Original subtitles

Get out of here. Back!

We're ready to finish our project on Walt Whitman.

Suppose we now review some of the distinguishing features of the poet.

Do you want to start, John?

Well, he sort of spoke up when his country needed him most.

You know, Dr. Stewart, when the Civil War split the country?

Yes. In the realm of ideas, Whitman stressed unity.

What else?

Perkins? He went looking for his brother, found him on the battlefield,

nursed him back to health.

After that, he became a medical aide to the Union Army.

Yes, I think we can say that both as a thinker and a doer, Whitman's life can

be... Dr.

Stewart. Why, Mrs. Perkins.

I must speak to you at once.

Of course, Mrs. Perkins, of course.

Continue with the assignment.

Well, uh, what's wrong, Mrs. Perkins?

Twice. Twice I wrote you letters demanding an explanation of the material

used to teach here. You ignored those letters.

Letters? Oh, don't act so surprised.

Other mothers wrote you. You ignored them, too.

The man was right.

What man?

The man who called me.

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.

Poetry, you call it.

Well, I call it filth.

Oh, now, come now, Mrs. Perkins. You couldn't possibly say that now that

read the poem.

Read it? I didn't read it, but I... But the man who called, was he man enough to

give you his name?

As a matter of fact, he didn't, but... But still you let yourself become

panicked by an anonymous crank call.

That's a new concept in justice, isn't it, Mrs. Perkins?

Guilty until proven innocent.

And of all the innocent poems... This isn't a courtroom. It's a private school

where I pay for the privilege of being arbitrary.

I'm taking my son out of this school at once.

Bruce!

You come with me. Mom, what's this all about? Never mind.

Come with me at once.

Oh, Dr. Stewart.

Later, Janet. Please, I'm busy at the moment. Oh, you must listen to me now.

must. I'm sorry you appear an insistent pest about this thing, but I simply

cannot fulfill our science program if I don't have the visual aids I was

promised. I've told you half a dozen times, Janet. Those materials were

weeks ago. That's what you keep saying, and I keep rearranging my lesson plan,

waiting. Now, I'm not so sure they were ordered.

Janet, this hasn't been a particularly good day for me. I'm not trying to

you or your problems, but please.

Oh, I'm sorry. I...

Oh, there must be some sort of financial problems with the visual aids not

coming and my salary not paid, but... Salary not paid?

Oh, maybe just some sort of mistake, but my last month's salary check... No, I

haven't received it yet, but... I'll speak to you later, Janet. Excuse me.

I heard he called.

Mr. Ogden from this side. It's all right.

There was a cancellation, and he can give us a room for the weekend.

A whole weekend together, just the two of us.

I keep pinching myself. I can't believe it.

First time in four years, Chuck.

And at Cliffside.

When the call came in, we had to anchor Marion down to keep her from going

straight up into orbit. What happened to the letters Bruce Perkins' mother wrote

to me?

What? Now, what about the visual aid material I ordered for Janet Gwynn's

Where is it?

Darling, I just told you something. Marion, please, I want those letters

They must be someplace in the office.

All right, all right. I know I put some letters in here somewhere.

Visual aids?

Oh, and why hasn't Janet got her check yet?

Got what? You heard me, her paycheck.

Janet still hasn't her last month's pay.

Oh, darling, no.

You must have made at least a hundred mistakes this past month.

Well, it was your idea. I pinch -hit his secretary.

At least there is enough money now to pay your teachers.

This place isn't nearly as messed up as you seem to think it is. Oh, Marion,

stop it.

It's just that here's the whole school collapsing around our heads, and there

you are dreaming about Cliffside.

Well, never mind.

I'll find what I want myself.

This is the Perkins folder, but there's not a word in it.

Married.

Why didn't you stop her? She's your wife.

Not my wife. This.

This. What?

I'm talking about Mrs. Perkins.

That woman came storming into my class with some absurd, hysterical accusations

I never heard about.

