"(theme music playing)" "(buzzer sounding)" "(buzzer stops)" "(wheels creaking)" "Well, they're gone." "They're phony, all of them." "Over half a million dollars in gold." "How was it done?" "How?" "Well, it certainly wasn't done by one man." "To get this many ingots out of here required an organization, and a brilliant one." "Brilliant?" "They can't get ten cents for that gold in the United States." "It's against the law to sell it." "They can get a half million for it anywhere else, if they can get it out of the country." "You better call the Border Patrol, the Coast Guard." "I've already done that, along with the Treasury Department and the FBI." "Good." "Jonesy, do you think these ingots were stolen a few at a time or all at once?" "I don't know." "I'm afraid they could've been taken out of here for the last six or eight weeks." "Well, some of it or all of it was taken out earlier this morning." "But that's all we can be sure of." "How it happened, I don't know." "* *" "* *" "* *" ""Oh, a capital ship for an ocean trip is a Walloping Window-blind."" "You, uh, are you prone to mal de mer, Perry?" "Only on a windjammer, rounding a horn." "Well, that's cute-- no boat." "Maybe we're a little early." "Hello there." "Any idea where the Viajero is?" "Captain Cahill took her out to ice her up and get some bait." "If you're Mr. Mason, he said to tell you he'll be right back." "MASON:" "Thank you." "DRAKE:" "Uh, is it all right to leave this gear over there while we get a bite to eat?" "Sure." "I'll keep my eye on it." "Much obliged." "Hey, what's up, Skipper?" "Why the bait?" "Well, it's about time you showed up for work." "We're going to go fishing this weekend." "You're kidding." "You mean, Magovern wants to go fishing?" "No, not Magovern, another charter." "Perry Mason, the lawyer." "Yeah?" "Old friend of mine." "Some guy he's bringing along with him." "DECKHAND:" "Yeah, but I thought Magovern had the boat every weekend." "CAHILL:" "Well, he canceled out." "Well, I'm sure going to miss just swinging around the anchor with old Magovern and his absentminded professor friend." "Not to mention those nights in old Mexico." "Yeah." "Not to mention Magovern's pretty young wife, huh?" "All right, all right, Skipper." "But how come?" "What happened?" "Well, that ankle that Magovern banged up in Ensenada a week ago, well, apparently it's broken, that's all." "Ah, come on, Charlie, you've had enough." "The sharks are going to smell you a mile away." "But I don't have to dive;" "I'm not working." "* This weekend, I don't have to dive *" "* Because Magovern broke his leg *" "* Magovern broke his leg... *" "(laughter)" "* Hi-ho, the cherry-o *" "* Magovern broke his leg *" "* I don't have to dive this weekend *" "* Because Magovern broke... *" "(sighs softly)" "(doorbell rings)" "Rita?" "Rita!" "Haven't you got any ears?" "I'm coming, Karl." "Well, see who it is, then get me some more ice." "Suppose it's another process server." "What difference does one more make?" "Tell him to stand in line." "Really?" "Don't you care?" "Sometimes I let people in and you get angry, then other times..." "Oh, for the love of Pete!" "Karl, if you'd just tell me what's happening;" "what it is you're so nervous about these days;" "what you're expecting." "Will you do what you're told." "All right, all right, all right." "I'm sorry I took so long." "But if you're looking for my husband, he's taking some medicine just now." "Perhaps I could help." "I'm quite familiar with his activities, so if it's business of some sort..." "Who is that?" "!" "Let him in, Rita!" "Coming, darling." "Here we are." "All through?" "I'll get your ice now." "And perhaps your friend would like a drink." "We can all sit and..." "Shut that door." "(phone rings)" "Sneider Laboratories." "Who?" "Oh." "Professor, it's for you." "Oh." "Professor Sneider speaking." "Hello, Professor." "Get your hat on;" "we're going to Mexico again." "What?" "Tonight, Mr. Magovern?" "What about your leg?" "Hang my leg!" "I can't sponsor scientific research lying here in bed, now can I?" "Now, it's not that urgent." "Those kelp beds have been growing off the coast of Mexico for two million years." "Besides, I have some laboratory work to catch up with." "Professor, I'll meet you at the boat at 6:00." "Well, if you really..." "I'm not going to wait for you." "Now, get a move on." "Strange man." "Always in a hurry." "How come he's not in a hurry to pay you some of that money he owes you?" "Where's my hat?" "Why, you have put some of your own dough into this, haven't you?" "That guy Magovern's got you