Original subtitles

Thank you.

Wonderful, darling. Wonderful.

Exactly the effect I desire.

A sea name, Fanade, just risen from the sea.

And now one without the jacket, Judith.

But with the same lovely expression of joyful abandon.

Aren't you wondering, Jacob, why I agreed to work with you tonight?

After hours?

For money, I suppose.

That's generally the reason.

Though I must admit it's not often one of my lustrous cousin Carol's high

fashion models poses for me.

I wanted to see you alone.

It's not about those negatives again.

I've paid more than $5 ,000 now, Jacob.

Don't you think that's enough?

But I told you before.

The negatives have vanished months ago.

You've only to check that report Carol made to the police.

It happens I did.

You told them you were paying blackmail?

No, Jacob.

It hasn't come to that yet.

Oh, but it has come to accusing me.

You took the pictures.

They were stolen.

By someone who recognized who they were of? By someone who made prints to send

with the letters demanding money?

Suppose you have been paying me.

How can you prove it?

With this, Jacob.

Where did you get that?

From your desk.

And since it's yours, you know it's loaded.

And you think with that you can make me confess?

I don't want a confession, Jacob.

Just the negatives.

I haven't got them.

In the darkroom, there's a locked cabinet.

It's Carl's.

You know this is his studio.

I saw you open the cabinet the other day when I was here posing for Carl. You're

so secretive.

I decided then you still had the negatives.

Suppose we go to the darkroom, Jacob, and open the cabinet.

Or would you rather I got the keys?

Another way.

Could it be sensible?

You wouldn't.

You wouldn't. Wouldn't what? Shoot you?

There is nothing I'd like better.

No, Judith.

No!

You know better than that. Now, mind your manners and come along.

Carl?

Irene, what in the world are you doing here? Walking Jameson while I wait for

your cousin Jacob.

Or didn't he tell you we had a date?

You and Jacob?

No, he didn't.

But why not wait inside in comfort?

He has a model with him.

Probably Miss January, uncled on a bearskin rug.

Or Miss August, sunbathing on a rock.

Shall we find out which month it is?

All right.

I suppose this means you're in charge of the blackmail department now.

Blackmail department?

Yes.

But don't worry, I'm still prepared to pay.

Everybody said I could beg, borrow, or steal.

Better count it.

Irene, I know nothing of any blackmail.

I allowed Jacob to use my studio, yes.

But we were not associates in anything.

I think this is something we should discuss.

I'm not here. Shall we go somewhere else?

What about him?

Jacob won't mind, I assure you.

But this could be very important to both of us.

All right. I suppose I've got nothing to lose.

Well, it's about time you got here.

Almost a quarter past eight.

And I know that your plane landed at seven because I checked.

Aye, Annie.

Hello, everybody.

But what did you do, Lewis? Walk from the airport?

Well, I might just as well have. There was a regular con night rush on cabs.

Besides, dear wife, weren't you supposed to meet me?

I would have, darling. Only Penny had the car.

Oh, I'm sorry. I just lost track of the time.

Well, I guess this is the year that I gained a daughter -in -law and lost a

Perry, I hope I didn't inconvenience you too badly.

Go ahead to reverse, Lewis.

You gave me an excuse to leave a snowdrift of unfinished work on my desk.

How'd you make out in Washington?

Yes, let's hear the news, Dad.

That's what the family's gathered here for. Am I the son of our newest

ambassador, or did you flunk your senatorial inquisition?

I think I got by, Norman. I even knew where Taraneka was, which impressed

everybody. Well, that calls for a toast.

Not yet.

It'll be a few days before I'm officially confirmed or rejected.

A drink without a toast, then, Catherine?

Penny?

Perry, I have a double apology to make.

Double? For keeping you waiting and also for having brought you over here for

nothing. I know I made it sound like life and death on the phone this

but since then I've found a way to take care of the matter myself.

That must be Judith.

You invited Judith?

What's so odd about that?

Penny's sister, your sister -in -law? She's family too, isn't she?

