"(theme song playing)" "Do you have to drive so fast?" "Yes, I do." "You didn't get home until 20 minutes past, remember?" "Darling, how many times have I told you?" "Every time your father gets ready to leave town, the whole office turns into a madhouse." "That's still no excuse for being late for dinner." "Why not?" "He's got to get cleaned up, too." "Peter, my father has never been late anywhere in his life." "I'm not even sure he's ever been dirty." "Well, what's biting you today?" "You." "Why didn't you tell me the company's being reorganized again?" "Who told you that, my secretary?" "I merely called to see why you were so late getting home and..." "Yeah, I know." "She said she had such a splitting headache." "Then you knew the old man was tearing the joint apart again." ""And there'll be some changes made." ""What we need is a little administrative planning around here."" "Well, personally, I'd rather listen to music on the radio." "Peter." "It's nothing, Amanda." "It's nothing." "But if you'd just pay a little more attention." "If you'd just try a little harder." "He's just upset because he's afraid" "Greg and Sue Ellen wouldn't come tonight, that's all." "Greg's bringing Sue Ellen?" "Look out!" "(horn honking)" "(tires squealing)" "Wait a minute, darling." "Say, watch it there, lady." "Come on, move on." "Hi, Joe." "Oh, evening, Mr. Thorpe." "Say, excuse me, ma'am." "I didn't see who was driving." "What's happening here?" "Nothing." "Prowler, that's all." "Prowler?" "Been a couple of robberies in this area in the last month." "People get nervous." "But I thought I saw you looking for something on the ground." "Yeah." "Tracks." "One of the maids in this house to the left thought she saw a man in the bushes." "What kind of tracks?" "Tennis shoes." "Whoever's been robbing these places..." "I'm sorry, Joe." "I'm sure it's a very interesting criminal investigation, but my father's expecting us." "I get you, ma'am." "I wouldn't keep old man Frazer waiting, myself, not if all of Fort Knox got took." "(men laughing)" "Good night." "See you, Joe." "I wonder if Fort Knox has ever really been robbed." "Peter, if you'd just be here." "If you'd just try and be interested in the right things." "If you'd just fight once in a while!" "Shut up, Amanda!" "I'm just as worried as you are about what your father is up to tonight." "You're not still upset, are you?" "You promised me it would be all right, that you'd come tonight and be nice to him." "I've tried everything I know to be nice to your father, to make him like me and accept me as your wife." "Greg, there's more to it than not liking me." "He hates me." "Oh, sure." "That's why he's invited you to dinner tonight, because he hates you." "Now, come off it." "(sighs) I still don't like it, Greg." "I've never been invited to this house before." "Why now?" "I don't know why and I don't care." "But I know one thing." "I'm getting awfully tired of parking cars in a parking lot and living in a crummy apartment." "So whatever happens, be nice tonight." "Good evening, children." "You're just in time." "You must be psychic." "Amanda, you carry on, please." "Daughter." "Son." "To Greg and his lovely bride." "It's time we got acquainted." "That's why I arranged this little affair." "Tomorrow, I'm off on a business trip, and I don't like leaving loose ends dangling." "You'll find I'm a man who comes straight to the point, Sally." "Sally?" "That's your real name, isn't it?" "Sally Delaney of East St. Louis?" "Forgive my curiosity, my dear." "We've never had an entertainer in the Frazer family before." "Mr. Frazer," "I don't think..." "I know you don't think, Peter." "But it's not a time to bring that up again." "You've never been here before, have you?" "How do you like the house, Sally?" "How about this painting?" "Do you think it's valuable?" "I don't know." "Well, it is." "There's $50,000 in that safe." "Cash I intended to take to Texas with me tomorrow." "That 50,000 is yours, if you'll be on the morning plane to Paris, where you'll be met by a lawyer who will arrange a divorce." "You invited us here for that?" "Greg?" "Greg, don't you see what he's trying to do?" "What he's always tried to do?" "He doesn't want you to be a man." "He doesn't want you to be anything." "He's doing this to you, Greg, not me." "Well, the answer's no, Mr. Frazer." "No!" "(door