Original subtitles

How about this one? This will go nice with your couch.

I like the one I got better.

That lamp is dangerous. I get a shock every time I turn it on. Well, just plug

it in the wall like I do.

You know, someday someone's going to walk into your living room, turn on that

lamp, and die. Is that what you want?

How much is it? Just look at it first. I think it's nice how the shade flares

out at the bottom. Move your hand. Would you just look at it? All I want to see

is what's under your hand.

$595?

It's not just a lamp. It makes a statement.

$595. It ought to say the Gettysburg Address.

Fine, fine. You want to be responsible for electrocuting someone? That's fine.

You're a lawyer. You can defend yourself.

I came uptown to buy underwear.

All right. All right. Let's go buy some underwear.

Oh! Oh!

That was close.

Fred!

Cleve! I'm sorry.

Hi.

Fred, this is Ben Matlock.

Nice catch.

Hey, I haven't seen you at the gym lately. Everything all right?

Couldn't be better.

I met a girl.

Well, not just a girl. The girl, Cliff.

The future Mrs. Gollum.

Well, that's great. The last time I saw you, your social life was so bad, you

were thinking of joining one of those video dating services.

That's what I did. I joined Perfect Harmony, and voila!

You met this girl through a dating service?

Yeah, hey, I couldn't believe it either.

There she is.

Come on, I'll introduce you to her.

Thank you so much. She works here?

Uh -huh. I stopped by to give her something. I'll stop by next week if I

anything else. Here you go. Thank you, and come back again. I will. Okay.

Hi, Melissa.

Hey, Fred.

These are two friends of mine, Cliff Lewis. Hi.

And Ben Matlock.

Oh, here. I brought you. something.

Brad, I told you, no more gifts.

I couldn't help it.

Come on, take it. You're really gonna love it. No, I meant what I said. No

jewelry, no more flowers, no more phone calls.

Please.

Well, then let's do lunch.

Uh, does Thai food sound good?

How about Lebanese?

Brad, I have to get back to work now. I'm sorry. It was nice meeting you both.

Nice meeting you. Bye -bye.

Wait a second.

When are we going out again?

Brad.

I want you to listen to me very carefully.

We are not going out again.

Isn't she something?

I don't know, but it seemed like she just gave you the brush off just now.

She's just plain hard to get.

Well, I'll see you around campus.

I have some pretty strange friends.

Are you Frederick M. Golub?

Yeah. Got something for you.

Well, it's a restraining order. It says he can't come within 100 yards of or

have any contact with Melissa Ann Jones.

We could have you arrested.

That's got to be some kind of...

How often do you drop by on her at work?

Well, she doesn't seem to get the messages I leave for her at home, so I

her once in a while. How many times a day do you call her?

Ten or twelve.

Oh, Fred.

I'll call her right now. No.

Fred, no, wait. Hold on a second. Listen to me. You can't call her right now.

You can't call her. You can't write her. You can't fax her. You can't contact

her. This is a court order.

Well, how am I supposed to clear this up if I can't call her? Nothing to clear

up. You've got to stop bugging her.

When we met her the other day, Fred, there was something that was really

obvious.

Fred, she doesn't really like you.

Well, she likes me, Cliff.

She's just probably never been in love before.

She's just, you know, scared.

It used to be so normal, Fred.

Hey, you wait till you meet Mrs. Wright.

Well, listen, hold on. Now, there's a bottom line.

Bottom line is, you gotta stay away from her.

You understand me?

For how long?

Well, unless you can test that, and I don't think that's such a good idea, for

year.

Here you go.

It's a new beginning.

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed tonight.

We should do it again.

I'll let the machine get it.

Melissa, it's Fred.

Please, you've got to call me. It's very important. This guy will leave me

alone. I mean, he's driving me crazy. You have beautiful eyes.

Are they hazel?

Brown.

I seem to... I seem to change in the light.

Slow down.

It's okay.

No, it's not okay.

I mean, this is only our second date.

I'm not comfortable with where this is going.

I'm sorry. I thought something special happened here tonight.

I just kind of like to take the next step.

Well, I think for me, we're just moving too fast.

Life is very short, Melissa.

What does that mean?

It means I gotta go.

Fine.

I'll call you.

Tom? Don't tell me that's your dinner.

Uh, we ordered it at the office.

Is everything okay?

Yeah. It's busy, busy, busy.

Oh, my car's in the shop again.

A mechanic says I should just get a new one.

Then get one.

Night, darling.

