Original subtitles

Barnaby Jones, starring Buddy Ebsen.

Also starring Lee Merriweather, with guest stars Robert Foxworth,

Lorraine Stevens, Richard Evans.

Special guest star, Tyne Daly.

Tonight's episode, A Gathering of Thieves.

If there was one born every minute, I could make myself a million dollars an

hour.

Flower calls the bee, the bee makes the honey, Irene just smiles and we all make

money.

Now, don't tell me I'm going to be running away with a poet.

Well, I'm full of all kinds of surprises.

All of them guaranteed to delight and amaze you.

How did we do today?

Um, we did 14 cash sales and five earnest money checks.

Okay.

How much longer, Whit?

I think you can stretch your patience another three weeks.

It's just that every week goes by, I get more nervous.

Hey, now, you can't play a cool hand when you're nervous, baby.

Steady.

Keep smiling.

We're building our pot here.

We're not going to be greedy. I figure we can be real happy on half a million.

I've never heard of that much money.

You stick with Whit Brewer, my little wildflower. He picks up money like a

magnet. Say, take care of paying the caterers, will you, honey?

I've got to get into town and take care of our silent part. Keep her happy and

silent.

Do you have to take Madge to dinner every night?

Uh -uh, no.

That's the small town Irene Hopkins talking.

You think French Riviera, baby.

Bye -bye.

Mr. Brewer?

Ah, Mr. Meacham, right?

At least you got that straight.

Don't tell me you missed the bus.

Well, listen, we'll be glad to drive you into Bryan Pass. You can catch a bus

there. No, I didn't miss the bus.

I think I missed the boat.

I don't follow you.

Maybe you better follow me.

Right now.

Shall we?

Sure enough. Customers always right.

Now, if the customer is always right, as you say, maybe you can tell me why the

lot I bought eight weeks ago, numbered 42L16, is now numbered 32FO9.

Now, when I bought it, it was lakefront on a hillside, right here.

Now it seems to be way back in the boondock somewhere.

You have your sales contract, Mr. Meacham? Right here.

And it's very clear.

Seems to me you've been serving something fishy around here in between

of barbecued beef. No such a thing.

If there's anything we don't want at Shadow Lake, Mr. Meacham, it's one

of unhappiness.

Now, I'll tell you what.

If there has been a mistake, we'll trade you two lots over here on the other

side of the lake for the one you bought by mistake.

That sounds an awful lot like a bribe to me, Mr. Brewer.

Mr. Meacham, I've never heard that you'd think that of me.

It's more than generous.

Too generous and too pat.

Just so I don't hurt your feelings any further, I'm going to turn this whole

matter over to the state real estate commissioner.

Now, wait just a minute. I'm sure we can take care of this whole thing.

I think you've been swindling people by the busload.

And before I'm finished with you, you're going to wish you were on the one that

just left.

Oh, Mr. Meacham.

Mr.

Meacham, now you just all riled up over some very simple mistake. Now, look,

simple mistakes are what give you away, Brewer.

Look, that machinery, that machinery hasn't moved an inch in the last eight

weeks. It's window dressing. Now, you have no intention of building a lake

and I'm going to prove it.

Shadow Lake is just another shady operation, so save your smooth talk for

on. See if it can't help you slip out from behind bars.

Youngsters and puppy dogs.

At this age, they all seem like they're made out of rubber bands.

All right, fine. That'll be all, girls.

Be sure to see Mrs. Porter before you leave.

Unfortunately, Mr. Jones, neither my father nor his car were made out of

bands. Will you look into this for me?

I made a call to Deputy Jeremy Carter at Bryan Pass after I talked to you.

He's very sympathetic, but...

He said that the accident occurred exactly the way he told you. I'm not

interested in the sympathy of some small -town deputy.

I want to know the truth about how my father died.

Well, Miss Meacham, or is it Miss Meacham?

Miss, at this age, I have no intention of confusing any bachelors.

Well, in order that I don't stay confused, I have to ask you the

delicate question.

My father did not drive off any cliff in a drunken stupor, Mr. Jones.

About the strongest thing he'd ever drink would be a glass of sherry at

Christmas or a class reunion.

