Original subtitles

Barnaby Jones.

Starring Buddy Epson.

Also starring Lee Merriweather. With guest stars Lois Nettleton,

Richard O 'Brien, Rennie Jarrett.

Special guest star Ed Flanders.

Tonight's episode, Death on Deposit.

By the end of the week, it'll all be in the computer, Miss Blasford.

Deposits, withdrawals, loans, interest, all of it.

You did a very good job, Bert.

And next week, I'm going to put the special investment accounts and the

into the computer.

Oh, no, you won't.

Well, the computer can't tell us the whole truth unless we tell it the whole

truth. My father handled those accounts personally, and so do I.

Mr. Sturm is waiting in your office, Miss Blasford. Oh, thank you, Gail.

You're coming by tonight.

I can't tonight, Gail. I've got to run a few checks on the machine.

But I hardly ever see you anymore.

We're supposed to be engaged, remember?

Yeah.

Good morning, Al.

How can I help you?

Well, I'll get right to the point.

It's about my investment account.

$522 ,448 .36.

Right to the penny.

You know, I don't know how you keep so many numbers in your head.

Numbers are my business.

It's like cattle were yours.

There are a lot of things about cattle I'll never understand.

Well, I'll take your weight off your mind.

I'm afraid I'm going to be moving my account.

Oh, shush. Now you'll do no such thing.

What's the trouble?

There's no trouble, Ellen. Not with you or the bank.

It's just that I'm going to move into a retirement village closer to Los

Angeles. Well, your money will be perfectly safe here.

Has been for 40 years.

I know that, Ellen.

It's been here so long, I almost feel as though it's mine.

You can always bank by mail, you know.

I think I'd rather have it somewhere closer by.

You know...

Papa would turn over in his grave if he knew about this.

I made up my mind, Ellen.

I'm sorry.

All right.

I'll have the papers drawn up and the check made out, but I won't promise not

try to talk you out of it.

Oh, I'll also want to sell off what's left of the ranch.

Can you handle that transaction for me?

Certainly. Good.

And I'll venture a guess you won't get that kind of service at an old big city

bank.

Hi, Bert.

How's the allergy?

Starting to get those headaches again.

I'll mix you up a little something when I get back to the store.

I'd appreciate it, Doc. I'll drop by this afternoon.

Proud love will give you a line.

Al Sturmer is withdrawing his money.

All of it?

He's closing his account.

There's some papers he has to sign. I thought maybe we could drive out this

afternoon.

Well, Al probably needs a refill on that prescription for his arthritis.

Maybe I better mix him up a little something before we go, huh?

You do that, darling.

I'll pick you up later.

Hello, Doc.

Helen. Good afternoon. I brought the papers for you to sign.

Say, that sure was fast.

Just part of the service.

Now, here's the receipt for the check.

Withdrawal form, limited power of attorney. That's for the sale of the

You have to fill out a form for everything these days.

Yes. Just sign wherever it says signature.

Oh, Al, I wish you wouldn't do this.

Sure you don't want to reconsider?

Nope.

I've just got a feeling I should make a change, Ellen.

Oh, by the way, Al, as long as I was coming out, I thought I'd bring you a

refill for that prescription.

Those other pills probably lost their potency by now.

Thank you, Doc, but, you know, I've given up taking those pills over a year

They weren't doing me any good, and, you know, when a man gets to be 70, he gets

used to just about anything, and, well, I guess I'm just getting used to having

arthritis.

Take the body out of the pen. We'll put him in with Toby.

It's not so much what I know, Mr. Jones. It's what I feel.

They're little things, but... They bother me.

What little things, Mr. Stermer?

The way he died, for one thing.

You see, Mr. Jones, my grandfather was a cattle breeder. And when he got older,

he sold all of his stock, except his favorite, an old bull named Toby.

That's the one that's mentioned in the coroner's accident summary?

Yes. Now, Mr. Jones, you see, that bull got uglier and meaner by the minute. But

no one knew that better than my grandfather did. And he would not have

that corral.

He had too much respect for Toby to do a thing like that.

Why don't you sit down, Mr. Sturmer?

Did you tell this to the police?

The sheriff looked into it, but... I think he was persuaded by the fact that

grandfather had gotten old.

Now, I submit to you, Mr. Jones, just because a man gets old does not mean he

gets stupid.

And you, uh, telling me this, uh, knowing full well that I will agree.

And then there's the boots.

He always kept an old pair of boots on the porch.

And he never went into the barnyard without first putting on the boots.

And he wasn't wearing them when they found him.

