"Hello." "Who's there?" "I say, who's there?" "Who is at the gate?" "Please answer." "Michael, where have you been?" "Did you hear that shot?" "Harper, you're a suspicious fool." "If it weren't for me, you'd have no notes at all." "I like you, Meeker." "You do your job well." "You're honest." "That's why I like you." "I like your work, Harper... but otherwise, I detest you as much as anyone else in this house." "Absent-minded as usual." "You forgot to make your notes." " Yes, Roth?" " I must see you, sir." "There's a murderer about the place." "One of your relatives, no doubt." "Coming, Roth." "What's this about a murderer?" "Wait." "Go on, Meeker, we're through for the night." "Subtle as a blast of TNT, isn't he?" "What was it this time?" "Someone shot at me from the gate." "Was everyone at home here?" "No, Michael was outside, working in the garage." "None of them are going to get what they're after." "Let's go and see if anyone's been tampering." "Strange safety vault, eh, Roth?" "Both doors wide open to anyone finding that panel in the hall." "Like a spider's web, sir." "Easy to get into, impossible to get out of." "And I'm the spider?" "No, nobody's tried to steal it yet." "What in blazes is that new word combination?" "Can you hear me?" "Did you call, sir?" "Yes, of course." "Will you..." "Never mind, I remember." "Works beautifully, Roth." "Any thief who enters there will die within an hour." "If he has a gas mask, he'll die of starvation before I let him out." "Of course, sir, you would." "Only we know the word combination, Roth." "And even you can't rob me... because the words have to be spoken in my voice." "Yes, sir." "You think of almost everything." "About the shot fired at me, shall I call the police?" "I've told you before, I don't want police here." "Yes, sir, but I like police, especially when there's a murderer about." "Don't let them come into the house." "I don't trust police any more than I trust my own relatives... or my servants." "Hello." "Who is there, please?" " Police." "Open the gate." " Police?" "But no one called you here." "No, but I want to see someone in there." "Open up." "Who's there?" "Hold on." "Who are you?" "What are you doing in there?" "Police!" "Open the door." "Why were you so long coming from the gate?" " I thought I saw a prowler in the grounds." " Inside?" "No one could get inside!" "However, there is someone outside with a gun." " Come on, open the door." " Mr. Harper wants no one inside." " You should look around outside the gates." " Okay, I'll do that." " Ready to go?" " Yeah." "Is that you, Roth?" "Who's there?" "Answer me, who's there?" "Mr. Chan, it sure is good that you's a big detective." "You sure carries a lot of weight." "My personality always count in end." "Your personality is all right, but just ain't enough of it to close this bag." "Eddie, remove nose from book and come over here." "Please call me Edward, Father." "Eddie is so juvenile." "Number four son, Eddie... is very expensively educated bookworm." "Please, forget brain and use brawn." "Very well, but your modus operandi is all wrong." "According to the science of gravity... the pressure of the weight of a solid body is useless... unless directed solely at a single point." "His language is strictly stratospheric... too high-flown for me." "Allow me to demonstrate." "Pardon me." "There you are." "Charlie Chan speaking." "Good evening, Inspector Godfrey." "Charlie, I'll pick you up in five minutes." "Murder case." "Murder?" "I'm very sorry, Inspector... but I'm not interested in murder now." "I'll second the motion in a hurry." "But please, I must be back in Washington, D.C. tomorrow." "I've contacted Washington, Charlie." "They want you on the case... because the victim was working on something the government's interested in." "That is new look on old business." "Will be ready to leave for Harper house... on Cove Road immediately." "Mr. Chan, you changed your mind and ruined my peace of mind." "Pardon my exuberance, Pop, but let's go." "Excuse, please." "Name on police invitation mine, not yours." "Goodbye." " Can you beat that?" " That's just what I want to do, beat it." "Why, he's on another one of them murder things." "You know, Charlie, it takes nature two million years to make coal." "Scientists now perform the same process in two hours." "Harper, working along similar lines, has a gas process... that hardens wood to the toughness and durability of metal." "Such process extremely valuable to any nation... in war or peace." "That's why the government wants