Original subtitles

I think you're looking for me.

Mr. Holliman?

I want you to be seated, Miss Wynne.

This way.

I consider myself somewhat of a gendered voice.

Yours had a whiskey and soda flavor, and I ordered for you.

I don't drink.

Calories.

Maybe you're right. Be ashamed to spoil a figure like yours.

Save the boy -girl amenities, Mr. Holman. I'm here to talk business, not

games. There's no extra charge for looking.

While I listen, go ahead, talk business is when.

You are a private detective with a highly questionable reputation, which

includes considerable skill in tapping telephone lines.

No, I prefer my clients to accept me as a consultant in electronic surveillance.

Electronic eavesdropping.

Oh. Now, I install certain highly specialized kinds of equipment.

A private, leased telephone line locked in a desk.

Can it be tapped?

Yes.

Tap so that whatever is said on that telephone at any time of the day or

can be recorded?

Mm -hmm. Tap so that no one but me has access to the recordings?

Whatever you want.

How do I reach you when I'm ready?

Same number you called to set up this date.

If I'm not around, an answering service will pick up the call. I'll call you

back within an hour.

Now... Sit back, relax, while we go over the details.

I have an appointment.

The only detail I'm interested in from you, Mr. Holman, is the cost of your

services. $5 ,000.

$5 ,000 in advance.

I'm not accustomed to purchasing a figure of hope.

How do I know I'm getting what I pay for?

Come with me.

I don't think.

5 ,000 at that.

The housekeeper tells me you're not going to the movies with her.

I just don't feel like it, Uncle Archer.

Well, you're not sick or anything, are you?

No particular problem. I'm just not in the mood, that's all.

Foods and women.

Beyond me.

That's my great expert, Archer Bryant.

Nancy, your Uncle Archer is a bachelor.

And bachelors are roues.

I confess to being both wicked and profligate.

You know, I have a seasoned box at the ball.

It's a little dusty and unused, but it's mine.

There's a concert of some kind there tonight.

Interested? And deprive some mature woman of your charmingly wicked and

profligate company.

Still resentful because I fired that man almost a year ago.

But sure.

He was a little too mature for you.

An opportunistic accountant.

looking for personal advancement by romancing my niece.

Uncle Archer, I'm grateful to you for taking me in last year and giving me a

home.

I know you mean well, but I'm not a child.

I guess I'm not very good at playing mother and father.

And I'm sorry.

But you won't have to put up with it for very much longer.

I'm just a girl.

No prize package, just a plain, ordinary girl.

Just a plain, ordinary girl.

to whom I'd turn over a million dollars in a few months when she attained her

majority.

Excuse me.

Yes?

I'll be down in a minute.

My secretary's downstairs in the study with some papers.

There's still time to dress.

No.

Evening, dear.

Brian?

These letters have to go out tonight. I'll need your signature.

What's all this?

That's a preliminary draft of the controller's report.

I've suggested to Mr. Darrell you might like a chance to glance over it a few

later.

Mr. Clyde Darrell, a young genius with a bright future.

Amazing how he's come along with the company. Of course, you've been a big

spending so much time with him.

You know, this looks pretty good, dear.

It's better than good.

It's... Well,

enthusiastic then, Mother.

Or are you mistaking mentality for maturity?

He's almost ten years younger than you are, Vera.

Would you sign these letters now, please?

Oh, what do you know?

Vera Wynn, the machine -like executive secretary.

You know better than that.

Don't you, Butcher?

I've been busy, Mr. Bryant.

Well, I had the breakdown and the stock analysis, but a selection committee

meeting tomorrow.

I'm sure it can wait.

I don't care what you're sure of. He wanted the CVs as soon as they were

If you leave them with me, I'll see that Mr. Bryant gets them the moment he's

free. Look, Miss Wynn, I am the treasurer of this company, not the

delivering a morning coffee.

Now you ring and let him know I'm here.

He asked not to be disturbed.

But of course you're free to ignore that and barge right in if you like. The

door isn't locked.

Who's in there anyway?

