Original subtitles

Thank you.

Well, you just set your own pace, Mrs. Howlett. We've got all the time in the

world. Speak for yourself, young lady. You know I'm 65 years old?

No.

Well, I would have guessed a good 10 years younger.

Now, are you waiting till I phone my boy?

He'll be here in no time and we'll drop you any place you want to go.

Maybe I'd better phone my friend.

Just a minute.

Carl.

Telephone.

That's Carl Talbert. Who's this?

Dad.

Where are you calling from?

Union Station.

Here in Los Angeles.

Can you pick me up?

Oh, we're going over some new arrangements for the night. I, uh...

Hey, is something wrong? I mean, I just left Mom at my apartment a little while

ago. She didn't say anything about you coming into town.

She didn't say anything because I didn't call her.

She didn't know I was coming.

I... Dad?

Hey, are you okay?

Don't move, Mr. Calvin.

Just take it easy.

Here, I'll look for your tie.

I'll be all right.

Don't just stand there. Go get some help.

I'll see if there's a doctor around.

Huh?

A policeman, a detective would like to talk to you inside my office.

Who?

Who? What does the police got to do with an old man dying of a heart attack?

Beats me.

Ask him.

Your

name's

Kitty Delaney, is that right?

Yeah.

You were with that man when he died?

Well, don't make it sound like a crime.

I know what else tried to help him.

I met him on the train. He was old. You told the station master that there was

someone else near the phone booth.

Yeah, just some man. I sent him for help.

First time he'd seen him?

Who knows?

Look, wouldn't it be nice if somebody called Mr. Talbot's family?

I'll need a description of the man.

He was on the phone to his son when it happened. He's probably going out of his

mind right now.

Talbot had two sons.

Well, we're very hard -boiled about other people's troubles, aren't we?

No, Mr. Lane.

I'm the son he didn't phone.

It was only last Sunday I spoke to your father.

I told him we were all coming out to see him in Barstow to arrange for the

selling of the business in the house and to bring him... Bring him?

Mom, please.

It wasn't right.

You and your own place.

Me, here with Carl.

And Daddy, alone there.

Don't you have to go back to work, Danny?

Not if you don't want me to, Mom. I can stay.

No.

No, I'm all right.

Carl wanted to stay.

But I made him drop me off and go to work.

Oh, Carl promised.

He'd drive over later.

Drive? When Carl went to work for Mr. Parker, he gave him one of his own cars

use. Wasn't that nice of Mr. Parker?

Wait a minute, Mom. You mean Carl... I told you he'd change.

Everything's going to be all right now.

And when Daddy... You're busy, Danny.

And I'd like to be alone now.

I don't want you to be alone, Mom.

It's only for a little while.

You do what you have to do, son.

Good night.

About what?

With me, Carl, what kind of trouble are you in?

What is this? Don't play innocent either.

You wouldn't have sent for Pop unless you were up to your ears in public. Send

for Pop?

You're out to lunch.

Talk. Look, you're not making an arrest.

They're even beginning to sound like one of Louis Parker's two -bit punks.

Is he part of your trouble?

I'm a piano player with my own combo. I was hired to play music here, not to sit

in judgment of Louis Parker's morals.

Sure. Turn the other way, huh?

But it won't work.

I said two weeks ago you were a run -of -the -mill piano player working for

scale on a cheap joint.

Now, now you're big time.

Catch yourself a fancy monkey suit if you drive a big fat gangster's car. It

nothing to do with pub.

No.

Except the sick old man got rid of his nurse and took a trippy nuke and killed

him. A trip so urgent he couldn't call it. He couldn't even wait a couple of

days until we came up to see him.

What happens when he gets here?

You. He called you.

All he said was that he was at the station. Could I come pick him up?

Look, Denny, I feel just as bad about it as you do.

Why don't you start pointing the finger at me for something I didn't do?

You're lying.

It's got to be me that's lying, huh?

Why? Show me something. Show me one piece of proof that says that he came to

me. Proof?

I'll give you proof.

$1 ,800.

What do you mean?

He took it out of the bank before he left. He had it in his pocket. Every

he had in the world. Why?

