Original subtitles

Friends, we're gathered here to pay our final respects to our good friend Daniel

Bartholomew Kingsley.

Our thoughts and our prayers go to his loving wife, Felicia, and to his son,

Aaron, his daughter, Ellen, and his husband, Jim, and his four beloved

grandchildren, and to his many, many friends.

I have the good fortune to be one of them.

And how I look forward to that glorious day when we shall be together again on

Jordan's far shore.

But until then, Daniel, Bartholomew, D .B., as those of us who were blessed

his friends that knew him, rest in peace, old friend.

May the grace of God be with you all.

Amen.

Amen.

reunion we hoped it would be. I know, but the way life is. Yeah.

Friends part, miss each other, talk about getting back together and somehow

never happens.

And then one day it's too late.

Hey, how about this?

How about all four of us have dinner at Ray Timpins Bar?

We'll drink a toast on the BB. What say?

I haven't been there in so long.

Think the Reverend will join us? You ever know Jimmy to miss a party?

Of course, that's the old days, before he got religion.

Well, there are four of us left.

Tell the truth, Ben.

Forty years ago, would you ever imagine that any of us would have come this far?

I don't know, bud. We got lucky, I guess. Real lucky.

The way I see it, we made our own luck.

Dad asked me to give you this.

What is it? I don't know.

He gave it to me about a week before he died.

Said it was for your eyes only.

You really meant a lot to him, Ben.

This court is in session.

Mr. Taft, are you ready to question the prospective jurors?

I am, Your Honor.

Proceed. Mr. Morgan, what is your occupation?

I recently retired from Hoffman Tool and Dye.

42 years, don't you know?

When we first started, we used to put in a 12 -hour day.

Now I don't know what to do with my time.

Dear Ben, I'm about to tell you a 35 -year -old secret.

Remember how the five of us used to go hunting every fall up around Echo Lake?

What I'm going to tell you happened on the trip you missed because some judge

switched a trial date on you.

Remember that?

Say cheese, boys!

Cheese, boys!

Hey, next time, leave your shotgun at home, DB.

Things would have turned out so differently if you'd been along that

Ben. But it was just me, Bud, Jimmy, and Lucas.

Bud started passing the bourbon, and nobody much cared that we hadn't shot a

thing that day.

But we didn't exactly go back to the cabin empty -handed that night.

On the drive back, we picked up a hitchhiker, a girl, very young, very

very sociable.

The guys talked her into staying a while.

I didn't like the idea, having just gotten engaged to Alicia, but I was

outnumbered.

Within a few hours, everyone was pretty drunk.

I could see where this was heading.

So could the girl.

She wanted to go.

I got out of there, Ben.

I just got in my car and drove home.

I didn't even bother to pack my gear.

I knew something terrible was going to happen.

I was right.

A few days later, the enclosed article appeared in the Atlanta Examiner.

It was her.

They arrested some poor black who lived a couple of miles away.

He swore he was innocent, but he was convicted and sent to prison.

All these years, Ben, I live with the knowledge that one of our friends, our

closest friends, could very well be a murderer.

Please, please do what I never had the guts to do.

Find out the truth.

Mr. Matlock.

Now that the court has your attention, Mr. Matlock, would you like to question

Mr. Morgan?

Oh, uh, yes, I, uh...

I apologize for my lack of attention, Your Honor, and I'd be happy to talk to

Mr. Morgan.

Conrad.

What do you think about when you hear the words business card?

What's up?

I have a problem.

Conrad McMaster's private eye. I'm impressed.

Yeah, pretty good, huh? Yeah.

What's up?

I want you to find somebody for me. A fellow named Calvin Stokes.

He was convicted of first -degree murder in 56, spent time at the Georgia State

Pen, and was paroled in 86.

No problem.

Tell him I want to talk to him.

No problem. What about?

Close the door.

We were just talking about your 28th birthday party, Ben. Remember that? You

missed it completely.

I swear, such a great party. Nobody realized you weren't there until it was

finished. At least I did.

Oh, this is great.

We finally got back together again.

Yeah, yeah.

But, well...

I'm afraid it's not going to be quite the celebration we had hoped.

What's this?

That's a letter D .B. wrote me just before he died, all about that hunting

you took without me back in 55, including the part about the girl.

The girl? What girl?

That girl.

thinks one of us killed some girl that weekend?

That's crazy.

I spent a lot of time with DB during his final weeks, Ben.

He wasn't himself.

I had him on morphine. He had to have been hallucinating. Why did he keep

flipping all these years?