Is it the whiz kid of SoCal Mutual? Is it Mr.

Darrell? Have you arranged for the heir apparent to get some undisturbed apple

polishing in?

Is that why Mr. Bryant can't be disturbed?

I'll tell him you were here, that you were rather petulant of not seeing him

your convenience, and that you refused to leave the report.

Good morning, Mr. Carr.

Good morning, Miss Wynn. Good morning.

I saw these and thought you might like them, so I stopped and picked them for

you on the way over.

How lovely.

And how thoughtful of you, Mr. Jarvis. Thank you. My pleasure, Miss Wynn. My

pleasure. Believe me.

Excuse me.

Ian Jarvis is here.

Send him in.

Go right in, Mr. Jarvis.

Oh, and thank you again.

Gentlemen, good morning, good morning, and a very good morning to you, Archer.

Jarvis, your stock brokerage.

How much business do we give you in an average year?

That's a strange question. I don't know, just offhand. In the last ten years,

never less than five million dollars gross.

And it has gone as high as seven and a half.

Clyde Darrell, our new comptroller.

An enterprising executive who doesn't have to be told what to do. I've heard

about you, Mr. Farrell. I've been looking forward to meeting you. And Paul

Drake, a private investigator I found it necessary to employ.

Look, is something wrong?

What's the matter, Archer? Why did you send for me?

Twice a month, on the analysis and recommendation of a selection committee,

adjust the portfolio of this company's holdings by buying or selling stock.

The best small mutual in the country.

I advise all my own clients to buy, and you know that.

My decision to purchase a particular stock can artificially inflate the open

market value of that stock.

So, we buy from contract brokers in small blocks across the country to keep

price down, at least until our needs are met. Two weeks ago, Mr. Jarvis, a list

of securities identical with this company was purchased in New York and

By the time our orders had been filled, the prices had begun to rise in Chicago.

Sure, sure.

I remember this stuff was up two to three points before I could place your

orders here in L .A.

A person of persons with advanced knowledge of our plans, by buying before

and then selling after our purchases had raised the price, netted over $100 ,000

in less than a day. A leak that cost this company over a quarter million

dollars. And I employed Mr. Drake to find that leak.

Mr. Bryant using a lease phone line here in this office.

made a conference call to six brokers across the country the evening before.

That same evening, after receiving Mr. Bryant's call, one of those brokers made

some calls of his own to other brokers in Boston and New York.

You made those calls, Mr. Jarvis, and I have proof of how much each of those

brokers you called kicked back to you, proof that will stand up in court.

How much was it worth to you, Jarvis, reaching your trust?

Enough, I hope, because it's the last chance you're going to get.

That'll be all.

You're truly lovely. Thank you again.

You knew what was going to happen by there, didn't you? Of course.

I wonder if Nero smiled at the Christians before he tossed them to the

Call me if you need anything else. Thanks, Paul. You've done a good job.

We paid a good price for it. That's one.

How did it go? Well, he was furious with Jarvis.

And very pleased with me.

Pleased with my concern for the company.

Pleased with the way I did what I did without having to be told.

Clyde. Oh, Vera, how do I say I'm grateful?

Had it been for you, I wouldn't have known.

I... Thank you.

equipment is ready, bring it with you tonight.

Meet me in the basement garage at 8 o 'clock.

Now,

you say you don't want anybody else to have access to the recording but you.

That's right.

Well, then...

The receiver can't be further than 150 feet away from the transmitter and the

phone.

How about my desk in the next office?

Well, why not?

Every time you leave the phone and you're born through death, the equipment

in your desk will automatically record both ends of the telephone competition.

Our wire is good for four hours. The battery is good for ten times that long.

The playback, reverse, and erase switches are marked clearly on the

What do I do with the equipment after I've finished?

Throw it away. I don't care.

It belongs to you. You know you bought it.

And it can't be traced to me.

You know, you never did have that drink with me.

With what you earned tonight, I'm sure you'll be able to console yourself.

I left the hall doors unlocked.

