"( noirish jazz theme playing )" "( thunder crashes )" "( dramatic theme playing )" "( wind gusting )" "This is all we were able to find." "( sighs )" "( sobs )" "That's not going to help, Eve." "( Eve cries )" "We're bringing in floodlights." "And we're going to continue searching." "The only problem is that this lake is so full of sunken logs." "( sobbing ):" "Oh, go." "Go away, please." "Go away." "( door closes )" "Hey, what was all that stuff about the floodlights?" "What do you do, tell a woman we've never fished anybody out of that lake?" "Tell her hot dog, she just saved the expense of a fancy funeral." "First thing in the morning, you can explain to her how dead he is." "( dramatic theme playing )" "( engine starting )" "I'm dead." "Yes." "Now I'm dead." "( dramatic theme playing )" "( dramatic theme playing )" "( woman sobbing )" "All right, Helen." "If you'll sign these checks, Mr. Castle," "I'll get them out today." "You know I can't cover these." "I-I've postdated them, Mr. Castle." "What's my balance?" "Precarious." "Sign them tomorrow." "Was the contract in there, Mr. Castle?" "Huh?" "Your agreement with Mr. Nesbitt." "I thought maybe he remembered to mail it to you before he went fishing yesterday." "No, no." "It's not here." "Maybe he didn't even remember to sign it." "In that case your partnership with him is technically not dissolved, so you don't owe his widow" "$10,000 in payment, so" "All right, all right, Ben, I'm aware of all that." "Now, will you get out of here?" "Oh, uh, which reminds me:" "Should I order some flowers sent to Eve Nesbitt?" "The firm could afford a small wreath." "I don't know why I tolerate you." "Sure you do, Mr. Castle." "You tolerate me because I'm a good company man." "And a good company man knows everything that goes on." "Everything." "( door closes )" "What's Ben giggling about?" "Oh, there's the mail." "Lloyd, is it in there?" "No, it's not." "What do you suppose happened?" "Do you think he might not have signed the agreement?" "Who knows." "I sent him all the copies weeks ago." "Probably it's just lying around his desk at home someplace." "If anything important comes up, where can I say you can be reached?" "I can't be." "( tense theme playing )" "What are you going to do, Eve?" "Start a Willard Nesbitt museum?" "I don't understand you." "Didn't you have any feeling for your daddy?" "Oh, he was some daddy, sure enough." "He loved you, Bruce." "Sure." "That's why he divorced my mother." "Stop squeezing that ball." "It's good for the arm." "Anyway, who needed him?" "I'm big enough to take care of myself, now." "Wouldn't you say?" "( sighs )" "I really have no opinion about that." "Aw, I'm not criticizing the guy, Eve-y." "I'm envying him." "When I'm past 50, I'd sure like a nice Georgia peach to come rolling into my lap." "I loved your father dearly." "Sure you did." "And there's nothing like a big fat insurance policy to keep his precious memory alive." "You are a vicious boy." "I remember what the insurance man said:" ""Double indemnity" ""in case of accidental death, Mr. Nesbitt." "Now won't that be a comfort for your widow?"" "A $100,000 worth of comfort." "Oh." "You're vile!" "Eve." "Is that the way to talk to a boy who's just been orphaned?" "( door closes )" "( suspenseful theme playing )" "And in looking through some of my husband's correspondence," "I came across your name, Mr. Mason." "Willard Nesbitt." "The oil lease contract, Perry." "Year before last." "Oh, yes." "Of course." "Didn't I read something in the newspapers about an accident?" "Yes." "My husband was drowned almost two months ago." "I'm very sorry, Mrs. Nesbitt." "Now, how can I help you?" "Well, I'm really not sure, Mr. Mason." "You see, back in Georgia, where I was raised, it was considered vulgar for a woman to know too much about business matters." "So I-I'm kind of stupid when it comes to money." "But I can read a bank statement." "And, to be perfectly frank, Mr. Mason, I am without funds." "No insurance?" "Oh, yes, Willard took out a" "I believe you called it a double indemnity policy." "And I'm to get $100,000." "What's holding it up?" "Well, I don't know." "The insurance company told me I'd get my money as soon as they concluded their investigation." "Aren't there any assets in your husband's company that you could draw on?" "Well, that's what I'm getting at, Mr. Mason." "I'm not so sure it is my husband's company any more." "You see, my husband had a business partner." "Mr. Lloyd Castle." "A" " And for several months before he died, they were discussing a separation." "Was this a new business your husband was in?" "No, no, the same as when you knew him, I suppose." "Investment properties." "Oil and mining properties." "Were the assets to be divided equally?" "No, I don't think so." "Uh, Mr. Castle was supposed to buy my husband out for $10,000." "Now, if he did that, wouldn't that money be mine?" "If