"¶ ¶" "You made a..." "You made a wise choice, Josh." "First, you start on the ground, then we'll..." "Mr. Brewer?" "Yeah." "Um, your ex-wife is looking for you." "Now, look, she has no claim on the boy." "No, not legally." "I was hired to find you and deliver this letter." "You could have mailed it." "Yeah, well, uh, I don't have your address." "You're a missing person." "Well, now, let's keep it that way." "Uh, I'll, uh..." "I'll mail it for you." "(engine starting)" "(engine revving)" "(tires squealing)" "(theme music playing)" "¶ ¶" "¶ ¶" "¶ ¶" "Before we pass like two ships in the night, friend," "I'd like to know why you've been tailing me." "Get out of my way." "Now, let's talk." "(grunts)" "That ought to even the odds." "(metallic rumbling)" "(clinking)" "Thanks for waiting, Mr. Mannix." "(birds singing)" "MAN:" "I still think you're making a big thing out of what was probably an accident." "MANNIX:" "It wasn't an accident, Mr. Lohman." "Someone deliberately tried to run Brewer down." "There's also been some character following me all day." "When I tried to talk to him, he ran off." "Maybe he was following you for another reason." "Maybe it had nothing to do with them." "Maybe I'm Peter Pan." "Mr. Mannix?" "I want my son back, that's all I know." "Well, why don't you go to court," "Mrs. Lohman, and ask for custody." "You shouldn't have any trouble." "I don't stand a chance." "I walked out on them." "Please, Mr. Mannix, help us." "I'll, uh... see what I can do." "Why did you upset her?" "You could be wrong." "I could be right." "Do you have any idea why someone might want to kill Brewer?" "Who knows what it's about with that guy?" "He walked into our wedding wearing a clown suit and dragging a stinking goat on a chain." "Look, I didn't want the kid in the first place." "A guy dreams." "I wanted my own." "But it's beginning to look like we can't." "If Alan Brewer is an oddball, there isn't a judge in the world that wouldn't give your wife custody." "Listen, she walked out." "I mean, she's a good girl." "But she couldn't take that educated bum anymore." "They didn't have bread." "She wasn't exactly divorced when we..." "You know what I mean." "I'll, uh..." "I'll give you a call if I get another lead." "How?" "You were lucky to find him once." "Now he knows you're looking." "Well, I'll, uh, talk to his cousin." "Maybe he knows something." "I spoke to Daniel a few days ago." "He hasn't seen Alan for months." "Alan Brewer's in trouble." "People in trouble usually turn to relatives." "Even ones they don't like." "Good old Alan." "There he goes again." "Dan, you're not ready." "The show, huh?" "Helen, this is Mr. Mannix, the man" "I told you about." "How do you do?" "May we talk tomorrow, Mr. Mannix?" "We've had these tickets for so long." "Mr. Mannix thinks that Alan's life is in danger." "(Helen laughs)" "Well, we all have enemies, Mrs. Brewer." "Alan has no one but himself." "You said that you were, uh, very close to Alan at one time." "Yeah, but not since college." "He kept accusing me of selling out to the establishment." "I merely followed school instructions on proper dress." "You'd better find that boy." "Alan belongs in a padded cell." "Where would you suggest I start looking?" "In a sand dune, in a coffeehouse somewhere, with a group of vagabonds with nothing on their minds but today." "(phone ringing)" "Hello." "Yes." "Yes." "Yes, in a few minutes." "It's the hospital." "An accident case." "Lower jaw." "I'll get something to eat." "Meet you at the hospital." "I may be hours, dear." "I'll wait." "I really don't feel sorry for Alan." "Each of us makes his own way." "Don't let him fool you, Mr. Mannix." "He envies Alan with every breath." "That's not what he said." "He is, in fact, a... a dreamer, just like Alan." "Maybe it's their bloodline." "I don't know." "Well, um, give me a call if anything turns up, huh?" "I don't want my husband reminded of Alan." "If necessary, Mrs. Brewer," "I'll keep coming back until I get a lead." "A man called the house the other day." "A money lender." "His name was Arikonian." "Alan owes him some money." "Your husband didn't mention that." "I didn't tell him." "(door closes)" "Joe!" "(both speaking Armenian)" "(speaking Armenian):" "Uh, Intertect..." "Detectives?" "(answers in Armenian)" "Ah, Joe." "(speaking Armenian)" "(speaking