Original subtitles

WOMAN 1: And did you go alone? MAN 1: No.

WOMAN 2: Thank you.

So old Mark here just all of a sudden looks up at me and says,

"Walnut Grove Textiles."

Next thing I know, we're buying half a million shares at 13 and a quarter.

- Thirteen and three-eights. - I almost had him committed.

I mean, who the hell has even heard of Walnut Grove Textiles?

But one week later,

guess who gets bought out by Value-Rite.

Tripled our money, just like that. The guy's a genius.

Or maybe he just has access to the right information.

There's no need to break the law to be a player in this business.

The information's out there.

Who's making money, who's losing money,

who's smart, who's on the make.

You just have to know how to digest it.

CAMERON: Actually, it's those glasses he wears.

They make it so he can read between the lines. Don't they, Mark?

Tell you what, let's trade.

Your glasses for my wife here.

- That's my wife, Cameron. - Oops. Sorry about that, John. Heh.

Now, what did I do with my wife?

I believe you divorced her.

Oh. So I did.

In that case, quick. Will you marry me? I'll buy you your very own company.

You like insurance?

I'll buy you this guy's company. Ashfield Life.

- It's doing very well. WOMAN 1: I know.

- He's my husband. - Oh.

I need another drink.

- What was that? - I don't know.

Ah, John throws a heck of a party, doesn't he?

- Mm-hm. - Anything look interesting?

Stuffed mushrooms look good.

So does Ashfield Life. All kidding aside.

So when are you gonna make me a rich man?

Soon as I'm sure I'll wind up even richer.

[CAMERON CHUCKLES]

[TIRES SCREECHING]

[POP MUSIC PLAYING ON RADIO]

[HUMMING]

[TIRES SCREECHING]

[SCREAMING]

OPERATOR: 91 1 emergency.

DISPATCHER [OVER RADIO]: 275... Go ahead.

MAN 1: So it was you who managed...

Oh, God, he's dead, isn't he?

Well, they're doing everything they can, sir.

Why don't you tell me what happened here?

I don't know, I was just driving along.

Next thing I knew, he was right in front of me.

Sir, have you been drinking?

Glass of champagne, maybe two. That's all.

Okay, I have to ask you to step over here with me, please.

Now, I need you to stand with your feet together

and close your eyes.

Come on, I'm not drunk.

Sir, are you refusing to cooperate?

Now, tilt your head back, place your arms out to the side,

and with your right forefinger,

reach out and touch the tip of your nose.

Can you do that for me?

My client may have had some champagne

before he got behind the wheel of his car that night, Your Honor,

and, tragically, he may have struck and killed someone on his way home.

But I'm going to show you in the course of these proceedings

that those two facts are not necessarily related.

I'm going to show you that the charge of vehicular homicide

is unwarranted,

that Mr. Ivers does not deserve to go to jail,

for I am going to show that hitting that poor man

was something no one, drunk or sober, could've avoided.

That man died not because my client had been drinking,

but because he had the misfortune of wandering out

onto a dark, winding road,

and being struck by a car

that any one of us here could've been driving.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Thank you, Mr. Browning.

Is the state ready to call its first witness?

Yes, Your Honor.

We call Sergeant Travis Farrow to the stand.

MATLOCK [SINGING]: Goodbye my Coney Island, baby

Farewell my own true love, true

Not bad, huh? Ha-ha-ha.

Ah. I don't know.

Of course, I got it. It's upstairs in my closet.

Yeah. Okay, count me in.

All right, I'll see you then.

Who was that?

That's an old friend from school.

He's drumming up some people to come to our class reunion. Fortieth.

Well, what was all that "Coney Island, baby... "?

I used to be a member of a barbershop quartet.

- Yeah? - Yeah, yeah.

There's me and Gus and George and Chuck.

- Fairview Fair Tones. - Yeah.

Fairview was the name of our dormitory.

- Are they all coming to the reunion? - Yeah, yeah.

We're gonna wear the outfits we used to wear and everything.

- Ha, ha. That's great. - Yeah. Yeah.

You know, we have to have this filed by 5:00.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Where were we?

Well, what we were trying to figure out if we want a jury trial or a bench trial.

Yeah.

Ben?

Ben?

I'll be right back.

[HUMMING]

Hmm.

CLIFF: Ben, what are you doing?

Um...

CLIFF: Come on, Ben, we gotta get this done.

[KNOCK ON DOOR]

[SIGHS]

- Craig. - Hey, Cliff.

Uh, do you have a moment? I need to talk to you.

- You alone? - Well, uh, Ben's upstairs.

Oh. Then let's talk out here.

All right.

Hey, that's some great press you're getting

- on the Cameron Ivers case. - Yeah.

- Listen, uh, I've got a problem. - What's up?

I'm being blackmailed.

You see, I met this woman recently and, uh...

Well, she and I have gotten real close real fast.

Oh, Craig, I thought you were happily married.

Well, I thought so too, but then I met Rachel, and, uh...

[CHUCKLES]

Cliff, it's like I never had sex before.

I mean, with her, it's just incredible.

The more I'm with her, the more I wanna be with her.

I mean, it's like I'm addicted. You know what I mean?

No, not really, but go ahead.

Yeah, well, anyway, I thought we were being discreet,

but yesterday I got some rather graphic photos of us along with a note

saying the news media would get copies next

if I didn't do as I was told.

Cliff, my wife is running for a state assembly seat.

This kind of publicity could ruin her.

I mean, I may not love her, but I certainly don't wanna hurt her.

She's a good person.

Well, how much does the blackmailer want?

I don't know yet. I'm supposed to meet with him this afternoon at Kelbo's Bar.

I need a favor.

No, no. On second thought, Cliff, I'm gonna do this right.

- I wanna hire you. - What for?

Go to Kelbo's in my place.

You want me to meet with the blackmailer?

Well, I can't meet with him in a public place like that.

Everybody knows me.

Jeez, Craig, I don't know. I mean, it's really weird, you know?

Cliff, I don't have anyone else to ask.

Now, this is a really delicate situation.

- I have to have someone I can trust. - Yeah.

But I don't want you to do it if it makes you feel uncomfortable.

I'll figure out something else. Thanks, anyway.

Well, hold, hold... Hold on.

How am I supposed to recognize the guy?

He'll be sitting at a table by himself with a pin in his lapel.

The American flag.

Thanks, Cliff.

[JAZZY MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS]

[PATRONS CHATTERING]

WOMAN 1: Can we get a pitcher?

Yeah, yeah, great.

Waiting for Craig Browning, right?

- Who the hell are you? - Cliff Lewis.

He sent me in his place.

Aw, he shouldn't have done that.

Wait... Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. Let me...

I'm not a cop or anything.

I'm Craig's lawyer.

He just didn't wanna risk being seen in public with you, that's all.

So how much do you want?

Oh, I don't want money.

I want Cameron Ivers to go to prison.

Cam... Cameron, his client? Ivers...

That's right.

I want Craig Browning to throw the case.

If Cameron Ivers goes to prison,

then I tear up the negatives of those pictures,

and everybody's happy.

Ivers walks,

and I send those pictures to the press

and they have a field day.

So all Browning's gotta do to win is to lose.

It's that simple.

Tell him that, Mr. Lawyer.

[ENGINE STARTS]

[ENGINE STARTS]

[INAUDlBLE DIALOGUE]

[CAMERA CLICKING]

WOMAN: Taxi. Taxi!

MAN: Yeah?

Yeah, it's Cliff Lewis. I wanna talk to you.

MAN: Get lost.

