All language subtitles for Perry Mason S05E06 The Case of the Meddling Medium.DVDRip.NonHI.cc.en.CBS

Inanimate objects

can reveal their history.

They give us pictures
of their surroundings,

of persons with whom
they have been connected,

even when those
persons are dead.

You will know when I am ready.

At that time, you will place
object you wish me to read

in my hands.

Helen.

Love.

Much love.

Unhappy mother.

She has lost her husband.

No, no, no.

Husband dead many years.

She has... recently
lost her son.

I hear his name.

Tho...

Thomas.

Thomas...

Leslie Walker.

Hmm, message.

He has message for Mother.

"Dear Mother..."

Stop it! Stop it!

Why can't you be honest?

Why must you lie
to me and cheat me?

That glove...

That-that glove that you say

can put you in
contact with my son...

Well, my son never saw
that glove in his whole life.

I bought that glove
myself this afternoon!

Oh!

What is it, Mother?

Oh!

Michael, we'll take
her to her room.

Helen... get rid of that...

That woman.

And call Dr. Younger at once.

Well, look who's here.

Go away.

I had enough of you and
your bright ideas last night.

Beat it.

Now, now, Princess.

Drinking spirits, instead
of talking to them?

Now, look here.

You get out of here.

I had enough...

Money.

I... eh...

Lots of money.

$500 in crisp, new bills.

Close the door.

Last night was an
unfortunate mistake.

The old lady's
smarter than I thought.

Princess,

there are a couple of
things I'd like to know.

First of all,

everything I can find out

about a routine called
automatic writing.

And most important,
your expert help

on exactly how to fake a trance.

Sylvia, dinner was delicious.

Thanks for having me over.

Arthur, you're a
humbug and a fraud.

You keep me an invalid
only to cadge free meals

and collect your
preposterous fees.

Well, just don't tell the
medical association.

At my age, I wouldn't know

how to start earning
an honest living.

Good night, Sylvia.

Good night, Arthur.

Bonnie, see that your
mother takes her medicine.

Good night, Doctor.

Uh, Doctor,

let me get your coat for you.

Amazing woman, your
mother-in-law, amazing.

Dr. Younger?

Yes, Michael?

Is she really all right?

Bonnie and I have
been worried sick about

her fanatic preoccupation
with contacting her dead son.

And-and these people

she finds to help her.

She's much better.

The change is really remarkable.

Bonnie tells me there's
been no reference to Tom,

nor any attempt to contact
him for two weeks now?

Once she accepts the
fact that her son is dead,

Sylvia Walker will be fine.

Just fine.

Doctor!

Oh, Dr. Younger, there's
something wrong with Philip!

Go look at him quickly.

How long has he been like this?

I don't know.

I haven't seen him since dinner.

He's not sick, Doctor,
I'm sure of that.

He's-he's acting almost
as if he were in a trance.

Don't touch him, Arthur.

D-Don't touch him, you hear me?

Helen, go and get the
planchette and the board.

Quickly.

Sylvia, I've warned you,

your heart won't
take any more of this.

This all-consuming
compulsion to contact Tom

is-is unwholesome, it's
sick, it has to stop now.

Thomas Leslie Walker
is dead, dead and gone.

You're a blind fool, Arthur.

If it hasn't been documented
with chapter and verse

in one of your precious medical
books, then it must be nonsense.

Well, the truth
sometimes exists, Arthur,

beyond the next
hill, out of sight.

Or buried in the larcenous
brain of some charlatan

who's using your
belief in spiritualism

as an excuse to rob you.

Thomas was Philip's cousin.

A blood relative.

The same age, and the
same literary ambitions.

He may...

he may come through.

This, good doctor,

is what is hopefully
called automatic writing.

The spirit of the dead
guides the hand of the living.

A ghost-to-ghost telegraph
company, so to speak.

Be quiet, Michael, or take
your sarcasm elsewhere.

Look.

Look, he's writing.

He's writing.

"Death's omnipotence, gloom
casting pall on high or low.

"Man is flesh...
To yearn, to seek,

to lust, to crave..."