For you, Father. Thank you. And Mr. Mason, the refill?

No thanks, Norman. I'll finish this.

Judith, you're late.

Yes, I know. I had an assignment that ran overtime.

Mr. Ames?

Kenny?

Norman? Greetings, Judith.

What made you so late?

Just got behind schedule.

Job's all over town. You know how it is.

Yes, I know.

Judith, I'd like you to meet Perry Mason, my lawyer.

Lawyer? What brings you here, Mr. Mason?

Why, Judith, you sound as though you had a guilty conscience about something.

If so, don't worry. Mr. Mason came to see me.

Oh. Well, how do you do, Mr. Mason?

How do you do?

Catherine, would you mind if I used your bedroom for a moment to freshen up?

Go right ahead, dear.

Excuse me.

Penny, your sister's been working too hard. She looks exhausted.

It's not the work, darling. It's the dieting. I know, Mr. Mason, because I

to be a high -fashion model myself before Lewis decided to take on to

second wife. At the same time, saved me from starvation.

Speaking of starvation, how about dining with us, Perry?

Thanks, but I'm back to the fault lines.

I've enjoyed seeing you again, Ms. Ames, Penny, Norman.

Judith.

Oh, swim fashions in Santa Monica. They kept me so late after the last shot was

taken that I just ran.

You didn't see Jacob?

I love tomorrow.

I wish you'd done it today.

Penny, I told you, you're out of this.

Now leave Jacob to me.

Judith, there's a telephone call for you.

You can take it on the extension.

Yes?

Oh, hello, Eloise.

Well, did he leave his name?

No, he just hung up.

Does it make any sense to you?

Uh, yes, I think so.

Thank you, Eloise.

Who was that?

Oh, it's a new girl at my answering service.

An appointment canceled for tomorrow.

Now, come on, sis, speed it. Let me get dressed in peace.

I knew I was in worse trouble than even I'd thought after that weird message.

So I phoned Harper Green.

Harper Green?

Well, he's head of the model agency I work for.

And a friend.

I told him exactly what had happened and that I was going to go to the police.

And he said I should see a lawyer first.

Isn't it almost too coincidental, Miss Blair?

Someone shooting Jacob K. Donner just as you were threatening to shoot him

yourself? Are you positive? Quite positive you didn't fire the pistol you

holding? Perhaps without meaning to?

For a second I thought it had gone off. But it hadn't. Wouldn't the pistol

itself prove that if it were found not to have been fired?

It would certainly help make your story a little more believable.

Now, the actual shot, you say, came from the partially open door behind you.

That's the only place it could have come from.

But you didn't see anyone there.

You think I'm lying, Mr. Mason?

Oh, I don't blame you.

I guess the thing to do now is to go to the police.

The thing to have done was to have gone to them then.

But I panicked. Is that so unnatural?

No.

Let me recapitulate.

Jacob Kedar was blackmailing you as a result of some calendar art pictures

taken? Yes, two years ago.

I badly needed money.

And he threatened, or rather the letters which you believe came from him

threatened publication of these pictures.

What you felt would damage your career as a high fashion model.

Yes. So, believing the negatives, we're in a locked cabinet in the studio

darkroom.

You made an after hours appointment to pose for Kedar.

Yes. And after the shooting, you took the negatives?

No. I just dropped his pistol and ran.

Only to be followed by someone after you reached your car.

The killer, I was afraid it was, after me.

And the mysterious message, the killer again?

I don't know.

Do you want to see if Paul Drake's still in his office?

Mr. Mason, you're going to help me?

I was always going to, Miss Blair.

Before we decide to proceed, however, there are a few things I'd like to check

on first.

The first one being whether or not the gun was fired.

You'll find it hadn't been, Mr. Mason. Paul, Mr. Mason would like to talk to

you.

How would you like to have your picture taken, Paul?

When?

Right now.

Any luck?

Well, so far, a couple of pretty fair latent prints.

You want me to photograph you here or take the camera down to the lab? The

but later, after we finish.

Yeah, he's still here.