[KNOCKS ON DOOR]

Cliff Lewis. I'm not leaving here until I talk to you.

Let me guess.

You want your handkerchief back.

No, I came here to make a deal.

You got pictures, I got pictures. I got pictures of you and two guys.

Their names are John Robinson and Mark Reeves.

- Does that ring a bell? - Who?

"Who?" The two guys who put you up to do this.

You don't know what you're talking about.

You take Craig Browning down, I'll take you all down.

Is that understood, Mr. Aston?

My, my, how clever you are. You know my name.

And where I'm staying.

But I wonder how clever Craig Browning will think you are

when his picture appears in all those papers.

Now, get out.

Housekeeping.

[GASPS]

- Hey, Ben. MATLOCK: Yeah.

Got some doughnuts. Glazed or jelly filled.

You eat them.

- Hey, when's your reunion? - Twenty-third.

- Oh, getting excited? - Can't wait.

Oh, great.

Glazed or jelly filled?

- Is that all you're having? - Yeah.

What, are you on some kind of diet or something?

I look like I need to be on a diet?

[KNOCK ON DOOR]

No. No, no. I, uh... Just, you know, was asking.

I'll get that.

- Norman. - Hello, Cliff.

Hi, hi.

What can I do for you?

I'm investigating the murder

of a private investigator from Savannah.

Recognize him?

I can't tell you that.

- Why not? - I can't tell you that either.

MATLOCK: Oh, hi, Norm.

- Morning, Ben. - What's going on?

A maid at the hotel where this man was staying

saw somebody pounding on the door to his room last night

about an hour before she found him dead.

Heard the guy say his name was Cliff or Clark or something.

So when we found Cliff's business card

in one of the dead man's pockets,

we naturally thought we should check it out.

You fit the description she gave of the guy to a T.

I'm sorry.

I can't say anything more about any of this.

I really am sorry, Norm.

There will be a next time.

Right.

Sorry for the wasted trip.

What's going on?

Ben, I'm so sorry. I can't tell you about this either.

I gotta go.

- Hi. Who was that? - Hi.

We got some work to do.

Bye.

CRAIG: What I'm trying to say

is we're gonna have to cool it for a little while.

- You mean not see each other? - Just for a couple of weeks.

Why?

A few complications have arisen, that's all.

What complications? What happened?

Rachel, believe me, I wanna see you.

As soon as things calm down, I'll call you.

I promise.

Craig, I love you.

I want us to be together.

I can't, I gotta be in court.

Three weeks tops.

I swear.

Am I okay?

What's the lighting like on the road where the accident occurred?

TROOPER: There is no lighting.

So if a person was driving along that road at 11:15 at night,

how easy would it be to see something

outside the beam of his or her headlights?

It wouldn't be easy,

but it'd be even harder if that person were speeding.

CRAIG: Are you suggesting that my client was speeding that night?

TROOPER: Well, from the length of the skid marks,

the damage done to the car

and the injuries sustained by the victim,

we estimate he was doing 50 miles an hour.

- Posted speed limit's 35. CRAIG: You estimate?

You mean, it's possible Mr. Ivers

- may had been going less than 50? - Yeah, but it's also possible...

Now, about those skid marks you just mentioned,

on what part of the road did you find them?

On a straightaway or a curve?

Both. They began on a curve and ended on a straightaway.

Okay, so Mr. Ivers came around the curve,

saw the victim standing in the road, and slammed on his brakes?

- That's correct. CRAIG: All right, now,

taking into consideration

the length of the skid marks and the point of impact,

when did Mr. Ivers start braking?

As soon as he saw the victim or an intoxicated moment or two later?

Well, it's hard to say without knowing how fast he was going.

I thought you knew how fast he was going.

Oh, no, that's right.

That was just an estimate, wasn't it?

Uh, one more thing, lieutenant.

I understand you found a set of footprints

at the side of the road that were not made by the victim.

- Is that right? - That's correct.

Have you been able to determine

- who did make those footprints? - No.

Yet one of them was found directly on top

of one of the victim's footprints, wasn't it?

- That's correct. CRAIG: Which indicates what?

It's possible that someone else was there that night.

Well, it's possible that this as yet unidentified person

may have pushed the victim onto the road

- and caused the accident, isn't it? - Objection.

Calls for rampant speculation.

Sustained.

Nothing further, Your Honor.

Next witness, Mr. Gerard.

DORIS: I'm sorry.

Seeing Mr. Robinson without an appointment

is out of the question.

Oh, but can't I just slip in after he's done with, uh, Mr. Herman?

No, you may not.

[PHONE RINGS]

Yes? Hello.

Mm-hm. Mm... Mm-hm.

Sure. I'll bring them right in.

[MEN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

Thank you, Doris.

Where the hell did this come from?

JERRI: From me.

I'm sorry, Mr. Robinson.

She's been pestering me to let her see you.

I told her... I'll call Security.

No, no, no, that's all right.

Roger, we're gonna have to continue this later.

Oh, that's no problem.

You can go too, Doris.

Hi. I'm Jerri Stone, I'm a private investigator.

I was just wondering what you and Mr. Reeves

were talking to Scott Aston about in the park.

I don't think that's any of your business, Miss Stone.

Well, it's just so obvious

that you were meeting with him on the sly,

and since Mr. Aston is so dead now...

As you undoubtedly know,

my partner and I are what is known as corporate raiders.

Sometimes we buy whole companies. But before we do that,

we check those companies out from top to bottom.

And to do that,

we hire private investigators like Scott Aston.

And if you ask me what company he was checking out, I won't tell you.

You know, that's so interesting

because that's not at all what Mr. Reeves told me

when I showed him the picture.

When did you talk to him?

This morning. About an hour ago.

It's a nice try, Miss Stone.

Mark's in L.A. on business.

I just talked to him about an hour ago.

Why did you take this picture anyway?

Why, Mr. Robinson,

I don't think that's any of your business,

but thanks for your time.

[DOOR OPENS THEN CLOSES]

[CLEARS THROAT]

- Hey. - Hey.

- Hey, I gotta talk to you. - Yeah.

Uh, did you hear about this private investigator, Scott Aston,

- who got murdered last night? - Yeah, it was on the news.

Well, that's the guy who was blackmailing you.

- You're kidding. - No, and it gets worse than that.

I went to see him last night.

And the police found out, so I'm kind of on their suspect list.

You went to see him?

Yeah, well, I had him followed from Kelbo's.

And, you know, once I found out

who he was and where he was staying,

I confronted him.

You did all this without telling me?

Jeez, Cliff, I hired you to meet with the guy, and that was it.

Well, I'm going the extra mile. Now, don't worry.

I didn't say anything to the police, I don't intend to.

It falls under the lawyer-client privilege.

All right. Keep me posted, in private.

Yeah, well, that's a problem.

I don't know where it's safe to contact you.

- Try me at the office. - What if you're not at the office?

Try me at the Mayfield Hotel. Mr. and Mrs. William Gillespie.

- William Gillespie? - Yeah.

Mayfield Hotel. Right.

- Hey. Just the person I wanna see. - Hey.

Jerri Stone, Craig Browning. Craig, Jerri.

- Hi, Craig. - Hi.

Did you have a chance to talk to John Robinson?

Yep.

CLIFF: They paid Scott Aston to spy for them?

- That's what he said. - I don't buy that for a moment.

Rachel, what are you doing here?

It's okay. Cliff Lewis, Jerri Stone, this is my friend Rachel Bauer.

- Hi. - Hi.

- Hi. - This will just take a minute.

What're you doing?