slamming)" "Sorry, son." "That was necessary." "(car door slams, engine starts) I'm leaving for my club in two hours." "You have exactly that long to help her make the right decision." "Do you understand?" "(car door slams) Did you have to do that?" "(engine starting) Do you have to run everyone's life?" "Only those who are incapable of running their own." "And who's to judge that?" "You?" "As far as Greg is concerned, you've always been blind." "Not too blind to know that he ruined his whole future when he married that girl." "Your son was no good before she married him." "Amanda!" "Face the truth just once." "Please, just once, see him for what he is." "Your son is a spineless, no-good drifter." "My son-- that's it, isn't it?" "If he were your own flesh and blood, you wouldn't talk like that." "I don't need to have you remind me that you are my stepfather and that he is my stepbrother." "That's a distinction that exists only in your own mind." "And I refuse to discuss it again." "For now, it's enough for you to know that I intend to make Greg a full partner in my firm." "Father, it's not fair." "Your concern is very touching, Amanda, but to whom is it not fair?" "To me?" "To my firm?" "Or to your husband?" "Oh, Grants." "How are you?" "You having fun?" "That's it." "Enjoy yourself." "(piano playing mellow jazz tune in background)" "Joe, I..." "Take it easy, baby." "I just can't stand it anymore, Joe." "Ah, Sue Ellen, you can't still be in love with that guy." "You're married to nothing but your own sense of loyalty." "No, no, no." "Just listen." "Now, look, sometimes you guess wrong about people." "I did, myself, about that kid." "You put your money on a fancy looking nag who turned out to have three left feet, that's all." "No, Joe." "After we were married, he got a job." "He was doing very well." "Sure." "For just about two weeks." "Then boom-- back to the booze, bangtails and betting with money he didn't have." "Greg's no good!" "It's not his fault." "It's his father." "There you go, making with the excuses." "Sure, his father wrapped him in solid gold diapers and spoiled him rotten." "But what's wrong with Greg is Greg, not you, not me, not his father." "Just him!" "He needs..." "Needs what?" "The job I gave him parking cars?" "You to pick up after him, support him?" "Get wise, kid." "It's wrong." "Send him back to papa." "I can't, Joe." "I just can't let it end like this." "If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to my wife." "I had no idea what my father was going to do." "You don't know him." "He was just testing you." "Testing?" "You call it testing when he offered me all the money he had in the safe if I would divorce you?" "That was just talk." "He didn't mean it." "If we go back now and apologize..." "You expect me to apologize?" "What difference does it make?" "Do you realize what it means if you don't?" "I told you, I can't go on working in Joe's parking lot." "There are other jobs." "You listen to me." "The only job I'm interested in is one that leads to my old man's money." "Even if I have to go back as a glorified office boy at a hundred bucks a week." "You really would go back." "You bet I would." "Now, come on, Sue Ellen." "Greg." "Why don't you go out to the bar and cool off?" "Sue Ellen's not going anywhere with you until you both calm down." "(door slams)" "Oh, now, look, honey." "You were making a good living here before you married him." "You don't need Greg or his family." "You're going to cut loose from them, do you hear?" "No, Joe." "I can't." "I can't let it end like..." "No more talk." "Please, Joe." "Oh, darling." "Why don't you go over to the couch and sit down, huh?" "I'll get you something to help you relax." "Come on." "(piano playing in other room)" "(door opens, closes)" "He says, "I know you would,"" "but I said, "I can't find the first one."" "(men laughing)" "At that rate, you'll reach the blackout stage in record time." "Now, you've had your drink." "I don't want you to have another one." "Are you my nursemaid?" "It's a little late for that." "What are you trying to do to that girl, Greg?" "Bartender!" "I asked you a question." "And if I don't answer it, Joe?" "Get out." "Do you mean that?" "You know exactly what I mean." "All right, I'll leave." "What time is it?" "Almost 10:00." "(phone rings)" "Hello?" "Yes?" "Yes, Greg?" "It's all over