Original subtitles

She hasn't done anything Now let her alone!

No, no! Don't lie for me!

Have a nice meditation

The doctors are already pretty certain that your fatherinlaw was dead

before he went in the water

His mizzen jibed like that

He went overboard

I got done a lot sooner than I figured And nobody saw me I'm positive

What's your name? Johnny

Daddy

Wait a minute, Columbo

We're here today, all of us, to have some fun

Now, come on

You mean, so you can get drunk!

The brightly beams our Fathers mercy

From His lighthouse evermore

But to us He leaves the keeping

Of the lights along the shore

Let the lower lights be burning

Send a gleam across the wave

(HORN HONKING)

Some poor aging, struggling seaman

You may rest

In peace next day

(HORN HONKING)

Dark the night of sin has settled

Loud the angry billows roar

(WOMEN LAUGHING)

are longing, hoping

For the lights, along the shore

(ALL LAUGHING)

Oh, it's funny!

(SHRIEKING)

Oh, dear, I love you

Thank you, Swanny Thank you

WOMAN: Marvelous!

I see his yawl's back

WOMAN: Oh, that's the most beautiful boat he ever designed

And your uncle

is the most beautiful man that's ever lived

SWANNY: I think he's taking a tour

WOMAN: Where's he going, Swanny?

Oh, who knows? He's out in it night and day

He's more at home on that boat then he is at home

Oh, let's drink to that

I'll drink to anything

Where is your glass?

Standby for the Commodore

(HORN HONKING)

SWANNY: Standby WOMAN: For the Commodore!

Hail to the Commodore!

Hail the Commodore!

MAN: All hail the

SWANNY: Commodore!

ALL: (SHOUTING) The Commodore! The Commodore!

All right, let's get this damn thing over with

(ALL LAUGHING)

(HORN HONKING)

How are you, Otis?

Let me get another reading here

Got it

Great Can you give a smile, sir, please?

(CAMERA CLICKING)

Fine There we go

MAN 2: That's it That's it!

Sir, would you be so kind, as to give us a shot possibly with Mr Clay

and your lovely daughter?

He was such a boring man He was

Excuse me, Mrs Clay

Your father would like to have a shot with you inside for the magazine

Oh He was such a boring lover

(ALL CHATTERING)

Just think, 30 whole years

you've been building boats PHOTOGRAPHER: Excuse me, this is just for the family

Ma'am, this is just a family shot

Goodbye, Hannah

Could we have a picture with Mr Clay?

Of course Charlie Great

Charlie, darling! Thank you

All right Coming, love

I'll talk to you later

Okay Let's have a group

Daddy is the greatest naval architect in the whole world!

Excuse me, sir Can you get a little closer?

Good Here we are

That's nice

Oh, that's fine

Can you kiss him again, just one more time?

Of course I can!

Great Oh, that's super

That's it That's it

Can you look into the lens?

Thank you

Let's get these people out of here!

All right, Swanny Everybody out of here now

Everybody out Gentlemen, right out

All right Everybody out! Everybody out!

CHARLIE: Excuse me, have a drink on me

He'll be with you in a minute

How you doing?

See you in a few minutes Right in there Okay? Enjoy yourself

Look happy!

CHARLIE: Gotta give the family a little privacy now, okay?

SWANNY: You people, out there, in the other room

MAN: We'll have a nice time

I can remember when people bought my boats

simply because they liked to sail them

Not for any slogan, or any status

Just simply, because they liked to sail

Well, the business has changed some since then

Daddy, don't you realize

that Charlie has practically doubled your business this year?

Doubled the overhead, you mean Doubled our losses

CHARLIE: Only for taxes That's the secret of expansion

So who wants to get fat? I don't!

Charles, I don't like conglomerates

Oh, Daddy, stop all this!

We're here today, all of us, to have some fun

Now, come on

You mean, so you can get drunk!

I can remember over the years,

when we gave a party, an annual party, for all our own workers!

Not for all those sponges out there

Plus maybe a few executive types

Well, those are some of our finest customers

I'd appreciate you joining me and talking with a few of them

No

I never did like parties

I'm going back home, do some work on my boat

Daddy, you can't! They're important people waiting for you in there

Listen, Joanna, will you stop Daddy, Daddy! Please!

Otis

Stop making a fool of yourself Please, Daddy, please!

Otis, I just need you for a short appearance to show some unity

Squash those rumors about trouble within the company

Well, it's my company and I don't give a damn!

My daughter was a fool because she married you, Charles,

and I was a fool for letting you run things so long

Come on, don't be so shocked and innocent

You all had your hands in the till, one way or another

There's only one decent man here

Here!

Take us home

Is that the Wonder Girl from your office?

That's why you work so late

What's wrong with him?

He's going to sell us out

What?

The company

He's going to pull the rug out from under all of us

I'll talk to him

I'll talk to him

Talk to him

Talk to him

Eat,

drink,

and be merry

(BELL RINGING)

Hi, Wayne

Hi, Charles

Can I talk to the boss?

He's on the phone

Well, when we dropped him off, he asked me to bring this back

He's been having a little trouble with the selfsteering

He's going out tonight

Yeah He mentioned that to me

How's he feeling?