I don't know why. Come on.

Carl.

Phone call for you. At the bar.

You can believe it or not.

But I didn't know Dad was coming, and I wasn't in any kind of trouble.

And like the last time, when Mom came down to stay with you, he swore you

weren't in any trouble then either. So I was scared, and so I lied.

And now... I was like a guy going...

Can I

just call and tell him?

I want to talk business about your music.

Let's just say it's in your best interest to get over here right away.

I'll be waiting.

All right, sir.

Where?

Right away, sir.

Hey, Eddie.

This place, Louis Parker just runs it, right?

A little more than runs it, kid. Yeah, but it's owned by a man named Radom.

Steve Radom.

Yeah. This and a dozen other spots across the country.

One of Mr.

Radom's enterprises, you might say.

Hey, that was him, Radom, on the phone, wasn't it? Yeah, he just called me.

Maybe it's about playing as long as other places.

Look, tell the other guys I'll be back just as soon as I can.

Yep. Aye.

report.

You look upset, Charlie. Something wrong?

I just heard Steve Radom's in town.

Don't make it sound like the world's coming to an end.

You sit there so calm, just grinning. It doesn't bother you he's in town?

Steve's one of the boys. And that piano player you hired, he's one of your boys.

But Eddie the waiter just told me Radom called the kid. He just left to go see

Radom.

Well, good.

Louie, what's going on here?

Relax, Charlie, relax.

I knew more than two weeks ago Steve Rader was coming to town.

Steve!

Oh, for heaven's sakes, what are you doing here?

I didn't have reservations. They're getting a bungalow ready for me.

Well, it's good to see you.

Steve, I think they're worried.

You know, ever since I heard.

Yes?

Oh, yes.

Yes, I'll tell him.

Well, of course it's all right. He's my brother, isn't he?

They've got a bungalow ready for you. Number seven.

But he said there's a man waiting to see you.

Steve, there isn't going to be any trouble, is there?

Stella, how many winters you been coming to the coast, huh?

Five or six. I don't know. You got somebody here?

Some guy you like?

Just friends.

Nothing serious.

You should have got married.

Somebody to look out for you if I'm gone.

It's a little business matter.

I've got to get settled.

I'm going back east.

Steve. That's all.

As far as you know, I'm still in that clinic.

Back east, huh?

Who is it? It's all right, Bob. It's all right.

What is it, Danny? What's wrong? Nothing. I just don't want you staying

with Carl. Come on over to my place.

Carl, he's in trouble. No, no, no. Just come with me now.

I won't leave.

What happens to one of us happens to all of us.

If Carl's in trouble, it's my trouble. You hear?

I stay.

Now, Mom, you... Now, Mom, I don't want to argue with you now, only... Things

are a little messed up in there. Don't let it bother you. I was looking for

something that Carl borrowed from me.

All a man would say on the phone was that it had to do about business. I

he meant my business.

Maybe bookings in a string of nightly spots around the country.

I was way off base, but way off.

What did he want to talk about, Carl?

Well, that was the funny thing, Mr. Mason. Just as soon as I walked in, he

looked at me.

Sort of strange.

And then he kept right on looking at me as though there was something wrong with

me. But he did indicate why he'd called.

He started to talk about a promissory note about the fact that my father owed

him $10 ,000.

I could see the note. It was in a folder.

Was it from your father?

I suppose so. I didn't look at it that carefully. He said I could check it with

my father.

And when I told him that my dad had died, he said, forget it, kid.

Forget all about it. And he rushed me off and I got out of the bungalow.

Well, then, what's troubling you?

Mr. Mason.

The man's name was... Radom.

Steve Radom.

The gangster?

Yeah, that's partly what scared me about the whole thing.

My father ran a hardware store in Boston. Before that, he was an orange

Now, his entire life, he never went more than 50 miles from that smudge pot.

I know that my father never had anything to do with Steve Radom. You said

partly, Carl. What else bothers you?

You've never met my older brother, Denny.

He's a sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Did you try to see him? Did you discuss all this with him?

I just can't talk to him. We don't get along very well.

Is he on duty now?

Yeah.