you on the scene." "Harper's home is out of my jurisdiction." "Sheriff Mack in charge of the case phoned me to bring him a good man." " Evening, Sheriff." " Evening, Inspector." " Where's the body?" " Yeah, that's what keeps me worrying, too." "Roth here says it's murder, but so far I ain't seen no victim." "It must be murder." "I was in my room, ready to retire." "Then the buzzer sounded." " It was Mr. Harper in the gas chamber." " What did he say?" "He was gasping as if choked and said:" ""Roth, I've been murdered." "It was..."" "Then there was silence." "I telephoned the Sheriff and got dressed." "When I came down, Sheriff Mack had arrived." "I let him in." " We went into the gas chamber..." " And found nothing, not even Harper." " We woke everyone and searched the house." " Still nothing." " We searched the grounds." " Same thing, nothing." "Seems as if question to be... was Mr. Harper alive or dead when he so strangely disappeared?" "Yeah, seems as if." " That is gas chamber?" " Yep, that's it." "Wait." "Be careful." "You need a mask to go in there." "Gas is deadly?" "No, but it causes painful nausea after half an hour." "Thank you." "You are..." "Walter Meeker, laboratory assistant to Mr. Harper." "Thank you so much." "You have questioned all of these people, Sheriff?" "Well, now that you mention it, that's just what I was gonna do." "Well, now, I want to know who you are, what you are... what you're doing and what you been doing." "Stands to reason we got to know." " Does that cover the ground?" " Most thoroughly, Sheriff." "You know me, Mack." "Socially, yes, but this is business, so speak up." "I'm Louise Harper, sister to the dead..." " the missing man." " Sister?" "And yet you wear uniform of housekeeper." "I'm his orphan niece, and he made me his housemaid." " I'm Jean Kent." " And you?" " You refuse to speak?" " He can't speak, sir." "He's Michael Strong, chauffeur, handyman, and a mute." "I'm Stella Graham." "I was assisting Mr. Harper in experiments with puppets." " Experiments with puppets?" " And ventriloquist and display dummies." "Mr. Harper had an idea for a toy robot for children." "Seems Mr. Harper have many irons in same fire." " You are butler, Mr. Roth?" " Yes, sir." "I've been with Mr. Harper for 15 years." "In serious moment, you think of something funny?" "If something has happened to Mr. Harper, Roth just admitted he's your chief suspect." "Explain, please." "Anyone who had to be near Harper disliked him, even hated him." "Roth has been with him years longer than anyone else." "So, Roth hated him more than any of us possibly could." "Is what gentleman say true, Mr. Roth?" "No one knows my opinion of Mr. Harper except myself." "And no one else ever will know." "When you rouse household... all inmates have retired?" "Everyone." "Except Mr. Meeker." "I was just retiring." "When I went upstairs, I left Harper with Roth." "By the way... since you let everyone in and out of here, what about that policeman I saw upstairs?" "He came up to the door, then he left the grounds." "Oh, no!" "He was inside." "Jean and I saw him." "No, Stella's wrong." "I saw no policeman at all." "But you did." "We both saw him at the same time in the hall." "I'm sorry, but Miss Graham must be mistaken." " Policeman from city force?" " Must have been." "I got none." "Must have been Jim Kimball." "He's nearest here." "I'll check." "You folks stay here until we want you again." "The way I packed, things are liable to pop when I open this bag." "So look out, you're liable to see a barrage of haberdashers popping out." "Hey, you didn't go and buy a new bag?" "You know I only got two hands." " Well, these are for the people moving in." " Moving in?" "But we haven't moved out!" "Oh, that's what you think." "Mr. Chan checked out today." "There's not another room in the whole hotel!" "Well, no matter what Pop says, he can't keep me from murder now." "Murder?" "Hey, now wait, fellas, wait a minute." "It's not my fault you lost your rooms." "Really it isn't." "Murder!" "Now what do you suppose is the matter with him?" " You said, "murder," didn't you?" " Sure." "Don't use that word!" "You know what it does to me." "Oh, don't be silly, Birmingham." "Come on, let's go." "Well, move over, trouble, here we come again." "This looks like an excellent place for murder." "That's what I thought, but now by you agreeing with me, don't make me happy." "Oh, me!" "Hey, did you hear that echo?" "That wasn't an echo." "It was a foghorn." "A man can't blow no horn that loud." " The horn blows itself." " The