Don't let yourself be seen leaving.

Why not? I won't be seen, honey. I wasn't even here tonight.

Good night.

This is Nero.

I'm sure you remember.

I remember.

There's a meeting at the selection committee tomorrow afternoon and a new

list to be called out tomorrow evening.

So? If you had that list, could you place orders from the east?

A transaction like that would have to be on a cash basis only.

$200 ,000 cash will be delivered to you by bonded messenger tomorrow afternoon.

And the profits, if there are any? The original capital is to be returned.

Profits to be divided evenly.

You keep your share.

The rest to the private bank account of Mr.

Archer Bryant.

This is different than the last matter I handled for Clyde Perry.

So I suggest that he tell you the story himself.

Daryl, you believe someone has embezzled money from your company.

$200 ,000 in cash.

And why haven't you gone to the police?

Well, the only evidence that the money is missing is evidence that one of the

company executives, including me, is responsible.

Occasionally, the company uses large amounts of cash.

Clyde, his comptroller, signs the checks. I signed a check for $200 ,000

the other day. As of this morning, not one red cent in the cash box.

The company books must show why the money was needed.

On the street, as far as the company books are concerned, there's no record

that check ever being prepared.

No record the check was signed.

No record of cash being obtained. No record of what happened to that cash.

But the bank records show that $200 ,000 in cash was paid out.

Who receives the canceled checks from the bank?

I do, first.

Then the checks go to Elliot Forrest, the company treasurer.

And then they're handled by about six people in the accounting department.

But by you first. So you could destroy that canceled check.

Yes, Paul. If I were the embezzler, I could destroy the check.

But in a day, two days at the most...

The books would show up unbalanced.

Remember, the bank does have a record of that check.

The embezzler must know that and must be counting on that one or two days.

Which means the embezzler is going to have to get hold of that check.

Paul, can we have that check at the bank chemically treated before they send it

out? No reason the bank shouldn't cooperate.

Check treated?

When it comes to you Monday, say nothing about it. Let it be handled like the

rest of the checks.

We can identify anyone who so much as touches it. Or doesn't. If somebody

to destroy it before it makes the complete rounds.

We'll know who that somebody is.

Have you spoken to Mr. Bryant about this yet?

By the time I called the bank for confirmation, Mr. Bryant was on his way

selection committee meeting.

And the office is closed for the rest of the day.

But he should be back in the office in about a half an hour to make the stock

purchase calls.

I could see him then if you think I should.

No.

No, I don't think you should.

We'll pick up the last 5 ,000 shares here in Los Angeles.

Any questions?

Everything is clear and... Complete, Mr. Bryan.

Bye. Good night.

Mr. Bryan.

Well, a memo I had written.

This one.

A recommendation to you regarding certain procedures.

I wanted to rework it over the weekend before I gave it to you.

Very commendable.

Well, good night, sir. Good night. I'll be sure and lock the front door when you

leave. Yes, sir.

the last 5 ,000 shares here in Los Angeles.

Any questions?

Everything's clear and complete, Mr. Bryant.

Bye. Good night.

Hello? This is Nero again.

Did you get the envelope and the cash?

Yes. They were delivered this afternoon.

Get the stock list.

Thank you, Mr. Mason.

Mason. Harry, I know you didn't want to be disturbed, but Clyde Darrell says

it's urgent.

Mr. Darrell.

Mr. Mason, it happened again.

No, no, no. No more money stolen. Another leak in the stock purchases.

Well, I've got the early market quotations right here. It stands out

thumb.

Somebody found out what stocks we planned to buy and bought themselves.

Hold on a minute.

Paul, that leased phone line in Brian's office, can it be tapped?

In these days of fancy industrial espionage, any phone can be tapped if a

willing to risk going to jail.

Did you find out about Brian's phone?

Sure.

It's Saturday afternoon. The office is probably closed.

Can you do it today?

Yeah, I can get everything I need.

All right, Clyde, we're heading back for sure.

We'll meet you in front of your building in about an hour.

That's it.

