Original subtitles

Bye.

BK, please, it's important.

There's a little too snug in the shoulders.

Leslie, don't you think this is too much? Please, BK, we have to discuss

don't have to do anything.

Ask Eric to look at my calendar and set you up with a half -hour appointment.

An appointment, eh?

Like the one you had with a state taxman and didn't keep.

Or the conference with Leo Manning with sitting here twiddling his thumb for two

hours while you were entertaining your drinking friends at the country club.

You're assuming on our relationship and I won't take it. You'll take whatever's

necessary to make you wake up. Let's leave.

You, out!

Out!

Now, it's not enough that you have been running Vero Plastic on the verge of

bankruptcy for years with your dictatorial one -man policy. No, you

out and buy a South American plant for us to expand our enterprises.

Well, I took an evaluation of that plant you paid top dollar for. I authorized

no evaluation.

Well, I did.

When you made me vice president in charge of business affairs, whether you

it or not, you also gave me some authority.

Enough authority to check on your irresponsible management of this

Now I know why I never liked accountants. Well, you'll like them even

the annual stockholders meeting next month.

Leslie, can you... Never mind turning to your legal protege for help.

I've already checked with her on the SEC statuary requirements for a proxy

fight. A proxy fight?

Yes, a proxy fight.

If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to get you out of this company.

A mind like an adding machine.

The heart of a tiger.

Ed Lewis will make Vero Plastic a good president.

You talk as though my son -in -law has already taken my place.

Oh, he will.

Never fear.

With help.

Yours?

Well, there is a certain security in betting on a horse that has to win.

So that's the way it is.

It's the way it could be.

But not the way it's going to be.

Do you think I'd let you stop now?

Schedule a meeting at the lodge just as you planned.

Meet Orlando and pay him off.

I don't know, Leslie.

Suppose Edward... Suppose, suppose. Is Ed right? Are you nothing but a silly,

frightened old man?

All right, I'll...

Take Ed on if I have to. But you don't.

I suggest, BK, that you hire an outside firm of auditors to go over the company

books.

Now.

I don't believe it.

Are you saying my son... Now.

Funny.

Keep a man busy enough defending himself, and he doesn't have time to

somebody else.

Ed Lewis may be your daughter's husband, but he's also a power -hungry man,

eaten with ambition.

A dangerous man being paid.

Oh, there.

Be a good secretary.

I know it's still early, but I think your boss needs a drink.

Here we are.

Gertrude's been on that phone a long time.

She'll be right down, Sylvia.

Not drinking tonight, Walter?

Oh, thanks.

The old man spoke to me today.

Told you I declared a state of war, huh?

Well, weren't you a little hasty, Ed?

Walter, you're vice president in charge of sales. No need to tell you how the

company's doing.

You think I was hasty?

If you expect Walter Cord to commit himself, don't hold your breath.

To my reckless husband, the word maybe is a daring invitation to disaster.

BK is my friend.

He's also my father -in -law, but that doesn't make him right when he's wrong.

Walter, I need your help. The company needs your help.

We founded the company together, BK and I, 30 years ago.

It just doesn't seem right to turn against him. He turned against himself,

against everybody who loved him.

When his wife died, BK changed, and he's been impossible ever since.

What did you expect?

They loved one another.

He was hurt. He missed her.

Sure.

On the Riviera, in Paris, in Monte Carlo, with a collection of

playgirls that would have done credit to a college football team, let alone one

unhappy old man.

That's over and done with.

Oh, Walter, you are so, so... Four years ago, the company had three

attorneys. Then B .K. hired Leslie Ross as a sort of glorified law clerk.

Now what?

Now the company has one attorney.

Leslie Ross.

Walter.

Surely you're aware that he's running the company into the ground, permitting

his officers to be nothing more than rubber stamps?

Now, that isn't so.

Why, he's turning the new South American plan over to me, isn't he? Of course.

Somebody has to take the rap for that nightmare of a mistake.

Why not Walter Cord, good old faithful Walter Cord?

Sure, let him send you to South America, bury you there, and he will.

And when that whole crazy thing goes under, so will you. It just doesn't seem

right. It's just loyal.

Thank you, Walter.