RACHEL: I'm sorry. I know I wasn't supposed to come,

but I don't like this.

I need to talk to you.

CRAIG: Not now. I'll call you, I promise.

I miss you.

I'll speak to you later, okay?

[ENGINE STARTS]

So that was her, huh?

Yeah. Remember, keep me posted.

[ENGINE STARTS]

What?

His car.

It was outside Kelbo's when you went to meet with Scott Aston.

It was parked right next to me.

Who was at the door?

Lieutenant Bigelow.

- He's in the living room. - What for?

Well, a handkerchief with your initials on it

and Scott Aston's blood was found at the scene of the crime.

He wants to take you downtown.

[CAMERA CLICKING]

CRAIG: Mr. Matlock.

Hi. Craig Browning.

I know who you are.

- I just heard that Cliff's been arrested. - Suspicion of murder.

Oh, my God.

- Are you gonna represent him? - Yeah.

And as his lawyer,

I have to keep whatever he tells me a secret.

He told me everything.

You mean about me?

And now you're gonna tell me everything,

starting with why you were at Kelbo's the afternoon you sent Cliff

- to see that blackmailer. - What makes you think I was there?

And whatever you do, don't lie.

I hate that.

I just wanted to get a look at the blackmailer, that's all.

- Why? - I was curious.

You sure you didn't follow him back to his hotel room?

What are you trying to say, that I killed Scott Aston?

Cliff didn't.

The only one I know who benefits from Scott Aston's murder

and from this lawyer-client relationship

that prevents Cliff from telling the police

anything he knows is you.

You think I set this whole thing up?

It wouldn't be the first time somebody's taken advantage of Cliff.

Well, you're wrong.

Then prove it.

Go in there and release him from any and all obligations to you.

Let him tell the truth.

The person who hired Scott Aston

to make sure I threw Cameron Ivers' case,

that's who you should be trying to nail, not me.

I'm no murderer.

A coward, maybe,

but not a murderer.

Excuse me.

Uh, this man, Scott Aston, came in here two days ago

around 4:00 in the afternoon.

Do either of you remember him?

Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do.

I'm investigating his murder. Do you happen to remember what he wanted?

Well, that's why I remember him.

He came in here claiming that we'd run some obituaries last month

on some people who weren't really dead.

Made us give him copies of their death certificates.

You keep copies of death certificates in here?

Well, Legal Department won't let us publish an obit without one.

Do you happen to remember which ones you showed him?

No, but the computer will.

Having previously found the defendant guilty of the lesser charge

of vehicular homicide,

I sentence him to five years formal probation,

order him to pay a $10,000 fine,

and to complete 1,000 hours of community service.

This court is now in recess.

[ALL CHATTERING]

WOMAN 1: How can I not? WOMAN 2: I think so too.

Good job.

- Uh, Mr. Ivers. - Yeah.

- Ben Matlock. - How do you do?

Could I speak with you for a moment?

- I suppose. - Okay, come on in here.

This may seem like a strange question,

but, uh, who would benefit from your going to prison?

What is this?

Craig asked me the same thing two days ago.

- What'd you tell him? - That I had no idea.

Now, what's this about? Craig wouldn't say.

Somebody tried to blackmail him into throwing your case

so you'd wind up in prison.

- Are you joking? - No.

It was this man here. Private investigator Scott Aston.

- You know him? - No.

But I sure as hell know these other two.

But, Mr. Ivers...?

Mr. Ivers, stop. You can't go in there.

What's the matter?

Were you afraid I was gonna buy some company

out from under your snotty little noses?

That why you wanted me out of the way?

- Take it easy. What's the problem? - Right here.

This is the problem.

That's you.

And that's you, meeting with the guy who tried to get my lawyer

- to send me up the river. - I don't know

- what you're talking about. MARK: He was doing

- some investigating for us, that's all. CAMERON: Liar.

- You're both liars! - Mr. Ivers, please.

JOHN: Calm down, Cameron.

That meeting had nothing to do with you.

I think it did.

In fact, I know it did.

You two still have a 28 percent stake in Lavinia Enterprises?

[CHUCKLES]

Good.

Because I just got through dumping 250,000 shares of it.

Don't look now, boys, but you're bleeding.

[DOOR SLAMS]

[JOHN CLEARS THROAT]

Thanks for paying my bail, Pop. I'll pay you back, I swear.

I don't know, Cliff. Two hundred grand.

You may have to get a paper route.

[BILLY LAUGHS]

Besides, I'm gonna get it back.

Unless you're thinking about making a run for the border or something.

Tell you what I'm thinking about. I'm thinking it was stupid of me

to let Craig Browning set me up like that.

Now, you don't know for sure that he set you up.

You trusted him, that's not stupid.

Having faith in your fellow man, that's not stupid.

That's an admirable quality.

Oh, Pop, I was trying to impress him, you know?

I just went overboard on this case

because I wanted him to respect me and like me and...

I wanted him to think I was cool.

Yeah, that's stupid.

[DOORBELL CHIMES]

JERRI: I'll get it.

[FRONT DOOR OPENS]

JERRI: Ben, there's somebody here to see you.

- Oh, hi. - Hello, again, Mr. Matlock.

I'm sorry I took off like that. I'm a bit impulsive.

Where'd you go?

Oh, hey, everyone.

- Mr. Ivers. - Hello.

I went to see John Robinson and Mark Reeves.

They're up to something, no doubt about it.

But while I was in their office,

- something very odd happened. MATLOCK: What?

Well, there was a young woman there.

I'd never seen her before, and yet she knew who I was,

which is very surprising. I keep a very low profile.

- Maybe she works for them. CAMERON: Mm-mm.

I've been to their offices dozens of times.

I've been to parties at both their houses.

I've never seen her before. I'm sure.

What did she look like?

CAMERON: Mid to late 20s, 5'6, 5'7,

dark brown hair, about shoulder length,

trim, very pretty.

- Fair skin? - Yeah.

Rachel Bauer.

I promise you,

as soon as the election is over, I'll tell her.

Even if you did, you wouldn't wind up with me.

I can't handle this anymore, Craig. It hurts too much.

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

CLIFF: Craig, it's Cliff. Open up.

- Hey. CRAIG: Hey.

I'm really sorry to barge in on you like this.

Hi, Rachel. I see you're still on the job here.

I guess no one told you.

The blackmailer's dead and Cameron Ivers was acquitted,

so you can go home.

What are you talking about?

Well, Rachel here was seen this morning

at the offices of John Robinson and Mark Reeves.

I'm pretty sure those are the guys who hired Aston to blackmail you.

Which, if you think about it,

he couldn't have done without her help.

So that's why you're blowing me off?

All along, you were working with Scott Aston,

leading me on so he could take those pictures.

I don't have to listen to this.

Rachel, listen.

Here is something you do have to listen to.

Chances are that one or both of those men

you met with this morning killed Scott Aston

because I found a connection between them and him.

And now I've found a connection between them and you.

So, what do you suppose they're gonna do

when they figure that out?

Rachel, go to the DA

and get these guys before they get you.

There is nothing to tell the DA.

John Robinson and Mark Reeves paid me to seduce Craig, that's it.

I don't know why they wanted to blackmail him,

and I know nothing of the murders.

Well, how long did you know Scott Aston?

I talked to him once, the day before he was murdered.

He was in a big hurry to get down to Florida.

You and me,

the whole thing was an act?

[SCOFFS]

You used me for fun away from home.

I used you in a different way.

Oh, if it's any consolation,

I intend to vote for your wife.

