Original subtitles

All right.

Okay.

All right, Colt, stand back.

I'm lucky if I will. Come on.

Come out, sir.

All right, guys.

Stand back, huh? Carlos, what happened? Hi, Mannix.

Old man Kester.

Killed during the robbery.

Oh, Kester.

Wow. Who did it?

Don't know.

Robbery details upstairs right now.

We'll get him.

I sure hope so.

Nothing to see. Just keep moving.

Come on, folks.

Carlos?

Stand back, huh?

Bill?

Bill Chase?

Huh? Joe Mannix.

Joe, how are you? Fine.

It's good to see you. Oh, son of a gun.

Hey, what happened here?

Oh, there was a robbery, a killing.

Killing?

You forget.

Then you see a thing like this and it's Korea all over again.

You remember how thin the line is between living and dying.

Yeah.

Where you been keeping yourself?

The mountains.

I'm with the Forest Service.

I got married.

Mountains, huh?

Well, you always said you were gonna get away from people, armies, killing.

Yeah. What about you, Joe?

Oh, I'm still single.

Got an office over here in the Paseo, private investigator.

Ooh, investigator.

Hey, listen, why don't you come on over and let's bend a couple beakers and talk

about old times?

I'd love to, Joe, but I'm due on the fire watch.

I gotta get up to the lookout.

Well, that's too bad. Now, look, the next time you're in town, you let me

and we'll get some of the old gang together, huh?

I promise.

I'll see you, Bill. Okay, Joe.

Joe?

Just got through to me.

What's that?

Well, you're an investigator.

You can handle trouble.

You got troubles, Bill?

I got big troubles, Joe. Big troubles.

I could end up in the stretcher like that old man with a lot of strangers

looking down at me.

Will you help me?

Sure, just tell me how.

Can you come into my place tomorrow?

I can come right now.

No, no, not now, not together. I want you to kind of slip in on the quiet.

Okay. I'll be all right as long as I know that you'll be at my place around

in the morning.

How do I find it?

Pineville, off Highway 17.

My house is right at the end of Lakeview Drive.

I'll be there.

Thanks, Chuck.

Go on up.

Your move, George.

Your queen's in danger.

Sure put pressure on a guy.

Excuse me, old -timer. Do you know how far it is to Lakeview Drive?

Old -timer.

You hear that, George?

I finally made it. I'm a native.

I am Dr. Stephen Daedalus Harris, born and bred in Philadelphia, and I know

precisely how far it is to Lakeview Drive.

I'm sorry, Doctor.

One and one -quarter miles do not.

Thanks. Doc hasn't got much of a bedside manner.

Figures the world's a better place with just trees, no people.

You might have a point.

I have.

And when you see Bill Chase, tell him I'd like my copy of Thoreau's Walden

You said I was going to see anyone called Chase.

Only two houses are occupied up Lakeview Drive this time of the year.

Bill Chase and the Widow Johnson.

And no one goes calling on the widow.

This might be her day.

Well, thanks again.

It must be Mr. Mannix. Yes.

I'm glad you came here. I've been worried sick about Bill.

Come on in.

Do you know what kind of trouble Bill's in, Mrs. Chase?

No, he didn't tell me. I was hoping you could.

He's been very upset lately.

Yeah, I noticed that when I talked to him. Is he around?

No, he's on duty up at the lookout, but he told me to send you up the moment you

arrived. How do I get there?

Well, he left a map so you wouldn't have to ask directions.

He said it would be better if no one knew you were coming up here.

You didn't tell anyone, did you?

No, I came directly here. I stopped for some gas.

Where? About a mile down the road.

Who was there?

Well, there was a boy on a pump, a sheriff and a Dr. Harris.

But you didn't say anything about coming to see Bill, did you?

No. But I think the doctor might have guessed.

Oh?

Well, I guess I'd better get up to the lookout.

Mr. Mannix.

The road's very dangerous. You better take the jeep.

Don't worry, Mrs. Chase. We'll figure it out. I hope so.

Bill said you were the answer.

I feel dislocated, Doc.