And proceeded to drag her son out of school for good, Tobin.

Now that's the fifth student withdrawal we've had this month.

Aaron, that woman spoke to me when she came in.

I knew she was upset, all right, but I didn't know she was ready to slam the

ball out of the park. How could I?

Crystal gazing isn't a required subject for gym teachers, Aaron.

So don't snap Chuck's head off, too. As I did my wife's. Okay.

Sweating out the news about the foundation fund endowment has us all a

edgy.

But even so, knowing what Marion's been through... Well, if she were my wife,

I'd... Well, she isn't your wife, is she, Tobin?

Hey, Aaron.

That's all right, Chuck.

That's exactly the kind of thing you expect your best friend to say to you.

Oh, I didn't mean to.

So... There you are.

Two thousand dollars.

Thank you, Aaron.

I hope this isn't...

I mean, your creditors. Is the shoe getting a little tight?

Well, you can run a prep school like ours to make money or to make well

-educated young people. To do both is an outside source of financial backing.

Well, the foundation fund endowment.

That could do it. Well, if they knew you like I know you, Aaron, there wouldn't

be any question about it.

Of course, you could lessen the pressure on this quite a bit if you wanted to.

Oh, that real estate deal.

Oh, the man's still willing to trade for your place.

I've told you, no.

If it's the last thing I do, I'll make Manzano Valley Prep work.

Well, if that's the case, this won't help very much. But, Mr.

Forrest, that's our mortgage payment.

Well, it can wait for another month.

By then, you'll have your endowment.

In the meantime, I imagine this $2 ,000 would be a reasonable cushion between

you and those restless creditors.

You won't be sorry, Mr. Forrest. I promise you.

Harvey Forrest, may I help you?

Well, yeah.

As a matter of fact, he's here right now. Would you like to... All right,

tell him.

It's a Miss Della Street trying to locate you.

Well, that's Perry Mason's secretary.

The endowment.

He's got news about the endowment.

There's a man from the fund with Mason right now. They're waiting for you in

office. Well, I'd better run.

Oh, Aaron.

Good luck.

As the fund's representative, I can assure you that you'll get your answer

enough, Dr. Stewart.

But there are some things I must know first.

You've asked the same question to receive the same answers over and over

It can't be any secret. I'd just like to know where we stand.

Let me ask you a question I haven't asked before.

Is it true that your school is virtually insolvent?

That you're on the verge of filing for bankruptcy?

Who told you a thing like that of all the... Aaron.

Mr. Ryan, as trustee for the estate that created the school, I can assure you

that Manzana Valley Prep School is basically down.

Dr. Stewart has consistently poured profits back into improving his school

facilities. Don't misunderstand me, Mr. Mason.

I'm not questioning Dr. Stewart's complete honesty in applying for the

endowment. It's just that... Somebody has smeared my name and reputation, and

you're here to check it. That's part of my job, Dr. Stewart.

There's another matter.

A more serious matter.

The Foundation funds special student examinations.

Do you have the results?

How did we do?

I have the results.

Yes.

300 students from 100 California schools took the special examinations.

Your students, Dr. Stewart, all three of them, failed.

What?

I don't believe it. I'm sorry, but it's true.

That and, well, the fact that someone anonymously, he thinks, has been sending

us derogatory information about you and your school.

I think you're having trouble at Manzana.

And frankly, if I were you, I'd look pretty close to home to find out the

who might be causing it.

They all failed.

Failed? Oh, that's impossible.

Why, those were three of the brightest kids I ever taught. Well, it happened,

and I'm going to find out. Well, I'm sure they were well prepared. They did

the special homework.

You made them read everything listed in the blue books?

The blue books?

Those guide sheets the fund sent out.

Well, the reading list was all on the typed notes.

Oh, it wasn't. It was in the blue books. Well, he told me you checked it over

yourself. He?

Tobin Wade.

This is Tobin's desk.

