Original subtitles

Mr. John Fair, please come

to the ticket reservation counter.

Mr. John Fair, go to the ticket reservation counter, please.

Mr. Mannix?

I'm, uh, Viewcola. Conrad Viewcola.

Sheriff here in Manzana County.

Well, how do you do, Sheriff?

Subpoena.

To appear and testify in the case

of The People v. Harry Barlow.

Moving a little fast for me, friend.

I just came in from out of state

to meet a client, a Mr. Dobie Dobson.

He was supposed to meet me here

at the airport. He won't be here. Let's go.

Flight 19 from Phoenix departing on schedule...

I received a special delivery letter

last night in Los Angeles.

There was a $1,000 cash advance in it,

a round-trip ticket to Manzana,

and a note from a man I never met,

a desperate man asking me for help.

Well, the letter was from the district attorney.

The cash is your experts fee

for testifying.

You can't subpoena out of state, you know.

The D.A. couldn't risk your refusing.

I came here to meet Mr. Dobie Dobson.

I don't leave until I see him.

Well, you may have a long wait.

The man at whose trial you're supposed to testify,

Harry Barlow, is charged with the murder of Dobie Dobson.

Flight 23 from Tulsa...

Is this your D.A.'s idea of some kind of a joke?

Well, you're here, aren't you?

♪ ♪

Mr. Mannix, so that the court will know

that you are an expert witness,

would you please state...

If the Court please.

Yes, Miss Richards?

Your Honor, the defense stipulates acceptance

of Mr. Mannix as an expert witness.

Thank you, counsel.

Let the record so indicate.

You may proceed, Mr. Bartlett.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Mr. Mannix, it is an accepted scientific fact

in the field of criminology is it not,

professional criminals tend to limit their activities

to special kinds of crimes,

special methods used

in committing these crimes?

In short, they develop

a pattern in relation to the crime,

a modus operandi, a method of operation,

isn't that correct?

Yes, referred to as an "M.O."

Uh-huh.

Now I have here three police photographs.

People's exhibits six through eight,

illustrating the pattern of a specific burglary.

Now, Mr. Mannix, where there is a burglary,

with the glass from a rear window is cut

and a rubber suction cup is used to remove the glass.

And where the burglar uses white gloves,

cheap white gloves, to cover his fingerprints,

and then he leaves the gloves at the scene of the crime.

And where distinctive drill patterns are used here

to insert TNT into the safe.

And where foam rubber is used

to deaden the explosion.

Would you say, Mr. Mannix,

that from this method of operation,

you could identify the probable burglar

as one that you previously had apprehended,

and caused to be brought to justice

for the crime of burglary?

Objection, Your Honor.

The prosecution may not introduce

evidence of a prior criminal act

for the express purpose of discrediting

the defendant's character.

Your Honor, the question

is not an issue of character, but rather

the method of operation of a burglary.

The defendant is on trial for murder, not for burglary.

Murder committed during a burglary.

In this case, two inseparable crimes.

The District Attorney means two answers to one question.

One question raises the probability

that if the defendant committed a prior burglary,

then perhaps he committed this one.

And if he committed this burglary,

then chances are that he also committed the murder.

When an expert witness identifies a probable burglar

from his method of operation, then simultaneously,

he identifies the murderer.

I assume both counsels are arguing this legal point

for the benefit of the bench.

Your Honor, the evidence to be adduced

is totally inadmissible.

Not only the answer, but the question itself

is highly prejudicial.

The defense moves these proceedings

be declared a mistrial.

Your motive is good, Miss Richards,

but your law is wrong.

Your Honor...

Motion denied.

Objection overruled.

But, Your Honor...

Now, Mr. Mannix, from this method of operation,

this modus operandi, this M.O.,

could you identify the probable burglar?

Yes.

In all your years of investigating,

have you ever seen a method of operation like this before?

Yes.

In more than one person? No.

Now, isn't this true, Mr. Mannix, that seven years ago

you represented an insurance company,

and during that time, you investigated,

pursued and apprehended a burglar

with this method of operation?

Yes, I did.

And is that man in this courtroom?

Yes.

And would you point him out, please?

The gentleman sitting at the table.

Let the record show that the expert witness

is identifying the defendant, Harry Barlow.

No further questions, Your Honor.

The defense may cross-examine.

I have no questions, Your Honor.

May I please approach the bench?

Why, yes, Miss Richards.

Mr. Bartlett.

Yes, Miss Richards?

With the Court's permission, I respectfully

request to retire from this case.