I'm afraid I can't help you, Della. I don't know where Sergeant Talbert is.

You better let me speak to Perry.

Perry?

What do you want with Talbert?

Do I have to clear it with you, Andy?

No, sorry. I'm in a bad mood.

Talbot quit his job.

Why? Who knows?

Danny's a nice guy and a good detective. And right now, we need every man.

Was Danny working on something specific?

Yeah, part of a special detail investigating Louie Parker's local

how they tie in with the national crime picture.

And a big -time hood named Steve Radom.

My brother resigned from the police department.

I don't believe it. Daddy was born to be a cop.

He wouldn't quit.

Unless?

I wouldn't know, Mr. Mason. I wouldn't know what would make him do it.

Now do you get the picture?

Now do you see why I was so calm last night?

Why I was grinning?

Well, you're playing with fire.

Sure.

But how can you avoid it when the house is burning?

So now you go do your part of the job.

Lawyer, I can't threaten a man like Steve Red.

Just do as you're told.

Oh, cop, this is private property. You ain't got no right in here.

I want to talk to you. You ain't got no right to talk to me or touch me.

If you got a warrant, I'll come downtown with you.

If you haven't got a warrant, beat it, cop.

So I told you I would quit your father.

I told you this guy who was on the train was outside the phone booth. And I sent

him for help.

But I never said I knew the guy.

Why should I? He was just another guy on the train.

The name Steve Radom means nothing to you?

Should it?

When you got on that train, you were one week out of the California Women's

Prison. With a diploma, Sergeant.

I'm a sweet girl graduate.

That means...

I don't know you or anybody else at the time of day.

Is that right?

I found out you were serving time for shaking down a 70 -year -old doctor.

If you think I had designs on your old man.

I asked about Steve Radom.

Your father was sick.

He needed help.

Nobody else made a move, and there I was.

But that's all there was to it.

Now, if you don't mind, I'm going upstairs to change for a date.

The man at the phone booth.

The man on the train.

Was it Steve Radom?

Mr. Mason, it's his name I see in the papers.

I wouldn't know him without him.

You recognize him?

What was Steve Radom doing on that train?

Following your father.

This is Steve Radom, Mr. Mason.

I got a message for you called.

Yes, I did, Mr. Radom.

It concerns a claim against the estate of the late Edward Talbert. Now, look, I

told the kid to skip it to forget all about it.

Well, sure, if you insist.

You know where I am?

All right, come on over.

You've got business with the Talbert family, right? And I'm the one you

talk to.

You're Danny, aren't you?

Come in.

Excuse me. Yes, sir.

Where will I find one of those sets?

It's the...

Why, that's, uh... That's the whole town around you.

Tell them to call the police.

I found the dead man's sister, a woman named Stella Radom. Has a room in the

hotel. I told her to stay there until you came up to talk to her. Good.

It's getting a little late, Andy.

All right, Barry.

Tomorrow will be soon enough to get a formal statement from you.

You can go.

Thank you.

May I come in, Miss Radom?

If you're a reporter, I've got nothing to say.

I'm a lawyer. My name is Mason. I had an appointment with your brother tonight.

Everything's happened so fast.

I can't begin to know what to do.

Mr.

Disappointment, what was it about?

My death.

Oh?

How much?

Ten thousand dollars.

Is that all?

He must have been a very wealthy man.

Did he have any relatives other than you?

I'm Steve's only living relative.

When I entered the bungalow seconds after the shots were fired, the smell of

perfume was quite noticeable.

He was my brother.

I was in and out of there half a dozen times.

The murder occurred a few minutes after 8.

Now, where were you at that time?

Right here.

Then you have an alibi.

Obviously, you weren't alone.

If it's $10 ,000, you'll get paid off when the estate is settled.

You misunderstood me, Miss Radom.

The money was owed to your brother.

Now that I've briefed you on the questions the police will ask, perhaps

think of some better answers.

hours ago.

There's somebody waiting. Who?

Mr. Talbot.

Formerly Danny Talbot of the Los Angeles Boogie.

Mr. Talbot?

Mr. Talbot?

Mr.

Mason, you were... You helped my brother out of a jam once. I know your

reputation.