twisted around his little finger just like..." "Where are my car keys?" "Thanks." "Sorry I can't take you this week, Perry, but Magovern's got a permanent charter for weekends." "Canceled for this week, but now, suddenly, he's changed his mind." "Well, I'm sorry, too, Scott." "Got another boat for you, though." "The Do-Bu-Jé." "Captain Andrews, good fisherman." "Hey, Skipper, what's happened?" "We're going to Mexico now." "Go get the boat cleared." "Same charter" " Mr. and Mrs. Magovern," "Professor Sneider and Charlie the diver." "Your charter Karl Magovern?" "That's the one." "Uh, some sort of a promoter, isn't he?" "Wasn't there something about a housing project?" "Quite a bit." "Magovern Construction Company folded, leaving a hundred houses half-built." "Banks are suing, but they haven't nailed him yet." "What's he going to Mexico for?" "Oh, I been taking him down there for the past eight weeks." "He's got this scientist;" "they're looking for some way to get alginic acid." "For what?" "Alginate." "Goes in hand lotions, ice cream, toothpaste." "Comes from seaweed, right?" "That's right." "What's so special about Mexican seaweed?" "I don't know." "As a matter of fact, Perry..." "Well, never mind." "I'll get in touch when I get back." "Something on your mind?" "Oh, nothing that won't wait for a day or two." "Good fishing, boys." "Karl Magovern, you're out of your mind." "Why must you go to Mexico?" "!" "Fix me a drink, will you, honey?" "Don't "honey" me." "Who was that man and what did he say to you?" "Boy, if you have to break a leg to get all this tender loving care, I'll skip it." "You don't have to go;" "stay here." "I don't care." "Oh, no; no, you don't get rid of me that easily." "Okay, then do something useful." "Call the ambulance." "It's after 5:00." "Oh, you're certainly in fine shape." "That ambulance has been waiting out there for 20 minutes." "Oh, yeah, I forgot I called them." "Well, tell the guy to get in here." "I got to get dressed." "Karl, listen to me." "I don't know what you're up to, but we ought to give ourselves another chance, you and I." "I'm going to put you in that ambulance and send you to a hospital, anyplace where you can get a real rest!" "You try that, honey." "We'll see who winds up in the hospital." "Bring that wheelchair in here, buddy." "Where's the bottle?" "Where's Sneider?" "Would you like me to buy you one, buster?" "Where's Charlie, the diver?" "He hasn't shown up yet." "Would you like to go aboard, Mr. Magovern?" "Now, why do you think I came?" "Where's that bottle?" "!" "(sighs softly)" "Ah." "(chuckles)" "You need that like I need you." "(laughing)" "Benny, put my stuff aboard." "Come on, let's go!" "(grunts)" "What's he live on, booze and lead?" "Just booze." "Don't drop it." "Karl?" "Have you seen Charlie?" "I can't find Charlie." "We'll go without him." "Come on, get me aboard." "No, no!" "We can't do that." "I have to have a diver." "Oh, come back here." "Professor!" "Well, don't just stand there, go help him find him!" "But if either one of you isn't back in five minutes," "I'm sailing without you." "Look, Mr. Magovern," "I got to fuel this boat up first." "How long will that take?" "Oh, half hour, 45 minutes, plus the time it takes to stow the diver's gear on board." "(sighs)" "(smacks lips)" "(sighs)" "Charlie!" "Come on!" "Oh, no, no, not me." "You said we weren't gonna work this weekend, so I took a drink, and then it turned into two." "We'll get you some coffee." "Bartender." "No, wait a minute, wait a minute." "Max could go." "This is Max." "Hello, Max." "Hi." "Max likes sharks." "(laughing):" "But not me!" "No, sir!" "You a diver?" "20 bucks a day, I dive for abalone, but I don't..." "Can you leave right away?" "Ten bucks more, maybe." "All right, you're hired." "Come on, Charlie, show us where your gear is." "Okay, Charlie." "Okay, okay..." "There you go, baby!" "Hey, you." "You ever seen this man around the docks or anywhere else?" "MAX:" "No, not me." "All right, you, Max, come on, lend a hand!" "Okay, Ben, cast off!" "* *" "* *" "(exhales)" "* *" "Going down, Professor." "Captain Cahill?" "That's right." "What brings you boys down here?" "Well, it's Mexican waters, but we have authority." "We're coming aboard." "Buenos dias, teniente." "Morning, Lieutenant." "What's on your mind?" "I want to search your boat." "What are you looking for?" "Contraband." "Will you open all compartments, cabin doors, hatches, lazarettes and lockers?" "Bilges, too." "Well, there's nothing locked on this boat." "Come on in, look for yourself." "Wait a minute, Captain." "What's