"( noirish jazz theme playing )" "( mysterious theme playing )" "( doorbell rings )" "Yes?" "I'm Mrs. Hollister." "I see." "Well, if you read the notice here..." "I was poor Augusta Bowdoin's housekeeper before she passed on." "Are you able to find everything all right?" "Oh, yes." "I'll manage all right, thank you." "Well, I know you people are making an inventory." "And I was wondering about a vase I was always very fond of." "Everything here will be taken to the county warehouse as soon as I finish my investigation." "Well, yes, of course, but I" "That's where everything goes in a case like this, where somebody dies and there's no will, no heirs." "Well, I thought I could be of some help." "No, thank you, Mrs. Hollister." "I'm sorry." "Well, then... ( mysterious theme playing )" "( grunts )" "( mysterious theme continues )" "( crickets chirping )" "Hi." "Hi, honey." "Ralph, watch the eggs." "Honey, just wait till you see what I found." "I was just starting to inventory that old Bowdoin house when out popped more money than you ever saw in your life." "Heh." "Money?" "( door opens )" "Hey, Charley." "( door closes )" "Charley, how would you like to see $153,000, all tucked into one little envelope?" "Oh, Ralph." "What did you do, Ralphie, rob a bank?" "Now wait a minute." "It isn't my money, you understand." "As a matter of fact, it isn't really spending money." "Well, then, what on earth is it?" "What do you mean, it isn't really money?" "Remember those old greenbacks, darling?" "Currency the government called in years ago." "I guess big amounts like this wouldn't be honored now except under special circumstances, but I wanted you to see it before I had to hand it over to the county." "Ralph, you know you're not supposed to bring things home." "You could get in trouble." "Oh, darling, what they don't know down at the office doesn't hurt them." "Heh." "I just wanted to show you what it looks like" "( ominous theme playing )" "Well?" "It's gone." "( dramatic theme playing )" "It can't be." "I-I put it in there myself, and I only stopped at the grocery store." "A hundred and fifty thousand dollars." "( whistles )" "Oh, Ralph." "You fool." "( dramatic theme swells )" "( mysterious theme playing )" "MAN:" "Well, well, would you look at that." "Benjamin Franklin." "Liberty dressed as Columbia." "Look how much bigger these are than the bills we have nowadays." "Heh." "Yeah." "Of course, I nearly got the scare of my life when I hear they're only good under special circumstances." "Well, there were circumstances under which even the Continentals were good during the Revolution." "And I suppose that Robert E. Lee didn't mind taking his salary in Confederate money." "( laughs )" "Mr. Farrell, that-- That's just kidding, ain't it?" "I mean, greenbacks are still real dough." "Technically, I suppose so." "But, uh, what was your purpose in bringing all of this to me, Mr. Nickels?" "Oh, just call me Charley." "See, I remembered how you said if I ran across anything really valuable, how'd you'd be interested in hearing about it." "And it seemed to me that $153,000" "Well, I was referring to objects of art." "Being in the export business," "I have a large market open in that field." "But, uh" " Heh." "Old money hardly qualifies." "And where did you find this, anyway?" "Well, I-I'm walking past the grocery store last night, and I see my cousin's car." "He's the one that works at the county." "Yes, well, never mind, Charley." "Maybe I'd just as soon not know." "( sighs )" "There'd be all sorts of risk attached in getting this amount of money exchanged." "But wouldn't it be worth it?" "I mean, even if we sold off for 70 or 80 cents on the dollar." "Or if you gave me half?" "You mean you'll do it?" "( laughs )" "How?" "How, Mr. Farrell?" "( light jazz music playing )" "Hello, there." "Hello, Lloyd." "Norma, it's wonderful seeing you again." "Won't you sit down?" "I've been right at the same telephone number." "Of course, I haven't been just sitting, waiting there all the time, but" "I know, Norma." "I know how long it's been." "One year." "Uh, two Gibsons, please." "Yes, sir." "One with a double onion." "Surely, sir." "That you remembered." "I remember a lot more than that." "You, uh, still work for the county?" "Yes." "Why?" "Oh, I don't know." "Something reminded me of it." "Uh, a rather unusual business opportunity" "I happened to run into." "It happened to remind you of me?" "No." "Just something I thought I'd ask about, that's all." "It doesn't matter." "How is your mother?" "It seems to me the last time we saw each other was when you just happened to want to meet some people I worked for." "I thought perhaps when the phone rang this time" "Norma." "I wanted to see you." "I called you because I can call you now." "Because I have the right to." "Because I finally