As the Court appointed me, it can appoint

substitute counsel for the indigent defendant.

Why, Miss Richards?

This is my first appearance in court

as an attorney in a criminal case.

If I keep making mistakes about the law,

I can only lose the case, but the defendant

could lose his life.

You've placed his life in my hands, and it would seem

that they are not competent hands.

It takes a great deal of courage

to make an admission like that, Miss Richards.

The same kind of courage

that made your late father,

Jack Richards, one of the finest

trial lawyers in this state.

For his sake, for your own sake,

I want you to think this over.

The defense is granted a 24-hour continuance.

Court adjourned.

Miss Richards, I'm very sorry...

She doesn't want to talk to you

even off the stand.

I called and made a reservation for you

on the next plane back to L.A.

You can just make it if I drive you to the airport now.

Thanks, Sheriff.

It is a little chilly here in Manzana.

That lady lawyer's old man,

Big Jack Richards, ever known him?

I've seen him in court once or twice.

Mr. Advocate.

Fighter, ooh-wee.

He was the kind you took your hat off to

even while he was beating the tar right out of you,

which was mostly all of the time.

In fact, he never once lost a criminal case.

That's more than they'll be able to say for his daughter.

Yeah, it's a shame.

The girl lives only for the memory of her father.

Well, they're loading the plane.

Have a nice trip, and no hard feelings.

My usual expert witness fee is $300 for the day.

You can return the balance

to the D.A.

I changed my mind.

I'd like to cancel off Flight 31.

May I see your ticket, please?

Taken care of right away, sir.

Thank you.

Easy, Mannix.

Let's go back the way you came.

Hold it.

In there.

Mr. George Sperling, Mrs. George Sperling,

please report to the car rental desk.

You missed one plane to L.A.,

there'll be another in about an hour.

Be on it.

My signed resignation from the case.

If you think that's news,

Vera, you're free to print it.

As a newspaperwoman, I'll print it,

but as a friend, I've got to tell you,

I think you're making a mistake, Phyllis.

This is an admission of incompetence.

It's a confession.

I failed.

I failed my father.

What about your client?

Harry Barlow, did you fail him?

What could I do after your testimony?

You know, if you'd been less concerned with yourself,

and more concerned with your client,

you might have cross-examined me instead of passing.

You would have asked questions

the D.A. didn't and wouldn't.

You might have got the fact into the record

that Harry Barlow, as a burglar for 20 years,

never once resorted to violence,

even when he was caught in the act.

You know...

I saw your father argue a case once.

And he was scared.

You could tell the way he fought

to keep his hands from shaking,

the way the sweat stained

through the back of his jacket on a cool day.

But he had guts.

Not because he had no fear, but because

he fought hard, despite the fear.

But you...

you're afraid, so you run.

Tomorrow morning, early,

I want to see your client,

Harry Barlow.

You all right?

I'm Vera Hillsman.

I write for the Morning News.

Well, do me a favor,

keep this out of the paper, huh?

It's bad for business.

I put you away once, Harry.

You keep that collar-ad face of yours shut now,

and I'm going to put you away for good.

Now were you in on that Dobson heist?

I... I think so.

You "think so"?

You don't know?

Not for sure, no.

Some guy, a drifter I ran into, said he had an easy mark.

So I agreed to meet him out of town

and help pull off the heist.

I... I never met him.

Handsome Harry passed up an easy mark?

Yeah, I passed it up.

I stopped in a bar before I left to have a drink and I...

You met a pretty face.

She didn't even belong in there.

Pretty, all right, but square.

On the level, just all mixed up.

Some kind of family problem.

Okay, so you parked in the hill

and psychoanalyzed your unhappy housewife.

You got back to your place late. What then?

The cops were waiting for me.

Searched me, the car.

Found five grand in bills hidden in my trunk.

Which means you want me to believe that somebody

planted that stolen money in your car before you left,

before the robbery was committed?

So help me, I never laid eyes on that dough before.

I wasn't even near this Dobson's place.

Didn't even know who Dobson was.

Now, I swear that!

You've got to believe me.

This woman Barlow says he was with,

what about her?

Well, he gave us her description and her name:

Bonnie.

We turned the town upside down looking for her.

Mr. Mannix, if it wasn't Barlow,

if there was this woman named Bonnie,

then the cash in Barlow's car really was planted,

and Barlow is being framed.

Why would anyone want to frame Harry Barlow?

Because...

Because there was another motive for the murder.

Exactly how do you know that?