horn blows itself, that's all." " I'm departing." " No." "We're going in this place if I can open the gate." "All right." "Oh, me!" "There's that echo again." "Forget the echo." "Come on, look around." "Radio dispatcher can't locate Officer Kimball." "Says he wasn't sent here." "Since I'm unaccustomed to murder, Mr. Godfrey..." " I thought you'd bring me a good detective." " I did, Sheriff." "This gentleman right here." "Detective?" "You're awful quiet for one." "I always reckoned a homicide detective went around growling like a truck with a colic." "Sheriff Mack, this is Inspector Charlie Chan." "Famous Honolulu detective." " Very great pleasure." " The pleasure is all mine... seeing as how even the idea of solving a murder brings a misery into my mentality." "But we're not sure it is murder." "Why, Mr. Harper told Roth he was murdered." "Seems to me if anybody knowed about a murder, it'd be the victim." "Well, I'm having my men make a thorough search of the grounds." "Most excellent." "In meantime, will continue search of interior." "I've done both them things already." "No barber shave so close but another barber find some work to do." "Reckon what he says is what you might call a cutting remark." "Well, ain't nobody home but echoes." "Thank goodness." "Who's there, please?" "Now the echoes will start asking questions." "Who is at the gate?" "Who wants to know?" "Let me talk, Roth." " What sort of a gadget is this?" " You askin' me?" "Now you, outside, who's there?" "Edward Chan and Birmingham Brown." "Chan?" "Yes, assistant to Charlie Chan, world-famous detective." "Looks like I got more than one helper, Mr. Godfrey." "That's telling them, Eddie." "Beg your pardon, I mean Edward." " Get Chan, Mr. Roth." " Yes, sir." "You outside, come in." "But the gate's locked!" "Press that other button, Inspector." "Hey, look!" "Come in." "Yes." "Yes, sir." "Are you inside?" "Why, I believe so, sir." "Did you see that?" "Now ain't that something?" "Echoes that ask questions, boxes that talk... opening and shutting gates." "Why, we should knock on wood faster than a woodpecker!" "Don't be absurd." "By using forensic logic, we can explain everything away." "Do you see what I see?" "Go ahead now with your logic and explain this away from my nose." "All right, boys, get going." " Yes, sir." " Yes, sir." "But gladly." " Someone coming to see you, Mr. Chan." " See me?" "Must be mistake." "Greetings, Father." "I am right." "It is mistake." "Intruder is number four son, Edward... who stopped becoming college student to become social problem." "Also, his assistant, Birmingham Brown." "Excuse, please." "Will see you gentlemen in puppet room in few minutes." "Now, will you explain why you butt in here like goat?" "Because you checked us all out at the hotel." "We have no place to stay." "Oh, my mistake." "Very bad one." "Now that I'm here, Pop, what type of murder have we got?" "And how soon do you wish me to produce the murderer?" "Every time you open your mouth you put in more feet than centipede." "Remain here, and produce nothing but silence." "Desire to ask questions." "Was there any place Mr. Harper might go when he wished to be alone?" "Where does Harper hide his process and formula notes?" "He disappears every so often." "I bet he goes there." "Ask Roth." "He should know, if anyone does." "I know of no such place." "Oh, you..." "Yes?" "Excuse me, please." "I don't know why I said that..." "Very strange household." "Head of house is missing, yet no one seems sorry." "Believe someone pulled string to make Mr. Harper disappear." "Charlie Chan will now pull string." "Someone finally did it!" "Harper's dead at last." "There is missing man." "Must now find murderer." " Can you remember notes so far?" " What?" "Yes, most of them." "The important thing is to keep all data on the pieces tested to date." "Government will appreciate your efforts, Mr. Meeker." "I only want to finish the job." "But the supply of gas in the tanks downstairs will only last a month." "I know the process for the use of the stuff, but the whole thing will be a total loss... unless you find Harper's formula for the composition of the gas." "Once I find killer, will find formula." "Good." "Good." "No possible chance I might arrest you as murderer?" "Walter Meeker never did and never will kill a man." "Not worth the trouble." "Yet you say everyone in house, including yourself, hate Mr. Harper." "Just one happy family with murderer in center." "The law can't drop this case just because you got your eyebrows up." "But I