between Sue Ellen and me." "Good." "I'm glad you came to your senses." "You won't regret it." "Good night, son." "See you later." "At home." "I knew when the chips were down, that creature he married would show her true colors." "Now I can concentrate on these reports and my trip." "Ah." "We can get along to the club." "You mind driving me?" "No, sir." "Oh, just one last thing." "(phone rings)" "Mason speaking." "Oh, yes, Walter." "Perry, I'm sorry if I interrupted you." "That matter we discussed, the partnership?" "I thought you might want to reconsider." "No, I went ahead with it." "I had the papers drawn up this afternoon." "Well, I'll be tied up here for half an hour or so." "At the club?" "I'd be delighted to." "I'll bring the papers with me." "Right, Walter." "(footsteps approach)" "Well, this is certainly a poor substitute for the chicken cacciatore you promised me." "A client?" "Walter Frazer." "I wonder what will happen when his investment company is under the management of an overage juvenile delinquent." "AMANDA:" "Peter?" "Oh, it's you." "I thought for a moment it might have been a burglar." "There've been some burglaries in the neighborhood, you know?" "Peter drove Father to the club." "Are you alone?" "All alone, Amanda." "I like it that way." "You poor, stupid fool." "The biggest, most important choice of your life." "You left that wonderful girl and came running home to your father." "Father was right..." "He certainly was in betting that you'd take the course of least resistance, the easy way." "Your father only gambles on sure shots." "Loyalty and service mean nothing to him." "Peter's worked for him for 15 years, but that doesn't mean anything." "Greg isn't fit to be an office boy." "Give a partnership to Greg." "Partnership?" "May I have the keys?" "To Peter's car." "You took them when you chased off after Sue Ellen." "What partnership?" "In the company, with my father?" "Go on, get the feel of it." "Make sure your father's chair isn't too big for you." "(door opens, closes)" "(car door closes)" "(engine starting)" "(car drives away)" "* *" "(crickets chirping)" "Thank you." "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen." "This is your host Joe Medeci." "It is now my pleasure to introduce a very talented young man who'll entertain you with a new kind of rhythm." "Cary Duncan." "(piano begins playing jazz) (gasps)" "Hello." "You all right, miss?" "Oh, yes." "Yes, I'm fine." "I'm sorry." "(doorbell rings)" "Greg... are you here?" "(gasps)" "Greg." "(door opens, closes)" "What have you done?" "What have you done to my son?" "!" "(clatters)" "I didn't kill him!" "I didn't!" "I don't believe you." "MASON:" "Mr. Frazer, look around you." "The safe's open." "The reports." "Just a moment, Mr. Frazer." "Connect me with Lieutenant Tragg, please." "Homicide." ""A forced window in the library indicates" ""the house may have been entered by the same burglar" ""who has terrorized the fashionable beach community." ""Although the safe was open, the $50,000 it contained was untouched."" "Crack a safe and leave 50 grand-- that's a new wrinkle." "At the scene of every one of those burglaries, the police found imprints of a torn tennis shoe." "The same mark was found outside the Frazer house last night." "Young Mrs. Frazer insists she saw no one, and I certainly saw no one when Frazer and I drove up to the house." "You say the clock smashed in the struggle stopped at 10:45." "How long does it take to drive from the Club Baroque to the Frazer home?" "Mmm, about 20 minutes." "Paul, how good are you at finding a needle in a haystack?" "I got a pretty good magnet." "I'd like to locate a man in a brown and white tweed jacket, about 45, tall and heavily built." "According to Sue Ellen, he's the one person who can prove she left the Club Baroque last night at 11:00 at the start of the second floor show." "Now they're making a plaster cast of a footprint." "This morning it was fingerprint men and photographers all over the place." "Why are they wasting all this time?" "My son's been murdered." "They aren't wasting time." "The whole series of robberies may be related to the murder." "The police want to find the killer as much as you do." "Why didn't they arrest that girl last night?" "Why did they let her go?" "Why do you dislike your son's wife so much?" "I don't dislike her or like