He was wearing his best Sunday shoes.

All right, Mr. Stermer, I'll look into it.

In there you'll find your retainer, the keys to the house, a letter to his bank,

and a letter to the sheriff in Culverton.

Good luck, Mr. John.

Thank you.

Morning, Sheriff.

You got business here, Mr... Jones.

Barnaby Jones.

I'm a private investigator.

How'd you know I was here?

Miss Minnie saw you pull in. She called Pauline, and Pauline called my wife, and

here I am.

That's better than a burglar alarm.

I don't know what you expect to find here, Mr. Jones.

Neither do I.

I couldn't find anything to warrant any further investigation.

Al Sturmer's personal effects for his grandson.

If Ralph can trust you, I guess I can.

Sign here.

There's $47 .27 in there.

All right.

Let's see if Ralph gets it.

Oh, here's some mail. Mr. Sturmer must have arrived the day he died. I found it

over there on the table.

You have these in his pocket?

No, he must have been wearing them. We found them over in the corral.

Why?

They're reading glasses.

Why would a man wearing reading glasses wander into a corral where there was a

wild bull?

I'd like to see the coroner.

Dr. Evans is over in Fairmont, his niece's wedding.

You're thinking that it wasn't an accident?

All right, at this point, I'm thinking it might have been anything, including

murder. A man would sure need a darn good reason.

Did Mrs. Thurmer have any money?

You just might have found yourself a good reason.

Oh, thanks, Gail. You're welcome.

Whatever you want to know should be in here, Mr. Jones.

Some of the things I want to know can't be reduced to figures.

Alfred was a very old and dear friend.

Oh, here it is.

His balance was a little over $800.

That, of course, will go to his grandson.

$800?

Is that all?

If there's any question, his grandson is welcome to an audit any time he likes.

No, I... I'm just surprised, that's all.

Would you put these back in the vault, dear? Sure.

I

understand

Mr. Stermer was in here the morning of his accident.

He was moving to a retirement community.

The golden age village matter of fact one of his canceled checks was made out

them

Those are Miss Blasford's special investment accounts.

Shh.

I don't think you should do that.

She can keep the books and the accounts.

All I want is an accurate input from the machine.

She's really going to be mad.

Just wait.

She sees how easy and simple this will make her work.

She'll love it.

Probably even give me a raise.

The shuffleboard is down there by the jetty.

Are you the self -avoid type?

Well, not so you could notice. Well, there are the tennis courts and

and of course, sailing.

Yeah, that's very nice, but... Oh, we have everything here, from barbecues to

ballroom dancing. And if you don't dance, we even have classes to teach

Well, I can manage a few steps. Oh, well, if that doesn't interest you, we

bridge clubs and chess clubs and backgammon clubs, camera clubs, but best

all, friends.

We're just one big happy family.

Are you married, Mr. Jones?

No, I'm a widower.

Well, a handsome man like you will find a great deal here to occupy your time.

Uh, Mrs. Porter, what I came out here for was some information.

About Mr.

Alfred Sturmer, hmm?

I'll bet you thought I forgot.

Oh, I was very sorry to hear about his death.

I understand he bought a condom medium here. That's right.

One of our evergreen models.

He wants to have moved in this coming Thursday.

What? What did his payments be?

Well, he paid $8 ,000 down, and the rest, $72 ,000, was due the day he moved

I made the sale, handled the papers myself.

Is that the way it's usually done?

No, that's why I remembered.

He insisted he didn't want to owe anybody anything.

In our credit check, our local banker said that Mr. Sturmer planned to deposit

close to half a million dollars.

Well, did you know that he had only a little over $800 in his bank account?

Well, that's funny.

From the way he talked, I... Age does funny things to a man.

Dumb man.

Well, thank you very much, Mrs. Porter.

We'll be seeing you soon, I hope, Mr. Jones.

I'll put those back in the vault.

Why are they out here?

I'm sorry, Miss Blasford.

Burt was putting the accounts into the computer after I distinctly told him.

Gail, that young man of yours is not to be trusted.

Where is he?

I don't know. He had to go on an errand.

I'll put these back.

Time for lunch already?

Bert has put the information from my private ledgers into the computer.

I thought you told him not to. In no uncertain turn.

You know what?

Bert always was kind of headstrong. Like his daddy. Old Tommy Munson. Remember

him?

Doc.

It's just a matter of somebody pushing the right buttons and it's all there on

computer readout.

Don't go working yourself into a tizzy.

The important thing is you found out.

We'll take care of it.

And I figured it's time you and I took a little vacation.