Radio transmitter inside the phone?

That's what the RF indicator shows. That's what it's got to be.

Well, would it be difficult to put an ordinary tap and not a radio transmitter

on this leaf line?

That's what I look for first.

There are half a dozen places where any two -bit keyhole peeper could have

spliced in.

Do you locate the receiver with that RF indicator?

No.

Receivers don't transmit a signal. The receiver picking this up could be

anywhere within a radius of a city block from here. No way in the world to

locate it.

There it is.

Transistorized FM transmitter.

The author's byline and tap of the letters. You want me to take it out?

No, leave it alone.

We may need it to show what happened. Man, we don't want to frighten people

prematurely.

Paul, when you said author's byline, did you mean you know who installed this

tap? This tap does its own talking.

An investigator lost his license years ago for a job exactly like this one.

A character named Glenn Homer.

I'd rather Mr. Holman did the talking.

You think you could locate him now?

I can try.

That's all I can tell you.

Thanks.

Well, same story here as every other place we checked.

Holman closed up shop, packed, and left town this morning.

Mr. Mason, don't you think we ought to talk to Elliot for us? The company

treasurer? Well, don't you see those checks that I signed? The treasurer

prepares all those checks.

Now, it's hard to believe, but it is possible it could have been Forrest.

Even if it was, it doesn't necessarily mean that the same person arranged to

have that phone tapped.

Well, who else could it be?

When Forrest prepared checks and vouchers, did they come directly to you?

they went to Mr. Bryant first, and after he initialed and okayed the voucher, I

signed the check.

Is it possible Mr. Bryant may have not only initialed the voucher, but prepared

the check?

What?

Well, no, that doesn't make any sense. Why would he tap his own phone line?

I didn't say he did.

I intimated he might have.

Just as Forrest might have done one or both acts.

I can't understand Forrest trying to frame me.

Why would Brian want to do it?

Better ask yourself that question, Clyde.

Since you're yours, et cetera, et cetera.

And I think that should about do it, Vera.

Thank you to the authors. Type them up and...

Personally, run them down to the airport to make sure they get off tonight.

Good night, Mr. Bryan.

Vera, there's something I think you ought to know.

I am retiring.

My doctor's full of nonsense about a trick heart.

Oh, not that he thinks I've got the proverbial foot in the grave.

But he has warned me that I should do more than think about turning my job

to somebody else.

Are you convincing me or yourself?

What does that mean?

That you're one step ahead of the board of directors in the East.

A bit enchanted board of directors.

Dear Archer, slightly overage playboy. And dear Vera, with her deep sense of

loyalty, her warmth and compassion, I just hope Elliot Forrest appreciates

virtues as much as I have when he's running the company.

I wouldn't trust him to run a streetcar, much less the company.

Do you have someone else in mind?

That young protege of yours, perhaps?

Yes, Clyde Darrell.

Now? Now.

Oh, he's very smart.

But he has a lot to learn.

I'll take him.

Why, you are emotionally involved.

If that means I love him, yes, I'll do.

And Clyde? I couldn't feel the way I do if I doubted for one moment that what I

felt wasn't shared.

I'm sorry, it's out of the question.

And please see that those letters are mailed tonight.

I've known for a long time that you were on your way out, Archer.

Long enough to plan very carefully.

So don't do anything stupid about that recommendation until you've had time to

think and to remember.

Good night, Archer.

Glad you called.

Glad you came over.

Do you realize it's two whole days since I saw you last?

Now, Nancy, darling, listen to me. This is important.

Has your uncle said anything about me or mentioned me?

Uncle Archer?

No, nothing.

I haven't even told him that we're seeing each other.

Why not?

We have nothing to be ashamed of.

You're a grown woman. You know your own mind.

We love each other. I don't know why we...

Clyde, please.

Tell me you didn't lie. He plans to retire. It won't be long.

I'll tell him. I promise.

Please trust me.

I love him.

You want me, Mr. Darryl? Just ring a couple times. I'll be around. Yeah, I'll

go. Okay, thanks, Pop.