Stop.

Don't read any more.

The day before he died, my son,

Thomas Leslie
Walker, wrote a poem.

Since that day, it's
been inside that box,

in the safe, and no other
eyes but mine have ever seen it.

Arthur, will you
read it, please?

"Death's omnipotence,
gloom cast..."

Well, go on, Doctor.

"Death's omnipotence,
gloom casting pall

"on high or low.

"Man is flesh...
To yearn, to seek,

"to lust, to crave.

"What meaning,
then, to need, to want?

"But yet to know the
beginning is the end.

My hopes, like me,
are for the grave."

Helen, will you read
what Philip wrote?

"Death's omnipotence,
gloom casting pall

"on high or low.

"Man is flesh...
To yearn, to seek,

to lust, to crave..."

Philip?

Philip, are you all right?

Aunt Sylvia?

Yes.

Everything's going to
be all right, Philip dearest.

Everything's
going to be all right.

This is the bedroom suite
Mother wanted you to have.

We'll try to make
you comfortable.

You, uh, resent my
moving in here, don't you?

This was my brother's room.

You make it sound like a shrine.

The late Thomas Leslie Walker...

Embryo poet,
accomplished drinker

and a truly gifted
philanderer with the women.

I shall breathe the hallowed
air in here with proper reverence.

You seem to know
a lot about Tom,

for somebody who never met him.

Cousins by blood,
friends by correspondence.

I would've liked him.

Shame he died before I
moved out here from Canada.

In your correspondence,

from one budding
author to another,

did he send you
copies of his poems?

Like the one you supposedly

dredged up from
the dead downstairs!

He did, didn't he?

That whole thing was an act,

a fake.

I'm going to be
comfortable in here.

Very comfortable.

Hey, what's that
boarded up there?

The closet with the
family skeletons?

An elevator.

Tom's elevator.

It goes to the bottom of the
hill in a small underground

garage.

Tom was killed in an
elevator accident, wasn't he?

It went out of control,

dropped five stories
and crashed...

less than a year ago.

Tom was trapped inside.

Get it fixed.

But Tom was...

Get it fixed.

Or should I speak to
Aunt Sylvia about it?

I'll have it fixed.

Now, that's better.

See, you can be nice, can't you?

And you're so pretty
when you're angry.

Good night.

Well, what did I tell you?

We moved in, didn't we?

And to stay.

Elaine, baby, that's
only the first step.

Come on, come on.

She's my cousin.

Yes, ma'am.

Only the first step on the
way to 50 million bucks.

I just don't know
why I waited so long

to ask for your help.

I thought maybe he'd
go away, but he hasn't.

That man's lived in this
house for six months now.

Six months, Perry.

He-He practically
owns the house.

And Mother, too.

She just lives for those
make-believe trances of his,

and... well, it's getting
worse all the time.

I know Dr. Younger's
worried about her.

Oh, Perry, you've just
got to make her see

what a fraud he is.

Oh, help us, please.

Well, look, your breaking
down won't help, will it?

You know, frauds have a way

of ultimately tripping
over the truth.

Just don't worry.

All right, Perry.

Good.

Now, suppose we
go in and participate

in this imitation séance.

It's no good, I tell you.

Can't... can't...

possibly do anything tonight.

The spirit just isn't in me.

Mr. Mason!

Welcome to the
threshold of the beyond.

Perry, what are you doing here?

Well, I... I bumped into
him downtown this afternoon

and invited him to drop in.

Yes, as a matter of fact,
we ran into each other

in a bookstore.

I'd just purchased
Life After Death:

The Posthumous Poetry

of Thomas Leslie Walker.

You know, there's been, um,

fantastic interest in how you
produced Walker's first poem

and the rest of the poetry
that seemingly came through

from a dead author.

Quite an accomplishment,
Mr. Paisley,

to make a book of
poetry into a bestseller.

You must be proud.

Sure. Sure.

I was hoping you'd
autograph a copy for me.

Real smart, huh?

Autograph it, huh?

You don't want my
signature, Mr. Lawyer Man.

You get Thomas Leslie
Walker to sign it, that's who.