Ed B .K. is having an early meeting tomorrow morning.

I understand that he would like to have you and Walter there.

I have a terrible headache. I hope you'll excuse me. I don't think I can

to play any more bridge or even company tonight. Of course, Gertrude. Good

night, sweetheart.

Good night, Ed.

Come along, Walter. Thank you, Sylvia.

Night, Kurt.

It's all right, Ed. We'll let ourselves out. I'll see you in the morning,

Walter.

Well, now.

Who was that on the phone?

It couldn't have been B .K.

You haven't talked to your father in over three months.

Did you think I wouldn't notice?

I loathe that woman.

I despise her.

Now, wait a minute.

Don't tell me that Leslie Ross called here.

How dare she call me?

Is she so stupid that she thinks I don't know or I don't care that she's

destroying my father?

Well, what did she want?

My promise to vote my company stopped to BK at the annual meeting.

She suggested that if I had to choose between my husband and my father, I

find it smarter to get on BK's bandwagon while I could.

I'd hoped you wouldn't find out about that yet.

She took great pains to tell me that my ambitious husband was trying to have my

father thrown out of the company that he had founded.

I'd figure out whether she's trying to drive a wedge between you and BK or you

and me.

Bet that company is all he has.

Are you forgetting Leslie?

If you take the company away from him, you'll kill him. Baby, I don't

understand. Honestly, I don't.

You know what's happening to him. You know what he's doing, and yet you still

fight to protect him.

Yes, he's my father.

But don't you understand? The man is... I'm sorry, baby.

I have no choice.

Please, try to understand.

What?

That you're destroying my father?

That you might also have some faith in me.

I'm your husband.

Coffee, Mr. Sutton?

No, thanks, dear.

If you can tear yourself away from that fingernail, Arthur, you might tell us

where your uncle is.

Sometime now my uncle hasn't told me what he does or why.

Poor neglected nephew.

He doesn't neglect you.

Are you angry with dear old B .K., Arthur?

Or just jealous?

Listen, Lizzie. Save it, Arthur. He's late.

He's 15 minutes late and I've got work to do.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Morning, BK. Good morning, Uncle Bruce.

Ed, are you interested in the company or your own personal ambitions?

The company.

Don't want to take my place? Be president of Vero Plastic?

I'm satisfied doing what I'm doing.

We're going ahead with the annual conference at the lodge as planned.

I've asked our general manager, Phil Jenks, to open up the lodge. New BK

Durand's concept of business as usual.

Drinking, fishing, swimming.

Barbecuing our way to bankruptcy.

BK, the South American plant.

We've a lot of work to do before I go.

Some of the office records are already crated. The rest are ready for crating.

Bill will have everything at the lodge.

Getting you and the records ready to go will be the first order of business.

And the second?

If you can sit on your sarcasm long enough to listen.

The second order of business will be the drafting of a new set of operational

bylaws. A complete reorganization of the company to be ready for stockholder

approval at the annual meeting.

Reorganization, huh?

A delegation of executive authority.

My successor will need it.

Successor BK?

At the annual meeting, I will make an announcement concerning my resignation

president of the company.

But Uncle Bruce... Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do.

Arthur, I'd like to talk to you for a moment.

I'm glad you asked me to stay, Uncle Bruce.

I got a letter today, and you'll never guess from whom.

Remember that place five years ago in the Riviera?

Arthur. That place we rented next to the two widows.

Arthur.

Well, one of them wrote and asked... Will you shut your silly, fatuous mouth?

Sorry, Uncle Bruce.

Arthur, I need an assignment of voting rights from you to me of your mother's

stock in the company.

Well, just a minute. That doesn't make any sense. If you do what you said,

there won't be any fight. You won't need the voting rights to meet him.

I haven't signed your pictures for you, Arthur. I need that assignment.

Uncle Bruce, I... If you force me, I can contact my sister in France, have her

revoke your voting rights and have them assigned to me.

Don't do that, Uncle Bruce.

Before we leave the lodge at the end of the week, I want that assignment.

I wonder what Ed's going to say when he finds out you don't intend to resign.

On the records, forms and papers...

crated and uncrated, will be trucked up to the lodge this afternoon.