Well, he's a little het up He'll calm down

Well, he gets like that

A few hours on the water, he'll be like a new man

Why don't you give that to me? I'll

Sure

Just wait here a second, I'll tell him you're here

Wayne's here He brought the selfsteering vane you wanted

He says, thanks He'll see you at the yard tomorrow morning, 11:30

I'm leaving myself

Give him some peace

Be in at the usual time?

That depends on Joanna

All right See you in the morning

Good night

How's everything, Mr Clay?

Not bad, Wally What time you got?

12:45, sir

As a matter of fact, it's going on 12:46

Yeah, thanks a lot Take it easy Good night!

Good night, Mr Clay

(ENGINE WHIRRING)

MAN: Commodore?

Commodore?

lts a nice evening

Youre running right, sir Please, youre running right

(BELL CLANGING)

Have a good sail, sir

My name is Lieutenant Columbo Are you the lady of the house?

I'm Mrs Clay

Joanna Clay

I'm Charles Clay What do you want?

My name is Lieutenant Columbo I'm from the Los Angeles Police Department

Lieutenant Columbo

What do you want, Lieutenant?

Your father is Otis Swanson, is that right?

Yeah

It seems they call him the Commodore?

That's right They call him the Commodore

His boat was found, he was not on it

The sailing boat

Yawl

He wasn't on it?

No, sir, he was not on the boat

Well, where is he?

We don't know

I'm going down to take a look at it now

Would you like to come along, sir? I think maybe you could help out

Certainly

It's a beautiful place

Thank you

Where's the beach?

It's out back

Can I look?

Go ahead Be with you in a moment

Come on, love

Put that down, Sarge

We'll get a little fresh air on the way back

GEORGE: Hello, John

How you doing, George?

What are you doing out here?

Listen, Chief asked me to run you down

He's got this guy just assigned to Homicide

He wants the Lieutenant to take him under his wing

No kidding?

He's real hot on him

Okay Let me meet him

Where was I, Charlie?

You didn't sleep in your bed last night

I stretched out in the den

I didn't even know you were home

Did Daddy mention that he was going sailing?

Drink this coffee Straight

Black

Wayne Taylor said he intended to go out

Maybe somebody stole his boat

Stole it?

The boat!

If you didn't put me to bed last night, who did?

I don't even remember leaving the yacht club

GEORGE: She's not making anything

Her oldest daughter's getting married

She's going crazy about that

Sir!

Sir, would you mind waiting just a minute?

We better get the Lieutenant

Lieutenant! Lieutenant!

I'm coming!

Oh, that's a big ocean A lot of water out there

Japan is that way?

Lieutenant

Excuse me, sir

Be right with you

Lieutenant

John, how are you?

Just fine, Lieutenant

I'd like you to meet Theodore Albinsky

How are you?

Very good, sir

Sarge

I want to give these up The wife is into plants, she even talks to them

She says the smoke is bad for them, so you keep a check on me

Theodore

Al what?

Albinsky

How old is he?

He's 29

He's been on the force four years

The Chief is crazy about him

He wants you to take him under your wing

Theodore Alb

Albinsky? Albinsky

And what do I call you? Theodore?

No, sir, you call me Mac

Mac

Yeah Mac

Do you have any Scotch or Irish in you?

Oh, no, sir

All right, Mac

Welcome aboard

Mr Clay?

Would you be kind enough to ride along with us,

so we can fill in some background on the way?

And John here, he'll come along with us

And he'll take you wherever you want to go afterwards

All right, Mac You come along

Mac, you'll probably need some practice driving,

in case we ever have to give chase You take the wheel

Mr Clay, why don't you come around to this side here?

I'm sorry, Mr Clay, you haven't met everybody

The fella in that other car there is Sergeant John Sanderson

Sergeant, why don't you get in the back here?

Okay

And this is Sergeant George Kramer

Mr Clay, why don't you sit in the front like this?

This fella likes to be called Mac

Hi

Here

Lieutenant, how do we get this in reverse?

Up

Up?

Toward the end knob Do you have enough room?

Yeah Yeah

Excuse me while I just get my watch

All right, just give me a second

I think it's in the other pocket

There's the key right there, Mac

Mr Clay, do you have the time? Is it anywhere near 11:20?

Twentyone

Oh, wonderful

I set that by the radio

Okay

Excuse me, sir, if you don't mind, may I?

Oh, that's a honey, isn't it?

That's a real watch

That's got the day and the date

I'll bet you that's waterproof and shockproof

Don't rush it, Mac

That's it

All right How do you switch to first?

Toward you and down

Slow on the clutch

That's it That's it

Okay Watch this guy here

All right

All right Take it around the full circle till you get the hang of it

All right, hit the highway

Now, that's a what?

A yawl

Yawl?

Yeah Yeah Yawls, ketches, schooners

And what makes a yawl?

Well, yawl have mainsails

Difference is that the mizzenmast

is aft of the steering station on a yawl

Thank you, Mr Clay Thank you very much

Mac

(WHISPERING) Go look around indoors

I'd like to make a preliminary check, if you don't mind

No, no, no I like everything preliminary

How was he when you last saw him?

Well, when Taylor and I left him at his house, he was healthy

You know, the first thing that our office did this morning

was check that security service out there where he lives

And a guard remembers your leaving the island, all right,

but he never noticed your fatherinlaw's boat leave

He couldn't have

Because it's impossible to see a boat from the bridge gatehouse

Check with the Coast Guard to see if they have any logged record

of his departure, Lieutenant

Oh, I never thought of that

Good We'll do that

Listen, are the police always called in when there's any possibility of an accident?