That might be
a little difficult.

Oh, yes, there's something else
you're to be congratulated for...

The Thomas Leslie Walker
Memorial Foundation.

I understand it's
been most generous

in helping struggling
young authors.

It's nothing.

It's nothing at all.

I suppose the
proceeds from this book

are the funds being used
to support the foundation.

Walker Industries
is supporting it,

to the tune of $1 million
in less than six months.

Well, I am Walker
Industries, Michael.

You're an employee.

Uh, well, now, actually, my
purpose in coming here tonight

was my great interest in
seeing a demonstration

of automatic writing.

Uh, Mr. Paisley, I
believe that's something

at which you are quite adept.

May I watch you?

Not tonight.

That's a shame. I was hoping...

Not tonight, I
said! Do you hear?

No performance, Philip?

I thought actors believe
the show must go on.

I have had just about as
much as I can take out of you.

Now, shut up, do you hear me?

Shut up!

But the poor beings
in the beyond, Philip,

deprived of an opportunity to...

to come through and
communicate with the living!

What of them, Philip?

Stop it! Stop it!

You're so smart, are you?

You think it's all an act, huh?

Well, then... you do it.

Go ahead.

You do it!

Bonnie, no!

Oh, let me alone!
Bonnie, don't! Please.

I'll show him! You're
making yourself sick, Bonnie.

I'll show him right now!

I forbid this, Bonnie.
You understand?

I have... I'll...

show him!

♪ ♪

Can't read it.

I can't read it.

"The fraud whose hoax
turned hope to dread

shall take his place
among the dead."

What's that?

Darling... What did he say?

No! No!

You! You, you're the fraud!

I hate you all!

I'm sick to death of all of you!

Sorry we have to
keep you waiting.

I'm going to have to ask
you all some questions,

and I'd appreciate
your cooperation.

Sergeant, my exchange
has been calling me.

I'm needed at the hospital.

I know you investigate
all accidental deaths,

but, uh, surely any
questions you have of me

will wait till tomorrow?

If it's an emergency,
we won't hold you.

One of my men'll take
you and bring you back.

Bring me back?!

Now, look here, Sergeant...
One moment, Dr. Younger.

Sergeant Bradley, this
wasn't an accidental death?

No, Mr. Mason.

Philip Paisley was murdered.

The murderer connected
a long piece of piano wire

from the top of the elevator
cage to the field coils

inside the motor housing
above the elevator shaft.

Now, in order to do this,
the murderer had to know

quite a bit about
electrical motors...

Enough to hook up the
wire, so that when the elevator

started down, it pulled open
what are called "shunt fields."

That elevator just
didn't fall five stories,

it picked up extra speed
the whole way down.

Do the authorities
have any leads?

They do.

When Philip Paisley
moved in, it was Bonnie Craig

who ordered the elevator
restored to service.

According to the
repairman, and I quote,

"She seemed unusually interested
in how the elevator worked,

"what might conceivably
go wrong with it,

and what safety
features it had."

Paul, you can't convince
me that a girl like Bonnie

would be interested
in an elevator

just to use it to kill somebody.

Well, Sheriff's Homicide's
easier to convince.

Especially when Dr. Younger
admits that earlier last night

he saw Bonnie Craig go
into Philip Paisley's room,

carrying a screwdriver
and a pair of pliers.

Then the police must be sure

that she's the one
who fixed the elevator.

What are you doing here, David?

Well, you gave him permission

to use the law library
today, remember,

Perry?

Say, Mr. Mason, if you're
talking about that murder

last night, the one with the
mediums and trances, then you

ought to see Puharich at the
Parapsychology Laboratory.

Puharich?

Dr. Andrija Puharich... I've
known him for some time now.

He's one of the top
ESP men in the country.

Extrasensory perception?

That's right.

Thank you, David.

That's not a bad idea.

But first things first.

Paul... I want an investigation

of everyone connected

with this case, past or present,

and a complete
check on every person

who was in the Walker home
last night, with particular emphasis

on whether any of their
backgrounds include

electrical training
or experience.

