"( noirish jazz theme playing )" "( mysterious theme playing )" "( phone ringing )" "Formula 331." "It's about time we had a little luck." "( sighs )" "Hm." "You should be an artist, Peter, instead of a chemist." "My talent lies with lips." "I wonder why?" "Here." "Now the saline reagent." "( sighs )" "Let me see it." "WOMAN ( sighs ):" "It still has a faint lavender feeling." "Faint, my eye." "That's the same loud color" "I've been getting all week." "Lavender may go with old lace, but whoever heard of a lavender lipstick?" "Well, whoever heard of an estrogenic lipstick?" "Silas Vance." "Let him figure out how to keep the estrogen from turning everything lavender." "He's the boss." "Trouble is I told him I'd do it." "Here it is Thursday." "You know it's past 8:30?" "You wanna go home?" "Mm-mm." "Well, you helped me with the new dusting powder last month." "You did that all by yourself." "And you helped me with the tear-proof eye shadow when I first came to work, didn't you?" "Hm." "Could be I have a weakness for lady chemists." "Miss Lewis." "Hello, Mr. Knudsen." "Mr. Pompey would like to see you." "Now?" "Yes, Miss." "Hiya, Mr. Nichols." "Knudsen." "I wonder what Max is up to at this time of night?" "I don't know." "I'll tell you later." "Mr. Pompey." "Come in, Karen." "Come in." "Shut the door, will you, please?" "Well, see how you like this." "No thanks, Mr. Pompey." "I thought we agreed it was to be Max." "All right, Max." "But it's still no thanks." "Oh, come on." "Come on." "You know, that innocent little-girl pose won't work any longer." "Not after what I found out about you and Gabriel Rawson." "You've been a rather naughty girl, haven't you?" "The town's number-one playboy and, just incidentally, our leading competitor." "I've seen Mr. Rawson exactly twice." "Really?" "Who told you that?" "A little bird who's been watching you, darling, ever since Rawson Cosmetics came out first with that dusting powder you were working on." "Are you suggesting that I gave him the formula?" "And the estrogenic cream formula." "You can't be serious." "No?" "Some things I found in your desk." "A carbon of the estrogenic cream formula." "A carbon of the dusting powder formula." "Gabriel Rawson's address and private phone number." "And a bankbook showing a deposit a week ago of $1,500 and another yesterday of $2,500." "How much was he gonna pay you for the new lipstick?" "This is my deposit book." "You can keep it, provided you play ball with me instead of Rawson." "You know I've always liked you, Karen." "There must be some mistake." "You want the police to check it out?" "No." "Okay." "Then relax." "We'll make out fine." "Let go of me." "Stop it." "Let go of me." "( coughing )" "Are you all right?" "You're fired." "If you're not out of the city by tomorrow morning," "I'll have you thrown in jail." "( ominous theme playing )" "If you tell Peter Nichols about this," "I'll have him fired him too." "Now, get out." "Get out!" "( door opens )" "( door closes )" "( dramatic theme playing )" "Where did you come from?" "My offices." "Did the nasty girl hurtum Daddy's poor little head?" "I turned it off, Max." "You know, I always suspected you of eavesdropping." "You don't run this department, Myra, you got no right" ""I've always liked you, Karen."" ""We'll make out fine, Karen."" "Oh, I know how you love to chase girls around this office, but I didn't think you'd go as far as framing some poor thing just to get a handhold on her." "I found those things in her desk." "You were listening." "You heard her say she'd been out with Rawson twice." "Karen Lewis could no more steal from this company or sell its formulas than" "Than she could fall for a goat like you." "( laughs )" "That's enough." "If anybody's stealing around this place, it's you." "You know that, Max." "You're crazy." "Max, you don't have to lie about it." "I'm not going to tell Mr. Vance." "But Gabriel Rawson pays you a salary, doesn't he?" "No wonder so many secrets are leaking out of here." "And just when Caresse Cosmetics is beginning to do so well too." "Stop it, Myra!" "Max Pompey, the one-man fifth column, the great Judas goat." "Yes, that's what you are:" "a Judas." "Stop it, Myra!" "I'm no spy, here." "I'm nothing, don't you understand?" "It's your fault if I chase girls." "If you hadn't closed the door on me..." "I can't get you out of my mind, Myra." "Myra-- Max." "Isn't one whack on the head enough for one night?" "Okay." "Skip it." "I'm sorry, Max." "It's still my favorite