Vera, what's wrong? I got your message. A matter of life or death, it said.

I'll meet you here right away. I don't understand.

Why did you trick me?

Trick? I tried to help you.

I wanted so much for you.

Because I love you.

Because I thought you loved me.

But, Vera, I never said anything. No, that's right, God.

You never said a word.

You never did a thing to mislead me.

Stupid, stupid woman.

Ten years older than the man she wanted.

Wanted so badly, she talked herself into believing he wanted her.

But Vera... But to trick me!

To use me so despicably to steal!

This is some kind of a joke. Don't lie. Admit it.

You stole $200 ,000 from the company and you stole the new stock list.

You're sick. You've got to be sick.

Oh, I'm sick.

But not you.

No.

So... full of mealy -mouthed morality, but sneaking around back doors to kiss

his niece.

You're sick, you!

Sick with ambition!

I don't know how you found out about Nancy, or what this whole nightmare is

supposed to mean, but I'm just not going to stand still and... That's right.

I recorded every word of this to hang you.

You.

You stole the money, you stole the list, it was you.

He was dear, Vera.

Nice, Vera, when I was trying to help you.

But it was I love you, Nancy, when she put her arms around you. I love you,

Nancy.

Yes, I tapped the telephone to force Archer into giving you his job. You

know that, did you?

Maybe you wouldn't have kissed her if you knew that, would you?

Yes, smart little boy. An hour ago, one hour ago, I was going to hand you the

whole world.

Now I'm going to destroy you.

You're out of your mind.

The doctor on the third floor. He put me in the building. Where is he?

I don't know. Maybe he stepped out.

Well, find a doctor. Any doctor. Invite him here.

Mr. Darrell?

Yes. I think you'd better come downtown with us now.

May I make a phone call?

Go ahead.

Hello, Mr. Mason?

This is Clyde Darrow.

I need your help.

The police are taking me downtown.

I just killed somebody.

Haven't you left something out?

I don't know what else there is.

The phone that you tore loose from that drawer.

When did you pick it up again?

Pick it up again?

Didn't you? No, I told you I stood up and then I ran out of the room.

After you, me.

After what?

After you picked up the phone and used it to bludgeon Vera Wynn to death.

What? The injury she received when she fell was a superficial bruise that dazed

her. Vera Wynn was killed by having her skull smashed in.

That spool of recording wire is the one found in the recorder contained in the

desk of the decedent Vera Wynn.

The audio switch and receiver attached to that recorder were tuned to the same

frequency as the transmitter secreted inside the base of Archer Bryant's lease

telephone. Now, you lieutenant, at this time, your honor, the state would like

to enter this spool of wire in evidence marked for the people exhibit seven.

May it please the court, is it the prosecution's intention... Merely to

the wire itself in evidence, or to make a matter of record the conversations

recorded on that wire?

Mr. Berger?

Recorded on this wire, Your Honor, is a conversation between the defendant,

Clyde Darrow, and the decedent, Vera Wynn, which took place only moments

she was killed.

It is this conversation that I want to make a matter of record.

Illegally obtained wiretap evidence is violative of the defendant's privilege

against self -incrimination.

Mr. Berger, the California Penal Code does make it a crime to tap or intercept

communication by any instrument.

I'm certainly aware of that, Your Honor.

But may I point out that while this instrument was installed inside the

this is not a phone conversation or communication that was intercepted.

Furthermore, Your Honor, there was no unreasonable search or seizure involved

obtaining this recording.

This can be considered sort of an electronic eavesdrop.

And evidence from such a source... is just as admissible as it would be from

individual eavesdropping outside a window.

But not when the electronic eavesdropping involved an illegal

trespass that had to take place when the equipment was installed.

The equipment was installed, Mr. Mason, by Vera Wynn, and therefore does not

involve an illegal trespass.

And she admits as much right here on this recording.

An unsworn, recorded voice not subject to cross -examination.

Vera Wynn may have had the right to put the receiver and the recorder in her

desk, but not the right to have a transmitter placed inside a phone

the phone company and locked in the desk of her employer.

