Original subtitles

Excuse me. The lights.

Do they mean the jury is returning?

Yes, sir.

Oh, Mr. Mason.

Do you know what they're going to do to my sister?

I know, Mrs. Niven.

Not even the judge knows that yet.

Please. All members of the jury are present, as well as defendant and

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you agreed upon a verdict?

Yes, we have, Your Honor.

You'll hand it to the bailiff, please.

In the Superior Court of the State of California, in and for the County of Los

Angeles, number CR11532, people of the State of California, plaintiff versus

Janice Barton, defendant.

Verdict. We, the jury, and the above entitled cause, fix the punishment as

for the crime of murder as charged in the indictment dated August 24th.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, was this and is this your verdict?

You wish to have the jury pulled, Mr. Mason?

No, Your Honor.

That won't be necessary.

Don't blame yourself, Perry.

We did everything that could be done.

We should never have allowed her to take the stand.

Margaret, you know she lied about where she was at the time of the murder and

that Berger would trap her.

And doesn't her lying pretty well prove she's guilty?

Well, don't tell me you still think she's innocent.

She says she is.

She still uses the same alibi, which has been completely demolished.

Perry, I'm going to have to go along with Della.

$250 ,000 willed to Janet by an aunt who might have lived another 10 or 20

years. People have killed for far less.

Mrs. Nivens, Dr. Nivens.

You remember my secretary in the street, of course.

Hello. Mr.

Paul Drake, private investigator.

We've met Mr. Drake.

Mr. Berger told us we might find you here.

You talked with him then.

He says in his estimation justice has been done.

But it hasn't, Mr. Mason.

Janice never killed Aunt Amanda, never.

When I think of what my sister's gone through, what she still has to go

Paul, that's... I'm sorry.

Now, I'm sure Mr.

Mason feels as badly as we do.

But the problem is... What do we do now?

Well, there are a number of legal moves left, Dr. Nivens.

A motion for a new trial, a motion to reduce.

Automatic appeal to the state Supreme Court.

But if all these fail, what then? I told you, Paulette.

It'll never be the gas chamber.

The chance is in California.

against a woman going to the gas chamber are 1 ,000 to 1.

But women have been executed.

What about continuing the search for new evidence?

Doctor, for over three months, my men and I have checked and rechecked every

possible lead, every possible angle, every possible possibility.

If you want to spend the money, we'll keep on working. But I can't guarantee

anything or even hold out a whisper of hope.

Which means it appears...

Janice's fate is in your hands alone, Mr. Mason.

Yes?

No, Mr. Mason isn't here right now.

No, I'm sorry. I don't know where he is. In fact, I'm trying to locate him

myself.

Yes, I'll tell him.

Thank you.

Yes,

Gertie?

The Barton sisters?

Well, if they insist.

Miss Simmons?

Miss Ames? Hello.

We were hoping Mr. Mason would be here, Miss Street, but perhaps you can help

us. I'll certainly try.

Care to sit down? Thank you.

Thank you.

Now first, possibly you can tell us why Mr. Mason didn't save Janice from that

awful verdict by forcing her to plead guilty.

Well, he certainly couldn't force her to do something that she didn't want to

do, Mrs. Simmons.

What do you care anyway, Lettie? You said all along she did it.

I'm thinking of the disgrace to the family, Violet. Having a cousin go to

gas chamber.

Is that it, darling?

Or is it that you're afraid you won't be re -elected president of the Women's

Club Federation?

You don't feel disgraced?

Just the opposite.

Being related to a convicted murderess will give my acting career just the

it needs.

As a matter of fact, I'm thinking of changing my name back to Violet Barton.

You're impossible.

Oh, so are you, dear sister, flitting around the bush like a cast -iron

butterfly. What we really came for is to find out when we get our money.

Your money?

Yes, from our dear Aunt Sisteth.

We've been informed, Miss Street, that Janice's conviction invalidates Amanda's

will and disqualifies her from inheriting anything.

Which leaves four nearest of kin.

Letty and me, and our brother in South America, Dr. Andrew Barton. Plus

sister, Paulette.

That is at least a hundred thousand apiece.

I'm sorry, I really don't know anything about all this.