pin." "Oh, you haven't forgotten how, have you?" "I haven't forgotten a lot of things." "We used to tell each other the truth, remember?" "( chuckles )" "Same old Myra." "Why don't you bring your car around to the side entrance?" "Drive me home?" "( door closes )" "( dials )" "Mr. Rawson, please." "( ominous theme playing )" "Oh, Gabriel, I'm going to be a little late tonight." "Max Pompey." "Yes, I" " I talked to him." "He found the evidence." "Yes, darling." "Things are moving along just fine." "Now, suppose you go over it all again, Mr. Nichols, from the beginning, for Mr. Drake's benefit." "How long was it before you began to worry about Miss Lewis?" "I guess it was around a half-hour." "And when you went to look for her in Mr. Pompey's office, you found what you thought were signs of struggle?" "Cosmetic samples strewn all over the floor." "In the wastebasket I found a bloodstained towel." "Was there much blood?" "NICHOLS:" "No." "Just a smear." "That worried me even more." "I called Karen's apartment and Pompey's." "No answer at either place." "How come you haven't notified the police, Mr. Nichols?" "Well..." "Unless Karen's in real trouble, I don't think she'd want that." "That's why I came to you, Mr. Mason." "For advice first." "Why wouldn't Miss Lewis want the police involved?" "Well, I" " I don't know exactly." "But I've always had the feeling that there was something that she wanted to but couldn't quite tell me about her childhood in New York." "I'd asked her questions about it but she ignores them." "Changes the subject." "Well not that that means there's anything wrong" "( intercom buzzes )" "Yes, Della." "DELLA:" "Mr. Pompey's expected any minute now." "All right, thank you." "Paul, you better get right on this." "Try to trace where Miss Lewis went last night." "Okay, great." "Now, you say that Max Pompey was the superintendent of the plant." "Now, who is the, um, president of Caresse Cosmetics?" "A gentle old soul by the name of Silas Vance." "Where the devil is everybody?" "Where's Pete Nichols?" "Doesn't he realize that lipstick has to be ready today?" "And where's Karen Lewis?" "You know, a little louder and they could hear you in the San Francisco plant." "Not even Max Pompey is here." "I want to talk to you about that, Silas." "Well, talk." "Here, or in your office?" "Here, since it looks like I'm gonna have to carry on for young Nichols." "You don't suppose that Nichols and Karen eloped, do you?" "I hardly think so." "Pete probably overslept." "He was working late last night." "Karen was with him." "Not after Max Pompey got through with her." "Max?" "He fired her last night." "On what grounds?" "Selling our formulas to Gabriel Rawson." "That's absurd." "Karen would never do that." "Max has some pretty convincing evidence." "A report from one of the security men that the girl has seen Rawson at least twice, had copies of the formulas and had Rawson's private telephone number in her desk." "I don't believe it." "I don't really believe it either, Silas." "But there's no other explanation." "Unless somebody wanted to frame her." "Max Pompey's trying anything like that," "I'll kill him, so help me." "I didn't know you felt so violently about Karen Lewis." "There's a lot of things you don't know, Myra." "SILAS:" "Where have you been?" "I'm sorry, sir." "Mr. Vance, this is Mr. Perry Mason, an attorney." "What are you doing with a lawyer, Pete?" "You're not that late." "I'm making some inquiries about Karen Lewis, Mr. Vance." "It seems she disappeared last night, left no forwarding address." "This happened shortly after an interview with one of your company officials." "Who was the official?" "Max Pompey." "Why do you come to me about this?" "We can't locate Mr. Pompey." "I thought possibly you might know what they had discussed." "Max operates rather independently at times," "Mr. Mason." "Why don't we have him call you when he comes in?" "All right." "But I'd still like to ask Mr. Vance what he knows concerning the events of last night." "I see no reason why I should answer." "Very well, Mr. Vance." "But if you don't know what happened last night," "I suggest you begin some inquiries yourself." "Especially in regard to a bloodstained towel, found in Mr. Pompey's office." "( ominous theme playing )" "( steam hissing )" "Mr. Rawson?" "This is a strange sort of place to meet." "I don't have much time." "Besides, I prefer a little privacy." "Mr. Rawson, I, uh, had to fire Karen Lewis last night." "Karen