Ben, there was no girl in the car, in the cabin, or anywhere else.

You haven't told anybody about this.

I'm up for re -election next year.

My investigator.

No names in his clothes.

You're investigating.

I have to go through with this.

I mean, I just have to. It was TB's last request, his dying wish, so I have to

do it. But, you know, if nothing comes of it, then, well, heck, that'll be

That'll be that.

Well, that's a shame.

You know, if you'd have been there that weekend with us like you should have,

you would know.

You wouldn't have to go through all that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And D .B.

was sick.

Yeah. As I recall, that trip was one of our best.

You mean you actually brought something home?

Of course we did.

Coals.

From sleeping on the cold hard ground.

What do you say we order?

I'm sorry.

What else is new? Yeah, hey, Rita.

All right, it's pretty simple. Mr. Calvin Stokes still lives in Echo Lake.

It's all I could do to get him to talk to me. He absolutely doesn't want to get

involved. Told me to shove off.

No, actually, he told me to get the hell out of there.

Maybe he's guilty after all.

I don't know about that, but he sure wants to put the past behind him and get

with his life.

Why did DB have to dump this on me? Why couldn't he have just left me a nice tie

or something?

Well, daggone it. The man won't talk to me.

I can't help it. Remember, the boys are right. DB was real sick at the end of

his life. I'm done with this case.

All right, well, if something else comes up, I got my card. Yeah, Conrad

McMaster's private eye.

See you, Ben.

Yeah. Okay.

Ow! Sorry.

Ow!

Ow! I'm sorry.

How you doing?

I'm fine.

Did your boys get a look at my car?

Yeah, what was left of it.

If anything occurs to you, anything at all, call me.

I will.

You be careful, Ben. Yeah, I will.

Thanks, pal.

Oh, Conrad.

Why don't you go to the hospital?

No, I'm fine.

You don't look fine. You look hurt.

How could somebody blow up my car?

Ignition bomb.

You were lucky.

Bob Brooks is right. Somebody deliberately tried to kill me. You bet.

So do you have any idea who might have done it?

No.

Think.

Well, I'm thinking.

You think I'm not thinking? I'm thinking.

Could you trace where that bomb came from?

Yeah, I'll find out where it came from.

And I'm going to do something else. I'm going to talk to your friends.

Oh, no.

Well, then you do it. No, these are my oldest, dearest friends. And you're

investigating them for a murder.

Oh.

If someone from the past, just from the past, was trying to kill you, they'd

have done it a long time ago.

Whoever planted that bomb has got to be connected with what's going on now, and

you know that.

I have to get up.

Oh, Conrad,

you're wrong. You've got to be wrong.

Forget it.

I wish I could, Mr. Stokes, but I can't.

A man I've trusted for 40 years told me that you went to prison for a crime you

most probably didn't commit.

You're damn right I didn't.

Why won't you tell me what happened?

What's talking going to get me?

Now, I did my time, hard time, and I just want to forget it. But if you're

innocent... Keep it down.

Nobody here knows I'm an ex -con, and I want to keep it that way.

You want to live your life that way?

Hoping nobody will find out? Hoping you won't lose your job? Why won't you let

me help you? Maybe I can clear your name.

Just leave me alone.

No.

Mr. Stokes, I can't.

I promised my oldest friend.

Now, you're going to take me and show me what happened, because I'm going to

stay right here till you do.

Now, tell me just exactly what happened.

Well, I was walking home from work in the night shift at the mill like I

did. I didn't have a car.

I didn't have much anything.

Anyway, I was in a hurry.

So I took a shortcut right down this path.

Right here, right off the path, I saw a pair of gloves kind of caught in the

bushes like somebody tossed them there. So I went and put them on.

Hell, finders keepers, it was a cold morning. Of course. When I got here, I

something a little ways down there.

So I went and looked, and I saw it was a girl lying face down in the brush.

I started pulling her out. Then I realized her head was all bloody, and

stiff like she was dead. Now, that scared the hell out of me. So I left her

there, and I just ran right up this hill to the road.

And you ran back to the road here, then what?

Well, I kept on running.

Pretty soon I heard a car coming up behind me, and it was the sheriff.

Well, then I just panicked and started running faster.

Then I looked down and the sort of blood from that girl was all over my new

gloves. So I just took them off and threw them in the bushes. Yeah.

And then the sheriff retrieved them.

And after he ran you down and arrested you, he turned them over to the

prosecutor because without them, they wouldn't have had much of a case.