got my divorce." "( sighs )" "I'm sorry, Lloyd." "What was the question you wanted to ask?" "Well, I just wondered whether it was difficult to get a name off the county rolls, that's all." "The name of a pensioner." "What sort of name did you want?" "Someone very old." "Someone who's going to die." "Now, where shall we have dinner?" "I know a beautiful new steak place." "WOMAN:" "Oh, for heaven's sake." "RALPH:" "Mm?" "Did you see this thing about the old man who died the other day?" "See who, dear?" "The one who was supposed to have been poor, only he left $148,000." "Don't I have enough trouble that you have to read me every story--?" "But Ralph, the money he left was in old bills." "Greenbacks." ""It was revealed today that Josiah Ames, aged 83," ""who passed away last night at the Sunnydale Rest Home, was by no means a pauper."" ""A routine search of the old man's effects" ""disclosed $148,000 in very old currency" ""commonly known as greenbacks," ""a type of money which has long since been recalled" ""by the United States Treasury." ""A handwritten will bequeathed the out-of-date fortune to Albert G. Keller, a longtime resident of this city."" "And, what was the amount of old currency you found in that house?" "It totaled $153,000." "Just 5,000 more than the amount mentioned here." "Yes." "It's quite a difference, of course, uh, so it could be just a coincidence." "But you don't really think it is coincidence, do you?" "Well, neither do I." "The trouble is, most anybody could have gotten that envelope out of my car." "I only stopped at the grocery store and" "And I locked it." "Mr. Duncan, I take it you haven't yet reported either the discovery or loss of the currency to anyone." "No, Mr. Mason." "That's why I'm here." "I kept intending to report it all along." "O-only now, I've got to do something." "You are aware of the fact that when old currency is found as part of an estate, it, uh, automatically becomes redeemable." "Yes, that's what I mean." "The money goes through probate court, and then the Treasury Department redeems the old bills with new currency to pay the heirs." "Now, if this is part of the money you found, someone has played a very neat trick." "They fixed it so you can't prove your story, can't even prove the money's the same." "But I've got to." "I've got to tell the truth, even if I lose my job." "I'll do whatever you advise, Mr. Mason." "Only, please help me." "Della." "Call Paul?" "A little bundle of clothes, and a few books, and an old footlocker." "That's all Mr. Ames owned." "Why, when we found that he had written a will, we all just laughed at the idea of his even needing one." "Then the old gentleman never mentioned his money?" "This is a charity place, Mr. Drake." "Miss Hamilton, who actually found the greenbacks?" "I did." "Clear in the bottom of his footlocker." "First there was an old sweater, then a newspaper, then several big pictures of his wife." "She's been dead a long time," "He told me once" "Uh, did you count the money yourself?" "Well, there were four of us there besides me." "We all counted." "It was $148,000." "Didn't you know?" "Miss Hamilton, was there anything unusual about Mr. Ames' death?" "Did he die, uh, unexpectedly?" "This is a terminal rest home, Mr. Drake." "I first met Mr. Ames when he came out here from Kansas." "Salina, Kansas, I believe." "That would be about 15 years ago." "Only, why do you ask, Mr. Mason?" "Are you representing a relative of his?" "No, Mr. Keller, not a relative." "Yes, I always understood he didn't have any." "Well, I certainly don't have any secrets." "Ames opened a little repair shop over on 8th Street." "I used to drop in and help him with his books, what little there was of them." "Sometimes we played chess." "Did Mr. Ames ever mention to you that he had made out a will?" "One in your favor?" "No." "Oh, he did say several times that he was grateful that I dropped in on him, and that someday he'd prove it." "Didn't you take him seriously?" "Heh." "Would you have, Mr. Mason, under those circumstances?" "I knew he meant well, that's all." "He certainly never gave me any indication that he had any money." "Now, see here, Mason." "You perhaps have gathered that I have quite a successful accounting business here." "That does not mean, however, that I'm not going to accept, and thoroughly enjoy, this windfall inheritance." "So if your client is planning to contest Mr. Ames' will" "No, Mr. Keller." "No, I don't think my client will contest the will." "Thank you." "You've been very helpful." "But if Paul said there's nothing wrong at the rest home where the old gentleman died, and if you had nothing but a friendly chat with his heir" "Well, at least Mr. Keller's story sounded convincing." "There has to be something fraudulent somewhere." "Why?" "Facts indicate that these