in there?" "Charter party." "He's got a broken ankle and a king-sized hangover." "Well, I'll try not to disturb him." "Lieutenant..." "why don't you search the rest of the boat first?" "Captain, can you lock this door?" "Well, then do so, and keep it locked." "Why?" "Is there something wrong?" "The man in there is dead." "You know, there ought to be a law requiring all denizens of the deep that get away to be of unknown length." "Also a law requiring said denizens to bite, when it costs this much to charter a boat." "Call for you, Mr. Mason." "Mason." "Perry, Scott." "Scott Cahill." "Karl Magovern is dead, aboard my boat." "When did it happen?" "It happened last night sometime." "We're still in American waters." "I don't know how he died." "He just died, I guess." "Where are you now?" "There's a Coast Guard officer aboard." "We're headed back for port." "He said it was all right if I called you." "See, Perry, there's been some kind of a big gold robbery, and... well, they seem to think I had something to do with it." "Where's Captain Cahill?" "Oh, Perry." "Good morning, Lieutenant." "Isn't it enough with the Treasury Department, the FBI, the homicide squad, the Coast Guard, and three vice presidents of a gold mine..." "Uh, who's your client?" "I came over to talk to Scott Cahill." "You're gonna have to do a lot of talking." "As captain of this boat, Cahill is responsible for everything that happens aboard it." "What has happened?" "The, uh, medical examiner thinks that Magovern might have taken some tincture of digitalis." "There were traces of it in a glass by his bunk." "Digitalis?" "Yes." "The same stuff heart patients often take." "Unfortunately, Magovern didn't have any heart trouble." "Neither, uh, did your friend Cahill, for that matter, despite the fact it apparently came from his medicine chest." "It's poison, you know, in an overdose." "Excuse me, Lieutenant-- Treasury boys found some of what they're looking for." "Oh, well, come along, Perry, it's all right." "They found them hidden in the bottom of this bait tank." "Well, it's about $50,000 worth of pure gold, I'd say." "It's pretty, isn't it?" "I heard on the radio that half a million dollars in gold is missing." "Maybe somebody's been stealing this gold for a matter of weeks." "Perhaps $50,000 worth or more at a time." "Anyway, this boat's been going to Mexico every weekend for two months, always with the same six people aboard." ""A" plus "B" equals "C."" "You think the rest of the gold is already in Mexico?" "This man Magovern went ashore at Ensenada every trip." "He seems to have been in charge of just about everything." "So you think someone killed him for the gold, is that your idea?" "Someone?" "I think if I were you, Perry, I'd go fishing." "But the fish aren't biting, Lieutenant." "(gentle music playing)" "Hello." "You're, uh, Professor Sneider, aren't you?" "That's right." "Do they want me back at the boat again?" "Not that I know of." "This is Mr. Paul Drake." "Professor." "My name's Perry Mason." "Oh, yes, the attorney." "How do you do?" "Do you mind telling me how you became involved with Magovern, Professor?" "Not at all." "I'm a consulting chemist;" "I'd done work for him before." "When he showed me how much money we could make with the kelp, uh, ah, I went in with him." "Was it his idea that you do your experiments in Mexican waters?" "Mm-hmm." "I could see no point in it then." "But he insisted." "Looking back on it, I realize, of course, it was just a cover." "Just an excuse for those weekly trips." "You had no idea he might be connected in some way with this gold smuggling business?" "Oh, no." "No, not-not the slightest." "Professor... who's this Charles Bender?" "Oh, him." "Drunk half the time and hungover the rest." "He collected the kelp specimens for me." "Well, if he was so unreliable, why didn't you fire him?" "I tried to, several times." "But Magovern liked him." "Magovern really ran everything, you know." "You know, Paul, it might be a good idea to have a talk with this Bender." "Well, if he's not on one, I'll find him." "I wish I'd never met Magovern." "No..." "I don't wish I'd never met him." "But I'm one of those women who always loves the wrong men." "Did you go on all your husband's trips?" "Of course." "Then you like boats?" "I hate boats." "Look, Mr. Mason, my husband was in trouble up to here." "Banks were suing him, people were suing him, the roof was falling in!" "I went on those trips because he was getting desperate." "I was afraid he might get drunk and do something foolish." "Did you think all those kelp expeditions