Lewis?" "The girl who's been selling you our cosmetic formulas." "I don't buy formulas from other companies." "You ought to know that, Max." "Sure, Mr. Rawson." "Sure." "Max, forget the girl." "Something else has come up." "My board of directors is meeting next Tuesday." "Oh?" "There's been a movement on to undermine me." "Silas Vance has outsold me in 11 states this month." "My outfit's supposed to be paying a dividend." "Now, as I see it, there are only one or two things that can save my neck next week." "One is for Silas Vance to kick the bucket." "Two" "You wouldn't like to arrange that, would you?" "Well, and the other is for me to into that meeting Tuesday with Caresse Cosmetics in the palm of my hand." "All of it." "Tuesday?" "But-- That's only, um, three days off." "And it's over 30 days since you came to me with those debts of yours." "I paid them because you said you could make Silas Vance sell out to me, lock, stock and barrel, how you know something about his past, how you could twist his arm, apply the pressure." "Now, look, it's only a matter of time, that's all, Mr. Rawson." "You don't want me to do anything that's real blackmail." "I can still put on the pressure." "I don't want to know how you do it or why or where." "Only when." "By next Tuesday, you understand?" "( ominous theme playing )" "( door closes )" "Who?" "Vance?" "Mr. Silas Vance?" "Hello, Mr. Vance." "Yes, but how did know I was here?" "Oh, never mind that, you just get right down here to the lab." "Please, Mr. Vance, I don't want to come back." "I don't even want to see Peter, not until I have a chance to think things out." "You see, something happened, well, that I don't want to talk about." "Well, I would." "Pompey told me all about it, and it's just so much poppycock." "You come on down here." "I'm in your office." "Between us we'll string a real crook up by the heels." "( sighs )" "Oh, if we only could, Mr. Vance." "Well, I'll be down as quickly as I can." "Hurry." "( door closes)" "( suspenseful theme playing )" "( man whimpering)" "Mr. Knudsen." "Mr. Knudsen." "( moaning )" "Mr. Vance." "Mr. Vance." "( sinister theme playing )" "( ominous theme playing )" "Well, I told the officer that got here first everything I know, lieutenant." "TRAGG:" "So now tell me." "Well, I was making my 11:00 round, like I always do." "That's the executive offices and then here." "And I" " I came through that door and started across to the glassed-in area." "Mr. Vance was still there?" "Yes, he was in the lab office." "I" " I took three or four steps and... wham!" "The lights went out." "What time was this?" "Well, I don't know exactly." "I made my last station check at 11:15." "Stopped at 11:22." "Well, you must have used a jet plane to get here this fast, counselor." "I got the call just as I was leaving the office." "Where is he?" "Uh, just let me finish here." "Sergeant." "Tag that." "And, uh, sweep up the glass into an envelope." "Now, you were slugged at 11:22 and our records show you called us at 11:27." "Were you unconscious the entire five minutes?" "Well, I was out longer than five minutes." "You called us while you were unconscious?" "I didn't call you at all." "I" " I was just coming to when the officers got here." "That was after 11:30." "TRAGG:" "Well, then who did call?" "I don't know." "All right, Knudsen." "That's all for now." "Go ahead." "He's the most obliging killer I've run across for a long time." "He knocked out watchman, shot Mr. Vance and called the police, all within the space of five minutes." "Then Silas Vance was shot?" "Yes, twice." "But the prisoner be undoubtedly able to tell you more about that than I can." "( dramatic theme playing )" "It wasn't until I checked the registration slate in her car that I was sure it was Karen Lewis, and by that time she'd gone into the building." "What time was that, Paul?" "Uh, 11:20 on the nose." "Anyway, I waited around a few minutes, then I began to wonder if I shouldn't have gone in the building after her." "So I walked down to a corner to see what lights were on and that's when she ran out." "I called, but she jumped in her car and took off." "I started to follow when a squad car came blasting up and shunted me over the curb." "I just about had them convinced I was an innocent bystander when Tragg shows up." "You didn't tell him anything about Karen Lewis?" "No,I wanted to talk to you." "After all, if she's guilty it's one thing." "But if she isn't, I sure don't wanna be the one to get her in a