Original subtitles

The scattered community of Southgate was awakened just after midnight once again

by the sounds of sirens as fire trucks and ambulances rushed into the area,

responding to a three -alarm fire.

This latest fire involved two single -family homes and the landmark Jones

and Fill service station at the corner of Main and Green Streets.

Two single -family homes were destroyed quickly as the fire spread from one

frame and single home to its neighbor.

Both homes are considered destroyed beyond repair.

Sam and Lavinia Dumont, residents of one of the destroyed homes, said they woke

to choking smoke and crackling sounds of fire.

Officials were relieved to hear from the Dumonts that their neighbors, John and

Pat McLean, and their three young children were away visiting relatives in

Florida and therefore were not at risk in the fire that destroyed their home.

Police and fire officials are once again investigating for evidence of arson.

The mayor's office has set up a special number to call if you have any

information about this or the other Southgate fires.

Your call will be kept confidential, and there is a $10 ,000 reward for

information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved.

That number to call is 555 -FIRE.

Jones Tune and Fill, once considered for preservation by the City Historical

Society, is now nothing more than a pile of rubble and twisted steel.

Laws is considered a blow to the architectural cultural and historical

of this city While there were no injuries in last night's fire the anger

frayed nerves of the remaining members of this community were plain disease

Morning, Ben.

Conrad. I thought you'd like to know.

What happened?

His sleeping pills.

The coroner's guessing he took them about eight last night.

He'll know more after the autopsy.

Did he leave a note?

Well, it looks like he just walked in the door, poured himself a drink, down

some pills, and passed out and died.

It's my fault.

What?

Well, if I'd have just gone after a little harder on the stand, this

have happened.

Well, you can't know that, Ben.

What's Harvey Cordell doing here?

He's her lawyer. He was her lawyer. He's the one who found her.

Yesterday when she left the stand, she went straight to him and explained her

situation to him and asked for his assessment.

He said that he told her she was in serious trouble. He was going to go to

with her today.

Well, did she confess to killing Doug Leavitt?

Oh, come on, Ben. Even if she had, you know you can't use him in court.

Lieutenant Brooks.

Yeah, let's not catch up with you all later.

We still got the guy who sold it to the dead man. We don't know why Diane killed

Doug Letters. How can I plant the seed of doubt if we don't know that her

was at least as strong as our client's?

Okay, I'll turn around.

Oh, yeah.

Where'd they go?

Flint Rock.

Never heard of it.

Over 40 years old, very rare scotch.

Since when did you become an expert on scotch?

Nelson Adelson told me.

Any drinks?

Your Honor, I move that all charges against my clients be dismissed.

We have the sworn statement of the man who sold the detonator to Diane Becker.

We know who made the bomb.

We have the fact that knowing that she was about to be exposed as a murderer...

She went home and committed suicide. Clearly, my client is innocent and she

guilty. Diane Becker might as well have signed a confession.

Your Honor, to say that Mr. Matlock is overstating his case would be a gross

understatement. Despite all the cartwheels he's been turning, my case

Mr. Finley remains intact.

We have the tire tracks from Mr. Finley's car, which were found at the

the murder. I'm not turning cartwheels.

I've been working on this thing. Did you know that Diane Becker went out and

rented a car exactly like my clients that very afternoon? Do you know that?

have the detonator found in his garage. She should have dumped it there any

time. And we have the testimony of five people who all said that Bill Finley was

mad as hell at Doug Levitt for getting him fired. And we have... Motion denied.

But, Your Honor... But I will grant you a one -day recess, Mr. Matlock, inasmuch

as your key witness is no longer available.

I'll need five days, Your Honor, at least.

Three days.

This court will be in recess until 9 a .m. on Friday morning.

Nice try.

Then can we stop now? It's after two. I'm starving. I can't stop. I've got to

get this done. I've only got three days to work on Bill Finley's case.

I'm still working on the case. I'm making progress.

I'm getting in tight with the game, all right?

Daggone. There's another car stopped.