St. Tress will pick them up in two and a half weeks, load them aboard ship at

San Pedro for shipping to South America.

I book passage on the same ship for myself, just to be sure.

I'll be waiting when the water flies down.

Time -wise, we're cutting a pretty fine BK, but it'll work.

Good, Phil. And the lodge?

The crew's already left to clean the staff.

They'll be ready to serve lunch tomorrow noon.

And the outside accountants, have they finished yet?

It's all right. He might as well know.

No, they're not finished yet.

But do they know? Are they sure yet?

Not a shadow of a doubt, BK.

Your son -in -law, Ed Lewis, has been embezzling from the company.

Harry, there's no question about it. My father -in -law, BK Duran, is an

embezzler, a thief.

You're sure, Ed?

I can understand when he went off on the deep end after his wife died.

And I can appreciate this preoccupation he has with this lady lawyer friend of

his, but I can't let him rob the company blind and make crossword puzzles out of

our business ledgers.

You don't believe he means to resign?

No, not for a minute.

Well, the books show that he just up and stole the money. Well, it's not as

simple as all that.

BK initials a memo, and then alakazam, thousands yo -yo from one department to

another until they disappear.

Look, I've tried to cover for him.

I'd even juggle some of the books myself.

But you get an outsider in there to audit those books.

And B .K. is going to find himself in jail.

You fiddle with those books and you'll both end up behind bars.

For Gertrude's sake, that's why I can't let it happen to him. That's why I must

have your help, Harry. You've got to get him to make restitution and to get out

of this company.

We'll need more than suspicions.

We'll need documentary proof to confront him with. And it had better be soon.

Very soon, Ed.

Well, maybe tomorrow or the next day at the latest.

Now, there's a cabin down the road from the lodge. I've arranged to rent it.

If... You can spare a few days away from the office.

He not only can, but should.

A few days of rest, some fishing would do him a world of good.

Do us both a world of good, Perry.

All right, Ed.

We'll be there.

Reception room here.

Office right behind it. Phil knows what I want for the production line.

Over here by the steam plant.

BK.

Yes, Phil? That report.

I just got a call. It's finished.

Good. Drive into town and get it, will you? I want it here tonight.

Oh, and something else, Phil.

Bureau, make out an authorization to the bank, will you?

In our vault, a large manila envelope. It's marked negotiable bonds. Bring it

back here.

Right.

The report Phil mentioned.

Something else to go down to South America?

No, no, nothing like that. Just having a books order to buy an outside firm.

It's a small world, isn't it, Mr. Mason?

If you say so.

I don't believe I know you.

Well, that is strictly your fault. My name's Paul Drake.

Oh.

Mr. Mason's favorite private detective.

Have I blundered into some deep, dark mystery?

The only mystery I know of at the moment is the identity of a very attractive

young lady standing there watching us. Oh, I forgot. I'm sorry.

I'm Leslie Roth.

You lectured to a class in criminal law at the University of San Fernando

Valley. I was in a class.

I trust my lecture didn't impede your legal career.

No, no. I graduated and passed the bar exam and got my license, thank you. If

it's a hunting and fishing license, I'm in season.

A famous criminal lawyer and a famous private detective.

Practically close enough to reach out and touch.

How very nice.

I'm convenient.

There are going to be two outsiders for dinner at the lodge tonight.

Oh?

Sylvia told me that Leslie ran into them down at the lake.

Perry Mason and Paul Drake.

I find it very interesting.

Mason's an old friend of yours, isn't he?

Yes, he is.

They must have rented the cabin down the road.

Ed, why do you need a lawyer and a detective?

Ed.

Ed, I love you.

Please, don't lock me out. If you're in some kind of trouble, let me help you.

Trouble?

All right.

The accountant's audit that Phil brought.

Is that why the lawyer's here? Because of what the audit says about you? Now,

look, baby, we've talked about this before. I know what I'm doing. Now,

don't ask any questions. Just leave the whole thing alone for a couple of days.

Please. Why?

Just tell me why.

Why, Ed?

Morning, Andy.

Paul.

A cup of coffee for Andy, Paul.

You look like you've had a long night, Andy.

After you and Paul left, yes, it was a long, long night.