Do you really think you can clear my name?

Well, I'll tell you one thing.

I'm going to give it my very best shot.

Where on earth did you get this?

Alan Kingsley let me look through D .B.'s old photo albums. Remember what a

camera nut he was?

Yeah. Yeah.

Well, how come you're not in this?

Well, that was the weekend I couldn't make it. Remember?

And that's the weekend D .B. wrote about in that letter.

Ben, I'm crying out loud.

Well, Bud, it was the only thing D .B.

ever asked me to do.

D .B. was taking morphine when he wrote that thing. He was out of his mind.

Excuse me, Bud. Senator Jacobs' office just called. Can you make it to lunch

with him and the governor Monday?

Bet I can.

Oh, Senator Jacobson and the governor, that's life in the fast lane.

Well, if everything goes as planned, three years, Patty and I will be moving

Washington, D .C.

All right.

Oh, wow.

Oh,

Bud.

I feel lousy about this, but I've just got to go ahead with it.

Ben.

There was no girl.

Well, just for a moment, let's

suppose there was a girl.

Let's suppose that you and Lucas and Jimmy got her up to that cabin and there

was a lot of drinking going on.

This is as hard to think about as just to say, but suppose something

happened.

That could have destroyed your reputations.

Suppose you were afraid the girl would tell.

We've known each other for 40 years. How can you suggest something like that? I

know, but a bunch of young men getting drunk like that, egging one another on,

next thing you know... I don't drink.

Templin's Bar.

There was no alcohol in it.

Maybe not now, but you sure did then.

No, sir. I had stopped by then. No. No.

Here.

Here.

You see that flask coming out of your pocket right there? You see that?

Always had that. See that?

Now that I'm remembering that weekend, it seemed that everybody changed after

that. You ran for city council.

Lucas went back to medical school. Jimmy joined the church.

Stopped chasing the girl.

Pure coincidence, Ben.

I hope so, bud.

What do you mean, a change for the better after that weekend?

Well, that's what Bud said.

Bud, he said that. Well, not in so many words, but you did join the church right

after that weekend, didn't you, Jimmy? Well, sure. And you stopped chasing the

girls. Oh, wait a minute. You make it sound like I'm some kind of Don Waller.

Well, you were.

Always looking at the girls and always...

Combing your hair just right to be sure they look back at you. That's why you

never wore a hat, remember? Didn't want to mess up your hair. Yeah, well, I was

just a kid.

Yeah, you were. Look at this.

Here. See?

That must have been taken that weekend.

See your hair?

You must have still been chasing the girls, at least that's what Bud thought.

He did.

Well, sort of.

And it put me to thinking that maybe something did happen between you and

girl that weekend.

There wasn't any girl that weekend, Ben.

Beautiful church, Jimmy.

That's beautiful.

I hear they're talking about televising your Sunday services.

Well, I've been approached, but I don't think it's going to happen. I'm just a

simple preacher.

Oh, don't be so modest. You'd be the next Billy Graham.

Ben, excuse me. Bill, would you put one of those red hymnals up on the organist

bench? Miss Cora gets a little disturbed if she can't find it.

So I can understand why D .B.'s letter upset you.

I mean, hell, oh, I mean it.

It was bad enough way back when you had to watch every step because your father

was a...

Big bank president, but I think Bud's right. You have ten times more to lose

now.

Bud said that, did he?

Something to that effect.

Well, Jimmy, I've taken up enough of your time.

I know you've got a lot to do to get ready for services.

So, I'll see you.

I'll see you on Sunday?

Couldn't hurt.

Not to lose.

I didn't tell him that. You said you did.

He was bluffing. He was just trying to get you to say something about me.

Neither of you told him about the girl, did you? I denied she was ever there. I

did, too. We had nothing to worry about.

Well, who's there?

I didn't want to believe that I really didn't.

But you did have a girl in that cab.

God knows what you did to her.

You're my oldest friend.

Thirty -five years ago, you did something terrible.

Then you conspired to keep it a secret.

And when it seemed that your secret would come out in the dark, one of you,

Lucas, Bud, or Jimmy, one of you,

tried to kill me.

I'm doing surgery. Why don't you drop this whole thing? I can't. There was a

girl there that weekend. You all admitted it. We didn't.

Lucas, I heard you. You misunderstood.

So you all spent a quiet weekend alone in that cabin.

That's right.

Well, how'd you come home with Coles for sleeping on the ground?

We were just joking.

Now, something went on that weekend, and by damn, I'm going to find out what.