How did he see that stop sign with that bush in front of it? Maybe he saw a

little red and he knew it was a stop sign. I'm not paying that ticket.

How much that camera cost?

It's a rental.

Expensive, huh?

Some. So you're into this for a lot of cash now. You got two cameras. You got a

tripod. And those boots you're wrecking in the mud now.

Oh, no.

And now you wrecked your jacket.

Ben, you lost perspective. Stop.

I'm not paying that ticket.

Forget it.

You were in jail.

You killed my brother.

Who the hell are you?

I'm not sure, man.

What are you doing? Research.

On what?

Adelton Enterprises. I thought I told you to stay at home. I'm going nuts

Ben. Well.

Work on your book.

I can't concentrate.

No?

Meditate or something. Oh, that stuff's a crock. I mean, it's fine when your

biggest problem is worrying about going on camera with food stuck in your teeth,

but when you're facing the prospect of going to prison for life, somehow

around with your fingers in circles just doesn't cut it.

Ben Maloch?

You are?

How come?

No,

it doesn't.

No. Well, thanks. Thanks. Yeah, yeah. Keep in touch.

Yeah.

What?

Bob Brooks.

Homicide.

He said the police are stepping up their investigation into Diane Becker's

death. They're no longer...

Certain it was a suicide.

Why not?

They just found out that on her way home from talking with the lawyer, she

stopped by a travel agent and bought a one -way ticket to Brazil.

Why would she do that if she was just going to go home and kill herself?

Doesn't make sense, does it?

Right, and the guy that Nelson Allen gave the money to is known on the

as Reggie.

Apparently some kind of social worker.

Does a lot of work with gangs.

And this Reggie gives the money to the gang members?

Right. And they immediately went out and they firebombed this house in

Southgate. Anybody hurt?

No, luckily nobody was home.

There's another car stopped.

How can he see that sign with that bush in front of him? Because I told you.

They see a little red, and they figure it's a stop sign.

Maybe the wind blew that bush away from the sign a little bit from where it was

when I got stopped. I'll fix it.

You're tampering with evidence.

I'm not tampering with the evidence. I'm just putting it back the way it was.

If you move the bush. I'm not tampering with the evidence.

My friend Hattie down at City Hall said that Nelson Adelson's been buying a lot

of land down at Southgate lately. Gets it real cheap because everybody's so

anxious to sell. A lot of gang -related violence down there lately.

Yeah, that's better.

What I saw last night was part of a real estate scam.

Yeah, I'll just get some of this lower stuff in a little closer.

Oh, Ben, I hate to be the one to tell you, but you're working in poison ivy

there.

There's no justice.

Come on.

Let me get something put on it.

Okay.

Get in the car.

Forgot the camera.

That's all.

He didn't see the sign.

Smell that. Good to see you again.

What's wrong with your hands? Oh, little boys and I.

It's nice of you to have lunch with me on such short notice.

Well, it's a slow day.

Again. It's your session to kill it. Itching.

No? Yes, gentlemen.

Gentlemen. No, thanks.

Glass vise, please.

All right.

Is that flint rock?

No, no, they don't stock that here. It's hard to get.

That's why I was kind of surprised to see a bottle of it at Diane Becker's

house. Did you give it to her?

Who? Diane Becker, the news anchor over at WDRN.

That woman that committed suicide. No, I never met her.

Well, I thought that Doug Levitt used to produce her news program that maybe he

introduced you to. No, he never did.

How about Reggie? Where'd you meet him?

Reggie? That enterprising young man you gave all that money to on the street

yesterday.

You've been spying on me.

Yeah, sure.

You've been conspiring with Reggie and his...

gang member friends to force people to sell their property in Southgate,

you?

Mr. Medlow, it's one hell of a story.

But the truth is, I met Reggie at a charity banquet.

I like what he had to say about his work with the inner city gang members, and I

made him a donation. You have a problem with that?

Mr. Medlow?

Well, I thought Reggie was helping you purchase land cheap so that when the

got ready for their big renovation program downtown, why, you'd have the

that they needed.