Lieutenant Anderson, it's for you.

Thanks.

Anderson.

On the right hand, huh?

I figures.

And thanks for being so quick.

Invite our guests in, will you, Sergeant?

You can forget about the camera.

Oh?

Well, I...

Guess that winds me up then, except for this pistol, I suppose.

I'll bring that in.

All right.

Well, it looks as though we have the makings of a convention.

You and Drake mind waiting until I finish with these two? Not at all,

Lieutenant.

First you, Mr. Kedar.

Something I don't quite understand.

You say after you found your cousin's body, you went down to the corner

drugstore to call us.

Why not phone from here?

Perhaps I've been reading too many detective stories, Lieutenant.

Detective stories?

In them, the police always want nothing touched in case there are fingerprints.

I see.

Now, take another look at that pistol, Mr. Kedar.

You're absolutely certain it was your cousin's? Yes.

It's the pistol he kept in his desk.

Okay. You'll be notified about the inquest. Thank you.

Now, Mr., uh, Mr., uh, let's see, is that your name here somewhere?

Harper Green.

Charm Incorporated Models.

Yes.

Are you told, Sergeant Bryce, you had an appointment with Jacob Kedar?

No. That he had an appointment with me.

At my office.

Well, then how come you're here?

Well, he was due at eight, but when he hadn't shown up by nine, I decided to

drop by and see what was keeping him.

Thereupon, your men decided to keep me.

As they did these two gentlemen when they appeared.

Well, why didn't you phone Kedar?

I did, but there was no answer.

Which meant to me he was in the darkroom.

You see, he was making extra prints of some high -fashion pictures his cousin

had taken of several of my models, which I wanted for their portfolios.

But it seems he wasn't in the darkroom after all.

No, I guess he wasn't.

All right, Mr. Green, you can go.

Thanks.

According to Sergeant Bryce, you told him you were coming to see Jacob Kedar

behalf of a client.

That's right.

And the client's name?

Well, for once you can tell me since there's no possible way he or she can be

involved.

There isn't? No.

Not since it's suicide.

Suicide? Well, what were you expecting?

Murder? We weren't necessarily expecting anything.

That pistol.

Jacob Kedar's pistol.

It's been fired?

Well, naturally.

Which with powder burns on the corpse and powder residue on the right hand.

Adds up to suicide in my book.

Or do you two have some other notion?

Newspapers say it's suicide. The coroner's office says it's suicide.

Lieutenant Anderson says it's suicide.

So it's suicide.

I'm afraid it's not quite that simple, Paul. Not for me, anyway.

I'm on the horns of about as odd an ethical dilemma as I've ever

Ethical dilemma?

A lawyer has two major responsibilities, Stella. One is to protect the

confidence of his client. The other is to fulfill his duties as an officer of

the court.

In the latter capacity, I should report what Judith Blair told me last night to

the police.

You can't do that.

The other horn of the dilemma.

Not without violating her confidence.

So what do I do? Hurry.

Neurotic people are forever confessing the crimes they didn't commit.

Couldn't Judith, when she found Kedar a suicide, have gone slightly off her

rocker? Possibly.

But it's equally possible she's telling the truth, and that the shot did come

from the sliding door.

All right.

Then how do you account for the powder burns on the body, a positive journal

nitrate test on the right hand, and the pistol being fired?

There is a way of accounting for all that.

How? Kedar could have been struggling with Judith for possession of the pistol

when it went off.

Which would make the sliding door story just a wild attempt to get off the hook.

What do you do, Perry?

Temporize, I suppose.

Try to discover what really happened without attracting too much attention.

Judith Blair's calendar aren't negative, Paul, and the pictures she says Jacob

Kedar took of her last night.

See if you can find out who's got them, the police or Carl Kedar or who.

It'll be a pleasure.

And through your police contacts, get the results of the ballistic tests on

Jacob Kedar's pistol.

If it fired the fatal bullet, then Judith is lying.

Well, if it's suicide, it's suicide, Anderson.