Yes, Gertie?

Hold on.

Bonnie Craig.

Put her on, Gertie.

Yes, Bonnie?

Perry...

I need your help, please.

I'm being arrested...

for the murder
of Philip Paisley.

Interested in it?

Well, of course I
was interested in it.

I wanted to make sure
the elevator was safe.

And that's the truth, Perry.

All right.

You didn't want another
accident to occur,

so that accounts for your
interest in the elevator.

But what about those tools

Dr. Younger saw you
taking into Philip's room?

Well, they had nothing
to do with the elevator.

Then with what
did they have to do?

I knew Philip was a fraud.

I'd seen him one day in his
room practicing the poetry

and other bits of information
he used in his phony trances.

They were written down
and hidden in his room,

I was sure of it.

If I could just find
those written notes,

I could prove he was a fraud.

So you went
looking for the notes

with pliers and a screwdriver?

I-I'd seen a small locked
metal box hidden in his room.

The notes had to be in there.

I wanted to make
sure I could open it.

But he must have
somehow known I'd seen it,

because it wasn't in the room.

It was gone.

Now, when you went into his room

with those tools, how
did you know Philip

wouldn't just walk
in and surprise you?

Well, I-I just knew he
wouldn't come back upstairs

until after the séance.

You just knew?

How?

I deliberately got him drunk.

You got him drunk?

Yes.

I kept serving him highballs
that were almost all liquor.

With the appetite
Philip had for drinking,

it wasn't very difficult.

Did anyone see you preparing or
serving him those loaded drinks?

Oh, I'm not sure.

I suppose his wife
could've seen me.

Or maybe Helen, Mother's
secretary/companion.

The tools,

getting him drunk...

All that looks pretty
bad, doesn't it?

That depends on the
answer to one question.

I want the truth now,
Bonnie, without equivocation.

"The fraud whose hoax
turned hope to dread

shall take his place
among the dead."

When you wrote those words,

were you or were you
not faking a trance?

Perry...

I'll take an oath on all
that's dear and sacred to me.

I don't know what happened...

or how I came to
write those words.

I was not acting or
faking, so help me!

Philip Paisley was the only
one who ever used that elevator.

He kept his car in a garage

at the base of it.

Everyone knew that.

Also, his drunken
rages generally ended

in his taking the elevator
down and going for a fast ride.

And the authorities believe

Mrs. Craig tampered
with that elevator?

Exactly.

Now, this is the key
to the whole problem.

Was her trance
genuine, or was the trance

and the writing... Like
getting him drunk...

Part of a deliberate
attempt to murder him?

Uh, what can you tell me
about a trance, Doctor?

Well, there are a great,
great many sincere people

who consider
themselves spiritists.

To them, trance is a method
of giving the subconscious mind

an opportunity to express itself

without the interference
of the conscious mind.

From a legal point
of view, Dr. Puharich,

what exactly is a trance?

Nothing evidential
that you, as an attorney,

could or would want
to take into court.

So, it's legally
impossible to prove

whether Mrs. Craig's
trance was genuine or faked?

Trance may be a
state of hysteria...

A way of releasing repressed
or unconscious tendencies

the person wouldn't express
under normal circumstances.

Suppose, Doctor,
we were dealing with

an area of abnormality...

A person who had
just set a murder trap,

as Bonnie Craig is
supposed to have done

in fixing that elevator.

Would or could such a
person openly express a threat

to their intended victim?

Well, actually,
as you put it, no.

Mentally, there would be an
impassable defensive block

against self-incrimination.

Realistically, she could no
more betray herself in a trance

than a person under
hypnosis can be forced to act

against his own moral scruples.

As an expert, would
you testify to that?

Certainly.

So would any
qualified expert... if

Mrs. Craig were proven

to have been in
an actual trance.

Well...

Back to the river with
no boat and no bridge.

Maybe not, Mr. Mason.

What do you mean?

If her trance were genuine,
it might indicate the presence

of some extrasensory
perception on her part.

We could prove that legally,

no more.

The backdoor approach.

If she has any ESP, perhaps
her trance was genuine.