Well, you don't "know" it, you just kind of smell it.

By setting up an ex-con with an easy-to-copy M.O. as patsy,

kept anybody else from looking in another direction

for another motive and another murderer.

That still doesn't tell us who or why.

Yeah.

Just who is Dobie Dobson,

and why would anybody want to kill him?

Well, that's got to be it.

There's nothing else that even comes close to adding up.

The Max Taylor Ranch?

How do you add up a piece of cheap real estate

to a utility company

and come up with a murder?

One, Old man Max Taylor died.

No will, no heirs and the state took over his property, right?

Dig.

Two, the late, Dobie Dobson,

was vice president of the Tri-State Power Company.

Now the company needed a location

for a new multi-million dollar nuclear power plant.

Right? Still digging.

Three, Vice President Dobson

finds the old Taylor Ranch, recommends it to his company.

His company buys it.

Well, that's it.

One plus two plus three equals murder?

Sorry, I've just stopped digging.

You forgot to add two and a half.

Now could Dobson have bought the Taylor Ranch

himself at auction, very cheap?

And then sell it back to his company at say, ten, 20,

maybe a hundred times more than he paid for it?

No, of course he couldn't.

That's illegal in this state.

It's conflict of interest.

Dobson would be crazy to try a thing like that.

Sure, under his own name.

But what if he used a dummy middleman

to buy and sell it for him?

Wow! Illicit profits.

And fraud. Which could add up to murder.

Yes, but you're still guessing about this

two and a half link in your chain, aren't you?

Say, girl reporter, do you have any influence

on that paper you work for? Sometimes.

Now, if Harry Barlow's attorney couldn't find

this so-called woman, Bonnie,

then chances are the murderer couldn't find her either.

She's the one witness who can destroy this frame-up.

If she knows that, and she must,

she's hiding to protect her life.

I want you to run a personal ad in the classified section,

carefully worded asking this Bonnie woman

to contact me, here.

Will do.

Oh, and keep running

that every day. Right.

Now, if you'll take me to the county recorder's office,

we'll see just how much of a pipe dream

that number two-and-a-half is.

Here's what you're looking for.

The Max Taylor Ranch sold to the Amos Smith Real Estate Company

with a court order passing title after a Sheriff's sale.

Smith Real Estate to Tri-State Power, 1,500 acres.

Is there an address there

for the Amos Smith Real Estate Company?

Sure thing.

Wilshireville. Small town, north of here.

Thanks.

Shame you had to waste your time coming here for the information.

Probably got it all sitting in your files.

In my files?

Well, your father's, I guess.

He was in here getting the same information,

about a week or so, I guess,

before he was killed in that accident.

As a lawyer, I maintain quite a few companies.

The Amos Smith Real Estate Company is only one of them.

It acted as a go-between

for the purchase and subsequent resale of the Max Taylor Ranch.

There's no secret about it.

We bought 1,500 acres at ten dollars an acre.

The land was practically worthless,

not good for farming or cattle grazing--

actually good for nothing.

Oh not "nothing", Mr. Smith.

It apparently was an ideal site for a nuclear power plant.

Not ideal, sir.

It was the only site in the whole state

for that kind of plant.

The power company knew this.

They willingly paid the asking price

without batting an eyelash.

Not only the fattest commission I ever earned, it was the easiest.

What did the power plant pay for the 1,500 acres?

Now, that's a matter between the buyer, the seller and me.

Mr. Smith, the Tri-State Power Company

is a public utility as well as being a private corporation.

I don't have to tell you as an attorney,

that with a company like that,

the details of any financial transaction

are available on proper inquiry.

$1,000 an acre.

Not bad.

Bought for $15,000, sold for a million and a half.

You say you acted as go-between, Mr. Smith.

Go-between for whom?

I don't have to answer that question, Miss Richards.

As an attorney... there is, you know,

the matter of a lawyer-client privilege.

A lawyer and client conspiring to break the law

and hiding it under the technicality

of a lawyer-client relationship is not my idea of privilege.

Just you try to abuse that privilege, Mr. Smith.

You let me subpoena you, and just you try it.

Like father, like daughter.

Big Jack Richards--

pious, mealy-mouthed Jack Richards.

He tried the same thing, right here in this office!

A shakedown--

naked extortion!

There was nothing illegal about it-- nothing to hide.

Big Jack Richards didn't collect

a cent of blackmail money from me

and neither will you.

I'll tell you the same thing I told him.

Get out! Both of you!

I don't believe it.

Not my father.