I'm not sure I follow you.

Somebody wanted Cameron Ivers to go to prison?

Is that what you're saying?

And I can't help but believe it had something to do with business.

Like, say, maybe he wanted to buy somebody's company,

say, yours, only somebody else wanted him out of the way

so they could buy your company.

Say, John Robinson and Mark Reeves.

- I just met with John the other day. - I know.

He planning on buying you out?

Mr. Matlock, answering that question could land me in prison.

You're asking for what the SEC refers to as...

That's insider information.

I know, and I'm not looking to make a fortune in the stock market.

The police think my associate's a murderer

and I'm just trying to prove he's not.

What I'm about to say is completely off the record.

If anybody asks, I'll deny that I ever said a thing.

Of course.

The only person of late who has shown any interest

in acquiring Ashfield Life is Cameron Ivers.

I was talking to John about something else entirely.

Have John Robinson and Mark Reeves

ever expressed an interest in buying your company?

Never. Never.

Although I don't know why not.

Our sales for the past two years have been monumental.

Oh, long as we're on the subject,

have you heard about the flexible, premium adjustable policy

that we've just begun offering?

[DOORBELL RINGS]

[GRUNTS]

Ugh!

Hello?

[DANCE MUSIC PLAYING ON STEREO]

TRAINER: Right, left, right, left, walk it out.

Right, left, watch my feet. Watch my feet.

Now, we're gonna get into the Monster.

Okay, here we go. Here we go.

That's it. Now we get the arms into it.

- Ready? - This is like when I tried to learn

to do the foxtrot.

Yeah, what happened?

- I broke this woman's foot. - Oh, yeah?

- Let's do something else. - Okay.

- That's enough aerobics. - Okay.

- Good job. - Yeah.

[MUSIC STOPS]

Okay, we're gonna move into some resistance training.

Resistance.

- There you go. - Okay. Ugh.

I don't wanna look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I just wanna lose 20 pounds by the 23rd.

Let me tell you something. If you wanna lose weight,

the proper way to do it is to eat right and increase your metabolism.

- You got it? - Yeah.

Okay, you stick with me, Mr. M.,

and you're gonna be looking and feeling

like a million bucks in no time.

Sometimes I feel that's what I'm paying.

[TRAINER LAUGHS]

- You're a pretty funny guy. - Ha-ha-ha.

Okay, one-arm dumbbell curls. Just like this:

Shoulders back, chest out,

right arm first.

Bring it up, go ahead.

Bring it up, you exhale.

- Go ahead, right arm. - Huff.

That's it, get it up.

That's it, keep going.

That's it. That's the way to breathe.

Okay, and down slowly.

There you go. Left arm up.

- Come on, keep going. - These are heavy.

You're darned right they're heavy. No pain, no gain.

Come on now, squeeze.

Keep it going, keep it going.

Pretty soon your arms are gonna feel like hot, molten lead.

Yeah, they do.

JERRI: Ben?

Oh, here, she might wanna talk to me.

Shh.

[SIGHS]

What have you been doing?

- Uh, moving furniture. - Why?

You could've asked me to help you.

I just felt like doing it.

Oh.

Well, I went over to Cain Mortuary,

you know, the place that issued the death certificates

to the three dead people that Scott Aston was so interested in

- at The Atlanta Herald? - Yeah.

Well, the place was completely abandoned.

I mean, really eerie.

Like nobody'd been there for months, maybe even years.

Well, they could've gone out of business. Unh.

Not according to the Better Business Bureau.

[PANTS]

Are you okay?

Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm fine.

Well, they're still listed in the phone book,

and when you call, you get a machine.

But get this one,

those people whose names were on the death certificates?

They're not dead.

They're not?

I traced them down through their Social Security numbers.

They're all very much alive.

Which is what Scott Aston thought.

I wonder what he was on to.

I don't know, but maybe we better find out.

[ENGINE STARTS]

[GASPS]

[TIRES SCREECHING]

[SIGHS]

Maybe a little onion.

[SIGHS]

[SNIFFS]

[SIGHS]

BILLY: Ben, you here? - In the kitchen.

- This place stinks like onions. - Onions stink.

They make you cry too.

Did you talk to the DA yet?

- About what? - Cameron Ivers.

- What about him? - Someone hit him with a car last night

- and killed him. - I know that.

Well, that proves that Cliff didn't kill Scott Aston.

- I don't get it. - Use your noggin, Ben.

Somebody hires Scott Aston to blackmail Cameron Ivers' lawyer,

so this fellow Ivers would go to jail for hitting that guy

when he was driving drunk.

You told him Craig Browning

- was being blackmailed? - Ben, I didn't...

What happened to privileged information?

You might as well put it in the newspaper.

- I didn't tell him. - So when this fella Ivers went free,

this somebody killed him just like they killed Scott Aston.

It's probably John Robinson or, uh, Mark Reeves.

Maybe even both.

- Where'd you get all this stuff? - I didn't tell him.

- I heard you two talking the other day. - You were eavesdropping.

I just heard you.

The only place Cliff and I talked about this stuff

was right here in the kitchen. Where were you?

Right there in that dining room.

You were hiding in the dining room listening to us.

Daggone you, Billy.

CLIFF: Pop, Ben is my lawyer.

Any conversations we have are confidential.

Can I help it if I got all my faculties?

Doctor said I got ears like a fruit bat.

- Like a what? - Fruit bat.

Now, listen, Ben, Cliff was with me last night.

We had dinner, pot roast and dumplings.

Then we played gin rummy till 10, and I won.

So he couldn't have killed Cameron Ivers,

and that means he didn't kill Scott Aston.

Billy, I can't say anything to the DA till Cliff says it's okay.

- Tell him. - I can't.

They think you're a murderer, tell him.

It is the principle of the thing, Dad. I can't tell him.

Principle? The heck with principle.

They're destroying your reputation, you don't even have one yet.

Well, if he's not gonna do anything, isn't there something you can do?

- Yep. - Well, what?

I'm not telling you.

I'm sorry, but I'm afraid seeing Mr. Robinson and Mr. Reeves

without an appointment is absolutely out of the question.

Well, just tell them that I'm here, see what happens.

Ben Matlock.

They are in conference.

Well, give it a shot. What the heck?

Yeah, I'm sorry to bother you, but there's a Ben Matlock here,

and he'd like to see you.

I've already told him that that's...

[SIGHS]

All right.

- This way, please. - Mm-hm.

- Well, it really is Ben Matlock. - Yeah.

- I'm John Robinson. - Hello, John.

- This is my partner, Mark Reeves. - Mr. Reeves.

Thank you, Doris.

Well, I guess I'm interrupting you fellows

just as you're trying to decide

what company you're going to take over next.

No, I was rather hoping you had a hot tip for us.

Oh, you could put what I know about the stock market

on the head of a pin.

Now, I wanted to talk to you about Cameron Ivers.

- That's a terrible tragedy. - Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

He came to see you yesterday.

JOHN: Yes. Yes, he did. - Yeah.

I talked with him afterwards, and he said

that there was a young woman in here with you.

The same young woman that helped Scott Aston

blackmail Cameron Ivers' lawyer, Craig Browning.

I'm afraid you've lost me.

Ha, ha. Oh, well. Well, at first when you arranged

for this private detective

to blackmail Craig Browning into throwing Cameron Ivers' case,

all you wanted was Mr. Ivers to go to jail.

But when that didn't work, and then he came in here

and confronted you the way he did,

well, you figured more drastic action should be taken.

How about it?

We may be sharks in business, but we do not kill people.