So why get the wind up over Perry Mason and Paul Gray? It's the way they looked

last night, as if they knew something.

Well, they always look like they knew something.

But what about the ballistics test on the pistol?

The lab should have the results by now.

You have a blister?

Lieutenant Tragg.

Oh, hello, Gavin.

Anything on the K -Dar pistol?

Jacob. I think that's the first name.

Oh, and the cartridge, too, huh?

Well, thanks.

They all match.

The expended shell you found, the pistol, and the bullet from the dead

heart.

Q -E -D.

Suicide.

I guess.

You're not too happy about it yet, are you?

You still think that there might be a chance that it is murder?

I have a suggestion.

What's that?

Make Perry Mason your chief suspect.

First, a little on the train and we'll have it.

There. Ready?

Voila.

That does it, darling.

Now you can go beddy -bye for real.

Yes?

You wanted to see me?

Huh? Oh, yes. Yes, I did.

My name's Paul Drake, Miss Kedar.

Remember, I saw you last night with Mr. Mason.

What can I do for you?

I'll answer a few questions, if you will.

If you can think of any questions the police haven't asked, you're something

a genius, Mr. Drake.

Well, I can think of one.

How do you get in this line of work?

If you knew the troubles, you wouldn't ask.

Is it about my cousin Jacob?

Yes. And about your darkroom.

By any chance did Jacob have a cabinet there he kept locked?

Yes. Well, is it locked now?

I don't know. Suppose we go and see.

Fine.

Do you have a key?

No.

But this is how I once had to open mine.

Then. Empty.

Now, that's strange.

There have been rumors, Mr. Drake, that Jacob was taking calendar pictures

unsuitable for the ordinary calendar.

Are those the ones you're looking for?

That's right. To protect someone?

Yes.

Well.

He will have to look somewhere else, I'm afraid.

Mr. Kedar, one more thing.

Was your cousin alone in the studio last night?

I assume so.

Well, I was wondering about the camera by him. Had he been using it?

Well, there would have been exposed negatives there if he had.

And none were found? No.

Is Mr. Drake in there with you, Mr. Kedar?

Yes, he's here.

Telephone, Mr. Drake.

Thanks, and thank you very much, Mr. Kedar.

Not at all.

You knew the cabinet was empty, didn't you?

Yes. I opened it with Jacob's key last night, before I called the police.

Well, what did you do with the pictures of me?

Well, the cabinet was empty then, just as it is now.

If you want to talk to Judith alone, I'll be more than happy to clear out.

Oh, please stay, Harper. I need all the support I can get.

Besides, you know everything anyway.

Not quite everything, Judith.

But before we get to that, tell me, Mr. Green, why did you go to Kedar's studio

last night?

Well, about an hour after Judith called, something suddenly hit me. The

negatives of the pictures Jacob had been taking of her.

If the police found them, she'd be in a suit. So I decided to try to get them

first. And did you? No.

No, I barely reached the front door when they grabbed me.

Just like they grabbed you and Drake about 15 minutes later.

Haven't the police got the negatives?

I didn't take them, Mr. Mason.

I was too frightened to think of that.

But not too frightened evidently to think of saying the shot came from

doors. I don't think I understand.

A few minutes ago, I had a call from Paul Drake.

The police have definitely proven the fatal shot came from the pistol found by

the body. Jacob Kadar's pistol, Judith.

The pistol you were holding.

That's impossible.

I didn't shoot Jacob. You must believe that.

Could it be, Judith, that he shot himself?

Struggling with you for possession of the pistol?

But there wasn't any struggle, I tell you. The shot came from the door.

Harper, you believe me, don't you?

Of course I do.

What's the difference anyway, Mr. Mason, as long as the police are willing to

write an office of suicide?

Don't tell me you feel obliged to go to them.

I always thought a lawyer was like a priest.

Even a priest, Mr. Green, has a dual obligation when he learns something

might be harmful to society.

Then you are going to the police.

I don't know.

But I must tell you this, Judith.