Armenian)" "Garlic, schmarlic." "(speaking Armenian)" "(speaking Armenian)" "(both speaking Armenian)" "Arikonian Joe..." "Arikonian... (speaking Armenian)" "Ah, Jo?" "(speaking Armenian)" "(both speaking Armenian)" "Arikonian." "Is he in?" "No." "Arikonian... (speaking Armenian)" "(speaking Armenian)" "Wait a minute, Joe!" "I said he's not in." "You know, Arman, you never were much of a salesman." "Mannix!" "(speaking Armenian)" "(speaking Armenian)" "When it's time to refurnish, you always remember your old companion from the revolution, and you always come back." "Well, I never forget to keep you in front of me." "That's why I'm still around." "(speaking Armenian)" "And my eyesight has never been A-1, and my rifle was always rusty." "(laughs) Come in, come in." "I want to talk, J.D." "(speaking Armenian)" "My house is your house, like they say in America." "They say that in China." "How far off was I?" "(laughs)" "(speaking Armenian)" "(speaking Armenian)" "Call off your rug salesman, J.D. (cocks guns)" "(speaking Armenian)" "Now, let's put your samples on the desk." "(speaking Armenian)" "Listen, Joe, I got new goods here." "Look at them." "How long has it been since I carpeted your pad?" "Yeah, I'm still paying for 'em." "(laughs) I got a new chenille that was made for your place." "Pure white like snow." "Thick like sour cream." "This is a gun in my hand, J.D., not a floor plan." "A gun?" "Here?" "What have we come to?" "I want information." "J.D. Arikonian is a carpet man, not a librarian." "I can always go to the police." "I bail easy." "I want to know, uh, why you tried to kill a customer yesterday." "No, that must have been Arman." "He pressures too hard." "I'm talking about Alan Brewer." "(laughs)" "Now, you listen to me carefully." "J.D. Arikonian has a good name in carpets and an excellent reputation in the money lending business." "Once in a blue moon, a customer falls behind in his payment book, so he gets a little lesson, but I never put anybody away for good in my life, Joe." "I have scruples." "You know that." "That deadbeat Brewer is only on the books for $500 to buy a crazy little car for his kid." "Why'd you lean on his cousin?" "A businessman must make every effort to remain solvent." "Besides, the teacher is paying for him now." "Uh, that teacher said she never paid you a dime." "(chuckles)" "Just like a woman-- supports a bum and then is ashamed to admit it." "She's lying, Joe." "Why do you think I'm here, J.D.?" "You tell that Weber lady that I'm holding a note on that crazy house up on that hill, not that I want such a place on my hands." "Well, thanks for the information, J.D." "Joe... tell me something." "You don't know this teacher girl." "Well, I do now." "(swearing in Armenian)" "You got a lead out of me." "(chuckling):" "Well, thanks anyway, J.D." "I could have rolled you up in a carpet and dumped you in the river before you even got to the door." "You're right, J.D." "This would look great in my living room." "Arman Jarab, stop it." "You want to ruin the sale?" "(muttering quietly)" "MANNIX:" "You know, I thought all painters had one ear and starved." "I'm a teacher, Mr. Mannix." "I'm sure your detective work told you that." "All right, teacher." "May I ask a question?" "Now we've exchanged this electric dialogue, you must be exhausted." "Go home and lie down." "We've just begun to know each other." "A pass won't work either." "All right, let's just talk." "Alan would be upset if he found us together." "Jealousy in Bohemia?" "I don't believe it." "(laughing):" "Now, that I didn't expect." "You know, somewhere under the well-tailored clothes," "I sense a free soul." "Now, you listen to me." "Yesterday on the street while Alan ran like a thief with his boy in tow, somebody tried to run him down with a truck." "You know, I'm surprised, Mr. Mannix." "You seemed capable of a better effort to get me to tell you where Alan is." "Will you try and understand he's in danger?" "I'd hand you your hat, but you didn't come in with one." "You can't stay." "I'm not a criminal." "Why should I run?" "I need some red." "He said someone is trying to kill you." "(chuckles)" "What for?" "Half a sack of salt?" "(groans)" "(car starts)" "(tires screeching)" "(gunshots)" "You again." "Don't tell me;" "you're alone." "Gunfire doesn't seem to bother you." "I thought it was a car." "Would you like to