You'd make a fortune, Mr. Adelson.

What an imagination.

That's what Diane was drinking when she took all those sleeping pills, Flint

Rock.

Well, if you're going to commit suicide, may as well go and stop.

The police are no longer sure it was suicide.

They think it may have been murder.

An irate boyfriend?

They're not sure. Me, I think it had something to do with that false

that she accidentally gave out over the air about a month ago.

You made a fortune selling land that was next to worthless, remember?

We've been through this before, Mr. Medler. But only Doug Levitt was dead

Now Diane's dead, too.

And you think I'm a suspect?

Well, maybe the three of you were in cahoots.

Maybe Doug Levitt got out of line and you and Diane killed him, and then maybe

you killed Diane because you realized how close I was coming to breaking her

down.

The night Diane died, I was at the charity banquet that I told you about.

sponsored by the Policeman's Association.

From 7 .30 to 10 o 'clock, I was sitting at a table surrounded by policemen.

How's that for an alibi?

Very good.

Thanks for the drink.

What the hell's going on?

Bill Finley's lawyer, Ben Matlock.

I just found out he's been having me tailed.

Why would he want to do that? Because he thinks that I'm involved with your

murder and Diane's, too.

Diane committed suicide?

Yeah. Well, apparently the police don't think so.

I think I'll leave town for a while. Oh, no.

No, you won't. You want your share of the 20 million?

You stay in town.

Why? Because I need you.

For what? To deliver some money Reggie's buddies want to raise.

The hell was that? Hey, listen to me, Doug.

Four more cash outs and we've got two square blocks in our pocket. Now, I

deliver the money.

Not with Matlock breathing down my neck. It'll take you all of 20 seconds.

What are you worried about? You're already dead.

Remember?

Who's that dude over there with Reggie, man?

You ever seen him before?

Yo, man.

Don't sweat that.

So what's going on, Tucker?

Business, home.

That's all.

You ain't got nothing against making a little money, do you?

Of course not.

How about raising a little hell?

I like that, too.

Will you ever do them both at the same time?

No.

You will tonight, my man.

Yeah.

Yeah, you will tonight.

Now shoot.

I am going to shoot.

Get it on, man. Let's go.

There's nothing here.

Come on out of there.

Very slowly.

Go to join up, G.

Yeah, yeah, let's go.

You pay for this, sir?

Yeah. Sweet deal, ain't it?

Yeah, G.

Get a fire in it.

Get out of the car.

How'd they get in so bad, man?

Let's go.

Move over there.

What's up, man? Get over there. Get over there and put your hands on the car.

Stand very steady, gentlemen. Don't make this your last day on earth.

You're lucky they let you go. If I were the DA, I'd have thrown the book at you.

Come on, Ben. I was just looking around.

You weren't trespassing.

And in the house of the very man you're accused of murdering.

That's not smart, Bill. That's not smart.

But I found a clue.

When are you going to get it through your thick skull that you're not a cop?

You're not an investigator.

You're not even a good reporter.

That's what you think?

Hey, isn't that... So you found a clue. Good. Let's go to the Pancake House. You

can tell me all about it.

Hey, Vance. In here.

You're just in time.

Nothing like a little eggs and potatoes and bacon toast after a hard night in a

slammer.

You look awful.

I have a headache.

And I can't imagine why after a night in a tank with 37 criminals, I should feel

great. Yeah, well, sit down there.

Eat.

He's paid you.

There you go, Reggie.

Yeah, one phone call, he was right there, cash in hand.

You were right on the money about those gang members getting paid to terrorize

Soski. By Nelson Allison.

Yeah, but the only thing they know is that somebody pays Reggie, and Reggie

them.

Ben, do you have any aspirin?

Yeah.

There's no way any of those guys are going to rattle Reggie, so I don't know

what our next move is going to be.

Oh, man.

Hey,

Ben. In here.

Oh, great.

Reporting to us live from the ozone layer, it's Bill Finby.

Morning.

Hey, you're out of jail.

