Original subtitles

Unlike the ancient legal code of Hammurabi, our laws are not forever

out on two -ton stone tablets, as some lawyers seem to think.

Laws like language.

Changing, growing, maturing.

And when you become lawyers, remember this.

Remember it's not just a dead something that you read and interpret.

It's a living something that you yourself shape and mold.

Well, as usual, I've lectured so long, there's only time for a question or two.

Mr. Carson?

Professor Lindley, you give the main credit for the maturing of the law to

jurists and professors.

What about the trial lawyers?

Someone once said if you could cross a parrot with a jackass, you'd have the

perfect trial lawyer.

The parrot to remember the rules of court procedure, the jackass to braid

out.

Seriously, they're extremely useful people.

They're the artisans of our profession, I'd say. The plumbers, the carpenters,

the repairmen.

But don't tell them I said that.

Well, I'll see you all Friday night.

Janice.

I was thinking about you this evening.

First law class you missed in over six months.

My most faithful student and... What is it?

Professor Gliddenby, will you help me?

Of course.

I want you to go with me to the police.

To the police?

Why, Janice?

I just killed someone.

A man I used to... Used to...

I haven't any brandy, but this should help.

I'm all right now, Professor.

You better drink some anyway.

Now, what's this all about?

Who is this man you say you... Killed.

His name is Rayo Perez, a dance instructor I was involved with for a

I've been trying to break off with him, and tonight I went to his apartment for

a final showdown.

It was final, all right.

He wouldn't let me go. He tried to keep me there.

He hit me. He actually hit me.

So I hit him with the fireplace poker.

And then?

Someone began pounding at the front door and I ran out the back way and came

here. Well, perhaps he was just stunned.

Please, Professor, please take me to the police now.

Janice, a few more minutes delay won't make any difference.

And if you're wrong, perhaps we can avoid a nasty scandal.

Will you come with me to his apartment first?

But I know he's dead.

Janice, let's make sure.

You said everything, Janice, except how you happened to meet a man like Paris.

All right.

Why not?

I've always been the ugly duck man of the family.

No social graces.

No clothes sense.

Natural -born wallflower.

You know how awkward I am talking in class.

I never thought you were awkward.

Shy, perhaps.

But how does that lead to Paris?

Through Maureen.

my stepmother, who decided to make the swan out of the ugly duckling.

An intelligent swan, incidentally.

Because one of the things she did was to get me to enroll in your law courses.

And another, she sent me to the Vivian Cosgrave Dance Studio, where Ray O was

instructor.

And guess the rest.

How long were you mixed up with Perry?

Not long.

I quickly realized all he wanted from me was my money.

It's an odd neighborhood for an apartment.

Rayo owns, I mean, owns part of this building, so he said.

The apartment stairs are back at that doorway.

Is this the door the person was pounding on?

Yes.

Whoever it was, I suppose, heard us fighting.

We knocked over a lamp and rails falling knocked over the coffee table.

The rail was lying here by the overturned coffee table and the poker

where I dropped it.

I was here. It happened.

It did happen.

I still can't understand it.

The place was a shamble. Janice, what happened is what I've been saying.

Perez recovered consciousness after you left and tidied up a bit.

Simple as that.

You really believe that?

What else could I believe?

Well, you could believe that I'm a psychotic spinster taking a desperate

attention.

Not a chance.

Besides, if you'd wanted attention from me, a smile would have done the job.

Now, if you have any more trouble with Perez, let me know.

Professor. Yes.

Thanks for being even nicer than I thought.

How's that, amiga? A jackpot, no?

Mucho gold now from the so rich Norland family.

Caviar, tequila, and new costumes for the soon -to -be -celebrated band's name

of Perez.

And Cosgrave... Cosgrave and Perez.

If we ever become a dense team, which I doubt. How can you doubt after the so

heroic and painful sacrifice I just made for our future?

I thought you said your head was barely grazed.

Ha! You should be barely grazed by an iron poker sometime, Chiquita. Oh, but

not complaining.

What's a headache to $10 ,000?

Ah, such presence of mind to pull up for my photograph while unconscious.

Ah, don't you admire that?

Yes, I'd admire that if I really believed she had $10 ,000.

Oh, she has more, much more.

But a careful review of her finances convinces me that is a sum she could get

hold of quickly and easily.