were legitimate?" "Of course I did!" "He said the stuff from kelp was his only hope." "And like a fool, I believed him." "But he just never said a word about any underworld connections." "But now the police seem to think that your husband was the ringleader of an entire theft and smuggling operation." "Think?" "Didn't you hear what they found in his luggage this morning?" "No." "A map of the gold mine." "The buildings, the vault, everything." "Even with little arrows pointing." "Imagine, all that time, he was planning a half-a-million-dollar robbery... and he wouldn't even give me enough to pay the gas bill." "Now, don't expect me to know anything, Mr. Drake." "Look, I'm just a hired hand here." "I tie the boat up, I untie the boat, that's all." "I only want to know where I can find this guy Bender." "Well, I don't know, I tell you." "I got nothing to do with anybody on that boat." "Not with gold or dead people, either." "I live my own life, see?" "Ben..." "Nothing to do with dames, either, I suppose?" "Oh." "I see somebody's been talking, huh?" "Saying maybe I killed Magovern so I could have his wife." "(laughs softly) Look, Mr. Drake," "I'm just a growing boy." "I'm no killer." "Don't ask me where Charlie is, friend." "I only wish I never knew him in the first place." "What do you mean?" "Well, he got me into this mess, didn't he?" "Now I haven't even gotten paid." "Say, who do I see about that, huh?" "Well, I'll ask Cahill." "Hey, how much air do you put in one of those tanks, anyway?" "2,250 pounds per square inch." "That's a lot of pressure." "Asking Cahill won't do any good." "Oh?" "Why not?" "Well, they owe me 60 bucks." "I don't think Captain Cahill's got 60 cents." "Not a trace of Charlie Bender yet, but I thought you'd want these other items fast." "Shoot." "Item: before Cahill's boat left the dock that evening, the police were circulating a picture of a man they think took part in the gold robbery-- a guard who used to work in the mine" " Leon Ulrich." "I'd like to see that picture." "Service with a smile." "Also, they're starting a big search in Mexico to see if any of the gold passed through Ensenada." "Rounding up that gold may take some time." "A murder investigation is likely to move faster." "That's right." "Item: that glass with traces of digitalis that was found beside Magovern's bed?" "Well, there were fingerprints on it." "Whose?" "Magovern's and Cahill's." "Anything else?" "Yep." "Cahill was broke." "The bank confirmed the fact that Magovern hadn't paid him for any of those charter trips." "Eight trips to Mexico without pay?" "And at a thousand dollars a trip, that's a lot of money to owe a charter boat skipper." "Unless of course, he was an accomplice of Magovern's." "I tell you, Perry, he made a sucker out of me, that's all." "Just kept promising to pay me, kept promising." "But you kept making those trips." "What else could I do?" "We had a contract for weekly charter." "That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Perry." "But if you're trying to say that I had a reason to kill him," "I guess you're right." "Finance company's gonna take my boat." "Couldn't pay my bills-- ice, food, gas, nothing." "Now, you say you were alone with him in the cabin, just before you put to sea." "What happened?" "Well, I told him we wouldn't leave unless he paid up." "That's when he gave me this story about how he's being sued." "To keep his assets from being tied up by the banks, he'd taken his money and put it in a bank in Mexico." "He was going to pay me when we got down there." "All right, what about those fingerprints on the glass?" "Well, it's my boat, isn't it?" "I must have used that glass at least a million times." "And the digitalis?" "The coroner reports at least five grams of it in Magovern's system." "That's enough for two murders." "Well, a former customer of mine had heart trouble." "He left the digitalis aboard." "I thought it'd be a good idea to hang onto it in case of an emergency." "Everyone on the boat knew where that medicine chest was." "They'd had occasion, now and then, to take a pill or bandage from it." "They also seem to think that Magovern was fed the lethal dose shortly after he came aboard." "Now, if you were alone with him..." "Now look, here, Perry, the federal people just can't prove" "I was involved in that gold business." "And obviously, that's why Magovern was killed." "They say, themselves, they're gonna release me in a few minutes." "Yes, that's right-- so we can take custody." "Perry, you might like to see this lab report." "That medicine cabinet, again, no