just aren't the same greenbacks your client was worried about." "Right at the present time, according to the best authorities, there are still a great number of greenbacks that have never been turned in for redemption." "In fact, more than a third of a billion dollars worth." "A third of a billion dollars?" "In old currency, just lying around one place or the other, waiting to be picked up." "Well, then the whole thing really could have been a coincidence." "Poor Mr. Duncan." "( door opens )" "( telephone rings )" "( door closes )" "Hello?" "Yes, this is Mr. Duncan." "What?" "Whose house?" "Yes, but" "( tense theme playing )" "Hey." "Hey, wait a minute." "Wait a minute." "Don't hang up." "Who is this?" "( clicks ) Who--?" "( mysterious theme swells )" "( ringing )" "Hello." "May I speak to Mr. Mason, please?" "No, I'm sorry, Mr. Mason has left for the day." "No, Miss Street has gone also." "But if you tell me what it is, I can locate Mr. Mason for you." "This is Ralph Duncan." "Tell him I just got a call." "Somebody claims that a man named Lloyd Farrell knows all about the money." "Tell him I'm going there now." "Uh, could you speak a little slower?" "( clicks ) Uh, hello?" "Mr. Duncan?" "( suspenseful theme playing )" "Here, wait a minute, you." "We had a complaint." "You just come out of this house?" "There's a man in there." "He's been murdered." "( dramatic theme playing )" "( tense theme playing )" "Get all the prints you can, sergeant." "Uh, the murder weapon was a sharp instrument of some kind." "Yes, sir." "Oh, that the ambulance?" "Never mind." "I'll get it." "( indistinct radio chatter )" "Well, the counselor." "Oh, good evening, lieutenant." "DISPATCHER ( on radio ):" "Correction." "Unit 3, come in." "I suppose you're going to tell me you have a client here." "You're always very perceptive, lieutenant." "What's going on?" "Well, I'm surprised you had to ask that, Perry." "Usually you know before I do." "RALPH:" "Mr. Mason." "( indistinct radio chatter )" "Hello, Mr. Duncan." "It's all right, officer." "Well, I guess this answers the obvious question, doesn't it?" "I might have known you wouldn't be lawyer to a corpse, Perry." "Oh, lieutenant." "Well, that's an exotic thing to be killed by." "SERGEANT:" "It was under the body." "There's, uh, something else." "Okay." "Excuse me Perry." "Oh." "You'll vouch for the continued presence of Mr. Duncan here, of course?" "Now, why should that be necessary?" "Mr. Duncan has done nothing wrong here that I know of." "Well, don't get all worked up." "I'll need him downtown for a statement, that's all." "After all, he was only found here at the scene of the murder." "( indistinct radio chatter )" "It's that man, Farrell." "He was dead when I came here." "I got your message." "You said someone, uh, called you about him." "Who was it, do you know?" "No." "Just a woman's voice." "She gave me Farrell's name, said to ask him what happened to the greenbacks, and then hung up." "( crickets chirping )" "How did you know Farrell, know who he was?" "I met him once, about a year ago." "He wanted to talk about the possibility of buying some of the art objects that I've run across in my investigations." "Art objects like that unusual knife?" "No." "I never saw it before." "How did you happen to meet?" "Was it just by chance?" "It was having lunch, I think." "Charley introduced us." "Charley?" "My cousin, Charley Nickels." "He's been staying with us for some time now." "( door opens )" "What do you you have there, lieutenant?" "Something you're not interested in, Perry." "Money." "Some, uh, very big and very old money." "I guess these greenbacks might be what, uh, someone was searching for in there." "Uh, wouldn't you think so?" "I don't know." "How many are there?" "Five thousand dollars worth." "That mean anything to you?" "DISPATCHER:" "Correction." "Unit 3, come in." "Well, never mind." "Uh, now, if you'll excuse us, counselor." "( mysterious theme playing )" "Oh, I got your message, Mr. Mason." "Hello, Mr. Nickels." "I appreciate your coming in." "Well, anything I can do to help old Ralph." "Uh, that goes without saying." "Sit down, won't you?" "I understand you knew Lloyd Farrell." "Well, I only met him a couple of times, that's all." "One of those times was at a luncheon." "Ralph Duncan was there also." "Tell me, was having lunch together your idea?" "What?" "No, no." "Me, I'm only a middleman." "What do you mean, middleman?" "Mr. Mason, I want to help all I can, so I've been trying to remember." "But see, at this lunch, I was just doing a favor, that's all." "A girl who works down at Ralph's office thought it'd be a good idea for him to meet Farrell." "It was her idea, not mine." "Who is the girl?" "Uh, her name's Norma Brooks." "Old friend of yours?" "No." "No, not at all." "In fact, I only talked to her