that was the agreement, yes." "Oh." "Well, I've been trying to get Mr. Castle on the phone and his secretary keeps telling me he's out of town." "I don't know whether he's trying to avoid me or not." "But, uh, I think I need a lawyer, Mr. Mason, wouldn't you say so?" "Yes, I'd say so." "Della, let's see if we can make an appointment with Mr. Castle." "Heh." "Well, let's put it this way, Mr. Mason, we might not be the luckiest mining speculators in America, but we're among the poorest." "I gathered you'd had a little bad luck, from what Mrs. Nesbitt told me." "However, there seems to be some question about a dissolution of partnership." "Jenny, let me have this contracts in my briefcase, will you?" "Well, there's really no question, Mr. Mason." "Of course I've been out of town a good deal." "So Eve Nesbitt might have misunderstood a great deal." "Mr. Castle, my sole interest is in whether or not you and your partner reached an agreement." "Oh, thank you." "Yes." "Here we are." "We agreed to dissolve the partnership, Mr. Mason." "We drew up this contract, it's just a simple statement of terms." "I see." "Willard signed them just a couple of days before he was drowned." "Wasn't there to have been a payment of some sort?" "I have the check right here, Mr. Castle." "Thank you, Jenny." "Yes, there we are." "Drawn to Eve Nesbitt according to the terms of the agreement." "In the amount of $10,000." "Now, Mr. Mason, you said you were concerned about something." "What was it?" "MASON:" "Nothing, I guess." "I'm sure, she'll appreciate the money." "Thank you, Mr. Castle." "Miss Bartlett." "Goodbye, Mr. Mason." "Mr. Mason." "Jenny." "Jenny, we've done it." "Oh, we have?" "Have we?" "What's the matter?" "Our ship has come in." "Wait till you see the assays on that Mesa property." "And wait till the royalties start rolling in." "Jenny, will you marry me?" "Do you mean it this time?" "My only trouble has been an empty wallet." "But that's all over." "Forever." "That 10,000 of yours is going to blossom into a cool half million dollars." "And not one penny of it will go to Eve Nesbitt." "Half a million dollars?" "That's what that Mesa property is going to be worth in a couple of weeks." "Oh, faithful partner." "You didn't die a minute too soon." "MAN:" ""Mesa Mine A Mint."" "When you finish in the lobby, Joe, take a look at 203." "We've got a reservation coming in at noon." "Joe, you hear me?" "Oh, sure, Mr. Anderson." "I'm going into town to pick up the linens." "Grab the phone if it rings." "Sure." ""Mr. Castle, a speculator in oil and mining properties" ""took an option on ten acres of hill country in Mesa, Nevada." ""It proved to be more than scrub land." ""A rich vein of gold was tapped, and experts estimate" ""that Mr. Castle will clear half a million dollars in the next year."" "( phone ringing )" "WOMAN:" "Operator." "Information." "I'd like to have the telephone number of Mr. Perry Mason." "He's an attorney in Los Angeles." "( woman speaks indistinctly over phone )" "( ringing )" "Perry Mason's office." "(Willard speaks indistinctly on phone)" "No, I'm sorry, he isn't in right now." "Uh, who is calling, please?" "Uh, Harry Brown." "Well, perhaps I could help you, Mr. Brown." "Well, yes, perhaps you can." "I" " I'm an investigator for the Bureau of Internal Revenue." "Uh, we understand that Mr. Mason represents a Mrs. Willard Nesbitt?" "That's right." "Well, she apparently owns, or we assume she still owns, a part of the Nesbitt  Castle Company." "I-Is that correct?" "Uh, well just what is this in reference to?" "Well, in checking over Mrs. Nesbitt's projected income for next year, we see that she has neglected to include her royalties for the Mesa mine properties." "Mr. Mason is her attorney, not her accountant, Mr. Brown." "But he handled the negotiations for Mrs. Nesbitt." "He would know if" "I'm sorry, we can't give that information out over the phone." "Now, if you could come in to the office perhaps" "( phone clicks )" "( tense theme playing )" "Well!" "Thank you." "Thank you very much." "( dialing )" "( woman speaking indistinctly on phone )" "Operator." "I want to call Dunkirk 20799." "( rings )" "Hello." "( Willard speaking indistinctly on phone )" "Then I called the Bureau of Internal Revenue, just before they closed last night." "They don't a Harry Brown working for them, not as an investigator." "And you didn't recognize his voice?" "No." "But it sounded sort of muffled." "You know, like maybe he put something over the mouth piece to disguise it." "I wonder if it would have something to do with that." "MASON:" "Yes, I think it could be, Della." "You'd better get Eve Nesbitt on the phone." "(man speaks indistinctly on phone)" "Uh, no." "she's not here, Mr. Mason." "( Mason speaks indistinctly on phone )" "Well, I'm not her watchdog." "But you might try the lake cottage." "( Mason speaks indistinctly on phone )" "Yeah, she went out