed.
It tired me out more than I thought then, huh.
So, I went to bed early, it couldn't have been later than 9:00.
-Slept the night. -Without waking?
Straight through to breakfast.
And that's when I learned from my sister what had happened
in the night to Lawrence Burrifors and your deputy.
It was the same person wasn't it, Sheriff?
All these murders they've been committed by the same person haven't they?
Well, it seems so.
If there is a person that can tear iron bars out of a brick wall.
Well...
Mr. Rodanthe, you don't happen to be left-handed?
I'm ambidextrous, Sheriff.
I can sign my name with both hands at the same time and it would take
a handwriting expert to tell you the difference.
You know, they've been five of us in my family
who inherited that interesting trait from my great-great-grandfather.
Well, take care of yourself.
Oh, Ms. Rodanthe, is Sheriff Whitaker still with you?
Oh, there he is.
Aaron, I can't get one person in this fear-ridden town
to take this medication to old Hugh.
If he breaks loose with one more spell
of the lougarougs it'll be the finish of him.
I'll take it.
A spell of the what?
Something the old man keeps saying in French.
Nobody around here can understand him.
I know French.
-Will you go with me? -Of course.
-Ms. Rodanthe. -Doctor.
He said he went to bed at 9:00.
Well, I know it was early.
You know if he slept through the night?
Well, I don't know, I dropped off about 11:00.
Hello, Sara. How is he?
-Sulfur, I smell sulfur. -That's what it is.
And acifiditive. That's what people used to take.
-I know. -HUGH: Lougaroug.
-Do you hear him? -Lougaroug.
[QUESTIONING IN FRENCH]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
Lougaroug.
[SPEAKING IN FRENCH]
Lawrence.
[SPEAKING IN FRENCH]
Aaron.
Aaron,
it's his dialect, lougaroug.
He's saying loup-garou.
Werewolf. He's saying werewolf.
LOUISE: He says that I'm its next victim.
Mr. Rodanthe?
[GROWLING]
[RASPING]
-[SNARLING] -[NURSE GASPING]
[SCREAMING]
DRUTEN: Stop him! Stop him!
-[SCREAMING CONTINUES] -[GLASS SHATTERING]
[GROWLING]
Nurse, call the sheriff. Tell him what you saw, what happened!
[NURSES WHIMPERING]
MAYOR: Okay now, quieten down and listen.
Now, Tom Gurmandy, he knows these marshes better than his own name
so I'm putting him in charge.
And remember this...
-[HONKING] -Andrew Rodanthe, is out there and he's turned into a wolf!
And we got to find him and shoot him down like a wolf.
-Ms. Rodanthe, this ain't the place for you. -Mayor! Mayor...
You're planning to hunt down my brother,
hunt him down and shoot him like a wild animal?
-Ms. Rodanthe, you shouldn't be here. -Mayor, mayor, he's sick.
He's has this illness. Don't you understand that he has,
he has these seizures?
Ms. Rodanthe, he had fangs coming two inches out of his mouth.
Mayor, mayor, listen to me. There are drugs.
TOM JR: Hey, this here is his sister.
How do we know she ain't going to turn out to be some kind of a wolf?
You shut up!
LOUISE: Mayor, mayor, listen to me. Finding him is one thing,
but hunting him down, shooting him is another thing all together.
Now, this is a law enforcement matter.
You organize this posse without any legal authority.
I'm acting under authority vested in me by the Marsh Island charter.
Now, Tom Gurmandy is in charge now.
Louise.
WHITAKER: Come on, Louise.
Come on, boys.
[ENGINE STARTING]
[WOLF HOWLING]
[LOUD KNOCKING AT DOOR]
[KNOCKING CONTINUES]
-Well? -They didn't find him but they're still at it.
Aaron, Aaron, come in here. There's something I want you to see.
What is it?
"Lycanthropy and lycanthrope-like diseases."
What's lycanthropy?
Werewolves.
Oh, Louise, you don't believe in that...
What I believe, what I want to believe is that...
Is what Andrew said it was. A disease that you can take pills to control,
but after what Dr. Druten said
and after what happened at the Burrifor house
and Granddaddy's fits and now this book.
Let me see.
"Many diseases resemble lycanthropy and some of its symptoms.
"These quasi-like lycanthropic diseases
"are relatively harmless and easily controlled by a series of modern drugs."
Well, that was Andrew said it was, those pills.
"Lycanthropeia veritum.
"True lycanthropy may also respond favorably to the same drugs
"for a time and then the disease develops an immunity to the drug.
"In true lycanthropy the victim's yearning for the taste of...
"...blood turns him into a most powerful, dangerous, and deadly killer.
"Mythology has it that werewolves are repelled
"and rendered temporarily harmless...
"By the smell of sulfur.
"And it is also recorded, though with no scientific basis whatever,
"that certain persons sensitive, sorcerers, exorcises of evil
-"claim to be able to..." -No, no. Go on, go on, read it.
-It's mythology. I'm not interested in mythology. -Well, I am.
"Claim to be able to see the shape of a pentagram
"in the hand of the werewolf's next victim."
-Louise, it's 1972. -I heard he looked into Lawrence's hand
just before Andrew killed him.
Well, that's what Sara said. But Sara is a superstitious...
LOUISE: He just looked into mine.
Louise, he is your brother.
-Andrew is a... -[WOLF HOWLING]
[HORSE NEIGHING]
He's out there.
He's in the barn.
Stay right there.
Come on. Come on!
Stay here, Louise.
Aaron, he tore iron bars out of cement.
Andrew was born in this house. Maybe he'll have more respect.
And after I leave, lock and shutter this door
and go in there and lock and bolt that too.
And don't leave the room.
I don't know what I'll do when I find him but it won't be what they'll do.
Now, don't leave the room, don't answer the door until you hear it's me,
Aaron, saying it's me, all right?
Aaron, if he has to be killed...
Not their way.
WHITAKER: Rodanthe? Rodanthe?
"The destruction of the victim
"and only two methods of destruction are known.
"Death by burning
"or death by shooting of bullets that have been blessed."
[DOOR BANGING]
[ROARS]
[SNARLING]
[GROWLING]
Aaron! Aaron!
[HOWLING]
[CLINKS]
[CLATTERING]
-[SCREAMING] -[GROWLING]
[SNARLING]
[GROWLING]
[HORSE NEIGHING IN THE DISTANCE]
[CRYING] Oh, Andrew.
Oh...
-[WOLF HOWLING IN THE DISTANCE] -[GASP]
-[GASPING] -[HOWLING CONTINUES]
[WHINNYING]
[FIRE CRACKLING]
[GROWLING]
[DOOR BANGING]
Louise?
Oh, Aaron...
He knew.
He made me fire at him.
[CRYING] He knew... The bullets.
He must have had them blessed.
He must've done that.
[CRYING] He knew.
Aaron, look.