That's great.

Ben told me how you infiltrated that gang.

Scary stuff.

I went undercover once.

Would you pretend to be a reporter?

Ben, check out that dentist.

Bill, it's not even 8 .30 in the morning.

You haven't checked it out yet?

Checked out what?

Two days before he died, Doug made a dentist appointment with somebody who

wasn't his dentist.

What are you talking about?

Doug used the same dentist for years.

He swore by him. In fact, one of the few decent things he ever did for me was

turn me on to the guy.

And just before he died, he made an appointment with somebody else.

I mean, why would he do something like that? Suddenly switch dentists. It

doesn't make sense.

What's the name of this new dentist?

I told you last night.

No, you didn't.

You sure?

Bill, what's the name of the new dentist?

I don't remember.

What did we do at the minute?

It's on his death calendar.

Over here on the table.

Where are you going?

Get some aspirin.

Tomberg. That's the new guy's name.

The name of the guy he used to go to is McClure.

Or is it McCoy?

Thanks, Bob.

I appreciate it.

Dr. Tomberg supplied the dental record the police used to identify Doug

his new dentist. He was the only dentist in his Rolodex, so people do change

dentists. Hey, Ben.

When we were here before, this bottle of blood pressure medicine was full,

right? Yeah. That's empty.

Did you... What would I want with Doug's blood pressure pills?

You don't suppose...

I

need to speak to Dr.

Tomberg. It's an emergency.

What's going on?

Doctor, my name is Ben Matlock. I'm an attorney.

I represent the man who's accused of killing Doug Leavitt. I understand you

some work on him just before he died.

Really?

He looked like he hadn't seen a dentist in five years?

Doug? Yes, he has. Doug Levitt was what, about 5 '11", 170 pounds, brown

hair, mustache? That sound about right to you?

A man who was with him looked like that.

Doug, what kind of work did you do for Mr. Levitt?

$1 ,200 in bridge work.

Oh, he paid cash.

We have dental insurance.

Bill, it wasn't Doug.

No, I ain't selling.

Mr. Foster, you're not going to get a better offer. I ain't interested.

Everybody in the neighborhood is selling.

Well, I'm not.

Look, how many times do I got to tell you? This is my home.

It's been my home for 11 years and it's going to stay that way.

Even after what happened last night?

I've had to deal with garbage everywhere I ever lived.

You're wasting your time.

Well, if you change your mind, give us a call.

Yeah, Matlock.

It's Matlock.

He was here.

Yeah.

Ben Matlock.

Judge Katz.

I certainly didn't expect to see you here.

Well, I didn't expect to see you here in traffic court, Judge Katz.

Just filling in, Mr. Matlock.

Just filling in.

Where's your client? I'd like to see who's paying your price to defend a

ticket.

I'm defending myself, Your Honor. I'm the one who got the ticket.

Well, and you're pleading.

Not guilty.

Okay.

Here we go.

An interesting start to my day.

Let's hear it from the officer.

Well, he told me he didn't see the stop sign, so I wrote him a ticket.

Anything to add, Sergeant?

Yes, sir. I could see...

that that stop sign was partly obscured by that little bush, but I could still

tell it was a stop sign. Now, wait a minute.

Your Honor, I'm just driving along, 35.

I did not see the stop sign.

I saw the bush, but I did not see the stop sign.

I see.

Anything further, Sergeant Turner?

Yes, sir. There is a flashing light before that stop sign that reads,

stop sign 100 yards.

This doesn't look good, Mr. Matlock.

But, Your Honor, I have pictures of cars going through that stop sign. Some

stopped, but a lot of them didn't. I guess some of them just got lucky.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to fine you on the infraction.

But, damn it, Your Honor, I went to a lot of trouble to get pictures of those

cars going lickety -split through that stop sign.

Doesn't matter.

There was a warning sign before the stop sign.

But, damn it all, Your Honor.

I ruined my camera. I ruined my boots. I tore my suit. I got poison ivy on my

hands. And somebody ripped the door right off my car trying to get those

pictures. That's $61 for the code violation and another $61 for the use of

profanity in my courtroom.