But a fifth of scotch in his house would last for four years.

Well, that doesn't sound like a sipper, much less a drinker.

But the deputy did say that that is a dangerous stretch of mountain road.

Then I'm sure my father was aware of it, Mr. Jones.

He was an old school college professor. His life was like a textbook on caution

and self -control.

And he drove the same way.

He thought Los Angeles to San Francisco was a three -day trip.

This is the most recent picture of him that I have.

You say he'd been up to Bryan Pass several times in the last few weeks?

He'd bought some property near there.

Shadow Lake, I think he called it. He was having sketches made of the cabin he

was planning on retiring in.

He was bubbling like a kid planting his first treehouse.

I think I would have liked your father.

Will you help me?

If the truth will help you, I'll try to find it.

I'm no expert, Mr. Jones, but I've had to haul enough drinking drivers out of

Bryan Pass, dead and alive, to know that road is no place for bottle babies.

Mr. Meacham's daughter said he wasn't a drinker.

I know, I know. I talked to her.

You know, I'm sure that girl thinks I'm some kind of backwoods boy who got my

badge by sending in box stops.

You appear to me to be wearing it very well.

Still, she sounded pretty convincing.

Well, they say it's an age when fathers don't know what their daughters are

doing, and vice versa, Mr. Jones.

I tell you, the booze flows pretty free out of those weekend Shadow Lake

barbecues. I found a near -empty bottle of scotch in the car.

Now, I didn't have the heart to tell his daughter, but Meacham reeked of it.

Shadow Lake, that's where Mr. Meacham bought some property.

Yeah, it's the best thing to happen to Brian Pass in about 50 years.

You wouldn't be able to show me where Mr. Meacham's property was.

No, no, I can't, but Madge Winston should over at the bank.

Hey, there she is. Madge!

Hold on there, Madge!

We were just talking about you.

This is Madge Winston.

All A's in Brian Pass High.

Some things a prison just can't live down.

And now Vice President and Escrow Officer of Brian Pass Bank.

You don't get jobs like that by winning letters in basketball.

How do you do?

This is Mr. Jones, Barnaby Jones from Los Angeles, Madge. He's a private

investigator.

That's the kind of a job you get when you can't get all A's or a letter in

basketball.

Mr. Jones is here to investigate the Meacham accident.

Oh, dreadful thing.

Dreadful. When Shadow Lake is completed, the county's going to have to widen

that road.

Well, I'm going to take a look at it as is, as soon as I get a bite of lunch.

Say, Madge, you ought to know what lot Mr. Meacham bought. The bank is handling

the escrows.

Well, I could look it up.

Why? Well, it probably belongs to Mr.

Meacham's daughter now, who's a client of mine. And while I'm up there, I

thought I'd take a look at her property.

It'd take a little while, and I'm already late for another appointment.

Maybe if you could come back.

Well, I'll be around a while.

You'll excuse me, Jeremy.

That's a bright gal.

How come the plain ones get all the brains?

Doesn't that sound a little bit like a country boy generalization?

I guess so.

But you know there's always an exception that proves the rule.

Like Irene Hopkins.

No, you go on ahead. I'll sit on the place this afternoon.

Nothing but a few winter shoppers anyway.

Real gold comes on the buses. Free ride, free meal. Pick them off at the picnic.

Oh, here comes Miss Lonely Hearts.

Can't leave you alone, can she?

I don't know. You've got to take the bitter with the sweet.

You think I enjoy having dinner with her every night?

I don't know. Do you?

Our ship's coming in. Now, don't rock the boat.

Okay.

Yeah.

Well, I didn't know banker's hours included. Day romance break in the

the day?

Isn't your eye makeup a little heavy, Irene?

Or is that why they call this Shadow Lake?

Come on, baby. Don't taunt the goose. It's going to lay our golden egg.

The ruffler feathers.

I suppose that's what she does all day, sit around here preening her feathers

for you.

I don't like her.

She had every boy in school doing a dance.

Well, this is no schoolboy you're talking to, you know.

I hope not.

I'm risking an awful lot for you, Whit.