Can I play?

I used to be really good at this.

All right.

One, two, buckle my shoe.

Three, four, shut the door.

She was found dead in her apartment last night.

Murdered.

What? Your name and office number were in the appointment book on her desk.

You were supposed to have dinner with her last night.

Did you?

Look, I'm in a really awkward situation here, Detective. Yeah, I had dinner with

Melissa last night, but... You see, I'm married.

She was your mistress?

No, no, no. I hardly knew her at all. I just met her at a dating service. It was

just our second date.

You're married, and you use a dating service?

Well, it's owned and run by a friend of mine.

I have a good marriage.

I don't know. Old habits are hard to break.

You hit her apartment last night?

I left at 9 .45. I was home a little after 10.

No kidding.

Good. I'll be right there.

Well, Mr. McGuire, some guy's been harassing Melissa Jones. Was seen

apartment around 10 o 'clock last night.

Looks like you're off the hook.

What is the matter with you?

I told you to stay away from her.

I did.

For two whole weeks.

And I couldn't stand it anymore. I'm only human, you know.

Did anybody know you were going there?

No.

Who saw me running from her place?

Some girls playing hopscotch.

I figured I'd stop and play with her for a minute.

Did she ever mention anyone giving her a hard time? Maybe somebody at work?

Nah, she only worked at Leon's for a couple months.

She just moved here.

That's why she joined Perfect Harmony, so she could meet people.

Hopscotch.

It was all coming back to me.

So she met other men through the dating service?

Oh, yeah.

It took me two weeks to get a date with her. She was so hooked up.

Maybe we should start with that.

With those girls playing hopscotch?

No.

You know, I get a lot of money for what I do.

What's 5 ,000?

like this has ever happened before believe me margo would you get mr lewis

the file that we have on melissa and jones or videotape and uh anything else

that he requests what else can i do for you well uh how about um explaining um

what you do how you make it work yeah all right it's very simple a person

in fills out the application and then pays an initiation fee then after we

over his application he sits down in front of the camera here and make a

videotape. Oh, you do it right here?

Yeah. It's very simple, very informal.

Why don't you have a seat?

Then we show him the tapes of the women that we feel he might be interested in,

and if somebody strikes his fancy, we show her his tape, and if the interest

mutual, we give them each other's phone number.

That's it, huh? Well, there's also a small monthly fee.

Are you married?

Widower. Mm -hmm.

You want to be married?

Oh, I don't know. Sometimes I... What are you doing?

Relax. Keep talking.

Oh, no.

No. Oh, come on. Who knows what could happen?

Tell me about yourself.

What do you think your best qualities are?

Let's see.

I... Oh.

Well, my best qualities are... I'm... I'm...

I'm almost six feet tall.

Not quite. I mean, just a little under, but it's so little that you could just

say six feet.

You joined a dating service?

No, no, no. Not really, no.

You made a video.

Well, yeah, the guy that owns the service thought if... As you say, if I

up marrying one of his clients, it'd be good to put that aside.

What the hell?

You mean you did it for free?

You don't think I'd pay for something like that, do you?

Ben! In here!

Oh, hey, Jerry. Hi. Hi. I just ran a check on the men Melissa met through the

service. Yeah?

Tom McGuire. He's the guy that she was with the night she was murdered.

He goes to a lot of girls.

One of them says that he got very weird on her one night when she wouldn't let

him, you know.

Oh, so weird?

Well, she didn't go into a lot of detail over the phone. I'm going to see her on

Wednesday. But apparently what happened was she kicked him out, and that night

someone tried to break into her apartment.

She thinks it was him.

Oh, that's okay.

I'll have his address if you want to talk to him.

No, it won't do any good until we get something.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, you know, it might help if one of us were to join this dating service and

actually go out with this guy.

And since it's doubtful that either of you are his type...

Hey,

buddy, how's it going?

I need a drink.

Not good, huh?

The cops know I was with Melissa last night.

For a while there, they thought I'd killed her.

Came pretty close to disaster, my friend.

Maybe you better cool it for a while.

Maybe I better.

I mean, Brenda would freak if she ever found out. That's for sure. Who's Sherry

Stone?

Just joined today.

I'm new to Atlanta.

You're really silly doing this.

What else can I say?

Actually, if you want the gory details, I'm an actress.

And I haven't really been discovered yet, of course.

But that's only a matter of time.

At least, that's what I keep telling myself while I play waitress.

Where's her sheet?

You've got to be kidding.