I think I need your help.

Let's say that I know you need help.

What?

I saw you running away from Steve Radom's bungalow.

Here, sit down, won't you?

Now, since I know exactly where we stand, will you explain why an ex

would run away from the scene of a homicide?

I heard somebody leaving by the back door of the bungalow. I chased over it

of the parking lot and then halfway across town by car until I lost him.

Would you be able to identify the other car?

Yes, sir.

Black sedan, four doors, late model. There was mud or something on the

plates, but I caught the numbers 410.

Now, when you heard somebody leaving by the back door, you were inside the

bungalow? Yes.

Why?

For the same reason my brother came to see you.

A $10 ,000 debt.

Your brother told you he was here?

Oh, no.

I called my mother earlier.

Did you kill Steve Radom?

No. All right.

What happened when you saw Radom?

Well, I... I started to rough him up.

He didn't fight back. He just seemed to hold when I grabbed him.

I didn't expect it. I lost my balance, stumbled, fell over a chair,

wiped my head against the side of Steve's furniture.

Gone. I felt sick, dizzy. I was bleeding, so I went in the bathroom and

the blood off my head.

I must have started to pass out.

Maybe I passed out. I don't know which.

Then I heard the shots chased over around the back.

Why didn't you return and tell Lieutenant Anderson what had happened?

I started to, but just after I lost the car I was chasing, I realized I didn't

have my service revolver.

I lost it.

I figured it.

When I grabbed Radom and we tumbled over that chair, the gun must have fallen

out of the holster.

I didn't even notice it.

Mr. Mason, I... I couldn't see myself telling that story to Andy.

I can certainly understand that.

Now, is that all that happened in the bungalow?

Yes.

Everything. I don't think I believe you.

Della, can you hold the call?

On the train, did you at any time see Steve Radom talking to old Mr. Talbert?

I don't think so.

Well, I talked to the conductor.

He said that Mr. Talbert had gotten sick earlier, just after he boarded the

train. Oh, yes.

I was sitting next to Mr. Talbert at the time when he got sick.

The conductor found an empty compartment, and we took Mr. Talbot

could stretch out and rest.

I sat with him so he wouldn't be alone, and when he fell asleep, I went to the

bar, where I figured things might be a little, you know, a little lively.

While you were with Mr. Talbot, was it possible that Steve Radom was in the

car, that Mr. Talbot might have seen him or talked to him? I wish I could help

you, but I just don't know. I don't think so.

What about the heart attack that killed Mr. Talbert in the phone booth? Was he

talking to Radom then?

No, not talking to him.

But this Radom was standing just outside the phone booth as if he were waiting

to make a phone call.

Mr. Talbert might have seen him.

How about a drink, Costler?

Thank you, but I will settle for a smoke.

Nothing but cigars, I'm afraid.

Steve Radom was murdered last night. You say that as if it had some special

significance.

On a fishing expedition, Counselor? You dig for worms before you fish.

Now look here, Mason.

You're right in that what I said might have had some special significance for

you. What?

You're a friend of his sister, aren't you?

Where'd you get that idea?

Well, I talked with her just after you left her suite in the hotel last night.

Oh, come off it. She didn't tell you I was there.

I don't smoke cigars. I just collect the bands.

Stella Radom will have to reveal it sooner or later, Judd. You're the only

she has.

Or is she your alibi?

Why, you.

Got it.

Mr. Mason, you didn't come here to convince me the real good lawyers at

about taking their clients, huh? Mr. Parker, you were a business associate of

the late Mr. Radom.

I figure maybe his partners had him knocked off.

A couple of bullets can be faster than an action to rescind a contract in a

court of equity.

No. No?

No what?

They aren't faster or you didn't do it?

Didn't have to.

Minds me not that any of the boys had a beef against Steve.

No, sir.

Just didn't make sense to kill him.

Why not?

Because he was dying anyway.

Louie.

Relax, Charlie. They'll find out soon enough.

No, Mr. Mason.

Why kill a dying man?

Steve came from that clinic back east.

One month.

That's all they gave him.

Why would he have come here to Los Angeles if he was that ill?