I can't, Doc.

Not when things are the way they are. We'll go to Europe.

Get married by a quaint little French priest and a quaint little French

Don't, Doc.

We'll do it soon.

But for right now, what about Bert?

Yeah, well...

Bert's been working too hard lately.

He's, uh... He's been having headaches, he told me.

I'll fix him up a little something that'll settle his nerves.

Calm him down.

No more headaches.

No more worries for you, love.

They close at noon on Saturdays.

All right, you having any luck?

Well, I got no answers yet, but a lot of interesting questions.

Well, would you like to try some of them out on me?

You seem to think that Al Sturmer had a lot of money, but all he had was $800 in

the bank.

Now, who told you that?

Alan Blaseford.

Well, it's the absolute truth, then.

Anybody in town will tell you. If Ellen says so, it's... You can stake your life

on it.

Where would I find Ellen Blaisford after banking hours?

She lives in that big ranch house out on Mill Road. You pass by it on your way

in from Sturmer's place.

That's Bert Munton.

He might be able to help you. Hey, Bert!

You got a minute?

Mr. Jones here needs some information on Al Sturmer's account.

Oh, Miss Blasford handled his account personally, but she's gone down to Los

Angeles on business.

Be back late tonight.

Just want to ask you a few questions.

Yeah, as a matter of fact, so do I.

But I've got an important date to meet Gail.

Tomorrow's Sunday.

If you'll meet me here at the bank about 8, we'll put all our questions to the

computer. Good.

Well, Sheriff, did the coroner ever get back?

Dr. Evans.

As a matter of fact, I'm going to drop by there tonight for a game of checkers.

Why don't you join us?

Sure.

You know, the way you play checkers, you should have been a second -story man

instead of a county sheriff.

How about you, Barnaby?

No, thank you. I don't think I could concentrate after reading this.

Dr. Evans.

I find a couple of disturbing things in your original notes that do not appear

in the accident summary.

Disturbing?

How? Well, your description of the blow that was the cause of death.

Blunt, depressed.

posterior skull fracture seven centimeters in diameter.

That doesn't sound exactly like the type of injury that would have been

inflicted by a rampaging bull.

Oh, Mr. Jones, in an accident like this, it's difficult to determine exactly

which injury was the true cause of death.

And according to your report, the scalp area in the vicinity of the wound was

impregnated by a white powder. Did you analyze the powder?

Didn't have to.

It was quicklime.

There was a whole barrel of it up around the side of the house. I don't have to

tell you there's a hundred uses for it around a country place.

That's true, Doctor.

But never around a corral.

Unless you want a dead animal.

I wish you didn't have to go home tonight.

Starting October 15th? I don't.

Hey, get in, will you? Ellen wants to talk to you.

She's been going over her accounts.

Said she found something that she wants you to take care of before business

Monday.

Oh, good. I wanted to talk to her, too.

Oh, I brought you something for your allergy.

Better take two now, huh?

Got some lemonade in this thermos.

Where is she?

Just relax and we'll be there before you know it.

A little dizzy.

Yeah, I should have warned you. There's antihistamine in those pills. Might make

you a little sleepy.

Come on. Get some air, huh?

It'll pack, really. Don't worry about it.

Miss Blaseford, what are we doing here?

It's a surprise, Bert.

A wedding present.

This piece of land.

I remember you saying that you liked it.

How did you know about the wedding?

No secrets in a small town.

By the way, that darling girl of yours told me how you planned to surprise me.

Put all my special investment accounts into that computer of yours.

You're not angry?

Of course not, silly.

Provided it's as efficient as you say it is.

It's all there.

It's all on one reel of tape.

Doc, I think I'm going to be sick.

Which reel of tape is it, Bert?

Doc. How is it coded?

Doc.

How do I find that reel of tape, Bert?

Bert!

Good morning. Good morning, Mr.

Jones.

This is Fred Tucker, our pharmacist. This is Barnaby Jones, a private

investigator. How do you do? Hi.

What can I do for you?

Well, I'd like to have a little closer look at Al Sturmer's account.

Well, it's Sunday and I keep all the records of the bank.

I was supposed to meet Bert Munson over there this morning, but he didn't show

up. I tried his place, but he wasn't there.

Well, Bert's getting married in a couple of weeks. Likely he's got places to go,

things to do, huh?

Yes, I wouldn't doubt that.

From everything I've been able to find, indication is that Mr. Sturmer thought

he had a lot of money in your bank.

Well, you saw the balance, $800.

What are you looking for, Mr. Jones?

A motive for murder.