You're going to help the file start going through.

Sure.

What are we looking for?

To begin with, a folder full of blue information books with a foundation on

Stop looking.

Chuck.

Chuck.

Assign from here. Where else would Tobin keep papers, important papers?

Well, not in his place out in the tank, if that's what you mean.

Look, if Tobin's mislaid something... Hey, that's a blue book.

So then, what are you doing here?

Getting a drink.

But you know that... I know, I know, and... I'm sorry, you're just going to

to find another monument to your abstinence. I need this.

What is it? What's wrong?

I got a call from Chuck.

It seems he walked into the office and found my esteemed friend, your husband,

going through my desk like a thief.

I don't believe it.

Then try this on for size.

Chuck also informs me that the good doctor's steward has just fired me.

That's ridiculous. He couldn't fire you.

Not Aaron.

I'll call him and we'll clear this up here and now.

You don't really think that'll help, do you?

Now, the Aaron we knew, he couldn't and wouldn't fire me. But it's not the same

Aaron anymore, is it?

Do I have to tell you that he's changed?

Sick. He's way off his track.

That isn't true. No, isn't it?

Remember the old times we had at my papanga shack?

I mean, before Manzana Prep.

Just the three of us.

Friends to the bitter end, we even swore an oath on it. Or you could belt them

with the best then.

On the juice of the grape.

We swore it.

He's been so busy.

For Pete's sake, Marion, wake up. He doesn't need me.

He doesn't need you.

He doesn't need anybody or anything, but his precious school, it's the only

thing he cares about.

No, you're wrong.

He'll tell you himself you're wrong. Whatever the misunderstanding is,

Whatever it is, he won't listen to my side of it.

He's got to have someone to blame his troubles on, that's all.

He's listening to nobody but his own imagination.

Why don't I wait and talk to him tomorrow when we're at Cliffside? He'll

relaxed, won't he?

Well, I know he'll listen to me. You won't be at Cliffside tomorrow.

What?

That's right. He's not taking you.

I heard him tell Chuck myself.

He said, quote, call up and cancel that silly reservation.

Well, tomorrow is a double anniversary.

Sure, I know. One year since you took your last drink.

It's... It's my wedding anniversary.

Happy anniversary.

I looked who left hours ago. Where's Jenkins?

Doing some shopping for your wife.

He asked me to close up and I thought I'd better hang around. I mean, you find

what you're looking for? More than I expected.

Look at these.

Letters from Mrs. Perkins.

From the other mothers.

I don't understand.

Here. Unless the parents checked off.

Wade knew of these letters.

He knew because he was the man who made the phone calls to the parents.

He was the man behind all the school's troubles.

Wayne? Tobin Wayne?

Deliberate sabotage. Proof.

Every one of these papers tells part of the story.

He wanted to destroy me. Destroy the school.

That doesn't make sense. Why?

I don't know why.

Don't worry.

I'll find out.

Just put the groceries away.

Managed to fix that kitchen cabinet while I had the chance. Say, Doc, Mrs.

Stewart, she's all right now, isn't she?

All right?

She looks sort of, you know, sort of sick -like when she left with Mr. Wade.

Say, Doc, did I say something?

Hey, Doc.

What's the matter?

Did they say where they were going?

Oh, I'm not at all sure. Where did they go?

Oh, I guess I did hear Mr. Wake say something about a cliffside. Is there a

place called Cliffside?

I'm glad you got here.

Let the husband take charge, I say.

You got us a drink, knowing she was sick, knowing what it would do to her.

You got her to drink while you're out of your mind? Hey, Aaron! Come on now, let

go! Aaron!

Tobin!

Yes, sir. Can I help you?

You'd better arrest me.

I just killed a man.

I shall give life for life, eye for eye.

But while signing the confession, insisting on pleading guilty, I think we

afford to be less harsh, Dr. Stewart.

At tomorrow's preliminary hearing, I shall ask that you be bound over on a

charge of voluntary manslaughter.