there in a big lather last night." "( Mason speaks indistinctly on phone )" "Yeah, about 9:00 she got a phone call." "I didn't pay any attention, I was watching television." "Only I heard her give out with one of those silly squeals of hers and., uh, then she grabbed her old coat." "( Mason speaks indistinctly on phone )" "Well, no, she didn't say anything to me, but I mean, I figured since she took that coat, she" "( Mason speaks indistinctly on phone )" "I mean look, Mr. Mason, she still isn't back, so where else would she be?" "( tense theme playing )" "What can I do for you, mister?" "My name is Mason, I'm Mrs. Nesbitt's attorney." "What's happened?" "How long has he been dead?" "Well, I'm as confused as you are, mister." "I thought Mr. Nesbitt had been dead for over eight weeks, but right now I'd say it was closer to eight hours." "( dramatic theme playing )" "A bunch of college boys came up late last night, about midnight." "They camped right down there, built up a big fire." "They found the body?" "First thing this morning they went out for some early fishing." "Spotted Nesbitt in the shallow water there." "The ambulance men say he'd been shot." "The way I figure, this Nesbitt faked an accident up here once before." "Maybe to collect his own insurance." "Who knows?" "Anyway, the next time he shows in this neighborhood, somebody spotted him and decided to make the accident real, that's all." "Only, why would the murderer tie the weight to just one of Mr. Nesbitt's legs and then drop the body off in shallow water?" "Were those other weights and wire still there in the boat this morning?" "Mr. Mason, I'm telling you all I can, because I think the little lady in that house up there will be needing your help." "She's a sorrowful little thing." "I appreciate it, officer." "Now, it's your idea that the college boys building their fire interrupted the murderer, right?" "If so, the killing must have occurred around midnight or just before." "Can you also tell me who the sheriff's office feels might have been near the house at that time?" "Her." "Just her." "( suspenseful theme playing )" "On my word of honor, Mr. Mason, I don't know." "I just don't know." "See, ever since my husband disappeared," "I believed he was dead." "I believed it until he called me on the phone last night." "Can't you recall anything he said to you, beside the fact that he wanted to see you here?" "Mr. Mason, my" " My blood just froze up in me." "It was all I could do to keep from fainting." "Yes." "Yes, I remember he kept saying, we'd been cheated." "And then he hung up." "Did he say he'd spoken with anyone else?" "No." "We can have Paul check the telephone company." "What time did you get out here, Mrs. Nesbitt?" "I got the call about, uh" "About 9, and, uh," "I guess I came here around 10:15." "And I found the lights on, only there wasn't anybody here." "So I didn't know what to do." "I just sat down and I waited." "( sobbing ):" "And I waited." "Would you like some more coffee, Eve?" "No." "I just got to stop this bawling." "( exhales )" "Well, anyway," "I-I didn't know what to do, so I waited and I must have fallen asleep about midnight." "And the next thing I knew there was a knock on the door, and it was daylight and that nice policeman came in and told me they'd found my darling in the lake." "And that he'd been shot." "( cries loudly )" "( somber theme playing )" "We'll be back later, Mrs. Nesbitt." "Now, please don't-- Please don't worry." "Goodbye, Eve." "( sobs )" "Della, may I see those notes you just made?" "Shorthand?" "I can have them typed up in just a few minutes." "And I'll like a copy of the Castle-Nesbitt contract." "The one dissolving their partnership." "I think it was signed on the 15th as I remember." "Mm-hm." "That was just two days before Mr. Nesbitt disappeared." "Perry, what on earth--?" "That's the point, Della." "Just occurred to me that Mr. Nesbitt must have signed that contract out at the cottage." "And he likely used the pen on his desk." "The same one you used to write these notes." "Mm-hm." "What do you think?" "It's not quite the same, is it?" "Uh, the ink, I mean." "Of course there could have been over a dozen pens out there." "( knocking on door )" "Hi, Perry, Della." "Well, Paul?" "The phone company was most cooperative." "Nesbitt made two calls from the cottage last night." "The first one at five minutes after 9, was to Dunkirk 20799." "That's Mr. Nesbitt's apartment phone." "Mm-hm." "And the second one, a few minutes later was to Dickens 51345." "Which is an answering service." "And the call was to Mr. Ben Otis." "Look here, Mr. Mason, I was very fond of Will Nesbitt." "He was an old and good friend." "When I lost my job, he brought me into this office." "But I certainly had no part of what happened last night." "Mr. Nesbitt trusted you a good deal, though, I take it." "How does one measure trust?" "By a telephone