I don't want your head turned by some cheap flirt like Irene.

Irene's flirtations are money in the bank.

She's the best deal closer I've ever seen.

Come on now, you're not going to be upset by Irene, are you?

Whit, there's a private investigator in town.

Well, send him on out. We're not particular.

As long as they put their money on the table.

He's looking into that accident.

What's his name?

Meacham? Yeah.

Well, it's all signed, sealed, and filed away. What's he look into?

I don't know.

But he wants to take a look at Mr. Meacham's lot. And it's one of the ones

changed. Well, you changed it back to a lakefront like I told you, didn't you?

Yes, of course I did. But, honestly, Whit...

You've had me juggling papers and holding on to that escrow money week

week. I'm getting worried.

You relax.

By the time anybody starts checking, we're going to be sitting on the fantail

our yacht sipping one of those seductive island concoctions.

Oh, um, here.

These are for your signature.

I'll pick them up tonight at dinner. Not a bad weekend, I'd say.

Very nice.

For our retirement.

active retirement you ever heard of.

You are terrible.

I love you now, but I've got to get back and you're going to mess me all up.

See you at dinner.

I painted it, Mr. Brewer.

Yeah, so I see.

Keeping things ship -shape, eh, Kurt?

I thought it would be better in case anybody got nosy.

I don't follow you.

I didn't have to follow you, Mr. Brewer.

When I heard you and that Mr.

Meacham having word and saw you go after him in that pickup, that liquor bottle,

I didn't have to follow you to know what happened.

I see here Kurt's lively imagination like that could get you into a lot of

trouble. You need to worry one minute about it, Mr. Brewer.

I mean, you promised me I'd be a big man around here when Shadow Lake was

finished.

Manager, you called it.

Right?

What are you getting at?

Well, I keep seeing all this money pour in every weekend and...

I figure maybe you could pour a little bit of it my way.

What do you call it, Mr. Brewer?

A few thousand in earnest money?

And Charles Ellison is laying out an 18 -hole championship course. The first tee

will be right about over here.

And we've got stables over on the other side of the lake.

We'll have about 13 miles of bridal trails to these hills here.

Mmm, smell that air.

Not a hydrocarbon in a carload. It is Shangri -La, Mr. Jones.

We just call it Shadow Lake so people can spell it easier.

You paint well, Mr. Brewer.

What? You're a real artist.

The way you paint it, I can almost see it.

But I don't think even with a divining rod you're going to find a lake out

there. Well, Turton Creek flows through these hills year -round.

And we've got four high -capacity artesian wells on the property. It's

engineering.

Yeah, we're gonna have a clear water lake like you never wet a line in, Mr.

Jones. Seems like a dream.

Too bad Mr. Meacham didn't live long enough to see it come true.

Yeah, tragedy.

Makes me sick every time I think about it.

Did you know Mr. Meacham drove his own car up here?

No, not until I heard about what happened.

Shame.

Did you see him when he left?

Notice what kind of shape he was in?

No, I didn't, uh...

He might have had one too many. We always keep the hospitality bar open all

and sometimes people begin to feel their oats, you know what I mean?

Mr. Meacham drove up here several times in the last few weeks.

Must have been quite an attraction for him, even the way it is.

Well, I think Irene Hopkins was part of the scenery he was interested in.

Oh? Who is she?

She's a local girl, a salesgirl I hired. Very attractive. A lot of men Mr.

Meacham's age take a shine to her.

You know, harmless little fantasies.

I think Meacham's was a little more serious.

You don't say.

Is she around? I'd like to talk to her.

No, she's gone into town on business.

That's where I ought to be. Maybe I'll run into her. Well, thank you very much,

Mr. Brewer.

Anytime. Come back on pleasant business sometime, Mr. Jones.

Oh, maybe you could point out Mr.

Meacham's lot.

Oh, yeah.

Right here.

2L16. Yeah, here it is.

Late front, nice level lot.

Near the side of the lake, convenient to everything.

Well, thanks again, Mr. Brewer.

Anytime.

I may run into you one of these days on the bridle path.

I hope so.

Well, you're flipping. I didn't see you getting to sign anything.