Ever hear of Winslow's Cafe?

There you go. Watch it.

Hot plate.

Can I

help you?

How's it going?

How's it going? I am not good at this, Ben.

Second -degree burns on my fingers. And this morning, I dropped a whole bowl of

grits on someone's pants. It was not a pretty sight.

Winslow asked how much longer he was going to have to put up with you.

Well, the good news is, Tom McGuire saw my video.

I saw his.

He called me, and we're going out tonight.

Only public places. Just be careful. I know, I know.

So you're going to order something, or are you just going to sit here?

I think I'll just have some.

Iced tea.

I'm going out to dinner and I don't want to ruin my appetite.

Where are you going out?

Friends.

Are you going on a date?

This woman saw my video and liked it.

So what was her video like?

Bad.

Not bad at all.

You get a shock whenever you turn it on. Well, it's nothing lethal. A couple of

volts. Enough to give you a good poke.

But I hate to buy a new one. I don't blame you.

Lamps are so expensive.

Everything's so expensive.

I am so cheap. I'm still reusing wrapping paper I bought in 1978.

I took the light out of my refrigerator to cut back on my utility bills.

You as nervous as I was when you made your videotape.

You didn't look nervous.

Oh, I was terrified.

It was worse than going to the dentist.

You know, that's interesting.

The way you laugh.

The way you kind of stick a little snort in there every now and then.

I snort when I laugh.

A little.

Well, Hal, what's a little snort between friends?

You

must

be Jerry.

Tom McGuire.

Hi, Tom.

Pleased to meet you.

You're a very nice boy.

We need to try the food.

You're even better looking in person.

How about a drink?

Okay.

Thanks, that was great. I think I'll come back here.

I hope it's with me.

You have a beautiful eye.

What color are they?

Maybe I should follow you home.

Make sure you get there safe.

You insist.

Is this it?

Yeah, it's my place.

It's pretty quiet around here.

Yeah, it gets a little spooky sometimes, but I like it.

You want to come in for a drink?

Maybe next time.

I'll call you.

Hold it. Don't shoot.

What the hell are you doing? I wanted to make sure you were all right. I rang

the bell. Nobody answered. And I thought maybe something was wrong. I found the

extra key and let myself in. Oh, so you just come running in here to my rescue.

Yeah, quit waving that thing around. I've got to get that doorbell fixed.

me half to death. Well, you scared me half to death.

There's no need for you to be scared. Tom McGuire might be a killer.

He certainly didn't act like it. How'd he act?

Like a gentleman.

A perfect gentleman.

I met him just about a year ago through Perfect Harmony.

Our first date was stupid.

But the second... Jason, it's Emily's turn to sleep.

We have to share.

But the second was hell.

What happened?

Everything was fine until we got back to my place.

Suddenly he's all over me.

I literally have to fight him off.

And when I make it clear that I'm not going to sleep with him, he gets this

bizarre look on his face.

And then he threatened me.

What did he say?

I don't remember anymore.

But it wasn't so much what he said as the way he said it that was scary.

He left.

And I went to bed.

And then I woke up in the middle of the night when I heard someone trying to

break into my apartment.

I turned on the lights and I scared him off.

Then I called the police.

But they never found anybody.

I don't know. Maybe it wasn't him. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

Well, did he ever call you again?

No. You never told anyone at the dating service about this?

I was there to tell.

He scared me, but he didn't hurt me. And I'll never know if the circuit was him

that night.

I will tell you one thing, though.

I swore off dating services.

I'll be right with you.

Hubba hubba.

Hubba hubba.

Yeah, that waitress is a dish.

Oh, Fred.

People only say hubba hubba in movies. Lousy old movies. I wouldn't refer to

woman in this day and age as a dish, especially not that one. What do you

These ex -cops could probably beat us both up.

So, what can I get you boys?

Have you heard from Tom McGuire?

Yeah, we're going out tomorrow night.

This other girl said that he tends to get strange on the second date. He puts

the moves and has a real problem with the word no.

So just be careful.

Okay.

Hi, Fred Gollum.

Hi, Fred.

Jerry Stone.

Nice to meet you. Cliff told me a lot about you.

Did Cliff tell you I'm really interested in police work?

No.

I'd love it if we could get together.

One day, and maybe you could tell me all about the years on the floors.

Mr.

Matlock. Hi.

Hi. Come on in. Yeah. How are you? Fine.

Good. Hey, have a seat. No problem.

How did things go with Ms. Marino?

We had dinner.