tell you no one should be allowed in that gas chamber." "That ain't what Mr. Chan thinks." "Why were you in there?" "Have told Mr. Meeker to continue important work begun by Mr. Harper." "You told him!" "What business is it of yours?" "It is government business." "I am humble representative of government." "Reckon now you better answer our questions... instead of upsetting yourself by making wild guesses as to why we're asking them." "Desire to know where Mr. Harper keep gas formula, please." "If anyone knew where the formula was kept, I would." "But I know nothing about it at all." "To get information from him is like putting empty bucket into empty well." "Yeah, he is kind of dried up." "Note many life masks of household about place." "Why?" "Mr. Harper made them." "If anyone here stole something... the masks would be of great assistance to the police in tracking down the criminals." "We must remember that." "Something has occurred?" "No, sir." "Nothing occurred at all, but something happened." " We just took our baggage upstairs, Pop." " Only we didn't." "One moment." "You take up, you..." "You will explain, please?" "You see, Mr. Chan, them four suitcases was awful heavy to lug upstairs." "You have difficulty in carrying them?" "No, sir, no difficulty at all." "We just couldn't do it." " But Miss Graham came along..." " Yes, and she picked up not one, not two... but all four of them bags, and carried them upstairs just like wasn't nothing to it!" "Miss Graham?" "Seems like astounding feat of strength for a woman." "Nothing astounding at all." "Besides being a puppeteer and ventriloquist..." "Miss Graham was also a strong woman in vaudeville." "I'll answer that." "Yeah?" "Oh, hello, Doc." "Dead?" "You sure, Doc?" "You wait there." "I'll be over, with company." "Bye." "Doc Peabody." "Coroner." "He just made a tour of the victim's interior." "You know, autopsy." "He says that Harper wasn't murdered at all." " Coroner say victim not murdered?" " No." "He says that he died of natural causes." "Very sorry, but humble opinion is murder." "Peabody's a good man." "He says it ain't so." "Will visit doctor, but I'm certain it was murder." "It must have been." "Yeah?" "Oh, hello, Inspector Godfrey." "What?" "Oh, yeah, I see." "No, I mean I don't see!" "But I'll ask Mr. Chan and see what he sees of it." "Yeah." "This thing has got my brain running around like a scalded cat." "Inspector Godfrey said Officer Kimball wasn't located last night... and today he's missing entire." "Seems like some motorist saw Kimball near the Harper house last night." "The Inspector says as how he thinks Kimball's mixed up in the Harper killing." "Possibility to be considered." "You're right, Mr. Chan." "This poison dart killed Harper." "Found it embedded in the back of his throat." "How can you shoot a man inside the mouth?" "When mouth open, just like yours." "Ever so often, and sometimes oftener..." "I get the feeling I ought to be in some other business." "How did you know it was there, Mr. Chan?" "You study medicine?" "No, Dr. Peabody, but I study crime a great deal." "This is beyond me." "Glad to have your company in my misery, Doc." "As my grandpa used to say:" "It's wonderful what doctors know." "It's what they don't know that'll kill you." " Now look here..." " Gotta go now." "Excuse, please." "Come on, speak up." "When it comes to talking, you people just don't enter into the spirit of the thing." "I've already told you." "The policeman came to the door, then he left the grounds." " Policeman was Mr. Kimball?" " I didn't know the officer." " But he did not get in!" " But he did!" "I saw him..." "Please." "All may go except Miss Graham and Miss Kent." "I'll not leave this frightened girl alone with you men." "Miss Graham, you see policeman inside house last night?" "Yes, I did, in the hall." "Jean saw him at the same time." "Thank you." "You may go." "Officer Kimball was perhaps young, good-looking?" "My wife thinks he is." "Your wife undoubtedly correct." "Perhaps he come to see young, good-looking girl." "Jim Kimball came to see me." "What in the name of tunket would he want to see you for?" "Jim, Officer Kimball, was coming to see me." "Go on." "He was to come to the gate at 9:00 p.m." "I was to let him in and then we would meet in the grounds." "But at 9:00 p.m. Roth was at the front door and I couldn't open the gate." "Miss Graham and Mr. Meeker say policeman come later." "Yes, that's right." " I thought it was Jim, but now I'm not sure." " Murder made you change your mind?" "Yes." "Now I'm sure