But, daggone, Your Honor. Too late.

Take your clothes.

Pay on your way out.

Say one word to me and I'll take you right in front of that damn judge.

Can I say it with the principal?

He won't sell.

Oh, he will.

All he needs is another incident.

Reggie's guys just got out of jail.

They're not going to risk it.

For ten grand, they'll risk anything.

You gonna give them ten grand?

You are.

What's up, man? What you gonna do?

Oh, yeah, is that what you gonna do? You're losing it, Conrad.

You're losing it, home.

Look at that.

Yo,

wait, it's your shot, man. Yo, shoot the ball, man.

You ain't gonna make it no way you're able to shoot.

Well, as I live and breathe, Doug Leavitt. Get the hell away from me.

Don't be that way. I want you to meet some of my friends. This is Lieutenant

Brooks. I'm Ben Matlock. I figured you'd be making another drop when Mr. Foster

wouldn't tell his house.

Welcome back to the land of the living, Mr. Leavitt.

My name is not Leavitt.

It's Holdren.

James Holdren. It's like it's because of my driver's license.

So what is it, a fake license and birth certificate cost these days, Doug? A

couple grand?

My name is Jim.

You take the same blood pressure medication as Doug Levitt. So do a lot

people. It's a coincidence.

Who really died in that explosion?

What explosion?

You knew Diane was setting you up, so you set up somebody else and watched him

die, and then you went after Diane.

Diane who?

Okay,

we just checked your fingerprints against Doug Levitt.

What, that's my lawyer?

Wait just a minute, Doug. Your practical

jokes are one thing, but standing by and watching me go to prison for a murder

that you knew never happened, that really... Get him out of here!

You have some aspirin?

No.

I didn't know you could break your hand punching somebody.

That never happens in the movies.

If I had any idea you were going to punch out Doug Leavitt, I told you it

going to hurt.

I was just going to tell him off, and then all of a sudden my fist just took

off.

You think he's serious about what he said about suing me?

Yeah.

I'll plead insanity.

I'll back you up.

He's not gonna sue you. He's got too many troubles already.

They're really gonna charge him with the murder?

Yeah. But if they don't know who died in the explosion, how are they gonna prove

Doug was the murderer?

They're not.

Ben, why are we here?

I told you we might find something.

But the case is over.

Bill Finley's going to walk out of court a free man tomorrow, right? Yeah, and

Doug Leavitt will get away with murder.

Two murders.

Let's see.

There's thunder on the floor here.

Let's, uh, let's move this sofa.

Why? Oh, let's move it and I'll find something.

All right, get that in.

Oh, oh, no, big old boy.

Oh,

ow.

Don't touch it. Don't touch it? No, don't touch it.

Mr. Matlock, in view of recent events, I would imagine there's something you'd

like to say?

Thank you, Your Honor.

The defense would like to call its final witness.

Witness? But, Counselor, the man your client was accused of murdering is

Surely you want to move to dismiss?

Oh, I do.

But believe it or not, in the interest of justice, it is my duty to call this

last witness.

Really? Yes, ma 'am, and my right.

Mr. Matlock, there is no precedent for this, but I am not going to waste

everybody's time by arguing, so call your witness.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Defense calls Mr. Doug Levitt to the stand.

Well, you look good for a dead man.

I mean, real good.

Mr. Matlock.

I'm sorry, Your Honor.

Would you please explain to the court who Nelson Adelson is?

Well, he's a local real estate developer.

Do you need friends?

No. Business partners?

I hardly know the man.

Well, would you explain these phone records?

indicate that you called each other more than a dozen times last month. Well,

I'll be glad to. In fact, I'd be glad to explain everything, if you're

interested. We are.

Well, last month, when I was still producing the news for WDRN -TV, Nelson

Adelson called me.

Because Diane Becker, my anchorwoman at the time, had called him. Now, it seemed

that Diane had heard that the zoning commission was going to rezone a parcel

land adjacent to Mr.