Well, how do you plan on getting a hold of it quickly and easily?

Through the expenditure of exactly 26 cents.

26 cents?

Postage for the small envelope and the remainder for a telephone call or two.

That's cheap enough, no?

Hmm.

Sounds a little too cheap.

I'll explain.

Into the envelope goes a copy.

Hello? Anybody here?

Who's that?

I don't know, but you take this.

Come on, start dancing.

One, two.

One, two, three.

One, two. One, two, three. I beg your pardon? One, two. Can you come back

tomorrow night, please? This is my last lesson tonight.

No, I'm not here for lessons. One, two.

Well, you're interrupting one. One, two. One, two, three. That's it. Now you

just keep working on that same basic step and I'll be right back.

Well, what do you want?

Oh, I'm looking for Mr. Rayo Perez.

Don't tell me.

Your wife is one of Rayo's two satisfied customers.

Oh, nothing like that. I merely wanted to have a word or two with him.

You're out of luck. He never showed up tonight.

Well, did something happen to him?

With Rayo, it always happens to the other person. He's trouble in capital

letters. Will he be here tomorrow?

I don't fire him first.

Well, you're Vivian Cosgrave, then? Yes, that's right.

In that case, when you see him, would you give him this and tell him I'm very

anxious to get in touch with him?

After I tell him a thing or two.

Not the law?

No.

Professor from the university.

Arrived Tulsa at 11 .50.

Lunch with the directors of the Petroleum Club at 12 .30.

Three o 'clock, my people at the refinery.

Dinner with Seth Grundy and the Imperial crowd at seven. My people again at ten

next morning, and then the 3 .35 plane back, arriving 6 .10 p .m.

Darwin, sometimes I wonder if your father wasn't a Prussian general,

a Swiss timepiece.

I'm sorry, Maureen, dear.

40 years of regulating people's lives has formed a habit difficult to break.

But I have been doing better lately, though, haven't I?

Much, much better, darling.

And besides, I really don't care much anymore.

Now that I know that under that granite exterior lies a very kind and generous

human being.

The fact that the human being exists at all is entirely due to you.

Now I must go.

Good morning.

Oh, Janice, I was afraid I wasn't going to get to say goodbye to you. You, uh,

you're 11 minutes late for breakfast.

Darwin. Really an observation, darling, not a reprimand. Bye, Janice.

Bye, Father.

You meeting me tomorrow?

International Airport, 6 .10 p .m. And I won't say one word if you're an hour

late.

Bye, darling.

And that's the father I've been terrified of most of my life.

I was terrified once, too.

Remember?

There's some ale for you.

I'll pour you some coffee.

I thought we might go shopping today.

You don't have too much studying to do.

I haven't.

I saw the handsomest wool suit at Purcell's today.

The yummiest shade of blue, and it just cried out for somebody with your

coloring. I called them, and they said they had it in your size, so I thought

might...

What's the matter, Janice?

Are you ill?

May I get you something?

No, it's just a dizzy spell. Some coffee will help.

Telephone, Miss Janice.

Yes? You thought he had cleaned up and left, didn't you?

But you're still on the hook, Miss Norland.

He did leave.

To go to a doctor.

But he died on the way.

Why hasn't it been reported?

And what am I to do?

Yes, I can.

Hold on a minute. I'd like to use the other phone.

Do you mind, Maureen? It's rather personal.

I don't mind at all.

Come in.

Professor, there's a woman here who wants to speak to you. Mrs. Norland?

Mrs. Norland?

I hope I'm not interrupting something.

No, not at all.

I had to talk to you.

It's about Janice.

She's in some kind of trouble, isn't she? She told you?

No. But two very strange things happened this morning.

This morning?

In her mail was an envelope containing a photograph.

What the photograph was, I don't know.

But whatever it was scared her half to death.

And on top of that came a phone call.

Something about the photograph, I'm sure.

But also something about going back somewhere last night to check on

that wasn't reported.

Could it be something that wasn't reported to the police?

What did Janice say?

I don't want to play the role of the meddling stepmother, so I decided to let

you tell me.

You were with her last night, weren't you?

Yes, I was with her last night.

And I think I do know something about this.

But I'm not personally involved with her, if that's what you're thinking.

I was in hopes you were.

Me?