the policeman I saw was not Jim Kimball." "Officer Kimball only policeman near here." "I don't care." "Jim didn't come last night." "But there was a policeman here." "Why did you say you didn't see one?" "Because I was afraid for Jim." "Excellent reason." "You may go now." "Hey, Pop, the police found a motorcycle in the bushes down by the gate." " Officer Kimball machine?" " The man said that." "What became of Kimball?" "You think he's the murderer?" "That is question deserving much thought." "Gentlemen, in this matter of thought, I'm sure that I can assist the both of you." "He reach oversize decision with undersize brain." "Relax." "You know what, Eddie?" "I got a theory on this murder." " That's something I'd like to hear." " Yeah?" "Well, listen." "Now, the way I figure this thing out, the murderer must be on the inside." " So, what we got to do is..." " What?" " Stay outside." " No." " We stay here till the case is finished." " Stay here?" "I thought you'd say that." "Oh, me!" " Find anything more, Sheriff?" " No." "Motorcycle's all I found." "Kimball's still missing." "Very strange." "Miss Graham, Miss Kent, Mr. Meeker... say policeman inside house last night." "Yet Mr. Roth, he..." "Mr. Roth?" "One moment." "Believe you have not told us all you know." " I'm sure of that, sir." " Oh, you are?" " Well, you'd better speak up right now." " No, not yet." " Give me five minutes." " Why you wish time?" "In five minutes, I'll tell you who murdered Mr. Harper." " Whom you suspect?" " That's my affair." "Someone here tried to make me out a killer." "I'll clear myself of suspicion and do it alone." " We go with you." " No!" "I do this myself or not at all." "Five minutes." " Five minutes already up." " And Roth ain't back yet." "We see what happened to mysterious gentleman." "Mr. Chan?" "There's Mr. Roth down there." "But Roth went upstairs and there's only one way up or down." "Well, all the same, there he is down there." " Something happened to him." " Yes?" "Mr. Roth is dead." "Dead?" "Now he can't tell us who he suspected." "You know, Mr. Chan, I can't figure out how Roth got downstairs and got his feet wet." "Strange part is how man with wet feet... make tracks beginning only in middle of passageway." "No." "Don't touch." "Any of you seen Mr. Roth lately?" "Roth?" "Why, no." " What's the congregation for?" " To find a murderer." "You won't find Harper's killer by questioning." "Now seek murderer of Mr. Roth." "Questions will begin immediately in living room." "All right, everybody." "Inside, please." "You will telephone Dr. Peabody to perform immediate autopsy." "You see?" "That's the way to solve crimes." "Fast work, especially fast questioning." "If anybody want to live around here, they got to do some fast running." "Two men are murdered." "Yet everyone here have perfect alibi." "Is that strange?" "Sounds strange to me, but maybe I'm a little particular." "Remain where you are for present, all of you." " You telephone doctor?" " Yes." "He's on his way here, Pop." "Good." "Stay here." "Watch door, let doctor in when he comes." " Birmingham, remain here and watch body." " Yes, sir." "Ain't that something!" "This place is jumping with live people... and I got to stay here and keep company with a body." "Oh, me!" "Why, Miss Harper, what you do here?" " Well, I thought that..." " Something wrong?" "Yes, I came to get the vase." " Vase?" " Mr. Roth always liked flowers." "It's gone!" " This missing vase?" " Yes." "Things misplaced sometimes furnish very good clues." "Return downstairs, Miss Harper." "I'm the head of the house now." "And I have a right to know what you do." "You think perhaps Mr. Harper, in his will... leave you house and gas formula?" "I don't know, but I am his sister." "Please return downstairs." "You don't think she killed him?" "Her own brother?" "Murder know no law of relativity." " Recording Dictaphone." " What's that got to do with us?" "Why is machine still running?" "And let no one out, not even my sister, Louise, or my niece, Jean..." "Murder!" "Here." "Here." ""Murder." "Here, here." What did Roth mean?" "Soaking wet." "Roth, in falling, knock over vase of flowers and get shoes wet." "Roth die right here." "But he was downstairs walking around." "Both the boys saw him." "Roth dead when he walk downstairs." "But dead men don't walk." "This dead man both walk and talk." "This is a way beyond me." "Seems to me when folks asked me to run for sheriff..." "I missed a fine chance to keep quiet." "Strange combination of light... and bell." "Must find how same