use the phone?" "You're really hooked on sand, aren't you?" "Yeah, Mannix here, get me Wickersham fast." "PhD in economics." "Hey, Lou." "You found Brewer and his son." "You're close." "They get away again?" "They did." "How, this time?" "While I was trying to put out a fuse." "What fuse?" "Look, Lou, do me a favor, will you?" "Call Jacobsen at homicide." "Joe, homicide?" "What is going on?" "The deceased's name is, uh, Stasik." "It looks like he might have been a former pug." "You'll find his body outside the house at 613 Canyon Crest Road." "Familiar?" "Any idea who killed him?" "Yeah." "I did." "(line disconnects)" "You're serious about the danger to Alan." "Well, that shouldn't bother a cool kitten like you." "Now, what happened outside?" "Oh, they just tried to blow the house to the moon." "Or you staged a little act." "Now, it doesn't make any sense." "Why would anyone want to kill Alan?" "Well, if I don't get a lead pretty quick, you may not know until the eulogy." "Yeah, now that's getting close." "Most of her sketches were beach scenes, uh, at small dunes with some scrub on it." "Oh, and these, uh, the background bluffs were kind of black and rocky, you know, the kind that takes a million years to push out of the ground." "(marker squeaking)" "I'm sure it's a place you can drive dune buggies." "Probably Alan Brewer and the boy are hanging out near there." "I'll have copies made and pass them around." "If she's painting a real location, we can spot it for you." "Good." "WICKERSHAM:" "Catch." "The fingerprints say his name is Ed Regan-- locates missing heirs to unclaimed estates for a high percentage of the take." "Operates on a borderline between legality and extortion." "Hmm." "You know, it'd be interesting to know if Alan Brewer is up for any unclaimed estates." "You already know." "I ran it through the computer." "Complete list of missing heirs, estates recently in probate, the works." "Even went back 20 years." "Nothing." "What about Stasik?" "Minor hood, three priors." "One odd thing, though." "Nose broken twice with no attempt at repair, one cauliflower ear, yet his teeth were capped." "About $3,000 worth of cosmetic dentistry." "The whole thing is preposterous...." "Look, all I need..." "...like the rest of your life." "...just enough to get out of town." "Where to this time?" "Samoa?" "I don't know." "But you do know that you need money." "I don't know what I'm running from." "The way you live." "You were a fine engineer once." "You spoiled your life, now you're spoiling..." "How do you know that?" "Even I don't know." "You knew enough to get a degree with honors." "I knew what there was in books." "Well, for all your apparent concern for mankind and its fate, somebody hates you enough to kill you." "I'm very busy, Alan." "Bye, Cousin Daniel." "Alan." "It's my magic rock." "Regan..." "(scraping)" "(dialing phone)" "Yeah, Mannix here." "Get me Wickersham." "(phone buzzing)" "Joe, that sketch." "Sea Dunes Cove." "MANNIX:" "I'm on my way." "What about Regan?" "Uh, well, it's like this, Lou." "Uh, you'd better get Jacobsen again." "Joe, you didn't." "No, Lou, not this time." "(line disconnects)" "(hangs up phone)" "(engine revving in distance)" "(engine roaring)" "(backfires)" "(backfires)" "(laughing loudly)" "(shouting)" "What happened to your concern for their safety?" "I told Alan what you said." "They're leaving town." "They don't seem to be in much of a hurry." "You know why he's out there?" "Because he promised Josh one more ride in the buggy and he'd never go back on his word." "Alan!" "Alan, run!" "Can't you understand, I'm trying to help?" "No." "No, you want to take Josh away." "Well, I'll never let him give that boy up." "It would be the end of him." "FRAN:" "Where's Josh?" "Adding to his rock collection." "You're in trouble, Brewer, and that means the boy is, too." "Well, what do you suggest?" "Leave Josh with his mother." "Convenient, the way it turns out for Cloris." "She hires you to talk me into turning Josh over to her and suddenly, things start happening, and it's the only thing to do." "Just leave him there until we find out what's going on." "Any kind of deal you want to make with your former wife, that's your business." "We'll be all right." "Leave the boy with his mother." "No!" "Look, he's only a kid." "You want to run, go ahead, but he's a baby." "He