Adelson's.

Farmland. Well, she told Mr.

Adelson that for a price, she would make a little mistake on the air. She would

make it seem like it was his land that was being rezoned. And, of course, its

value would skyrocket overnight.

Well, Mr. Adelson refused her offer.

But she kept on calling him, so he called me to see if I could get her to

I couldn't.

When I approached Diane, she denied any wrongdoing whatsoever.

Unfortunately...

My boss, Howard Price, heard about the call that I'd been making to Mr.

and he presumed that I was responsible for Diane's little mistake on the air.

He fired me.

So I went back to Diane, and I told her that I had to tell Howard the truth,

even if it jeopardized her career.

Diane denied everything again, and then she told me,

that if I ruined her career, she'd kill me.

Oh. Well, I was scared.

So I figured the best thing to do was just stay out of her way. So I went down

to Macon. The next thing I knew, my summer house at Sydney Lake had been

up, and I was supposed to be dead.

She actually had tried to kill me. Yeah.

Well, now I was really terrified.

I mean, I figured that if she was crazy enough to do a thing like that once, she

wouldn't hesitate to try it again.

So I decided to just let everybody think that I was dead.

And I started a new life. How did you intend to make a living in this new

I hadn't quite figured that one out yet. You didn't go into business with Mr.

Adelson? No.

You didn't help him use gangs to intimidate people in the inner city into

selling their homes cheap to Mr. Adelson?

No, no, of course not.

Okay.

Anything else?

No.

Well, that's a good story.

I mean, that's a real good story.

But I don't think Diane Becker frightened you out of town.

In fact, I don't think you left town at all. I think you, Diane Becker, and

Nelson Adelson conspired to air that false rezoning story and then split.

The huge profit that Nelson Adelson made as a result.

Well, that's ridiculous.

Just speculating, Mr. Levy, just speculating.

I think Diane got greedy, and she played what looked like a practical joke on

Mr. Finley here, knowing he'd be fired and blame you.

Then she blew up your summer cottage to kill you, and the police blamed him.

And then she went to Mr.

Adelson. and demanded your share of the profits as well as her own.

What she didn't know is that you had already figured out what she was up to.

And I think, I think that sometime before the explosion,

you found somebody to take your place.

Dressed him in your clothes, put your watch on him, made sure he was in that

cabin when she blew it up.

No, no, I didn't.

I was in Vegas. Now, this isn't speculation. This is fact.

You took this unknown person to a dentist, a Dr.

Tomberg. And he did extensive dental work on him. And you took him there as

Levitt. Introduced him as Doug Levitt. There could only be one reason for this

strange action.

You knew that when the police went looking for Doug Levitt...

Dental records.

This man's would be the ones they'd find.

No, I didn't.

Dr. Tomberg identified you as the man who brought this Doug Levitt to his

office. Then Dr. Tomberg made a mistake.

You set this poor man up to die in your place.

Diane Becker pushed the button, but as sure as you're alive, you killed him.

You can't prove that, Mr.

Matlock. I think you know that.

No.

No, I can't.

But the good news is I can prove you killed Diane Becker.

I thought Diane Becker committed suicide. Everybody thinks she committed

because you made it look like suicide.

No, I didn't. You went over to her house that night and you forced that bottle

of sleeping pills down her throat.

And then you wiped your prints off of everything and made sure that her prints

were on the glass and the empty bottle.

No, I didn't.

You recognize this?

No.

That's one of Diane Becker's sleeping pills.

Mr. Conrad McMaster found it on the floor of her condominium. I guess you

know you had dropped it.

You know what the police found when they examined it?

Two prints.

A thumbprint and an index fingerprint.

And they weren't Diane's prints.

They were yours.

No.

Mr. Latt, it's over.

Howard, what's going on?

A little celebration, Bill. Not only is your trial over, but you've got your old

job back.

That is, if you want it. You bet I do.

Thanks again, Ben.

You're getting my bill.

That's why I'm shaking your hand now.