If you do become involved with the police and you stick to your story that

shot came from the sliding doors, they'll never believe you.

A couple of seconds more and it'll be ready.

For a half a dozen other negatives of her in different poses, but this is the

one I thought you'd be interested in.

And how?

And how your advice paid off, Lieutenant.

Advice? What advice?

To make Perry Mason my chief suspect.

Will you send Mr. Mason in, please?

Well, Perry, what's the occasion?

To the best of my knowledge, there's nothing pending between us?

No. Social call?

I don't know exactly what kind of a call it is, Hamilton.

Well, maybe between us we can figure it out. Sit down.

I am in a very curious predicament.

That's a switch.

Traffic ticket?

No, a problem of ethics.

If I tell you about it, would you be willing to regard it as privilege, so to

speak? And not to be acted upon until a full investigation can be made?

Why, Perry, you know as district attorney, I can't buy a pig in a poke

that. All right, I'll present it hypothetically instead.

So you won't have to promise anything.

Agreed? Well, I don't know how the taxpayers will react to my spending my

listening to hypothetical problems, but go ahead.

Well, let's say X, trusting in the confidential relationship between client

lawyer, reveals something that should be called to the attention of the

authorities. Well, that's easy.

Just a minute.

There's something that could put X's life in serious jeopardy. There's

possibly being...

Like having committed murder?

No, more like possibly being accused of murder.

Now, Perry, you know that you can't... that your hypothetical lawyer can't be

forced to come forward. But he wants to.

If there is some way X can be protected until all the facts are in. Why? What

happens if he doesn't come forward?

That's the rub, Hamilton.

Nothing. That's a real hypothetical out there, Perry.

One which, by a curious coincidence, I can help you with.

You can? Yes, I can.

Would you tell...

Lieutenant Anderson, I'm ready for it now.

Perry, let me present Miss X, whose problem is now something more than

hypothetical.

She's just been charged with murder in the first degree.

Whatever Judith's expenses are, Mr. Mason, my father will be very happy to

the bill.

But anonymously, Norman, don't forget that.

Anonymously? Well, the Senate hasn't yet confirmed Lewis's ambassadorship, and

any newspaper stories linking him with calendar art and murder would be fatal.

That's why he sent you three instead of coming himself.

Well, he would have come if he thought it would help, but he doesn't know

anything at all about all this.

I see.

Well, we can discuss the expenses later.

But you will do everything you can, Mr. Mason?

Of course.

I'll keep you informed.

Thank you.

Perry, did you know that just after she was picked up by the police, Judith told

her story to Berger? Only she changed the shot from the sliding door to a

struggle with Jacob Kedar in which the pistol went off.

It was my fault, Paul.

I told her nobody would ever believe the door story.

Fortunately, I was able to stop her from making a formal statement.

How did the police find her in the first place?

My fault again.

Anderson put a tail on me as the only suspect, as he put it, he had.

I led the tale to Judith.

What is it, Mrs. Ames?

I'm supposed to be looking for my gloves, Mr. Mason, but what I really

was to tell you that actually I was the one who was being... Penny!

You didn't have any gloves, remember?

I didn't?

Oh, I'm sorry.

I'm terribly sorry.

That's quite all right.

What was that all about?

The list of people you're checking, I want you to add another name.

One Penny Ains. She could be as important to us as the woman with the

juice, or the man who followed him. We're working on those.

Della, it's about time we were working in court.

And you say, Doctor, that death was instantaneous?

If by instantaneous you mean a matter of seconds, yes.

Now, as to the time of death, when was it you first examined the body, Doctor?

At three minutes after nine, at the studio.

And how long at that time, in your opinion, had Jacob Cato been dead?

Approximately an hour and a half.

Which would then set 7 .30 approximately as the time of death, wouldn't it?

That's right.

Thank you, Doctor. Mr. Mason.

What leeway does approximately give you, Doctor, ten minutes, a half hour, an

hour? In this particular case, Mr. Mason, perhaps 15 minutes.

Or perhaps 20.