I'll be representing Dr. Stewart in court, Mr. Baxter.

Strictly pro forma.

Just introduce the confession and... Well, good morning, gentlemen.

All right.

Not as simple as the prosecutor says.

We have our work cut out for us.

Why? I was fighting with a man.

He fell and died. That means I killed him. Because nothing can change that.

No, not after you signed that confession when you agreed to plead guilty.

Doctor, why didn't you call Perry first?

What difference does it make?

I don't know yet.

But tomorrow at the preliminary hearing, I want you to put yourself in my hands

without reservation.

Whatever you say.

He must have arched out and down into the surf.

Doc Stewart saw him in the water, remember?

Before the tide washed the body out to sea.

Sheriff, did a guy fall off that cliff and live?

You've got to be kidding, Drake.

That surf and those rocks and that tide?

Would you like to dive down and try it?

Thanks, but no thanks.

Well, if you need anything, just get in touch.

All right. I've got a tip that the sheriff's boys were about to bring Wade

for questioning before he died.

They wanted some dame to identify Wade for something he'd done several months

ago. I don't know what it was, but apparently he had an accomplice

In homicide, you know exactly what corpus delicti means.

Oh, by this time.

It's proof that someone is dead and that the death was criminally caused by

someone else. Actually, it don't even need a body.

Just the substantial fact that homicide has been committed.

But isn't that Stewart's confession? His agreeing to a guilty plea?

Perry, they've never recovered a body off that coast.

Back to a good phone in this case and have Stewart bound over for trial.

I wonder.

Doctor and Mrs. Stewart have been visitors at my cliffside resort many

So, of course, Mr. Ogden, you recognized the defendant when he drove in looking

for his wife.

Oh, yes.

She was, uh, well, rather upset in the cocktail lounge, crying and not feeling

well. So I took her to one of the rooms.

And Dr. Stewart came in. He asked where the man was that brought her to the

place. And did you tell him who that was?

Yes. I said it was Mr. Wade.

He'd bought her the drinks and all.

What else did you tell him?

Well, I told him just what this Tobin Wade told me.

That he was going for a walk out to the bluff.

That the lady or anybody looked for him to say that they could find him out

there. And what did Dr. Stewart do then?

He headed straight out to the bluff.

Sure, Vincent.

That same night after the accused, Dr. Aaron Stewart appeared at your office

made certain representations.

What did you do?

I went to your office, the county prosecutor's office.

At my office, was Dr. Stewart induced to enter a guilty plea or make the

confession he did under compulsion or by inflection of threats or by physical

abuse or by prolonged interrogation under such circumstances as to render

confession involuntary?

Absolutely not.

This document, People's Exhibit 1 for identification, bears the signature of

Stewart and two witnesses.

This confession by Dr. Ernst Stewart. Would you read it, please, George?

Your Honor, I object to the evidence on the ground that it is hearsay.

Come now, Mr. Mason.

Under law, the statement is clearly admissible as the voluntary confession

the defendant.

An extrajudicial confession made outside this court.

Once his guilty plea is entered, that of itself constitutes a judicial

confession. He has not yet entered a plea of guilty.

No such guilty plea will be entered.

But we had an understanding that... Possibly you had an understanding.

But that was before defendant consulted with counsel.

All right, gentlemen, never mind.

But exactly where does that leave us?

20, American jurisprudence, evidence section 1234.

The state must prove the corpus delicti independent of the defendant's

confession, beyond a reasonable doubt, by evidence other than the confession of

the accused.

Mr. Mason, this is a preliminary hearing.

The proof required to hold a person to answer need not equal that to support a

conviction.

Establish your corpus delicti, Mr.

Prosecutor. Proof, one, that a man has died, and two, that someone is

responsible for that death.

Then, and only then, may the court inquire as to who is the criminal.

But there is no further evidence at this time, Your Honor.