one's fingerprints but yours, Cahill, and of course, it was locked with the key in your pocket." "Perry, you know that I told you you ought to go fishing." "Tragg..." "I'll just wait until I can go with Captain Cahill." "And on each of these eight weekends, did Mr. Magovern actually go ashore in Mexico?" "He insisted on it." "In other words, on eight different occasions," "Magovern had an opportunity to take anything he wanted ashore in Mexico, including stolen gold." "Objection, Your Honor." "Prosecution is calling for conclusion." "Objection sustained." "Professor, did Captain Cahill ever object to sailing into Ensenada so that Magovern could go ashore?" "No, he wanted him to go." "I complained." "Well, did Cahill ever speak to you about Magovern not paying him?" "Many times." "Cahill was getting so angry about it," "I was afraid there might be real trouble." "Cahill's a very violent..." "Objection, Your Honor." "JUDGE:" "Sustained." "You say that you were worried about real trouble?" "Well, there was real trouble, of course." "When was that?" "At Ensenada, the weekend previous to the last one." "Would you, in your own words, please describe what occurred on that occasion?" "Well, I found Mr. Magovern lying in an upstairs hotel corridor." "It was after midnight." "His face was bloody, his hands were bruised and one ankle was badly swollen." "Later, we found out the bone was broken." "Did Mr. Magovern tell you what had happened to him?" "He said he had a fight with Captain Cahill." "Cahill tried to kill him, and... but then he fell downstairs, and Cahill ran away." "JUDGE:" "Strike the witness's last remark." "It's hearsay." "I have no more questions of this witness, Your Honor." "Professor Sneider, concerning this fight, didn't Captain Cahill return to the scene shortly thereafter?" "He came back to the hotel." "Who was with him?" "Some Mexican doctor." "Then why did you say he ran away?" "Obviously, the defendant left Magovern only to search for a doctor." "I didn't say he ran;" "Magovern did." "Professor, isn't it possible that the only fight involved was when the captain tried to help Magovern upstairs to his room, because he'd been drinking so heavily?" "Well, he had had a few drinks that night." "About this company you and Magovern formed to process alginate from kelp-- did Magovern put up his share of the money?" "He had not at the time of his death." "But you had put up your share?" "Now, in order to get that much money, didn't you have to mortgage your home, sell your car, take your son out of college?" "You don't get something for nothing, Mr. Mason." "And aren't you now being sued by a doctor, a chemical supply firm, a pharmacy, a market, a department store, as regards your failure to pay your debts?" "N-Not sued exactly." "But you are now in this desperate situation because Magovern failed to pay you the money he owed you, are you not?" "Well, I..." "I must admit." "And you are well aware that the estate of a deceased person is legally bound to pay off its creditors?" "Now see here, I'm a chemist, not a lawyer." "Thank you, Professor." "That's all." "If it please the court, the prosecution, as well as the defense, is aware that the estate of a deceased person is responsible for its debts." "I've one or two questions on redirect, Your Honor." "Professor, on the night he died, did you go into Magovern's cabin at any time while he was on board?" "No, I did not." "Well, can you describe your actions and your whereabouts during the evening in question?" "Yes." "After I helped load the diving gear," "I went down into the main cabin for some coffee." "Rita was there;" "Mrs. Magovern." "So I suggested a game of gin rummy." "And we sat there playing, just the two of us, until well after midnight." "And the autopsy surgeon has testified that Magovern was most certainly dead by that time." "Thank you, Professor." "That'll be all." "Well, Magovern was aboard by 6:00 p.m., so it must have been about 5:00 when we tied up at the gas dock." "And you were at the gas dock for approximately 45 minutes, you say?" "Yeah, that's right." "You see, one tank was near empty." "Now who was on board the Viajero at this time?" "Me and the skipper and Magovern." "We left the others back, looking for that Charlie Bender." "Later, we picked them up with the diving gear." "Then we pulled out." "Where was Captain Cahill on board during the 45 minutes you were at the gas dock?" "Well, most of the time, he was in Magovern's cabin." "How do you know that?" "Well, I saw him go in there as soon as the hoses were set." "I heard him talking to