You'll have to speak to Mr. Mason.

Oh, I'd love that.

Will Mr. Mason be in today?

I certainly hope so. Tell him to call us.

And tell him to have the money ready too, dear.

Nice, freshly laundered $1 ,000 bills, if he can arrange it.

What did the Barton sisters want?

To see Perry about the Amanda Barton estate.

This isn't like him, Paul, not keeping in touch.

Where do you suppose he could be?

on the stand by her bed, along with a glass and a water carafe.

And now, Miss Green, please tell the jury, was this the same bottle that came

from the pharmacy that morning?

Yes, in the mail.

And you opened it?

No, sir, I did not open it. Miss Janice always gave her and her medicine.

Patent fingerprints were found on the glass and the water carafe.

Were you able to identify these fingerprints, Lieutenant Terry? Yes,

those of the defendant, Janice Butler.

Laboratory analysis of the drink from the glass showed the presence of a drug

absent from the contents of the medicine bottle.

And what was this drug, Lieutenant Anderson?

Chlorohydrate. often referred to as knockout drops.

An analysis of the stomach contents of the deceased performed as part of the

autopsy showed a partially ingested concentration of chloral hydrogen.

What, in your opinion, Dr. Hoxie, would result from such a concentration?

Total unconsciousness.

And so, after having surreptitiously added knockout drops to the glass of

medicine, which on our own admission...

She administered to her aunt that evening.

The defendant returned to the house some two hours later, lifted the frail,

drugged body of the elderly woman from her bed, carried her across the room,

and through the French door onto the balcony.

And there on the balcony, cloaked by darkness, She pressed the inert body

against the ancient garden, causing the rail to break and the body to begin

its sickening, headlong, fable fall to the brick patio below.

Mr. Mason?

I'm sorry, I don't mean to intrude, but Miss Green told me you were here. I

thought possibly there was something I could do for you. Thank you, Mr. Barton,

but I'm just... Reviewing, so to speak.

Shocking, the verdict last night.

I had hoped for something less drastic, especially as I feel partially

responsible. In what way, Mr. Barton?

It was I, as Aunt Amanda's business advisor, who suggested that she leave

bulk of her estate to Janice.

Yes, I know. You testified to that at the trial.

Quite true.

But what I didn't testify to was my feeling of guilt.

If I hadn't arranged for a new will, Janice would have had no motive.

You shouldn't feel guilty.

You were only trying to help her.

True again.

But I certainly should have remembered that awful scandal in Rome.

Scandal?

Janice had an Italian lover.

He fell from a balcony, too.

Accidental, the police finally decided, but now I wonder.

She may have killed twice. Is that what you believe?

Oh, no, Mr. Mason.

Wonder more accurately describes my state of mind.

I don't really know what to believe.

Well, I do.

From the moment she came to live with Miss Amanda, I knew she was up to no

But it was Amanda's idea, Miss Green, that she stay here.

A bird with a snake.

That's how Miss Amanda was with her, hypnotized, under an evil spell.

Oh, come now. Janice cast no evil spells.

All her life she cast evil spells.

What about that Italian man you just mentioned?

And her poor sister?

Paulette crippled for life through her crazy, reckless driving.

An accident?

Was it an accident that put the drug in the glass?

An accident that broke that railing out there?

An accident that I saw her running from the house right after Miss Amanda's

fall? And why did she lie about where she was, Mr. Mason, if she isn't evil?

Evil.

Evil!

Sure, I know I'm the one that nailed her.

I don't think I'm happy.

But it was to tell the truth.

Or get jugged as an accessory.

And how could I do my daily work out in jail?

How?

The thing is, you lied at first, Mr. Jacks.

Are you positive you're telling the truth now?

Yes, sir.

Like I was out of stand.

She came into the bar.

Around 11 o 'clock that night.

Not at 10 .30 like she had me say.

I should have guessed something was wrong then.

Her ordering two brandies instead of the beer and sandwiches like she always

had. And her face, pale like she had seen a ghost.

I guess she had.

I know we've been through this before, but do you have any recollection at all

of her saying,

Anything unusual.

Not until the next day when she came with the money.

$500 for saying 10 .30 instead of 11.