Why do you think I pushed Janice into studying law with you?

Tell me, this trouble, does it involve a man by the name of Rayo Perez?

He's a dance instructor that Janice used to bring to the house.

I'm not sure I can talk to you about this.

Then why not?

Janice came to me last night for help.

Legal help.

I'm not sure I can repeat what she told me in confidence without her permission.

I'm not sure I wanted to know that I came to you.

I was hoping we...

Or at least you could help her.

It's blackmail, isn't it?

If it is, it's water much too deep and muddy for a law professor.

Then you won't help.

Of course I'll help.

I'm very fond of Janice.

And I owe you more than I can say.

I'll help.

But I'll need help, too.

Professor?

I'm afraid you've been behind those ivy -covered walls too long. I've never run

into anything quite like this before.

Any detective can tell you that this is one of the oldest and most easily broken

-up routines in the book. The fake injury racket.

Yes?

Professor Lindley, it's Mr. Mason from the hospital.

Thank you.

Well, Mr. Mason, if I'd known you were ill, I wouldn't have told your

I'm happy you did.

If only this proved that the parrot jackass part of the legal profession has

uses.

I hear lots of things, Professor.

No, no, I enjoyed your description.

Now, about this blackmail thing. Well, I realize I shouldn't have got so upset

about it.

Yes, I quite agree with you. I'll do that.

Many thanks.

Mr. Mason says I should turn Perez over to you.

It's easy.

All I have to do is check up on his past, which I guarantee is shady, and

what I find as a lever to get him to lay off.

Can you do this without any notoriety for Janice Nolan?

Mm -hmm.

I suppose I should get in touch with her first to authorize my retaining you.

Professor, I'm not trying to push this, but waiting could be disastrous.

I realize that.

All right, Mr. Drake.

You go ahead.

And good hunting.

Well, Mr. Diaz, it looks like it's set to rain all night, huh?

Who knows, Mr.

Hart? Who knows?

Who cares?

Janice, are you awake?

Professor Lindley would like to speak with you.

Janice?

When she wakes, will you have her call me at Mr. Mason's office, Mrs. Nolan?

Oh, and by the way, did she get the note I left last night telling her what Mr.

Drake was doing?

Oh, I see.

When she came home.

Mr. Drake, yes, just as many came in.

Yes, I'll let you know.

Janice came home at 11 o 'clock last night, read my note, and went straight

bed.

I thought she didn't call me. I suppose she thought there wasn't any reason to.

Well, how did you make out, Mr. Drake? It was easy.

Perez has two convictions on his record, both for shakedown attempts.

Here's a copy of his mugshot.

This is the man I saw in the dance studio.

Miss Couchgrave was pretending to give him a lesson. Which means she's probably

up to her neck in this.

One thing, though, Professor.

If you saw Perez after Miss Norland told you about having a fight with him, she

can't have given him much of a belt with that poker.

You haven't talked to him, then?

No, but just as good as. I dropped a warning word at each of his favorite

haunts, and this morning I assigned a couple of men to run him down.

Yes, Gertie.

It's for you, Paul.

Yeah?

You located Perez.

Good work, Connors. What did I tell you?

Oh.

No.

No, I'll take over from here. Thanks.

They found Perez about an hour ago in his apartment.

According to the police, poker.

That's where he was lying, and here's where the poker was.

Well, I never realized that visits to murder scenes were part of a law school

curriculum, Professor.

Could it be that you have something more than an academic interest in this?

Well, I can't force you to answer, and I don't know as I mind conducting a

guided tour.

Andy, before we get started, who found the body?

A fellow who runs the tobacco shop downstairs, one Pedro Diaz, claims to be

cousin of Perez.

Do you know how long Perez had been dead?

Eight to ten hours, according to a quick guess by the coroner's man.

We'll know better after the autopsy.

Are you sure he said eight to ten hours?

You know something that would suggest different, Professor?

No, no.

You don't sound too certain.

Well, let's take the tour.

First, the furniture, which makes it look like Perez put up a fight before he

was killed.

Next, this gadget.

What's that for?

I'll show you.

About as neat a one -man blackmail operation as I've ever bumped into.

Focus through this peephole and operate it by a five -second delay shutter

mechanism. Like the kind you put on camera so you can focus, click, and

get up in front in time to take your own picture?