jam." "This is a murder, Paul." "There are limits as to how far we can go on protecting a client." "Well, then you think I should tell" "Lieutenant Tragg everything?" "Let me make a phone call first." "I believe you." "I know, but Peter, I can't go to the police." "( phone ringing)" "Hello." "Mr. Mason, I've been trying to reach you." "Yes, yes, I've heard about Mr. Vance." "Well, Karen told me." "Yes, she is right here." "Just a moment." "He wants to speak to you." "Yes, Mr. Mason?" "Miss Lewis, I know you must be frightened." "But if you're innocent..." "I am innocent, Mr. Mason." "...then don't worry." "Stay right where you are." "Yes, I'll-- I'll do what you say." "(accordion music being played )" "Hello, Myra." "Have you been following me?" "I've got to talk to you." "What time did you leave the plant tonight?" "When we finished talking." "A few minutes after 11." "Why?" "Because a few minutes past 11, somebody shot and killed Silas Vance." "You already knew?" "Not about the time." "How could you know at all?" "It's not even on the radio yet." "How did you know, Max?" "The police." "They telephoned." "They want to see me in the morning." "Well, so you're here too." "Well, I guess you two have met each other." "Waiter, another glass." "Does he know too, Myra?" "Know what?" "Max feels suspicious about my knowing Silas Vance is dead." "She learned it from me." "I learned it from a newspaper friend." "Nothing like champagne for a festive occasion." "To the future." "You're wondering how the future will affect our deal, eh, Max?" "No, Gabriel." "He's wondering which one of us killed Silas Vance." "Well, I hope neither of you did." "At least not on my account." "To the future." "Yes, I offered to stay." "Mr. Vance said he had bigger fish to fry than finishing the new lipstick." "Only I guess the fish fried him." "What time did you leave the lab office?" "Well, I finished work around 7." "Then I went by Karen's apartment on the off chance that she might have been there." "Only no one was there, so I went on home." "There you are, sweet." "Here, relax." "If you're asking me for an alibi, Mr. Mason," "I'm afraid I'm fresh out." "Why would he need an alibi?" "He'd have no possible reason to kill Mr. Vance." "Well, the same holds true for you." "I'm afraid it doesn't, Peter." "I was with Lieutenant Tragg a few minutes ago, obtaining official permission to visit the laboratory again." "Tragg's been rather busy." "He learned from Max Pompey about the formulas and the bank deposit book he found in Karen's desk." "But that's a motive for killing Pompey, not Mr. Vance." "I haven't finished." "Tragg also learned from Myra Heston that Silas Vance confiscated this so-called evidence and took it down to the lab." "But when the police found the body, the evidence was gone." "Then they could think that Karen killed Mr. Vance in order to suppress or destroy the evidence." "That's right." "( phone rings)" "I think that's our call." "Hello?" "Yes, Paul." "Are you sure it's the same Karen Lewis?" "Hm." "All right, Paul." "We'll meet you down at the lab in about 20 minutes." "Karen, how long has Silas Vance been personally interested in you?" "I don't know what you mean." "Paul Drake just talked to Mr. Vance's attorney." "Let me quote from Mr. Vance's will:" ""To Karen Lewis, whom I have watched over for many years" ""and who is at present employed in my laboratory," "I bequeath all my worldly possessions."" "And included in those possessions, Karen, is Caresse Cosmetic Products, Incorporated." "( ominous theme playing )" "MASON:" "All right, go over to him just as you did last night." "I" " I think I said his name." "Mr. Knudsen." "That exactly where you knelt?" "You weren't cut by the broken glass from the clock?" "No." "That skirt." "Is that the same one you wore last night?" "Yes." "All right, Pete." "Here's your coat." "Now, let's see." "Exactly what did you do next?" "Well, I" " I called for Mr.Vance, and then I" " I went across to the lab office." "I didn't see him at first." "Then I saw his arm." "Then his body." "He was down there, half under the desk." "What did you do?" "KAREN:" "Then I" "I backed away." "To the telephone." "I dialed O and told the operator to send the police." "And then..." "Then I ran away." "Did you give the telephone operator your name?" "No." "How about the night watchman?" "Was he conscious by that time?" "He was still lying there just as he'd been before." "All right now, Karen," "I want you to try to visualize