And more to come later.

That's what made me lie at first.

The more to come later.

Here at first, Mr. Jackson, it was two -thirds of the way through the trial.

that late?

An attack of conscience, you told us on the stand.

And what caused it?

Money from someone else?

Oh, no.

It was, uh... It was, uh... Was what?

It was that police lieutenant Tragg firing that .500 where I hid it in my

You didn't mention that on the stand.

No, sir.

Mr. Berger said I didn't have to.

Thus making you a belatedly conscience -stricken citizen.

Instead of a trapped lion.

Those are pretty harsh words, Mr. Mason.

But what she did was about a million times worse.

It was a fair trial.

How is it I was found guilty when I didn't kill my aunt?

One reason.

Perhaps the main reason was that you lied about where you were, Janice. You

to the police, you lied to me, you lied in the stand until Hamilton Burger

caught you.

Won't you tell me now where you really were at 10 .30 that night?

The bartender lied. I was there in his bar at 10 .30.

Why did you find it necessary then to give him money the next day?

To be sure he'd remember.

I knew I was in trouble.

Miss Green lying about seeing me run out of the house after I had Amanda's fall.

I find it very hard to believe that both Miss Green and the bartender lied.

In other words, you think I'm guilty too.

I think you're hiding something.

Something that might conceivably help keep you from... From going to the gas

chamber, Mr. Mason?

You can spare me the melodrama.

You know as well as I do it'll never come to that. It couldn't possibly.

It just couldn't, you... You know it couldn't.

A motion for a new trial is denied.

A motion to reduce is denied.

Arrange a defendant for judgment.

Janice Barton?

In an indictment filed in this court on 24 August, you were charged with a crime

of murder in violation of Section 187 of the Penal Code.

You were tried by a jury of 12 persons, and on 6 November, you were found

guilty.

On 10 November, after further trial, this jury found you were not insane at

time of the commission of this crime, and on 14 November, fixed the punishment

as death.

Have you any legal cause to show why judgment should not be pronounced at

time?

No legal cause outside the legal cause set forth in our motions here this

morning.

Very well.

It is ordered, judged, and decreed that in accordance with the verdict of the

jury fixing the punishment as death, that the defendant, Janice Barton, shall

suffer the penalty of death in the manner prescribed by law.

And it is further decreed that this sentence be stayed until determination

the defendant's automatic appeal to the Supreme Court of the State of

California.

Have you been here all night?

Not beautiful.

Not at all. I'm going to fetch you some coffee and then you're going home.

No luck at all?

No.

I've been through the transcript again and again.

Completely fair trial on the miscarriage of justice on the basis of the evidence

presented.

A perfectly justifiable verdict.

How much time have you got to work on the Supreme Court brief?

Thirty days.

But what are my arguments, Paul?

What do I base the brief?

I sure wouldn't know.

Yeah, that's all there is.

The only other angle of attack.

The nearest of kin, all of whom Janice accepted, are now in line to inherit.

Well, what about Christopher Barton?

Only through his father.

Dr. Andrew Barton inherits first.

Four possibilities.

Four, Paul.

But all, unfortunately, with rather weak motives.

Weak?

By my reckoning, a quarter of Amanda's half million estate is well over $100

,000. The will, Paul, left $50 ,000 to each of them.

Another $50 ,000 to Emily Green.

The remainder to Janice.

With Janice out, each relative would gain about $65 ,000.

Now, is that worth the risk of murdering someone? Being caught?

Lose me at all?

It wouldn't seem so.

And moreover or not, you've got to rule out Dr. Andrew Barton.

He must have been halfway up the Amazon at the time on the way back to that

jungle medical mission.

So that leaves us three possibilities.

Violet, driving home at 10 .30 that night from a late shooting TV show.

Tisha, home alone.

And Paulette, who of course is out since she's unable to walk.

But she is able to walk, Paul.

Part of her treatment is a weekly injection of Novocaine, which deadens

enough for her to move around for a while.

So that night she could have injected herself.

In here, Mr. Barton.

Mr. Mason, something rather bizarre. A cablegram from my father I thought I'd

better spot it over in prison.

Now it's Amazonas, Brazil.