The county recorder said something about an accident.

Exactly how did your father die?

An auto accident.

He, uh, went off the highway and over an embankment.

Where?

On this highway-- a few miles from here.

He was on his way back from Wilshireville--

from seeing Amos Smith.

Hmm.

Well, shall we go?

♪ ♪

Are you all right?

I...

I know what you're thinking.

My father tried to blackmail him and they killed him.

And they think we tried to blackmail them

and they're going to kill us.

Well, I'll tell you something,

my father never blackmailed anybody.

My father never blackmailed anybody!

Phyllis... I know he didn't!

Stop it! I know he didn't!

Phyllis!

We found the truck that tried to force you off the road.

Abandoned.

Any registration?

No help.

Truck was stolen earlier.

What about fingerprints?

No help either.

They were wiped clean.

I wonder how that driver knew that we would be going along

that highway at that precise time?

Obviously, somebody followed you from Smith's

to the highway diner, then phoned ahead when you left.

And that, as far

as the authorities are concerned, is that?

Any suggestions?

Yeah. You find some poor innocent slob of an ex-convict

like Harry Barlow and frame the rap on him.

Hey, now wait a minute, Mannix.

It's all right, Sheriff. It's all right.

Miss Richards, first Mr. Mannix is assaulted,

and now the both of you are,

but I can't tell anything from these facts

which leads me to believe that these assaults

had anything-- anything to do with the murder

of Dobie Dobson by your client.

That's for the jury to decide

once they get the evidence.

Yes, Mr. Mannix,

all the evidence, including this letter.

"Mr. Dobson, you promised

"to call back and set up an appointment.

"You didn't.

"I tried to get you on the phone three times today.

"By now, I can recognize a stall when it's tried on me.

"You're going to pay, and pay through the nose.

"And the longer you refuse to face that fact,

the more it's going to cost you."

Dobson received that letter

on the day that the man who sent it died.

He turned it over to me, charging attempted blackmail.

I thought it best just to forget the whole thing.

But I'm sorry, I can't sit on it any longer.

Miss Richards, if you enter any evidence

regarding the Taylor Ranch,

I shall be forced to enter this letter

as evidence.

Two dead men will be libeled, their reputations smeared:

your father and Dobie Dobson.

You see, your father sent this letter to Mr. Dobson.

Do you still have your father's files?

Thanks.

Here's a copy of all the proceedings involved

in the sale of the Max Taylor Ranch.

There's a copy of the letter that Bartlett read us

from my father to Dobie Dobson,

a letter to my father and my father's reply.

From whom?

Mm, some woman in Chicago, a cousin of Max Taylor.

But I thought the State took over the property

because there was no will, no heirs.

Isn't a cousin an heir?

An heir, yes, but too late under the law to inherit.

You mean, by the time the cousin found Max Taylor was dead

and got in touch with your father,

the state legally owned the property

and had a right to sell it?

In nonlegal terms, that's what happened.

That's what my father told her.

He could only get her the auction price: $15,000.

Would that still be true if he knew and could prove

that the sale of the ranch was a fraud?

Why don't you ask what you really want to know?

Did my father know enough to have the sale set aside?

Did he know enough to blackmail Dobson?

I didn't ask that, you did.

Well, what's the difference who asked it?

The answer's the same.

Yes, he knew enough to blackmail Dobson.

If he were capable of being a blackmailer.

Martinis always make you thoughtful?

Pretty mixed-up thoughts this time...

about a little man who wasn't there, who couldn't know.

You're late.

Mannix, has anybody answered the ad I ran this afternoon

about Barlow's girlfriend Bonnie?

No, not a word.

Some hausfrau who was out on the town

for the first time in her life,

afraid her husband and her family might find out.

More scared of being hurt, I guess.

No, I think we can just scratch that lead for now.

I'm not so sure.

I just got a phone call, anonymous.

I think I know where she's hiding.

Wish me luck!

You tired of living?

But she's a story.

And she's a witness you've got to have.

And she's dynamite that could blow up in anybody's face

that gets close to her.

Sugar'n spice and everything nice?

That's not what girl reporters are made of.

Now, why find out the hard way?

Okay, so what do we do?

Call the sheriff?

You give me the keys to your car, the address,

and then you go back to Phyllis Richards' office

and keep her company with the doors locked tight

to everybody but me.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Don't you think you ought to have a doctor look at this?

No, it's just a scratch.

You know, Harry Barlow's girlfriend wasn't there,

never had been there.