this room exactly as it was last night." "Let's start with the desk." "What was on it?" "There were some cosmetic samples, some of the new designs." "And one or two lab reports." "How about your bank deposit book and the formulas?" "I don't remember seeing them." "I can hardly remember seeing anything except Mr. Vance." "Wait a minute." "I remember something." "When Tragg was examining the body, there was something clutched in Vance's hand." "Something that, uh, smeared it all purple." "Lavender." "It must be one of the lipsticks we've beem working on." "Our lavender lipstick." "NICHOLS:" "Why would he have it in his hand?" "Excuse me, Paul." "Sure." "See, his arm was right here..." "Karen." "Karen, may I see your compact?" "Of course." "Here, help me clear off this desk, will you, please?" "[MASON READING]" "That's all it says." "I'd say that's quite enough." "That's very clever of you, Perry." "I never thought of looking under a drawer." ""Shot by KA."" "KA." "That's the start of a name." "K-A..." "Karen." "Karen Lewis." "You Karen Lewis?" "Yes." "I must ask you to come down to headquarters with me." "You have a warrant for her arrest, lieutenant?" "For the moment she's merely a material witness." "This way, please, Miss Lewis." "It's all right, Karen." "But, um, with that drawer added to our evidence, counselor," "I intend to ask for a warrant charging her with first-degree murder." "( intense theme playing )" "( dramatic theme playing )" "I'm going into court accused of murder." "And you still haven't found out everything you think you ought to know about me, have you?" "Karen, I'd hate to have the prosecution pull any surprises, and I just have the feeling that you've been hiding something." "Does it concern Pete Nichols?" "No." "It's something I haven't been able to tell anyone." "My father died in prison." "Now you certainly don't believe the sins of the father are visited upon the child?" "My mother must have." "She never told me about him." "Go on." "He died when I was a baby." "I didn't find out about him until I was 17." "I found some newspaper clippings among her things." "And that was when your mother passed away?" "What did the clippings say?" "Kenneth Lewis, president of a small New York cosmetic firm, sentenced to prison." "What for, Karen?" "He put out a cheap facial cream which was actually poisonous." "Was there anyone convicted with him?" "The clippings didn't mention anyone." "Why?" "I was thinking of Mr. Vance." "In the same business, watching over you for years." "Always knowing exactly where you were." "Where to find you." "Do you think Mr. Vance knew my father?" "I certainly think there's some connection." "Karen, in a very few minutes we'll be in court." "A lot of this will probably have to be brought out." "I know that." "All right, let's go." "Perry, I can't leave now." "Court's about to convene and you know I've been subpoenaed to testify." "I know it, Paul, but I need everything you can dig up on this fellow, a New York cosmetic manufacturer named Kenneth Lewis." "He's in New York now?" "Oh, no." "No, he's been dead for some 23 years." "COURT CLERK:" "Please rise." "The Superior Court of the State of California..." "Twenty-three years?" "COURT CLERK:" "...Department 12, is now in session." "The Honorable John Davis, judge, presiding." "And in a corner of her desk, hidden under some facial tissues," "I found..." "Well, what I really hadn't wanted to find." "And, uh, what was this, Mr. Pompey?" "Carbons of two of our secret formulas, which she had no business having, and a bank deposit book showing two recent deposits." "I don't remember the exact sums, but they were substantial." "And following this discovery?" "I sent Knudsen to the lab where she was working with Nichols to ask her to come to my office." "Then I showed her what I'd found." "HELMING:" "And what was her reaction?" "Naturally, she denied having taken the formulas." "Said it was all a mistake." "And how did Mr. Vance react when you told him what Mr. Pompey had found in the defendant's desk?" "He didn't believe it at first." "Not until I showed him the formula carbons and the deposit book in Max Pompey'soffice." "What did he say then?" "Well, I think he" "He said he was going to confront Karen," "Miss Lewis, with the things as soon as he could find her." "And if she didn't give a satisfactory explanation, he was going to have her arrested." "I see." "Did Mr. Vance take the carbons and deposit book from Mr. Pompey's office?" "Yes." "He