Your Honor, I will this action be dismissed.

The constitutional guarantee of due process of law...

requires adherence to the adopted and recognized rules of evidence.

Mr. Mason's points are well taken.

His motion is granted.

Case dismissed.

I remind you, sir, the law that you have sworn to uphold respects substance more

than form.

Mr. Baxter, I remind you, the law helps the vigilant before those who sleep on

their rights.

I don't understand, Perry.

I'm responsible for Tobin Leight's death.

It's up to the state to prove that. Not you.

Well, it's all set, then. You'll take over the mortgage on the property and

out the equity.

Send the checks to me at this address.

And thanks.

Thanks for everything, Harvey.

Well, Aaron, I... You're paying an awful big price for just one mistake.

I haven't even started paying yet.

Sure, Mason was skilled enough to get me off, but in my own conscience, I'll be

paying for this the rest of my life.

I think you're being too fast in closing the school.

After all, there's still the Foundation Fund endowment.

No, no.

Right or wrong, knowing that I'm responsible for a man's death, would you

your children to my school or grant me any kind of endowment?

What are you going to do?

Leave town.

Marion and I are pulling out tonight.

Leaving town's the best thing he could do, and just in the nick of time.

What do you mean by that?

Remember when I said the sheriff was investigating something Tobin Wade did

several months ago?

Well, systematically, over a period of the past couple of years, somebody's

stealing prep school textbooks from a publishing company's warehouse.

So? So, whoever's been swiping them is connected with a real prep school, one

that would ordinarily order the books. You mean the stolen books were

substituted for those normally ordered?

With the thieves using phony billing invoices, forging endorsements on the

checks, and then pocketing the dough.

You mean Tobin Wade was doing that?

Make it plural, Della.

Thieves were doing that.

That's right.

His accomplice, the second book collector, may turn out to have been Dr.

Stewart.

You know, I thought I'd feel badly about leaving, but somehow I don't.

Somehow the thought of a fresh start... I know, exciting.

The self -deluding rationalization of failure. Not the end of hope, but the

beginning of new dreams.

Don't be so educated.

It can't always be wrong.

The beginning of new dreams. I guess not.

If a person doesn't make the same mistakes twice and doesn't run into more

one Tobin Wade for a lifetime.

Hello?

Oh, just a minute, please. It's Janet Glynn.

Janet?

Hello? I'm down the road from Tobin Wade Shack in Tobanga Canyon.

I went out there to pick up some books that Tobin had borrowed from me.

And when I got out there... Well, what I'm trying to say is... I just

saw Tobin Wade at the shack.

Dr. Stewart, Tobin Wade is alive!

What is it? What did you want?

Aaron, what's wrong?

Well, I guess things are a little different this time, Perry.

We're in Los Angeles.

We've got corpus delicti and despair.

Only this time it's not manslaughter.

We've arrested Aaron Stewart for first -degree murder.

In desperation to keep Manzana Valley Prep School open, Dr. Aaron Stewart even

turned to crime.

With the help of his best friend, Tobin Wade, he sold textbooks, which he

converted to needed cash.

Later, when Wade, for personal reasons at which we can only guess, turned

against his friend, and when Aaron Stewart had discovered this double

had discovered what Wade had done to Mrs. Stewart, the two men met, and they

fought. And they had an unfortunate accident.

But later, the supposedly dead man... returned to life.

Now, aside from his shock and his fury at finding his nemesis still alive,

Aaron Stewart realized that Wade could still cause trouble, could still have

sent to prison for the theft of the books.

This time, he armed himself with a heavy tire iron from his station wagon.

And Aaron Stewart killed Tobin Wade for good.

And then the station wagon came around the corner and all but knocked me down.

It was really going fast.

Now, did you report this near rundown to the police?

No. No, but my father did. You see, I was leaving for Europe, and I was

late when I left the house.

When did you finally talk to the police about it? After I returned.

And what did you tell the police?

