Original subtitles

over to my house, Pat? Me too.

Why is the door open?

Ben?

Oh, God.

Whoever did this might still be here.

Where's Ben?

Ben's been kidnapped.

No, wait. Maybe we shouldn't.

I've kidnapped Ben Matlock. I will exchange him for the rare coins in his

Unless you want to see him expunged, don't call the police.

Do exactly as I say. Failure to follow instructions will be the direct and

intervening cause of his death.

Go to the office and wait for my call.

Look, a person would do this. Too many people as he's sent to jail.

We've got to find him. In fact, it looks like we're dealing with a lunatic.

The kidnapper must be a lawyer. Listen to this. If you want to see him

direct and intervening cause of his death, these are legal terms.

Who else but a lawyer would know them?

Did Ben ever send an attorney to prison?

No, I don't remember any lawyer.

Wait a minute.

Wait a minute. A judge is a lawyer. Ben's been kidnapped by Judge Addison.

I don't remember the name.

Judge Carter Addison was an old friend of Ben's.

Judge Addison was respected, admired.

No one knew he led a double life.

He had a mistress, a lovely young woman named Joanne Lee, of whom he was

insanely jealous.

When Carter Addison discovered she was seeing another man, something inside of

him snapped.

His jealousy drove him to do the unthinkable.

Addison murdered Joanne Lee and framed her boyfriend, Jim Meredith.

up to 1102 right away. There's a woman screaming for help. Something terrible

has happened. Hurry.

Superior Court 3 is now in session. Honorable Judge Carter Addison

All rise.

Of course, Ben didn't know any of this.

He defended Jim Meredith for the murder of Joanne Lee.

He had no reason to be displeased that his old friend Carter Addison was the

presiding judge.

We'll start with the private counsel cases.

The state versus Meredith.

Benjamin Matlock for the defense, Your Honor.

Defendant has been advised of his rights. Please not guilty. Request the

trial. Time is waived.

How would September 28th, 9 a .m. be, Counselor? Fine with me, Your Honor.

You know, I can't get over Carter Harrison asking me to step aside on

I mean, I can understand a lawyer asking a judge to step aside because of

prejudice.

But... A judge asking a lawyer. Don't you think that's odd?

Yeah, it is.

Ben, I didn't find any fingerprints on that cognac bottle. I did find this. A

pipe cleaner and some tobacco.

Ben wasn't suspicious of Judge Addison until he asked Ben to step aside on the

case.

Evening, Carter.

Well, hello, Ben. What are you doing here? Oh, sometimes I get the

Buy you a drink.

Ah, well, it's a little late.

Oh, just one.

I got something here very special. Two Langwana Polly and Cognac.

Well, let me say goodnight.

Okay.

Well,

here's to dandelion season or whatever season it is.

Interestingly enough, I found a bottle of this in Joanne Lee's pocket.

Who?

Joanne Lee, that murdered girl.

Oh, yes.

I really am glad I didn't step aside on this case. It's fascinating.

It really is.

I think she was being kept by an older man. I think he smoked a pipe and drank

the same cognac. I don't know that he killed her, but he could have.

Well, I better get home. My wife's by herself.

Big day tomorrow. For me, too, Carter. For me, too. Thanks, man.

Right.

We haven't met.

I'm Joanne Lee's mother.

They're waiting for you in court, Mrs. Lee.

Well, I thought we should talk first.

Hmm? Why is that?

Joanne told me all about you.

What is it, Mr. Bedlock?

I'll get right to it, Your Honor.

Defense intends to call His Honor as its next witness.

I have no information relevant to this case.

I have a sincere belief that Your Honor may have knowledge of facts that may

shed some light on this case.

You know how Ben is when he gets suspicious.

He gets tricky.

One of his tricks was Joanne's mother, Claire Lee.

Your Honor, defense has just been presented with new evidence that's

to our case. May we take a brief recess to prepare for our next witness?

All right, this court will recess until...

2 .30 this afternoon Ben's plan worked

The whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.

And Ben had another trick up his sleeve.

Mr. Allison, do you know Mrs.

Claire Lee?

I don't know her personally, no.

You are aware that she is the mother of the deceased Joanne Lee?

I believe that was her testimony.

Have you had any occasion to discuss this case with Mrs. Lee?

Absolutely not.