works." "Yep, I missed an elegant chance to keep my mouth shut." "Same type murder, except this dart got Roth in the back of the neck." "He arrived a few minutes ago, Pop, to see Harper." " Where is Harper?" "I want to talk to him." " Why, please?" "To get back this house and the gas formula he stole from my father." "He stole from your father?" "What's your name?" "Lloyd Archer." "Harper's my stepfather." " Very sorry." "Mr. Harper dead." " Yep." "Murdered." "Really?" "Too bad someone else had the pleasure of killing him... because I meant to do it the first time I got close enough to him." "Where's Harper 's will and the gas formula?" " Why..." " Government also looking for same." " The government?" " I represent government." "Well, I'm staying right here to protect my interests." "Certainly." "Would not think of allowing you to depart, Mr. Archer." "Through investigating, Pop?" "Almost through investigating forever because you fall asleep and forget to watch." " Something happen?" " Someone try to kill me." "Why don't we pursue whoever it was?" "No." "Cannot run with poison dart in clothing." " One scratch in skin and I'm very dead man." " Wait." "I see it, Pop." " Who did it, Pop?" " Might know if you awake." "But now everyone in house will be in bed with slumber alibi, just like you." "I'm sorry, Pop." "But the association of ideas..." "Well, you know, wearing pajamas made one sleepy." "Please eliminate scientific analysis." "In future, when I put you on job to watch something... you associate ideas with job at hand." "Understand?" " Miss Harper." " Oh!" "I thought you were..." " You thought I was dead?" " No, I..." "I meant I, I thought you were asleep." "Unfortunately only one asleep was lazy assistant." "You frightened, Miss Harper?" "Well, who wouldn't be, knowing there's a murderer in the house?" " Strange architecture here." " Yes, I noticed that also." "Please, pajamas loud enough without you make extra noise." "Large surface contain four walls with no opening." "My brother rebuilt this part of the house." " He had it done while he was alone here." " You know why?" "My brother never told people why he did things." "Perhaps excellent place to contain secret papers." "That's possible." "Wall space paneled." "Perhaps panel contain secret door." "Is that why you came?" "I was making my usual last-minute rounds of the house." "May I go now?" "Pop, if there is a secret panel here, you just relax." "I'll find it for you." "My boy, if silence is golden, you are bankrupt." "You want to talk with Archer, too?" "I'm curious to learn how Mr. Roth walked downstairs after being killed upstairs." "Well, speaking wide-flung and unrestrained..." "I can't see how it was done unless Roth was a zombie." "One of them corpses that don't know enough to stay parked in their coffin." " Think we find simpler solution." " I sure hope so." "Because right now my mind is as uneasy as corn in a popper." "A zombie." "Now we're cooking with spirit oil." "Come on, we've got to see what happens." "I ain't curious about seeing no zombies." "Oh, come on!" "Curiosity never killed a Chan." "No, but the Chans' curiosity almost killed me." "I don't know how I get into all of this trouble." "I get a job, I must..." "I got to have my brains examined." "Birmingham, wait a minute." "Where are you going?" "You know, I'm interested in how you're gonna figure on Roth's walking around." "Mr. Roth say he knew identity of killer." "Unfortunately, Mr. Roth speak truth, so he die." "Here." "Possibly we find solution of both murders here." " Now what do you suppose this is?" " An electric light, I reckon." "Who turn on strange lamp?" "No one." "It just lit up and rang when I picked it up." " That is alarm lamp." " Alarm?" "What for?" "Alarm for..." "Downstairs, quick!" "Hurry!" "You see anyone go through that passageway recently?" "That housekeeper lady." "She went through there a few minutes ago." "Look, Pop, there is a secret panel." "There's someone in there." "I heard..." " Who is there?" " I don't know." "Excuse me." "Who is inside?" "I hear sound like gas escaping." "How you open this?" "Only my brother and Roth knew how to open that panel." "Maybe the killer's in there." "If killer there, gas will kill him." "Don't want that." "You know nothing of mechanism?" "Roth told me it could be opened only by a combination of spoken words." "You mean that door will open if you speak to it?" "There's an electrical microphone in the panel." "Microphone changes sound into vibration which work lock?" " Yes, but only