sometimes when I picked up my cousin at work." "Mr. Nickels, why did this girl want Farrell and Duncan to meet, do you know?" "She thought they'd have things in common, I-I guess." "What kind of things?" "I don't know." "Heh." "Come to think of it," "I don't know what Mr. Farrell's business was." "Import and export." "And from what I can find out, he was doing very well at it." "There is, however, a rumor to the effect that Farrell may have been dabbling in a profitable sideline." "Disposing stolen goods?" "Mm." "How'd you know?" "I didn't." "But if it's true, it would account for a few enemies who might have wished him dead." "Check." "What about his friends?" "Intimate friends?" "Well, if you mean the ladies, Farrell had his share." "Here, I got a list." "Norma Brooks on it?" "Perry, why do I go to all the trouble of digging--?" "Heh-heh." "Paul, you're doing fine." "Now, I'd like you to go to the Bowdoin house." "Better take your camera with you." "Okay." "What's the idea?" "I'd like you to check that old currency right straight through." "Where and how it was hidden, where and how it was found, where and how it was stolen from Duncan's car." "There's a link there, somewhere." "On second thought, I'll meet you out there." "Say, in about an hour and a half." "All right." "It just might be here." "This is Mr. Duncan's caseload file." "Bates, Benson," "Bowdoin." "Here it is." "The estate of Augusta Bowdoin." "I'm surprised." "I thought this one had already gone to probate." "It should have by now." "Has, um, someone else been assigned to this case?" "Besides Mr. Duncan?" "Mm-hm." "No, I'm sure not." "Then no one has been out there since?" "That's right." "I suppose that's the key to the Bowdoin house?" "Shall I ask the supervisor if it's all right for you to look at this material?" "Shall we, um--?" "Shall we talk in there?" "I was hoping to avoid any red tape, and I thought perhaps you could tell me if there were any money mentioned in there." "Money?" "I don't think so." "Mr. Mason, they haven't actually accused Mr. Duncan of anything, have they?" "The newspaper said he was just being questioned." "I thought if we looked into that particular estate, we might find answers to some questions and forestall any further embarrassment to Mr. Duncan, that's all." "I" " I wondered why I was" "I wondered why you asked for me." "Well, you are his secretary." "Oh, no." "Ralph" " Ralph didn't have a regular secretary." "I work in lots of other departments." "How long had you known Lloyd Farrell?" "What?" "Yes, I knew Lloyd." "We were rather good friends at one time in fact." "Why did you ask Charley Nickels to bring them together?" "Lloyd and Ralph?" "Lloyd asked me to arrange it." "For what purpose, Miss Brooks?" "He wanted to find out how he could bid on" "On the unclaimed effects from some of the estates." "Did it occur to you that Lloyd Farrell might have wanted to transact some illegal business with Duncan?" "That wasn't it at all." "Who told you that?" "Now, you said that you and Lloyd Farrell were good friends at one time." "Please, Mr. Mason." "It's very personal." "His death came as a great shock to you, didn't it?" "Lloyd Farrell wasn't always very nice." "I knew that." "But I'd never known anyone like him." "I couldn't help myself." "( sobs quietly )" "Regardless of what he was like, do you honestly think that Ralph Duncan could have murdered him?" "Oh, no." "You know... if no one else has been there at the house," "I'd like to take a look at it." "Would it help Mr. Duncan?" "( mysterious theme playing )" "Hi, Perry." "All set." "Paul Drake." "Miss Brooks." "How do you do, Miss Brooks?" "How do you do?" "Now I think we can verify what Duncan found in there, all right." "And one thing:" "In checking the case files," "Miss Brooks said that some woman by the name of Hollister called their office several times asking about greenbacks." "Some busybody housekeeper." "Ah, Perry, there's also a busy woman named Della Street who called." "Excuse us." "Just in case you're trying to tie the whole thing together and trace the same money all the way through." "The message?" "Della got the handwriting report on Mr. Ames' will." "They compared it with some letters the old man had written." "And it's the real thing." "No forgery there at all." "Hence, no fraud." "Now, you still wanna go chasing some phony clue?" "Personally, I think your client's lying" "Ralph Duncan told me the truth." "I'm sure of it." "Now let's go." "All right." "( ominous theme playing )" "It's perfectly all right to go in." "I'm sure there's nothing of any value in here." "( ominous theme continues )" "( ominous theme swells )" "( rattling noises )" "Well, hello, Perry." "You looking for something?" "Never mind, sergeant." "Just talk to that young lady outside there, if you will." "Uh, come