Who would have murdered poor Alfred?

Well, maybe when I find out why, I might also find out who.

You see, people are still killing other people for the same reasons. Love, hate,

jealousy, money.

Murder?

My goodness, that certainly would be a first for Colverton.

Well, in any case, I'll be more than happy to help you. Why don't I meet you

the bank in one hour?

I'd appreciate that.

Nice to meet you, Mr. Tucker. You too.

Goodness.

He's one loose end. I'm afraid it's going to give us a bit of trouble.

Don't you worry, love.

Mr. Jones gives us any trouble, I can whip up just the cure for you.

You're too good to me, Doc.

You're just too good to me.

Hi,

Sheriff. Morning, Gail. How are you?

Sheriff, I can't find Bert. Have you seen him?

Not this morning.

Well, I stopped by his apartment.

He hasn't been home all night. His bed hasn't been flipped.

Well, we'd better start looking for him.

Come on.

Get in.

Mr. Jones, these records cover every transaction between Al Sturmer and the

for the last ten years. Do you need to go any further back than that?

He made some rather heavy withdrawals over the last four years.

And some sizable deposits.

Mr. Sturmer was a very successful man.

Big withdrawals. There's one for $151 ,000.

$73 ,000.

All together they count to well over $500 ,000. I wonder what he did with all

that money.

You never could tell what Alfred was up to.

Could be he buried it someplace.

Do you mind if I borrow these for a few days?

I certainly do. They are the property of the bank.

Well, I wonder if I could have copies. I saw a machine over there.

Of course.

Oh, could I make a collect call on your phone, please?

Go right ahead.

Thank you.

If I'm in the Jones office, may I help you?

Pardon me. How did you know I'd be here?

Well, I knew you had a hair appointment on Saturday, so you would never have

finished the quarterly reports and would have had to come in today to finish up

before I got there on Monday.

All right. Now that I'm properly dazzled by your fancy footwork, what do you

want? Well, this being your day off, I figured you might want to drive up here

and give me a hand.

Oh, you did, did you?

All right. Give me a half an hour to finish up here and an hour to drive up.

Fine, I'll see you then.

I don't mean to rush you, Mr. Jones, but if that's all you need... That's all at

the moment, thanks.

Excuse me.

Well, this place... I've been looking for Burton when I saw that you were

Gayle. Good morning, Sheriff.

We looked all over town for him.

He wasn't at home all night.

Nobody's seen him.

Oh, well, I don't think there's anything to worry about.

Maybe he just drove into Los Angeles for the day. He wouldn't do that without

telling me. We were supposed to talk to the minister at 10 .30.

Well, he was supposed to meet me here at 8 this morning.

Well, it's a little early to call it a disappearance, but it's not like Bert.

He'd have left word with somebody.

I agree.

And when an officer of a bank disappears...

People do conjure up all sorts of reasons.

What are you suggesting?

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

But I would like you to stay and run a few things through the computer for me.

Just a precaution. I'm sure the sheriff will find vert.

Al Sturmer was neat as apple pie.

A place for everything and everything in a place.

There's one thing missing.

What's that?

$520 ,000.

Maybe he wasn't as neat as you thought he was.

Maybe if you went through all those drawers and took out the papers, you

find it stuffed away in there somewhere.

$520 ,000 in there?

Or a note, a receipt that indicated where it went.

Yes, sir.

Well, there's nothing wrong here.

You see, I just have an overactive imagination.

Oh, you must be tired. Why don't we finish this up tomorrow?

All right.

Oh, Gail, that tape Bert made from the investment account ledgers, where did he

put it? Well, it should be with the others.

Oh, would you give it to me, please?

I'll put it on the machine first thing in the morning.

No, I'd like to have it now, just for safekeeping.

But, Miss Bladesford, what could be safer than a bank vault?

Don't argue with me, Gail. Give me the tape.

Would you lock up on your way out? Sure.

Honey, don't worry about Bert.

I'm sure he has a very good reason for not being here.

You get it?

Right here.

This is a brand new reel of tape.

Box hasn't been opened yet.

Now I know why you didn't want Bert to put those accounts into the computer.

You've been stealing from them.

Oh, my... Now look whose imagination is running away with them. Well, Bert can

prove what you did. Where is he?

You know where he is, don't you?

Yes, poor Bert.

He absconded.

Stole two million dollars of the bank's money and ran away. That's a lie.

Easy, girl.

Of course, he'd never leave without planning for you to join him.

Don't worry, love.

We'll help.

Take her to the back door.

I'll drive my car around.

Come on.