And? Nothing. What's the dinner? Didn't work out.

Ah.

But I think I have somebody else that you will be interested in.

Take that home and have a look.

Thanks.

I hear that Tom McGuire is a friend of yours.

That's right.

And that he uses your dating service.

Yes.

He's married. Shouldn't that be against policy?

Tom is extremely wealthy.

And he...

He helped me get set up here. He lent me money. He gave me advice.

I owe him.

I also hear he doesn't handle rejection too well, especially after a second

date. What are you talking about? Well, a woman he met a year ago said that he

got very angry when she rejected his advances. And later that night, somebody

tried to break into her apartment.

I never heard that.

The reason I mention it is...

Melissa Ann Jones was murdered after her second date with Tom by somebody who

broke into her apartment.

Are you suggesting that Tom did it?

The police are pretty sure the murder took place between 9 .30 and 10 .30, and

Tom said he got home a little after 10, so I'm saying he could have done it.

What's the matter?

What time did Tom say he got home?

The last ten?

Uh, because I tried to call Tom that night, only he wasn't there.

Seems to me it was right around ten.

I ended up talking to Brenda, his wife, for about 20 minutes.

Tom never did come home.

You know, I'm probably thinking of some other night. I just, I don't know. I

can't be sure.

Well.

I'll get a subpoena and see what the telephone company says.

In the meantime, Miss Hawthorne.

Yes. Okay.

Thanks.

That was certainly delicious.

Oh, yes. I like to come here.

Everything is so good, and the prices are right.

So you come here often?

Yes, sometimes.

But I don't go out often.

I'm busy, you know.

Skin is so soft.

Oh, and the dimple.

Oh, muscles.

Well, I work out.

Oh, I love men with white hair.

Well... Why don't we, uh... Why don't we go

someplace and...

Get more comfortable.

What do you mean?

You know.

More comfortable.

Well, we don't even know each other.

Well, once we get comfortable, we'll know each other really

well.

The night of the 11th? Yeah, Tuesday, a week ago.

Do you remember talking on the phone that night?

I know things like this are hard to remember.

On that particular night, your husband was not home, and according to phone

company records, at 9 .58, you got a phone call from Daniel Price.

I did talk to Daniel last week, and yes, I guess it was Tuesday.

All right, this is very important, Mrs. McGuire.

When did your husband come home that night?

I don't know.

But I guess it would have had to have been after I hung up with Daniel. And we

did talk quite a while.

He's going to Japan.

I was telling him places to go.

Well, according to those phone records, the call ended to you about 10 .23. That

sound about right?

Yes, but... And your husband wasn't home by that point. You're positive.

My husband works very hard.

Sometimes he doesn't come home till midnight.

What is this about?

I'm... investigating the murder of a woman named Melissa Ann Jones.

I've never heard of her.

Well, the police questioned your husband about it. Did he tell you that?

No. Why would they question Tom?

Uh... Boy.

This is really difficult.

Um... What is?

Tell me.

Police have reason to believe that Tom didn't work late Tuesday night.

He was with Melissa Ann Jones.

I'd like you to leave.

McGuire, I'm sorry.

Get out.

How dare you come into my house and tell me something like that?

I want you to leave.

No. It's not like they're going to be in your living room. You won't even know

they're there. It'll probably be just me and Detective Garrison. I can take care

of myself.

I'm telling you, this man is dangerous. Ben. We believe more now than we ever

did that he's the one.

Oh, my gosh. Oh, I'm so sorry. Tom, hi.

Hi. I come in a bad time? Just being my usual klutzy self. Maybe you'd like to

go to the men's room and clean that up, sir. You can use my rag.

starving actress.

Well, my grandmother sends me a big fat check every month.

And starving isn't exactly the word I would use to describe my size.

Oh, I don't know about that.

You're embarrassing me.

Why?

You're a beautiful woman. You shouldn't put yourself down.

Really? You joined the state club thing?

Oh, no, no, no. I didn't join.

I mean, I didn't give him any money or anything.

It's just that... I don't know. He talked me into it.

How'd it work out?

I had two dates.

First one was fair, and the second one, I'm lucky to be here talking to you.

What did she... She came on.

I mean, she...

She pretty well had me down for the count in the restaurant.

I hid out in the men's room until she left.

You better go out with some nice lady from the church. You got that part

Wait.

It's okay.

No, wait a minute.

If I wanted a roll in the hay, I would go out with one of those bozos I weighed

on.

Not you.