took them with him when he went to the laboratory." "( man coughing )" "Oh, yes." "We searched the laboratory office thoroughly." "And found the carbons and the deposit book?" "Oh, no." "No, sir." "Someone had taken them then?" "Objection, Your Honor." "The question calls for an unwarranted conclusion on the part of the witness." "Defense will concede that the decedent may have had the objects in question earlier that day, but it has not been shown that the decedent had those object that night." "I'll be happy to withdraw the question, Mr. Mason, since it seems to disturb you so much." "Now, Lieutenant Tragg, was there anything unusual at all about the desk in the laboratory office?" "Yes, sir." "But I, uh, didn't discover it." "Who did?" "Perry Mason." "I now show you this drawer, lieutenant." "Can you identify it?" "Yes, sir." "It's a drawer of the desk under which the body was found." "Mr. Mason called my attention to it." "Uh, now will you describe to the court the relation of the drawer to the desk and to Mr. Vance's body?" "Yes, the drawer was pulled out a few inches from the desk, and the decedent's right hand was under the pulled-out portion." "And Mr. Mason called your attention to that?" "No, no, no." "He, uh, called my attention to what was written on the bottom." "The writing's a little shaky, but still legible." "Uh, "Shot by KA."" "And what did you do in regard to this writing?" "TRAGG:" "Well,I checked the two letters against the names of all the decedent's employees." "Did you find any whose name began with K-A?" "Yes." "One." "The defendant." "Karen Lewis." "HELMING:" "Mr. Nichols, do you or do you not recognize this piece of lipstick taken from the deceased's hand?" "Yes, it's one of the lavender lipsticks I was working on." "Who was helping you on that research?" "Karen." "Karen Lewis." "So it is possible that the deceased could have obtained this piece of lipstick from Miss Lewis?" "We had several pieces, I could have left it on the lab table." "He could have picked it up." "I don't want your guess, Mr. Nichols." "Now, you also worked on a certain estrogenic cream, the formula for which was stolen and given to a competitive company, is that correct?" "( sighs )" "Yes." "And who was your assistant on that project, Mr. Nichols?" "NICHOLS:" "Karen Lewis." "And before that, who was working on the dusting powder which was also taken?" "Karen Lewis." "No, sir." "I" " I don't know who hit me." "Everything just went black." "Did you see the defendant at any time before or after you were struck that night?" "Oh, no, sir." "When, approximately, were you knocked unconscious?" "Elevent twenty-two." "I know because my clock broke when I fell." "Glass and blood were all mixed up." "Is, uh, this clock, tagged Exhibit C, the one to which you are referring?" "Yes, sir." "And the hands are exactly as you found them when you regained consciousness?" "Yes, sir." "Thank you." "Your witness." "Mr. Knudsen, how long have you worked for Caresse Cosmetics?" "Well, almost 11 years now." "A great deal longer than the defendant." "Oh, my, yes." "Mr. Knudsen, in the course of your work as a night watchman, have you ever done any cleaning?" "Oh, I don't mean janitor work, uh, I mean, perhaps, uh, well, straightening up the offices?" "Oh, no." "No, I just check to see things are locked up where they should be, that's all." "Well, Mr. Knudsen, have you ever found Miss Lewis' desk or her place of work to be remiss in any way?" "Well, now, she's a good little housekeeper." "She keeps her table and her cabinet locked proper, if that's what you mean." "MASON:" "Then doesn't it strike you as peculiar, Mr. Knudsen, that on one certain night she'd suddenly be careless?" "She'd suddenly leave her desk open with such incriminating things as a bankbook and cosmetic formulas inside that desk?" "Your Honor, I object." "He's leading the witness and calling for conclusions." "I'll withdraw the question, Your Honor." "That'll be all." "I now call Paul Drake to the stand." "JUDGE:" "The witness is excused." "You may step down, Mr. Knudsen." "Gentlemen, since it's almost 12:00," "I would prefer to recess for lunch." "Court adjourned until 1:30." "Have a nice lunch, Mr. Helming." "( dramatic theme playing )" "More coffee?" "No, thank you." "( knocking on door )" "Hi, beautiful." "From your actions I take it you realize you are a fugitive from justice." "Yeah, well, uh, don't make jokes." "But I figure you will get me off in return for what I've dug up for