Well, I told them that I could identify one of the two men in the station wagon.

The one sitting next to the driver.

And who was that man?

Well, that was Tobin Wade, the man that was murdered.

Now, this tire iron, Lieutenant Anderson, has been identified as the

most likely to have inflicted the repeated and distinctive blows on the

the deceased.

Have you examined this iron in your police crime laboratory, and if so, with

what results?

Well, this discoloration here and here is blood.

There are also strands of human hair, blood and hair matching that of the

decedent, Tobin Wade.

Now, what about the defendant, Dr. Stewart?

Did you examine him, his clothing?

Yes, sir. There was blood matching that of the decedent on Dr. Stewart's

clothes, his face, and his hands.

In addition, his hands were covered with grease as though he had tightly gripped

a filthy tire iron such as this.

The grease on defendant's hands proved to be identical to the composition of

grease on the tire iron used to murder Tobin Wade.

Jones on evidence, American jurisprudence, and proof of facts.

You looking for a legal precedent or a miracle?

Neither. Just working on something Berger said in his opening statement to

court. What was that?

Well, when Wade, for personal reasons at which we can only guess, turned against

his friend.

So? Well, maybe Berger doesn't know what Wade was up to, but I'm pretty sure I

do. What?

Adela, you said the other day that you have a girlfriend who works with the

Manzana Valley Chamber of Commerce?

Yes, Ann Kogan.

Would you ask her to meet us in an hour at the chamber office?

Perry, Ann is a very attractive girl who has more sense than to work nights,

especially Friday nights.

And I'm sure she has a date.

We want to know why we want to meet her in offices that have been, like all

reasonable offices, closed for the day.

You tell Miss Kogan that we want to know how to go about investing $10 million

in booming Manzana Valley.

Do you think that'll do it?

She'll be there.

Oh, Paul, you know Ted Richards, don't you?

You a motion picture cameraman? Sure.

I'll find him, will you please?

Tell him that we want him this weekend to photograph you in a motion picture.

Hey, I like that.

What do I do in this motion picture?

You permit yourself to be murdered.

The defense waives its opening statement.

Very well, Mr. Mason.

You may call your first witness.

I call Marion Stewart.

Mrs. Stewart.

For the record, you are aware that neither husband nor wife is a competent

witness for or against the other in a criminal action or proceeding to which

or both are parties except with the consent of both.

I am, Mr. Mason. The defendant has waived this privilege.

Now, you have the same privilege, Mrs. Stewart.

I waive it, Mr. Mason.

I have given my consent to being called as a witness for my husband.

Mrs. Stewart, you have heard the district attorney...

characterized the events on the bluff at Cliffside as, in his words, an

unfortunate accident.

Now, since you were involved, would you tell us what happened that night,

please?

I'm an alcoholic, Mr. Mason.

Prior to that night, I had not had a drink for an entire year.

My husband and I planned to celebrate that milestone and a wedding

It was a weekend at Cliffside starting the next day.

Instead, the night before, I drank, became intoxicated, and

accompanied Tobin Wade to Cliffside Resort. Was going to Cliffside your

No. Tobin just drove there. He didn't ask me.

Now, according to your testimony, it's a preliminary hearing in Manzana County.

Tobin Wade left word that if anyone wanted him, he'd gone for a walk in the

bluff and that he could be found there.

Yes, sir.

In other words, he made a particular point of your knowing where he was so

could tell Dr.

Stewart when he arrived.

Well, I guess so.

He said he'd be out there on the bluff.

If Dr.

Stewart met Tobin Wade on that bluff, and if Dr.

Stewart struggled with Wade as he claimed he did, you wouldn't be having a

right now.

Now, why is that, Sheriff Vincent?

Tobin Wade would have been killed by that fall then and there.

You insist that Tobin Wade could not have survived the fall, is that it?

No man could fall off of that bluff into the rocks and surf below and not be

killed.

Mr. Richards, what is your occupation?