What was the purpose of all this?

Think we should tell the professor the facts of life, Poe?

Suppose you want to take a picture of a certain lady in, well, let's say a

compromising situation.

You reach under the coffee table, pretending to put out a cigarette or

something, and flick the hidden switch, which in turn activates this one, giving

you five seconds to get into that compromising situation.

Very handy setup because it doesn't require a second party to operate the

camera.

Or to split the proceeds.

That's about all for now, pending lab tests of the poker and the fingerprint

returns.

What do you make of those, Professor?

Blood.

About the right shade of red, but it hasn't matted the way blood would.

I'll run some tests on it later, though.

Could they be footprints?

Red and five feet apart?

Not unless they were left by a Martian nine feet tall.

Jonas?

May I come in?

Aren't you even coming down for lunch, dear?

Perhaps you'd like something sent up.

Don't bother.

What about Professor Lindley's telephone call?

He said it was very important.

Very important?

To whom?

What do you mean by that, Janice?

Nothing, I guess.

What's this?

Just something I decided to get rid of.

Fire purifies.

Don't you agree, Maureen?

I don't know what you're talking about, Janice.

Has something happened?

Something new that's upset you?

Please leave me alone, won't you?

Janice, Janice, dear.

Leave me alone.

Mr. Diaz? See?

I understand you're the one who found Perez.

See?

How did you happen to be up in his apartment this morning?

Not very friendly with strangers, Diaz isn't. And he's not very friendly about

extending credit to his neighbors, either. I was wondering if one of you

gentlemen might spare a cigarette, please. Sure.

Oh, my brand.

Thank you very much.

As for our taciturn amigo there, he visited Perez quite often.

being his cousin and joint owner in the building here and all that. And were you

a frequent visitor, too, Mr... Hawes.

Sidney Hawes. Oh, no.

I was never invited upstairs, as I told the police.

You spoke to them, then? Oh, yes.

Mostly about a lady who called on Perez about 10 .30 last night.

Dark -haired, well -dressed, not pretty, but classy, nice -looking, you know.

She was the same lady who called on him the previous night with, uh...

A gentleman who looks very much like you, sir.

You positive it was the same lady?

Oh, yes.

Yes, I got a good look at her both times.

And so did Diaz.

Does either of you know who the lady is?

Well, now, we don't travel in the same social sense, sir.

I'd know this lady if I ever saw her again, though. You can bet on that.

Well, thanks a lot.

It's okay, gentlemen. Anytime.

Professor.

I'd say your client's in big trouble, and you better talk to her. Yes, I had.

And in the meantime, I'll try and shake something besides a rumba out of a

certain lady dance teacher. Now, come on.

Let's try it again. Come on. I think I'll wait till tomorrow, Vivian, until

after I consult a chiropractor.

All right, anything you say, Pops.

You Vivian Cosgrave? Yeah, that's right.

Well, I got one of your ads with a coupon for a free lesson. Here I am,

go. Mister, look, we are booked days in advance. You can't expect to just pop up

and... Wait a minute.

A guy with your looks, I'm sure, has had free dancing lessons all his life. So

what's the pitch?

Rayo Perez.

Oh, I am sick of Rayo Perez.

Well, he's still your partner, isn't he, in a shakedown racket?

Beat it, mister.

If I do, I'll take you along to police headquarters.

Have you, uh... Checked with the law on that?

What do you mean?

Well, two of them were here no more than ten minutes ago, and nobody said

anything about taking anybody anywhere.

Didn't I tell you that Rayo had implicated you?

Oh, come off it. Who are you trying to kid?

Look, Rayo is dead.

But I'll tell you exactly what I told the police. I don't know anything about

his racket. I don't know who killed him. I didn't. I didn't have any reason to.

But if you're looking for someone who did, why don't you look up a rich dame

named Janice Norland?

I can't understand this change in your attitude, Janice. Two nights ago, you

wanted my help.

I don't need any help now.

Well, you do if you were in Perry's apartment last night.

What is it?

Why are you acting like this?

Were you there last night? Excuse me, I have some things I must do.

Miss Janice, the phone for Professor Lindley.

Well, what?

All right.

Yes, keep on.

Well, that was Drake.

Vivian Cosgrave has given your name to the police as a possible suspect.