you." "Dug up something about Kenneth Lewis?" "Uh-huh." "Silas Vance was once known as Frank Jefferson." "That was in 1937, the year that Jefferson disappeared." "Why'd he change his name?" "Because he was a full business partner to a criminal, to Kenneth Lewis." "And there's more." "Other names, full details on the trial and conviction of Kenneth Lewis." "Everything." "How'd you, uh, find all this out so soon?" "Well," "I called the detective outfit I use in New York and they were just putting this information together." "It seems that three months ago they were hired to do a complete check on Silas Vance and Kenneth Lewis." "Must have been hired by Gabriel Rawson." "Well, they were, but how'd you know?" "Oh, things are beginning to go together, Paul." "What we have to do now is get hold of Rawson." "We can't." "Can't?" "I called and he's on his way to the airport." "It seems he suddenly has some very important business in New York." "Della." "DELLA:" "Yes, Perry?" "Get the airport on the phone for me, will you, please?" "( steam hissing )" "Max?" "Uh-uh." "You made me miss my plane for nothing, so help me, I'll have your scalp." "Now, what's this matter?" "I think you'll find out at 2:00 this afternoon, Mr. Rawson." "That's when this subpoena calls for you to appear in court." "And you'd, uh, better hurry." "You've just got a few minutes." "( suspenseful theme playing )" "Mr. Vance kept me with him all those years because, uh" "Because I knew the business." "Let me show you this report on the trial of one Kenneth Lewis in 1936 for his cosmetic firm's violation of the Pure Food and Drug Act." "I note here that one of the main witnesses against him was an investigator for the New York State Department of Health named Max Pompey." "Did Mr. Vance keep you with him all those years because you, uh, knew the business or because you were blackmailing him?" "Blackmail's pretty strong, Mr. Mason." "Mr. Pompey, isn't it true that Mr. Vance's name was originally Frank Jefferson?" "POMPEY:" "Yes." "And isn't it also true that Frank Jefferson was a business partner of Kenneth Lewis?" "POMPEY:" "Well, I can explain all that." "MASON:" "I wish you would." "Well, their firm got into trouble over a cheap facial cream that turned out to be poisonous." "Now, Jefferson developed the formula on Lewis' orders, so they were both responsible." "But when I put the finger on them, they made a sort of deal with each other and with me." "Just one of the partners was to shoulder the blame, was that the deal?" "They tossed a coin and Jefferson, that is, Vance, won." "They stuck to it as agreed." "And as agreed, you had a job for life with Mr. Vance." "It's just a job, that's all, nothing" " Nothing fancy." "You see, half of everything Jefferson had was to go to Lewis after he came out." "Only then Lewis died in prison." "Jefferson blamed himself." "He could hardly talk to anybody." "That's when he changed his name to Silas Vance." "So you were going to use all this information to force Mr. Vance to sell his company to Gabriel Rawson." "POMPEY:" "Yes." "Why did you want to ally yourself with Mr. Rawson when you had a lifetime job with Mr. Vance?" "I had to." "I" " I got mixed up with a" " A woman, and ended up with a pile of bills." "Rawson paid them off for me." "Mr. Pompey, this woman you just referred to, who was she?" "Myra Heston." "( intense theme playing )" "Yes, I've know Mr. Rawson for many years." "Was it his idea that you become more closely acquainted with Mr. Pompey?" "That perhaps you were to help increase his expenses?" "I suppose you might put it that way." "Was it Mr. Rawson's idea that you borrow Karen Lewis' bankbook and make two deposits in her name, one for $1,500 and one for $2,500?" "I didn't deposit anything to her account." "The signatures endorsing Mr. Rawson's checks were forgeries." "But expert handwriting analysis will prove that" "All right, I made the deposits." "Is there any law against giving people money?" "That depends." "Now, Miss Heston, did you put that bankbook and those cosmetic formulas in Miss Lewis' desk?" "Yes." "MASON:" "Was that also Mr. Rawson's idea?" "MYRA:" "Yes, it was his idea." "MASON:" "Where did you get the formulas?" "MYRA:" "Mr. Rawson gave them to me." "MASON:" "Mr. Rawson gave them to you." "Where'd he get them?" "MYRA:" "I don't know." "Mr. Rawson, did you give those formulas to Miss Heston?" "Yes." "Did you also give her the money to deposit to Miss Lewis' account?" "Yes." "You know, you're quite