her." "She doesn't exist for me as a person." "She's just something bad that happened to Greg." "When he met her, he left me and left his job with me." "Gregson Frazer-- a parking lot attendant." "Walter, you're one of the most successful businessmen I know, an uncanny judge of people, outside your own family, but I think you're wrong about Sue Ellen." "My son, too, I suppose." "Yes." "I think you tended to see in Greg what you wanted to see, not what was really there." "I'm sorry, Walter." "All right, I'll prove to you that I was right about that girl." "Here." "Now that's not what I was looking for." "Is that the $50,000 that was in the safe last night?" "Yes." "You always keep that much cash in your safe?" "No, no, only when I'm going on a business trip." "I sometimes use cash in some of my deals." "Deals." "This was to have been a big deal." "Geological reports." "I was due in Texas this morning." "Texas." "The police have looked through everything there, you know?" "What?" "Perhaps I left it... in my desk." "(drawer opens)" "Thank heavens it's here." "I was hoping to spare Greg." "Spare him for what?" "Those were taken a couple of months ago." "Sue Ellen?" "On the balcony of a man's apartment." "You know the man?" "His name's Medeci." "Pictures of my daughter-in-law visiting another man in his apartment at 5:00 in the morning." "The first time that I ever set eyes on Greg was at the bar in the club... drunk." "He'd walked out on his father's business, and he must have been drinking steadily for days before he staggered into the Baroque." "Strange beginning for a courtship and marriage." "Why does one person fall in love with another?" "It just happens, Mr. Mason." "He'd left his father then before the two of you were married?" "Yes." "And this job he had for a while?" "He had borrowed company money to bet on the horses." "I used my savings to pay it all back, but of course, they fired him." "That's when Joe gave him the job in the parking lot." "Two months ago, were you in Medeci's apartment at 5:00 in the morning?" "I wanted to talk to Joe about..." "About what?" "A private matter." "Mrs. Frazer, I wonder if you understand how serious your position is." "Do you think I killed Greg?" "It doesn't matter what I think." "It's what the police may think." "Mr. Mason, I swear" "I had nothing to do with my husband's murder." "I know absolutely nothing about it." "If I'd been involved, if... if I needed help, believe me, I'd come running to you." "(piano playing jazz)" "The police have already been here, Mason." "I can't tell you any more than I told them." "Second floor show did begin at 11:00?" "Approximately." "We're usually five or ten minutes late." "Did you happen to see a man in a brown tweed jacket?" "Might have." "It was a busy night." "Say, what is all this?" "Are you trying to pin Greg's death on Sue Ellen?" "(plays loud chord)" "Sue Ellen couldn't kill anyone." "Cary!" "She always stuck up for Greg." "Why don't you talk to that family of his?" "They all hated him." "Why don't you shut up?" "You talk too much." "Now look, Mason, as far as I'm concerned, the newspapers are right." "Greg interrupted a burglar at work and got killed for his trouble." "The burglar got scared and ran." "That's all there is to it." "This is it, Perry, Peter Thorpe's house." "Looks like he has company." "Paul, I have another job for you." "I think Frazer hired a private detective to tail Sue Ellen." "At least he had a man make some pictures." "I'd like to know who he is." "All right." "Mr. Mason." "Go ahead, Paul, I'll get a cab." "Okay." "(engine starting)" "Well, thank heavens you're here." "What's happened?" "Well, I'm not sure." "Amanda and I were in the house talking to the police when I heard a car start in the back." "Let's go." "That's all right." "We have enough now." "Take her downtown." "What are you doing here?" "I was about to ask you the same question." "Well, we just finished talking to Mr. and Mrs. Thorpe." "You see, from what Mrs. Thorpe told us and what we already know, there's not much question but what this girl killed her husband." "I heard something outside." "I looked out and I saw a taxi driving away." "Then I heard another car starting up in the driveway." "It was Sue Ellen." "She'd come back after Greg's car, I guess." "Well, before I-I could go outside to see why she didn't come in to