And it's only the beginning, Perry.

A bruise is from a struggle, but B .K. Duran was healed by being stabbed in the

back. Find the weapon?

Nope, no sign of a weapon or of the briefcase.

Went over the area with a fine -tooth comb.

Briefcase? A real grab -bag bonanza, according to the secretary and general

manager. Item one,

$200 ,000 worth of unregistered negotiable bearer bonds belonging to the

company. Item two, which had nothing to do with the $200 ,000 in bonds, an

auditor's report proving there is an embezzler in the company.

Perry, are you representing anybody in that company?

Whom did you have in mind? The man who rented this cabin for you?

You didn't waste much time, Andy, did you?

No. Not after I found out he's the one that Audit named as the embezzler.

Well, thanks for the coffee. It hit the spot.

Oh, by the way, Perry, if you get any mail while you're up here and happen to

need a long, sharp letter opener, don't bother to ask Ed Lewis for one.

It seems his is lost.

Oh.

Oh, it's you.

Well, I waited until you finished talking with Lieutenant Anderson, and

wandered off and didn't come straight back, I thought I'd better come looking

for you.

Well, I'd be genuinely touched if it weren't so obvious that, uh, well, you

less interested in me and more interested in what the lieutenant and I

talking about.

What were you talking about?

There's no secret about it, Mr. Private Detective.

I told the lieutenant there was no doubt but that Ed Lewis had murdered B .K.

Duran. Didn't I teach you in law school that it's the judge and jury who decide

a man's guilt?

A keyhole keeper with a childlike faith in the noble traditions of the law.

Really, Mr. Drake, you disappoint me.

That's too bad.

Maybe I've worked too long with a real lawyer.

A man who has a great respect for the ideas of justice.

Why don't you get off your moral high horse?

When I found BK, do you know why I went to the cabin?

Who's rendering verdicts now?

Oh, don't take it to heart, Mr. Drake.

Men who never make mistakes are so stuffy.

B .K. asked me to come to the cabin to be present as the company attorney when

he confronted Ed Lewis.

Confronted him?

To give him the choice of making restitution of the $50 ,000 he embezzled

going to jail.

Anderson? Yes, Mr. Sutton? One of your men, despite my vehement objections, is

searching through my luggage piece by piece.

We're looking for a murder weapon and a missing briefcase.

Everybody's luggage is being searched, Mr. Sutton. Well, I don't like it.

I don't imagine the murdered man did either.

Lieutenant, are you finished with me now?

I'm afraid not.

I haven't seen my wife since all this happened.

Oh, she's fine, Mr. Lewis. The courts took her home and are staying with her.

As soon as I check something with Mr. Sutton, I'd like you to come downtown

me.

Just routine.

Some questions.

All right, Mr. Sutton.

Do we need to talk anymore before I go downtown with you?

No, Perry.

Not now.

Maybe later.

Mr. Jane.

May I detain you just long enough to ask a question or two of you and Miss

Hillman? Well, now, look. Fear has been through enough of a wringer already.

What more is there to ask?

Exactly how much do those missing bonds total, Miss Hillman?

$200 ,000.

Did the company usually keep that large an amount in bonds on hand?

No.

Actually, Mr. Doran converted other assets into those bonds.

It was for a transaction the company was making.

Then there really wasn't any embezzlement, was there?

Just a confusion in the auditor's report about those bonds.

The embezzlement was separate and apart.

Had nothing to do with those bonds.

What did it have to do with?

Fifty thousand in cash.

Embezzled by Ed Lewis.

I'm sure you won't have a drink.

No, thanks.

Well, I sure hope it works. Hope what works?

Sylvia's giving Gertrude the medication the doctor left to quiet her.

I've never seen Gert so torn up before.

Poor girl.

Well, I sure hope this marriage isn't headed for the rocks, too.

One of them was married before?

Gert. A long time ago.

Divorced. Ed was just a struggling young accountant when he met her and married

her.

Good man, Ed.

Good for her, good for the company.

With men like Ed, you available, do you think Arthur Sutton will be given the

company to run?

What? With B .K. dead, yes.

If B .K. were alive, Walter would have been elected president at the meeting.

You sound sure of that.