All right, that's it. I've had it with your paranoid accusations.

This is harassment, then.

I call you my friend, but that doesn't give you the right to treat me like

Sorry about the shirt.

I tell him and I tell him, but he always ends up wrecking the shirt.

Here, you're in the market for some fireworks.

That's what this is about?

Well, we couldn't very well talk in there, could we?

What are you looking for?

Actually, I'm looking for you.

See, somebody tried to kill my friend with an ignition bomb, and I think they

bought it from you. I have no idea what you're talking about.

I'll be seeing you around.

What? Crazy?

See, I made a phone call, and if you touch me one more time, there's going to

more cops here than you've ever seen in your life.

Now you tell me who it was, and maybe we can end this like friends.

It was a phone order, my man.

You don't know who you sold the bomb to? That's right.

Who paid you?

Look, I leave the merchandise on the curb.

Car pulls up, guy opens the door, takes the merchandise, leaves the cash, drives

off. No name, no face.

What did the car look like?

Brown. Come on.

Mercedes. Come on.

560 SEL.

License number.

You wrote it down. The guy could have been leaving you a sack of newspapers.

Thank you, Sylvester.

Georgia Plate UPL 790.

How you doing? Hi.

I'm Conrad McMath.

I'm working for Ben Matlock. I don't have time for this. Let me just ask you

question. Just one question. No.

How could you do it?

Well, you've known the man for 40 years. You're supposed to be one of Ben's best

friends. How could you try to kill him? I did no such thing. Don't give me that.

You bought the bomb. That's impossible.

They identified your car. There's a witness. I tell you what I'm going to

I'm going to call the police forensics department. They're going to come down

here. They're going to go through this car with a fine tooth. I didn't buy any

bombs.

Wait a minute.

A lot of people could have done it. I keep my car locked.

But anybody who knows me knows I keep a spare set of keys right there.

Does Ben?

Ben, what you're saying is that I stole Lucas Sinclair's car, then used it to

pick up a bomb, which I then planted in your car.

If I remembered where that key box was hidden, you might have too.

I don't believe this, Ben.

How long have we been friends?

You couldn't pick up that bomb with your own car, could you? Ben, what in the

hell has gotten into you?

Lucas told me everything that happened in that cabin that weekend.

Lucas told you. Told you what? Everything.

Nothing happened.

You're fishing, Ben.

Lucas didn't tell you anything.

He told me about the card game.

All right.

So you talked to Lucas.

And he gave you his version of that weekend.

But I'm not going to get hung for something I didn't do. You've lied ever

you read D .B.'s letter. What, am I supposed to believe you now?

Then I'll have to prove it to you.

Lucas tell you we decide to draw cards.

Yeah.

Person got the eight of spades to take care of the girl.

Lucas tell you who dealt the cards that night? You did.

Pulled the eight, the king and the queen.

Shuffled them.

Dealt them.

Your turn.

Hey, thanks.

It's the ace of spades.

I know.

I've got the queen.

There's the king.

You marked the cards.

Just like I did 35 years ago, Ben.

I didn't want to be the one to get the ace of spades.

So I made damn sure I didn't.

This is a hearing on defendant's extraordinary writ in the case of the

the state of Georgia versus Calvin Stokes, case number 761539.

Appearance as counsel.

Brett Hudson, deputy district attorney on behalf of Fulton County, Your Honor.

Benjamin Matlock for the defendant Calvin Stokes. Mr. Stokes is present.

Your petition presents a very unusual situation, Mr. Matlock.

You understand that I must make every presumption in favor of the trial

conviction of your client?

Understood, Your Honor, but I think a horrible injustice has occurred.

The evidence we'll hear will demonstrate that to this court.

Very well. You may call your first witness.

I was with Buddy Carson, Lucas Sinclair, and D .B. Kingsley.

As you well know, we used to go hunting together up at Echo Lake.

Yeah, just good, clean fun.

Oh, we thought so then.

We were young men, little morn boys.

Like a lot of young men, we were a little wild and reckless.

So out of sowing wild oats?

You know what it was like? We used to go hunting. We'd play cards a little,

drink a little, but we never did anything we were really shamed of.

Until that weekend.

Pastor Hubert.

Jimmy.

You have a choice.

You know that.

You can lie and hope your reputation as a preacher and a good man will cause

this court to believe you. Or you can practice what you preach.

Tell the truth.

Cleanse your conscience.

Correct a wrong that you've held secret for 35 years.

Can you make that choice?