Let's just say you're suffering from strained ligaments and muscles and minor

contusions. Yeah, let's just say I hurt.

There you are.

Did you find out

anything, Sheriff? Nothing yet. I sent my deputy up the hill to check.

You've had quite a day, Mr. Mannix.

Somebody tried to make it my last.

Never had a man shot at in Pineville before.

At least not while I've been here.

It's always the first time.

Would you mind telling me why you wanted to see Bill Chase?

I'm afraid that's my business, Sheriff. I'm a private investigator.

Claiming you were shot at makes it my business.

There's nothing private about me, Mannix. I'm the law, and when I want to

something, I get answers.

Look, I'm the guy someone took a pot shot at.

I'm the victim, not the suspect. Now get off my back. Get off. Listen, Mr.

Investigator, I'll get on your back. George!

That temper's no good for your blood pressure. Relax.

Besides, Mr. Mannix is probably right. It's deer season.

And if you ask me, it was some hunter indulging in man's eternal urge to kill

something. Three shots, Doc.

I might look like a deer once.

But three times?

Hardly.

All right, Mannix.

Let's go.

Where? You won't tell me. Carol will.

Carol?

Mrs. Chase.

Come on.

He's got a short fuse, hasn't he?

What's his problem?

High blood pressure and a bit of trouble with one of the commandments.

Which one is that?

Well, in my face, it's the tenth.

What fate are you, Doc?

Lutheran.

I shall not covet thy neighbor's wife.

I want to hear your version of what you told him this morning.

I told him?

Why, I never saw this man in my life, Sheriff.

Another woman?

In this house?

You must be mistaken.

I assure you, Mr. Mannix, I'm Carol Chase.

Sheriff, there was another woman in this house this morning. She was a brunette.

That so?

Yeah, she was about her size, wearing a blue skirt and sweater.

Did she tell you she was Mrs. Chase?

Well, I don't remember, but I called her Mrs. Chase and she didn't deny it.

Now, look, she told me to take the jeep so I could keep my appointment with

Bill. In fact, she gave me a map he had drawn so I could find my way up to the

lookout. She took it right out of that drawer.

And you got it with you?

Yeah, I got it.

It must have fallen out of my pocket when I took that roll down the cliff. Of

course.

Just when did you make this date, Mr. Mannix?

Yesterday, when I was in Los Angeles.

He told me he was in trouble.

What kind of trouble?

He didn't say. He just told me to get up here.

He's lying, George.

How do you know, Carol?

Bill's been up at the lookout since yesterday morning. I drove him there

in the Jeep.

Have you got another car?

The black one outside, and they were both here all day yesterday.

Well, Mr. Mannix... Look, I saw Bill Chase in Los Angeles yesterday in a

convertible. You couldn't have, Mr. Mannix.

I talked to Bill by radio this morning, right before I went into Pineville to do

my weekly shopping.

And other than being bored and missing me, Bill is in absolutely no trouble or

danger. You can call him on that thing?

That's the only way.

The only phone of the lookout is a hotline for fire alerts.

Well, then call him and let me talk to him.

Yeah, all right.

Maybe Bill can clear this up.

Lookout, this is Sheriff Hale calling.

You read me?

Bill, this is George Hale. Are you there?

You still sure he's safe, Mrs. Chase?

He isn't always by the phone.

Bring in the jeep, Tom.

I couldn't. I didn't find it. I left it right... Shut up, Mannix.

Go on, Tom.

Like I was saying, I didn't find it on the road.

But I did see it. Where?

It was halfway down the cliff.

Smashed pretty bad.

It'd take a big crane or a winch to get her up.

Be a full day's work.

I left that jeep on the road in front of a barricade. What barricade?

No barricade.

What for?

George, try Bill again. Now I am worried.

Lookout Tower, this is George Hale calling Lookout Tower.

You read me, Lookout Tower.

Take it easy, Bill.

Take it easy?

I run up half a mountain.

Forty steps and you tell me to take it easy.

What's wrong? Where's Carol?

She's right here with an old friend of yours.

Old friend of mine? Who?