He's a private investigator from L .A. What's the matter?

Nothing's the matter. He's been hired to check out that Meacham accident.

Oh, is that all?

I told him Meacham may have had one too many, in case he asks you.

Well, what'd you tell him that for?

And I told him that the reason Meacham came up here every weekend was because

had a crush on you.

Oh, thanks a lot. You think that's the best I can do?

The best way to keep nosy people from asking questions is to give them your

answers first.

Right? I don't understand.

Look, suppose a real reason Meacham was coming up here every week was because

he'd begun to catch on to the little shell game we'd been playing in those

front lots.

You think he was wise to us?

I don't know.

But for Joan's sake...

I thought it made a lot more sense to say he came up here every week to look

you than at that dusty old lake out there.

Oh, Miss Winston.

Oh, Mr. Jones.

How goes the investigation?

Well, I'm kind of a scattergun type of an investigator. I let go with a charge

of buckshot, and I wander around to see if I hit anything.

I hope you don't break any windows.

Is there anything I can do?

As a matter of fact, there might be.

Have you seen Irene Hopkins in town this morning? I'd kind of like to talk to

her. Mr. Jones, the less I see of Irene Hopkins, the better I like it. I counted

a lovely day, if only I don't see her at all.

Oh? I understood she was very popular.

If you value that kind of popularity.

Oh, by the way, I looked up the lot number of the Meacham property.

42L16, if you're interested.

I believe it's a lakefront.

Yeah, so I understand. Mr. Brewer showed me a map.

Did Mr. Meacham pay for that property in full?

Well, yes, as a matter of fact, he did.

Why? Well, I wondered whether his daughter had to assume any indebtedness

case she wanted to keep it.

No, it's free and clear once escrow closes.

Oh, escrow hasn't closed yet?

Well, we're attempting to close escrow on most of the properties at the same

time.

Construction funding, it's rather complicated.

I never did understand the banking business.

By the time I figured out 4%, everybody stopped using it.

Oh, you were looking for Irene. There she is.

Well, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll spare myself.

Miss Hopkins!

Yes?

I'm Bobby Jones. Possibly Mr.

Brewer spoke to me?

Uh, no. No, he didn't. Are you interested in some property?

Well, no. Right now, I'm interested in you.

Oh, well, thank you. That's very flattering.

Just professionally, I'm a private investigator looking into the car

that took the life of Mr. Meacham.

I understand you were well acquainted.

I was very fond of him.

I think he felt the same way about me.

That doesn't really matter anymore, does it, Mr. Jones?

I'm sorry. I thought you might be able to help.

Did you ever hear of him having a little too much to drink, maybe?

He used to kick up his heels a little bit up here.

We had some fun. He said it made him feel as though he were alive.

And it killed him.

Look, I'm sorry.

You'll have to excuse me.

500 bucks.

I guess you didn't quite get my message, Mr. Brewer.

I said a few thousand.

Right job, Brad. I figure 10 ,000 to sort of...

Get you started There'll be another 9 ,500 when the cash starts coming in

this weekend.

That's a stall Wait a minute. What are you talking about? There's big money

involved here partner.

You think I can afford to play games with my future manager Big things in

for you All right, but 9 ,500 by next Monday, right?

I said, all right

Oh, hey, listen, people have been making remarks about that machinery sitting in

the same place all the time. Why don't you move it further away from the

Oh, I'm finished for today. I'll do it tomorrow morning.

No, I got a bunch of callbacks coming in first thing.

Look, come on, I'll help you. It'll only take a few minutes.

Take the greater. I can't handle that one.

Well, they collect them out here till they get a truckload, and then they haul

them away, crush them up, melt them down, and make new cars, start the whole

process over again.

That's it.

When they come in like this, it's hard to tell whether it was mechanical

failure, driver error, or another car.

Well, I hate to sound hard -headed about it, Mr. Jones, but the one thing that's

missing here is a strong smell of liquor. The bottle.

It seemed pretty conclusive at the scene of the accident.

Did you do a blood alcohol on him?

Well, with an open bottle on the seat beside him.