They'll be around here to talk to you.

Janice, I want you to tell me everything that happened yesterday, starting with

the photograph you received.

You know about that?

Yes. Through Maureen, of course.

What was the photograph of?

Of me.

Standing over Rao and the poker.

And the phone call, what was that about?

An elderly voice told me that a copy of the photograph would be sent to the

police. Unless I paid $10 ,000.

Was it explained how you could be expected to pay when Rao was still alive

But I was told that Rao was dead.

That this person...

Man or woman, whoever it was, had come into the apartment.

Had found Rayo just coming to from the blow that I struck him.

Together they cleaned the apartment.

And then, because Rayo's head got worse, they started for the doctor in Rayo's

car.

And on the way, he died.

What happened then?

Rayo and his car were driven into the ocean near Malibu.

so that the police would think it was an accident, provided they never saw the

photograph.

And you believed all that?

No, not really.

But I decided to put an end to the mess I was in, to pay the money anyway.

And you did?

I was told to bring it to Rayo's apartment between 10 and 11 last night.

photograph, too, so it could be destroyed with a copy.

Well, when I got there, I let myself in.

The only person waiting for me was Rayo. I mean, Rayo's body.

Why didn't you call me or the police?

I was frightened. I just got in the car and came home and went to... Marie.

There's a Lieutenant Anderson here to see you, Janice.

Along with some other people.

Did you tell them she's indisposed?

I'm afraid that won't do, Professor.

Well, how about it?

See? Yeah, that's her, all right.

All right.

Thanks.

Miss Norland, I'm going to have to take you down to police headquarters.

Just a minute, Lieutenant.

On what charge?

Suspicion of murder.

Based on the fact that those two men thought they saw her last night?

Oh, I have more, quite a bit more.

Enough, in fact, to justify a charge of first -degree murder.

You see, before coming in here, we took a look at Miss Norland's car.

And in the glove compartment, we found, uh... Some money?

And a photograph.

It isn't often we get a picture of a crime actually being committed.

Hi, beautiful.

Hi, Paul.

Who's been drinking all the coffee?

Professor Lindley.

Poor man spent the night boning up on rules of evidence, California criminal

jurisprudence, and heaven knows what all.

Where is he now?

He decided to talk to Janice again before going into court.

She hasn't been exactly cooperative, you know.

Well, it's too bad Perry can't be here.

Berger is going to make mincemeat out of Janice's story that that photograph was

taken the night before the murder.

You don't think it was?

Yes, Gertie.

Have her come home.

Mrs. Norlin.

Professor Lindley's already left?

Yes, he has.

Will you be seeing him in court, Miss Street?

That's right.

Is there something I could tell him for you?

Yes, please.

Something I've been tormenting myself with for days, wondering whether it

help Janice or not.

You see, I'm the one Perez was blackmailing. You?

And I'm the one who hit him with the fireplace poker the night before he was

murdered.

Maureen says that Janice somehow discovered that she was having trouble

Perez. So instead of going to class that night, Janice followed Maureen to

Perez's apartment.

She heard the fighting inside and ran in to find Mrs. Norland gone and Perez

presumably dead on the floor.

So she made up that cock and bull story about Perez blackmailing her. Why would

she do that?

To protect Maureen.

It seems that when Perez was visiting the Norland home, he managed to lift a

locket belonging to Mrs. Norland. A locket? A gift.

From a man Mrs. Norlin was secretly involved with a year ago in lower

in a town called Puente Verde. With an inscription or something on her inside,

which would mean the end of her marriage if her husband ever saw it.

And now Mrs. Norlin wants to testify to all this?

She said that's up to you to decide.

Professor, whatever you do decide, there's one angle here that has to be

investigated.

What's that?

Well, Mrs. Norlin won't say who the man with her in Puerto Verde was, but it's

something we should find out, shouldn't we?

Well, after all, he might have killed Perez to protect himself.

Now you're reaching, Mr. Drayton. You mean you don't want me to go?

No. No, I don't.

Doctor, the autopsy determined that the deceased died as a result of a blow to

the base of the skull. Is that correct?

Correct. Did the autopsy reveal anything as to the nature of the murder weapon?

Yes, it was a rod -like metallic object about the thickness of my little finger.

A fireplace poker, perhaps?

Objection, Your Honor.