Newspaper accounts, early part of Janet's trial, just arrived camp.

Medicine, not what I prescribed Amanda before leaving.

Sending native runner near his cable office in case authorities interested

father. Medicine, not what I prescribed.

What difference would that make?

I haven't the foggiest idea.

How can I get in touch with your father, Mr. Barton?

Cable and native runner would be the quickest way. The Indians he's working

live deep in the jungle.

Della, when is Janice being transferred to Corona?

This morning.

Right after breakfast.

Good boy.

Janice.

Sorry, no speaking to prisoners in France.

It's all right, Nathan. I'm her attorney. This will only take a moment.

Janice, I want to ask you about Dr. Barkham.

He was your aunt's physician, wasn't he?

She would never listen to anybody else, even though he was in Brazil most of the

time. Before he went back after his last visit, did he prescribe for her?

He changed her medicine, if that's what you mean, about a week before he left.

Did you know about the change at the time?

Did Emily Green and your aunt know about it?

Yes, we all knew, all of us in the house.

So the medicine that came from the pharmacy that day would have been the

prescription if any of you had ordered it.

Naturally. It wasn't James.

But what prescription was it then?

That we'll have to find out.

Mr. Mason, is that...

Does that mean that there's hope?

Janice, there'd be a great deal more hope if you'd tell me where you really

that night.

I can't. I've already told you. I've told you.

Paul, do you remember when you said that you investigated every possible

possibility? Yeah.

Well, there's one more.

Brazil?

I sure hope you're saying journey's end.

Anybody in there?

Well, howdy, stranger.

Welcome to Nowheresville.

Is this a Javaro medical mission? One part of it, at least. I'm Dr. Paul. How

you do? I'm Paul Drake.

I'm looking for Dr. Andrew Barton.

Dr. Barton?

Yes.

This way.

He knew he was dying when he came out here on this last trip, Mr. Drake.

And his request was that he be buried close to the Indians he worked for and

loved.

I don't understand what good Dr. Barton would have done you, Perry, even if

Drake had found him alive.

Well, he could have come back.

Or at least executed an affidavit stating that he told everyone in Amanda

Barton's household about the new prescription.

That's proving what? That someone outside the household ordered the

Well, Lieutenant Chang?

Like you, Perry, we've done considerable checking the last few weeks.

Yes, when we first heard about the wrong medicine cable, I went down to the

pharmacist myself and showed him the bottle we found beside the bed and our

analysis of its contents.

Go on, Lieutenant.

Oh, he checked his records and found that it was Dr. Barton's previous

prescription for Amanda Barton.

He'd made a mistake?

No, Doctor, not possibly.

As you know, prescription refill orders are taken by number.

And the two prescription numbers are totally different.

And so that brings up some questions.

Who ordered the old medicine?

And when? And how?

And we have the answers for those, too.

The how was by phone.

The when was the day before the murder, since the medicine was mailed, not

picked up.

As for the who, unknown.

Dr. Nevins, can just anyone phone a drugstore and order a prescription

Yes, provided he or she knows the name and the number, but it's a refillable

prescription, and it isn't a narcotic.

Well, neither of the prescriptions involved in this case are narcotics. Oh,

no. Both are mild sedatives, with an addition to the new prescription of

for the heart and a chemical muscle relaxant.

I see.

All right, Perry, what else did you find out?

Nothing. Well, then where does that leave us?

Supposing the wrong medicine was delivered through the mail. It wasn't

It just didn't have the new ingredients that Dr. Barton had prescribed.

The point is, Hamilton, it should never have been there.

The point is, Perry, that the chloral hydrate should never have been in the

glass beside it.

Or in the stomach of Amanda Barton.

Furthermore, has it occurred to you that Amanda Barton might have found in that

prescription herself?

And being old and forgetful, simply gave them the wrong prescription number.

Has that possibility occurred to you?

Yes, that has occurred to me.

Well, then let me say this. If you find out who called, we'll look into it.

In the meantime, this is going to be submitted to the Attorney General.

What is that, Mr. Berger? This is the people's brief to be submitted to the

Supreme Court, Doctor.

Urging that the death penalty for Janice Barton be upheld.

Janice?