say hello the police were there." "They were all over the place." "That's absolutely ridiculous." "Sue Ellen couldn't kill anyone." "When did Greg leave his car here at your house?" "Oh, he didn't, I did." "If you recall, I was driving Mr. Frazer's car last night, since Greg had taken mine earlier." "Then after we left each other at the club and you drove Mr. Frazer home..." "What's all this about cars?" "What difference does it make?" "Darling, I want this to be clear for Mr. Mason." "Because you see, then I decided to return Mr. Frazer's car since it occurred to me that he might need it to drive to the airport today." "My car still wasn't at the house." "So I took Greg's car to drive home in." "Peter, you are going on and on like a fool." "You were out there, too, then last night?" "Oh, but that was after you arrived." "Yes, I saw your car in the drive and then I couldn't see any reason for me to come inside." "AMANDA:" "Peter, stop it." "Can't you spend one minute thinking about that poor girl?" "She's the one that's in trouble, not us." "Why don't you just try to pay a little more attention." "(doorbell rings)" "Excuse me, Mrs. Thorpe." "I just wanted to tell you that all our men have gone now." "You taking up tennis, Andy?" "Lieutenant Tragg thought you might want to take a little closer look at these, Perry." "We found them in the back of Greg Frazer's car." "Notice the distinctive torn sole on the right shoe?" "Is that why you arrested the girl?" "ANDERSON:" "No, no." "But it's interesting, isn't it?" "These tennis shoes match the tracks that have been found after every one of those robberies." "Any word from Paul?" "Not yet." "Mr. Frazer's waiting in the outer office." "Walter." "What is it you wanted me for?" "For five minutes." "Then you can do what you want." "Won't you sit down?" "I saw Sue Ellen earlier today." "After I left here, she called twice." "Unfortunately I was out." "You're wasting my time with matters that mean nothing to me." "They meant something to Sue Ellen." "You see, she remembered seeing a pair of tennis shoes in the trunk of Greg's car." "Tennis shoes?" "The tennis shoes with the distinctive tear in one sole." "In Greg's car?" "The police caught her driving off in the car." "Found the tennis shoes in the car." "Now the police think that your son and Sue Ellen were involved in the robberies." "Perry, maybe it wasn't..." "Walter, if anyone was a burglar, it was your son, not Sue Ellen." "Everything you thought and said about that girl was completely wrong." "That job your son lost because of the life you said he was living with Sue Ellen-- he lost that job because he embezzled money to bet on horses." "It took every cent of Sue Ellen's savings to keep him out of jail." "Amanda was right." "My stepdaughter said that I was a blind, stupid fool." "(phone rings)" "Yes?" "Just a minute." "It's Paul." "He's in Palm Springs." "Yes, Paul?" "Perry, our man's name is Lon Snyder." "He's about 45, tall and heavy." "He's wearing a tweed coat right now." "Did you ask?" "Well, is he positive?" "All right, Paul." "Walter," "Sue Ellen needed a witness to back up her claim she didn't leave the club until 11:00." "Paul Drake tells me the police are now questioning a man named Snyder." "Snyder was apparently the man in the tweed coat." "Mr. Snyder did see your son's wife leave the club... but he swears it was at 10:00, not 11:00." "Perry, are you convinced that Sue Ellen didn't kill my son?" "Yes, I am." "I'd appreciate it very much if you would represent my daughter-in-law." "I agreed to represent her an hour ago." "The wall safe was open." "Mr. Frazer examined the contents." "Everything was there, including the $50,000 cash." "We searched the grounds and found one clear footprint outside the window." "The, uh, print of one of those shoes there." "And where did you later find those shoes?" "Mrs. Frazer led us to them." "They were in the trunk of her husband's car." "The car she drove on the night of his death." "Thank you, Lieutenant." "Your witness." "Lieutenant, isn't it true that the imprint of a tennis shoe has been found on the premises of each home recently burglered in the vicinity of the Frazer estate?" "It is." "Now, Lieutenant Tragg, what time did you arrive at the Frazer home on the night of the murder?" "Oh, uh, about 11:45, I believe." "Thank you, Lieutenant." "That'll