I saw B .K.

late that afternoon.

He swore he was going to resign just as soon as he'd finished something he was

working on.

Did he say what?

No. Did he say anything about Ed Lewis?

He was going to send Vera over to tell anyone to see him before dinner.

He had a briefcase on his desk.

BK patted the briefcase and laughed and said he'd soon have nothing to worry

about from Ed.

Well, whatever happened, whatever anyone says, I just can't believe that Lewis

killed BK Duran.

Is Mrs. Lewis alone in her room?

Yes, but I'm afraid she's in no condition to see anyone.

Excuse me.

Who is it?

Harry Mason.

May I come in, please?

Henry, where's Ed? I've got to talk to him right away.

He's still at police headquarters.

Paul's there waiting.

Oh.

Well, then I'll have to talk to you.

Come in, please.

Sylvia said you were too upset to talk to anyone.

Harry, don't you see I couldn't talk to the police until I talked to Ed or to

you?

I was afraid they'd ask me what I saw.

What did you see?

I, uh... I saw Ed coming out of my father's cabin.

And he had the letter opener in his hand.

His own letter opener.

And I saw him run down to the lake and throw the letter opener in the water.

Edmund washed his hands.

Barry, he killed my father.

I was just about to knock.

There's a call for you.

A Mr. Paul Drake.

He said it was urgent.

Well, it is.

The fool, the stupid fool.

All right, Paul, we'd better get out there as fast as we can.

Is this what you're looking for, Mr. Lewis?

I'm afraid that's it, Mr. Lewis.

Anyone can call?

Mm -hmm.

He's on his way.

Harry, with the Ed Lewis hearing first thing in the morning, do you plan to get

yourself any sleep or, um...

Are you just going to work all night?

You're really worried about this case, aren't you?

First man who invents a 30 -hour day is going to get himself a fortune.

You asked for a second three -day continuance.

And Berger turned you down.

Why did you ask? What could you do with more time?

Convince the murderer that he didn't have any time. Let the murderer prove

I know.

But can't prove yourself?

You look like you just lost your best friend.

Perry may have just lost his latest client.

I don't know how.

But Berger found out that Gertrude Lewis saw her husband come out of BK's cabin

without a letter opener and toss it in the lake.

Fortunately, a wife can't testify against her husband.

Well, here's a full report on Ed and Gertrude Lewis.

Copies of her divorce from her first husband and a record of her subsequent

marriage to Lewis.

What's wrong, Paul?

She was married two days before her divorce became final.

Gertrude and Ed Lewis are not legally a man and wife.

And she can testify.

If Berger finds out about this, subpoenas her, forces her to tell her

Let's see that full report.

Paul, have you still got a contact inside the district attorney's office?

Certainly. What do you want?

Well, get the information about the void marriage to your contact.

I want Berger to have it in the morning. No sooner than a half hour before he

goes to court.

What? This may be my chance to get the time I need.

I want Berger to know about this, but not to know that the information came

us or that we know.

Come in, Barry.

Good morning.

Morning, Hamilton. Judge Spinner.

Perry, I asked for this meeting.

I've issued a subpoena to Gertrude Lewis.

I'm sure she expected to attend without being subpoenaed. Yes, but I intend to

call her as a witness against Edward Lewis.

Wife is not a competent witness against her husband except with the consent of

both. If the defendant invokes the rule of incompetency, then the defendant

assumes the burden of establishing the existence of a marital relationship.

How then are you saying that Mr.

and Mrs. Lewis are not married?

Despite the date a divorce decree is supposed to be final, Your Honor, in

Illinois it actually and legally isn't final until an attorney presents the

decree to the judge and he signs it.

So if an attorney is a day or two late getting the decree signed, the supposed

and actual dates may differ.

I'm aware of that. Some information came to my attention this morning.

I had only time to call Chicago.

I found out that Edward and Gertrude Lewis were married on July 13th.

Her divorce decree from her first husband was signed by the judge on July

two days after she and the defendant were married.

Under the laws of the state of Illinois, a marriage attempted while one of the

parties has a spouse living is bigamous and void.

Technically, at least, Gertrude Lewis was a bigamous for two days and isn't

married now.