The district attorney is leading the witness.

I'll be happy to withdraw the question, Professor, and rephrase it.

Doctor, in your long experience as coroner's physician, have you ever

encountered wounds similar to the ones suffered by the deceased in this case?

Yes, three or four times.

And on each occasion, what caused it? A blow from a fireplace poker.

Thank you, Doctor.

Your turn, Professor.

What?

No question.

I show you now this fireplace poker, Lieutenant. Can you identify for us?

I can.

This is my mark here.

It's the poker found lying beside the body.

If it pleased the court, the state would like this poker entered in evidence and

marked for the people exhibit three.

Very well. So ordered, Mr. Bigger.

Now, Lieutenant, referring back to people's exhibit two, this camera, which

found attached to a peephole in the decedent's living room.

Aside from that, was there anything unusual about it?

Yes, a remote control attachment with a switch under the coffee table in the

living room, which in turn activated a five -second delay switch on the

That's enabling Perez to record events in his living room surreptitiously and

without the help of an accomplice, is that right?

Yes. Lieutenant, could this device be activated by accident? For instance, the

coffee table overturning, for example?

Yes, quite easily.

Didn't you express to me earlier the belief that the falling body of the

deceased did in fact overturn that coffee table?

I did.

And if the camera had been loaded at that time, it would have photographed

scene five seconds later, wouldn't it?

That's right.

Perhaps even catching the killer standing over the dead body? Objection,

Honor. The question calls for an answer based on the completely unproven

hypothesis that the camera was loaded.

Do you intend to tie this in later, Mr. Brigger? I intend to tie it in right

now, Your Honor.

And the witness may answer.

Yes, it could have caught the killer that way.

In fact, it did, didn't it, Lieutenant?

I am, of course, referring to this photograph.

Which you found where, Lieutenant?

In the glove compartment of the defendant's car.

And would you tell us, please, what that photograph shows?

The defendant standing over Perez's body.

In fact, then, Lieutenant, you don't know if this photograph was made on the

night of the murder.

Or the night before, or a week or a month before.

Well, let's just say that I know, but I can't prove it right now.

Very well.

Let's just say that.

Now, lieutenants, in your description of what you found in Perez's apartment,

you omitted something, didn't you?

You mean that trail of red splotches on the rug?

Were you able to determine what they were or how they were made? The lab test

showed they were a cheap aniline dye of some sort.

As to how they were made, red and five feet apart.

I have no idea.

You expressed an opinion on the morning of the body's discovery, Lieutenant.

What was that opinion?

Look, I was only kidding.

Would you answer the question, please?

Well, I said... I said that if they were footprints,

they were made by a Martian nine feet tall.

A Martian nine feet tall.

That's all, Lieutenant.

Don't tell me you're planning to call a surprise extraterrestrial witness,

Professor.

I might just do that, Mr. Bergen.

Yes, we made laboratory tests of the blood and hair adhering to the poker.

The blood was AB, the same type as that of the deceased.

And what about the hair?

It corresponded exactly in color, length, texture, and other

with hair samples taken from the deceased head adjacent to the fatal

Finally managed to develop one latent print on the poker's handle.

Were you able to identify it?

Yes, as that of the defendant, Janice Norland.

And this particular key, Sergeant, that you found in the defendant's purse when

she was brought in, did you find out what it fits?

Yes, sir. The lock on the front door of the Rayo Perez apartment.

Si. She come to my cousin's apartment that night.

By that night, you mean the night of the murder, Mr. Diaz?

Si.

Sure it was raining, but I saw her as plain as I see you now.

She went up to the apartment just about the time they say Perez died.

It was 10 .30, or maybe a minute or two after.

Well, all I know is Rayo kept boasting about Janice Norland.

He kept saying no matter how hard she struggled that he had her hooked.

Well, I thought he was talking about marriage. I didn't know anything about

blackmail racket.

Yes, I did lend Perez money on two different occasions.

$100 one time and $300, I think it was, the second.

Did you do this because you thought he was threatening your daughter, Mr.

Norland? If I'd thought he was doing that, I'd have broken his neck.

No, it was to get rid of him.

I thought if he owed me money, he'd stop coming to the house.

Stop seeing Janice.

And finally, Mrs. Norland, did you have any reason to suspect that Rayo Perez

was blackmailing your stepdaughter?