Yes? Your attorney's here to see you.

Mr. Mason?

That's right.

Oh, you're coming right now.

There's no time for you to pretty up.

No, Mother.

What is it, Mr. Mason?

The medicine? Have you finally found out who it came from?

No, Janice.

After all these weeks, that's still a complete mystery.

But you... you do have news.

Of a sort.

Here, sit down.

This afternoon I presented my oral argument to the Supreme Court at

And the court's decision?

That will be announced most likely sometime next week.

doubtless affirming that the defendant, Janice Barton, suffered the penalty of

death in the manner prescribed by law.

Janice.

Janice, do you want to die?

Well, it's something that happens to everybody sooner or later.

You testified that when you left the house after giving your aunt her

that night.

You intended to go, as you often did, to the family beach house near Malibu.

I... I always liked to walk on the beach at night, but not that night. No, I

never got there.

I think you did.

No, I stopped for a drink instead at 10 .30, just as I told you.

At 11.

Looking as though you'd seen a ghost and asking for brandy. Now, why did you

need brandy?

Because of something you saw, wasn't it? Something you saw at the beach house?

No. Janice.

Who was there?

What happened there?

Why are you risking your life to keep it a secret?

I... I can't tell you.

I can't tell you.

Why?

Because I... I've hurt too many people already.

Paulette cripples my life.

She begged me to slow down, to drive more carefully.

I just laughed.

Antonio, the Rome police decided it was an accident.

But I drove him off that balcony, telling him he wasn't a man but a

And now Amanda, who took me in when I needed help, dead too because of me.

Now, Mrs. Mr. Mason, I'll never tell.

Even if it means going to the gas chamber?

Even if it means that.

Why, Mr. Mason?

But I can't remember where I was at the exact time of Amanda's death.

After all, it was nearly a year ago, wasn't it?

Don't tell me I need an alibi at this late day.

No, but Janice does.

Desperately.

Tell me, Doctor, were you at any time that night at the Barton Beach House?

No. Odd that you can't remember where you were, but that you can remember

you were not.

What if I told you that Janice saw you there?

Well, I would say she didn't.

Knowing that you're saying so might cause her death.

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

But you were there, weren't you, Doctor?

Were you, Charles?

Were you at the beach house?

There was lipstick on your shirt that night.

I should have guessed it was Janice's.

No, Paulette, it wasn't.

Now I can see why she didn't tell.

Not after what she'd already done to me.

But you, Charles, why did you stay silent?

It's her life against my pride.

Yes, doctor.

Now, Elizabeth, I want you to tell us where you were the night Amanda Barton

died. Dr. Nevins.

Elizabeth, now, please, please.

This is very important.

I was with you.

Elizabeth called me at about nine that night from a bar in Malibu.

Highly distraught, almost incoherent, because she was going to drown herself.

Now, I raced out to the bar, got her out of there, and took her to the beach

house.

Why?

Why were you going to drown yourself?

Because I was going to have a baby, Mrs. Nevin.

The father was a boy who's decided he wasn't ready to marry yet.

Two hours of tears and hysterics with Mike trying to comfort her.

That's what Janice must have seen and misinterpreted.

And Janice lied on the stand because she... Because she thought if she told

truth, she'd destroy your marriage.

Oh, I know she blames herself for what happened to me, but to risk her life.

She is still risking her life, Mrs. Nevins.

But now you can save her.

Did either of you see Janice that night?

No. Well, don't you think we would have stepped forward and said so if we had?

You were there how long?

From just before ten until nearly midnight.

Two hours.

Which means, I'm afraid, this doesn't help at all.

But why, Mr. Mason?

Even if Janice altered her story.

It said that she was at the beach house at the time of her aunt's death. She

couldn't prove it.

Not without witnesses.

I could say that I saw her.

No, Doctor, you couldn't.

You see,

Miss Green?

Someone could have opened the mailbox without having been seen from the house.

But nobody did.

I picked up the mail that day, as always.

As always, meaning noon.

A half hour or so after the postman's truck had passed.

No reason to walk down earlier just to find he hadn't come.

No, no reason.

What's this all about, Mr. Mason?

A medicine bottle.