I'm a self -employed professional freelance photographer.

Now, please describe the professional work that you do involving motion

pictures. For various producing companies and television stations, I

pictures of newsworthy events on assignment.

Now, in connection with your testimony in this case, have you brought with you

today a motion picture film of experiments conducted by you under my

yesterday, a film which will clarify your testimony?

Yes, sir. I have them with me now.

If it pleases the court, may I ask the purpose of this film?

To describe an event as it actually occurred, to show a scene as it existed

the time of the events and controversy.

Counsel can't possibly be referring to what happened on the bluff between

Stewart and Wade.

Exactly and specifically just that, Mr. Berger.

Motion pictures are admissible in evidence when properly authenticated and

relevant. Deering's Penal Code, Siting 21, California Appellate, 2nd, 263, Your

Honor. But this is just a... a recreation, nothing but an experiment.

2. Jones on Evidence, 456.

Experiments which have been made out of court may be proved for the purpose of

illustrating the testimony which has been given in court. May I remind you,

gentlemen, the admissibility of motion pictures is a matter solely within the

discretion of the court.

Before ruling on the objection, we shall view the film.

This film was taken on the bluff at Cliffside.

For the purposes of the experiment, Mr. Mason enacted the role of the defendant

while Mr. Paul Drake portrayed Tobin Wade. This film shows one sequence of

action, first at normal speed, then in slow motion shot from the same angle.

Your Honor, what you just saw did not take a trained acrobat.

What you saw could have been done with absolute safety by an agile man willing

to take a chance.

The defense contends it is the manner in which Tobin Wade tricked Aaron Stewart

into believing he had killed the man.

Prosecution's objection to the admissibility of the film is overruled.

with your next witness, Mr. Mason.

Now, this is a receipt for a tackling dummy purchased by your school for your

football team.

And where was the dummy kept?

In the sports equipment locker.

Padlocked. And the only person with a key to that locker was you.

Yes. Now, Mr. Emmett, that tackling dummy isn't in your locker.

What did you do with it?

Oh, no, you don't. I saw the dummy in the motion pictures.

I know what you're trying to do. Well, it won't work.

If Tobin Wade was to survive that fall at Cliffside...

It meant that going there was no spur -of -the -moment decision.

It had to be something he'd planned.

Planned even to the point of getting that dummy from you.

No. No, I never gave him that dummy. Just the key to the locker.

You gave him the key before he went to the Stewart house?

Before he tricked Marion Stewart into drinking?

Yes. Yes, I guess so.

Why? What kind of role did Tobin Wade have over you that he could force you to

make calls for him? Force you to give him things he wanted, like the key to

locker, where you also kept hidden some of the...

Stolen textbooks.

Sure. Of course.

Psychic. You, not Aaron Stewart. You and Tobin Wade stole those textbooks.

Isn't that correct?

Miss Witt's identification of Wade would ultimately have led to an

identification of you.

I guess Wade figured that someday he'd have to get out of sight.

In case she and the police ever got together, I mean. And so one afternoon,

picked up the dummy, left it planted just below the bluff in the bushes, went

the Stewart house, tricked Marion into drinking, Took her out to Cliffside,

went out on the bluff and waited for Aaron Stewart to arrive.

Mr. Mason, believe me, I don't... I had nothing to do with all that stuff. But

why didn't he just disappear?

What did Wade hope to gain with this elaborate frame -up? Was it more than

discrediting Stewart and killing the endowment?

Was it really a means of forcing Stewart to lose the school and the property?

How about it, Mr. Emmett?

How much were you paid for the job?

Nothing. Not a penny.

Sure, Wade propositioned me. Asked me to help him sabotage the school. Even

offered to split some dough with me.

But I turned him down cold.

Look, don't you see? I couldn't say anything without talking myself right

jail. But I swear I had nothing to do with that phony death.

And I swear to you I had nothing to do with Wade's murder.