I thought of nothing else for days, Ben. I haven't eaten, I haven't slept, but

I... I have prayed.

Will you tell this court what happened that weekend in November

1955?

Everything D .B. said in that letter is true.

There was a girl.

And after D .B. left, things got a little wild.

threatened to tell on us that she was going straight to the police, that she

going to see us all in jail. So we first laughed. We didn't think she meant it,

but then she ran out of the cabin.

So we went after her. We realized that she could ruin our lives before they'd

even begun. So we caught her, locked her in the shed behind the cabin while we

decided what to do.

Which was why?

Then we were so young and drunk and scared.

No, no, no, there's no excuse. What I did was wrong.

What we did was a sin against that poor girl, and I cannot allow myself to make

excuses.

We decided that she would carry out her threat, that we'd go to jail, and our

lives would be ruined.

Decided we...

Couldn't let her go, sir.

We decided one of us was going to have to kill her.

One of you?

And how did you decide which one?

I'm ashamed to say this. I really am.

We played cards.

We took the queen, the king, the ace of spades from the deck. Buddy Carlson

shuffled them, dealt them.

We agreed that whoever got the ace...

I can't say.

Whoever got the ace of spades would murder that poor, unfortunate girl.

Is that what you can't say?

You must say it out loud so the court can hear, Jimmy. You must.

Whoever got the ace would murder the girl.

Then what happened, Pastor Hurt?

We slept in the woods that night so that none of us except the murderer

would know who killed her. I didn't even look at my car until I got to the place

where I was going to sleep.

It was the ace.

So I went to the shed and unlocked it.

Girl was sitting in there inside, terrified.

Almost as terrified as I was.

I stood there, frozen.

And I let her go.

What did you say?

She ran past me out the door and I didn't stop. I let her go. I couldn't

her. Ben, I couldn't kill her.

I was a sinner, but I was no murderer.

Come on, Jimmy. You expect us to believe that? It's the truth. I let her go. And

I never saw again.

Till I saw the paper several days later and read that somebody else had murdered

her.

You mean all these years and you never told the others it wasn't you who killed

the girl? There was no reason to tell them. They wouldn't have believed me

anyway. They'd have thought I just covered up.

I have no further questions for this witness. Witness may step down.

They had the real murder all along.

Should have quit while you were ahead.

Three friendships, three lives destroyed.

For nothing.

Your Honor. The witness is excused.

You wrecked my life. Now, not only does everybody know I'm an ex -con, but they

think I'm guilty as hell.

Well, maybe it's not over yet. It is for me.

I have to find a new place, a new job, and a new home, and start all over

Yeah, but... No, no more. You know what I really kicked myself for? For being a

sucker. No, you made me hope for something that I had no business hoping

from now on, leave me alone.

Do something.

What was that?

Everything I could get from the original trial.

Newspaper clippings and pictures of the evidence and pictures of the victim.

And here are pictures that D .B. took that day. You lay them out over there

I'll lay all these out.

I don't pray heaven will see something.

Do you see a good picture of those gloves that he... Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, that's good.

Yeah.

Yeah. Now see if you can find a picture that was dated that Sunday morning.

Yeah, there. That's it. That's it.

Yeah.

Uh -huh. What?

Uh -huh. Let's go.

What do you got?

Well... Something good, I hope.

We need to see the weatherman.

So then you drew cards to determine which one of you would kill her.

Yes, I'm sorry to say we did.

Before you drew them, unbeknownst to the others, to make sure you did not get

the ace of spades,

You marked it, is that correct?

I didn't want to kill her.

Well, you were the nephew of the mayor from a

highly respected and influential family with a reputation to be protected,

not to mention your own political aspirations.

I did not want to kill that girl. I think you did. What you didn't want was

the others to know about it. Objection. That's not a question. It's a statement.

Sustained. I remind you, Mr. Matlock, that this is not a trial.

Since you knew which card was the ace, you knew that Jimmy

Hubert had drawn it, didn't you?

Yes. And you followed him to the shed that night, didn't you? No. And when you

saw that he was unable to go through with it, and let the girl run away. You

went after her, didn't you? No, I did not. And you caught her somewhere in the

brush, and you hit her, and she was dead, and you left her there, didn't

No, I did not.

Your Honor, where is defense counsel going with all this? That is the court's

question as well, Mr. Matlock. You're not meeting your burden of proof by

off -the -wall inquiries. Do you have something more concrete?

Yes, I do, Your Honor. Then get to it, would you please?

Yes, Your Honor.

I believe you all have...

A copy of these pictures.