Yeah, I know it sounds pretty bad, but somehow I just can't picture it.

DMV didn't have a single violation against Meacham.

Yeah, we're supposed to believe that he was tooling his car through dangerous

mountain roads with one hand on the steering wheel and the other on an open

bottle of liquor.

Well, he ain't got a broken tail right there.

Yeah.

Kind of plastic.

The other one didn't break.

Did you find pieces of this at the scene of the accident?

They would have scattered over a 20 -acre area the way this thing went off

cliff. Yeah, I suppose so.

Hmm.

What do you got there?

Looks like a splinter of wood caught in the back bumper.

Well, there's a lot of brush and small trees out that way. Could have picked it

up on the way down. No, this came from a board, some kind of a piece of lumber.

Got paint on it.

Hey, Mr. Jones!

What do you got?

Oh, I can't be sure.

Might be pieces of Meacham's taillight.

Is that a girlie?

I knew you had the makings of a bird dog, but you're also a very fine

Wouldn't it be too hard to see if these fit on Meacham's car?

Is there somebody you know there?

My secretary.

She sees to it I never get too far from the paperwork.

Hang on to these?

You bet.

See you in town.

You doing your road work?

Yep. You do the homework I asked you to? Yeah, here's a copy of the sales

contract.

Susan Meacham found it among her father's papers.

That's a lot. I read 42L16 on the date.

And I thought you might want to take a look at this.

Here's a picture of what her father's place would look like at Shadow Lake.

Sad, isn't it, Barnaby? Just when a man is about to see his dream of a lifetime

come true.

Well, well, well.

Translation. I wonder why Claude Meacham would hire an architect to do a

beautiful sketch of a hillside house when the lot he bought is flat as a

platter.

I really have no idea, Mr. Jones.

Perhaps Mr. Meacham just changed his mind.

No, I don't think so.

See the date here?

This sketch was drawn up a month after he bought the lot, a week before he

Well, maybe Mr. Meacham was a little confused.

I understand that he was enchanted with Irene Hopkins.

Oh, where'd you hear that?

I thought it was common knowledge.

His daughter didn't mention it.

Deputy Carter didn't say anything about it.

Perhaps I shouldn't have said anything if everyone else is being so discreet.

I really don't know what you're getting at, Mr. Jones.

Well, join me in the boat, Miss Winston. Neither do I.

When all of a sudden a man who has hardly taken a drink all his life drives

car off a cliff in a drunken stupor, a man whose life has been a model of

caution and self -discipline gets so carried away with a younger woman that

builds a hillside house for a flat line.

I suppose stranger things have happened, don't you?

Undoubtedly. Only when one egg is broken, you blame the chicken.

When they're all broken, you get the feeling that there has been a fox in the

hen house.

Thank you very much for your time, Miss Winston. I'm going to leave you now to

your percentage points and fine print.

Shadow Lake, Brewer speaking.

Hey, hey, hey, slow.

I'm only listening with one ear, you know.

Darling, I am trying to tell you that this Jones is no fool.

In his deliberate plodding way, he's going to plod right into the middle of

whole little picnic.

Well, what makes you think so, Pat?

Well, he already suspects there's something fishy about the Meacham

If he keeps on digging and asking questions, he's going to discover the

fraud.

Wait a minute, that's a pretty ugly word for just juggling a few lot numbers,

Madge. Oh, what do you call it?

And Jones is thinking of uglier words than that.

He doesn't think that Meacham's accident was an accident.

Maybe it's all for the best.

If you can see a bright side in this, I wish you'd tell me.

You and me, love, that's a bright side.

We're just going to move our honeymoon up three weeks.

Now?

But, darling... Well, no sense in being greedy.

There's got to be over 400 ,000 in escrow.

That should be enough for a happy married couple to get started on.

Like this afternoon.

We'll pick up your trousseau on the way.

Well, I don't know if I can be ready that soon.

The money's all there, isn't it?

That was the plan.

I'll pick you up at your house this afternoon.

But it... Could be evidence of a hit -and -run

accident.

Or it could be a murder weapon.

Let's go see.

It looks like a surveyor's stake.