She'll have to testify, if not at the hearing, then at the trial.

Judge Penham.

Edward and Gertrude Lewis did not come to California from Illinois immediately

after they were married.

I happen to know they lived for a few years in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado,

Nebraska. Colorado, Perry?

Why, yes.

Colorado, Judge Penner.

Colorado is one of the states that recognizes common -law marriage.

A valid common -law marriage in Colorado, if it was, is recognized as a

marriage in California.

She would be his wife.

She could not testify.

But just living together in Colorado wouldn't create a common law marriage.

No, not unless there was provable habit and repute.

Purchase and sale of property or chattels as husband, wife.

Your Honor, if you'll grant me just a three -day continuance, I'll get the

of this matter one way or the other.

Well, we always like to cooperate with the district attorney's office.

Defense offers no objection.

Fine. This hearing is postponed for three days. Thank you, Your Honor.

Thank you, Hamilton.

What?

Thank you.

Trust me, Ed. I know what I'm doing.

I want you to tell the district attorney just what you've told me.

What happened when you walked into BK's cabin?

He was sitting in the shadows behind his desk.

He didn't answer, so I went around, touched him on the shoulder, and he

to fall.

I reached for him.

Caught hold of the letter opener on his back. He was dead.

And there I was.

Standing behind him with a murder weapon in my hand.

I ran like a frightened kid.

But you weren't frightened for yourself, were you?

The truth now, Ed.

The whole truth now.

I threw that letter opener away.

Because I was...

rattled enough and stupid enough at that moment to think that my wife had fought

with and killed her father.

What made you think that at that particular moment?

Well, you asked for some evidence on what B .K. was doing.

I had a photostat made of one of the pages in the ledger.

I was checking the writings of one of the entries with my magnifying glass,

which was on the other end of the letter opener, when Gertrude came in and saw

me. You didn't take that letter opener in with you when you went to see Duran?

No, I left it in the photostat in the writing desk in my cabin.

I thought about it later when I was about to go into B .K.'s cabin, so I

back to get it, but the photostat was gone.

And so was the letter opener.

Well, I figured that Gertrude had spotted it, used the glass to check it.

run to confront her father, the letter opener in one hand, proof of her

embezzlement in the other. That moment, that's all I could think.

You still think your wife might have killed her father? No, I don't, and I

did.

I was panicky and shocked that one crazy day, but I give you my solemn oath.

My wife is incapable of murdering anybody.

She didn't kill her father, and she didn't touch that letter opener.

When I saw Ed's notes to Mr. Mason on the photostat, and when I realized that

was preparing proof that my father was a thief, I just ran to my father.

With the photostat and the letter opener?

Yes.

He was furious.

He tore up the photostat and he threw it on the fire.

And then he walked over to his desk.

And he opened a briefcase.

And he took out an auditor's report, which he said proved that my husband was

thief and not my father.

Well, did you struggle with him?

I mean, did you try to get the photostat or the auditor's report away from him?

Oh, no.

But when he calmed down, so did I.

I went to Sylvia.

I stayed there for a while.

Then I went to my cabin to change for dinner.

And you left that letter opener in your father's cabin?

Yes, on his desk.

Gertrude said your father calmed down.

Had he changed his mind then about your husband?

I don't know, Perry.

But he was puzzled.

Dad was so sure that Ed was an embezzler.

And Ed was so sure that Dad was an embezzler.

Father said that it just didn't make sense.

Hamilton.

Hamilton, the last question I asked Ed Lewis was whether that briefcase was

still on B .K. Duran's desk when he ran out to throw that letter opener in the

lake.

Do you remember his answer?

Yes, he said it was. Why?

And he found the letter opener.

Has he found the briefcase?

No, not a trace of it.

Wait a minute.

Today's continuance.

You must have fed me that information about the void marriage.

You deliberately maneuvered me into asking for a delay.

Why?

Motive.

If Lewis killed his father -in -law, the briefcase and the report in it had to

be the reason.

He wouldn't leave the briefcase there.

All right.

So what?

Three days or 300 days?

It isn't going to make any difference to you unless you know who took the

briefcase and where it is.

That's just it. I do.

Hamilton, I need your help.

All right, Perry.