doesn't even have a choice." "Mr. Mannix, my son is bright." "He's aware." "He's only eight, but we haven't neglected his education." "Fran and I tutor him." "We've taught him to love the flowers and the birds and everything that lives, the desert and the sea." "He has shelter." "He has food, and he has love." "What can Cloris give him but a three-button suit and an attaché case when he's older." "Can you convey the message?" "Or shall we write it down?" "You're both acting like a couple of kids." "Look, will you get out of here?" "!" "What is it?" "I told Josh to wait over there." "Maybe he's just teasing." "Josh!" "Josh!" "ALAN:" "Where is he?" "Josh!" "Come on out, Josh!" "Maybe he got frightened when he saw Mannix." "No." "I told him not to worry." "If anything happens to that kid..." "ALAN:" "Josh!" "(muffled yelling)" "FRAN:" "Josh!" "Get down!" "My car's down the road;" "get it and get out of here, and call Lou Wickersham!" "(knocking on door)" "(knocking continues)" "Who is it?" "Lou." "Hurry up." "I picked up your car from Brewer." "He thinks his son's been kidnapped." "What do you figure they're after?" "Oh, money, probably." "Who knows?" "What are you asking me for?" "This is your case." "How do you get so invol...?" "Shh!" "Lou, please!" "Hey, uh, would you like a drink?" "Is somebody here?" "Well, you know how it is." "I don't believe it." "You're on a case." "A boy has been kidnapped, and you find the time to entertain..." "Lou, I'm down here." "I'd fire you right now, but it would look bad for Intertect." "So, I'll wait until this is over, then I'll fire you." "I told Brewer what his wife wants." "Well, how did you find the time?" "At least you did what we were paid to do." "Now, Lou, we can't drop the case, not now-- not while that boy is missing." "We won't, but if you don't drop her..." "Look, Lou..." "Lou!" "Brewer will not give up the boy." "Brewer doesn't have him to give up anymore." "Besides, that's not our business." "An inheritance investigator has been following Brewer." "Inheritance investigators are usually looking for money." "I'd prefer you didn't go in there, Lou." "All right, Joe." "I'll be very discreet." "You're on a big case and it's, "Good-bye, doll." "Come back again when he's not so busy."" "Well, I wanted to keep you out of this, Lou, but, uh, since you insist." "Who knows about this?" "Us." "I'm warning you." "Don't try to con me into anything." "Lou..." "Look, now why didn't they just shoot Brewer in the first place?" "I mean, why all this attempt to make it look like an accident?" "Blowing up a house, trying to run him over with a car." "Joe, why did you grab this kid?" "Because I don't know what's going on, I don't know why." "And the boy's father won't protect him-- somebody's got to!" "Before you talk me into anything..." "I'll swear you were in on the whole thing." "What...?" "!" "Shh!" "(quietly):" "...whole thing?" "Give me an hour, Lou." "Just an hour." "Call the boy's mother." "Say he's disappeared, and, uh, that it looks bad, but we'll keep it quiet until they get a lead on the thing, huh?" "And you'd better tell Alan's cousin, Daniel." "By the way, where is Brewer staying?" "A rooming house, 405 East 4th Street." "Good." "Now, uh, at exactly 6:00 a.m. call Fran Weber." "Say that, uh, you want $100,000 in small bills, and tell her that you'll call back later with delivery instructions, huh?" "Now, where are you going while I become your accomplice?" "I mean, just in case I'm arrested before you get back." "To see what makes Alan run." "Lou?" "She must have given him your message." "He's calling somebody right now." "He's rolling." "Honey, listen." "Alan's up to something." "He never agreed to meet with me before." "Why now?" "Why suddenly now?" "Mr. Wickersham said Josh was missing." "He didn't know why." "I want to know." "I know!" "Alan's up to something." "Let me go, please." "Cloris, use your head." "He's trying to work us out of the bundle and the boy." "We asked to talk to him;" "now he's willing." "I want to hear what he has to say." "Josh has disappeared." "What?" "That's all they said." "The kid is missing and it looks bad." "Dan, we've got to do something." "What?" "Help." "Now, don't look at me that way!" "And don't tell me the way I sound." "My dear cousin didn't see me all those years and that's just fine." "I will not become