I'll let him tell you himself.

Bill, it's Joe.

Joe?

Joe Mannix.

Joe. What are you doing there? Where'd you come from?

Hey, you told me to come up here, remember?

I did?

When?

Yesterday in Los Angeles when we talked.

Oh, come on, Joe. You're putting me on.

I haven't been to L .A. in months.

Not since last May.

Yeah, that was it.

May Day.

First of May.

Had me a real May Day celebration.

Had a hangover like the one we used to have in the service.

By the look on his face, looks like your friend still has one.

Well, listen, you tell him to stay there until I get off duty.

Then we'll go out and get another hangover.

And tell each other how great we look out of uniform.

You read me, Joe?

I read you, Bill.

Okay, Bill. See ya.

Two Mrs.

Chases.

A wrecked Jeep.

Bill Chase hasn't been in L .A. for months.

Now, what's your next story, Mannix?

I need your help, Doc. One big city boy to another.

Ribs acting up?

No, my curiosity.

An infinitely more intriguing subject.

How long have you lived in Pineville, Doctor?

Fifteen years, four months, two weeks and six days.

Precisely. Very precisely.

I considered myself reborn when I left the rat race and came up here.

so I keep track of how long I've been alive.

Fifteen years, huh? Well, maybe you can help me find the lady I'm looking for.

I thought it was Bill Chase you came up with, you see.

Well, it was, but the right Mrs. Chase turned out to be the wrong Mrs. Chase.

See, the Mrs. Chase I'm looking for is about 5 '5", 28 years old, brunette,

put together.

Have you ever treated anyone like that, Doctor? That description could fit

anyone of four or five women.

Could you narrow it down for me?

Mr. Mannix, I'm not a magician.

I can't just pull a woman out of a hat for you.

I'll have to give it some thought. Will you?

All right, Mr. Mannix.

You've awakened a long, dormant sense of adventure in me.

Now think about it.

And see if I can find the wrong Mrs.

Chase for you.

Mrs. Chase.

You're not surprised to see me?

Let's say I'm surprised to see the real Mrs. Chase.

Come in.

Mr. Mannix, I'm sorry if I seemed hostile this afternoon.

That's all right. You didn't believe me? That's a woman's privilege. Besides, I

like standing around with egg on my face.

I do believe you, Mr. Mannix.

You mean about Bill being in L .A.? The phony Mrs. Chase? You buy that?

The Jeep, the map, the rifle shots, the whole package?

Yes.

You know, I could have used your support in front of your uniformed friends.

Why didn't you say so this afternoon?

I'm sorry, but I had my reasons.

One of them by any chance wearing a badge?

Doortail?

Yeah, the friendly sheriff.

What do you know about him?

Just that he's got a hair -triggered temper and doesn't pay much attention to

one of the commandments.

What?

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.

No comment from one of the neighbor's wives?

I knew George Hale for a couple of years before I met Bill.

We saw a lot of each other.

I think I might have married him, except he's so terribly possessive and

jealous.

You were right about his temper.

I don't figure him to be a good loser.

No?

Mrs. Chase, do you ever have a run -in with your husband?

Do you ever threaten him?

Somebody put a scare on him. He made no bones about it in Los Angeles yesterday,

and he made it pretty clear again on the radio this afternoon.

But how?

I heard him. It's a word he used. He said it twice. He pulled it in out of

field to make sure I got it. Mayday.

Now, mayday's a word we used in a service when you were in trouble, needed

an emergency.

That's why I've got to talk to him, Mrs. Chase.

All right.

He calls in every night around 11 if you want to come to the house.

I'll be there.

Mr. Mannix, yesterday, when Bill came to see you... Well, he didn't come to see

me. I ran into him on the street. A man was killed near my office, and Bill got

caught in the traffic jam.

In any case, was he alone?

Yeah. Why?

I was wondering who drove him.

Both our cars were up at the house all day.

He was doing his own driving.

What sort of car? Did you notice?

I thought I told you.

It was a yellow convertible.

Oh, yes, you did, didn't you?

