Original subtitles

Oh, Mr. Marshall?

Mr. Curtis left word he wanted to see you the moment you came in. Where's Adam

Conrad? Why, in his office, I suppose.

Shall I ring him for you?

This invoice from two weeks ago on that Santa Monica high -rise job.

Did you disprove it?

Yes, I did.

The materials are below specifications.

Whose specifications?

Mine. Three years out of engineering school, you think you know all the

don't you, Conrad?

Enough to do the job I'm paid to do. The job I order you to do, the way I order

you to do it.

Even if it's wrong, Mr. Marshall, as this is wrong.

Now, get this straight, kid.

I've been senior engineer with the Pierce Construction Company for 25

It's almost as long as you've been alive.

After you succeed in bootlicking your way into my job, you'll call the shots.

Until then, I approve or disapprove invoices.

I turned down that invoice in Mr. Pierce's direction.

You were at the construction site.

The boss is fair -haired boy with the clean hands, huh?

Does your magic slide rule show you how long we've been doing business with this

outfit? Fifteen years.

Fifteen years without a complaint. Without one single case of effective

failure. The materials were below specification, which you casually or

accidentally pointed out to Ed Pierce while I was out. Mr. Marshall, I don't

know why it is you resent me, but I don't think it's fair to the company to

it affect the jobs we were both hired to do. You're so right, kid.

Jobs with an S.

Because it's going to be a cold, cold day before I let you shoehorn me out of

mine.

What are you taking me for, Pierce? A complete fool?

This isn't an access road. It's a jigsaw puzzle.

By the time you finish grading half a mountain range to get that road in,

won't be enough money left in the construction budget to pitch a tap, much

put up the buildings.

Oh, come in, Joe.

Mr. Osmond.

None of us knew the planned county highway would be rerouted. I'm not

in the county. I am interested in Osmond Acres. Well, it's all because of that

new recreation park.

They had to change their county highway because of the park. We had to make new

plans. Park or no park, I want that access road in and within the budget.

Now, you let the cost get out of hand on this job, and I'm cashing the entire

contract with your construction company, Pierce.

Anything about budget already?

Legitimate beef, Joe.

Figures are too far out of line.

Too far for what?

Too far for accident, carelessness, or just no -so planning.

Itchy fingers?

Almost 10 % over budget on the last job we did for him.

We're barely started.

This one looks worse.

This time he has me tied to a default clause.

I can't afford it, Joe.

If I find proof somebody's been padding bills or taking kickbacks, I'll swear

out a complaint to the D .A.

The DA can't tell us where to put an access road we suddenly got to have.

Osmond's title to his tract acreage included an option somewhere for an

road, didn't it?

Yeah, the old Manzana place.

Manzana.

Oh, you could have saved miles, Joe.

Miles. Going through the canyon.

The geologist's report warned us that the canyon was a potential headache.

There's bad slippage and need for drains, lots of bulldozing for

I want a preliminary survey through the canyon.

I want the survey and a rough cost estimate on my desk Monday morning, Joe.

Conrad. Yes, sir. The Osmond Building project.

Get the map. Bring them over to my office. You're going to get your shoes

this weekend.

Well, hold on, Joe.

Wait a minute.

Joe, you've got a half a dozen kids here who've been manhandled at transit.

Adam has never even been out there.

Why bother him with a job like that?

When I stop laying out the work for engineers at Pierce, it'll be because

dead. Because you fired me.

Bring in the map.

I'll tell you what I want.

You deliberately killed a weekend for Adam Conrad.

Why? Nights, weekends, that eager beaver's always working. This weekend, I

want anybody around, especially Adam Conrad.

Because I intend to find out for sure whether somebody has his hand on the

cookie jar if I have to turn the office upside down and inside out.

What happened?

Are you hurt?

Only my pride.

Well, I want you to know I don't usually give Rodman this kind of treatment.

You're a very civil engineer, sir.

Oh, it's going to pour in a moment.

Well, that's that.

What do we do?

I'm going to get soaked to the skin, but there's no reason why you should. Come

on, let's get out of here. I spotted a house on the other side of the hill.

Your house is lovely, Miss B.

Please call me Marguerite.

Yes, I've lived here all my life. I love this old house.

That tile, my father found it in Italy and brought it back in his ship,

especially for the fireplace.