if..." "Oh!" " Something wrong?" "That panel opens only if the right words are spoken..." " by my brother's voice." " And Harper's dead." "One moment, please." "Your brother very absent-minded?" "Perhaps Mr. Roth might know his secrets?" "I'm sure he did." "My brother had to have someone to remember things for him." "Eddie, go to Mr. Roth room, bring down recording Dictaphone and all records." "Hurry!" "Yes, Father." "Can produce Mr. Harper's voice." "That's right." "We heard it on the machine upstairs." "But you must have only the correct words." "If correct words not on record, person in there must die." " See any more records?" " Not in sight." "We'll take this down, then come back and look around." "Let's hurry up and get out of here." "Hook it up." " We'll look for more records upstairs, Pop." " Okay." "Roth, write Huntrey that rubber dissolves under my gas processes." "Won't work." "From now on, Roth, I want the house and grounds locked up every night at 7:00 p.m." "Let no one out, not even my sister, Louise, or my niece, Jean." "Murder." "Here." "Here." "That's all on that one." "Hold, please." "These two blank." "No good." "No more records up there, Pop." "Then these are last two." "Hold, please." "Roth, check gas gauges on the chamber and vault." "Do it today." "Let me have other record." " You do that on purpose?" " No." "No, I was nervous, I..." "Roth, I'm changing the word combination." "Tell it to you later." "Here's the new word combo, Roth." "Don't forget it." "Thirty days hath September, July and August." " Mr. Chan, it's a woman." " Jean!" "It's Miss Graham." "She's not dead." "Get doctor!" "Eddie." "Sheriff." "No, please." "You will go with others." "But my brother's things are in there." "They belong to me." " Government will decide that." " But..." "Please, if you have complaint to make... you will refer to Secret Service, Washington D.C. Outside." "You insist you saw wall panel open in rear hall?" "Yes, I've told you and told you." "All the doors were open to that horrible room where the desk is." "Then why did you go back there in the first place?" "Because I thought I heard someone back there." " You were looking for Mr. Harper's formula?" " No!" "I saw the desk and lifted the top." "Then I was locked in and gas pouring on me." "I didn't touch a thing inside that desk." "You may go now." "She seems fully recovered." "But another 10 minutes in that gas and nothing could have saved her." "And she didn't even say thanks." "Bet you she's our murderer." "Hey, Pop, we've solved the case." "You solve case?" "Yes, we've been talking to Michael and he wrote notes." "He says he's bringing something that will expose the murderer." "Michael, you have something to show me?" "Doctor!" "Looks like he's dead." " Murder?" " We'll soon find out." "You notice all life masks strangely missing from walls?" "Say, that's so, too." "While we with Dr. Peabody, someone enter this house and remove masks." "Why'd anyone do that?" "To prevent us from knowing which mask Michael had... because that mask would convict killer." "Then Archer wasn't the killer." "Them masks were from people inside the house." "This is ear from broken mask which Michael possessed." "Good." "We'll match it up with the ears of the people in the house." "But this ear is from mask made from dead man." "Dead?" "Don't know which way to turn." "Like the fella with the short blanket." "Stayed up all night wondering whether to pull it up and freeze his feet... or pull it down and die of pneumonia." "We'll soon end suspense." "Bring all suspects down to living room." "See if anyone in gas chamber." "Three men killed already." "If it keeps up, there won't be none of us left." "Say, what are we staying here for?" "We're supposed to look around." "So come on." "Look around." "That's all you always talking about." ""Look around." "See something." "Watch me."" "Why don't you get a Seeing Eye dog or something, somebody to help you?" "Wonder what is this?" "This is a cabinet." "Always telling somebody to be watching and looking for something." "Good evening, Officer." "Hey, Eddie, I ain't nervous no more now." "Why not?" "I just saw an officer in there." "And any time an officer is around, I ain't nervous." "Good." " It is a policeman." " Yeah, but he's dead." "Mr. Chan, come quick!" "In there." "It's Jim." "Jim Kimball." "Has been dead for many hours." "At last pieces of murder puzzle begin to fit in place." "Where's Archer?" "He's your killer." "Will locate Mr. Archer when I require him." "Three men are murdered by poison