I'll go along with you.

We already canceled shipping crates and started searching through them when Mr.

Mason convinced us you'd show up and save us the trouble.

But you thought those crates were being shipped out tomorrow.

You had to get to them tonight, didn't you, Arthur?

All right, you might as well give me the briefcase.

Hamilton, you'd better open that briefcase now, with all of us as

You knew?

If I was right.

It had to be.

Mr. Sutton, here are the negotiable bonds you stole.

This is a cut -up newspaper.

Paper!

Perry,

I think now I need your help.

Don't you understand? I was in trouble. Serious trouble.

The stock. My mother's stock. I pawned it. I didn't have it.

I didn't have the voting rights to turn over to Uncle Bruce, my mother, to

anybody. Pawned this guy?

Why?

My president, he called it a doctor.

What a laugh.

I was a glorified office boy, that's all.

BK was a great one for handing out titles.

I invested in new business.

The only capital I could lay my hands on was by pawning mother's stock.

And the business collapsed.

So when B .K. pressured you for that, Scott, your back was to the wall.

I was on my way to tell Uncle Bruce the truth.

I saw Ed come out, holding that letter opener.

I saw Gertrude follow him to the lake.

I ran into the cabin.

And there he was.

B .K.

Dead.

And there was that briefcase.

The briefcase you thought contained a fortune and negotiable bonds.

The storeroom with some of the crates still open was in the back of B .K.'s

cabin.

I grabbed the briefcase, shoved it under the open crates, and nailed the crate

closed. I didn't kill him, Mr. Mason, I swear it.

And I didn't embezzle so much as one penny from the company.

B .K. Duran gave 30 years of his life to the company.

30 years.

And they all turned on him.

All of them tried to push him out.

He had a right to fight back any way he could.

With those negotiable bonds and a man named Antonio Orlando.

He was afraid they'd stop him.

And so he made a swear to keep it secret. Keep secret the fact that he was

dealing with Antonio Orlando to buy controlling interest in a mine producing

minerals the company was desperately short of.

That was only part of it.

The mine alone wasn't enough.

The government down there wouldn't grant any new export licenses.

So B .K. Duran had to first buy an obsolete, presumably worthless plant,

plant that already had an existing export license.

That was a dangerous gamble, Mr. Mason.

But don't you see, they gave him no choice, and he took that chance.

It was a gamble to revitalize the company.

Or break it.

Yes.

That's why we had to keep it secret.

And the negotiable bonds.

They were to pay for this, uh, this mine?

Yes. What was the exact total of those bonds?

$200 ,000.

Sure I knew about the South American deal. I had to. I was going down there

Walter Cord to set up the export end of it.

And Walter Cord?

There was no question about what Walter could have the plant operating

profitably within a year.

The $200 ,000 converted into bonds to pay for that South American plant.

How did that money show up in the books?

It didn't.

B .K. in his own bullheaded way played musical chairs with that money from

department to department until it just didn't show up in the books at all.

And the outside auditors, or Edward Lewis examining those books, might

that the money had been embezzled.

Oh, it was missing, but there was nothing to show it had been embezzled.

was something else, something entirely different.

Different how?

Entries had deliberately been tampered with, and $50 ,000 had obviously been

stolen from the company.

Obviously? That's right, Mr. Mason.

Obviously.

Ed Lewis had tampered with those books. Even a child could see that. So

obviously, Ed Lewis embezzled that $50 ,000.

Yes, B .K. Duran told me that his son -in -law was an embezzler.

Just told you?

No, as a matter of fact, he opened that briefcase you keep referring to and let

me read the report.

So you were able to read for yourself the facts as the auditors had found

Particularly the fact that Edward Lewis was an embezzler.

Yes. That fact and the fact that $250 ,000 was unaccounted for.

That's right.

And, of course, you knew nothing at all about the South American deal.

Not a thing.

Then how were you able the next morning to tell Paul Drake that $50 ,000 had

been embezzled? Why?

Not knowing about the $200 ,000 converted to bonds.

How did you know the exact amount that had been... Well, I... I... Unless you,

Miss Ross...

You, knowing of the bonds because you set up the South American deal and

you hoped to marry DK after alienating him from his daughter and her husband.