Because his sister was here.

Why not?

You wouldn't expect a guy to kick off without saying goodbye to his sister,

would you?

How about that drink now, Mason?

You look like you need it.

You almost told me you were on your way here. I figured you'd want to know right

away that Steve Radom took the train to Los Angeles, but he stopped off in

Barstow to see old man Talbert.

So there was an actual connection between Danny's father and Radom.

I'm afraid Danny's father wasn't the only one with a connection.

Danny's kid brother, Carl. It looks like Carl Talbert's a narcotics pusher,

maybe even a delivery man using Louis Parker's car.

Anyway, the cops figure it just isn't coincidence that during the past two

weeks, Carl's been on the spot during the time the suspect passed down the

Me?

Narcotics?

You're out of your mind.

You remember now, don't you?

Remember telling me that you were afraid they might be trying to bring some sort

of pressure against your brother?

And you remember telling me some things that happened you couldn't understand?

Things such as your apartment key being missing from your key case?

What would that have to do with narcotics?

What other reason would he have had for stealing your key?

Waiting until the apartment was empty, then coming in and searching it.

Carl! What is this, Mr. Mason?

What are you trying to do to us? I'm not trying to do anything to you.

But somebody is doing something to your brother.

Danny's been arrested and charged with criminal homicide.

Now, when the defendant's father, Mr. Edward Talbert, suffered his fatal heart

attack in a phone booth in Union Station, was there anyone to your

close to that phone booth?

Yes. Steve Radom.

The decedent.

Now, before Mr. Talbert went into the phone booth, did he by any chance tell

who he intended to phone?

Yes. He said he was going to call his son.

Dad just gasped and stopped talking. Then the phone was hung up.

And what did you do?

I tried to call the union station back, but I couldn't find anybody that knew

what happened, so I called my brother Denny.

You're referring to the defendant in this case.

Yeah, they told me he was in a police car somewhere in the downtown Los

area, so I asked them to call him and have him check on what happened.

I left shortly after that to the hospital where they'd taken my father.

Now, somewhat later the same day while you were working, did you receive a

call at your place of employment from the decedent Steve Radom?

Yeah. Would you please tell this court about that phone call and about what

happened after you received it? Well, Mr. Radom owns this place where I work.

And he said it was very important that I come over and see him right away. When

I saw him, he showed me a promissory note from my father to him for $10 ,000.

$10 ,000?

Steve used to lose more than that in one day at the races.

But, Miss Radom, I understand that your brother was in the terminal stages of a

serious illness. And you were, after all, his only living relative. Perhaps

came out here to see you.

The only dough I had came from Steve.

He knew I liked to travel and I used to make trips for him.

Now, if he just wanted to see me, he would have sent for me.

He wouldn't have made the trip here.

And besides, he kept talking about the special business he had.

Yes, but I don't understand, Miss Radom.

Your brother was in a business where he was used to dealing in millions of

dollars. And yet he was apparently sufficiently concerned with a $10 ,000

To come here to an area he didn't like at a time he was desperately ill.

It wasn't how much that was owed. It was who owed it.

Is that an assumption you're making or do you happen to know that as a fact?

He made it clear enough.

Oh, he wouldn't tell me why he was interested. But he made it clear he was

interested. But not in the fact that Edward Talbert owed him $10 ,000?

In the fact that Sergeant Danny Talbert of the Los Angeles police was the son of

the man who owed him the money.

And he didn't tell you why, Miss Radom?

He didn't have to.

I found out why from Charlie Judd. Oh.

Well, then will you please tell us exactly what Mr. Judd told you?

That Danny Talbot was one of the cops trying to send Steve and his business

friends to prison.

Miss Raven is mistaken.

Absolutely mistaken.

I made no such statement to her.

Really? Are you sure of that, Mr. Judd? Of course I'm sure.

Neither Steve Radom nor Louie Parker or any of their business associates have

done or caused to be done anything they could be sent to prison for. Is that a

disclaimer as to their activities, Counselor?

Or is it by any chance a disclaimer as to your knowledge of and therefore

complicity in their activities?