darts." "Dart fired by some strange kind of air gun." "Air gun?" "Then the case is solved." "Miss Kent had that air pump in her hand when Michael was killed." "Yes, but I didn't kill Michael." "You use air pump for slow leak in tire." "Please forget fast leak from there." "Tire pump not deadly weapon." "Then what was used?" "Something else was carried in hands among those present." " This." " Oh, yes." "Archer had that." "Ventriloquist's dummy." "When dummy's mouth opens... ventriloquist's voice usually issues forth." "But when this dummy's mouth open... something more deadly emerge." "Observe." "Very fine air gun concealed within mechanism of this figure." "That's why we can't find Archer." "He's the killer." "Excuse, please." "Mr. Roth, dying, tried to leave important clue." "Yeah, he said into that Dictaphone thing:" ""Murder." "Here, here."" "No." "Believe Mr. Roth trying to say: "Murderer..." ""ear..." ""ear."" "Meaning this ear." "Why, that's from the mask Michael had." "Michael, like Roth... see in this important clue." "Well, whose life mask is the ear from?" "From mask of murdered man." "Will now demonstrate how dead man can walk." "Come this way, please." "Does he mean Archer is the murderer?" " Of course." " I ain't saying." "But any gent with notions on the subject can't speak up too quick." " The ladies are welcome to talk, too." " Oh, look!" "As Pop says, that proves dead men can walk... only when they have lots of help." "So Roth's corpse had to have crutches to walk... which proves that Chan was right when he said it was an inside job." "But Archer was an outsider." "Mr. Roth, now dead... made to appear to walk downstairs by someone upstairs who need alibi." "Must have been a strong person to do the trick." "Also someone familiar with handling puppets by means of strings." "Then she did it." "She's a master puppeteer and she's stronger than a man." "It's not true." "I didn't kill Roth." "I killed no one." "You commit no murder." "But you do make dead man appear to walk." " No, you're wrong!" " You are accomplice of murderer." "This ear will convict killer." "Both Roth and Michael recognize what police already know:" "that like fingerprints, no two human ears are exactly alike." "This ear taken from mask of murdered man." "Man named..." "Meeker." "Me, murdered?" "You're crazy." "Will prove sanity by comparing this ear with your own." "If you are Meeker... this will exactly match your right ear." " Grab him, Birmingham." " I've got him!" "Will now prove, Mr. Meeker, you are not even yourself." "Why, it's Archer." "Mr. Archer been in this house ever since he kill Mr. Harper." " Where's the real Meeker?" " Try and find out, farmer." "Don't tempt me." "It might be a pleasure." "Where's Meeker?" "Perhaps Miss Graham could tell us." "I?" "I know nothing." "Roth died by accident." "Excuse, please." "This mask prove all murders in this house premeditated." "I know nothing." " You not know he try to murder you?" " Me?" "He show you way into secret vault." "He not tell you secret vault is death trap, which he knew." " You knew that?" " Stop talking." " Why, you're insane." " Insane?" "I'm the only sane person in this house." "Meeker's body is in the basement." "He died right after Harper." "You know him before you come here?" "We were in vaudeville together." "He was a quick-change artist and impersonator." "He can imitate anyone." "That's right." "Haven't I been fooling you all along?" "Do I sound like Meeker now?" "You see?" "He got me the job here somehow." "Why you continue to help him after murders began?" "He's my husband." "I'll hand these two over to the police at the gate." "See you later, Mr. Chan?" "At your office, Sheriff." "Fog of murder will soon lift and household be happy again." "Thanks to you, Mr. Chan." "You know, at first I didn't like you, but I've changed my mind." "This is gas formula." "Government very interested in same." "You take charge of it." " You staying till morning?" " lf you will permit." " Glad to have you." " Thank you." "Well, Pop, that's another case we've solved." "You have been of very great assistance." "At moment, I cannot remember how... but it was excellent." "However, case not finished." "Must visit basement to locate body of final victim:" "Mr. Meeker." " Mr. Chan?" " Yeah?" " Is you all going thataway?" " Yes." "I'm going this way." "Good night." "Hey, Sheriff, is this the right road to the city?" "Yes, it is." "About three miles straight ahead." "I didn't know my car had stopped." "It didn't." "I just slowed down." "Goodbye!"