in." "Come in." "I, uh, think I've found the place where that, uh, money came from." "That $5,000 in greenbacks, you remember?" "Never underestimate the efficiency of the law." "Heh." "Your client probably looted quite a number of places like this, Perry." "He did the stealing and Farrell did the fencing." "It's all simple enough." "I wouldn't be too sure." "Oh, no?" "Well, here." "Just, uh, look what else Duncan took from this place." "I, uh, found the box in a drawer here." "That, um, fancy knife." "The murder weapon, remember?" "Wouldn't you say it fits?" "Fits well enough to, uh, charge Duncan with murder in the first degree?" "( dramatic theme playing )" "MAN:" "The wound was inflicted in the lower-left thoracic cavity between the fourth and fifth ribs." "The blade barely managed to penetrate the left ventricle." "And the time of death, doctor?" "Between 6:00 and 6:30 in the evening." "Thank you, doctor." "Counselor?" "No questions." "Mrs. Hollister, some time after Mrs. Bowdoin's death, you visited her house." "Would you tell us why?" "Well, on the day she died," "I'd found an old bill under Mrs. Bowdoin's desk." "Uh, an old greenback, they're called." "And I figured that if there was a lot of money hidden around there, somebody might steal it." "And when Mr. Duncan refused you admission to the house, did you then make any attempt to find out whether or not he had reported or turned in any hidden money to his office?" "MASON:" "Object, Your Honor." "Other than the conjectures of this witness, there's been no tangible evidence before this court that any money's existed in that house." "The prosecution certainly intends to prove, Your Honor, that there was a lot more money in the Bowdoin house than that single bill that Mrs. Hollister found there." "We will connect the money with the decedent, in order to prove that it was a violent argument over the disposal of just that money, which was in fact the motive for this murder." "Subject to that condition, I'll overrule the objection." "The witness may answer the question." "Well, when I tried to reach Mr. Duncan at his office, he'd never call back." "And then, when I tried to talk to anybody else in the office about the money, they'd just say there wasn't any." "Thank you, Mrs. Hollister." "That'll be all." "Cross-examine." "Now, Mrs. Hollister, you seem to have been both persistent and curious about that money." "Why?" "Well, I don't see anything wrong with that, do you?" "I mean, after all, money is money." "But you inferred that you'd called the public administrator's office a great many times." "Now, how many telephone inquiries did you actually make?" "Hmm." "Let's see." "Once was a Tuesday afternoon." "Then..." "Well, I'm sure I called Mr. Duncan once after that." "So in reality you tried to reach him only twice." "All right." "Now, a moment ago you identified this knife for Mr. Burger, as having been a possession of Mrs. Bowdoin's, as something you'd seen in the course of your housekeeping there." "That's right." "You see, the old lady had lots of things around like that." "Her husband, her dead husband was in the Army once, and he was a colonel and they were in the Philippines, and, you know" "Mrs. Hollister, exactly when did you last see this knife in the Bowdoin house?" "Um..." "I guess it was when I was dusting those old cases." "Maybe about a year ago." "Now, you certainly cannot swear that this knife has been in that house during the last year, can you?" "Mmm." "No, I..." "No further questions." "Where was this package of old currency in the amount of $5,000 found?" "In the safe in Mr. Farrell's desk." "Well, now, sergeant, you testified that an envelope from the Excel Travel Agency was also found in that safe." "Was this air-flight ticket enclosed in that envelope?" "It was." "A single ticket for a flight to Tokyo, made out to Lloyd Farrell." "BURGER:" "A single ticket for a flight to Tokyo." "And was that flight scheduled for the day after the murder?" "Yes, sir." "It was." "Thank you, sergeant." "If it please the court," "I should like this package of money, and this air-flight ticket accepted in evidence and marked for the people, Exhibits D and E." "Mr. Mason?" "Defense has no objection to either the money or the flight ticket being introduced in evidence, Your Honor." "Very well, counselor, you may cross-examine." "I have no questions of the witness." "BURGER:" "Albert Keller to the stand, please." "BURGER:" "So your firm handled the auditing and tax records for Mr. Farrell for almost five years, is that correct?" "That is correct." "Well, then why did you suddenly terminate your services during last January?" "I became convinced that Farrell was engaged in selling stolen goods." "BURGER:" "Really?" "What made you think such a thing?" "KELLER:" "There were just too many items which he