The question is an invasion of the privilege between an attorney and his

and is outside the scope of these hearings.

Well, that certainly remains to be seen, Mr. Judd.

However, let me ask you this question.

If you didn't tell Stella Radom, as she just testified here, that the defendant

was one of the policemen working on a project that would send her brother

to prison, what then, in fact, did you tell her?

Merely that Sergeant Talbert was part of a special police group checking into so

-called national crime activities.

In addition to my duties with the Homicide Division of the Los Angeles

I was also assigned as one of the supervising officers of the special

which Sergeant Talbert was assigned.

I see.

Now, Lieutenant Anderson, would you tell the court, please?

On the same day Steve Radom was murdered, that would be the day after

Radom arrived in Los Angeles, did Sergeant Talbert, the defendant, come to

in your capacity as supervising officer of this special detail?

Yes, he did.

He came to tell me that he was not only removing himself from the spectral

detail, but that he had just submitted his resignation from the police force

itself. Did he give any particular reason?

He mentioned something about the death of his father.

Did he also mention by any chance a promissory note in the amount of $10

owed by his father to one of the men he was investigating?

There was no mention of any such debt.

Lieutenant Anderson, would you tell us this, please?

Was the narcotics problem in any way related to or part of this

Yes, an important part. But it wasn't being done by Sergeant Talbert's group.

was a concurrent probe by a joint police and federal squad.

And had this concurrent probe, operating outside the area of Sergeant Talbert's

own investigation, uncovered any information to your knowledge?

Yes. There was identification of one of the narcotics pushers.

The defendant's younger brother, Carl Talbert.

I told you in my office I didn't believe your story of what happened between you

and Radom in that bungalow.

I told you the truth.

Yes, but not the whole truth.

I'm going to lay off, will you?

If there's something else, that's my business.

Grabbing Radom, falling, hitting your head.

Yes, it could have happened.

And you could have been unaware that you dropped your gun.

But only if what made you grab Radom was an unexpected emotional shock that

stunned you as much as the blow to your head.

Now, will you tell me what that emotional shock was?

I've got nothing else to tell you.

Come here.

Danny, are you all right, son?

Fine, ma 'am, fine, ma 'am.

What are you doing here?

All right, Paul.

We've had a small army digging into Radom's past. We were lucky.

An Eastern operative came up with something important.

First... A photo set of a marriage license proving that Steve Radom was

over 30 years ago.

Second, a photo set of a divorce decree.

Radom was arrested and sent to jail a few months after he was married.

Mrs. Talbot, the woman who married and divorced Steve Radom was you.

When your husband left Boston to come here, he not only took all his money

the bank, he emptied the contents of a safety deposit box.

Now you and Danny haven't had a chance to get together and talk.

I know you don't want to hurt Danny.

I know he doesn't want to hurt you. That's probably why you've both been

But at this point, only the truth can help Danny.

What was Ed Talbert carrying with him from that safety deposit box?

Radom told me he'd get it and show it to me if I insisted.

Birth certificate naming Steve Radom as my father.

An invalid like me, unable to get around by myself.

You're sort of a bird in a cage, if you know what I mean.

More or less stuck wherever it is they set you down.

So it's nice if the cage has a good view.

I like bungalow six.

I can look out front and watch people coming and going.

On the night Steve Radom was killed, Mrs. Johnson, were you by any chance

enjoying the view from bungalow number six?

Yes. From where you were sitting, you could see the entrance to bungalow

seven, the one occupied that night by Steve Radom, is that right?

That's right.

Would you tell this court, please, what you saw that night as you were looking

out of your window onto the walk and the entrance to bungalow number seven?

I saw a man come up the walk and knock on the door of bungalow seven. If that

man is in this court today, and if you can identify him, Mrs. Johnson, would

do so for us, please?

That man, the defendant.

Now, what else did you observe that night from the window of bungalow number

six? I saw a man I subsequently discovered to be Mr. Radom.

Opened the door and let the defendant in.

Then I heard loud voices.

Just loud?

Possibly angry as well as loud.

At least that was my immediate impression at the time.

I caught a momentary glimpse of the two men, the defendant and Mr. Radom, as

they were struggling together.