Accident Oh, I'm sure this is an accident

Don't worry just because I'm from Homicide

Didn't I mention that? Well, never mind

If the Commodore just fell off the boat,

probably somebody out there already just picking him up

I mean, we get lots of false alarms

Mr Clay, would you care to come aboard?

Love to have you join us, Sergeant

They'll only take a minute there

Sergeant, you got a match?

Mr Clay,

smoke?

Erratically

(HUMMING)

Lieutenant

Excuse me, Lieutenant

This is Ensign O'Connor

Lieutenant Columbo Hi, Lieutenant

Sergeant Kramer, Ensign O'Connor

Sergeant

And, I think you know Charles Clay

Yes, we met

And this is, Bosun's Mate Murray

Sorry Lieutenant Columbo

Bosun's Mate Murray, this is Sergeant Kramer

Sergeant This is Mr Clay Charles Clay, Bosun's Mate Murray

All right I got you

Would these gentlemen come aboard?

All right

Lieutenant, I brought Murray, here, down

I thought you might like to see his log entry last night

Oh, yes, yes, I certainly would

What do you think?

This is a big thing, this yawl

Do you think one man could sail this all by himself?

MURRAY: Well, sir, if you ask me,

I think the Commodore could sail the Queen Mary alone, sir

Oh?

O'CONNOR: He's one of the finest sailors in the world, Lieutenant

Yes, he's designed even bigger boats for single handling

Well, what do you think happened?

Well, sir, I don't know,

but that portside cleat was pulled loose

That might have given him a little trouble

Portside cleat

Cleat

What does that do?

O'CONNOR: It secures the gib sheet

Murray

Yes, sir?

Let me take a look at that log

Yes, sir Here you go

lt'll show you as the time the Commodore cleared the harbor last night

That was 1:23 am

I'm sure it was him, sir He was all alone

Here

Was the mizzen furled when you found it?

No, sir, it was all the way up

MURRAY: The wind was only 12 knots, sir

That's approximately 13 miles per hour,

on land

Were the running lines free?

All clear, wheel perfect No seaweed below

Thank you very much

Right, sir

Thank you very much Yes, sir

Mr Columbo, if he did happen to fall overboard,

do you know what the odds are against finding him in the water?

Between the tides, sharks and currents?

Most of the people around here seem to like him

Yeah Most of us Fred!

Fred!

Who's Fred?

Yard Foreman

You wanted to know why the Commodore stopped by here yesterday Fred was here

Fred!

So you went up to his place and you took him that thing, huh?

That's right

You took him that quad?

Part of a vane

Part of a vane

And he was gonna fix something?

Yeah The boat was shipshape,

but he took it out last week and there was one thing bugging him

The selfsteering vane

And this part of the vane, that's what this is for?

Yeah It's selfadjusting

The vane is selfadjusting

Mr Columbo, the Commodore's yawl is fully equipped

to sail around the world singlehanded

But you like to sleep, don't you?

Oh, I've got to have my eight

All right You gotta have your eight

You're all alone on a boat, you still need your eight Right?

I got you

Who's running the ship while I'm in the sack?

BOTH: The selfsteering vane

Fred!

FRED: Here!

Fred, this is Lieutenant Columbo

from the Los Angeles Police Department

He wants to ask you a question

How you doing, Fred?

Okay, Lieutenant

Be with you in a minute

I got to see one of those vanes

How was he?

Who?

The Commodore

He was pretty upset That's why he went sailing

When he's upset he takes it out at sea

And you know him pretty good?

I've been managing his boatyard for quite a while

So you're the manager of the Swanson Boatyard, huh?

This is Fred?

That's correct

You run the yard and he's the foreman

Now, over you is Mr Charles Clay

Is that right?

That's right

And he married the Commodore's daughter?

That's right

And the Commodore owns all this

Nice boat

All right

Fred?

Yes, sir!

(LOUD WHIRRING)

Mr Taylor here

tells me that you were down here yesterday afternoon,

and the Commodore came down

And he went into the spare parts shop

The chandlery

COLUMBO: Is that right, Fred?

Yes, sir

And he picked up a few things?

Is that right, Fred?

Mr Taylor will tell you

He was always in and out Picking up bits and pieces

Do you remember what he took yesterday?

Well, I had to get back to work

But by the time I left him, he had a few stencils and some paint

Stencils?

Yes, sir Stencils Cleat A bunch of running

Cleat, is it?

Cleat! Cleat?

Running lines Come again?

Running lines Running lines?

Yes, sir Like boat

All right!

And a can of black marine paint

Marine paint Black paint

Black what?

Paint, sir Black paint

Black marine paint

Marine paint?

What else, I don't know

It doesn't make no sense

Thank you, Fred

Black paint?

Oh, Uncle Otis would have all sorts of uses for black paint

That doesn't mean anything, Lieutenant

That's not gonna tell you what happened to him last night

No, I don't suppose it would

And you don't think that the Commodore is the kind of man who would just fall overboard?

If he did, he'd walk home

That's the way most people thought of him around here

And they were right

You know, he's given me an allowance ever since I was 14 and my folks died

An allowance?