had for sale that didn't appear in his records." "And he didn't supply any data to indicate the original purchase." "I see." "I show you now this antique music box, already identified by the police officers as having been found in the murder room." "I ask you if this is one of the items to which you have referenced?" "KELLER:" "Farrell said he paid $300 for that music box." "The check for it was made out to cash." "When I asked him who the seller was, he told me it was none of my business." "BURGER:" "Thank you, Mr. Keller." "That'll be all." "Your witness." "I note in Mr. Farrell's records occasional mention of payment for your services." "You received $250 a year from Mr. Farrell, is that correct?" "It was my general retainer, yes." "Isn't that rather a low payment for the work you did on his accounts?" "Well, his wasn't exactly what you'd call a large business." "But you prepared tax returns for Mr. Farrell last year on a declared income of $200,000." "Now, do you call that a small business, Mr. Keller?" "My fees are flexible, of course." "Apparently so." "Now, you may have heard testimony here regarding certain old currency." "Isn't it true that you recently inherited quite a fortune in such currency?" "KELLER:" "I did." "From a dear friend." "Well, don't you think it a coincidence that you inherited the same sort of currency as that found not far from the body of your more recent friend, Mr. Farrell?" "I object, Your Honor." "That's a completely improper question." "We are not concerned with what the witness thinks." "Sustained." "No further questions." "I must warn you for the last time, Mr. Nickels." "By your continued reluctance to testify, you are being considered a hostile witness and consequently, the prosecutor may ask leading questions." "You will answer to the best of your ability under pain of contempt of court." "Yes, sir, but I already said I'm like a family chauffeur." "I pick Ralph up at the office lots of nights." "Yes, but did you pick him up on the night of the murder?" "Well, sure." "BURGER:" "Did Duncan come running out of his office building at about five minutes after 6 p.m. on that night?" "CHARLEY:" "Yes, sir." "BURGER:" "Did he tell you to drive him as fast as you could to the Farrell house?" "CHARLEY:" "That's right." "And did your cousin give you any reason for wanting to go there?" "H-he said it was, uh, something about some money." "He was gonna get it back." "BURGER:" "And after driving him to Farrell's house, and watching him enter, did you then wait for him to come out again?" "No, no, I didn't wait." "You didn't wait?" "Why not?" "'Cause he told me to go, that's why." "Hmph." "He didn't want me to stick around." "You mean he didn't want you to wait for him while he was in the decedent's house?" "That's what I said, isn't it?" "Yeah." "You certainly did." "Your witness." "He said Helen had dinner waiting, so I told him to go and tell her I'd be late." "Didn't want him hanging around getting involved." "No questions." "BURGER:" "Miss Norma Brooks to the stand." "Miss Brooks, in typing Mr. Duncan's reports, did you see anything whatsoever to indicate that he found any money in the Bowdoin house?" "No." "No, he didn't say anything about any money." "I show you this music box." "I ask you if you recognize it." "( music box playing )" "No, I don't believe so." "About a year ago, Miss Brooks, your office conducted an inventory of the estate of one David Mannox." "Do you remember that?" "The name sounds familiar." "And shortly thereafter, the police were notified by a neighbor that a valuable music box had apparently disappeared from the Mannox home during the period of the inventory." "Do you remember that?" "Oh, yes, I" " I" "I remember some discussion about that in the office." "Now, Miss Brooks, the valuable music box that disappeared from the home of David Mannox was readily identifiable because it had a plate engraved with the family name "Mannox", located on the bottom." "And this box, which was found in Lloyd Farrell's home by the police after his murder, this music box also has a plate on the bottom, engraved with the name of "Mannox"." "Miss Brooks, who in your office conducted the inventory of the Mannox estate?" "It was Mr. Duncan." "BURGER:" "Thank you, Miss Brooks." "Thank you very much." "Your witness." "JUDGE:" "Mr. Mason it's almost 5:00." "If you have no objection to postponing cross-examination..." "No objection, Your Honor." "Court will recess until 9:30 tomorrow morning." "Perry, I've got some more on Farrell's flight ticket to Tokyo." "So do I. Something else came up in the testimony this afternoon." "We'll talk about it while we're driving." "We're going someplace?" "Sunnydale Rest Home." "Della, we'll meet you back at the office." "DELLA:" "All right, Perry." "Then, outside of his pension," "Mr. Ames