It was a short time after that I heard the two gunshots.

Did you see the defense counsel, Mr. Perry Mason, when he arrived at bungalow

number seven and went in and found the slain body of Steve Radom?

Yes, I saw Mr. Mason.

Now, Mrs. Johnson, during all that time, you had Bungalow 7 and its entrance in

full and unobstructed view, is that right?

Yes. From the moment the defendant, Daniel Talbert, entered, through the

period when you heard loud and possibly angry voices.

Followed as it was by the brief glimpse you had of the defendant and the

decedent fighting, actually struggling with each other. A glimpse which was in

turn followed by the sound you heard of two shots fired inside that bungalow

through all that time. From the entrance of the defendant to the entrance of Mr.

Perry Mason. Did anyone else go in or out of bungalow number seven?

No. Your Honor, the prosecution moves that the defendant, Daniel Talbert, be

bound over for trial in Superior Court on a charge of criminal homicide.

Mr. Mason.

Your Honor.

Before I take action on the motion, is it your intention to present a defense

this preliminary hearing?

It is, Your Honor.

And defense calls as its first witness, Louie Parker.

Mr. Parker, you own the nightclub you operate?

That's my business.

Well, since it's germane to this hearing.

It's also the court's business.

Look, I'm here because I was subpoenaed.

That doesn't mean I have to answer your questions.

Your Honor?

The witness will answer the question. Let me anticipate your request, Mr.

The court will rule the witness hostile, and you may cross -examine him. Thank

you, Your Honor.

Do you own the nightclub?

With some partners, yeah.

And the other businesses you have?

Like I said, I got partners.

Was Steve Radom one of them?

Yeah.

What's the corporate name of this partnership?

Amusements Diversified.

Does Amusements Diversified own property on which your company's more than 25

nightclubs across the country operate?

Most of it, yeah.

Including the Los Angeles nightclub?

I... I'm not sure.

I have here a crude copy of the recorded deed on that property.

Now... Please read from the deed the name of the owner of the property.

Steve Radom.

Did Steve Radom leave a will?

Look at our business, we don't... Who inherits this property?

Including that Los Angeles property.

It's Sister Stella.

Would it prove embarrassing for Amusements Diversified to have somebody

than one of its members holding title?

We had a contract with Stella.

Charlie Judd blew it up.

She turned the property over to us for plenty of dough.

Suppose Steve Radom turned that property over to someone else.

Someone less sympathetic to your operation than his sister.

Well, there's no recorded date except this one, is there?

No, there isn't.

It wouldn't have been recorded as a fail if it were to be conveyed as part of

his estate to his heir -at -law.

Like I said, we had a contract with his sister.

Is she his heir? I told you, she's the only living relative.

What about his son?

His... What?

His son. You knew he had a son, didn't you?

You're crazy.

I doubt that.

I also doubt that you're telling the truth.

Look, I knew Steve Radom since he was a kid.

He was never married, never had no kid.

This is a true copy of Steve Radom's marriage certificate.

Now, Mr. Parker, would you read the name of the first of the two subscribing

witnesses? I... Read it, please.

Willie Parker.

You were present at his wedding.

You knew he went to prison a few months later. You knew he was divorced by his

pregnant wife.

Yeah.

All right, Mr. Parker, tell us.

When Radom discovered his illness was terminal, what happened?

Nothing. Nothing?

Nothing happened.

Not even after you found out that Radom was making inquiries about conveying

certain properties that were used by amusements diversified that were

owned by Radom? We offered him a fortune, but he was stubborn like a

None of the other partners could figure out why, could they? But it made sense

to you. You knew he had a son.

You knew he might want to arrange for his son to benefit from that property.

For 30 years, nothing.

He never gives it a thought.

But now, now he's going to die.

Now, now it's important.

Now all he talks about is his kid, his son.

Radom knew he had a son.

A son he thought was somewhere in Barstow. Yeah, he knew.

But you knew the son was in Los Angeles.

I never said that.

A good but inexperienced musician.

Why did you hire Carl Talbert?

Why? Was it because you'd recognized Mrs. Talbert in Los Angeles?