be all." "I asked Greg for the keys to Peter's car-- he'd taken it when he chased after Sue Ellen." "Then I went home." "Well, that is, I started to go home." "BURGER:" "But you changed your mind?" "Yes, there was something I-I wanted to discuss with Greg." "I'd driven a short way when I decided to go back." "When I reached the house, she was there." "The defendant was at the house?" "Yes, her car" " Greg's car, the one she'd taken, was parked in the driveway." "So I turned around and went home." "And at what time was this, Mrs. Thorpe?" "Oh, around..." "a little after 10:35." "I was home before 11:00." "Thank you, Mrs. Thorpe." "That'll be all." "You may cross-examine." "Mrs. Thorpe, did you know of your father's intention to make your stepbrother a full partner in his investment firm?" "I heard something about it after Greg left the house." "Is that what you returned to the house to discuss with your stepbrother-- his promotion and, um, possibly your husband's future under his authority?" "I don't remember." "Well, what difference does it make?" "When I saw Sue Ellen was there, I turned around and left." "The car Mrs. Frazer had been driving earlier in the evening was there." "That's what you mean, isn't it, Mrs. Thorpe?" "Yes." "And now, Mrs. Thorpe, on the night of the murder, what time did the defendant leave the Frazer home?" "Around 9:00." "The decedent, Greg Frazer, followed her using your husband's car, since Sue Ellen had taken his car." "Now at what time did Greg call his father from the club?" "Well, about 10:00." "He left the club and came home about 10:25." "You were then alone." "Your husband and your stepfather had left in Mr. Frazer's car, is that right?" "Yes." "You spoke to the decedent and left him alone in the house while you drove away at, uh 10:30, in your husband's car." "Now shortly after 10:35, you returned." "Your Honor, I don't know what kind of a stunt this is, but..." "One moment, Mr. Burger." "I'm just as curious as you are." "Mr. Mason?" "Yes, Your Honor?" "Would you be good enough to explain to the court just what it is your secretary is working on over there?" "Certainly, Your Honor." "I believe it will become increasingly apparent as the testimony unfolds, that the key issue in this case is the timetable of events." "This display is merely a more visually graphic representation of that vital timetable, and is not in any manner intended as evidence." "Well, I see no objections to its use." "Mr. Burger?" "Well, certainly not, Your Honor." "If the defense feels that it needs training aids to visualize how formidable our case is against the defendant." "We will accept the prosecution's acquiescence, without the editorial." "Continue, Mr. Mason." "At approximately 10:38, you drove past the Frazer home and saw Greg's car, which the defendant had been driving earlier, now parked outside the house." "At that time, did you return to your own home?" "Yes." "Thank you, Mrs. Thorpe." "No further questions." "Mr. Thorpe, you're employed by Mr. Frazer, aren't you?" "Yes, sir, I'm the chief accountant." "What would you estimate is the worth of the Frazer company?" "Oh, well, I-I couldn't say precisely without taking a look at the books, but roughly we handle over $30 million in investments." "$30 million?" "That's an attractive goal for an ambitious young woman, wouldn't you say?" "And pretty frustrating when she suddenly learned that her husband meant to get rid of her." "Your Honor." "Never mind, Counselor." "You're out of line, Mr. Burger." "I apologize to the court, Your Honor." "And I'm through with this witness." "Mr. Thorpe, when the decedent worked for his father's company, was he ever any more than a glorified office boy?" "No." "Was he dishonest?" "He was reckless, always in debt." "Only weeks before his death, he was after me to loan him money." "Did he tell you why he needed money?" "Yes, he said that he'd been gambling and it would go hard on him if he didn't raise it." "But he wanted $20,000." "I don't have that kind of money." "Not on my salary." "BURGER:" "About two months before the murder, Mr. Medeci, at approximately the time of the first burglary that was characterized by the tennis shoe imprints, did the defendant visit you at your apartment at 5:00 a.m.?" "Yes." "BURGER:" "Would you tell this court please, what happened during that visit?" "She wanted