Excuse me.

Dr. Puharich.

For you.

Mason.

Perry, I got something
pretty interesting.

A phony ex-fortune teller
named Princess Charlotte,

who now bills herself as a
spiritualist, which she isn't.

Anyway, she may
have been involved

in whatever swindle it was

Philip Paisley was
pulling on Mrs. Walker.

Also, Philip Paisley
was a blackmailer,

and get this... He
was blackmailing

old lady Walker's
son-in-law, Michael Craig.

Philip wasn't blackmailing me.

Not directly.

He was putting the
pressure on Bonnie.

He found out about a business
matter I was involved in.

Something of...
questionable legality.

He made it rough on Bonnie,

and he threatened to take
the matter to the police,

unless we agreed
to... to arrange for him

to become a vice president
of Walker Industries.

The colossal nerve of the man.

Doctor, why did you
go to Philip's room

the night he was murdered?

What?

When you saw Bonnie go
into his room with those tools.

Weren't you there
to see him yourself?

Why yes, I was. You're right.

To ask him to leave here.

To stop torturing
Sylvia with memories,

before it was too late.

Tell me, how long have you
been in love with Sylvia Walker?

I've loved her ever since
the day I first met her.

No, Mr. Mason, I
didn't kill Philip Paisley.

As a doctor, my concern
is with saving lives,

not taking them.

But if I had wanted to kill him,

if the thought had
occurred to me,

I wouldn't have
used an elevator.

I would have used my bare hands.

Sure.

Sure, you all hated him.

You all wanted to see him dead.

Why, this whole
high-hattin' family

is nothing but a
bunch of phonies.

Yeah, phonies.

Just like Phil was.

But before I go, there's
something I'm gonna tell you.

You may as well
hear it right now,

'cause I already told
the district attorney.

They didn't make no mistake
when they arrested Bonnie.

No sirree, they didn't.

She and my husband
were having themselves

a little love affair.

When I told him I knew
he was playing around

all the time, he...

he laughed at
me, he admitted it.

He said, "Sure, I just
dropped my latest girlfriend like

a hot potato, and
she's boiling mad."

And maybe you think that
won't sound nice and juicy

when I tell it in court.

Good-bye...

family.

Your Honor, the
answers of this witness

are not responsive.

Miss Garden, for many years,
has been secretary-companion

to the defendant's mother.

It's obvious that her loyalties

are with the Walker family.

If the witness is not
more responsive,

the court will rule
her a hostile witness

and the prosecutor
will be permitted

to ask leading questions.

Proceed.

Very well, Your Honor.

Now, Miss Garden,
it's been testified here

that the decedent,
Philip Paisley,

was a frequent
and a heavy drinker.

And further, that
when he was drunk,

if anything occurred
to upset him

that he always reacted
in the same manner.

Now I ask you in
exactly what manner

he always reacted
in the circumstances

I just described?

He'd take the elevator
down to his car

and go driving.

Did you ever have a discussion

with the defendant,
Bonnie Craig,

to indicate that she was
aware of this behavior pattern?

Yes.

Did you ever see Bonnie Craig
and the decedent embracing

or kissing each other?

Yes.

The day he moved into the house.

Really?

Now, Miss Garden, did
you ever have a discussion

with the defendant

on the matter of the
pressure placed on

her or her husband by the
decedent, Philip Paisley,

to have himself
appointed a vice president

of Walker Industries?

Yes.

Mrs. Craig was very angry

and talked to me about
where Philip Paisley was getting

the information he was using

to blackmail the family.

I assured her I had never
spoken to Mr. Paisley

about those matters.

Well, would you repeat
the specific remark

made by the defendant
during this discussion

concerning the decedent?

Mrs. Craig said she'd
see Philip Paisley...

dead and buried before
she'd let him ruin the family.

Thank you.

Finally, one last matter.

During this hearing,

the defense counsel, Mr. Mason,

has consistently tried
to give the impression

that the defendant's
so-called "trance"

on the night of the
murder was... genuine.

I ask if you ever saw the
defendant simulate a trance.

Yes, once.