had no other source of income?" "He certainly didn't report any on his monthly affidavits." "Here, let me show you." "You see, in order to stay here, a patient must sign these statements of eligibility to qualify for his checks from the county." "Any luck?" "Nope." "Nobody here recognizes any of the people." "Miss Hamilton, have you ever been someone's last hope?" "Oh, what for?" "Here are photographs of six different people." "Have you ever seen any one of them before?" "This one." "Are you absolutely positive, Miss Hamilton?" "This person came to see Mr. Ames at least twice that I can remember." "I can look it up for you on my daily reports." "( dramatic theme playing )" "( dramatic theme playing )" "MASON:" "Miss Brooks, does your work give you access to the records of county pensioners who are placed in terminal rest homes?" "Well, yes, sometimes." "You ever have occasion to personally contact any of these elderly people?" "No, of course not." "The monthly forms they sign are sent through the mails." "Always?" "I have here the sworn statement of a nurse, Ann Hamilton, that on two different occasions you went to the Sunnydale Rest Home to visit an elderly pensioner named Josiah Ames." "The date of your first visit was on September 21st." "Is that when you placed $148,000 in old currency in Mr. Ames footlocker?" "I object to that, Your Honor." "There's been no possible groundwork laid for such a question." "It's irrelevant and immaterial." "Overruled." "Answer the question, witness." "Yes, I put the money there." "A week later, you went back to the rest home and prevailed upon a very old and tired Mr. Ames to write a holographic will." "Just a few simple words, leaving all his earthly belongings to one Albert Keller." "How did you get Mr. Ames to do that?" "Did you convince the old man the will was also county procedure?" "All right..." "I did it." "Lloyd said there'd be so much money." "We'd go away together." "I loved him so much." "Enough to have killed him when you learned he was going away without you?" "He wasn't." "Miss Brooks, didn't you hear it stated in this court that the travel agency sent Lloyd Farrell a single airplane ticket?" "I don't care." "I didn't kill him." "How did Farrell come into possession of that old money?" "Were you the one who obtained it for him?" "No!" "Ask him." "Ask Charley Nickels." "( clears throat )" "Well, I saw my cousin's car parked there in the grocery store lot." "You had a spare key to that car?" "Yeah." "I let myself in." "I was gonna wait for Ralph and go home with him." "And when you discovered that old currency in his attaché case?" "Mm." "It looked like a million dollars worth." "I grabbed the manila envelope and hid it under my jacket." "I walked home fast and beat Ralph there." "Then you later took the money to Farrell." "Now, why to him?" "Oh, I don't know." "I" "I'd heard about him, I guess." "Hadn't you had business dealings with Farrell before?" "Such as selling him an expensive music box you'd stolen from another estate your cousin once investigated?" "CHARLEY:" "No." "What about this knife, Mr. Nickels?" "Didn't you steal this knife from the Bowdoin estate and sell it to the decedent?" "Okay." "Okay." "I-I-I took the music box and the knife." "But I didn't know Ralph would be blamed." "MASON:" "When you took the money to Farrell, did he tell you how he intended disposing of it?" "No, he didn't." "When was it you found out, then, that a will had been arranged, that an heir was gonna get all that money?" "But I didn't find out." "I didn't" "I didn't know anything about heirs." "If it please the court," "Mr. Mason is not only out of order in pursuing the details of this lesser crime, it seems to me he is doing his own client a disservice." "He's just introduced testimony here to prove that it was Duncan indeed who took the money from the Bowdoin home." "And he's raised the monetary value of the motivation which surely drove this defendant to commit the murder, from $5,000 all the way to $153,000." "The prosecution is most grateful to Mr. Mason for this assistance." "But I think this line of interrogation has gone quite far enough." "I am touched, Your Honor, by Mr. Burger's solicitude for my client." "But he has actually brought out the best reason for allowing me to pursue this matter at least one step further." "I would like, with the court's permission, to recall Mr. Albert Keller." "Again I'll ask you, Mr. Keller, why were you chosen to inherit that money?" "Why?" "Oh, I don't have to answer that." "On grounds of self-incrimination in a murder?" "I didn't kill Farrell." "All right, I'll rephrase my previous question." "What was to be your share of the inheritance?" "None of it." "I didn't want any part of that rotten money." "Farrell was going to get it all back, as soon as it was made