Come on.

Come

on.

It's a shirt.

for you, Sheriff. Gail's still here? No, she left about 20 minutes ago.

You didn't find Bert, did you?

How'd you know?

Well, I've been going through the book, and I'll have to have a complete audit

before I can know how bad it is, but it doesn't look good.

Was it bad enough to put out an all -points bulletin to the highway patrol?

I'm afraid so.

Okay.

Now, don't worry, love.

We'll come back for her later.

Every withdrawal, every deposit is recorded right there in his ledger.

Except these, where he used a special bank withdrawal slip.

Well, they are legal. I've used them myself.

Doesn't it strike you as strange that he signed them all with the same pen?

Well, the same kind of pen.

Banked by the hook, by the gross.

Did they all skip?

Cheap pens, maybe.

On the day that he died, Stammer walked down to the mailbox, picked up the mail.

He walked back to the house, looking at the mail.

Right about here, somebody or something interrupted him.

You tell me how you know that.

Because I found the mail right over there, partially open.

Well, that would explain for him wearing his reading glasses.

Now, the question is, what interrupted his attention to his man?

Eddie, would you write your name for me, please?

Sure.

Skips are almost exactly alike.

Do you think that these slips were all signed here?

It was more likely all on the same day.

That means that somebody had to fudge around with the dates on a half a

dollars worth of withdrawal.

I wonder how she got Mr.

Sturmer to sign these blank withdrawals.

Maybe he thought he was signing something else.

And don't forget, everybody trusts Ms. Bladesford.

You know, we deserve a celebration.

Everything's going along perfectly.

Oh, Doc.

It's going to be so grand.

You were right, as usual.

It's time to go.

I think I'm just a little tired.

All work, no play, love.

Why didn't we get married years ago?

Oh, you know what they say.

Marry in haste, repent in leisure.

Thank you.

Looks like they're on their way down to the sheriff's office.

All right.

You know, I don't think that man is half dumb.

Hardly anyone is these days.

Well, darling, the books are finished.

Now we do something about Gail and we're on our way.

We can't move her with Jones on the street and the sheriff in town.

Hello, Sheriff?

This is Ellen Blaisford. I was wondering if you could come out here to my place.

I have something I'd like to show you.

Fine. Oh, and if you run into Mr. Jones, would you bring him along with you?

He is?

Well, that's very convenient.

Yes, it concerns Arthur Sturmer's estate.

I may have an answer for you.

All right, I'll expect you. Bye.

You are a prize, sweetheart. You are a prize.

Have you prepared for Gail?

Now, what happens when they show up at your place and we're not there?

I'll take care of that.

You let me know when they leave town.

Might as well take my car. That's all right. We'll take this one.

You know where she lives?

Barnaby. I've been there.

Barnaby. You drive.

Barnaby, we were just... What's the trouble working with relatives? They

know how to take orders.

They've gone love

Hello,

this is Ellen Blaisford. May I speak

to the sheriff?

Oh That's too bad Well, if he calls in would you tell him that I had to go and

pick up some information?

And if I'm not at the house when he arrives, tell him just to wait. I should

back in a little while.

Thank you.

All right, Doc.

Let's put the icing on the cake.

Barnaby, can I ask you a question?

Sure, why not?

Well, we drove past her home on the way into town, and there was no one there.

And we didn't see her car on the road on the way back, so what's your question?

Why are we going back?

We're not.

You're gonna turn around right up here Barnaby, why?

I think somebody wanted to see us out of town. They have.

Now we're gonna find out why

see Bert, dear girl.

You do want to see Bert, don't you? Where's Bert? What have you done to him?

Stop it.

Yes, stop it. You're only making it harder on yourself.

No.

No reason for you to feel any more pain than Bert did.

Told you we should have gone a long time ago.

No, you wanted more, always more.

I could have been content with a lot less.

I always knew greed would be your downfall.

Don't you agree, Mr. Jones?

I guess I belonged in there somewhere.

Mr. Jones, this isn't easy to say, but I want to thank you for finding something

that I should have found myself.

Well, I wouldn't take it that way. Let's just say that it's easier for a

stranger to suspect someone of murder than for you to suspect your own friends

and neighbors.

Yeah, but I'm having a little trouble believing it.

Poor Bert.

Of course, Ellen is trying to blame it all on Doc.

How is he?

He'll recover.

But he's as crazy as a bed bug.

He keeps telling me when he's up and around, he's going to fix me a little

something for my bursitis.

Well, maybe he just has a forgiving nature.

Maybe. But I don't have bursitis.