Unless you embezzled that amount yourself and used Ed Lewis's tampering

books to frame him. No.

No.

Why?

Why, Eddie Lewis told me.

That night.

He told me himself.

How could Ed Lewis tell you $50 ,000 had been embezzled? He didn't know about

the bonds either.

Well, it was when I went to tell him that... Well, that B .K. wanted to see

That B .K. had sent me to tell him that he wanted to talk to both of us before

dinner. That's a lie.

Mr. Lewis.

She didn't tell me to see B .K. It was... Mr. Lewis.

Don't listen to him.

He's lying.

When I told him about the report, he admitted stealing the $50 ,000.

He admitted it.

But that's why he killed B .K.

Don't you see?

I'm afraid she's not telling the truth, Mr. Mason.

BK asked me to tell Ed Luce he wanted to see him, and it was I who went to the

cabin and told him.

Thank you, Miss Hillman.

Oh, by the way, it was you, wasn't it, who stole the $200 ,000 worth

of bonds from the bank vault?

Stole them weeks before Phil Jenks was sent to the vault to get them? What?

You not only had the authority to authorize others to go into the company

as you authorized Phil Jenks, but you could enter the vault yourself anytime

wanted. But I didn't.

But you did. The district attorney and the police have investigated, Miss

Hillman.

They have a record of each and every visit to the vault where those bonds

kept. Oh, no.

$200 ,000 worth of unregistered negotiable bearer bonds.

You stole them bond by bond from the vault and hid them.

hid them in an already sealed crate of records to be shipped to South America.

That's a lie.

Is it?

Mr. Berger?

This was found last night, Miss Hillman.

Latent fingerprints on the outside were identified as yours.

And latent fingerprints on the bonds inside were also identified as yours.

Oh, please.

Please, Mr. Mason.

Why?

Was it because you hoped to marry B .K.? Because of all the women, there was one

you couldn't cope with? It was Leslie Ross who made you realize the years of

waiting had been wasted.

The South American deal was more than a gamble. It was B .K.'s last hope to

retain control of Aeroplastic.

Getting even was easy, wasn't it?

All you had to do was steal those bonds.

Why would I put them in crates? I wasn't going to South America.

No, but your accomplice was.

He would recover the bonds and you would join him later.

Wasn't that the plan, Bill Jenks?

From the first day I met him, he used me.

Just like he used everybody and everything he touched for his own

It was all planned so carefully.

The only thing we didn't know is that the payoff to Orlando would be in this

country at the lodge.

We nearly died when he sent me for the bonds.

We thought it would be weeks before he'd need them. Weeks!

You gave him the empty envelope knowing it was a matter maybe of hours before he

discovered the bonds were gone.

And that you and Vera were the only ones who could have taken them.

Who actually stabbed him? Vera?

No!

I didn't know he was going to kill him!

I just picked up the letter opener from the desk and I killed him.

I heard Lewis coming. I started to run out the back and I remember the

briefcase. The briefcase with the empty bond envelope.

You couldn't leave that.

Sutton.

Arthur Sutton.

I was hiding behind the crates when he came in and hid the briefcase.

He was helping me, the fool.

A crazy fool.

Doing all that for nothing.

Just like you and Vera.

For nothing.

You were one of the co -founders of the company, Mr. Cord, and you are a senior

vice president.

Oh, I'm sure the stockholders and the board, what's left of it, will make the

gesture.

You know, Sylvia may be amazed to learn that I can make a decision.

Then you plan to nominate Ed Lewis as president of the company?

Yes, Miss Street. He's earned the position and he'll get it.

Actually, Mr. Mason, what I came in to ask is whether or not you would be

interested in representing the company.

Assuming, of course, that... Well, as a matter of fact, right now, I don't know

whether Leslie Ross is or isn't still the company attorney.

Miss Ross indicated to Jack Penner she will plead guilty to embezzlement and

perjury. Which means that your sexy solicitor faces a 10 -year term in

And as barman, they'll take away her license to practice law.

She'll never miss it.

With her face and figure, she's got a built -in license to practice black

if she wants to. How are you going to stop her?

Oh, Proverbs.

110, I believe.

What's that?

My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.