Isn't it true that you met with her this morning after she testified in your

court? No, I did not. And at that time, didn't you give her an envelope

containing $15 ,000?

Objection. The witness already testified. He never met with the woman.

Sustained.

Did you know Joanne Lee?

No. Never met her?

No. Are you familiar with a condominium building at 437?

Highview Street. No, I am not.

Let me refresh your honor's memory.

From this condominium building, with a pair of binoculars, a person can look

right into Joanne Lee's apartment, which is what the killer did

while he watched and waited for his chance to murder her.

Locker, I warn you, making these unsubstantiated charges is contemptible.

Addison, I don't make unsubstantiated charges.

You see, this morning, when you went back

to that condominium, when Mr. Bryant saw you

to remove your clothes that you had left there till this whole thing

was over,

You didn't remove your clothes.

They were replacements that were placed there by my associate, Mr. Tyler Hudson.

These are your clothes.

This is your raincoat.

See, Joanne, leave blood.

These are your gloves.

which I placed into evidence now.

Carter, you were one of the best and one of the brightest.

I'm truly sorry it's come to this.

You're right. Sounds like the kidnapper could be Judge Addison.

Let's see what he got out of jail.

Yo, Charlie.

Conrad. Got a name for your computer.

Judge Carter Addison.

Two Ds.

Yeah? Really?

I owe you one, Charlie. Thanks.

When did he get out? He didn't.

Judge Addison is still serving his sentence.

According to his prison file, which Charlie acts as, don't ask me how.

That leads us right back where we started.

This is wrong to go it alone, Conrad. We've got to call the police.

Ben Matlock's office.

You know who this is.

You deliver the coins, I'll deliver Matlock.

We're in business.

Where and when?

You'll find out when it's time.

I'll be calling back with instructions.

Wait there.

I want to talk to Ben.

Forget it.

How do we know you have him? We have him.

How do we know he's alive?

Well, you just have to take my word for it.

Because if you don't, I'll just have to kill him.

Good thing we put all Ben's case files on the computer.

Conrad, we have to do something.

We are. This will work.

This is a hacker's program.

See? You know all this stuff.

A little. But how is this going to help us find Ben?

What I'm doing here is I'm asking the computer to search the case files, come

with the answers to two questions.

First one is, which of the people Ben sent to prison is out?

And that is straight data.

Then there's Charlie's psychological profile program, and that'll give me the

answer to the second question, which is, which of those people will commit a

crime of revenge?

Should have worked.

Shell.

Hey! Okay, what do we got here? Five names.

No, actually four. Ben told me that this third name, Michael Turner, died in

prison. All right, four names. What do you think?

Okay, okay, we know that more than one person is involved in this kidnapping.

How do we know that?

Well, you heard him on the phone. He said, we have Ben.

Right. And the motive is definitely revenge.

I think our best bet is Kathy Barron. Kathy Barron? She hated Ben.

And not just because he sent her to prison.

I think she always looked at Ben and saw all the men in her life who'd hurt her.

Well, they all loved her and left her?

Not quite.

Kathy Barron was the daughter of a mafia don, and the men around her seemed to

die violently.

The Don, Nicholas Barron, was charged with the murder of both Donald Kovac and

Eddie Alonzo.

Ben, as usual, had a few questions to ask.

Well, hello. I could have told you to wind up taking the case. I'm Kathy

Turn around and place your hands on the wall, please. Hey, leave it, Marty.

This is Benjamin Matlock, father's attorney.

There's one thing about this case that bothers me.

The man who killed Kovac and then was himself killed, Eddie Alonso, was

whom all of you knew.

Are you saying that one of us hired him and then had him killed?

He was like a brother to me, like a second father to the children.

Besides, he was retired.

I know.

But who could best talk him out of retirement?

I don't think a stranger.

I think someone he knew and trusted.

Well, if you'll excuse us, we'll go to work.

Kathy Barron proved to be a fascinating puzzle for Ben's daughter, Charlene.

God, it feels good to get out of that house.

You still live at home?

Well, when Nicholas Barron is your father, you don't exactly have a whole

options.

So how's the case going?

Whoever killed Eddie Alonzo had to have access to his father's house.

You mean like one of us?

We can't rule that out.