Objection sustained.

When the lieutenant said Mr.

Darrell would have to go with him to the police department, Mr. Darrell made a

phone call.

Now, nobody told him to make that phone call.

In other words, it was voluntary on his part, is that right?

And he didn't ask to be left in private while he made the call, did he?

In other words, nobody could conceivably accuse you of trespassing simply

because you overheard that phone conversation.

What? To the best of your recollection, Mr. Lewis, what were the exact words Mr.

Darrell used on the phone?

Mr. Mason, this is Clyde Darrell.

I need your help.

The police are taking me downtown.

I... I just killed somebody.

What, they're coming all the way out here?

The car went over the road in the dark, plunged about 200 feet down, and almost

got lost in some trees and bushes.

The driver was killed instantly.

Do they know when it happened?

Not for sure until they do an autopsy, but they guess in the neighborhood of a

week. I assume what brought us out here is the identification of the body. I got

the tip when they checked out the car license, but I wasn't sure, so I didn't

say anything.

But one of the policemen who climbed down to pull him out got a good look and

recognized him.

Glenn Holman.

Old Mr.

Wiretap himself.

Call Dillis at the office. Call him for me, would you please?

Operator, this is PD -1246.

I'd like to speak with Madison 5 -1190, please.

Beautiful, this is Paul.

Hold it a minute, Perry wants to talk to you.

Dillis, I want to talk to Ian Jarvis.

That's right, the stockbroker.

See if you can have him in the office by the time Paul and I return.

Give him this message exactly.

Tell him I know an excellent defense attorney who specializes in evasion of

income tax cases.

Income tax evasion, my eye.

Mason, I got a good mind to slap a slander suit against you.

Then I suggest you sue, Mr. Jarvis.

Unless they've changed the law, truth is still a perfectly valid defense to a

charge of slander. What truth?

Don't try running one of your courtroom bluffs on me.

Archer Bryant canceled his business arrangements with your company because

breached your trust.

Not nice, but hardly illegal.

And in case you want to know, I also invested the $200 ,000 Bureau Wind sent

Still no crime.

And since I made both investments within the month, and since there's still some

time before income tax reports are due, I'd say you're just a little premature

in accusing me of any evasion. And there were no other investments before those?

Other investments over a period of, we'll say, one full year?

Nonsense. Absolute nonsense, and you know it.

I understand you're building a $10 million high -rise office building

Don't tell me that's illegal.

Here, over your signature, appended under no vote before a notary.

Here's a copy of the financial statement you used to set up your construction

loan. Do those figures accurately reflect your growth income for the past

years?

Uh, of course they do.

The, uh... Brokers in New York and Boston.

Mr. Drake's operatives have been in touch with them.

Your gross income figures represent the amounts they've paid you.

Paid you in the last year.

Paid you for your personal account.

Mr. Garland, when I put you on the stand, you won't be able to turn your

and walk away.

You'd better not put me on that stand.

Because if you do, I'll have to tell about the last call Daryl Wynn made to

Made the night she was killed.

The call telling me not to put half the profits in Archer's account.

You see, she told me she might have some trouble with her partner.

And if she did, she wanted me to put the money in his account.

In the account of Clyde Daryl.

Miss Bryant, approximately a year ago, after the death of your mother and

father, you came to live with your uncle, Archer Bryant.

And shortly thereafter, you and an accountant employed by your uncle became

interested in each other. Isn't that correct?

We had a few dates. Nothing more.

Yes, but at that time, your uncle, Archer Bryant, who is also your legal

guardian and the trustee of the estate your father left you, did interfere,

didn't he?

He fired the man.

and refused to let me see him anymore.

And in order to avoid a repetition of this unpleasant occurrence, when you

became interested in the defendant, Clyde Darrell, and he and you, wasn't it

decided between you that at least for the time being your new relationship

be kept surreptitious?

Objection, Your Honor. The prosecutor's use of language is prejudicial and an

expression of Mr. Berger's opinion, not the witness's testimony.