Possibly. Then death could have occurred not at 7 .30 alone, but as early as 7

.10 or as late as 7 .50, could it not?

Possibly. Thank you.

Now, when you first questioned the defendant, Lieutenant Anderson, in her

apartment, what did you ask her?

If she knew Jacob Kedar and she said she didn't.

And what took place then?

Well, subsequently, after she refused to state her relationship with Perry

Mason, I asked her if she had any objection to my looking around her

And did she?

No, none.

Do you recognize these, Lieutenant?

Yes, that's my identifying mark.

Six exposed photographic negatives, which I found in the defendant's model

as I believe it's called.

And what are these?

The prints made from the six negatives under my direction in the crime lab

darkroom. Would you describe these photographs to the court, please?

The five are of the defendant in a bathing suit in various poses in Kedar's

studio. And what about the six?

Also of the defendant still in a bathing suit, facing the camera with Jacob

Kedar's pistol in her hand. Thank you, Lieutenant.

If it please the court, I should like these negatives and photographs admitted

in evidence.

Just one moment, please, Your Honor.

I submit that these objects are totally inadmissible.

They were found in the defendant's apartment, Mr. Mason?

In the first place, the weapon has not and cannot be identified from a

photograph as Jacob Kedar's pistol.

Nor in the second place have either negatives or prints been established as

having the slightest connection with this case.

The photographs were taken in Kedar's studio. The settings show that.

Perhaps, but when taken? This morning? A week ago? A year ago?

And by whom and under what circumstances?

Your Honor, until these questions are answered...

A proper foundation laid.

The defense objects most strenuously to either negatives or prints being placed

in evidence.

Your point is well taken, Mr. Mason.

Though I think it applies more to the weight of the evidence than its

admissibility, therefore the court will admit the evidence, but keep well in

mind Mr. Mason's objection.

If you know anything, anything at all that can help your sister, you've got to

tell us now before it's too late.

Do you know anything, Penny?

Do you?

Then it is you.

Yes.

I was the one who posed for Jacob Kadar's calendar art photos.

The one who was being blackmailed. Not Judith.

How is she mixed up in this?

The letters demanding money.

Each was a print like that.

Started coming right after Norman and I were married.

I didn't know what to do or how Norman would react.

So I went to Judith.

And she took over for you?

Yes. And paid and paid until there was no more money.

That's when she decided to have it out with Catherine.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I just couldn't hold out any longer.

I understand, Penny.

And I was completely wrong putting Lewis's ambassadorship ahead of your

safety. You knew about this all the time, Mrs. Ames?

Penny told me the day of Jacob Tatar's death.

Oh, it's odd.

Years ago, just after Lewis and I were married, a similar thing happened to me.

You testified, I believe, Lieutenant, that it was this pistol found by Jacob

Kedar's body and entered into evidence as People's Exhibit 3, which fired the

fatal shot.

Yes, sir. Our ballistics tests prove that. And did they prove who fired the

pistol? Isn't it actually true that what they and other tests did prove was that

Jacob Kedar killed himself?

Well, for a time they seemed to.

How was that?

Well, it all seemed to add up. The powder burns on the body, the traces of

powder on the right hand, the fact that it was Jacob Kadar's pistol.

Jacob Kadar's pistol?

How do you know that? Well, his cousin identified it. His cousin?

Your Honor, may I have a moment?

Of course.

the fact that it was Penny who caused the blackmail. They should not do that.

Also, remember Kyle Kadar telling us he was having cocktails with a woman in the

bar near his studio around 7 .30 that night?

Yes. We checked and he was there about that with a woman who had a Scotty.

I'm tough, Paul.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Now, Lieutenant, isn't it proper police procedure to determine the ownership of

a weapon not through hearsay but by its registration?

Trouble is, it wasn't registered.

It wasn't registered.

Then how can you say it was Jacob Kedar's?

Your Honor, the state concedes that the ownership of the pistol has not been

properly established.

But it will be with a subsequent witness.

Will it, Mr. Berger?

Will it?

Now, haven't I told you many times, Jenny, how love grows and grows?