involved again!" "I don't think Josh is really missing." "This is your way of punishing me." "Josh has been kidnapped." "A man called." "They want $100,000 by noon tomorrow." "Who would ever expect me to have that kind of money?" "Where do you propose to get it?" "From Bert?" "He's the only one I can turn to." "All right, Alan." "Bert will give us the money;" "I'll see to it." "But you will sign a release." "There will not be any custody hearing." "I don't know if you had anything to do with this, I don't care." "This settles the bill." "When we get Josh back, he's mine." "He's mine!" "Cloris, please... (gunshot) shrieks)" "(gasping)" "It's all right;" "it's just a scratch." "Get him out of here, fast." "No!" "Don't you understand?" "They're trying to kill you!" "She's hurt!" "I'll get her to a doctor." "Now get him out of here." "The label was a pillbox tag from the Happydayle Convalescent Home." "Regan could have stepped on that any place." "True, but Happydayle has one interesting patient-- an old man named Fraser, just back from Brazil." "What's so interesting about him?" "Five million." "Dollars?" "Lou, I never thought you were interested in money." "Fraser's family might be." "One branch is named Brewer." "Excuse me, nurse, but, uh, is Mr. Fraser still in 110?" "Mr. Fraser was in 160." "Was?" "He died." "When?" "Yesterday afternoon." "I didn't mean to be so abrupt." "Was he a relative?" "Uh, no, no." "Just a friend." "That's a shame." "They say he left a very large estate." "Yeah, until yesterday, there was no estate." "He never had any visitors." "I wonder who will get all that money?" "I think there are a few people trying to settle that out of court." "(knocking)" "Oh, Mr. Mannix." "Listen, I've heard what's been going on." "I mean, kidnappers..." "and snipers." "How do people get so involved?" "Well, I thought you might tell me." "Well, this poor fellow fell down some steps." "I have to look it over before I operate." "How can I help you?" "Well, names keep popping up." "Uh, for instance, Stasik." "Should I know him?" "Well, it's a long shot." "Uh, he had some special dental work done." "I thought you might know him." "What about Fraser?" "Fraser..." "That's Alan's mother's name." "Sure." "Sure." "Alan's your second cousin-- you'd remember." "Old Jake was probably very close to you two boys." "I mean, letters and postcards from exciting places." "Right?" "Jake Fraser?" "Why don't we check the file." "Maybe you forgot Stasik, too." "I'll look." "Stasik..." "Anton Stasik." "No." "Was that his name?" "You said Anton." "Well, that's the name you gave me." "I only gave you his last name." "You forgot." "Did I?" "Let's check again." "The name might have just stuck in your mind." "No." "Now, you wouldn't be fool enough to keep an accomplice's record." "Or would you?" "Maybe you forgot to destroy Stasik's mold?" "I gotta hand it to you, Mr. Mannix." "You solved the crime." "You're the only one with a motive." "There's the phone." "If I am wrong, I'll never live it down." "Asking the police to look for a murder suspect in a wall full of teeth." "(phone dialing)" "Yes, give me, uh, Jacobsen in Homi..." "An eight-year-old boy!" "What took you so long?" "Why did Regan have to come here?" "All excited." "Drooling over his percentage of the estate." "Regan must have thought you were first in line for the money." "The way Alan lived, with that machine racing across the sand." "Anything could have happened, anything!" "And it would have, too, sooner or later." "Yeah, so you decided to give him a push, huh?" "No." "No, look, I, I dismissed it from my mind." "It won't be hard to prove you hired Stasik." "He came to me." "I don't bother with people like that." "I don't know anybody like that." "He came in here." "In here!" "There was a big fight down the street." "He, he was hurt." "His jaw..." "So you decided to make a little deal, huh?" "Murder in exchange for dental work." "Oh, that's an even trade." "His mouth was bad." "It needed work." "I told him that I would do it for nothing if he just let me try some new techniques, and he was, he was honored." "And I worked." "And I talked." "And it didn't take long to convince him." "He had two friends to help." "Yeah, well, Stasik and one of his friends are dead." "Now, what happened to the other one?" "I don't know." "Don't lie to me!" "I don't know." "I