And Cameron Ivers was no threat to us.

MATLOCK: Oh, yes, he was.

I don't know how yet, but I know he was.

JOHN: I hate to burst your bubble, Mr. Matlock,

but Mark and I were attending a black-tie fundraiser

- at the Ritz Carlton last night. MATLOCK: Oh.

Well, how about the night Scott Aston was murdered?

Between 7 and 8.

- What night was that? - Say, that'd be... Let's see...

Tuesday, the 3rd.

- It was Tuesday. - Playing racquetball at The Spa Club.

With each other, I guess.

MARK: Yes. - Yeah.

Well, maybe this whole thing is just one big coincidence.

The blackmail, the girl,

Mr. Ivers getting run down like that.

I assure you, Mr. Matlock, that's exactly what it is.

Mm-hm. Well, thanks for your time.

And, uh, now that we've had our little talk,

I sure hope nothing happens

to that girl, Rachel Bauer, don't you?

[DOOR CLOSES]

MARK: Your friend Ben Matlock is an alarmingly smart fellow.

He's not my friend.

And he only looks smart compared to you two.

What's that supposed to mean?

Killing Cameron Ivers was stupid.

That's what it means.

What makes you think we'd kill him?

The man had enemies all over the world.

One of whom happened to be you.

MATLOCK: All that stuff was in Scott Aston's pockets?

CLERK: Yes, it was.

- A real pack rat, huh? - Yeah.

I wonder why he went to Florida the day before he was killed.

CLIFF: What, you find something?

Sack of peanuts.

I can smell them through the wrapper.

- Fat. Just fat, see? - Mm.

Probably why they smell so good.

[CLIFF LAUGHS]

Shame to let them go to waste, though.

Starvation in the world...

Let's see what we got here.

Uh, driver's license, library card,

ATM card, car rental, video club...

"Top of the Line Car Rental."

They say if you use their credit card, you can get a free rental sometime.

Mm.

If he rented a car from them down in Florida,

he'd have to leave a local address and phone number, wouldn't he?

Right.

- Find out, will you? - Okay.

- Uh, I got to go home. CLIFF: What's over at the house?

Uh, I got to meet a fellow

and, uh, move some furniture.

TRAINER: Come on, fight it, fight it. Get up.

Good, good, good, keep breathing.

Keep breathing. Good, good, good.

Attaboy, keep going. Couple more, couple more.

- Good job. - My stomach's on fire.

That's good, that's good. That's what we want.

Burn those abs, blast them.

Oh! I can't do any more.

All right, good job.

You went to failure. That's what we want.

Okay, Mr. M., hop up. We're gonna do some squats.

- Some what? - Squats. Watch.

Three sets of 15 reps, holding 20 pounds.

Maybe we'll pyramid up to 30. We'll see how it goes.

[EXHALES]

You know, half the time, I don't know if you're talking English.

[LAUGHS]

You're a riot, you know that? Here, grab them.

Oh, no more dumbbells. Just make me sweat.

That's something I do real good. Make me sweat.

The name of the game is muscle mass.

All this exercise and all I've lost is a pound and a half.

You have got to stop measuring your progress by the scale.

It's how you look and how you feel, not how much you weigh.

I hired you because I need to lose this

by the 23rd.

Now, give it to me straight. Is it possible? Yes or no?

- Well, that depends. - On what?

On how you feel about liposuction.

So all Cain Mortuary does is issue phony death certificates?

It sure looks that way.

So far I've located seven people who are dead

according to Cain Mortuary,

but are, without a doubt, alive.

They either live out of town or out of state.

They know they're supposed to be dead?

None of them had any idea that they were dead,

but their obituaries had appeared in The Atlanta Herald.

CLIFF: This is good.

- This is good. JERRI: Mm.

CLIFF: Mm.

I used to eat like that.

Why'd you quit?

Couldn't buy pants.

What do you mean you couldn't buy pants?

I couldn't buy pants with a 33-inch waist that fit.

Well, no wonder. Heh-heh. Look at the gut.

[BILLY LAUGHING]

Well, he's not so big.

[BILLY LAUGHS]

Get the tape. Ha-ha-ha.

Dad.

JERRI: Well, anyway, um, I thought the best way to find out

if these fake death certificates had anything to do

with Scott Aston's murder would be to get all the people together

and find out if they have anything in common.

How are you gonna do that?

Well, I have an idea.

But it could be expensive.

[CROWD CHATTERING]

- I came on a 747. - Really?

JERRI: Excuse me.

[ALL CHATTERING]

JERRI: Excuse me.

Excuse me.

[WHISTLES]

Hi.

We need to get started. Welcome to Atlanta.

Again, I'm Jerri Stone, and this man over here is Billy Lewis.

He's the one that paid to fly you out here

and put you up at the nice hotel.

MAN 1: Hey. MAN 2: How you doing?

BILLY: That's okay. I did it for my boy here.

JERRI: Now, as I explained to all of you on the phone,

I've reason to believe that you all have something in common,

and we're here to discover what that might be.

Okay, how many of you know a man named John Robinson?

MAN: Never heard of him. WOMAN 1: No.

- Uh, Mark Reeves? - The guy who played Superman?

- You're thinking of Steve Reeves. - No, that was George Reeves.

You mean Christopher Reeve.

You guys don't know what you're talking about.

Okay. Okay, okay.

Okay, how about a man named Cameron Ivers?

Hey, I've heard of him.

I think I have.

What about this? Have any of you ever lived here in Atlanta?

MAN 1: No. MAN 2: No.

- My grandson lived here once. WOMAN 1: When I was, like, 8.

Where was everybody born?

- Oklahoma City. WOMAN 1: Minnesota.

You know, you look really familiar.

Weren't you on that cruise I took last year to St. Thomas?

Are you kidding?

I throw up just looking at pictures of boats.

No, that wasn't me.

CLIFF: Well, what religion is everybody?

WOMAN 2: I'm Episcopalian,

but now I go to Presbyterian church often.

How many of you think Atlanta would have won the pennant

- if there hadn't been a strike? WOMAN 1: All right. Yeah, sure.

MAN 1: Yeah, yeah. MAN 2: Great.

Well, guess I'm going to Miami.

BILLY: Let me get that. MATLOCK: No, I got it.

- Well, let me drive you to the airport. - I got a taxi coming.

- Well, I'm a good driver. - Fair.

I'll take you for free.

No, Billy.

What's the matter with you? "Free" is your favorite word.

- You say it in ten different languages. - It wouldn't wind up being free.

You'd keep butting in and trying to take over.

Ben, Cliff's my only child.

My sole heir, and he's in trouble right now.

Well, he's pretty smart.

I know he doesn't seem it sometimes,

especially now with this lawyer-client, can't-talk-about-it stuff,

but I wanna help.

I'll pay for the plane tickets.

No, Billy.

Come on, Ben. I'll stay out of your way.

I won't say a single word the whole time, I promise.

I'll just go with you and hear what people have to say.

- You'll butt in, Billy. - You won't even know I'm there.

I know, except for the colorful way you're dressed.

I'll buy you a colorful suit. That way we'll blend.

MATLOCK: No, Billy.

- Car, meals, hotel, I'll pay everything. - No.

- And anything else that comes up too. - No.

I'll buy presents for everybody at the airport on the way home.

MATLOCK: Well, since you put it that way...

No.

- Mr. Matlock. MATLOCK: Yes.

- Hi. Welcome to Miami Beach. - Thank you.

What can I do for you?

Well, I called from Atlanta about a man named Scott Aston.