call." "Oh." "So that's it." "Yes." "Last night, Willard Nesbitt called you, not Lloyd Castle." "He called the answering service." "The service that this firm subscribes to." "Did anyone else know of the call?" "Well anyone checking the service could have got the message." "Mr. Castle." "Miss Bartlett." "All right, Mr. Otis." "Thank you." "Mr. Castle is quite busy, the police were here all morning." "I'll take only a few minutes." "Now, look here, I checked with the answering service last night and learned of Nesbitt's call." "Is that what you want to know?" "Because as I told the police, I did not go out to the cottage." "We were too worried to know whether it was a crank call or not." "Well, didn't you try to check by calling back?" "Yes, we did." "There was no answer, so we ignored it." "What time did you call the cottage?" "Oh, ten after 10 or so." "Anything else?" "Yes, I'm really here to pick up some of Mr. Nesbitt's files." "Oh, what for?" "Well, I'm Mrs. Nesbitt's attorney," "I'd just like to examine his records." "Well, they go back for quite a few years." "I'll settle for his contract files." "Mr. Mason, what is it you're really looking for?" "I want to run down every possible lead, that's all." "But I don't see why you need-- Nonsense, Jenny." "Mr. Mason has every right." "Yes, here we are." "Nesbitt's files." "Take your choice." "I hope they help you." "Thank you, Mr. Castle." "I'm sure they will." "( tense theme playing )" "Mmm." "What's the verdict, Professor Laiken?" "It's a real beauty." "But a forgery?" "Well, I'm assuming that it is." "( chuckles )" "I don't want assumptions." "Heh." "Now look here, when the great Perry Mason assumes it's a forgery, who am I to say no?" "But is it or is it not?" "I don't know whether I can be absolutely certain about this or not." "The signatures are identical." "The pressure of the strokes similar." "If it's tracing, it's an excellent job." "It has to be a forgery." "Nesbitt originally must have faked his death in order to give his wife the benefit of his insurance." "But why would he then jeopardize everything he just set up?" "He must have read about the Mesa mine, discovered that his wife was being cheated" "But how can you be sure that Nesbitt's wife was telling the truth?" "Maybe she was in the whole thing with him." "Perry, if you put me on the stand," "I'll say that this very likely is a forgery." "It definitely lacks the smoothness of the other signatures." "But another expert might argue the case and then your house of cards would tumble." "On the other hand if you could get me one more copy of this, if I just had something more for comparison... ( rings )" "Hello?" "( woman speaks indistinctly)" "Oh, yeah." "For you, Perry." "Thank you." "Hello?" "Perry, Paul located that motel." "The one where Mr. Nesbitt had been living the past few weeks." "He's on his way over there now and thought you might like to join him." "( tense theme playing )" "Perry." "This is Mr. Anderson." "He, uh, manages the place." "Well, I own it, that's all." "I don't do much real managing." "How do, Mr. Mason?" "Hello, Mr. Anderson." "I got a woman keeps a little closer eye on things." "But Fanny appears to be out somewheres." "I just wish I knew more answers to help you." "Are you sure it was Willard Nesbitt who lived here?" "Mm-hm." "I gave him a room in return for a few odd jobs around the place." "He called himself Joe Smith." "Uh." "Here's my notes so far." "Take a look at this." ""He expected to die"?" ""Livin' on eggshells, on borrowed time,"" "that's how he put it." "See, I only really talked to him this once." "I'd brought in a few cans of beer and he kind of relaxed that night, seemed to want somebody to gab with." "Nesbitt said that he'd seen several doctors, just a few weeks before." "And they all agreed that he'd either have to live like an invalid or take his chances on falling over dead fast." "His wife mentioned that he hadn't been feeling well but she certainly didn't know anything about this." "He didn't talk to me about any wife." "Just some young girl named Eve." "Sure seemed crazy about her, though." "Some young girl?" "Might explain quite a bit." "Why a man would decide to run away, try and let her cash in on his insurance." "Well, thank you, gents!" "You stop in anytime." "( chuckles )" "Fanny." "You get in trouble?" "I'll have you know, I am a material witness." "A what?" "Down at police headquarters, they showed me a bunch of women and I picked one out." "Who?" "What are you talking about?" "A woman I saw sneaking in to visit that Willard Nesbitt handyman of yours one night last week, that's who." "I just told these men he didn't have any friends, no one ever came to see him here." "Well, that's where you're wrong." "Because I heard somebody say that he had an accomplice and they were stealing insurance together." "And do you know who it was?" "It was his own wife." "You saw Eve