That little window was a port in the master's cabin of that ship, the Bonnie

Scott.

And these carvings with the manzana crest.

hewn oak from my mother's family home.

And this bas -relief, sculptured right onto the wall by one of father's

artist friends.

I remember watching him work on it when I was a little girl.

Did you say Manzana?

Yes. Well, your name is Keith, Miss Keith.

I may be Miss Keith, young man, but I did have a mother, and her name was

Manzana. It's Spanish.

Then this is the old Manzana house I've read so much about.

Yes, of course.

Part of the Manzana estate.

Why are you so interested?

Well, the road.

What road?

That's what we were doing when the rain caught us.

Making a road survey from the Osmond property.

Oh, no.

There will be no road.

I don't care what provisions my father put in the deeds when he sold off parts

of the estate.

He had no way of knowing what Manzano would come to mean.

The only way a road will ever be built here is over my dead body.

Uh, Mr. Marshall, you know who Quincy Davis is, the famous columnist?

Well, about, uh, three years ago, he and his wife were in Europe, and she died.

Well, uh, before they left for Europe, they spent their honeymoon in a house.

A house belonging to Miss Marguerite Keith.

Do you have a copy of those cost estimate figures?

Yes, they're typing them now.

Well, these clippings from his column, my girl, the girl I'm engaged to, she

knew Davis' wife.

And, well, she saved these clippings that were written while he lived in the

house. Davis writes that he thinks the house is over 100 years old. He feels it

should be a landmark.

If you're looking for a donation, you ought to hit Pierce. Go up to San

Francisco. Get back this afternoon.

Mrs. Marguerite Keith's house is in the canyon part of the Manzana estate.

So?

Well, I wasn't able to survey the entire estate without trespassing. But my girl

and I were in the house. We saw the house and the land.

It was raining.

You saw the runoff of that rainwater, didn't you?

No matter where in the canyon you put that road, by the time we get through

terracing... We'll have to bulldoze that house out of the way.

My order is not to push that road through, period.

I'll push it through.

When you hit Ed Pierce for that donation to save the old homestead, you might

show him the Quincy Davis column.

It might ease his pain when he loses his shirt trying to put that access road

anyplace else.

Adam Conrad.

Oh, hi, Hillary.

Yes, I was just talking with her.

Well, in the old curmudgeon's own words, we're going to have to bulldoze that

house out of the way.

All right, Miss Gray, you knew my late wife, you know Marguerite Meath, and

they're going to put her over something through her property.

You multiplied apples and oranges and came up with coincidences.

I'm flattered, but confused.

I'm not sure why I'm here exactly either, except that I want to help her

Adam.

Adam says there's really nothing anybody can do.

Well, naturally, when there's nothing anyone can do about something, I'm the

to do it.

Who's Adam?

The man I'm engaged to. Would you like me to memorialize the fact in my usual

purple prose?

How about one of Quincy's quotes?

Mr. Davis, you don't understand.

Adam made the survey for the construction company to put the road

Keith's property.

He doesn't even know I came here to see you.

Well, this conversation takes more turns than merry -go -round.

Look, Miss Gray, I don't mean to be rude or rush you, heaven forbid, but I've

got a pressing date with a platoon of martinis.

And you know how impatient Collins can get.

Don't you understand? Miss Keith doesn't want to sell.

Then she won't sell.

Well, they may force her to. She insists that she doesn't have to, but I don't

think her lawyer, Perry Mason, agrees.

Apparently, when her father sold parts of the estate, the deeds provided for

buying land, poor road through the canyon.

Poor Miss Keith once renewed those agreements without realizing what could

happen.

So, dear old Marguerite will simply have to live with a smelly road running past

her house. It's tough. Not past her house.

They just plan to knock it down and get rid of it.

Knock it down?

That's what I've been trying to tell you. To put the road in, they've got to

rid of the house.

This engineering boyfriend of yours, Adam, what's his name?

Are you sure he said they have to tear the house down?

Yes. No matter where in that canyon they run the road.

You see, I read those columns that you wrote about the house.

I knew how you felt about it, so I thought...

You thought what?

Well, maybe you'd call this Mr. Osmond.

He owns the property.