You mustn't be jealous of the other children.

Because the more love I have for them, the more love I have for you.

Now you run along and play.

Try to remember what I told you.

Cut! Thank you, Mr. David.

Thanks a lot, boys.

It was when I first started this picture, my first starring role after

bits and second leads that the photographs began coming.

Jacob Cater evidently waited until I was completely vulnerable.

Who put you under me, Mr. Drake?

Carl Cater?

Nope.

He did.

Jameson.

I never thought you'd write Feeney to my career, old boy.

If you need your career, Miss Gray?

A spiritual picture about orphans and nuns. What do you think will happen to

and to me when it comes out that the leading lady was once a calendar art

Mr. Drake, what I saw last night can't possibly help Judith Blair. It can only

hurt her.

Must I come forward and ruin myself?

I'm afraid it's out of my hands, Miss Gray.

Gray?

I'm Lieutenant Craig.

Homicide.

All right.

Are you sure we have a right to be here?

I've called Kedar's key and permission.

Though I must admit I didn't exactly tell him what I was after.

Well, what are you after?

Powder burns on the body, powder traces on the hand, and the gun that did the

job lying there.

Either suicide or a struggle has got to be the answer.

No, Paul, there's another answer.

What's that?

Two pistols.

Two pistols?

Yes, the other pistol is mine, Mr. Mason.

But it never occurred to me to mention it when I was testifying the other day.

Jacob faced a suicide and killed struggling with Miss Blair.

What part could it play in either event?

Where did the picture come from, Mr. Kedar?

Mine from the studio where you found it.

I mean originally.

Jacob brought them when he came to join me from Europe three years ago.

One he kept, the other one he gave to me. And they're exactly alike?

Well, it's the standard European make, isn't it?

I suppose the serial numbers are different, but I never looked.

You must answer, Mr. Green, no matter how reluctant you are to do so.

All right.

Yes, Judith called me that night.

About 8 .20, I think it was.

And told me someone had shot Jacob Kadar from the sliding door as she was trying

to force him to return some pictures of her he had.

And what did you do?

That he was going to the police.

But I told her she should consult a lawyer first.

Oh, a lawyer, eh?

And Mr. Mason, you may have the witness.

Mr. Green, had Judith previously told you about the pictures or that she was

going to see Jacob Kedar?

No.

No, the first I knew about any of it was when she called me.

After he was dead.

While you were walking your Scotty, waiting, as you say, for Carl Kedar to

you, did you see anyone now in this courtroom run from the studio and enter

cop? I saw someone about to enter a car.

The defendant.

Judith Blair.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

No questions.

There's someone else in the courtroom who was outside the studio that night.

The man in the first row on the aisle.

A couple of days before the death, I found one of the blackmail letters and a

picture.

I didn't mention it to Penny.

The day of the death, I overheard Judith tell her that she was going to see

Jacob Kedar that night and settle the picture business for good.

I followed her and hung around outside wondering what I could do to help.

Well, then the shot.

She came out and drove away. I followed to ask what had happened.

But she lost me.

Then later I decided not to say anything to her about it.

It seems curious that you didn't mention finding the blackmail letter to your

wife, Mr. Ames.

Did you mention it to anyone else?

Yes.

I told my father the day he went to Washington.

I guess it does sound as though I might have stopped off and killed Jacob Tatar.

since I took so long to get home from the airport that night.

But I didn't.

Either stop off or kill him. When you did get home, however, you told me you'd

settled the matter you wanted to consult me about yourself.

Now, that matter was the blackmail business, was it not? Yes.

How did you settle it, if not by killing Jacob Kedar?

By telling the Senate committee about Penny, my daughter -in -law, being

blackmailed. Right after the long -distance call to you.

That's why they were delaying my appointment.

To see how I would come out of all this.

You can check with him if you don't believe me.

I believe you, Mr. Ames.

Oh, yes.

One more thing.

Did you know your wife was similarly blackmailed when you were first married?

Catherine?