You better learn one thing fast, and that's no matter what, we are a family

here, and no outsider dare question our loyalty to each other ever. Not everyone

was happy Ben was defending Nicholas Barron. Charlene! Dad?

Good Lord. Are you all right?

I'm all right. Are you all right? Well, I got this phone call, and I didn't...

Hello?

trying to scare us off this case.

Let me tell you something.

Now, I don't care who it is, anything.

I mean, anything happened to my daughter, there's going to be hell to

My men will find out who did it. Oh, Paul, please. He's here because he

it's one of us.

That's impossible.

Let me tell you something.

Whenever I find who's responsible for endangering my daughter, I'm going to

him to the district attorney piece by piece.

No.

I lost my mother when I was young.

Was it difficult for you?

My father divorced my mother over 20 years ago. I barely remember her.

Where is she now?

When she walked out, my father forbade any of us to have any contact with her.

He'd punish us if we so much as mentioned her name.

He even had all the photographs of her destroyed, every single one of them.

Why did she walk out?

My mother loved my father but hated what he did.

I guess she thought by marrying him she could change him, but she couldn't.

So she finally left.

With another man.

Finally, the secrets the Barron family so carefully hid were revealed.

I know how difficult this is going to be for you.

But remember, no matter how it turns out, it might turn out to be what

of us wanted.

But that was our deal, and like it or not, I'm going to have to hold you to

I'm going to go ahead with it.

Miss Barron, you were having an affair with Donald Kovac.

Yes. Was that affair going on at the time of his death?

Yes. Donald Kovac was a married man, wasn't he?

He was going to leave his wife.

When?

Eventually.

I understand Eddie Alonzo is an old friend of the family.

Did you keep track of him?

I haven't seen him in years.

Are you sure?

Yes.

You took $25 ,000 out of your trust fund the same week

that Eddie Alonzo put $25 ,000 down on a house.

You think that's just a coincidence?

I suppose so.

You know, I've been meaning to tell you that

locket you always wear is beautiful.

Thank you.

My mother had one, something like it. You open it up and there's pictures

inside.

Does yours open up?

Yes.

Would you open it, please?

I confess. I did it. I killed them both. Please stop.

Stop. Please. Please.

It's too late.

Would you like some time with your client, Mr. Matlock?

No, Your Honor.

We apologize for the outburst.

You may proceed.

Your father just confessed to murders he didn't commit.

Would you open the locket, please?

Very pretty.

Your mother?

I didn't know any pictures of her existed. Where did you get it?

I can't remember.

That picture came... from this photo album.

From that picture.

This photo album belonged to Eddie Alonzo. It came from his apartment.

Isn't it true?

that Eddie Alonzo cut that picture out and gave it to you when you came to him

with the $25 ,000.

Isn't it true you told him you wanted to avenge your father's wrongful

imprisonment when in fact you wanted to avenge yourself on a man who wouldn't

leave his wife for you? Isn't it true that you gave Eddie Alonzo $25 ,000 to

kill Donald Kovac? And isn't it true that you took your father's car and gun

went to the field where you knew Eddie would be and shot him?

Isn't all of that true?

Yeah.

It's a woman I think twice about double -crossing.

But she certainly has her address.

Excuse me?

Are you the manager?

Oh, yeah. Ground floor, two bedrooms, lovely view of the park. No, no. We'd

to ask you a few questions about Kathy Barron.

Ooh.

I'll bet you guys are from the National Informer.

You got it.

Go on.

Well, Kathy seemed like a very nice girl, so I decided to rent her a place

she got out of prison.

Well, next thing you know, she takes up with one man after another, and they all

give her a very bad time.

This incredibly wealthy Turk shows up and takes her to Cairo.

We all know why.

Where she visits the ruins of these ancient tombs and has an amazing

experience.

Which is how she ended up doing what it is that she does.

Which is what?

No, you're a kidder. Very cute.

Oh, come on. I mean, who would have thought that a killer like Kathy Barron

would end up in L .A.

channeling the spirit of a 2 ,000 -year -old Egyptian priest?

Lady flipped out, Michelle.

Flipped out? Hell no.

She calls herself Rama Da.

Celebrities flock to her. She's pulling down 20 grand a month.

Thanks for the information.

Um, Dorothy Smith, S -M -I -T -H. Thank you. I'm 28 years old.