He's the one that the construction company is building this whole thing

Osmond. That's Archer Osmond, isn't it, who's got all those other tracks and

houses to sell? Yes.

Will you call him?

No.

Vox Populi, the voice of the people.

They'll do the calling.

Into the composing room.

The voice of the people.

Jack, this is Quinn. Do me a favor, huh? Yeah, I know it's late, but be a buddy.

Look, pull my column out of tonight's paper. I'll have a brand new one for you

in half an hour.

Can do?

Good boy. Thanks, Jack.

Adam.

A -D -A -M.

Like in the Garden of Eden.

Class name?

Oh, wait a minute. I'm not sure.

You want to help, Marguerite?

Conrad. Adam Conrad.

Well, don't worry, Mr. Osmond.

There's nothing we can do about the column in the paper. But it'll be all

I promise you.

I've told you what we'll do. And I'm sure it'll satisfy everybody.

Yes, sir. You make the call now.

I'll let you know what happens.

Good night.

Want to see me yet?

Adam, go home.

Not an hour ago.

Before you got back.

Before the bulldog edition of that paper hit the streets.

You've seen this?

Quincy Davis?

I read it.

Osmond is just about in orbit.

He says his phone hasn't stopped ringing since the paper came out with this

column. Threats to boycott.

Even pick at the houses he has up for sale.

I can imagine.

The way that paper paints him, he's like some kind of a monster ready to throw

little old ladies out in the cold.

It doesn't exactly improve my image either. An entire canyon.

And I have to run a road right through this woman's living room. Oh, that's a

mistake. Nobody said that.

What was said.

Well, I just admitted to the kid that no matter where we put the road in that

canyon, we'd have to bulldoze the house down and make way for drains and

terraces. We and bulldoze. You did use the expression, Joe.

We would have to bulldoze. We have a right to it. You order a road, you get a

road.

I don't have enough trouble with Osmond. No, no.

You have to turn yourself into a stupid guardhouse lawyer.

You want a road? Boom. You get a road. Boom, boom.

Oh, come on, get off it, Ed.

This isn't the first collection of antiques we've shoveled under in 25

We can't build for tomorrow and worry about yesterday.

Did it ever occur to you that there was absolutely no necessity to talk about

bulldozing? That an arrangement could be made before the road went in to move

the house, move it intact to another part of the estate?

No, I... I didn't think it out that way.

You didn't think, period.

Osmond's calling the press now.

To get them off our necks. And to tell them we planned to move the house. Not

bulldoze it to rubble. What about the old lady?

I called and explained your mistake to her. I assured her a site would be

cleared and landscaped. And her house lifted off its present foundation and

moved. Intact and unharmed. To its foundation in the new site.

If it can be moved. I'm sure it can.

I'm sure because you personally are going out there to that house right now.

And if it takes all night.

All night crawling on your stomach, under and around that house.

You're going to tell me you can, and how it can be moved. All right, Ed, so I

made a mistake, so take away my good conduct medals. Only, just remember

didn't go running to the newspaper.

All I did was mention it to that little itchy -fingered genius of yours. He's

the one who went slobbering to Quincy Davis.

Well, that's the second time you've inferred that Adam Conrad was a thief.

You said that somebody might be getting kickbacks from the subcontractors, that

somebody might be padding the budget and swiping what's left over.

All right, I spent the weekend going through that office from top to bottom.

know what? You're right, Mr. Pierce.

But not might.

Somebody is.

There's a crook in this company, and I can prove it.

Mr.

Pierce.

Thank you.

Remember Hillary?

Yes, of course.

Mr. Pierce, if you're here to ask Adam about that calling, it was... We were

just discussing it when you rang. I was going to call and explain.

Well, I did come here for an explanation, all right, but... Adam, I

understand it.

After all the trust I had in you, all the plans I had for you with the

why did you do it?

Mr. Pierce, it wasn't his fault. Quiet, Hillary. I'll accept full responsibility

for the consequences of this.

Young man, Joe Marshall is at Miss Keith's tonight to see about moving, not

tearing down her house.

Now, before Joe left, he showed me the evidence.

I felt I owed it to you to tell you to your face, not over the phone.

Evidence? Adam, I have no choice but to turn it all over to the authorities.

But I admitted I went to see Davis, so maybe that's wrong, but it's not a

And I'm not talking about any newspaper column.