Magovern, then I saw him come out of the cabin just before we untied." "Could you hear what Cahill and Magovern said to each other?" "Well, no, not until we turned the gas pumps off." "But then you could hear it clearly?" "Yeah, they were yelling at each other." "I heard Magovern yell, "Get off my back!"" "And once, I heard Cahill say," ""You better watch your step, Magovern." "With that cast on your leg, you'd sink like a rock."" "He said that?" "Exactly where were you at this moment?" "I was on deck, by the hoses." "That's where I was the whole time." "The gas attendant, he'll tell ya." "And he'll tell ya that he heard the same thing I did, too!" "Yeah..." "Yes, I know he will." "Mr. Wylie, did you go into Magovern's cabin at any time that night to pick up dirty dishes, or glassware, perhaps?" "Of course not." "I couldn't leave the wheel, could I?" "Leave the wheel?" "Yeah, to steer the tub." "I had the wheel from the gas dock on." "The skipper didn't relieve me till eight bells-- midnight." "Your witness, Mr. Mason." "Now, you testified that Captain Cahill hadn't paid you for eight weeks." "If that is so, why did you remain aboard his boat?" "I figured he was good for it in the long run." "I don't need much to get along." "There were no other compensations to keep you aboard?" "I don't follow." "On the trip before the last one, that is, the trip on which Mr. Magovern broke his ankle, didn't Magovern tangle with you, too?" "Now, wait a minute..." "Didn't he say that if he ever caught you around his wife again, he'd wring your neck?" "He was a bigmouth." "And didn't he literally kick you out of a hotel bar?" "What do you want me to do, fistfight with an old drunk?" "So, because of this immense respect for his age, you allowed him to kick you in the posterior, hard enough to propel you right out the door of that bar?" "That's absolutely ridiculous." "I never paid the slightest attention to that young man." "Very well." "Let's go back to something else." "You heard Professor Sneider's testimony about a gin rummy game?" "I did." "It started almost immediately when you came on board, and it lasted till after midnight?" "That's correct." "The sea was rather rough." "I didn't want to go to bed right away." "And, besides, I wanted to be handy in case Karl wanted anything." "Now, Mrs. Magovern, I want you to think carefully." "Did Professor Sneider leave you at any time?" "Well, he got up to speak to Max briefly." "That was a new diver he'd hired." "Well, how long was he away from you on that errand?" "Oh, he stayed right there." "Max came into the salon." "They talked for a few minutes, then Max went back to the forecastle to sleep, I guess." "Mrs. Magovern, was there any other way of getting to your husband's cabin beside going through that main cabin, where you were playing gin rummy?" "No." "And all this time, all evening," "Captain Cahill was on the bridge or on deck?" "I don't really know where the captain was." "I'm trying to establish the whereabouts of everybody on board that night, Mrs. Magovern, because we've heard the autopsy surgeon's opinion that the fatal dose of digitalis must have been swallowed by your husband, shortly after he came on board." "Now, we have your corroborated testimony that neither you nor Professor Sneider could have gone into that cabin to administer the poison without the other one knowing about it." "Also we've heard how Ben, the deckhand, was at the wheel and how Max, the diver, was forward." "Neither one of them went in there." "We would have seen it." "Exactly." "But there's no one left, is there, Mrs. Magovern?" "No one could have been in that cabin with your husband, prior to his death, except Captain Cahill over at the gas dock." "Thank you, Mrs. Magovern." "That'll be all." "Your witness." "Since you seem to dislike boats, Mrs. Magovern, why did you go on all those trips to Mexico?" "I've testified to that." "I was worried about Karl." "It also happens that I cared for him." "Weren't you afraid that your husband was trying to convert all his assets, and perhaps yours, into cash?" "Afraid that on one of those trips he might have stayed in Mexico where neither you nor his creditors could reach him?" "Isn't that the real reason you never let him out of your sight?" "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." "On April 17, you reported the theft of some furs, for which the insurance company paid your husband $18,000." "They were stolen from the Palm Springs house while we were on one of the trips." "On May 5, your house in Palm Springs burned down." "Your husband collected $100,000 in insurance." "It was a beautiful house." "All of this, and yet you never became suspicious of what your husband might have been doing?" "No more questions." "The witness may stand down." "Mr. Burger, call your next witness." "I call Mr. Max Bleeker to the stand, please." "Thank you, George." "What is it?" "BAILIFF:" "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth..." "Della got a call from Paul Drake." "MAX:" "I do." "State your name." "Is he still in Ensenada?" "Max Bleeker." "Ensenada's apparently crawling with police looking for traces of gold." "Still no sign of anyone, though-- no Charlie, no Leon, no one." "Uh, did Drake get my map?" "Also my instructions." "So he's going on from Ensenada." "On his way now, in fact." "(gentle melody playing)" "(gentle melody playing)" "Buenas tardes, señor." "How about a beer?" "Sí." "Warm beer okay?" "Fine." "(gentle music playing)" "Do you smoke these?" "Filters?" "Smoke?" "(chuckles)" "No, señor." "The beer is not so warm." "Well, somebody else, maybe." "Americano?" "Tourist, maybe." "Have you seen this guy?" "You like the cha-cha-cha?" ""Roll and rock"?" "Mexicali Rose..." "she's shining?" "Cha-cha's fine." "Perry, I'm in a little Mexican fishing village, due east of the kelp beds where Professor Sneider had the divers working." "And there's somebody else here, too." "I think it's Leon Ulrich." "Anyway, a kid tells me that this guy's been hanging around here, ostensibly waiting for a friend, for some time now." "Do you think it could be Charlie Bender?" "Well, there's one way to find out." "You want me to tackle him?" "No." "Stay away from him until you see a light in the belfry." "Till I see what?" "I'll let you know when I'm coming." "You know, "one if by land, two if by sea."" "Mr. Prosecutor, you may call your next witness." "Your Honor, may we approach the bench?" "You may." "May it please the court, at this time, defense would like to request a 48-hour recess." "A 48-hour...?" "The State has no objection to the request, Your Honor." "But what is the reason for this?" "Your Honor, the State has contended that my client committed murder in an angry attempt to get his hands on certain gold, gold supposedly being smuggled out of the country by Karl Magovern." "Now, it hasn't yet been proven that Magovern was the person responsible for that smuggling." "It is my belief that, within 48 hours, evidence can be produced that will throw considerable light on the matter." "What evidence, Mr. Mason?" "Perhaps the gold itself." "Maybe you ought to give up the practice of the law and go back in the Navy, Perry." "We're two hours past Ensenada." "Don't you think it's about time you told me a little more?" "I've been pretty cooperative." "Hamilton, how would you smuggle gold into Mexico?" "What?" "Not a little bit at a time?" "Not by making six or eight trips, on any one of which an innocent bystander might have stumbled onto your secret?" "Perry, I'm interested in trying a murder case, not in interfering with what the government boys are doing down here." "All right." "Let's suppose the gold was all gathered together." "Obviously not the sort of thing you just carry ashore in a suitcase." "Now, if you put all that gold at the bottom of the sea, and wanted to go back and find it, how would you know where to look?" "Well..." "I suppose I could mark the location of the gold with a buoy." "But if you didn't want anyone else to find it?" "That buoy would be a dead giveaway." "Well, I suppose if I knew the exact latitude and longitude and had adequate bearings on the shore," "I wouldn't have to mark the gold at all." "Well, say a storm came along and shifted your gold a mile or so, buried it under the sand." "Why don't you go back in the Navy?" "Wait a second." "That thing they used in the war." "That would work." "I could mark the location of the gold with a magnetic mine release thing." "You're pretty close." "But any ship with iron in its hull would trip your mine mechanism, and good-bye gold." "All right, I give up." "How would you do it?" "Kelp beds ahead, Mr. Mason." "This pretty close to the spot, Max?" "You couldn't prove it by me." "Well, this is almost the water where Cahill's chart showed he anchored." "They'll mark it any minute now." "I'm sure it's right." "This was the thickest kelp bed we could find." "All engines, one third." "Now, wait a minute, Captain." "Will you please run your ship at full speed over that kelp bed?" "Well, I sure wouldn't run my boat through that kelp bed at high speed." "Well, it could foul up our propellers, Mr. Mason." "Well, you