Nesbitt here?" "I certainly did, and I saw her again 20 minutes ago." "Do you know what they said after I pointed at her?" ""Sergeant," they said, "Book that lady for murder."" "( dramatic theme playing )" "The state will prove that the victim and the defendant conspired together to defraud an insurance company." "And we will then prove that the defendant, having learned that her husband had changed his mind about carrying out this criminal scheme, did for that reason willfully murder him." "Yes, sir, that's the murder gun." "That's my mark on it." "Now, just one more question, Deputy Gilles." "To whom does this gun belong?" "Well, according to the serial number registration, it belongs to the defendant, Mrs. Eve Nesbitt." "Thank you, deputy." "Your witness, counselor." "Deputy Gilles, exactly where was that gun found?" "Near the hedges next to the house." "Near the hedges, not in them?" "No, sir." "Right next to them, in the driveway." "Now why do you suppose someone would have dropped the gun in a place where it was so sure to be found?" "Your Honor, uh, objection." "It's possible that if this deputy sheriff was the murderer, that he might be qualified to answer that question, but" "Sustained." "Thank you, Deputy Gilles." "That will be all." "You say that the defendant received a phone call and then ran out somewhere after 9 p.m." "And that you yourself at a later time also went out and drove to the area of the lake and the cottage, is that correct?" "That's right, sir." "But not till about 11:00." "And I had two friends with me." "Well, you talked to those guys yourself." "Yes." "Yes, the police are familiar with all of that." "What I'm concerned with is whether or not you stopped at the cottage." "Oh, no." "I just drove past, is all." "Well, I'm concerned with what you saw there, if anything." "I saw there was a light burning in the house." "And, uh, her car was parked in back." "We drove past slow, but I didn't see anybody inside but her." "And, well, that's all there was." "But why where you looking in?" "Where you planning to stop?" "No, no." "Just habit, I guess." "And what do you mean by that exactly?" "My father used to do quite a bit of traveling, uh, examining mining claims, checking property investment." "And whenever he was going to be gone, he'd asked me to keep an eye on her." "BURGER:" "You mean Willard Nesbitt asked you to spy on his wife?" "Why?" "Well, he wanted to find out if she was seeing any other man." "I mean sure, he asked me to spy on her." "What do you think?" "That's all, Mr. Nesbitt, thank you." "Your witness, Mr. Mason." "How many men would you say" "Eve Nesbitt was carrying on with?" "How do I know?" "What did you report to your father?" "Well, nothing, exactly." "Then, to put it exactly, there was no other man in Eve Nesbitt's life." "I didn't say that, Mr. Mason." "I said there was none that I could find." "Perhaps you also didn't say that Willard Nesbitt's real concern was only for his wife's safety." "Now, uh, what time did you pick up these people who you took driving?" "Well, I met them in a drive-in, uh, maybe 10:30." "What time did you leave them?" "Well, I guess 11:40 or so." "Did you hear the doctor testify that Willard Nesbitt could have been murdered as early as 9:30?" "And did you understand the police admission that his body could have been put in the lake much later, around midnight, perhaps?" "In other words, before and after you were with these friends who serve as your alibi?" "I object at that, Your Honor." "I'll withdraw the question." "Bruce Nesbitt, if the defendant is brought to trial and found guilty of murder, do you have any idea of how the court will dispose of your father's estate, his insurance money?" "I guess I'll inherit it." "That's an excellent guess." "Hmm." "No more questions." "I called the cottage at ten after 10." "There was no answer." "I now read to you a portion of the defendant's statement to the police." "Quote:" ""I arrived at the cottage at five minutes to 10." ""I waited there for some time." ""I then went down to the lake to look around for my husband." "Then I came back and just waited some more."" "Unquote." "Wouldn't that mean that he defendant was actually at the cottage when you called her?" "I suppose so." "But nobody picked up the phone." "Now, Mr. Castle, without going into the details of your personal or business relationship with the deceased, did you noticed any difference in the behavior of Willard Nesbitt after he married the defendant?" "Well, yes." "At first, he was happy as a kid." "Then the last few weeks he quit paying much attention to work." "He started borrowing money from the business." "BURGER:" "Really?" "Did you question him about this?" "Yes, he just got embarrassed." "I figured he needed the money because his wife had extravagant tastes or maybe he was worried about hanging on to her." "BURGER:" "Thank you, Mr. Castle." "That'll