That's what it is. See that surveyor's little metal tag?

Somebody's getting awfully careless.

How come he started grading in the middle of the site?

All I know is Mr. Brewer called me early this morning and asked me to come out

here and grade this area for him.

I mean, for eight bucks an hour, I'd knock down battleships in that thing.

Gonna cost more than eight bucks an hour to replace these surveyor stakes.

It wasn't me, mister. I didn't do none of that grading. I just started widening

here.

You drive that pickup?

No, that's the truck that Brad Kurtz uses.

Who painted the bumper?

Brad, I suppose. He does most of the maintenance work around here.

Where is Brad?

Mr. Brewer said that Brad just took off.

Then he wanted me to finish this job. I mean, all I know is... I know. For eight

bucks an hour, you don't ask questions.

Right. Well, Mr. Jones, if I'd known you were interested in some property, I

would have shown you around.

Well, I would have liked to look at the lot just north of the stake.

I don't understand.

Neither do I, because this is an official surveyor's stake and not

be moved.

Somebody bulldozed right over it.

Well, accidents do happen, I suppose.

Is Mr. Brewer around?

No, he went into the city to talk to the people who are designing the new golf

course. He'll be here tomorrow.

So will I. And in the meantime, I'd appreciate it if no one moved that

truck. At least until after the sheriff has had a look at it.

Acres of green all planted with big round zeros.

Beautiful, beautiful.

We'd better hurry. They're going to wonder when I don't get back this

Wonder's not the word for it, baby.

Okay, let's go.

Let's go? Wait, I've got to pack.

That's half an hour. Make yourself a drink. I said let's go. You don't have

pack for where you're going.

on all of that, you're right. You're going to die.

Whit.

Please, Whit, listen to me. I'll leave Brian back. I'll never come back. Nobody

has to know.

Then get in here.

No.

All right.

Have it your way. Six one, half dozen the other.

You ready to die?

I've always said it, Irene.

You are not to be trusted.

Mr. Cool comes up here and thinks he can play us for a fool.

Fitty tricks for hick chicks.

We'll drive his car off into the bottom of Calder Lake.

Take it, Swiper!

Would this be Brad Kurtz?

Yeah. Yeah, that's him, all right.

Well, Mr. Brewer hears about this.

I got a pretty strong hunch that Mr. Brewer already knows all about this.

You better call Deputy Carter.

That's why I came out here.

He's been trying to reach you at the motel for over an hour. He wants you

in town right away.

What about?

Whit Brewer took off with $400 ,000 in escrow money.

Looks like Mr. Brewer's been a busy, busy man. He's moving fast. How much

A couple hours.

Put out an APB, but there's at least half a dozen small airports he could

taken off from.

Say, in a chartered plane from L .A.

How'd you hear about him?

Imagine Irene.

Come on.

This is Barnaby Jones from Los Angeles.

He's a private investigator.

You ladies both know Mr. Jones.

I think you both know Brad Kirch, too.

What does Brad Kurtz have to do with anything?

Well, if he were alive and here, I think he could tell us something.

Is Brad Kurtz dead?

We just unearthed his body from a hurry -up grave somebody dug for him out at

Shadow Lake.

Good Lord!

You can add that to your damn foolishness. Oh, shut up, Irene! Just

will you?

All right, both of you, cool down now.

You want to tear each other's hair out later, that's fine.

Right now, I want you to help us.

You tell him, Mr. Jones.

Well, I think Brad Kurtz was killed because he knew too much about a so

accident that happened to Mr. Meacham up on the Canyon Road.

You're saying murder?

What kind of nonsense is that?

Of course, you wouldn't want to believe that Loverboy is guilty of anything.

I'm warning you, Madge.

I think Whit Brewer was running a little shell game with the lops out there at

Shadow Lake.

What do you mean, shell game?

I think he was taking the choice one and selling them over and over, and Meacham

caught on to it and threatened to expose him.

But that's absurd. How could he do that?

He could do it.

He tricked me.

Well, tricking you is like striking out the pitcher.

You thought he had a crush on you, huh?

Don't.

Madge.

Madge, what time did he call you and ask for the money?