Oh, so they call it a salary now, but who's kidding who?

He even stuck me in his will He showed it to me

You've seen the will? What's in it?

A couple of thousand whereases

He just wanted me to know there'd be a trust set up,

in case Charles got any bright ideas

You didn't happen to notice whether Charles inherits anything, did you?

No, no

Joanna, the Commodore's daughter, gets everything The works

But, you know, California's a communityproperty state

So, what's the difference?

Yes

Right

SWANNY: There she is

That little gem there was the wedding present

It was five years ago

COLUMBO: You don't suppose I could

sort of get on that thing, and just look around, do you?

You know, I've never been on anything that fancy

Why not? Be my guest

A wedding present, huh?

Are you all right?

What are you doing?

TM

TM?

Transcendental meditation

Oh

About what?

Relax

Who are you?

Lisa

That's not right

What's not right?

Let me show you

You're supposed to put this foot up to this thigh,

and this foot up to that thigh

Would you help me with that foot?

Relax

I'm trying to

This ankle hurts

Relax?

This foot on this thigh

This foot over here?

Would you help me with that?

I don't think I'm gonna be able to do that

Can I just keep my legs out like this?

Sure

Did you bring that cop over here?

Yeah

Why?

Idiot!

This is Mr Charles Clay's boat, isn't it?

Yes

Okay

I work for Mr Clay

What do you do?

I am a naval architect and a marine engineer

And I work

with Mr Swanson

I didn't know you were into meditation, Lieutenant

Well

Lisa?

Yes

Miss Lisa was just demonstrating

Lieutenant!

Hey, Lieutenant Where are you?

Up here!

Up on top of the back

Well, do you want us to wait down here or come up there?

Come on up

Come below

Have a nice meditation

It's too bad you didn't stay at the Coast Guard station a little longer this morning,

or at least check with your office more often

Why do you say that?

Oh, why do you keep suggesting that my fatherinlaw's disappearance

was something more than an accident?

Oh, just a couple of little things bothered me

Yes This is Charles Clay May I speak to Ensign O'Connor, please?

It was Ensign O'Connor who found that spot of blood on the mizzen boom

Yes, Ensign This is Charles Clay

Would you tell Lieutenant Columbo what you told me?

All right? Right Hang on Here

(EXCLAIMS)

Sorry

Hello

He lost control of a line, his boat jibed, mizzen boom swung, and that was it

Mmmhmm

Well, thank you

What does "jibed" mean?

Come on, I'll show you

That's the jibe, Lieutenant

That's your old fashioned jibe

From port to starboard, starboard to port Right to left, left to right

And what causes that?

Well, when you're going along,

wind gets behind your sail, hits it, boom

Moves it all the way from one side of the vessel to the other

Now, what's that?

What's what? This here

This wood? Yeah

It's the boom

What boom is that?

What? It's the main boom

Is there another boom?

Yeah, there's a mizzen boom

The mizzen boom

This is the mizzen boom

Now, this is a smaller boom?

Yeah It's also lower

And lower Yeah

You heard of lowering the boom?

Oh, yeah So this is lower

Ah, yes Oh, that's low Yeah

Okay

Move to starboard, port, same way

Now, what's this?

That? That's the selfsteering vane

That's the selfsteering vane That's right

You know how that works?

What do you do with that?

Let me show you Here

Put that up here

Hold on this piece right here

till it slides down there just like that

All the way down

Then it self steers It's like an automatic pilot

By itself?

All by itself That's right

I see

As the wind catches it

You don't have to That's

You don't have to handle that?

That's not a handle That's a weight

Ah, I see

Let me just take a look at that

Here

Okay

There you go

And I just take that off, right?

Hang on Hang on

Wind will catch you and you'll go over

Oh, I don't want to go over

All right Okay

There we are All right

And this whole yawl is driven by this vane

That's right Without a need of human help

Yeah, all right

Now, what way would you put that on? Huh?

Doesn't make any difference

Wouldn't make no difference, huh?

Any difference

Adjusts to the wind

Right

Look at that

There's something missing that should be here

What's that?

There's supposed to be a nut here

A nut? Yes A nut

You put that on over there, slide it down, screw the nut on

It secures it

There's no nut

Well, what is the nut for?

Well, it secures it It holds it on top Just like that

Oh, you put the vane on down there

Then this bolt comes up, you screw down the bolt,

secures it, and it steers

Oh So the nut would be

I see It should be there

On top

Or on top

And there's no nut there, huh?

There's no nut

Well, what do you think happened?

I don't know

Maybe it's somewhere on board here

There's no nut

Well, what could've happened, I'm speculating,

is the Commodore had put the vane back there,

came up here, took the nut off,

turned around this way

As he started to walk, his mizzen jibed like that

He went overboard like that The nut dropped in the water

As simple as that

All right

Where was the blood?

The blood was here on the portside of the mizzen

On the port Yeah Right there

On the portside

There was the blood

So he was turning this way

It jibed

It jibed this way

Got him Port

To the left and got him, and that was it

Over

Watch your head

Okay

All right

All right

Taking the nut off,

going to get the selfsteering vane,

and the mizzen boom jibed

Right

Blood on the port

(TELEPHONE RINGING)

Hello

Yes

I'm sorry to hear that

All right

Right away

They found your father

Have they?