be all." "Your witness, Mr. Mason." "You say you called the cottage at ten minutes after 10, and there was no answer." "What time had you called your answering service, Mr. Castle?" "I can't recall the exact time." "You don't have to." "According to their records, you called at ten minutes after 9." "Why did you wait almost an hour to return Mr. Nesbitt's call?" "I don't know, maybe I was stunned." "Perhaps you didn't wish to talk to him until you'd talked to someone else?" "As a matter of fact, I did call Ben Otis, and my fiancée, Miss Bartlett, to tell them that Willard Nesbitt was alive." "Now, you just inferred that Mr. Nesbitt may have borrowed money from the business in order to cater to his wife's extravagant tastes." "Well, he never actually showed me any of the bills." "Then permit me to show you some." "Bill from Dr. E.F. Hopkins." "Seventy-five dollars, medical consultation." "One hundred twenty dollars, medical laboratory tests." "Two hundred five dollars" "Didn't Mr. Nesbitt ever confide in you as to how ill he really was?" "To my knowledge, Will Nesbitt hadn't seen a doctor in years." "Perhaps that was his misfortune." "Now, Mr. Castle, when did you and Mr. Nesbitt discuss the dissolution of your partnership?" "About two months before he signed the agreement." "Can you remember why you waited until the day after your partnership was dissolved to renew an option on the Mesa mining property?" "I resent your implications, Mr. Mason." "Mr. Nesbitt knew of that mine." "It was only one of many such properties." "He simply was not interested in continuing as my partner." "I bought him out quite legally." "Thank you, that'll be all." "Well, there are a hundred ways of trying to embezzle an insurance company." "As investigator for Amalgamated Insurance," "I've worked on most of them." "When I checked with Mr. Nesbitt's physician and found out what a sick man he was, well, it certainly suggested that his accidental death might be fraud aimed at collecting double indemnity for his wife to live on." "Double indemnity?" "I see." "Thank you, Mr. Givney." "Your witness, Mr. Mason." "I take it the doctor told you that Mr. Nesbitt was aware of his own condition." "Nesbitt learned the whole thing just a week before he made himself disappear." "In your investigations, where you able to gather one particle of evidence that Mrs. Nesbitt was partner to her husband's scheme?" "Not specifically." "Mr. Givney, my client is being tried for murder." "Now, isn't it true that in all the time you were on the case you were not able, in spite of your suspicions, to prove complicity in fraud of any kind?" "It's true." "I was not." "That will be all, Mr. Givney." "The witness may step down." "I call Mrs. Fanny Werbler to the stand, please." "That evil woman." "I wish a thunderbolt would strike her." "Perry, it's all set." "You got the Photostats?" "They're being blown up now." "Eve, where do you keep your canceled checks?" "In my desk in the living room." "Why?" "I want you to get those checks right away and meet me at Professor Laiken's." "I'll be there as soon as they call recess." "Okay, Perry." "And Mrs. Werbler, I've just read to you from a portion of the statement made by the defendant to the police, pretending to her belief that her husband was alive." "Now I ask you of your own certain knowledge if that statement was true or false?" "If the lady said she believed her husband was dead then it's false." "I seen them together." "I seen the defendant at the Havenhurst Motel visiting the man I knew as Joe." "And the man you knew as Joe, I show you now a picture of the deceased, was absolutely this man, Willard Nesbitt?" "Yes, sir, that is the man." "Thank you, Mrs. Werbler." "Your witness." "Mrs. Werbler, are you familiar with the penalty for perjury for lying under oath?" "I ain't lying." "You got some nerve!" "Now, you said on direct examination that you were on the porch of the motel in front of the manager's room when the defendant passed in front of you and went inside?" "I did." "Can you recall what the defendant was wearing?" "Sure." "She was wearing a tweed coat with a button-down collar, a little off the face red hat, and gloves." "White gloves." "What is the color of the tie I'm wearing, Mrs. Werbler?" "I object to that, Your Honor." "There is certainly no possible reason for" "Your Honor, I am merely trying to verify the skill of this witness in identifying clothing." "She seems to have an unusually retentive memory." "Objection overruled." "The witness will answer the question." "A green knitted tie." "You'd better look again, Mrs. Werbler." "So it's blue." "That's pretty close." "Blue and with stripes." "Well, you were standing sideways." "I couldn't see you so good." "But I seen that woman, I tell you, and she was wearing a red hat." "I'm through with this witness, Your Honor." "It is now ten minutes after 12." "Court will recess