Recognized her as the girl you once knew as Mrs. Radom? Did you learn that she

was staying with a young man?

A musician.

And did you assume that that young musician was Steve Radom's son?

Look, you've got to understand.

If somebody got his hands on Steve Radom's property...

and started asking questions.

It would open up the biggest canopies you ever saw.

Now, the hiring of Carl.

You were going to use the boy in an effort to prevent Radom from touching

properties by framing his son on a narcotics charge.

I thought I had a foolproof scheme.

Setting the boy on errands in the car, setting up deliveries of the stuff in

same places at the same time.

You made sure Radom knew by sending Charles Judd over to tell him. Then

while Judd was upstairs in the hotel with Radom's sister, Stella.

You went into Radom's bungalow to deliver the ultimatum. I warned him.

Either he'd turn the property over to his sister or to us, or we'd ride his

right into the pen on a grease rail.

But it wasn't Carl, the musician.

It was Danny, the policeman.

Who was his son?

He laughed at me.

He just stood there laughing at me.

Just then, Danny came along.

Now, did you hide in the back room?

When Danny hurt his head, accidentally dropped his gun and went into the

bathroom, did you pick up that gun and use it to kill Steve Radom? No.

No! And did you take from Radom's pocket Danny's birth certificate?

Look, you got it all wrong, so help me. I wasn't even in there when Danny came.

Danny chased somebody out of the bungalow to the parking lot and was in

follow a car that was pulling out. The car we later identified as yours.

All right, so it was my car, but it's because Charlie and me, we had a drink

before we left.

And you didn't take that birth certificate from Radom? How could I take

wasn't even there yet.

Somebody was going to bring it to him, sell it to him. Who, Mr. Parker? Who

would have sold him that document?

Who might have had it?

Well, Ed Talbert had it, of course.

After his fatal heart attack, the document had disappeared from his

Who else besides Radom had been on that train, had been alone with Talbert?

In fact, with him when he was ill and asleep.

Who else but Kitty Delaney?

Did you steal it, Kitty?

Did you recognize Radom and realize how much that birth certificate might be

worth? So I stole the piece of paper.

So what?

I asked Mr. Radom for five grand.

He offered me a thousand bucks and a good job in one of his night spots.

I accepted.

That's all.

Did you? Or did you realize that Louis Parker and his partners might pay you

millions for that certificate?

You're out of your mind.

Millions.

But only if they could destroy it.

And only if Radom never had a chance to dispose of his property to his son.

In other words, only if Steve Radom were dead.

You were in the back room hiding when Danny came to the bungalow.

You came out when Danny went to wash off his bleeding forehead.

You saw Radom helpless, groggy, and hurt.

And you saw the gun.

You picked up the gun and converted a thousand dollar piece of paper into what

you thought was a million dollars.

By killing him.

I went away where he wouldn't find me.

And a few years later, I married Ed Talbot.

He knew whose son Danny was, but he raised him as his own.

He was a good man.

Would you tell us about the loan now, Mrs. Talbot?

Five years ago, I was very sick.

Ed lost his orange grove.

Can you understand how desperate he was?

To swallow his pride.

To get in touch with a man he had every reason to hate.

And beg for money.

He insisted it be a loan.

And he would have repaid every cent of it.

Except... Except that he had to bail me out of trouble.

It was for his family.

He would have done the same for you, Danny.

I pushed Radom around a little. He gave it to me right between the eyes.

You know what he said to me?

He said...

Who do you think you're talking to?

I'm your father, Copper.

He had it all worked out.

I was young, tough, and I had plenty of experience.

He was dying.

I was his son and heir.

He honestly couldn't understand why I wouldn't touch his dirty money.

Me, his gangster's kid.

That's not true, Danny.

That's not true.

Paul brought you up.

He loved you just as much as he did me.

I just want to change the fact you and I got to start looking for jobs for

ourselves, Carl.

Danny, I received a call from Lieutenant Anderson.

He asked me if I'd represent you before the police board.

Police board?

I said I'd be delighted to represent you in a petition Andy Fields would meet

with very prompt and very favorable action.

Like I always say, once a cop, always a cop.