Mannix (TV Series)
A Rage to Kill (1974)
Ramon Bieri: Carl Meiss
Quotes
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Carl Meiss : Okay, what about Dr. Jarrud?
Joe Mannix : Actually, I wanted to talk to you about one of Dr. Jarrud's patients.
Carl Meiss : [scoffs] Which one?
Joe Mannix : Did you by any chance read his book?
Carl Meiss : Book? Who, me?
Joe Mannix : One of the people he wrote about was someone he identified only as "X, " a child molester.
Carl Meiss : Well, what would I know about creeps like that?
Joe Mannix : I thought you might know this particular man.
Carl Meiss : Yeah, well, I don't.
[Joe picks up a toy bear sitting on a nearby shelf]
Carl Meiss : You can't just come pushing in here like that.
Joe Mannix : You're Patient X, aren't you?
Carl Meiss : [scoffs] Y-You think that, uh, he put me in that book of his?
Joe Mannix : Not so that anybody could identify you.
Carl Meiss : Then how come you're asking?
Joe Mannix : I'm going on a theory that Dr. Jarrud didn't pull the trigger himself.
Carl Meiss : You mean someone killed him?
Joe Mannix : And put the gun in his hand.
Carl Meiss : Who?
Joe Mannix : Maybe one of the three patients he wrote about.
Carl Meiss : Why should they?
Joe Mannix : They might be afraid that their secret is no longer safe.
Carl Meiss : Well, I got nothing to hide.
Joe Mannix : You've got my word that if you're innocent, your secret is safe with me.
Carl Meiss : You don't know any secret.
Joe Mannix : Eight years... in a hospital for the criminally insane for molesting, then strangling two children.
[Carl lunges at Joe, but Joe pushes him away]
Joe Mannix : Dr. Jarrud helped you. He got you this job. He treated you without charge.
Carl Meiss : He... he kept me from... feeling... that I wanted to do it again. He kept me safe.
[sobbing]
Carl Meiss : Me kill Dr. Jarrud? Without him, how much longer before it would happen again? Before I'm back in hell again?
Joe Mannix : Carl... at the time of his death, where were you?
Carl Meiss : I don't remember. I... I think maybe... on the sixth floor.
Joe Mannix : Did you see anything unusual?
Carl Meiss : No! Nothing! Except, yeah... yeah, somebody came running down the stairs right past me. The didn't pay no attention to me. They're always... all of 'em always looking right through me. I... I might as well be... a...
Joe Mannix : Uh, Carl, try to remember. Was it a man or a woman? Young, old?
Carl Meiss : I don't know, just a shadow. You know, to most people in this building, I'm just a shadow, I'm invisible. Well, they're just shadows to me, too!
Joe Mannix : If, uh, Dr. Jarrud was murdered, you'd want his killer caught, wouldn't you?
Carl Meiss : Without the doc... I'm nothing. What do you think?
Joe Mannix : Well, if, uh... if that shadow you saw ever becomes a face... call me, huh, Carl?
[leaves his business card on a nearby desk and leaves]