until 1:30." "Mr. Mason, I remember that red hat." "I only wore it once, so that must have been the day that the woman said she saw me." "Where did you go that evening?" "Well, I" " I went shopping, because Bruce was out of town and I stopped at the corner drugstore to have a bite to eat." "And Jenny was there." "Jenny Bartlett?" "Yes." "And we gossiped a bit and then I went straight home." "About 8:00." "Did you tell Miss Bartlett that Bruce was away?" "I do believe I did." "Then I do believe we're going to have a most interesting afternoon in court." "( dramatic theme playing )" "Where were you when Mr. Castle phoned?" "I was all ready for bed." "I had a headache that night." "BURGER:" "Did he tell you that Willard Nesbitt was apparently alive?" "JENNY:" "Yes." "BURGER:" "Did you then phone anyone else to tell them?" "JENNY:" "No." "Didn't you try to contact Eve Nesbitt?" "No." "Uh..." "Well, I..." "I was too shocked, I wanted to wait and see what happened, that's all." "Thank you, Miss Bartlett." "Yours, Mr. Mason." "Have you ever been to the Havenhurst Motel, Miss Bartlett?" "The place where Mr. Nesbitt was staying, where Mrs. Werbler works?" "No." "Have you ever seen Mrs. Werbler before?" "No, I haven't." "Then perhaps you hired Mrs. Werbler's perjured testimony over the telephone?" "Objection, Your Honor!" "The objection's sustained." "Mr. Mason, you will not intimidate this witness." "You are engaged to marry Lloyd Castle, are you not?" "Yes, I am." "Then you must have a great stake in his future?" "Well, of course I have." "He's going to be my husband." "Did you make him a loan of $10,000 allowing him to dissolve his partnership with Mr. Nesbitt?" "Yes, I did." "How did that happen?" "Well, I had it, it was easily available." "It left your savings account with a balance of only $150." "Mr. Castle must have wanted that money desperately." "That's all." "Thank you." "Yes, Ms. Nesbitt kept this gun in the desk in her apartment." "I remember seeing it there just a week before her husband was killed." "Well, how did you happen to notice the gun?" "Well, I do personal bookkeeping for Nesbitt and his wife." "There were still some tax things to clear up." "Mrs. Nesbitt kept her papers in a drawer in the desk." "The gun was there too." "BURGER:" "I see." "Your witness, Mr. Mason." "Isn't it true, Mr. Otis, that you once suggested to Mrs. Nesbitt that a gun might be more useful out at the cottage?" "Well, I-I might have." "For a woman alone, that cottage is pretty isolated." "Now we know for a fact that Mrs. Nesbitt drove to the cottage on the night her husband's murder." "Were you suggesting that she took a gun with her that night?" "Of course not." "I just answered the questions that the prosecutor put to me." "She could have brought the gun out there anytime during the previous week." "And with the gun at the cottage, any number of people might have found it and made use of it?" "Yes, I suppose so." "MASON:" "Mr. Otis, what is your position with the, um, Castle Investment Company?" "I'm the bookkeeper." "You're very modest, but you do own a percentage of the firm, do you not?" "( chuckles )" "Well, yes, I-- I have a certain share." "Where is your home, Mr. Otis?" "At 1432 Melbourne Avenue, Canoga Park." "Now, with good traffic conditions, it would take Mrs. Nesbitt almost an hour to drive from her apartment to the cottage." "It would take you only 20 minutes or so, isn't that correct?" "I don't know." "You have driven out there before, haven't you?" "It takes about a half an hour." "MASON:" "So if you had called the answering service at ten minutes after 9, and learned that Mr. Nesbitt wanted to see you, you could have reached the cottage almost half an hour before Mrs. Nesbitt arrived?" "Yes." "But I didn't go." "Thank you, Mr. Otis, that'd be all." "Perry." "Your Honor, because of certain new evidence which has jut come to my attention," "I would like to recall Mr. Lloyd Castle." "Yes, this is a copy of the contract dissolving the partnership, and this is Willard Nesbitt's signature." "You're positive of that?" "Yes." "Your Honor, I would like to introduce this blown-up Photostat of Mr. Nesbitt's signature taken from this contract." "And this, Your Honor, is another Photostat of Mr. Nesbitt's signature taken from an old contract." "Now, just a moment" "Uh, would you both approach the bench, please?" "I'm sure you may have some objections here, Mr. Prosecutor." "I ask only that you examine these Photostats." "JUDGE:" "Mmm." "They look identical, but then, I'm no expert." "MASON:" "They are identical." "Now I ask you to compare this signature with those you've been examining." "Do they look identical, Your Honor?" "No." "No, not exactly." "May I show them to the witness?" "Mr. Burger?" "Mr. Mason, I have no objection." "Are these signatures identical, Mr. Castle?" "( exhales )" "Well, I'm no expert either, Mr. Mason." "Please look