Columbo wants one of us to identify the body

He's dead

Daddy!

Daddy!

I'd better go

Please!

I have to, Joanna Now, don't drink

Look

Do you remember this, hmm?

Remember this? My anniversary gift

Look at it!

Our brooch

Where did you find it?

I picked it up

I can't remember

No I know you can't remember

Now, don't drink

Don't drink!

It's him

I'm sorry, sir

Thank you very much Sergeant

These are some of the things that we found in his pocket

You all right?

Yeah

Was this a watch chain, maybe? It was found hooked to his jacket

Yeah That was his

See, it's broken

I wonder where the watch is

Well, I wouldn't know, Lieutenant

Wouldn't know

Well, what's the difference?

It's not going to help us find the murderer

The what?

The doctors are already pretty certain that your fatherinlaw was dead

before he went in the water

Maybe even some time before

Something to do with water in the lungs Too much water,

not enough water No water

They claim he was dead

Maybe he was hit and fell down,

and was knocked over later by a big wave or something

Well, you know, the Coast Guard says that the swells

were only two or three feet

There must've been somebody else on the boat

CHARLIE: Lieutenant

Yes, sir?

I was not the other person on board

Therefore, there is nothing that I could have done to the Commodore

You couldn't?

I left the island where his boat was moored shortly after midnight

And I never returned

Check with the security guards They're on duty 24 hours

Now, sir, this is the wrong way

That's the right way

They're on duty 24 hours

And I simply could not have returned without them seeing me

Yes, sir I guess that's all true

And that guard, he certainly remembers what time you left,

just like I told you he did

But that's exactly what's been bothering me right from the beginning

Time

Ever since I saw that beautiful watch of yours,

time

Why would you check with the guard when you were leaving the island?

The time

He's got a drugstore watch

Unless you wanted to make certain that when you were leaving he would remember

The time

I'm really confused There're so many islands around here

Where are we now? Are we on an island or are we on the mainland?

The mainland, Lieutenant Here, let me show you

Ensign

Let me explain it to him, all right?

Lieutenant, let me explain it to you

Let's pretend that you're the island

and your foot here

is the Commodore's house Now, over here is the mainland,

and this piling here is the yacht club

Now, between the yacht club and the island is a channel

From the yacht club to the Commodore's house is about a mile

Then on out to sea

Is it possible to swim

from the mainland to the island at night without being seen?

Well, the channel is very welllit, all night in fact

But there's a reason for the law against swimming, Lieutenant

With all the boat traffic in here,

the chances of being hit by a boat or a propeller are only too good

On top of which, it was a Friday night A lot of people were awake, partying

I don't mean it's impossible I just don't think it's very likely

Lieutenant,

your cigar

Oh You're right, Sergeant Thank you

What do you have there?

Stencils

Stencils

Cleat, running line, black marine paint

Where's the other stuff?

It's on the boat

This is a stencil and you use that to paint a word

These haven't been painted on

No

No paint

No

All right What's the word?

Well, sir I would say "sails" This one

This one is just a blank, I guess

"Sails" with a blank

A hole

And where would you paint this?

Well, a lot of people stencil their sails locker

A locker

Thank you for your time, sir That was very helpful Appreciate the time

Oh, that's okay

Good luck

Mac

Sergeant

Can we spell anything else out of these?

Let's see

Slia

Silas, slias

Slas

Slasis

Lassi?

You need an "E"

You need an "E" for that, Sergeant

ASS,

S,

IS,

ASSLI

Assli

Sails?

I think it's just The only word you can spell is "sails"

Sails

SAILS

It's the only one you got

With a hole

(WATER GURGLING)

Was that you making that noise?

You mean the regulator? Yeah

What were you doing under there?

Scraping the bottom of the boat

How long can you stay under there with that tank?

With a full tank, about 45 minutes

How long you been doing that kind of work?

Oh, this is my fourth day

What are you doing tonight?

Nothing

Are you all right?

Yeah I'm all right

You cold?

A bit

He's cold Check your watch

Check your watch

Now, you're going from here

He's going from here out to that island How far is that?

About a mile down the channel

Can you make that?

I got a compass I know the tide

What time you got?

12:56

Good luck to you

Thanks

(WATER GURGLING)

I got done a lot sooner than I figured And nobody saw me I'm positive

What's your name?

Johnny

Very good

Did it work?

That's how he did it Did you find anything?

A broken watch

And a lipstick

Where'd you find them?

There were these little pieces of broken glass, right there

So, I looked around

and right under the couch there was the watch

Now, it must've been knocked off of something

Excuse me, and I found the lipstick right under the corner of the couch here

Where are they now?

On the desk

Dust

Did you fellas touch this?

No, sir No, sir

I thought this house had been searched before?

Just a quick look

We supposed that the Commodore had died on his boat or fell off of it

The court sealed up the house

All right

That could be the Commodore's watch

Probably is

What was the time?

(MUMBLING)

Can't see

Hold that, Sergeant

Can't see

Mac,

get me the front end of the telescope

Yes, sir

That unscrews

All right I need the lenses

Is this what you want?

Yes

Twelve

forty

two

Saturday, 31st

Chain

All right

So, if there was a struggle here

and in the struggle the chain broke,

how could the watch be shoved under the carpet?

Somebody moved the body

Lieutenant, you remember that Charles Clay

checked off the island at 12:46?