some advice." "At 5:00 a.m., what kind of advice did she want?" "Well, that first burglary-- the newspapers printed a picture of a set of very expensive cuff links that had been stolen." "Sue" " Mrs. Frazer found them in Greg's car." "Why was the defendant concerned with those cuff links?" "Well, she was afraid her husband was mixed up in the burglaries." "When the burglaries continued, did it ever occur to you that since the defendant knew about the first one, she might have been implicated in the ones that followed?" "Objection, Your Honor." "I withdraw the question." "I'm through with this witness." "Mr. Medeci, did Greg Frazer owe you $20,000?" "There's no reason to conceal it, yes." "A gambling debt?" "Partially." "Some of it was a loan." "On the night of the murder, when the defendant came to your office, you gave her sleeping medicine." "At what time was that?" "Just before 10:00." "I gave her the pills and left her in the office and went out to announce the 10:00 floor show." "What time did you return to your office?" "Shortly after 11:00." "Just after the second floor show started." "Shortly after 11:00." "Did you look for the defendant?" "Yes." "Uh, when I got back to the office, she wasn't there." "That would be about ten after 11:00." "Let me see if I have this straight." "The defendant awakened and left your office at about 11:06." "She drove away at about 11:08." "By 11:10, you had missed her in your office." "If she drove to the Frazer home-- about a 20-minute drive-- she should've arrived there at about 11:28?" "Yes." "No further questions." "For now." "Those photographs of Sue Ellen and Medeci must have been taken from the balcony out here." "The Medeci apartment is right next door." "Now, Lon Snyder took this place under the name Samson." "According to the landlord, he, uh, cleared out the night of the murder and hasn't been back." "You find something?" "Plaster." "There's a hole bored through to the next apartment." "Paul, how do you like high altitudes?" "You want me to jump off the balcony?" "No, I want you to take the next jet plane to Houston, Texas." "Now, Mr. Snyder, you testified that you had been hired by Mr. Frazer to investigate the background and activities of his son's wife, the defendant." "Is that correct?" "Yes, sir." "Were you so engaged on the night of Greg Frazer's death?" "Not exactly." "As I testified, I'd already turned in my report, including her visit to Medeci's apartment." "When you've watched somebody for a couple of months, you, well, sort of notice." "I understand that." "And where did you notice the defendant on the night of the murder?" "At the Club Baroque." "I was just coming into the bar, and she came out of a private office and left the club." "I remind you now of previous testimony that the clock, which was broken during the fatal struggle in the murder room, was stopped at 10:45." "And I ask you, at what time did you see the defendant come out of that room and leave the Club Baroque?" "Around 10:00." "Maybe five, ten minutes after." "That will do, sir." "Thank you very much." "Your witness." "Mr. Snyder, at what other time or times did you see the defendant that particular evening?" "About an hour later." "The 11:00 floor show had started and I'd gone out for a breath of fresh air." "I was coming in to see the show, and... well, I bumped into her, almost knocked her over in fact." "We exchanged a few words." "It-it must have been between 11:06 and 11:08." "At 11:07, Mr. Snyder?" "Well, yes, that's right." "Now, you say you had completed your report to Mr. Frazer before the night of the murder." "However, you took photographs of the defendant and Mr. Medeci as part of that report, is that correct?" "Yes." "From where were those photographs taken?" "From a balcony next to Medeci's apartment." "And from your apartment, you could observe anyone who came to see Mr. Medeci." "Now, did the decedent ever visit his apartment?" "No, not while I was there." "This is a vital point to the defense, Your Honor, and needs clarification." "I request the court's permission to interrupt my cross-examination of this witness in order to recall Mr. Medeci." "Mr. Medeci, did the decedent, Greg Frazer, ever visit you in your apartment?" "Ah, I've lived there a long time." "Had a lot of parties, entertained a lot of people." "Who knows?" "Maybe he did, maybe he