I'm telling you, we've got to call the police. No, you heard him. He killed

What makes you think they won't kill him anyway?

Or that he's even alive? I'm calling Bob Brooks. Wait!

I know how worried you are. I am too.

All right, just let me give the computer one more shot. If it doesn't work,

we'll try it your way.

Deal?

All right.

All right, let me get that sucker one more question.

Who of this bunch is a lunatic?

Certified.

Ben Malick's office.

Here's what you do.

Take the coins. Forget it.

I've lost interest.

Hey, do you know who this is? Yeah, I know who it is, and I only have one

to say to you. Either I talk to Ben, or nothing else happens.

A lot could happen.

I could kill him.

Then do it.

Listen, I've worked for Ben Matlock for less than a year. We're not exactly

buddies. Fact is, I don't even like the guy. And the worst thing that could

happen to me if you kill him is I'll find another job.

So cut the crap.

Now, put the silver fox on or forget it.

Talk fast and careful what you say.

Hello?

Ben. Ben, you all right?

I'm fine.

We're working on it, Ben.

Feed my cats, Sarah and Esther.

Ben!

Okay, no more games.

Michelle Thomas will be at the payphone in Butler Park at Laurel and Newcastle.

She'll have the coins with her, or Matt locks a dead man.

What?

Okay, he doesn't have cats, so... Sarah and Esther.

Sarah and Esther... Morgan.

Morgan. The Morgan twins.

They kidnapped him.

I don't think so. They're Ben's neighbors. They're over 80, and God

women, they give Ben handed -in mufflers every Christmas. Well, maybe they

suddenly went wacko or something.

No. No.

Okay, Sarah and Esther Morgan.

Morgan. Morgan. Morgan what?

It's a street name.

Morgan.

Morgan.

Morgan.

It's not a street.

It's not a boulevard. It's not an avenue. It's not even an alley.

What's he trying to tell us?

Do you remember my sister Emily?

Huh?

Of course you do.

Do you remember how sweet she was?

How pretty?

You know where she is?

She's dead.

All gone.

See, you made Emily so very unhappy.

She killed herself.

Shoot him.

Come on, do it. Take a pill or something. You're not thinking straight.

Don't say that.

Julia, listen, we need him until we get what we want.

You want those coins, don't you, Jack?

Well, they're worth half a million, Julia.

And I know just where to sell them.

And you deserve them.

For helping me escape from prison.

For helping me get him.

And for helping me kill Michelle Thomas.

a great plan.

My uncle's in Florida, so we broke into his house, kidnapped you, so Jack will

get the coins and all that money, and I get to kill your dear friend, Michelle.

I knew you'd like this plan.

You see, Mr. Matlock, I know you're close to Michelle, and I want you to

know exactly what it feels like.

When someone you love dies.

And you will.

I promise.

Sarah and Esther. Sarah and Esther.

Sarah and Esther.

That's it?

What? It's not the name. It's the relationship.

Sisters. Ben's been kidnapped by sisters.

All right, a pleasure. No, I know who it is.

Julia and Emily McCullough, sisters.

Strange sisters.

Julia and Emily McCullough shared everything, including the plan to commit

perfect murder, just to prove they could do it. Am I you or are you me?

Hurry up.

Okay, okay. Do you have my notebook?

Emily, let's go. You don't need it.

Julia, can't we do this another night?

You should have been at the library ten minutes ago. Let's go.

Julia!

Come on.

You like playing with fire.

Good night, Uncle Harold.

Good evening, Mr. Rees.

DB, I'm supposed to know my way around.

This John Doe movement has cost you a fortune.

Harold,

is that you?

Harold?

Harold?

Uncle Harold?

What happened?

Esther is dead.

She's been murdered.

But Ben, who defended their Uncle Howard for the murder of their Aunt Esther,

was suspicious of Julia and Emily, and he investigated as only Ben can.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

Oh, would you look at... At that, I'm sorry. I thought it was by myself.

Who are you?

Oh, I'm Ben Matlock, Harold's lawyer.

You must be his nieces.

Yes, we are.

What gives you the right to come in here?

Julia, Harold said you were the one that did the talking, that Emily was real

shy. Don't burn yourself with that. Oh, I'm not going to burn anything.

Or anyone.

What are you looking for? Silver polish.

Why? Whoever killed your Aunt Esther tried to clean that candlestick before

police found it.