What are these?

Oh, these are belaying pins

Belaying

pins

They come off old time ships They're like

Like an old fashioned cleat Tie the rope around them,

and then if you wanna release the rope real fast you

(EXCLAIMING)

Don't touch that, Mac

Don't they have a housekeeper here?

Twoweek vacation

Lieutenant

Can I put the lamp down?

Yes, Sergeant

Mac Dust

Dust Dust

Dust Dust

No dust

You boys check these things out

The belaying pin, the watch, and the lipstick

For fingerprints?

I don't think you're gonna find any, Sergeant

So if the Commodore was killed here,

I guess we know who sailed the yawl

I guess we do, Mac

Charles Clay?

Who else?

(POLICE RADIO CHATTERING)

Thank you

Did you find her?

No, not yet Mrs Clay had an appointment at the hairdresser at 9:30

She was there She left and we're still trying to locate her

And the housekeeper got here at 10:00?

Right Mrs Clay didn't like her to get here any earlier

'cause she was normally a little rocky in the morning

It was all so simple A nice straight line

You've still got a nice straight line

(TELEPHONE RINGING)

No, you can't talk to Charles Clay He's gone

One, four

And Mrs Clay isn't here, either

Five

GEORGE: Thank you

I still have what?

You still got a nice straight line

I mean, Charles Clay still could've killed the Commodore

Who knows? Maybe he had a partner

They got into an argument this morning The partner killed him, right?

Lieutenant, I also found in the fireplace with those other things some feminine stuff

Handkerchief and a piece of comb

Feminine?

Yeah

Maybe I ought to take up smoking again

Now, the letter and the notes in the fireplace

look like they were stolen from the Commodore And I told the lawyer,

when he gets here you want a sample

Lieutenant

That's certainly the old boy's handwriting

And what does it say, Mr Kittering?

Well, it appears to be a rough draft of a letter he was writing

to a big fiberglass factory I know something about them

They've been trying to buy the boatyards for years

And had he decided to sell?

No How could I know? I don't think anyone knew

See, he was a secretive old fellow

And I've been his lawyer all this time, but he never really confided in me

Except when he wanted to He made up his own mind,

and did what he wanted to and that was that By the way,

has Joanna, Mrs Clay, seen this?

We haven't even found her yet

Well, it's nothing to do with me

I mean, I'm not her lawyer, I was always his lawyer

But I feel a certain amount of responsibility for the family

and I was just thinking that, perhaps, you might be imagining

that Joanna might be involved in something or other

Of course, you've heard about her temper,

her drinking and the rows with her husband

No, sir, the only thing that I've heard is now that her father is dead,

she's gonna inherit all the money

Well, of course I mean, she's the primary heir

She's the heiress to the whole fortune

The nephew gets very little, and the rest are just token gifts

Mr Kittering, forgive me for asking you this,

but where were you the night the Commodore was killed?

Oh, poor old Otis Where was I?

I think I was in a motel

In a motel, sir?

Yes, I'm sure I was Nice little motel I can recommend it

Where was it, sir?

Sounds odd, but I couldn't quite tell you I could find it, I think

It's somewhere near that new restaurant they talk about, the Captain's Quarters

Any witnesses?

There was a young lady

Her name, sir?

Shall we say we weren't formally introduced?

Ships that pass in the night Not that many ships pass in my nights anymore,

I regret to say

Lieutenant?

We've found Mrs Clay She's at the yacht club

Tell Frazer to get things cleaned up See you at the car

Thank you very much

A pleasure

Hi, Lieutenant

Swanny, how are you?

Fine

I'd like a word with you, ma'am Could we go someplace more quiet?

I know I know, Lieutenant

My husband has been murdered

Charlie Clay's been murdered, Lieutenant?

How did you happen to know that, ma'am?

Homicide cop!

I've got to ask you where you've been, Mrs Clay

At the hairdresser

Can't you tell?

What about the night of the Commodore's death?

I don't know where I was

At some point that night, I don't remember anything

GEORGE: What do you mean, you don't remember anything?

(COUGHING)

Does he have a better memory?

SWANNY: 'Cause she was here the night of the party

She hasn't done anything Now let her alone!

No, no, no, don't lie for me!

I'm sorry,

but I vaguely

remember going to my,

my father on the island

At about midnight maybe

SWANNY: No later than that

I was back here singing with the boys a few minutes after 12:00

You went with her to see her father?

That's right

He took me to the boat

And then drove me out there, dropped me, and after that I don't know anything

Look, please Just try to recall how you got home that night

A girl friend who lives on the island

called me the next day

She and her husband told me

they found me sound asleep

on one of their patio chairs at

4:00 am

Apparently, they were kind enough to

take me home and put me to bed

Isn't that a pretty story, Lieutenant?

My husband

and my father are both dead and I don't know what happened!

Oh!

Mrs Clay

Where have you been?

I don't know where I've been for years

That's the third time you've made this run How many more times you gonna make it?

What time you got?

Here, see for yourself

What's this all about, anyway?

Oh, I was just trying to prove something

From here to there

See, there's no way that Clay could have made that in four minutes

You know the Commodore?

I didn't see him that often He wasn't a man much for cars

He was a man more for the water

He took me for a little sail once, Lieutenant It was lovely

Really lovely

It's a shame Real shame

Would you open that wooden thing for me there, please?