I mean evidence about your embezzling money from the company.

Ordering invoices and bills.

Padding accounts.

You mean Joe Marshall says something without asking me? You think I'm a

I have to believe my own eyes, Adam.

What in the name of... So you find something wrong and right away you

did it.

Look, Adam, I... All right, tomorrow morning. Your office, 8 o 'clock.

You'll have my explanation and my resignation.

and what are you going to do? I'm going to find out just what this is all about

and why Joe Marshall accused me.

But if you go looking for him... I'll beat the truth out of him if I have to.

Don't you even wait for an invitation anymore?

This case is an old friend.

She called me immediately after she called you.

Well, in that case, maybe you'll see that she doesn't do any more cleaning

tonight. Ever seen such a tidy murder?

It's my house. I didn't ask for a murder in it.

All I did was straighten things up a bit.

You're sure you didn't touch the body? It's lying exactly as it was when you

first found it. I did not touch him. I put a sheet over him. That's all.

Oh, what is that?

An engineer named Markle. What killed him?

A blow to the head.

And it looks as if we've just found the murder weapon.

When you called, you might have said the emergency involved murder. Do they

think you did it?

Oh, my, no.

Then why did you call us?

Because it's my fault, that's why.

Your fault?

It wouldn't have happened if I hadn't spoken to that nice young man as I did.

didn't realize how strongly I'd influenced him against his own company's

You have to help me, Perry.

Help you?

Help you what?

Why, help me protect that nice young boy, Adam Conrad, when the police find

he killed Mr. Marshall.

Adam, please let me take you to a doctor.

Later.

My associate Paul Drake. I'm looking for Adam Conrad.

I'm Adam Conrad.

Marguerite, he's the attorney.

She asked me to come.

This is Hillary Gray. Come in.

Marguerite's all right, isn't she?

Yes. But she's worried about you. Looks like she has good reason. Must have been

some fight.

Fight?

What is this?

Just why are you here?

Mr. Conrad, I'd like to hear your version of what happened at Marguerite's

tonight.

Because in a matter of minutes, the police will be ringing your doorbell.

police?

You're way ahead of me, Mr. Mason.

Something's happened that I don't know about.

All right, start with what you do know about.

Well, I went out there about 11 .30 this evening, I guess.

Why? Because Mr.

Pierce came here and said that Joe Marshall had accused Adam of all sorts

things. So you went looking for Joe Marshall?

Yes, I'm still looking.

Go on, you went to Marguerite's.

Well, uh...

When I got there, the place was dark.

But I thought I saw a flashlight inside, so I went in.

The next thing I knew, I was flat on the floor.

You didn't see Richard?

No. No, but it must have been Joe Marshall.

Who else could it have been?

Then what? Well, I thought I heard a car drive away.

Then I realized where I was. I guess I was just coming to.

When I was able, I stumbled out to my own car and went looking for Marshall.

I never found him. Were the lights on when you arrived at Marguerite's house?

No. No, I told you it was dark.

I thought I saw a flashlight.

You didn't turn the lights on before you left?

No. Why?

You probably have found Joe Marshall right there.

He was lying dead on the living room floor.

I assume you've alerted Mr. Conrad as to why we're here, Perry.

Why are you here, Lieutenant?

Well, we'd like Mr. Conrad to come downtown and answer some questions.

Adam, and he'll take care of it. Don't worry.

You know what? Take care of that.

Goodbye.

Okay, maybe we can find out what this is all about.

I should never have gone to see Quincy Davis.

Quincy Davis, the columnist?

Well, Quincy's a friend of mine. Why did you go to see him?

For support.

I certainly got it.

More than I bargained for.

Yeah, old Quincy can be quite a boy.

I didn't mean for him to print all those things.

You can ask him yourself.

Oh,

isn't

anything. Private to a private eye.

How are you, Paul?

What?

What time is it? It's late and I apologize, but I have to talk to you.

About nothing important, I hope.

That piece you wrote about Marguerite Keith's house.

Oh, I did a good turn for posterity.

Give me the tool to surprise and go away.

Only, uh, put it down quietly.

Your column stirred up a tornado.

You're sitting on a murder story now.

My guy named Joe Marshall. He was killed the night of Marguerite's house.

The police are beginning to point the finger at Adam Conrad.