Um, a little after one.

He'd been lying to me all the time.

Lying to you how?

telling me he had to keep all that escrow money on hand for developmental

purposes, he said.

He said that he couldn't make the right kind of deal with the construction firms

if he couldn't move fast.

He's been moving fast, all right.

He said he had a chance for a deal on the lake and golf course contracts, and

asked me to bring the money.

Of all the dumb... Well, I didn't know...

And you just gave it to him?

Well, we'd already closed out escrow.

I really didn't think very much about it.

But when I gave him the money, I sensed that something was wrong.

I got suspicious, and I tried to stop him.

And then he threatened to kill me.

Dumb.

No, not so dumb.

One murder usually leads to another, and then another.

Carry on. I want to step on it.

All right, Madge. When he left you, what was the next thing you did?

Has Brewer really flown the coop?

That's the picture I got inside, but out here I got a slightly different

picture.

Take a look.

Well, the guy just walks in and you give him $40 ,000.

What do you mean, Barnaby?

Wouldn't you think that two women who had just been bilked and bunkoed by the

same man would have a little sisterly compassion for each other? Just a

Here they are going at it hammer and tongue.

Methinks the ladies do protest too much.

Well, at least you have a pretty good idea how Meacham was killed and why.

If they ever find Brewer... Betty,

the coroner's on his way out to Shadow Lake. Why don't you take a run out there

and see what he says?

I'll stick around here and see if I can find Brewer between the lines of the

statements coming from that office.

Well, we did it.

We did it. You were beautiful.

Yes, I was.

Why, Mr. Brewer, a honeymoon girl.

I declare, little old me.

You know, we were pretty good playing those boys back in high school.

But that looks like chicken feed compared to this.

Cost per drink, huh?

Mm -hmm.

Something, uh, tall and smooth.

You think Meacham wasn't drunk?

You think Brewer killed him?

Hmm. I hope so.

The police will never stop looking for him.

And when the search fades slowly into the West, Madge and Irene will slink

quietly away in shame and in humiliation.

We'd better slink down that hill after dark and bury him.

Hmm. Like for a thousand years.

Oh, ice.

Get some ice, huh?

I'm so flustered.

Oh, and you do the best fluster I've ever seen.

All right, kittens.

Let's have it.

Over here.

That's what I like to see.

Whit, listen to me.

The police are looking for you. You bet, baby.

Everywhere but here.

You took care of that all right.

You need a doctor.

Let us get you a doctor.

Don't make me laugh.

It only hurts when I laugh.

But I'm gonna get well real fast.

As soon as I see that money.

Now get it.

It's not here.

You bet it is.

And as soon as I kill one of you, the other one's going to tell me where it

right? All right, Whit, all right.

It's outside. It's in the garage.

They'll never get away with it.

I've already gotten away with it.

Is that what you've already done for me when you talked to that hick, sir?

You know what you told him?

What are you going to tell him now?

In fact, I might just decide to stay right here and rest up.

And neither one of you can say one word.

Move.

Come on, come on.

It's inside.

Get it.

Don't put your hands on anything with that money while you're in there, you

me?

Hold it!

I wouldn't do that.

You've already tried to kill him once. Once is enough, isn't it, ladies?

That's better.

I have Nita, Mr. Brewer, alive and well.

You may be able to shed a little light on Shadow Lake.

Turton Creek flows through these hills year -round.

And together with the high -capacity artesian wells on the property, you're

going to have a clear water lake like you never went aligning.

Are you buying or selling?

Little of both.

I can see why Dad loves it.

Who knows? Maybe I'll go ahead with this cabin.

He didn't like that.

Yeah, I think he might have.

Money's all back now and in good hands.

As soon as they get the lot straightened out, who knows?

Maybe Shadow Lake will finally become a reality.

Isn't it something?

With a little bit of patience, Mr. Brewer might have become a wealthy man

anyway. Yeah, I'd say that.

There's room here for an 18 -hole golf course. And over there, far side of the

lake, a stable.

And miles and miles of bridle paths going up in those hills.

Barnaby.

How much did they say lots were selling for here?

Just kidding.