About a week before the murder.

But it was only a joke.

She...

well, she was imitating Philip.

Making believe she was
in one of his trances and...

writing some of his poetry.

You saw the
defendant, Bonnie Craig,

pretending to be in a trance,

and while she was in
this make-believe trance

pretending to be
performing automatic writing?

Yes.

Thank you very
much, Miss Garden.

That will be all.

Cross-examine.

No questions.

Witness is excused.

Does the prosecution
have any further witnesses?

No, Your Honor.

The prosecution has shown
that the defendant had access

to the death elevator

at the time that it must
have been tampered with,

and that she was seen
in the immediate vicinity

actually carrying tools.

We have demonstrated
two strong motivations.

First, that Bonnie Craig
was a woman scorned...

Cast aside after a sordid affair

with the decedent.

And second, that Bonnie
Craig was a woman desperate

to protect her own and her
husband's financial security.

And we have introduced
testimony that under such motivation,

she deliberately got
Philip Paisley first drunk

and then angry, and
thus sent him to his death

as surely as if she had held a
gun against his head and shot him.

Your Honor, the prosecution

asks that the
defendant, Bonnie Craig,

be bound over for
trial in Superior Court.

Mr. Mason, do you wish to
present a defense at this time?

May it please the court, uh,
defense requests a short recess

for the purpose of
consultation with the defendant.

All right.

The, uh, court'll stand
recessed for 30 minutes.

What kind of a defense could
you possibly put on, Perry?

Spirit writing on a Ouija board?

Or maybe you'd
like to materialize

some nice ghostly
ectoplasm right here in court.

I don't know... I may even
put Bonnie Craig on the stand

and let her tell her own story.

What? And let me destroy
that story on cross-examination?

Putting that woman on the stand

would be like giving
her a one-way ticket

to the gas chamber.

No, you won't do that.

Perry Mason doesn't
make mistakes like that.

Or does he?

Perry.

I just heard what
the prosecutor said.

You can't possibly
let Bonnie testify.

That, Sylvia, will
be my decision.

Or more important,
Bonnie's decision.

Bonnie, I must know exactly
what your relationship was

with Philip Paisley.

Elaine Paisley was lying.

Then you never went
out with her husband?

Well, I...

I want the truth, Bonnie.

All right, I went
out with him once.

Just once.

I thought maybe I
could talk to him...

Make him understand...
Even-even buy him off.

Well, he was drunk, ugly.

He tried to make love to me.

I-I hit him, and I ran away.

Perry, please believe me.

All right, Bonnie,
I believe you.

Now, will you believe me?

Trust me?

Will you testify on
your own behalf?

Your Honor, it is our desire

to present a defense
in this hearing.

Toward that end, it will
be essential to introduce

an unusual demonstration.

I request, therefore,
that the court

and the necessary
parties to the proceedings

adjourn to the
Parapsychology Laboratory

of Dr. Andrija Puharich.

What's the nature of
this demonstration?

I'm sure the court is aware
that a key issue in this case

is whether or not, on
the night of the murder,

the defendant did indeed
enter a genuine state of trance.

Oh, come now, Mr. Mason.

You can't hope to introduce
evidence into a court of law

establishing the validity
of a so-called trance.

No, Your Honor, but I
do intend to demonstrate

scientifically and legally

whether or not the defendant
possesses that capacity

known as
extrasensory perception.

On the basis, I suppose,
of an inferential assumption.

That if she does possess
this extrasensory perception,

that she could
have, without faking,

have gone into this so-called

trance? That's
correct, Your Honor.

No, Mr. Mason, I'm
sorry. I just can't...

Your Honor, please.

Mr. Mason, in order to
make this demonstration,

will you put the defendant
under oath as a witness?

Yes, I will.

And, of course, I'll have the
right to cross-examine her?

Of course.

Your Honor, the prosecution
has absolutely no objection

to this demonstration.

Well, in that case, and since
this is a preliminary hearing,

the court will permit
the demonstration.

Court is adjourned for the day,

and will reconvene
tomorrow morning at 10:00

at the Parapsychology
Laboratory.