don't stand to inherit anymore." "Alan and the boy had to die before Jake Fraser." "This way, Alan's going to get the money." "Then the boy and the family." "I'm out of it forever." "Oh, I'd be real broken up if I didn't know you tried to kill an eight-year-old boy." "I'm glad you're here." "I'm glad they're alive." "Whatever I did, I didn't kill anybody." "You had Regan killed." "No, no." "No, I swear." "No, I don't know what you're talking about." "Somebody tried to shoot Alan this morning." "That must have been your third killer." "Now why didn't you call him off?" "Stasik hired him." "I don't know who he is." "(door opens)" "Let's go." "Did they call yet?" "They just called me at the office." "They want the money now." "They have the kid with them." "I went right to the bank." "Excuse me." "You okay?" "Frightened." "We'll get him back." "You look worried." "Yes, I'm worried." "Your friend in there." "I don't trust him." "He's up to something." "Be careful." "Look who ends up hero." "You can't blame yourself for what happened to Josh." "No, blame him." "Blame all the Bert Lomans who knuckled under and made a conformist success of their lives, but not me." "Now, don't be so hard on yourself." "You do things." "Make a list." "You love life, you love people." "When this madness is over," "I'm going to explain to my son why he should live with his mother." "Alan..." "Cloris was honest." "Money was important." "She admitted it." "I'm going to tell Josh that walking on the sand is wonderful, but the sidewalks are where the bread is made." "(door opens)" "We'll take my car." "It's faster." "(door closes)" "Can I get you anything?" "(knocking on door)" "Mrs. Loman, where's Alan?" "Why, he just left with Bert to get Josh." "What are you talking about?" "The kidnapper called Bert's office this morning right after he got to work." "Bert took the money out immediately." "We have partners." "Yeah." "Alan's still in trouble." "I knew it." "I knew he was up to something dirty." "No!" "This thing is a hoax." "It's something Alan dreamed up so he could get his hands on Bert's money." "That's not true." "Don't worry about the boy." "He's all right." "He's with two Intertect agents right now." "Do you know a man named Ed Regan?" "Uh, Regan..." "only by name." "He telephoned recently, but he spoke to Bert." "Interesting." "The attempt at the coffee shop?" "Now what is this about?" "Look, all we want to do is find him very quickly." "Now do you know where they went?" "He didn't say." "Do you know which way they went?" "North, I think." "The Hill road." "Mrs. Loman, your husband owns a rock quarry up there, doesn't he?" "Do you want to come with me?" "I don't see anyone." "Is this some kind of trick?" "No." "No." "Josh has been kidnapped!" "BERT:" "There's the cave." "Yeah, we're supposed to leave the money there." "Maybe they backed out." "Nobody backs out of $5 million." "$5 million?" "I thought you said it was a hundred thou..." "(gun chamber clicks)" "Get into the cave." "Loman, what's this all about?" "In the morning, they'll dig you out." "Won't get laughs like that bit you pulled at my wedding." "But I'm just a working stiff." "Let's go." "Go on." "Stop." "Easy." "You're a troubled man." "Money wouldn't help a guy like you." "What money?" "!" "Don't worry." "We'll take care of your heir." "We'll take good care of Josh." "I swear to God, we'll give him a good life." "I don't have any money." "If you hadn't moved at that coffeehouse, this business would be finished." "You shot Cloris." "I hate your guts." "Loman?" "!" "(gunshots)" "(gunshot)" "Put your gun away!" "Loman!" "Bert!" "Bert..." "Bert, what did they do to you?" "You wanted the boy." "I wanted you to have him." "All right, Bert, do what they say." "We'll work it out." "Lou!" "(crying):" "It's all right, Bert." "Do what they say!" "Get her out of here." "It will be all right." "It's not that easy, is it Mannix?" "Is that the gun you killed Regan with, Loman?" "(footsteps receding)" "(car engines starting)" "I wonder what all that money is going to do to them." "I don't know." "I never had that problem." "You know, Lou..." "All right, come on." "The case is closed, let's go." "No, no, not yet." "Cousin Daniel hired three men." "One of them doesn't know the case is closed." "Ah, don't worry, Lou." "I'll take care of it." "(theme music playing)"