I would've like to have known what happened to the guy that was being accused of killing the judge. I'm assuming he would still be found guilty, since the professor couldn't come forward anymore.
shareJill would have needed to explain how Abe died. He just fell in an elevator? No, I think there were probably a few people that heard the altercation in the hall and asked her what happened.
Later, she would have told the police that Abe tried to kill her and the entire story about how he came to be connected with the Judge's death. Thus, the 'wrongfully accused' man is no longer a person of interest.
Jill is going to have some explaining to do, too. Why didn't she come forward sooner? When the police find out they were lovers, she could find herself pegged as an accomplice in the judge's death.
shareShe could just tell the police she found out a few hours before and told Abe she was gonna turn him in. Then he tried to kill her.
shareShe wouldn't have any problem just coming clean and telling them the whole truth. He only confirmed it to her that he carried out the murder less than a week before he attacked her at the elevator. She gave him an ultimatum to turn himself in, there's no crime in waiting a whole week to come forward.
shareUhh, Jill tells 'the law' what happened. End of story. Pretty obvious.
shareIs it?? Her story would be just as weak/flimsy as the proof against the innocent man .. all hearsay and circumstantial evidence.
Establishing a clear MOTIVE for Abe would be next to impossible based on just the word of the ex-girlfriend who happened to be found at the top of the lift shaft in which Abe just plummeted to his death.
It's not just on the word of Jill. Yes, at first it's just her story but the cops would certainly be interested (especially since Abe had tried to murder her, obviously for a reason) and an investigation would confirm most of her story. Another student witnessed Abe in the science lab, which he did not have access to, after hours. He told her he was researching poisons and the lab contains cyanide (perhaps the lab even kept inventory in which case it might be discovered some was missing and unaccounted for). An investigation would also lead the police to learn Abe was having an affair with an instructor in the science department and under interrogation, Rita would probably admit she had "lost" her key to the lab around that time and had certain suspicions (she also has no motive to cover for Abe because he is dead). Abe was seen by Paul awake at an unusually early hour, leaving campus the morning of the murder.
Now Abe's motive would seem pretty bizarre but there is also evidence of his obsession with the judge in his copy of "Crime and Punishment." Other professors in the department and folks on campus as well as Abe's writings would give psychologists an insight into his character and paint a picture of someone who was mentally deteriorating. And again, he tried to kill his ex-girlfriend...
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I assumed that Jill was going to finally tell the police, and explain who REALLY did it.
I would have also liked to know even if it were just a single sentence in the narrative at the end.
shareJill would have explained the whole story to the police, complied with evidence of his notes in the crime and punishment book, his past work as a lift operator and supporting testimony from Rita that backs up her story.
shareI doubt Rita would've supported Jill about anything. Rita left her husband to go off with Abe. She would've known Jill had tried to force Abe to turn himself in.
Rita's life was wrecked by Abe's death. So theoretically, when the cops ask Rita about her lab key, she could say that the only time the key left her possession was when she loaned it to Jill, in order to get the cops to suspect Jill. The cops could also question Jill's boyfriend, who can truthfully say Jill was obsessed by Abe.
Between Abe plotting and trying to kill Jill and his writings in his copy of "Crime and Punishment," I highly doubt the police would suddenly turn things around on Jill. I'm also not so sure Rita would really care to protect and defend Abe after he died -- he was only as good to her alive to fulfill her weird romantic, escapist fantasy. Rita was also the 1 that first started spreading talk that she believed Abe killed the judge, albeit in a "joking" way.
shareHe remains in prison because the case continues. Now you see Abe has a brother, who visits his grave, puts a single rose on it and swears to avenge his death. He hooks Jill and romances her for a week and then one day hides in the same building and when he gets the chance pushes Jill down the same lift shaft and goes home. Next day he recieves a call and a stranger informs him that he has proof of him pushing Jill down the lift shaft. He is blackmailed for 250 K or else. Brother decides to kill the witness and waits near the same lift. Blackmailer and Brother both get into a scuffle and the brother slips and falls into the lift shaft. Accused still in prison. Abe, Jill the judge and Abe's brother turning in their graves become the living dead and decide to free the innocent accused and kill the blackmailer. But that's another story. Woody Harrelson is waiting for them.
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