Oh, no.

She never discussed it with you? She never asked you for help?

No.

Thank you very much, Mrs. Norland. That'll be all.

Your witness, Professor.

I have no questions, Mr. Nolan.

Nacho, el señor.

This is the owner of the hotel.

Señor Juan Perez.

Buenas tardes, señor.

Perez? Si, señor.

I can offer you a choice of a bungalow or a room. By any chance, are you

to a Rayo Perez in Los Angeles?

Rayo? We are distant cousins.

A fact I'm not proud of.

I suppose you want the same information I gave to the señor last week.

Who also know Rayo.

The señor last week?

Si. Senor Nolan, he wished the name of a man to stay here who was such a close

friend of Senor Nolan's beautiful wife.

Is that not what you came to find?

Well, I've already found more than I expected, but yes, that's what I came to

find.

The man who was here at the same time with Mrs. Nolan, his name was Edward

Lindley. Edward Lindley?

It's an awkward spot to be in, Paul.

If you tell Berger, you'll be selling out Professor Lindley, and if you don't,

you may be selling out Janice Norland.

Perry, what do you think I ought to do?

Well, my advice is to go to Lindley and tell him. After his failure to cross

-examine Mrs. Norland?

I'm quite certain he didn't cross -examine her for the simple reason that

didn't see how it would help Janice.

Now, are you certain that the man asking questions in Puerto Verde was Mr.

Norland? Yes, I am. Then there's nothing else to do.

You have to tell Lindley.

Well, Professor, it's up to you now.

Your Honor, the defense has come into possession of certain new facts

to this case.

With the court's permission, we would like to recall one of the prosecution

witnesses. Very well, Mr. Lindley.

Mrs. Norland, would you take the stand again, please?

You say that Rayo Perez had been blackmailing you, Mrs. Norland?

Yes.

Over a locket he'd taken from my dressing room table.

And on the night before he was killed, you went to see him about this locket?

To give him some money for it.

After I'd given him the money, he refused to give the locket back.

So I tried to get it back.

We struggled.

He knocked me down.

And then I did a dreadful thing.

I hit him with a fireplace poker.

Took the money and ran.

This locket, Mrs. Norland, where did it come from originally?

It was given to me by a man I met in Puerto Verde.

And inside was a photograph of the two of us together.

Will you tell the court exactly what happened in Puerto Verde?

I went there a little over a year ago.

to try to think out some problems I was having with Mr. Nolan.

Our relationship at that time, though I loved him dearly, was more

autocratic schoolteacher and backward pupil than husband and wife.

And at the same hotel, there was a man in even deeper trouble than I was.

His wife had died.

And he'd gone to pieces, well on his way to becoming a derelict.

And so?

In Puerto Verde, I made another friend.

The village priest.

And together, we tried to help him.

And succeeded?

Yes.

I think so.

And somehow, in helping him, I was able to help myself.

I found the strength to come home and resolve my own problem, which turned out

not to be a problem at all.

Did your relationship with this man ever go beyond the point you've told us?

Do you mean were we ever romantically involved?

Oh, no.

I was in love with my husband.

And he with the memory of his wife.

That would have been a betrayal on both our parts.

And one last question, Mrs. Noland.

Who was the man?

Must I answer that?

Well, he was... Was you.

Edward Lindley.

Thank you, Mrs. Noland.

Mr. Berger?

Your Honor, could the prosecution have a few moments to evaluate this rather

astonishing testimony?

Yes, of course, Mr. Berger.

I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry.

You see, I found the photo that had been in the locket in Rayo's apartment after

he was dead. And I thought that you and Maureen were responsible.

Chance, why did you lie to me about hitting Rayo that first night when you

to me? To protect Father.

Maureen killing Perez, as I thought she had that night, to conceal what he was

blackmailing her about.

All that coming out would have completely destroyed Father.

And you thought she would simply keep quiet and let you take the blame?

I hoped I could persuade her for Father's sake.

After all, I could plead self -defense.

Then we couldn't find a body, could we?

Unfortunately, one was found later.

Janice, did you kill Rayo Perez that second night?

Mr. Drake. Yes?

I want you to get me a pan of water and a pair of second -hand shoes.

All right. What size?