Hillary Gray's boyfriend?

I kind of hoped you might have a notion nestled among that mess of markings.

I got a call before when the paper came out.

I thought it was just another prank.

Yeah, this is the guy you told me about.

You know, Paul, when you've been around the world, as we have, you begin to

think sneaky.

Come here, I'll tell you something.

It would be sad if that old house got knocked down, but not so sad that

could get killed over it, right?

Look here, Paul.

This is the Manzana estate, Marguerite's place.

And here's Osmond's new tract.

Originally, the highway was going to swing up, and they planned to tie it in

here. But now this little strip is a county park, forcing the highway to go

this way instead.

So they have to bring their access road down here through Marguerite's place, or

take the long way around out here at the end of the property.

That's logical.

But where does the sneaky part come in?

Oh, don't you get it?

Look.

You see all this?

Land planned for subdivision.

It's just waiting.

Now, if the access road to Osmond Acres were to go in here, the long way, it

would open up this entire area.

It belongs to a man named Harley Leonard.

Now, there's a man who should have a real interest in what happens to

Marguerite's house. In anything, prevent a road from going through her place.

But, Quince, isn't that far -fetched to think that Harley... Far -fetched?

Paul, it's this suddenly acquired, brand -new little county park that caused the

rerouting of the highway and created the whole problem, right?

According to the person who called me before, the only reason it became a park

was because the land was donated for that purpose. Given to the county for

nothing. By a man named Harley Leonard.

Leonard, a friend of mine suggested you might give us a scoop on putting an

access road through to a landlocked piece of property.

Your friend was obviously referring to the Archer Osmond property that borders

mine. Mr. Leonard, do you plan to develop the property which borders

How deeply were you interested in the location of Osmond's Road?

Enough to donate a strip of land to the county for a park?

It's a game, like anything else. Then who set up the rules you play by, Mr.

Leonard? What was your relationship with Joe Marshall?

I never heard of him until I read the morning paper.

That's a safe statement.

You sure can't challenge it now.

Now look here.

There's a lot of difference between encouraging somebody to get a road moved

murder.

Encouraging someone to get a road moved, Mr. Leonard?

What does that mean in your game?

Bribery?

You'll have to excuse me, gentlemen. I'm very busy.

Bill Marshall found proof of what Adam Conrad was doing.

Go on. Look at it.

Proof of Adam Conrad's chiseling and pedigree.

True or not, it's beside the point.

What do you think the point is?

The access road, Mr. Pierce.

How does this affect the access road? Is there a motive for Adam to try to

influence the positioning of that road?

I have the answer to that one, Perry.

Marshall's death had nothing to do with the road.

He was killed because he found out too much.

The kickbacks, Andy?

Even if it were true, that's not enough motivation for murder.

Do you think a jury would believe that a man would kill to hide $1 ,200 or $1

,300 in kickbacks?

Would another $25 ,000 be more convincing?

We didn't find the entire $25 ,000, only $10 ,000 of it.

Where? In an envelope.

$10 ,000 in small, unmarked bills, with a printed note saying that the remaining

$15 ,000 would be sent on delivery.

This envelope, Lieutenant, how does it tie Adam Conrad in with Joe Marshall's

death? There was some writing on the back of the envelope, writing identified

Joe Marshall's.

It was a statement, dated the day he died, that he'd found the envelope...

Taped on the inside of a roll of blueprints.

In Adam Conrad's office.

And where did you find the envelope?

An hour ago, we found it hidden under the seat in Adam Conrad's car.

Conrad's been arrested and charged with criminal homicide.

The 10 ,000 bucks they found was Harley Leonard's.

Leonard withdrew $10 ,000 in cash from his bank. The exact number of bills and

the exact denominations of the money Andy found.

He found it all right.

Hidden in Adam Conrad's car.

Very. I've got just a whisper of a lead, but if it pans out, I think I can prove

that Harley Leonard knew and had personal contact with someone inside the

outfit. Joe Marshall.

Paul, do you have a contact at the State Department?

Sure. Good.

Della, what time does the hearing start?

We're on the calendar for 3 o 'clock this afternoon.

Well, that should give you enough time for some digging at the county clerk's

office. Digging for what?

The actual identity of the person hiding behind the picture's name? All right,

something wrong?