I can't find the silver polish.

If Harold tried to clean it, where'd he put the polish?

Look.

Silver polish.

Isn't that interesting?

And I just found this one.

I guess you can't have too much silver polish.

Well, I'll be on my way again.

Good night.

She's here somewhere.

Let's go ask Mrs. Reese.

Mrs. Reese, have you seen Julia?

Yes, of course.

She's in the upper deck there.

There she is.

Julia!

Where's Julia?

Right over here.

I could have sworn that.

Amazing how our eyes can fool us sometimes.

Mr. Hudson was interviewing your sister.

He tricked me.

I thought it was you.

So did Mrs. Reese.

I don't think she's so certain now it was you she saw in the stacks the night

the murder.

We have to study.

Oh, one other thing.

The peanuts are both... You can... come to court together. It'll be like always.

Emily, when you were very young, your parents died in a fire, didn't they?

Yes.

You always felt bad about that, didn't you? Even guilty.

Yes.

Did you know that fire was caused by a broken gas main?

No.

I have the fire department report right here.

Julia didn't tell you that, did she?

She needed for you to feel responsible for the fire and the death of your

parents because you used to like to play with matches.

Order, order in the court. One more word out of you, young lady, and I'll have

you in contempt.

Ben found the psychological key to Julia's domination of Emily and the key

proving them guilty.

No further questions.

You may step down.

The court isn't finished with you.

Your Honor, I call Julia McCullough to the stand.

Now, Julia, you stole Mr.

Henderson's keys the night you drove him into town, didn't you?

No. Then made your sister impersonate you in the library.

No. Then you killed your Aunt Esther to prove you could commit the perfect crime

and were therefore better than everyone else.

No. Then you and your sister hid this candlestick in the basement for the

to find.

Of course not.

Who did?

Uncle Harold.

I don't think so.

I just noticed something that somehow evaded me until a moment ago.

If it had been a snake, it would have bitten me.

When does the paper arrive at the house?

In the morning.

What time?

About six o 'clock.

Well, Harold couldn't have used this newspaper to wrap the candlestick. Why

Read the day of the week.

Read it.

Thursday's paper.

I didn't hear you.

It's Thursday's paper. And Uncle Harold was taken into custody by the police

Wednesday night, wasn't he?

Yes. What does that mean?

It means this candlestick was placed in the basement after Harold was taken to

police headquarters.

Who was at the house Thursday morning, Julia?

The police were with you.

They know that you and Emily were alone.

Only you and your sister could have placed this candlestick in the basement.

went to the Taylor State Prison for the Criminally Insane.

I don't know about Emily.

How can they be out?

Yo, Charlie?

Okay, time to go.

You okay?

I'm always okay.

Mr. Matlock and I are going to talk over old times.

Aren't we, honey?

Then you'll bring back Miss Thomas.

And we'll have a party.

You can count on it.

Okay,

this is it.

I'm taking the coins to Laurel and Newcastle.

All right, it's a public place. It should be safe.

I'll go to the McCullough house.

Whoever the guy is that's working with the sisters will be guarding Ben.

Listen, be careful. That house is full of secret passages. Yeah, I was born

careful. You be careful. Good luck, huh? All right.

Ben and I will meet you back here in a couple of hours.

I like that.

Hello, Miss Thomas.

You should always wear red.

Where are you?

Close.

Now listen.

Leave the park.

Drive 10 miles west on Route 42 to the bus stop between South and Grand.

Get out of the car and wait on the bench.

I have the coins. Is Ben with you? No questions.

Just do as you're told.

Waiting for the bus?

No, for a friend.

Surprise.

I have something you want.

Save it.

You'll be delivering it in person to an old friend of yours who wants to say

hello and goodbye.

Emily was beautiful.

Just like your Michelle.

You killed Emily.

So I'm going to kill Michelle.

And then I'm going to kill you.

Let go of me!

Come on. All right, all right.

No, it's not.

He'll be back in a minute with Michelle and he's going to kill her. All right.

I'll call quick.

All

right.

All right. You okay?

Mm -hmm.

Hey,

Julia. I brought you a present.

Nothing good?

Ben, are you all right? Yeah, you?

I'm fine now.

All good, the cops.

I'll let him in.

He's out. I'll get Julie.

good to see.