I certainly didn't mean to characterize counselor surreptitious, clandestine.

Both words mean the same.

Surreptitious goes far beyond the word clandestine, Mr. Berger.

The word has connotations of stealth, lack of authority, even fraud.

Objection sustained.

Ms. Bryant, were your frequent meetings with the defendant a matter of open

knowledge or, not to characterize the word in any way, were they secret?

We've known each other less than a month.

I saw no reason to create any problems about Clyde's job because he was seeing

me. Thank you.

Precisely and exactly, if you please, on the night Vera Wynn was murdered, did

you see the defendant?

Yes. Can you tell us exactly where?

Just outside the back door.

Just outside? Does that mean one foot, two, three, six, ten feet outside the

door? A few feet.

Two. Maybe three.

And why did he want to see you? He did call, didn't he, and say that he wanted

to see you?

Yes, he called.

He wanted to know if Uncle Archer knew about the two of us.

He didn't like it, though. He wanted to go right in and tell him.

And while you were slipping out the back door to see the defendant, where was

Uncle Archer?

In the study with Vera Wynn.

And meanwhile, two or three feet outside the back door, after you had reassured

the defendant that your uncle knew nothing about the two of you, exactly

happened?

Clyde kissed me. And did he say anything to you at that moment? He told me that

he loved me.

Vera told me, most emphatically, that she was in love with Clyde Darrow.

And in this connection, what did she seem to believe about Clyde Darrow?

Oh, she also told me, most emphatically, that he was in love with her.

I see.

Now, Mr. Bryant, you finished the letters you were dictating.

You talked to the decedent for a few moments, noting the strange pressures

which she seemed to be threatening you in her effort to get you to promote the

defendant. And then the decedent left.

What happened then?

Oh, I suppose it was a minute or two after that, after Vera left, that I left

the study to go upstairs.

Well, when I stepped into the hall... Joanne?

Well, I was surprised to see Vera there.

You mean she hadn't left?

No. Very strangely, she was coming from the back of the house.

From the back?

From the service porch, perhaps? Yes.

She walked right straight past me to the front door and out of the house.

Almost in a daze.

Almost as if she might have heard something in the back door and had been

shocked by it?

Objection. I withdraw the question. Mr. Bryant, let's get back for a moment to

the $200 ,000 check.

Did you okay that check, sir? Yes, I did.

Vera gave it to me along with some other checks.

We were about to purchase a considerable amount of stock.

And we very often employ large sums of cash.

So I saw nothing unusual.

Particularly since it was attached to the usual justifying voucher from our

treasurer, Elliot Forrest.

I did not prepare that check.

I did not prepare that voucher.

I had nothing to do with the theft of $200 ,000 from the company.

Nothing. Thank you, Mr. Forrest.

Your witness, Mr.

Forrest. In your experience, was this the first instance of a large sum of

being missing from your company?

Well, the first real instance.

Real?

Was there a prior shortage that wasn't real?

Well, about a year ago, I was preparing a financial statement and found over

$750 ,000 missing.

Well, naturally, there was quite a fuss.

That is, until Mr. Bryant discovered it was all a bookkeeping error.

Your error?

Don't be ridiculous.

Our then -controller, a man who was unfamiliar with our methods. It was his

error, although he denied it.

This controller.

Was it by chance the same gentleman who was keeping company at that time with

Miss Nancy Bryant?

Not that I was aware of.

But Mr. Archer Bryant did fire this man.

Yes.

Because of the mistake the man made.

Is it possible there was no mistake?

That's ridiculous.

Is it possible the money was actually stolen?

And later returned.

What? Later returned.

Returned to balance the books.

So the thief wouldn't go to prison. I just told you.

The man made a mistake.

The man was fired.

Because of the mistake.

Not because he was seeing Miss Bryant.

It had nothing to do with her.

Your Honor, I should like to recall Miss Nancy Bryant to the stand.

I just moved in.

We hardly knew one another. I didn't want to make an issue out of disobeying

uncle.