That so-called newspaper tip was just bait

for you and me and Phyllis, maybe all three of us.

But kill us? Why?

'Cause we're digging too deep.

Did you get the name of that man out there?

Driver's license.

His name is... name was Edward Lewis.

Edward Lewis?

You know him?

He used to work for the D.A.'s office.

He got a little rough with his hands,

and they fired him about a year ago.

He, uh, he was involved in a couple of Dad's cases.

Violence, murder for a price.

Well, that doesn't help us.

Anybody with a little dough could have hired him.

I went through those files we brought up from the cellar.

And?

I went through the transcript of the trial

with a fine tooth comb.

I was looking for mistakes and inconsistencies

and writing them down.

Question, counselor:

When court reconvenes tomorrow morning,

are you going to keep on representing Harry Barlow?

I'm not going to just represent him,

I'm going to fight for him.

Even if it means destroying your father's image?

My father was no blackmailer.

And if he was...

I'm still my father's daughter.

Big Jack or Dirty Jack,

I still love him.

But I'm a lawyer with a client to defend.

Based on your investigation, Sheriff,

would you please describe to the court the chain of events

leading up to and including the murder of Dobie Dobson,

insofar as the authorities have been able to reconstruct

that chain through the evidence?

Well, after the safe was blown,

the burglar reached inside and took out a metal cash box.

Now, Dobson, who must have heard the burglar earlier,

approached the burglar and pointed a gun at him.

The burglar was surprised and turned to face Dobson

still holding the metal cash box in his hand.

Dobson stepped closer, the burglar panicked,

swung down with the metal cash box he had in his hand,

striking Dobson on the head and, uh, killed him.

Thank you, Sheriff.

No further questions.

Mr. Mannix,

as an expert witness qualified to this court,

do you find the facts in the sheriff's testimony

consistent with the inference that Harry Barlow

struck and killed Dobie Dobson?

No, I don't.

Why not, Mr. Mannix?

If it's all right with Your Honor,

I'd like to demonstrate physically to the court.

Proceed with your demonstration, Mr. Mannix.

Thank you.

Miss Richards, if you'll take the part of the burglar,

I will play the part of the late Mr. Dobson.

Now if you will turn your back and kneel

as if you were pulling a cash box out of a safe.

What are you doing at that safe?

I'll take the cash box.

Hold it.

Now, the coroner's report

lists as the cause of Dobson's death

a depressed fracture of the lateral parietal region,

the right lateral parietal region.

Now would you hit me on this side of the head

where Dobson was struck.

I-I can't.

As long as I'm holding the box this way,

I can only hit your head on the left side.

If you wanted to hit me on the right side, what would you do?

Right.

Now would the defendant

show his left hand to the court, please.

Partial paralysis of the left hand.

Harry Barlow can't pick up or even hold a book of matches.

If his life depended on it, he couldn't pick up anything

as big and as heavy as that metal cash box.

Let the record show that the defendant

has a congenital deformity of the left hand.

You may sit down.

Mr. Mannix, is it possible that Dobson had his back turned

to the burglar when the blow was struck?

A man with a gun interrupts a burglar

kneeling before an open safe

and then turns his back on that burglar?

I don't think that's very likely.

Thank you, Mr. Mannix.

You may return to the stand.

Mr. Mannix,

is there any other theory

which you could present at this time

which would be consistent with the facts in this case?

Objection, Your Honor.

Counsel is asking the witness to speculate.

The prosecution called this man to be an expert witness.

If he has been certified by this court as an expert

to create inference for the prosecution,

he is equally qualified to do the same for the defense.

Objection overruled.

The witness will answer the question.

Now, Mr. Mannix, is there any other theory

which is consistent with the facts in this case?

Yes.

And what is that theory?

That Harry Barlow was deliberately framed

for a murder that he did not commit.

Is there anything in the record

or any knowledge which you personally have access to

which would corroborate this theory?

Yes, the facts concerning the acquisition

of the Max Taylor Ranch by the power company.

Mr. Mannix, you were with me

last night in the sheriff's office

when the district attorney gave me a letter.

Is this the letter?

Yes.

Your Honor, I'd like to have this letter marked

for purposes of identification only.

Mm-hmm.

Let the exhibit be so marked.

All right, Mr. Mannix,

will you please read this letter?

"Mr. Dobson, you promised to call back

"and set up an appointment. You didn't.

"I tried to get you on the phone three times today.

"By now, I can recognize a stall when it's tried on me.

"You're going to pay and pay through the nose.