Life is short, Jerry.

I know.

So why don't you give me a little time to get to know you?

What are you doing?

Leaving. I've got a meeting in the morning.

Am I going to hear from you again?

We'll see.

There he goes.

He stays true to form. He'll be back.

So he never came back?

No.

Detective Garrison was just a little upset.

Sat there the whole night and Tom McGuire never showed.

Maybe he smelled the rat. What did Jerry say?

Jerry said that he got mad when she put the brakes on.

Got upset he might call and left.

Turn it on.

No way. I'm not going to get a shock.

I fixed it.

Then you turn it on.

Hello? Oh, hey, Jerry.

Yeah. Oh, yeah? All right. I'll, uh... I'll definitely tell him.

Right. Okay.

Bye -bye.

Tom McGuire called.

They're going out tomorrow night.

Oh.

No,

I don't understand.

Why can't you meet with him in the morning? Because he leaves for Europe in

morning.

I'm sorry, hon. I'll make it up to you. I promise.

Where will you be?

I mean, just in case.

I don't know what kind of dinner arrangements he made.

If you need me, call the service.

That's what you always say.

What's wrong?

Nothing.

Good luck.

Well, this time something better happened. That's all I got to say.

You know, I'm going to go to Savannah to visit some friends this weekend.

You want to come?

I don't think I can get away.

Work?

Tom. What?

Stop it. We've been through this before.

You said you needed to know me. You know me.

Wait a minute. You agreed to go out with me again, didn't you? I agreed to go

out with you, not to jump in bed with you. What's the big deal? Grow up, for

God's sake. Grow up?

I'll tell you what.

When I grow up, I'll give you a call.

Hey.

Life is very short, Jerry.

You're going to be sorry you didn't do this.

Just shut up and go.

Looks mad.

Somebody's in there with her.

Hold her right there.

You all right?

Yeah.

Out of nowhere.

Well, I'll be Daniel Price.

The guy who owns the dating service?

Looks like he tried to do the same thing to you he did to Melissa Ann Jones.

Why would he want to kill me?

Yeah.

Fred Gold messed it up for you, didn't he? Because you wanted to frame Tom

McGuire for Melissa's murder, but Fred screwed it up, didn't he? I don't know

what you're talking about.

Why would he want to frame Tom? I thought they were friends.

No.

No.

Bob, I want to... Could you trace a call for me like right now?

Sure.

Ms. McGuire.

Hi. I'm Ben Matlock.

You mind if Detective Garrison here has a listen?

He won't hear anything, will he?

We know that call's going to Daniel Price's house.

And we all know Daniel isn't home. We called the phone company.

Nothing? Uh -huh.

As soon as you called, Daniel put the phone down on his end and rushed over to

that woman's house your husband was out with tonight.

Make it seem like he's on the phone to somebody when actually he's out

committing murder. It's very clever to use the telephone to establish an alibi.

Is that your idea or his?

I really don't know what you're talking about.

That's just what Daniel said.

But he'll change his tune when he finds out you've been arrested, too.

I imagine he'll lie his head off, say the whole thing was your idea,

when he realizes his chance of getting any of your husband's money has gone

the zip.

That is not true.

Daniel... You gonna say Daniel loves you?

I'm sure he does.

When the two of them saw each other in the booking area, it was a race to see

which one could cut a deal faster.

Who won?

Brenda. Yeah, she was the first. She said it was all Daniel's idea.

So much for true love, huh? As it turns out, Tom did try to break into that

woman's apartment last year. And he told Daniel about it. And Daniel and Brenda

figured they'd copy him. That way the woman might come forward when Tom was

charged with murder. Well, why? Why'd they do it? Money.

They figured if...

He was in jail. They could take the dough.

So, Fred, you are off the hook.

Well, I can't thank you guys enough.

And for going beyond the call of duty, I'm going to take you out to lunch.

How about Saturday?

Uh... Well, I'm going to be in a tennis tournament.

Well, how about Sunday?

I'm going to be river rafting.

Well, how about right now? Should we go get some dessert? I know this great

frozen yogurt place. Fred.

Please.

You know, you don't have to go anywhere.

We have dessert right here.

You go in the living room, relax.

Jerry and I will scrounge around and find some cookies.

Cliff will make some coffee. How about it?

Great. Okay.

You go ahead. I'll cover for you.

Bless you, Ben. I'm going to get even with you for this, Cliff.

What did I do?

Do whatever you want.

It's that lamp by the couch. Turn that off.