Thomas Leslie Walker was
a perpetual motion Casanova.

He just couldn't leave
a pretty girl alone.

He was always in hot
water and always paying off.

Paying off?

Ah, paternity suits,
settlements, you name it.

A bad, bad boy,
the late Mr. Walker.

What about those
electrical backgrounds?

Well, we almost
struck out there.

We barely had time
to scratch the surface.

However, Michael Craig was
a former Signal Corps officer

with training in
elemental electricity.

Bonnie's husband?

Why would he want
to kill Philip Paisley?

Well, Paisley was
supposedly romancing his wife

and at the same time,
supposedly blackmailing him.

Did you investigate that?

Smoke, but not much fire.

The Walker company
books had been juggled,

and there was a
substantial shortage of cash.

Now...

Mike Craig may not
have pocketed the dough,

but it was his department

and, consequently,
his responsibility.

Michael Craig is the only
one with electrical training?

No. There was somebody else

who could've
booby-trapped that elevator.

Your client, Bonnie Craig.

It seems that during college,
she spent three summers working

for one of Walker Industries'
many subsidiary companies.

Electrical?

Appliance... and
Burger knows it.

If he ever gets her
on the stand, look out.

He'll get that chance
tomorrow, Paul.

Oh, no, you're not
gonna let her testify?

Yes...

I'm going to let her testify.

I must have checked
every bar and roadhouse

within a radius of 50 miles.

You were absolutely right...

I got five positive identifications
of those photographs.

Perry Mason's office.

Just one moment, please.

Dr. Puharich.

Yes, Doctor?

Is the, uh, faraday cage ready?

Fine, we'll be right over.

What is a faraday cage?

It's... Uh...

Go ahead, David.

A way of testing for ESP.

Perry... is it really
that important?

I mean, if your client has ESP
and if the trance was genuine?

Whether or not Bonnie
Craig goes to the gas chamber

for first-degree murder
may depend upon the results

of this testing tomorrow.

Particularly on what
happens with the faraday cage.

Uh, extrasensory perception...
ESP... is the capacity

with which some people are
apparently able to perceive

beyond the range of
the recognized senses.

The tests to be run here are
designed to discover and measure

the degree of such capacity.

The prosecution has already

stipulated as to the expert
qualifications of Dr. Andrija Puharich,

who has prepared and
will evaluate these tests.

Now, another person is needed
to participate with Mrs. Craig

in the test to be run here.

Uh, Mrs. Paisley, would
you sit down, please?

Now, this computer is programmed

to make one thousand
random choices

of numerals from one to ten.

As, uh, Dr. Puharich
has constructed the test,

he postulates that,
uh... a person with ESP

should be able to guess
a scientifically predictable

percentage of those
random numbers.

Dr. Puharich?

All right, Mrs. Craig.

Elaine Paisley scored
93 correct choices

out of one thousand.

Bonnie Craig

scored 97 correct choices
out of one thousand.

Neither score exceeds
chance expectation.

This means no ESP
indicated for either lady tested.

Mr. Craig, would you help
us with this test, please?

Of course.

Fold your arms, please.

Make no sound, no
movement during the test runs.

Now, as your wife
tries to match the

correct symbols, concentrate
just as hard as you

can on the correct symbols

as your wife's hand
comes near them.

Doctor?

This, closest to
you on the bottom,

is the match row with
your left hand on it.

This, on top, with
your right hand on it,

is the target row.

Choose any one
of the top ten boxes

you think matches the box you
are touching in the bottom row

and take that box
out of the top row

and place it in the
middle matching row

above the one on the bottom.

All right, Mrs. Craig?

In this test, as
in the first test,

no extrasensory perception.

Well, Your Honor, I think
this has gone far enough.

Mr. Mason has made... or,
rather, failed to make... his point.

Yes, I'm inclined to agree.

Well, Mr. Mason?

One more test, Your Honor.

Even where minimal, normally
nonmeasurable ESP exists, uh,

Dr. Puharich's scientifically
experienced contention is

that the charged
faraday cage technique

will indicate it.