The Top of the Line Car Rental company

said he stayed here on the 2nd.

- That's right. - Yeah.

- You said he was murdered? - Yeah, the next day.

You got a warrant that allows me to look at his bill?

Oh, yes.

[PRINTER WHIRRING]

There you go. It's pretty minimal.

Sure is.

Paid for one night, and that's about it.

No meals, no parking, no calls.

Only charge was for a one-page fax he received.

Want me to see if we still have a copy of it?

You keep copies of all the faxes you get?

In this day and age, it pays to make backups of everything.

- I'll be right back. - Okay.

RATNER: Hi. MATLOCK: Hi.

- Chuck Ratner. - Yeah.

So you found the place okay, huh?

I just followed the directions on that fax you sent

to Scott Aston when he came to see you.

Oh, you hungry? My wife just made some cookies.

In fact, I can smell them all the way out here.

Oh, yeah. Oh, I'd better not, I...

I got my 40th college reunion coming up,

and I'm trying to lose a little weight. Heh-heh.

Well, why don't we just take a walk, then?

- That way I can show off the place. - That sounds good. Yeah.

Boy, this is a pretty place.

- I bet you like living here. RATNER: Oh, yes, sir.

So you said you had some questions about Scott Aston?

MATLOCK: Yeah, I wanted to know why he came all the way down here

from Atlanta to see you.

RATNER: I needed a private investigator.

- I was thinking about hiring him. MATLOCK: To do what?

RATNER: Mind my asking why you wanna know?

MATLOCK: He was murdered the next day.

RATNER: He's dead? MATLOCK: Yeah.

I'm trying to find out who killed him and, you know, why.

[RATNER SIGHS]

RATNER: My wife and I have two children.

My youngest is a little boy who's 5 years old,

and he was born with severe disabilities.

Now, we love him dearly, but it's hard caring for him.

It's hard on my wife and me, it's hard on our daughter.

It's hard on our marriage.

I imagine.

Anyway, somehow I got it in my brain that my wife was having an affair,

so I flew Scott Aston down here to find out if it was true.

Oh, you wanted him to, uh... To spy on her?

Well, I just wanted to know.

But talking to him was...

Turned out to be kind of therapeutic for me.

I finally realized that I was probably just overreacting,

so I sent him home

and told him I'd call him after I thought things over.

Well, why him? Why didn't you get somebody local?

Well, a friend of mine used him,

and I wasn't about to use the Yellow Pages.

- Did you call him back? - No.

I decided I was overreacting.

Now, that is what we call a preschool.

MAN: Come on, giddap. Come on.

It's where we work out all our yearlings.

MATLOCK: Mm.

How long you had this place?

Well, let's see, I retired in '92.

It's been going on about three years.

You're awful young.

How could you retire? How could you afford it?

Well, I was in the right business at the right time.

Computer software.

Oh, I made more money than I knew what to do with.

But when our son was born, I...

- I decided enough was enough. - Yeah.

I just... I wanted to stay at home

and make sure that he got off to the best possible start.

- Well, that's good. Smart, smart. MAN: Come on. Giddap.

Well, you've answered all my questions. I appreciate it.

Well, don't you wanna see the rest of the farm?

Well, no. Heh. Horses and I don't really...

RATNER: I'll get something to wipe that off.

CLIFF: Scott Aston went all the way to Florida

to talk to some potential client, that's all?

MATLOCK: Well, that squares with the mileage on the car he rented.

He drove from the airport to the hotel,

drove down to the farm.

Drove back to the hotel, spent the night,

drove to the airport and flew out.

CLIFF: So it's a dead end, huh?

Well, I don't know.

See what you can find out about this fella.

Chuck Ratner's his name.

He owns a horse farm down near Hialeah.

He used to work for some kind of computer software company.

- Ratner, right. I'll do that. Pop... - You should have taken me with you.

I would have gotten something out of the guy right there and then.

Pop.

Yeah, I'm sorry. So when are you coming home?

Well, the plane gets in at 4:05,

but I'm not coming straight home.

Uh, I gotta make a stop.

Can't you do something?

I think maybe you came to the wrong place, Ben.

You don't need a tailor.

- You need an engineer. Ha, ha! - Oh, come on, Marv.

Everybody puts on a little weight as they get older.

What are you doing?

I'm holding my stomach in.

- You are? - Yes.

- Where you putting it? - Come on, Marv.

Oh, don't worry. I'm just making a little small talk

while I get a lay of the land here.

Can't you just let it out some?

Well, there's not enough material.

Well, maybe if I can find some to match the coat

and put it here in the back and sort of widen it out a little bit.

Move the buttons over here on the trousers

and fix the zipper, well, then, you'll be set.

Thanks, Marv. I thought you could do it.

[PANTS RIP]

I can fix that too.

Okay, I know you're all a little anxious to get home. Cookie?

This is worse than jury duty.

I'd like to see my grandkids.

Everybody's got something to do.

Please, whatever it is you people have in common,

two men may be dead because of it.

Now, we've gotta figure this out.

[CROWD CHATTERING]

Hello, everybody.

Just keep talking to each other. Talk about, uh, school,

siblings, hobbies, clubs, jobs, something.

You've gotta have something in common.

- Hi. - Hi. Where's Ben?

He went over to the courthouse.

Well, I've been doing a little research.

You know the guy he went to see down in Florida?

- Uh, Chuck Ratner? - Yeah.

Well, the guy said that he worked for a computer software company.

He lied.

He worked for Roger Herman's company,

- Ashfield Life Insurance. - Ashfield Life?

- Yeah. MAN 1: Ashfield Life.

I know that company.

I almost bought a policy from them. Then I discovered

I could get the same thing for less somewhere else.

- Me too. - At least they give you a free pen

when you sign up an application.

Hold the phone.

How many of you, at one time or another,

have applied for life insurance from Ashfield Life?

- Yeah, I did. - I did.

- I did. - I did.

Oh, good, good, good. The gang's all here.

This better be as urgent as you indicated.

Oh, it's pretty complicated.

- Maybe everybody better sit down. - Just get to the point.

Okay.

I know what you've all been up to.

And I know that Mr. Herman here

has been using information on application forms of people

who decided not to buy Ashfield Life insurance.

They filled out the forms,

but they didn't buy.

And he used the information on those applications

to issue a lot of phony life-insurance policies.

Now, why in the world would I do that?

MATLOCK: Money. - That's ridiculous.

How can I make any money if there's no one to pay the premiums?

MATLOCK: Well, according to the state insurance commissioner,

you could sell those phony-insurance policies

to another company.

You'd remain the administrator

and you could pay the premiums for, oh, a year or two,

and then one by one issue fake death certificates.

That way you'd collect all the death benefits

from the second insurance company, keeping all the money for yourself.

Huh?

Of course, in order to issue fake death certificates,

you'd have to own a mortuary.

Which you do.

Cain Mortuary.

Am I to understand...?

Am I to understand that you've discussed all of this already

with the state commissioner?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. He said it's a very ingenious idea.

Highly illegal but very ingenious.

He wants to talk to you.

Oh, and, uh, since the partnership

of Mr. Robinson and Mr. Reeves owns the bulk

of Ashfield Insurance stock,

outside, of course, of Mr. Herman,

I also spoke with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Wait a minute. Ahem, we bought that stock on good faith.

If what you're saying is true, it's news to us.

Well, maybe you didn't know about the fraud

when you bought the stock,

but you found out about it.

And that's why Mr. Ivers was such a threat to you.

The... According to the agreement, which you signed,

you were not permitted to sell that stock for five months.