can stop afterwards, reverse engines and clear your propellers, can't you?" "Don't look at me." "I'm just a passenger." "All engines ahead, full." "Steady as she goes." "30 feet. 31." "Under a kelp bed would be a pretty safe place, wouldn't it?" "You see, Hamilton, there's a type of pressure mine or a buoy which can only be triggered by a ship traveling at high speed in shallow water." "30 feet. 29." "Yes, but the whole thing sounds pretty far-fetched, doesn't it, Perry?" "Not to a man who once served aboard a minesweeper." "SAILOR:" "Stand by to mark." "Mark." "Getting the gold down there would be easy enough, if a man happened to be a diver." "Bridge eye:" "Marker buoy in the wake!" "All I want to know, Mr. Mason, is how?" "I kept worrying about how the gold had been brought on board, Max." "Then it occurred to me-- those Aqua-Lung tanks you divers use." "Not divers." "Just me." "Charlie Bender didn't have anything to do with any of it." "He never did." "I carried near 80 pounds of gold down in each tank." "You took it all down this last trip?" "That's right." "But who helped you?" "Who else was in on it?" "Magovern?" "I didn't even know Magovern." "No, mister, it was just me." "Old Leon and the boys at the mine, but nobody else." "You see, we knew Cahill's boat was making these crazy trips to Mexico, so I-I made a deal with Charlie to take over from him when the time came, that's all." "That's all, except for the murder." "Oh, no." "Now, you can't hang that one on me." "That's right, Hamilton." "Anyone who could carry out such a masterful plan certainly wouldn't spoil it with a murder." "That man must have done it." "He was stealing the gold, wasn't he?" "He was a criminal." "When the Coast Guard arrived, the day after your husband died," "Max was still hiding tanks containing the gold underwater." "He would scarcely have been doing that if he'd known what had happened." "But there was gold in one of Captain Cahill's bait tanks." "Nearly $50,000." "Max put it there." "He admitted that." "On the way back, when he realized he was aboard a boat with everyone under suspicion of murder, he thought he'd better make, um, someone else chief smuggler." "You mean Karl?" "That's right." "Max also slipped that little sketch of the mine into your husband's luggage." "He'd already had Leon putting pressure on your husband the night before, with his pretense of being a process server." "So Karl would run, would rush off to Mexico again." "But this time, Karl was figuring on not coming back." "Isn't that what you found out, Mrs. Magovern?" "No, Karl would have come back." "Did you discover that Karl had amassed over $100,000 in a bank in Ensenada, and that your stolen furs are really down there in storage, under his name?" "Did you finally realize that your husband was running out on you for good?" "Yes, Mr. Mason has convinced me that your husband could have drunk that poison just before he went on shipboard... perhaps while he was riding in the ambulance." "The taste wouldn't have been detected if it was mixed with something else-- whiskey, for example." "Mrs. Magovern, the police have found broken pieces of a whiskey bottle, a whiskey bottle that contained whiskey and digitalis." "The whiskey bottle you broke on the rocks next to the pier." "All right." "Yes, I killed him, but I had to." "In Mexico, he could have divorced me." "He could have just thrown me away after all the care I'd given him." "I could never have gotten anything back." "Not even..." "Not even my own mink coat." "Just heard on the radio they arrested Leon Ulrich." "Well, can't say I envy him." "Remember that song about the Tijuana jail?" "You know, there's one thing I can't figure out, Perry." "How did that digitalis get in that drinking glass in Magovern's cabin?" "Well, his wife put it there, but hours after he was dead." "Actually, she didn't expect there'd be an autopsy." "Well, there probably wouldn't have been any investigation, if it hadn't been for that gold business." "Sure." "Drunk dies in his sleep, and that's it." "It's the only precaution she took." "But since she'd had a look in your medicine chest, Scott, she thought it would be a good idea to use the digitalis." "In a pinch, the murder could have been laid to anyone on board." "You know, Perry," "I just don't know how you spot these things." "It must be your brains, huh?" "It sure couldn't be your eyesight." "What kind of a crack is that?" "Well, uh, you, sir, have just won a case for me, thank goodness." "But you're just about to lose yourself a fish." "(laughs)" "(theme music plays)"