The gloves that you were wearing that weekend, what did they look like?

That was 35 years ago. Who remembers?

Well, let me ask you this, then.

This is a picture of Jimmy Hubert, Lucas Sinclair, and you with your gloves

on. Now, this picture was made that weekend, wasn't it? Yes, D .B. took it

sent copies to all three of us. Right, right, right. You know, when you

compare...

Your gloves, there's a blow -up of one of your gloves.

With the gloves that Calvin Stokes had when the sheriff arrested him at the

scene of the crime, you find something very interesting.

They're the same glove.

They're the same brand, maybe. No, the same glove. The glove in this picture is

the same as the glove in this picture. You see that little tear right along the

seam? Identical.

Well, then I must have lost them and he must have found them. Oh, you lost them?

Well, I don't remember. It was 35 years ago. I mean, how else would he have

wound up with them? I'll tell you how.

Because you were wearing those gloves when you killed that girl, got her blood

on them, and threw them away.

The next morning, Calvin Stokes comes along, he picks them up, and that's how

wound up with them. No, if he found them, it's because I dropped them in the

woods someplace earlier that day. No, you were wearing those gloves.

When you left that shed to kill that girl and I could prove it.

How the hell do you know that?

D .B.

D .B. took pictures of every hunt.

All the way through. He had camera.

Always present. Remember? From beginning to end. Here at the beginning.

Here at the end.

Even D .B. got in this picture using the trip wire. See the bulb?

See there?

You're wearing your gloves.

You know, I'm not sure which trip that picture was taken on, Ben. Maybe it was

taken on a different trip.

Come on, bud.

Come on, now.

You know how organized D .B. was. Here's the original of this one.

He wrote the date on the back of every picture. See? 11 -55, November 55.

It's his handwriting, too.

Yes, but how do you know it wasn't taken in the morning when we were starting

out?

Because... What are you holding in your hand?

Flask? What was in the flask?

Probably bourbon.

You know, there was one hard and fast rule we had about alcohol and hunting. I

remember.

No drinking till the end of the day when we were all done. Why?

Well, because alcohol and loaded guns don't mix. Right.

And you were drinking.

See?

Cap is off the flask. Since you were drinking...

It must have been the end of the day, right?

I don't remember.

Well, you got your gloves on.

And you got your gloves on here.

And the date on that picture is the same.

1155.

And all the fellas are wearing the same stuff they're wearing in all the other

pictures. Must have been cold in that cabin that night.

You got your gloves on.

That's because the picture was taken the night before. It was on Friday when we

first arrived.

No, the picture was taken on Saturday after you locked that poor girl in the

shed and before Jimmy Hubert went up to kill her.

How in the hell do you know that? Because D .B. is not in the picture. He

the one taking it. No, you were taking it with the trip wire. See the bulb in

your hand? See the glove there with the bulb?

D .B. had long gone.

You probably wanted him to think that nothing unusual had happened.

Since he had left.

That's why you took it. The same thing with this picture, Sunday morning.

Make D .B. think like you were happy as anything. See there?

Now look.

Gloves.

Gloves.

Gloves.

No gloves.

What happened to them?

That picture was taken.

Saturday, not Sunday, and I just hadn't gotten around to putting them on yet.

No, it was Sunday.

And again, D .B. didn't take that picture. You did.

With the tripwire. See the bulb in your hand?

And you know something else?

I called the weather bureau.

That weekend, that Saturday, was cool and overcast all day.

But Sunday morning was bright, sunshiny.

Not a cloud in the sky, you see?

It was cold that morning.

Sunday morning was much colder than it was all day Saturday.

And that... Yet there you stand, barehanded.

Why, bud?

Why?

I think I know.

You had tossed your gloves away after you murdered.

That young hitchhiker, hadn't you?

Ben, I...

It's

hard to keep coming up with answers

to these very difficult questions, isn't it, Bud?

Maybe, maybe you'd better talk to your lawyer before you answer that last one.

Yes.

Good luck, Mr. Stoke. Thank you, Mr. Matlock.

Conrad? Take care.

Mr. Man.

Well? Yeah.

You

know,

you think you know people and you don't.

I thought I knew all those fellas.

All the 25 years Mr. Stokes was in prison, I thought I knew them.

And that we were friends.

And we weren't.

Funny, huh?

In a way, I guess.

Well, all you can do is best you can.

So Mom always told me.

Best you can? You bet.

Hey.

Let's go down to Ray Templeton and hear a little music. What's that?

Yeah.