Sure

Clay's out

Who's in, Mac?

Clay's out

What do you think, Mac?

Rethink

You got any Irish in you, Mac?

No

You're sure?

Pretty sure

Pretty sure

Look at all this, Mac

Water,

ducks,

boats

It's beautiful

Wouldn't it be nice to take one of these boats and just go sailing somewhere?

I got it

Have you got it?

Got what?

It

lt?

Molly J

Are you nervous?

I still get a little tightening in my stomach from time to time myself

Mr Kittering, doughnut?

Oh, no Not just at the moment Thanks all the same

Can I get you a cup of coffee?

KITTERING: Why not, why not

Hello

Good morning

Good morning

Hello there Good morning

Forgive me for being late, but what has to be done has to be done

There's a chair in the rear, Miss King

Sergeant

Oh, a doughnut

Good idea

Mac! Yeah?

What time do you have?

I've got 9:29

Mrs Clay, would you come here a moment?

Mrs Clay!

I want you to look through the telescope

Daddy

Daddy!

Otis?

Columbo, what in hell is going on?

Trust me

Daddy

Do me a favor

Daddy

You know, I've always been fond of this room It's so peaceful

Almost like being at sea

Daddy

The brightly beams our Fathers mercy

From His lighthouse evermore

But to us He leaves the keeping

Of the lights along the shore

It's only me, folks Only me

I'm sorry, Joanna

You did a terrific job

Thank you, sir

(LAUGHING)

Close the door

All right Let's get on with it Mac

I'm sorry, but I know that you wouldn't believe me unless you could see how easy it was

Lieutenant,

I didn't hear what you said

I said, it was the only way to convince her how easy it was

He means to impersonate your father, Mrs Clay

And, Mr Clay, the night he got away with it, it was dark

Thank you, Sergeant Thank you, Mac Let's go

Mac

Okay Ladies and gentlemen, I felt that, actually, the Lieutenant felt

that if We'd save time if we all got together here

I'm sure you're all as anxious as we are to know what happened

the night that Commodore was killed

And, of course, find the murderer of your husband, Mrs Clay

Charles killed the Commodore?

Did anyone say that?

Okay, now what we meant was

Here, I'll show you on the map

What we meant was, here's the mainland, here's the island

(STUTTERING) This is the bridge to the island

Everybody knows that, Mac

This is the yacht club and the Commodore's house, the harbor area

We all know where we are, Mac

All right Now, what we meant was

that Mr Clay

took the Commodore's body from the house to the boat

He sailed the boat out passed the Coast Guard station into the ocean,

and then somehow he fixed up the boat to make it look like an accident

And then swam home

Right Now, I got a list of suspects here

Don't show that!

I don't think he,

Charles Clay,

I don't think he murdered anybody

Really, Mr Columbo

Charlie certainly went to a lot of trouble if he didn't murder the Commodore

Oh, I think he would've gone to twice that much trouble if he thought

that his wife had murdered the Commodore

Wait a minute, Columbo Back off

Maybe he loved you more than you thought, baby

I wasn't actually talking about that kind of love Was I, Mac?

Well, I think the Lieutenant was talking about love of money

Mr Kittering, you'd know more about that, wouldn't you?

According to California law,

if Mrs Clay were convicted of killing her father, could she still inherit from him?

Oh, of course not No way And what's more,

poor old Charlie wouldn't have been able to get his hands on any of the stuff

That's what we meant, right?

Yeah That's what we meant, Sergeant

I didn't kill Daddy

The young fella is a new officer, a trainee

Oh, yeah?

The other guy's been around for a while

Good for him

But your husband might have thought you did

The brooch

He gave it back to me the next day, but he didn't tell me where it came from

Oh

I'll bet it was right here

He asked me such strange questions

And you gave him all the wrong answers, too, right?

And your husband must have begun to realize that he'd made an awful mistake

Now, if that's the case, that's when your husband began to realize

who really did kill your father

So that's why he had to be killed

That's right, because he started asking somebody questions

Somebody? Who you talking about?

Are you kidding? A lot of people would've been very upset

if they'd suddenly found out what the Commodore was up to

And what's that supposed to mean?

Well, everybody knows that the Commodore had been acting a little funny lately

Like, maybe the way he'd built that little yawl to suddenly sail away on for good

Right Right But the Commodore had a lot of unfinished business

Yeah Like painting

Right Right And the will And the will

Excuse me The boatyards

The boatyards

And a whole lot of other things

And a whole lot of other things

All right, fellas Give me a minute here, would you?

Sergeant, get me them list of stencils

Mac, can you reach up there? Let's look at that list of suspects now

Give me that brown paper bag We'll use that All right

Mac, help him with the stencils Hold them up

Let's see that list of suspects Can you all see that?

One, two, three, four, five, six

We don't have to read that, do we? All right

This is what we found in the boatyard

Stencils, marine black paint All right

SAILS That's what it spells

We thought he was putting "sails" on his locker

Get me that other thing

The one with the hole in it

That's right

All right Now, we're standing on a bridge,

this fella here and me, and we seen some ducks there and a boat

And then we remembered something

The Commodore, he never painted the name on his boat, did he? No

And that circle there, that became a period

So we had to rearrange things, didn't we, fellas?

Where's that other thing? That big thing?