Well, I'll see you about 11.

Mrs. Chase?

Mrs. Chase?

Hello, Bill. This is Joe here.

Lookout Tower.

Bill, this is Mannix here. Can you hear me?

I can hear you, Joe.

I guess you read my mayday.

Are you all right?

I'm all right now.

What's going on?

Why the cop -out about being in Los Angeles?

I had no other choice, Joe.

Carol was in danger.

Danger from what?

Look, Joe, can you get up here right now and bring Carol? I don't like the idea

of her being alone.

Well, she's not here, Bill.

What?

She wanted me to meet her, but...

Wait a minute. Here comes the car. It might be Carol

Bill

sheriff

hail Joe get out of there.

What's going on? What's bugging you?

It's hail. He's crazy If he finds out that you're trying to help me he'll kill

you

She's dead Yeah, it was gonna call in at 11 she

wanted me

He's gone.

He's not getting off this mountain.

You call the highway patrol.

I want roadblocks on everything, from a cow path to the main road.

I'm going to take him.

Sheriff?

Yeah?

Are you going to take him alive?

Yeah, alive.

But I want him.

What happened to you? I've taken up jogging.

At five in the morning?

You have any luck with that mystery lady?

I think so, but you need... I know I need to talk to her.

Right now I need the first Mrs.

Chase a lot more. Who is she?

Laura Giles.

Any connection with the Chases?

She's a friend.

Does she by any chance drive a yellow convertible?

Yes, she does.

Where does she live, Doc?

Well... Where?

You can't get there without a car.

It's the only way out.

If you were to remain unseen, I'm waiting there.

Doc, there's been a murder.

Murder?

Carol's dead.

Carol Chase?

How? When?

About six hours ago.

She was drowned.

And you think whoever did it is still around?

I know who it is.

And it's not whoever. It's our private investigator, Mr.

Mannix.

Are you sure?

I found him with her, and he ran.

Why would he kill her?

I don't know.

I'm warning everybody to keep a lookout, so consider yourself warned.

And lock the door.

Yes. Of course.

This is more excitement than I care for.

Believe

me,

Doc, I... Explain, Mr. Mannix.

You really think I killed her?

Then why didn't you call the sheriff back?

But your motive.

Why would you do it? I didn't.

Then why did you run away?

Because Hale found me next to her body. He didn't bother to ask questions. He

just belted me and went for his gun. His gun?

That's right. You know how he felt about her.

You're the one who mentioned it, remember?

Yes, I know.

She was never out of his mind while I was alone.

Everything reminded him of Carol.

Like last Friday, we went fishing, George and I.

Nice, quiet, peaceful.

Not catching much of anything.

There was a family rowing on the lake.

A man and a woman and a boy, about eight.

George watched them.

He never took his eyes off them till they rounded the point.

And then he said, Doc, that could have been me.

Carol.

Maybe our kid.

He never believed Bill was right for Carol.

No.

She was never out of his mind very long.

Knowing that, do you think he could be rational about someone he thinks killed

Carol?

Guilty or innocent, do you think I'd be safe in his custody?

Doc, that woman you mentioned, Laura Giles, the one with the yellow

I'm sure she's got the answer to Carol's death.

All right.

My car keys.

You'll find her at a place called Pineville Lodge, north of here. Can't

Watch out.

It's getting light out.

Thanks, Doc.

You know, then.

Dr. Harris called me.

I only wish it had been me instead of Carol.

Anyone tell Bill?

I don't know.

He's a madman. He's never gotten over losing her.

Sheriff Hale?

He swore if he couldn't have her, nobody would.

I've got to get out of here.

You? Why?

I don't know what he'll do when he finds out I helped Will get to L .A.

You mean Friday when I bumped into him?

Yeah. He didn't want anyone to know he was off the mountain.

So you took your car up to the lookout and Bill drove it into Los Angeles?

Right.

Why?

He was following the sheriff.

To find out what?

Hale used to go with Carol.

Go on.

He convinced Carol to meet him in L .A.

Bill found out and followed them.