This will be our last test.

All right, Mr. Mason, you
may go on with your test.

Very well, Your Honor.

Uh, Miss Garden, would you
help us with this one, please?

Um, just sit over
there at the table.

Now, this time we
will use two trays,

one outside the cage.

Inside the cage, Mrs.
Craig will attempt, on signal,

to duplicate the sequential
arrangement on her tray.

Oh, yes, we'll need,
uh, one other person

inside the cage with Mrs. Craig.

Uh, Dr. Younger,
would you, please?

Oh, one moment, Doctor.

I'd better caution
everyone in this room,

but most particularly
the two people

who will be inside the cage,

that once the
cage is in operation

there are 22,000
volts of electricity

on the copper surface.

Don't touch it.

And you're sending us inside?

The chairs and the tables
on the inside of the cage

are mounted on glass insulators.

Keep your hands either
on the tables or in your laps.

Now, all of you, either
inside or outside the cage...

22,000 volts.

Do not touch the cage.

Isn't this unnecessarily
dangerous?

You're not worried,
are you, Dr. Younger?

If I knew enough
about electricity

really to be worried, I should
then have been expert enough

to have tampered
with the elevator motor

that killed Philip Paisley...
Is that what you mean?

That's right, Doctor.

The murderer was expert in
the knowledge of electricity.

But my warning was intended...

merely as a safety measure.

Ready with the signal

to the inside of
the cage, David?

Yes, sir.

Now, Miss Garden,

completely at
random, take any box

from the bottom of the
row and place it to your left

at the top of the row.

Signal, David.

All right, Miss
Garden, another box.

Signal.

Another box.

Signal.

Miss Garden...

your back was to
that switchboard

when the electricity
was turned on.

How did you know exactly

which was the
right switch to pull?

Why, I-I just... I just...

Just guessed?

Oh, no, Miss Garden,
you didn't guess,

any more than you had to
guess how to open the shunt fields

on an elevator motor.

Now, if we check
back far enough,

before you went to work
for Sylvia Walker, we'll find

an electrical background,
won't we, Miss Garden?

Please, please, no.

Bonnie Craig wasn't
Philip's girlfriend.

It wasn't Bonnie he
dropped; it was you.

And it was you, as well
as the Walker family,

he was blackmailing, was it not?

Yes.

Yes, Philip found out.

What was it he found?

That you had been in love
with Thomas Leslie Walker?

That you'd committed
a crime for him?

Yes.

Tom and I were...

were in love.

Tom was in trouble.

He was being sued
by another woman.

You didn't know that, did you?

All you knew was
that he needed money,

money you helped
him get, isn't that right?

I had... access to the books.

Books juggled not
by Michael Craig;

books juggled by you

to raise cash for Tom.

When the shortage
was discovered,

Tom was safe, but not you.

He laughed at me!

He fooled me!

He... used me to steal for
him, and then he laughed at me!

I wasn't going to jail for him!

I...

I fixed the elevator.

Tom was killed, and...

it looked like an accident.

I thought I was safe.

Safe, until Philip
Paisley came along

and started digging...

Digging for
blackmail information.

He found out e...

enough to guess what I had
done in juggling the books, and...

sooner or later, he'd
find out I killed Tom.

And you were trapped.

Now there would be no safe job

with your future
well provided for.

Now there would only be a trial
for the murder of Thomas Walker.

So you figured...

there was just one thing to do.

I did it before.

I did it again.

I fixed the elevator.

I killed Philip Paisley!

Even though Paul hadn't
uncovered the history

of her electrical training
before the hearing,

we were sure
there had to be one.

Under pressure, and
believing her own life in danger,

she, uh, gave herself away.

And once the dam broke,
everything poured out.

A confession to two murders.

But what about
that trance of mine?

Oh, I spoke to Dr. Puharich.

Uh, that partial test you
took in the faraday cage,

well, it seems you do have
extrasensory perception.

Very latent, very
mild, but present.

Well now, what in the
world do I do with it?

Uh, call yourself
Countess Bonnie

and give readings
with an accent.

Oh, Mike!