Which I brought in with the rest of the mail and put on the bedside table, as I

said a dozen times.

Yes, I know.

Well, I know all this hocus -pocus will get you nowhere.

She killed her aunt and she's going to pay for it.

Janice didn't kill her aunt, Miss Green.

And if she pays for it, as you put it, the blame will be largely yours.

Mine? I only told what I saw.

You saw a woman in high -heeled shoes wearing a raincoat with a hood on it

running from the house.

It was Miss Janice.

So you kept testifying.

But was it Janice?

Or was your vision warped by jealousy and hatred?

Now, Miss Green, if you don't mind, our guests will be arriving shortly.

I'm convinced, and so are Dr. and Mrs.

Nivens, that Janice is innocent.

It's true she lied about where she was at the time her aunt died.

But we now know where she was and why she lied.

Unfortunately, proving that in court is quite a different matter.

Why are you telling us all this, Mr. Mason?

I'll come to that, Mrs. Simmons, after I show you how the murder was committed.

Committed, incidentally, to get rid of two persons, Amanda Barton and Janice.

How could that be possible?

Well, suppose we follow the crime from its inception.

Now, shortly before Dr. Barton changed Amanda Barton's medicine, the murderer

went to the pharmacy, had Amanda's old prescription refilled, paid in cash, and

took it away.

But how is that possible, ordering and getting somebody else's medicine?

Oh, my maid does that all the time, Christopher.

Uh -oh.

I may be incriminating myself.

You are if you killed your aunt, Miss Ames. I only murder on the stage, Mr.

Mason.

Once in possession of the bottle, the murderer added to it the chloral

And the day before Amanda's death, the murderer ordered by phone another bottle

from the pharmacy, still using the old prescription number.

This bottle came in the mail the morning of the murder.

In its place in the package, the killer substituted the bottle with the knockout

drops. Where was this done, Mr. Mason?

At the mailbox.

It can't be seen from the house.

Miss Green never picks up the mail until a half hour or so after delivery.

When she did pick it up that morning, she opened the resealed package, put the

drug bottle on Amanda Barton's bedside table.

But the bottle found there didn't contain chloral hydrate.

Because it wasn't the same bottle.

After Amanda was dead that night, the murderer pocketed the drug bottle and

in its place the undrugged bottle, with just enough medicine removed to account

for that which Amanda Barton had taken.

And the drug bottle?

Disposed of somewhere that same night.

How is this supposed to get rid of Janice, too, Mr. Mason?

By making it appear the knockout drops had been added to the medicine in a

glass, something only Janice could have done.

Since she always gave her aunt the medicine at bedtime.

Well, that's... That's very ingenious.

But what's to prevent Janice from having done it just the way the police say?

By putting knockout drops in the glass.

In that case, the bedside medicine would have been the new prescription.

No, Mrs. Simmons.

Someone else is involved.

Someone who didn't know the prescription had been changed.

Meaning, I suppose...

One of us.

Three heirs.

Or rather, four. Now my father's gone.

Which of us are you going to finger as the phrase goes?

Violet?

Letitia?

Paulette?

Or me?

I don't know, Mr. Barton.

But I do know I need assistance from the three of you who aren't guilty.

That's why I've told you what I have.

And I hope that you'll remember something you've seen or heard or

Something that might help save Janice.

Miss Barton's residence.

Yes, he's here.

It's your secretary, Mr. Mason.

Yes, Dylan.

I see.

And Judge Ryder.

Thank you, Dylan.

Whatever help you can give me, I need quickly.

The Supreme Court has rejected Janice's appeal.

And later this week, Judge Ryder will set the date of execution.

A Wednesday, not less than 30 or more than 60 days.

If you're going to tell me about the day being set, Mr. Mason, I already know.

Only, what time on that particular Wednesday will it happen?

It's not going to happen.

There's still the governor, for one thing. I've already talked to his pardon

secretary. What time, Mr. Mason?

I want to know so I can...

Count the hours.

They say here it always happens at 10 o 'clock in the morning.

Janice, you mustn't do this to yourself.

Because there's hope.

I think I know now who killed your aunt.

You do?

Yes.

But I need your help to prove it.