Hale was like a madman threatening to kill himself if Carol didn't come back

him. He wanted her to divorce Bill.

She said she'd think about it.

Then she told Bill.

He knew what the sheriff was really like, that he wouldn't stop at anything

he couldn't have her.

So Sheriff Hale killed Carol tonight when she turned him down?

And put the blame on you.

Bill thinks Hale will try to kill him, too.

Why didn't you tell me this morning?

Well, Bill was going to tell you when you got to the lookout.

He knew Carol would be shopping, so he had me go to his house. Get you in and

out as quickly as possible.

Why you?

I've been their friend for years.

All right, let's go. Where?

Go pick up Bill and get off this mountain. That's what you want, isn't

of course. Let's go.

Uh -huh.

Yeah. Right.

Right.

Got it.

Sheriff. Yeah. This call.

They just spotted Mannix on the way over to the lookout.

Lookout, huh?

I round up a couple of boys. Meet me up there.

Sheriff?

You're not going up alone, are you? Pick up Mannix. I'm not waiting for anybody.

George, you said alive, remember?

You finally made it, Joe. Hello, Bill.

I knew I could depend upon you, Laura.

My relief will be here in an hour. We'll go pick up Carol and kiss Pineville

goodbye forever.

He doesn't know.

Bill. I know.

You got a million questions and you want a million answers. Okay, shoot.

What is it? What's happened?

It's Carol, Bill.

She's dead Dad

she

was killed last night

Like I said, Joe, in L .A., there's a very thin line between living and dying.

Like the old man on the stretcher.

A very thin line.

Hale? Yes.

We're not sure.

Well, who else could it have been?

Didn't you tell him? Didn't you tell him everything?

She told me.

She told me why you were in Los Angeles while you were following the sheriff.

How he saw you, threatened to kill you.

himself, Carol.

Don't, Mannix.

Don't make him live it over again.

Well, he'll be after me next.

He'll be coming up here.

But I'll be ready for him.

Hold it, Bill.

What's that for?

Insurance against the bullet from that rifle.

That's been the plan all along, hasn't it? From the minute I stepped foot in

Pineville. Have you gone crazy?

Sheriff Hale wasn't in Los Angeles Friday, Bill.

Well, if he told you that, he's lying.

He didn't tell me.

Doc Harris told me.

Sheriff Hale was with the doc out on the lake fishing all day Friday.

Now, you want to go down there and tell Doc Harris to his face he's a liar?

Or would you rather tell me the real reason you were in Los Angeles?

Not that it's necessary.

I think I already know.

What do you mean?

That little ruckus that jammed traffic just before I ran into you in Los

Angeles. Don't say anything, Bill.

What about the old man getting killed?

What's that got to do with it?

How did you know he was an old man?

Are you kidding? I saw him. I didn't see him. I was on the sidewalk.

His body was covered.

Well, I just assumed it. All right, so he wasn't old. He was old.

He's bluffing, Bill. He said he didn't see him either.

I didn't have to.

I knew him when he was alive.

And so did you, Bill, just before you killed him.

Jewels, armed robbery, an old man named Aaron Kester.

That's the real reason you were in Los Angeles, isn't it?

So perfect.

So perfect.

And then you show up.

Me in the one shot.

The one witness that could prove that I wasn't up here that day.

So you had to try and kill me?

I didn't want to, Joe. Believe me, I didn't want to.

But if you'd have talked to anyone, if you'd have told them you'd seen me, you

stood in the way of my one chance to get off this lousy hill.

To live like a man.

With Laura?

Is that why Carol had to die?

Killing her your idea?

No.

We didn't plan to kill anyone.

We just wanted to be alone.

But you knew I had talked to Carol.

She'd be wondering why you were in Los Angeles.

I didn't want anybody to die, Joe.

You gotta believe me.

Let's go tell it to Sheriff Hale.

Shut up! Don't shoot! Chase is the one!

here sharp he'll kill you

crazy

oh he wants to kill us he killed his wife what

he killed carol

Went through a lot together.

I almost got killed once taking a hill just like this.

I don't want to do this anymore.