No, no.

County clerk's office.

State department.

In a few hours, Adam Conrad faces a preliminary hearing on a charge of

homicide. If it isn't asking too much, exactly what is it we're going to try

prove? The truth is, no, it's on the surface, Paul. Sometimes you have to dig

for it.

That house will always mean something.

Special to me.

Aside from which, historically, I think it's an important landmark.

I understand.

Now, how did you first learn of the danger of threatening the house, Mr.

Miss Gray dropped by my office, she told me. That's Hillary Gray, the

defendant's girlfriend.

But I want to make it very clear.

All she ever asked me to do was to make a phone call.

And did you make that call?

No.

I thought there was a better way to reach the man we wanted to convince.

I wrote a column.

Who did you want to reach, Mr. Davis?

Archer Osmond.

Telegrams, phone calls, the street outside blocked with cars.

I tell you, it's simply staggering the effect one column can have.

And what did you do, Mr. Osmond?

I called Mr. Davis and told him it was all a mistake.

That we did not intend to bulldoze that house into a pile of rubble.

I told him I would personally pay.

personally, to have the house lifted from its foundations and moved to

spot on her estate she chose.

This was after I'd talked to Ed Pierce.

Well, from what we found out, the person in our office who was stealing never

personally contacted any of the people he hit up for kickbacks.

Just anonymous phone calls.

Well, how were these kickbacks made, Mr. Pierce? The money was put in an

envelope taped to the inside of a roll of blueprints.

Inside a roll of blueprints?

The blueprints were sent by messenger to our office.

Adam Conrad received and checked out all blueprints before they were

distributed.

I see.

Mr. Page, on the night of the murder, you sent the decedent, Joe Marshall, out

to Marguerite Keats' house, is that right?

Yes, that's right. To see what would be needed to move the house.

And what did you do that night, sir?

I went to Adam Conrad's apartment.

Told him I... I found out he was a thief.

Now, after Mr.

Pierce had gone, Miss Gray, the defendant, Adam Conrad, also left. Is

correct?

Well... Just yes or no, Miss Gray. Answer my questions, yes or no. Now, did

Conrad leave?

Yes. By himself?

Yes. To see Joe Marshall?

Yes. And naturally, when he left, he was perfectly furious?

No. Mildly angry?

No. A little upset, perhaps?

No.

No? I see.

He'd just been told he was going to prison, so naturally he was calm,

totally unaffected.

Adam went to get the truth out of Joe Marshall, not to kill him.

Don't you understand?

Adam wouldn't kill anybody.

Of course, you're right.

He just went for, as you say, the truth.

Yes, the truth.

From Joe Marshall. Yes. Joe Marshall had been telling lies, and now he had to

tell the truth.

Yes. Even if Adam had to force it out of me? Yes, even if Adam... Thank you, Mr.

Hale. We all know further questions.

Depends if there's no questions.

I realize it was wrong cleaning up the house the way I did straightening

I'm very sorry.

But you see, it was such a shock to come home and find what I

did. Yes, I understand.

Now, where were you coming home from, Miss Key?

I had passed to the theater. So when Joe Marshall came to see you that night,

you weren't home.

No, I'd gone to the show that night.

And when you returned from the theater, did you see a man come running out of

your house and then get in a car and drive away?

Yes. And did you recognize the driver of that car, the man who had just run out

of your house?

Yes.

I recognized him.

Would you point out that man to this court, please, Miss Keith?

That young man.

Adam Conrad.

Go ahead to the next corner. Turn right and pull up when I tell you to stop.

Now listen, officer. Now's the time. Let's move.

That's enough.

All we want to know is the payoff.

What? How much did he pay you?

I don't know what you're talking about. About a week ago, you delivered a roll

of blueprints. At night, to the Pierce Construction Company. The man who sent

those blueprints? The man you saw just now.

How much did he pay you to forget that delivery a week ago?

Well, he paid me a hundred bucks.

Thank you for coming, Mr. Osmond.

Mason, Miss Keith.

Well, aren't we all supposed to be in court in less than an hour? Yes, Mr.

Osmond, we'll be there.

I have a few things I'd like to clear up with you.

Is it right for me to be here? I'm a witness.

The timing may be somewhat inopportune, but this is simply a business meeting.