an operator, Mr. Rawson." "Honeycombing your competitor's company with spies." "But why would you want to discredit Karen Lewis?" "Wasn't it that you had discovered Mr. Vance's past?" "That he regarded Karen as his responsibility, his heir?" "You reasoned that in order to gain possession of Caress Cosmetics, you had to discredit Karen Lewis in Mr. Vances eyes." "Is that not correct?" "Yes." "But you didn't stop at that." "You killed Silas Vance and you took that bankbook and the formulas in an effort to incriminate Miss Lewis." "But I didn't kill Vance." "What about those formulas?" "I didn't take them." "If you didn't take them, who did?" "I don't know." "Your Honor." "I would like to recall Lieutenant Tragg to the stand." "Mr. Helming?" "The State has been looking forward to putting Paul Drake on the stand, Your Honor, but since I agreed in chambers to cooperate with Mr. Mason," "I have no objections provided that the lieutenant's recall will enable us to get at the truth in this matter." "The witness may step down." "Lieutenant Tragg?" "Now, lieutenant, you testified that you were present while laboratory tests were made on this wool skirt worn by the defendant on the night of the murder?" "Yes, I did." "You further testified that on the skirt were found blood smears of the same blood grouping as that of the night watchman." "Yes." "What else did you find on the skirt?" "Nothing." "As an expert, didn't that strike you as rather odd?" "Yes, sir." "Would you tell the court why?" "Well, I expected to find, uh, bits of glass, since there were pieces, uh, from the watchman's clock all over the bloodstained floor." "Which would indicate that the murderer set and broke the clock after Miss Lewis knelt beside the night watchman." "In fact, after Miss Lewis had fled from the laboratory." "Yes, it could indicate that." "But if it does, Mr. Mason, who is the guilty party?" "I think we can show that, Your Honor." "Now, lieutenant, you of course have seen the writing on the bottom of this desk drawer." "With the, uh, court's permission," "I would like to copy that writing." "Shot... by..." "Now, what is the next letter, lieutenant?" "A capital K." "K..." "Now suppose Silas Vance had started to write..." "And then as his strength failed, he did this." "Now couldn't that second letter have been one of, uh, two letters, lieutenant?" "Couldn't that second letter have been an N instead of an A?" ""Shot by K-N."" "Shot by Knudsen." "Charles Knudsen, the night watchman." "I didn't want to give things to Mr. Rawson." "But I needed the money so bad for my family." "And then I couldn't stop." "Because he said he'd tell." "And I couldn't have that." "And then Mr. Vance found out" "I was stealing his formulas." "He said he was going to send me to jail and I couldn't have that either." "I just" " I couldn't." "I didn't want to kill him." "Mr. Vance started to phone the police." "And I-- I just grabbed him." "And he started yelling." "And I couldn't have that." "I couldn't have any of it." "I just couldn't." "( dramatic theme playing )" "( jazzy theme playing )" "We'll wait here for Paul, Karen." "I have all your things." "Your money's in your purse, and, um... here's your clock." "Clock?" "Mm-hm." "Seems to me a clock has been pretty important in your life." "I don't understand about the clock." "Why didn't Mr. Knudsen break it before I got there?" "MASON:" "Hi, Paul." "Hi." "He didn't break the clock then because he didn't know exactly when you would be get there." "And he wanted to be sure he had the time right." "That is so you couldn't possibly have an alibi." "Because that night when he overheard Vance call you and ask you to hurry over to help put the finger on the guilty party, well, then he knew he'd had it." "By the way Paul, what did he do with the bankbook and the formulas?" "He burned them." "He just told Tragg about them." "And he threw the gun in a canyon back of Malibu." "The police are there now." "You've explained everything except how you got Mr. Rawson to meet Paul at that steam room." "You mean instead of taking the plane to New York." "I just called him at the airport." "It was so noisy there he could hardly hear." "You should have heard him trying to sound like Max Pompey." "( both chuckle )" "Told Rawson I had to see him at once and he said," ""Same place as last time"" "and I said, "Last time?"" "And he said, "The Allerton steam room, you dummy."" "Words he'll regret the rest of his life." "( noirish jazz theme playing )"