Get that big thing out

So we got a hold of duplicate stencils and some black paint,

and we rearranged those letters

This is what we came up with

And that's what we came up with

He was going to name the boat after her?

Well, the only trouble with that, sir, is that her last name is King

And you've got an "S" left over Try again, Lieutenant

KITTERING: The old boy was gonna marry the kid

Look at that, Lisa Swanson The old boy was gonna marry the kid

Look at her She's young enough to be his granddaughter

Just hold it everybody

Go ahead Tell them

They don't know

Love isn't just

one age or another

Mr Swanson was the most beautiful man who ever lived

And one of the richest, my dear

But I didn't want anything from him

Sail the seas with him

I just wanted to make him happy for the rest of his life

Tell them what he told you

about his will

I told him I wouldn't marry him

unless he promised not to leave me any money

But he didn't want anybody else to have it, either

He was sick of parasites

So he was gonna sell the boatyards

And, except for a small trust fund for you, Mrs Clay,

he was gonna give it all to charity

A sad story Enough to make you weep

(SWANNY LAUGHING)

Columbo, I

Mr Taylor, would you kindly sit down?

Swanny, be seated please

As a matter of fact,

that girl is the only one in this room

that doesn't have a single motive for killing the Commodore or Mr Clay

Do you own that?

(WATCH TICKING)

Thank you

Swanny,

the Commodore's watch

It isn't

The Commodore's watch

So what?

The Commodore's watch

Big deal

The Commodore's watch

Daddy's watch?

Your father's watch, ma'am Did you give that to him?

I noticed it's got the same kind of face as the one you gave your husband

Yes, I did

Daddy loved a pocket watch,

so I mounted it in his own father's gold case

Yeah, I thought it was something like that

But this watch was broken at 12:42

And your husband left the island at 12:46 That's awfully close

That's not enough time to struggle with the Commodore, then kill him,

then talk to Mr Taylor, then drive over to the guard house

No, not in four minutes No

We checked that, didn't we?

Don't forget, I got to the house after Charles

Oh, that's an old trick they use in mystery books, Wayne

You think you're going to be seen leaving a place, so you just

turn about, then pretend you're coming in

When we found this watch, there were no fingerprints on it

Oh, I see But don't you think it's possible

that someone might have been able to get hold of it, the watch, I mean,

and reset it just to make you think that the Commodore was murdered

at 12:42

If so, sir, tell us who

Well, if it couldn't be Mr Clay,

then it had to be somebody else

Somebody who had been there earlier

Somebody who put the watch ahead

The same person who left so many clues pointing to Mrs Clay

that Mr Clay thought she committed the crime

Of course, then Mr Clay, he messed everything up and took the body away

Will you answer his question Who was it?

Well, Mr Kittering

What?

Who do you think would benefit the most by the Commodore's death?

Oh, well, Mr Swanson, of course

I mean, he's what we call the secondary heir

In fact, he's the only other member of the family, isn't he?

Swanny?

Swanny, that's right Swanny

What do you think, Swanny?

Now, the only reason a murderer would reset a watch like that

would be to provide himself with an alibi, what do you think?

Sure, but

You're the only one who bothered to do that

You said by a few minutes past 12:00, you were back at the yacht club

singing with the boys

So what?

Of course, you're the only one who knew exactly where Mrs Clay went that night

Who could have known how upset she was?

Who could have followed them and heard the fight between her and her father?

Saw the fight

Who could've gone in there and killed him when she left the room?

Who else could've gotten something out of her purse

when she was riding in a boat coming back here?

Wait a minute, wait a minute

When she was drunk and in a stupor

Who else could have done that?

Wait a minute Wait a minute Wait a minute Wait a minute

Maybe that's when I lost the brooch

SWANNY: Listen to you

You lost that brooch fighting with your father when you killed him

That's it! It had to be you, Joanna

Mr Columbo, excuse me

You think that any one of us might have done this thing?

Is that what you're trying to tell us?

Yes, sir I guess I am Except for one thing

You'll notice that none of you have seen this watch closely You've only heard it

You heard it tick

When I was talking about a watch that was found at the scene of the crime

that was broken, it was smashed

It did not tick

It didn't work

The Commodore's watch Now you see it

And this is the broken inside part

And we took this watch to a jeweler and we had the broken inside part replaced

So now the watch ticks

You all heard it tick

And I When I went to you Mrs Clay, and I said,

"The Commodore's watch," you said,

"Daddy's watch"

And when I said to you, Mr Kittering,

"The Commodore's watch,"

what'd you say?

I think I said, "Big deal"

"Big deal"

And I said to you, Mr Taylor, "The Commodore's watch,"

you said, "So"

"What"

"What"

And when I said to you, Swanny,

"The Commodore's watch,"

he said,

"lt isn't"

Which means

it isn't

No, it is not

the Commodore's watch

Because you were the only one who knew that the Commodore's watch was smashed

because you smashed it

at the scene of the crime

That about wrap it up?

Yes, Mac

That about wraps it up

Are you expecting rain, Mac?

Well, you just can't be too careful, Lieutenant

You got a match, Sergeant?

Thought you were gonna quit?

Not yet

No Not yet, Sergeant

Not yet

(COLUMBO WHISTLING)

GEORGE: Where are you going?

I'm meeting my wife at the yacht club