Uncle Archer insisted that the man was too old for me and interested in my

money, not me.

Your father's estate.

A million dollars, in other words, to be turned over to you in two months.

Yes.

You consider yourself a fool?

What? You consider yourself a fool?

No. You love Clyde Darrow?

Yes. You consider him a fool?

No. Or a fortune hunter?

Well, that's ridiculous.

Quite ridiculous.

Now, why did you ask him to trust you?

To wait and not let your uncle know you were seeing one another?

Please, Mr. Mason, I... Your uncle is the only family you have.

Are you trying to protect him? Five weeks ago, just before your first date

Clyde Darrow, you went to your bank to check on an item in your statement.

You were surprised, weren't you, to learn from one of the bank officers that

bank was a depository of your trust funds, as well as your private checking

account? Oh, I didn't know.

Uncle Archer handled the trust and so... You were even more surprised, according

to the bank officers, to learn that a year ago, Archer Bryant withdrew $750

from your trust account for investment purposes.

Did your uncle tell you about that investment?

Well, he must have put it back.

What's the difference? Every penny was put back.

The bank said everything was all right.

That accountant you had dated a few times, he was fired at the same time

uncle withdrew that money.

Did Donna knew that Clyde Darrow was also an accountant?

Also worked for the company?

Also might be somebody your uncle wouldn't want you to become fond of?

Archer Bryant embezzled to cover gambling losses, then stole money from

trust account to cover his embezzlement from the company.

Along with Ian Jarvis, your uncle has continued to breach his trust.

Continued personally to profit at the expense of the stockholders and board

members who put their faith in his integrity.

That's enough.

Leave her alone.

Glenn Holman used a radio transmitter to tap your phone.

Why?

So he, as well as Vera Wynn, could record your phone calls?

And what did Holman record?

Not one, but two sets of outgoing calls from you that night.

One was your regular company phone call ordering stocks.

On the second call, what was it?

A call to Mr. Jarvis to place your personal order for the same stocks?

Was that what Holman recorded?

Did he come to you with that incriminating recording?

Did he try to blackmail you?

$50 ,000.

That's what he wanted.

$50 ,000.

So, you knocked him out.

Drove his car to a secluded spot on a cliff near your home. And pushed Glenn

Holman to his death.

No, no, no, no. We had a fight.

He knocked me out of the car.

Then the car rolled over the edge.

Don't you understand?

I didn't mean to kill him.

And Vera Wynn?

Did you mean to kill her?

I came up the back way. I took the private elevator, you see.

And she came too.

And she started to scream.

She knew everything.

Everything.

She was mad, I tell you.

She was out of her mind.

She came at me and I had the telephone in my hand.

Well, I... It was an accident.

An accident?

Is that why you wore gloves when you picked up the phone?

The phone wasn't wiped clean.

Clyde's fingerprints were on it.

But not yours.

Ian Jarvis and Archer Bryant.

Partners in crime.

That's hard to believe.

You know, Paul, you and I were in this room right here when Jarvis was kicked

out. Sure.

You'd uncovered their little game and I'd found the proof.

Archer had to lie down to Jarvis and Jarvis had to take it. There was nothing

they could do but put on an act.

Mr. Mason.

In a court, if Uncle Archer had made two calls, wouldn't the wire recording have

had the second call to Mr. Jarvis?

Why didn't you let them play it?

Well, that was our problem.

It didn't have either call.

Only a record of Clyde's argument with Vera.

Berger played it for me beforehand to try to persuade me into letting it be

admitted. Obviously, Vera was too smart to leave all of that recording around.

She probably and logically cut off the earlier part, the part with Archer's

calls, and then hid it. Why don't you pick on me?

Vera was a kingmaker. She couldn't just fall in love with an ordinary man.

It had to be a man and a financial future all rolled up into one. A man

you.

Vera, home of my charming and frightened uncle, running on a treadmill to

nowhere.

The feudal waste.

Why, Mr. Mason?

The answer was given a long time ago, Nancy.

Answer a fool according to his own folly.