Big enough to fit a Martian nine feet tall.

A Martian nine feet tall.

Okay.

Twice, in a veiled way, Perez mentioned the locket, hinting there was something

in it I might find worth paying for to see.

I knew Maureen had brought it back from Puerto Verde, so I flew there.

And found out about your wife and me?

Yes.

I concluded that Perez was probably working on her, too.

So you went to see him that night he died?

I happen to know you were in Los Angeles then, Mr. Nolan, not in Tulsa.

I went to his apartment about 10 .15, I think.

Tried to force him to give me the locket.

Overturning some of the furniture in the process?

Yes, quite a bit of it.

He finally convinced me he didn't have the locket there, so I gave him till

morning to get it and left.

Did you notice a trail of reddish splotches on the white rug, each about

feet apart?

No. No, there was nothing on the rug.

One more question, Mr. Norland.

Before you left, did you kill Ray O. Perez?

I only wish I had.

Then my wife and daughter wouldn't be in all this mess.

Lieutenant, I want you to examine this photograph of Miss Norland standing over

Perry's again.

Are Perry's body and the overturned coffee table in the exact positions you

found them?

No, not quite.

Perez's head is turned to the other side and the coffee table is closer to the

couch. Well, how do you account for that? If that really is a photograph

just five seconds after Perez was killed. Oh, the killer must have moved

the body and the coffee table while searching for something.

But if that is the murder scene, where are the red splotches on the rug?

Oh, they must have been put in later.

Isn't it more likely that photograph was taken earlier, Lieutenant?

The night Perez was struck down by Mrs. Norland and then discovered by Janice

Norland? We know Miss Nolan was in his apartment the night he did die, so what

difference does it make?

Quite a bit.

If the camera switch was operated by the coffee table being overturned, then the

delayed action shutter would snap the picture just five seconds later. That's

not nearly enough delay for Janice Nolan to enter the apartment, cross from the

door, and stand over the body. That photograph was taken by someone else,

Lieutenant.

Someone who was Perry's accomplice. Wait a minute! If you're talking about me,

you're wrong.

I was never in Rayo's apartment either night.

Miss Cosgrave, take your place.

Otherwise, I'll have you removed from the courtroom.

Your Honor, mention has been made of a Martian nine feet tall.

I believe I can explain, and in so doing, uncover Perra's accomplice and

If the court will allow an experiment with Mr. Drake.

Go right ahead, Mr. Lindley.

The streets and sidewalks were soaking wet with rain that night.

Mr. Drake, the killer came into the apartment the back way and into the

room. From there, in order to tiptoe up on Perra's noiselessly, he removed his

wet shoes.

But when he was tiptoeing, he unwittingly left a trail.

One of his shoes was so worn that the cheap maroon sock on that foot had

soaking wet.

Thus, when he removed his shoes, that one wet sock left a red splotch every

it came into contact with the white rug.

Intervals of approximately five feet since the other sock being dry left no

trace.

The strange Martian tracks we've been talking about.

Mr. Hawes, would you come forward, please?

Mr. Hawes, if I gave you a kitchen match, how would you strike it?

A match?

All right.

But Perez had it coming to him.

Him always promising, always promising. He never paid me one cent for all those

pictures I copied for him. Not even the one I snapped of the girl standing over

him. When I sneaked up there that night and heard a big man like Mr. Norlin

making all that fuss about that locket and fighting him for it, I figured that

locket was worth a fortune and I was entitled to it.

And when Mr. Norlin left and Perez went to take it out from the couch where he'd

hidden the thing, I took it away from him.

You want to laugh?

Look at it.

Look at that.

The cheap, crummy hunk of junk you can buy for a buck in any Mexican store in

town.

And being from Puerto Verde originally, Perez recognized the church in the

locket photo and did some checking.

I'm surprised he didn't also try to squeeze money out of Professor Lindley.

I imagine he thought a law professor was hardly worth bothering about, Mr.

Mason. Well, he had enough going for him anyway. Mr. Norland, Mrs. Norland, and

eventually Janice.

You mean he thought he had.

Professor, do you still believe the perfect trial lawyer is a cross between

parrot and a jackass?

No, Mr. Mason, I now believe the perfect trial lawyer needs the eye of an eagle,

the heart of a lion, and a lot of help.

My sentiments exactly.