good in probate court." "( crowd murmuring )" "( judge tapping on desk )" "Then why did you allow your name to be used in turning bad currency into good?" "It's all gonna come out now, anyway." "I" " I wrote a couple of checks once on Farrell's account, and altered the balance." "Only he found out about it, and kept a photostated record." "For years he held it over my head." "On the night of the murder, was that what you were searching for in Mr. Farrell's house?" "Was that to be your payment for helping him this time?" "He'd promised he'd let me have it before he went to Japan." "But once more he refused, so you killed him for it?" "No!" "Didn't you kill him and then ransack the house, Mr. Keller?" "No, listen to me." "Farrell was already dead when I got there." "The door was still open." "The" " The lights were on." "The" " Tobacco was burning in an ashtray beside the telephone." "MASON:" "By the telephone?" "What time was that?" "I don't know, a little after 6:00." "That was the only reason" "I searched for the evidence against me so the police wouldn't find it." "Only I" " It wasn't in his desk." "And I couldn't get into the safe." "And then I heard a car drive up outside, so I ran out the back way." "Did you see the person in that car, Mr. Keller?" "Yes." "I saw a man walking toward the house." "I wanted to tell before, but... if all this came out, my reputation" "Who did you see walking toward the house, after you'd seen Mr. Farrell's dead body?" "It was him." "The defendant." "( crowd murmuring )" "All right, counselor." "Uh, Your Honor, before I move for dismissal of the charges against my client, there one a matter this witness might well clarify." "Please continue, Mr. Mason." "The burning tobacco you just mentioned, Mr. Keller, was it the sort that might have been tapped from a pipe?" "No." "No, uh, it was" " It was, uh, from stubbing out a cigarette." "Just a few shreds." "And the cigarette itself wasn't there?" "No." "Now, we have heard here that fingerprints had been removed from the murder weapon and perhaps the telephone." "But why would a murderer remove the stub of a burnt cigarette?" "Unless perhaps there was something incriminating on it?" "An unusual brand name, perhaps?" "Or lipstick?" "Hasn't it occurred to you, Mr. Keller, that the person who was there just before you might have been a woman?" "KELLER:" "I" " I can't recall whether there was anything else." "Like, uh, perfume?" "Uh, let me think." "I wasn't there." "I didn't do it, I told you!" "I didn't kill him!" "I didn't!" "( crowd murmuring )" "Order." "Order." "Bailiff." "Your Honor, it would seem unlikely that the woman who must have used that telephone on the night of the murder to call the defendant a few moments after 6, was someone Mr. Duncan knew personally, or he surely would have recognized her voice." "And yet that murderess must have known him." "Must have been watching him, in fact, and for some time." "Who else would have realized that a jeweled knife from the Bowdoin estate would point to Ralph Duncan, just as that old currency pointed to him?" "Who else would have frantically called Duncan to come to the scene of a murder that she herself had just committed, come and be caught for her crime?" "That money was mine." "I found it first." "I worked hard for Mrs. Bowdoin, and then she went and died, and they come along and took it all away." "Oh, yes, I know what they did, all right." "I saw it all." "First that man there and then that little man who stole it out of his car." "And then that awful Mr. Farrell." "He said he wouldn't give me any of it." "He only laughed at me." "He said terrible things." "He said he'd have me arrested." "And when I screamed at him, he" "( sniffles )" "He slapped me!" "( sobbing )" "Oh, I wish I'd never seen a greenback in all this dirty life." "( dramatic theme playing )" "So she followed that package of money from Duncan to Charley to Farrell." "And finally, she went to Farrell and demanded her share." "You wonder how she had the nerve to do a thing like that." "Heh." "Oh, Mrs. Hollister had the nerve, all right, or rather the gall." "She practically made a living by hiring out as a housekeeper to old people and robbing 'em blind." "According to Mrs. Hollister, she had no idea how much money was really involved." "And Mr. Farrell, apparently, had no idea how little" "Mrs. Hollister would have taken for her share." "The irony of it is that $500 out of all that money would have saved his life and hers." "Well, what happens to all that money now?" "Uh, w-who will get it?" "Well, since there are no heirs, all that money goes to the state." "And as a conscientious taxpayer," "I guess I should be glad about that." "As a salaried public employee, I am glad." "( all chuckle )" "We're all glad, Hamilton." "( noirish jazz theme playing )"