On this proposition by Wade to sabotage the school, did you know the identity of

the man who was paying Wade off?

Well, no.

That is not his name.

Not his name, but you did know his occupation.

You did know he was a real estate man.

And there was only one real estate man who stood to profit.

Just one.

That man was Harvey Forrest.

But that is an issue of lies and guesses.

Why? Why should I pay anyone to harass Dr. Stewart and the school?

For half a million dollars?

Profits you would make in partnership with the Baker Corporation?

Here.

Take a look at this photograph.

When Mr. Baker first decided to build a new city to sink millions into rapid

development of Manzana Valley, he contacted some people in the valley.

were delighted to recommend him to you, to Harvey Forrest.

Must I call Mr. Baker in?

Have him testify that you offered him the most fantastic piece of property in

the valley?

Property that was exactly what he was looking for.

He agreed, didn't he?

There was only one small hitch.

One little problem.

Manzana Valley Prep School was directly in the middle of that property. The key

piece.

And you didn't own it.

Now, listen, Mr. Mason.

I knew nothing about Wade's plan to frame Aaron on a manslaughter charge.

you must believe that.

Wade did hear me talking over the property with Mr.

Baker. And he learned something, I suppose, and he guessed the rest because

was Wade. It was he.

He propositioned me.

And I admit, I agreed to pay him a few dollars if he could force Dr. Stewart to

close the school. But that was all.

And even so, I told him I wouldn't pay him because he hadn't earned his money.

Well, what he was doing was so obvious that I thought that Aaron would catch on

to it.

But then he thought of the accidental death at Cliffside.

What happened after that, Mr. Forrest?

After Stewart's trial, were you then contacted by a dead man?

When I heard Wade's voice on the telephone, I was never so shocked in my

But it was Wade.

And he was very excited.

He said, oh, he'd close the school with a bang, hadn't he? For good, forever.

And now there was only one thing left. I was to come up and pay him off.

And so you went out to his place to meet him?

To pay him off?

With what?

I didn't have $100 to my name.

And I wouldn't have until I cleared the Baker deal.

But I went out to him to explain it.

And when I got there, that's when he told me that he could prove so easily

I was the one that put him up to this horrible stunt and that we were in it

together, that we were partners.

And that's why he demanded, oh, not just a little money, Mr. Mason.

He demanded that I pay him $50 ,000.

And so you killed him.

I... I... I knew that that would only be the first

payment. So I... I did. I grabbed a log.

And I... Yes, there was... There was blood.

Yes.

You heard Stuart coming.

You hid.

When he showed up, you knocked him out.

You got Stuart's tire iron from his car, hit Wade with it.

Put the iron in Stuart's hand.

But why?

Didn't it occur to you to just bury Tobin Wade?

A man already thought dead?

Nobody would have known.

I couldn't do that. Things were happening too fast. I saw that school

come out, and I was afraid that she might have seen Wade.

And then Aaron, I wouldn't have heard Aaron.

Aaron, he happened to come at that time. And then I had to be very, very clever

about it. And I was, you admit that.

Because I did just as you said. And there they were.

And it was obvious. And I was clear. I was out of it.

Forty years I've been watching real estate here in Southern California grow

become important.

I was clever enough to see that, you see. I was part of it.

And I always made mistakes.

But the Baker deal, that was the thing that would have... They would have

stopped it.

It was the only thing I could do.

That was the only thing I could do.

Was it?

Defense arrest, Your Honor.

In return for deeding us this key area in the center of our proposed city

development, Dr. Stewart, we have agreed with Mr. Mason.

to what we trust will be a satisfactory arrangement.

The corporation will deed to the school this set of lots here on the periphery

of the development.

We will build you your school, Dr. Stewart.

The most modern and efficient plant our architects can work out.

Harry, you've given Marion and me a second chance to start over.

And Mr. Baker, you're certainly giving us the means to do it.

You won't be sorry, either of you.

We promise.