again, Mr. Castle." "You don't have to be an expert to see the difference." "Well, yes, I see a difference." "But, uh, I can't explain it." "This is a Photostat of Mr. Nesbitt's signature taken from the old contract." "Now, someone's forgery of that signature was excellent." "Forgery?" "No, that's Willard's handwriting," "I'd know it anywhere." "I'm sure you would, but this signature was Photostatted from a check Mr. Nesbitt wrote during the week just before his supposed drowning." "Will you please note that more of letters slope downward, some of the letters are smaller." "There's a slight trembling, less pressure of the pen." "But I don't understand." "Willard didn't write that way." "All of the checks Mr. Nesbitt wrote during that week show the same signs, Mr. Castle." "They are telltale marks of severe depression, of a decline in mental attitude." "I never heard of such a thing." "You recall what had just happened to Mr. Nesbitt?" "He just learned that his days were numbered, that unless he was cared for as an invalid he might drop dead at any moment." "That has nothing to do with a man's handwriting." "Besides, you're no expert, you can't tell me" "Your Honor, there is a handwriting expert in this court, one whose credentials are well known to both yourself and to the prosecution." "May it please the court, as a witness for the defense, this expert has prepared an exhibit which will not only sustain what I've just said, but will prove beyond any question or doubt that there was forgery here." "When the proper time comes" "Well, just a moment, Mr. Mason." "If there is going to be evidence of forgery, the court would prefer to see it right now, so that all the evidence concerning to this document might be considered together." "Is that agreed?" "Agreed." "Now, to keep the record straight, let it show that the witness is to be examined under a voir dire procedure to the document in question." "You mat proceed, counselor." "This, then, is the signature in question." "Willard Nesbitt's name as appended to one copy of the contract dissolving his partnership with Mr. Castle." "But, uh, there were other copies of this contract, naturally." "And when we examine the signatures, we find a very unusual thing." "The writing is absolutely identical." "And what would that indicate?" "Well, no man on this earth signs his name exactly the same way every time." "But look here, you notice how all of these lines fit?" "It's my opinion, Your Honor, that further laboratory tests will reveal that these are actually traced signatures, forgeries traced from some earlier" "Of course it's traced." "I did it." "Lloyd, no." "It's no use, Jenny." "Sure I signed his name." "You think I was going to share a half a million dollars with Nesbitt's widow?" "Lloyd, stop." "You don't have to tell them." "Why should he stop, Miss Bartlett?" "Because he might incriminate you as the one who murdered Willard Nesbitt?" "No, that's not true." "Or did you just arranged for that woman's perjured testimony?" "Yes, I did." "But I didn't kill him." "Ask him." "Ask him who did the murder." "Ask Ben Otis." "( dramatic theme playing )" "I guess you didn't know what you'd start, did you, Mr. Castle?" "She can't hold it back now." "But then why should she?" "You see, she knew that I went to see Nesbitt that night after your call." "I told him that we'd make good, that we'd cut his wife in for a piece of the business." "But he wouldn't listen to reason." "Nothing would satisfy him but to see us all behind prison bars." "Well, I'm afraid I've never particularly liked the idea of a life behind prison bars." "( dramatic theme playing )" "Mr. Mason, what's going to happen to that woman, Mrs. Werbler?" "She'll be charged with perjury." "She sure was a dame out for a buck right from the start." "What do you mean?" "Well, she was already curious about Nesbitt." "Then when she saw his picture in the paper the morning after the murder, she phoned the company and started fishing around, to see who might possibly be interested in what she knew." "MASON:" "And Jenny Bartlett was the one who got her call." "But why did she hire that woman to lie about me?" "MASON:" "Desperation." "Jenny had already guessed what Ben had done and she made him admit it." "But she was afraid to tell Castle." "She also knew that the case against you was a slim one." "So she figured if she could pad that case and keep the truth down, she'd be protecting Castle, her money and her future." "Well, it's all as clear as crystal to me." "What is?" "In this girl's handwriting, I can see loyalty, perseverance, and hunger." "Especially hunger." "And your client doesn't look too well fed either." "And if you could read my writing, you'd see that I'm starved also." "And from your handwriting," "I can tell that you're a very rich man, whocan afford the finest restaurant in town." "(all laughing)" "( noirish jazz theme playing )"