And if in that time Mr. Ivers got interested,

started sniffing around, found the fraud,

Ashfield Life would be out of business.

And you'd be out, what, $300 million?

And so to be sure

that Mr. Ivers was out of the way

for at least five months,

you made sure he had plenty to drink

at Mr. Robinson's party.

Remember Mr. Robinson's party?

And then you hired somebody to shove a bum,

that nobody would ever remember anyway,

out in front of his car when he was on his way home.

And then you hired that investigator, Scott Aston,

to blackmail his lawyer

and to throw in his case so Mr. Ivers would wind up in jail.

But... But then, the investigator, Aston,

he got curious about the fraud.

And he wound up in Florida,

talking to an ex-Ashfield employee,

a fella named Chuck Ratner, remember him,

about these fake life-insurance policies.

The upshot of it

was you knew you had to do something

about Scott Aston.

So one of you went over to his hotel room

and hit him over the head and killed him.

I repeat, John and I played racquetball that night

from 6 to 8 at The Spa Club.

ROGER: And I was in a meeting with Chuck Ratner.

He came to see me the day after Scott Aston

went to see him in Florida.

Yeah, I know. I called him this morning

after I realized he had lied to me the last time I saw him.

I hate it when people do that, don't you?

Any other wild accusations you'd like to hurl in our direction?

No, that about does it.

I'd talk to my lawyers, gentlemen.

I'll see you in court.

[DOOR CLOSES]

- Hey, Cliff. - Oh, hi, Craig.

Can I talk to you for a second in private?

Yeah, sure.

I'll meet you inside.

Oh, thanks. Uh, yeah, what's up?

Look, forget all that lawyer-client privileged information stuff, okay?

- Oh, no, no, no, I... - No, no, I mean it.

You tell the police or whomever else you need to

that I was being blackmailed because I was cheating on my wife.

It's okay. Whatever happens, I can deal with it.

Okay.

- Oh, you got guts. - Heh-heh.

Cliff, wait. Um...

[SIGHS]

I don't have guts.

The police called my house yesterday and talked to my wife.

She knows everything and she wants a divorce.

What about the election?

She doesn't care whether she wins or loses anymore.

She's pretty mad.

I wanted you to think that I was taking the high road

because I do it so infrequently.

You're the one with the guts, pal.

Good luck in there.

I'll be pulling for you.

Thanks.

I understand the decedent, Scott Aston,

had a talk with you last month the day before he was murdered,

on your horse farm down there in Florida.

- Is that right? - Yes, it is.

What did he wanna talk about?

He, uh...

He suspected

that Ashfield Life Insurance Company was creating

fake life-insurance policies, selling them to other companies

in order to defraud them out of millions of dollars

in death benefits.

MATLOCK: The last time I talked with you,

you told me something else altogether.

RATNER: Yes, sir. And I apologize for that, sir.

- This is the truth. Yes, sir. MATLOCK: This is the truth.

Well, why'd he come to you?

Because I used to work at Ashfield Life, I guess.

Well, when you worked there,

did you know that fraudulent policies were being sold to other companies?

I suspected it.

Is that why you quit or, should I say, retired?

Yes.

And you retired with a very generous pension, didn't you?

You mean, was I being paid to keep quiet? No.

But you did keep quiet.

My son is developmentally disabled.

Roger Herman, the president of Ashfield Life,

has always shown nothing but the utmost concern

and compassion for my son and my family.

I didn't report my suspicions because I...

I felt I owed him.

What did you tell Scott Aston?

Nothing. I told him I didn't know what he was talking about.

- What did he do? - He got angry and left.

- What did you do? - Called Mr. Herman.

He didn't wanna talk on the phone, so I flew up to Atlanta the next evening

and then I met him at his club for drinks.

The next evening would have been the 3rd,

the night of the murder.

Yes, yes. And I was... I was with Mr. Herman

from about 6:45 to about 8:30 that night.

Mm-hm, mm-hm.

Well, uh, during your meeting with Mr. Aston,

did, uh, he mention Cliff Lewis?

- Who? - The defendant.

Oh. No, he didn't. Never.

MATLOCK: Did he mention Craig Browning?

RATNER: No. MATLOCK: How about Cameron Ivers?

RATNER: Never. - Did he give you the impression

that since he wasn't gonna get anything out of you

about the fraud going on at Ashfield Life,

he was gonna let the matter drop?

He told me that, uh...

He said something like he was gonna keep rattling cages

until either the truth or somebody's head fell out in his lap.

And less than 24 hours later, he was dead.

No more questions.

Well, it seems Mr. Herman has an alibi.

One of them?

[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

MANAGER: There they are, right on time.

They play racquetball between 6 and 8

every Tuesday and Thursday night,

and they have for the past four years.

- Can I see them leaving? - Yeah, right there.

There.

Twenty-twenty-two. Twenty-two minutes after 8.

Good-looking guys.

Too bad one of them's so weird and the other one's so married.

[CHUCKLES]

Well, thanks.

Would you mind if I took a look around?

Sure.

Hi, sir. Have you ever seen these men?

No.

MAN: Same as always.

Gentlemen, do you know of a John Robinson?

MAN 1: No. MAN 2: No.

Oh, what the heck.

MAN 1: So how many minutes did you end up playing?

Really?

JERRI: Hey, buddy.

MAN 2: Excuse me.

JERRI: Female coming through. Hide them if you got them.

MAN 3: Whoa! Hello! - I'm sorry, I gotta ask you a question.

You know these two guys?

[SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

Never mind.

You should dry your hair. You'll catch a cold.

Yeah, well, the wet look's in, lady. Hair dryers went out with perms.

MAN 1: Hey!

- I'm back. One more time. MAN 1: Whoa!

Cover them up.

[SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

MATLOCK: Here you are entering the club two weeks before the murder.

And here you are leaving the club.

And here you are entering the club one week before the murder.

And here you are leaving the club.

Now, in those pictures,

when you entered the club, was your hair wet or dry?

It's dry.

How about when you left the club?

JOHN: Wet. - How come?

Well, we take showers after we play.

MATLOCK: How come you don't dry?

The club doesn't provide hair dryers.

Oh, so you just towel dry it and leave it a little wet.

That's fashionable.

Now, here you are entering the club January 3rd,

the night of the murder.

And here you are leaving the club.

Now, how could that be?

You left the club with dry hair.

How could that be?

Well, um...

Oh, I know. That was the night I hurt my knee.

We, uh, only played for about an hour, and, uh, then we had a drink.

There's no record of your buying a drink

or anything else at the club that night.

You rented a court, and that's it.

Only you didn't play racquetball that night, did you?

You or Mr. Reeves or both slipped out the back door,

went over to Mr. Aston's hotel room, killed him,

slipped back in the club so it'd look like you had an alibi.

- That's not true. - It's already been established

that you stood to lose hundreds of millions of dollars

if he lived to tell about the fraud going on at Ashfield Life.

Right, Mr. Robinson?

[CROWD MURMURING]

I need to talk to my attorney.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

This court's in recess till 9 a.m. tomorrow.

And because we are so successful, people who are eager to get rich

try to do so by finding out about our investment plans

and then acting on them even before we do.

Our phones have been tapped, our employees bribed,

our cars have been followed.

Secrecy has become an absolute necessity for us,

and not just out of self-interest.

- Federal law demands it. MATLOCK: Federal law.

When do you get so law-abiding? You've been indicted for fraud.

Yes, but we're not murderers.

You were right. We did use the sports club as a cover.

But were we to say where we really went that night,

the SEC could very easily consider it a violation of insider trading laws.