Exactly the same routine as with Penny.

A photograph of the letter demanding money.

With instructions telling me to send it to an obviously made -up name in care of

general delivery.

How long ago was this?

Five years.

What did you do about your photograph and letter, Mrs. Ames?

I wrote back, publish and go to blazes.

I'm proud of my figure.

Now, we understand that Mr. Drake is the killer at the sliding doors with Carl

Kedar's pistol.

And we understand, Mr. Mason.

Get on with your little play. We're all on pins and needles.

As the defendant with Jacob Kedar's pistol demands return of a sister's

negative, the killer fires.

Lieutenant?

The defendant, terrified, drops Jacob Kedar's pistol and runs.

Now alone in the studio, the killer picks up Jacob Kedar's pistol and puts

murder weapon, Carl Kedar's pistol, in its place.

But the powder burns, Mr. Mason.

The powder residue in the dead man's hand.

A blank, Mr. Berger.

Inserted in the unused pistol and fired by means of the dead man's hand.

A most interesting demonstration, Mr. Mason.

But can you prove all this?

I can't prove that Jacob Kedar's dying hand took Mr.

Berger's picture of the defendant's pistol in hand, Your Honor, but the

remainder I believe I can if Lieutenant Anderson will answer a question or two.

Your lab examination of pistol number two, the non -lethal pistol, showed

Lieutenant? Well, that it had been fired recently and that the composition of

the expanded powder in the barrel was identical to that on the body.

We also found excellent latent prints of an index finger and... Just a moment,

Lieutenant. We'll come to those later.

In the meantime, I'd like to recall Carl Kedar.

I never killed Jacob, Mr. Mason.

I didn't even know the pistols had been switched.

Mr. Kedar, before Jacob joined you three years ago, did you ever take calendar

art photographs?

Yes, occasionally.

Did you take such photographs of the woman who is now Catherine Ames?

Yes.

She was a high fashion model then, but she needed the extra money. And

afterwards, when she married a wealthy man, married Louis Ames, did you attempt

to blackmail her?

No.

No, I couldn't have.

The pictures disappeared along with the others that I... Harper Green.

He was the one who told me Catherine needed money.

And he told me about the others who needed money, too.

Just as he told Jacob.

Harper Green.

Ridiculous, all of this. Utterly ridiculous.

Who but you would know which of your models needed extra money, Mr. Green?

who but you could follow their careers?

Know when they were in a position to be blackmailed?

Still ridiculous.

Is this ridiculous?

The pistol Judith dropped?

The pistol through which you fired the blank that left the powder burns in

Kedar's body?

The pistol on which Lieutenant Anderson found his excellent, blatant

fingerprints? You never thought to wipe them off, did you?

Off the pistol that didn't kill.

Unlike Carl, Jacob worked with me.

Until he began to get panicky, began to want out.

There's no loud enough thing like that.

So I... I thought up the perfect crime.

Murder into suicide using the two pistols.

And then Judith mixed it.

I was afraid Jacob was about to tell her everything, so I shot.

Once we dropped a pistol and ran, I... I realized my plan would still work if

she'd just keep quiet as I told her to do in the message I sent her.

It's you, Mr. Mason.

You weren't going to keep quiet. I can see that.

So I put the negative I'd taken from the studio into Judith's apartment so the

police would think that Jacob was killed while struggling with her.

But that didn't work either.

Why did they have to interfere in your life?

Why?

Perry, were the fingerprints on the gun that fired the blank really Harper

Green? No, they were Jacob Kedar's, it being his pistol. But fortunately, Green

didn't know that.

Well, I must say that knowing exactly where to find that second pistol was a

stroke of genius.

No, Paul, not quite.

More the result of investing in a few drinks for Carl Kedar's receptions.

I don't know as I like that.

You'll like this.

A handsome check from Lewis Ames and a note saying that his ambassadorship has

been confirmed.

And, uh, what's that?

Oh, this is from Irene Gray.

And gratitude for my not involving her.

An autographed picture.

Not to... Odella.

With her clothes.