"And the longer you refuse to face that fact,

the more it's going to cost you."

The letter is signed by Jack Richards.

Thank you.

The district attorney characterized this letter

as an attempt by my father to blackmail Dobie Dobson.

Is that consistent with your theory?

Consistent, but unlikely.

Why "unlikely," Mr. Mannix?

Jack Richards was not a blackmailer.

He was a good lawyer, fighting for a client,

fighting to dig out the truth.

I believe he was deliberately killed

because he was getting close to that truth.

What truth?

The purchase of the Max Taylor Ranch was a fraud

engineered by Dobie Dobson for an illegal profit

of well over a million dollars.

Again, as an expert witness,

what about the death of Dobie Dobson?

I believe Mr. Dobson had an accomplice

in the fraudulent sale of that ranch.

The accomplice killed Jack Richards.

Dobson refused to go along with the murder

and threatened exposure.

The accomplice killed Dobson

and then framed Harry Barlow for that murder.

I have no further questions.

Mr. Mannix, this, uh, excursion of yours

into the Never-Never Land of theory...

is it not possible that this theory of yours

is based on the fact that, if the defendant is innocent,

then somebody else must be guilty?

Put in those words...

Yes, Mr. Mannix, put in those words.

I suppose so, yes.

And this theatrical demonstration of yours

with the left hand and the right hand,

can you state in fact and in law

that the defendant couldn't have struck and killed the decedent

by raising the cash box

with both hands?

It's possible. And, Mr. Mannix,

have you any proof, any tangible shred of evidence

that this theory of yours is anything more

than a figment of your imagination?

It's what I believe happened.

No further questions, Your Honor.

Mr. Mannix,

to your knowledge,

is there any such proof--

proof that Harry Barlow was framed,

proof that your theory is fact and not

fiction? Yes.

What is that proof, please?

The testimony of a witness,

a woman who was with Harry Barlow

miles from the Dobson house at the time Dobson was killed.

Is that witness and her testimony

available to this court?

I hope to have her here in the morning

when the court reconvenes.

Court is adjourned until 10:00 tomorrow morning.

I'm proud of you, Counselor.

You know, whoever this Bonnie is, wherever she is,

you just made a target of her.

The murderer will kill her if he can, to stop her

from testifying. I know.

I hope you've got a rabbit to pull out of that hat.

If you'll hold the hat.

Yeah?

Out of town call, Sheriff.

Woman says it's an emergency, won't talk to anybody but you.

Put her through.

Sheriff Viewcola.

Sheriff, this is Bonnie.

Well, now the world is just full of Bonnies, ma'am.

Which one are you?

Say, wait a minute,

you're not the woman who was with Harry Barlow, are you?

Oh, Harry couldn't have killed that man.

He couldn't.

Well, why didn't you come forward and testify, ma'am?

'Cause I'm scared, Sheriff.

I'm scared that real killer's going to come after me.

I'm scared.

Well, scared or not scared, ma'am,

you've got to testify.

A man's life depends on it.

That's what Mr. Mannix told me

when I talked to him on the phone.

I said I'd come in tonight, but I'm frightened.

Ma'am, there's nothing to be afraid of.

You just relax.

Supposing that I come and get you?

Now you wouldn't be afraid then, would you?

Well, I...

Well, where are you?

Well, I...

I'm north of town.

Out by Grace Farms.

Is there someplace I could hide

till you got here and be safe?

North of town, there's not much out there.

Wait a minute, do you know where the old Penner house,

the one that's half burnt out is?

Well, is it safe?

Oh, it's safe, ma'am. It's very safe.

You just go there and wait for me.

And try to stay out of sight.

All right?

Good-bye.

♪ ♪

Bonnie?

Bonnie?

Bonnie?

This is Sheriff Viewcola.

Is it safe, Sheriff?

Well, not as safe as if you'd never called me.

I'm sorry, ma'am, I'm really sorry.

I just don't have a choice.

It's all over, Sheriff.

Hold your fire!

♪ ♪

Well, I figured

only a law enforcement officer would think

of framing an ex-con with a phony M.O.

and an expert witness.

That could have been me.

But it was Viewcola who mentioned the fact

that Phyllis and I had gone to see Amos Smith,

and only Amos Smith knew that.

And Smith telephoned Viewcola.

Right.

Viewcola and Dobson were partners

and using Amos Smith as a front.

Which gives me a pretty good reason

to pay a call to Mr. Smith.

I'm just so glad it's all over.

You know, I've got a feeling

Big Jack would have liked your style.