I've already told you everything except about Charles and his nurse. You found

that out yourself.

Now, Janice, think carefully.

I want you to confirm exactly who came to see your aunt on the day of the

murder.

Well, Christopher, he came every morning. But he can't be the one. It was

woman Emily saw running away.

Violet?

Yes, she came that morning, too. So did Letitia.

But couldn't Emily have told you all this?

You forget that she was out most of the morning. You weren't.

What about Paulette?

Was she there at any time that day?

Yes, but... But the running, she could never have... You're thinking of the

Novocaine treatments?

Yes, but... It couldn't be.

It couldn't be.

She had every reason to hate me, but to kill Aunt Amanda just to involve me? No!

I'm not going to say who it is yet, Janice.

I'm absolutely sure.

You haven't mentioned Emily Green.

Wouldn't the $50 ,000 left her in the will be a motive? A very good motive.

And a very great deal depends on Emily Green.

There you are.

Ten o 'clock, you said, and here I am right on the dot.

Now, what's all this about?

I think you know.

All I know, Emily, is on the phone you said you wanted money or you'd talk.

Talk to whom? About what?

To the police.

About what I saw in Miss Amanda's bedroom the morning of the day she died.

Well, as I recall, Emily, you were out of the house that morning.

Only a part of the morning, Mr. Barton.

I see.

We're alone.

Yes? What is it you think you saw, Emily, that part of the morning you were

I saw what happened to the third medicine bottle.

The third?

The one Mr. Mason hasn't thought about.

The one Miss Amanda had been using.

I saw you take it from her bedside table and empty it into her washbasin.

Why in the world would I do that, Emily?

To make certain, I'd put the one that came in the mail in its place on the

table. The bottle you had drugged.

So it is blackmail.

But, Emily, if you told this fable to the police and I denied it, who do you

suppose they'd believe?

I haven't quite finished.

I thought it was strange what you had done.

So I took the bottle you had emptied and put it in a corner of Miss Amanda's

medicine cabinet.

Now, I don't know much about such things, but I'm sure if I showed it to

police, they'd find your fingerprints on it.

And I'm equally sure that they wouldn't.

But what if they did?

I suppose they'd take you to the pharmacy, Mr. Barton, to see if anyone

could identify you as the person who had ordered and taken away a...

Bottle of Miss Amanda's medicine.

How much are you asking, Emily?

The $65 ,000 extra you'll get.

And wouldn't be getting if Miss Janice hadn't been convicted.

Blackmail's dangerous business.

So is murder.

Quite true.

So tomorrow we'll go to the police, let them hear all this, and then we'll see

who goes to jail.

Me for murder or you for blackmail?

You mean that?

Yes, I mean that. This is all poppycock and you know it.

Where's my motive?

My father was in line to benefit from Amanda's death, not me.

And, Emily, there's an even more fatal flaw.

It was a woman you saw running away that night, remember?

Why didn't you try this on Violet?

Or Letitia?

Or Hargill?

Here, put that away for me.

And then start packing.

Because you won't be coming back tomorrow after we've seen the police.

I'm sorry, Mr. Mason. I did the best I could.

Well, what now, Perrin? Do you want Miss Green to try it on some of the others

as he suggested?

No. It's funny. For a while there, I really thought you had the right one.

Well, shouldn't we be going?

Yes.

Good night, Miss Green.

And thank you.

I'll show you out.

You want me to drop you off, Perry? Near his cab stand will do fine.

After you, Lieutenant.

Thank you.

Hold it.

Keep your hands right where they are.

Now turn around slow.

Well, maybe Brazil was worthwhile after all.

Very much so, Paul.

It was there you found out who the murderer was.

I did.

By learning that Dr. Barton knew he was dying, Christopher gained nothing unless

his father inherited.

So Amanda had to die before his father did.

Well, one thing I'd like to know, Perry.

The medicine bottle that Emily Green had, was that really the one that

Christopher emptied?

Oh, she'd thrown that away long before.

But Christopher didn't know that.

Perry.

You know what day this is, Mr. Mason?

Wednesday. At just ten o 'clock.

How nice to have nothing to breathe except air.

Hey, come on, Miss Barton. This mug is not dead.