Osmond Acres is the technical business name of a partnership.

You're not the sole owner of Osmond Acres.

No, no, I'm not.

Land is held in the name of the limited partnership, true enough, but I'm the

general partner.

Your limited partner, is he by chance a man named Ronald Richter?

Well, the names of the actual partners operating under a fictitious name is a

matter of public record in the county clerk's office.

It's also a matter of public record that the limited partnership faces possible

insolvency because of the unusual cost and unexpected delays in starting Osmond

Acres. That is my business and your partner's.

Now, I spoke to Mr. Litt. He's worried.

Well, there's no need to play games.

Sure. I offered to buy him out at 50 cents on the dollar. Would you be

interested in helping him save all his investment?

Go on.

I have a contract.

An agreement by Miss Keith to deed to you whatever portion of Manzano Estate

will need for your access road.

Without any more fuss?

What's the joker?

The fulfillment of two covenants.

First, in accordance with your own expressed desires, that you move her

in fact, to a designated place in the property.

And the second covenant? Moving of the house is to start at 8 o 'clock tomorrow

morning. And you will issue to the press a public announcement of this

transaction. Issue it to the press today.

Where's the papers?

Right here, Mr. Austin.

One other thing.

Adam Conrad and his employer, please.

Try to heal the breach between them.

All right, I promise.

If they don't put Adam Conrad in the gas chamber for murder.

We found blood and a few strands of hair.

Both blood and hair match that of the decedent, Joe Marshall.

What else did you find in this crowbar, Lieutenant Anderson? One set of

fingerprints, identified as those of the defendant, Adam Conrad. Thank you,

Lieutenant Anderson.

Cross -examine.

Where was Bill Marshall killed, Lieutenant?

In the living room of the Keith House.

And where was the crowbar found?

Outside, where it had been tossed into some bushes.

That's merely an assumption, isn't it, Lieutenant Anderson?

Maybe it wasn't tossed. Maybe it was just dropped or left or placed in the

bushes. But its presence in those bushes is a fact, not an assumption. Based on

such facts, then is it your contention, Lieutenant, that Adam Conrad confronted

the decedent in the living room?

That they thought that he struck the decedent with the crowbar, took the

incriminating envelope with the $10 ,000, hid the envelope in his car,

placed, dropped, or left the crowbar in the bushes and drove off?

That's the way the facts seem to add up, Lieutenant.

Did I understand you to testify that there was a struggle?

No, but I'm sure there was, even though the living room had been straightened

up. So, in the heat of a struggle with the decedent, Adam Conrad reached out

in the living room of a house occupied by a woman, there happened to be a

crowbar present.

There was a storage room in back with plenty of tools in it. He could have

gotten the crowbar from there before he went into the living room. Now, these

other tools, could one of them have been used as a murder weapon?

Could have, but wasn't.

The defendant didn't handle any of them.

How do you know that?

Well, we checked everything for fingerprints.

We saw Miss Keith, her gardeners.

Those of our handyman she used now and then?

None of the defendants. But his prints were on the crowbar.

No question of it. Along with Miss Keats, the gardeners, and the occasional

handyman.

No, just his.

Lieutenant, how many years have you been on the police force?

Fifteen years. Tell me, Lieutenant.

In all those years, have you ever seen or heard of a murderer who wiped a

weapon clean before, not after he used it?

No further questions.

No redirect, Your Honor.

The witness is excused.

If it please the court, the state believes that it has presented a prima

case, and it moves at this time that the defendant, Adam Conrad, be bound over

for trial in Superior Court on his charge of criminal homicide.

Your Honor, we had anticipated that the district attorney would call another

witness. He has not.

We believe his testimony is of importance.

Who is this witness?

Harley Leonard.

Your Honor, the prosecution has no objection to calling Mr. Leonard.

Mr. Leonard, did you go to Marguerite Keith's house that night?

Absolutely and categorically no.

Were you in the living room of that house with the crowbar when Joe Marshall

arrived? And did you, in the course of a struggle, strike and kill Joe Marshall

with that crowbar? Again.

Absolutely and categorically, no.

When you heard the defendant drive up, did you lie in wait for him?

Knock him down, place his fingers on the wiped -off crowbar?

Toss the crowbar into the bushes, hide the envelope of money in the defendant's

car and drive away?