Wait a minute.

JUDGE: If there's a problem with the SEC,

I'll handle it.

Now, where were you?

With Carl Gottlieb, the CEO of the VSN Corporation,

discussing a possible takeover.

Here's his sworn affidavit.

Mr. Matlock, do you mind?

Well, whoever killed Scott Aston,

we know it wasn't John Robinson or Mark Reeves.

That's what you said before about Roger Herman.

Well, we'll just have to prove that he got Chuck Ratner to lie for him.

What if you can't prove it? Ben, what if you can't?

The DA's case against me is pretty circumstantial,

but it's, you know, some strong circumstance.

They got the maid who overheard me arguing with Scott Aston.

They got my hankie stuffed in the toilet.

- The jury likes you. - Really? Do they?

Yeah, I think Juror Number 8 has a crush on you.

- That's very funny. - No, honestly.

[MATLOCK HUMMING]

Was Juror Number 8 the blond or the brunette?

Um...

What do people need with all this stuff?

I mean, who uses bath gel or shower caps?

When's the last time you wore a shower cap?

Yeah. Heh.

How long was Scott Aston in this room?

Oh, uh, since about noon on the day he died.

They gave him a new room when he got back from Florida.

Call Housekeeping and ask them

if a little sewing kit comes in these baskets.

- Sewing kit? - Yeah.

- Call them and ask them. - Right.

RATNER: I had drinks with Mr. Herman that night,

but I left around 7.

Before, under oath, you said you left around 8:30.

Yes, sir, I know, I...

Mr. Herman told me to.

He threatened to cut off my pension.

Without it, I can't care for my son, so I lied.

I see.

Uh, one more thing, do you happen to remember

what Mr. Herman was wearing that evening?

Oh, gosh, I... Um...

I think he was wearing light-brown pants

and a yellow striped shirt.

Uh-huh. No jacket?

It was warm that night. I wasn't wearing a jacket either.

No more questions.

MATLOCK: I understand you've been indicted for fraud, Mr. Herman.

I've been indicted, yes.

Well, I'm gonna ask you some questions.

Some of it has to do with fraud.

Now, there's a large cast of characters.

Like they used to say about the movies,

cast of thousands.

So you think carefully before you answer

so you don't, you know, wind up in trouble.

You ready?

[MATLOCK CHUCKLES]

Was, uh, Cameron Ivers interested in buying your business?

He never talked to me about it.

I hear that he was the kind of fellow that, when he took over a company,

he went through that thing with a fine-tooth comb. Is that right?

- I suppose. - So if there'd been any fraud going on

at Ashfield Life, he'd have found it, wouldn't he?

I wouldn't know.

Oh, come on, Mr. Herman.

I'm talking major fraud.

What if Mr. Ivers found out

that you were creating fake life-insurance policies

and selling them to other insurance companies?

And what if he found out that you were creating

fake death certificates

and then collecting all the death benefits

from these other companies for yourself?

[WHISTLES]

That's a scheme amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.

What if he found out about that?

I, uh... I refuse to answer that.

I don't blame you. Heh.

Are you following all this?

If Craig Browning had thrown Mr. Ivers' case,

well, Mr. Ivers would've gone to jail,

and that probably would've been the end of it.

But he didn't throw his case.

He didn't go to jail.

What he did,

Craig Browning got my associate, Cliff Lewis,

to intercede for him and go to a meeting

at a bar with this private investigator about this blackmail business.

He met him. He had him followed.

He got pictures of Mr. Aston, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Reeves.

He went up to Mr. Aston's hotel room and confronted him.

He said, "You take my man down, I'll take your man down."

Cliff was thrown out of the room.

Sometime later, about, oh, 10:00,

the maid that worked there at the hotel discovered Mr. Aston's body.

There had been a fight.

He was dead, hit over the head with a bottle of champagne.

Dinner was knocked over, stuff all over the floor.

It was a mess.

And then she remembered Cliff

pounding on Mr. Aston's door,

shouting to be let in.

Then they found Cliff's handkerchief.

Somebody would've tried to flush it down the toilet.

The upshot of it

is the police charged Cliff with Scott Aston's murder.

I know this man.

He didn't do it.

What he did,

he went the extra mile for his client.

He respected lawyer-client confidentiality,

and I respect him for that.

He didn't do it.

You did.

[SCOFFS]

You're out of your mind.

Remember your ex-employee, Chuck Ratner?

He called you, met you at your club,

told you that Scott Aston was about to find out about your fraud.

You knew you had to do something, and now.

So you went up to his room and did it, didn't you?

No.

Mr. Ratner just testified

that you bullied him into perjuring himself

by saying that you were with him at the time of the murder.

I did it because I knew the truth would make me look bad.

What kind of truth?

I left the club,

and I walked around for a couple of hours.

I needed time to think.

And when it became apparent that I'd be better off with an alibi,

I asked Chuck to give me one.

MATLOCK: Would you say his description of what you were wearing

that evening was pretty correct?

I don't remember what I was wearing.

Well, could you have been wearing, uh, these?

- Yes, those are mine. - Yeah, those are yours.

The police got them, with a warrant, of course.

Cliff and I were looking around the scene of the crime

trying to, you know, see what we could find.

And what we couldn't find were those little sewing kits

that Housekeeping puts in all the rooms.

You know where I'm heading, don't you?

No, no, no, I don't.

Well, like I said before, there was a fight,

and this man, I'm sure, was doing all he could do to save his life.

I bet grabbing at anything he could, even the killer's shirt, huh?

Rich man couldn't go out on the street

with his hair all messed up like that after a fight,

with his shirt hanging half off of him.

He couldn't go home to his wife like that, could he?

Your Honor, this is preposterous.

- Mr. Matlock. - Yes, ma'am, we'll cut to the chase.

Now, there was a fight.

He was strong, but you were younger.

And you won the fight.

And you killed him.

You hit him over the head with this champagne bottle.

Then you grabbed the handkerchief off the dresser,

Cliff's handkerchief, wiped the blood off your hands.

Then you went in the bathroom, tried to flush it down the toilet.

Then you saw the sewing kit,

and you used it to sew the buttons

that had been torn off back onto your shirt

before you went outside, didn't you?

No.

MATLOCK: Okay, here we have it.

When the police forensics got done with this shirt,

they found that not only was the thread

that were holding these three buttons on the shirt different

from the thread holding the other buttons,

but it was identical in weight and dye lot

to the thread in this little sewing kit.

You know, this is really something.

Here's a man

who dealt with millions of dollars every day,

a lot of it illegal, but millions of dollars.

Often there's just a little mistake,

and one piece of thread

worth, oh...

What, a penny, two at the most,

ties you to Scott Aston's death for as long as you might live.

Thank you, Your Honor, that's all.

QUARTET [SINGING]: On a Sunday morn

Sat a maid forlorn

With her sweetheart by her side

Through the windowpane

She looked at the rain

"We must stay home, Joe" She cried

She cried

There's a picnic too At the old Point View

It's a shame it rained today Today

Then the boy drew near

Kissed away each tear

And she heard him softly say

Wait till the sun shines, Nellie

When the clouds go drifting by

We will be happy...

- They're so wonderful. - They still got it.

Ben sounds a lot better with them than he ever did by himself,

- that's for sure. - Ha, ha!

You know, I can't believe he still fits in the costume.

He had it let out.

- How do you know? - Heard him talking to his tailor.

Bye and bye Bye and - Bye - Yes, bye and

Bye [ALL CHEERING]

[PANTS RIP]