No. No.

No. And was the $10 ,000 in that envelope money you sent to Joe Marshall?

I... I didn't know you...

I'll be clear, Mr. Mason. I don't know what you're talking about.

What money?

To whom?

I remind you, you're under oath.

Was that your money? I just finished telling you I don't know what you're

talking about.

Have you ever seen the person in this photograph?

Did you pay $10 ,000 as part payment of a $25 ,000 bribe to have the Osmond

Acres access road routed along the edge of your property?

Yes.

You paid the money not to Adam Conrad, but to Joe Marshall.

That's right.

No further questions.

Your Honor, the District Attorney's Office is perfectly aware of the

complicity in this bribery business and intends to take appropriate action.

As a matter of fact, this subject will be fully aired at the murder trial

if the defendant is bound over.

Well, I'll admit that I have entertained the thought that the defendant was

involved in the bribery, but this was probative as to his possible motive.

Your Honor, it certainly appears probable that whoever is involved in the

bribery here is also the embezzler who was working inside the Pierce Company.

Now, may I remind the court, whether it is Adam Conrad who was the embezzler

trying to cover up evidence of that fact, or whether the dead man was the

embezzler trying to shift the blame onto Adam Conrad, the result was the same.

A confrontation between the two men ending in a struggle which resulted in

death of Joe Marshall at the hands of Adam Conrad.

No, no, that's a lie.

Your Honor, the prosecution has already moved.

Will the defendant be bound over?

Mr. Mason, I presume you will present your defense at this time?

We will not present a defense, Your Honor.

Well, in that case, the defendant will be bound over to Superior Court.

to stand trial on the charge of a criminal homicide.

The complaint will be so endorsed.

Is it on?

Good evening, Mr. Davis.

You might have read the press release Mr. Osmond sent to your newspaper

announcing that the house is going to be moved in the morning.

You are tearing up floorboards?

Destructive souvenir hunter, Mr. Davis. I'm disappointed.

Well, the disappointment is mutual.

I didn't think you'd let them bind Conrad over for trial.

Not what I'd call an adequate legal performance.

At least not for the renowned Perry Mason.

I'm sorry I didn't live up to your expectations.

Go ahead, Paul.

Maybe Mr. Davis brought that crowbar here to reunite the commentary.

Who'll try to find out for himself what really happened here the night of the

murder? No, Hamilton.

He's much too sophisticated for that.

Surely you remember he and his wife Honeymoon here in this house before they

left for Italy three years ago?

It was Italy, wasn't it, Mr. Davis, where you took your wife from here?

Yeah, I was doing an assignment for a magazine.

I remember reading a very sad story you wrote about her illness and death over

there.

Look, I don't know what this is all about.

All right, technically, I guess I'm a trespasser. If you want to arrest me,

on.

Please, Mr. Davis, you don't want to leave now, do you?

There's nothing here that you're afraid of, you see.

Stop it.

Please make him stop it.

Is that what you were doing?

Pulling up the floorboards when Joe Markle walked in on you that night? Is

why you had to kill him? Stop it. Stop it!

Stop it!

Will we find your wife there, Mr. Davis?

No! No, she died in Italy!

But the only record of her death is the story you wrote.

And according to the State Department's Passport Division, you left Ridley three

years ago all by yourself. I couldn't let them tear the house down. Don't you

understand that?

And I couldn't let them move it either.

I tried to tell Marco when he walked in on me.

I tried to tell him.

to explain that it had been an accident.

You've got to believe that. I was drunk. I didn't mean to kill her. It was an

accident.

He said that... that he drove to the police.

Unless I made it worth his while to keep his mouth shut about... about her being

buried here.

Yeah.

I said it's not for him.

But how did you figure out it had nothing to do with the road or our

but was connected with the house itself?

It was a little far out, but the only answer that fit.

Now, Mark the Light kicked back.

It could have been bought off for very little.

His being murdered only made sense if the stakes were a gradual higher.

Quincy's stakes were high, all right. The cold -blooded monster sending me a

ticket to go to a show so he could get into my house and it did.

For three years.

For three years I lived with that under my feet.

But you knew nothing about it until now, Marguerite.

It's past.

Have you thought of moving?

How about the top floor of the tallest apartment building in town?