didn't." "Perjury is the assertion of a falsity under oath." "Penalties are severe when it comes to perjury." "Would you care to reconsider your answer, Mr. Medeci?" "Well, I..." "Perhaps I can prod your memory." "MEDECI (on recording):" "I've lived there a long time." "Had a lot of parties, entertained a lot of people." "Mr. Mason, is that a recording device?" "It is, Your Honor." "But it's only to demonstrate the ease of recording conversation without being detected." "As your apartment was bugged, Mr. Medeci, and your conversation recorded." "What?" "Now, you did have a conversation with Greg Frazer in your apartment, did you not?" "All right, so he came to see me." "So, I forgot." "Is there any crime in that?" "No." "No, crime in that, Mr. Medeci." "According to this timetable, the defendant left the Frazer home in Greg's car at 9:00." "Which meant that she arrived at the club at 9:20." "Is that when you saw her?" "Yes." "She claims she didn't leave the club to return to the Frazer home until 11:08." "Yet, Mrs. Thorpe testified she saw the defendant at the Frazer home at 10:38." "That's a lie." "I gave Sue Ellen two sleeping pills." "She took them." "She couldn't have left the club that early." "Who else knew it was safe to take that car?" "Only one possible person." "The person who gave her those sleeping pills." "That would be you, Mr. Medeci." "You drove Greg's car to the Frazer home, did you not?" "Yes." "Amanda Thorpe left at 10:30." "She returned at 10:38 and saw Greg's car." "So, you must have arrived at 10:35." "About a 20 minute drive." "So you left the club at 10:15." "Now, you didn't start the second floor show until 11:05." "Mr. Medeci, a clock was broken in the struggle with the decedent at 10:45." "Which puts you squarely on the scene of the murder, at the time of the murder." "I didn't kill him, so help me." "All right, I was mixed up with him in a couple of burglaries." "But I didn't kill him." "Greg was alive when I left." "Greg owed you $20,000." "Desperate, he tried burglary." "At that point, as you promised Sue Ellen, you spoke to Greg?" "Yes." "In your apartment, the two of you planned a series of petty burglaries, deliberately leaving the tennis shoe marks at each one." "All as a prelude to the one important burglary, the one in which you would recover your money." "It was the 50,000 we were after." "I drove up in Greg's car," "I left the mark with the tennis shoe," "I left my-my gloves in the trunk, and then I went in." "Greg had already opened the safe." "But you didn't take that 50,000." "Why?" "Well, Greg explained to me about the partnership." "That it was worth lots more money." "We didn't want to gamble it against $50,000." "You've got to believe me, Mr. Mason." "I did not kill him." "Greg was alive when I left." "I will not take a murder rap!" "Now, if the defendant, if Amanda Thorpe, if Medeci are all telling the truth, then somebody else was at the Frazer home." "Somebody who followed Medeci from the club, parked out of sight and wasn't seen by Mrs. Thorpe." "When Medeci left, that person went into the house and found the safe open." "At that time, Greg Frazer was still alive." "At 10:45, the time the clock was broken," "Greg Frazer was killed, and something was taken from that safe." "Something was taken, wasn't it?" "And then returned?" "You heard the testimony." "The 50,000 wasn't touched." "No, it wasn't." "When Medeci left, you assumed he had the 50,000." "That was the plan you'd overheard when you bugged his apartment." "It never occurred to you when you looked in the safe that the $50,000 was still there." "In a plain, unmarked, brown envelope." "No." "No, that wasn't what you were looking for, was it?" "You'd learned of something else by bugging Medeci's apartment." "You'd learned of Walter Frazer's business trip to Texas to buy oil land." "Now, wait a minute, Mason, I..." "Just before court convened," "I received a telephone call from Mr. Paul Drake, confirming the sale of land recorded in Texas the day following Greg Frazer's death." "Choice oil lots secretly listed in the geological reports in Walter Frazer's safe." "But I didn't steal them." "No, Mr. Snyder." "You didn't steal them." "You simply photographed them and then returned them to the safe." "Now, was that before or after you murdered Greg Frazer." "I didn't mean to kill him." "He jumped me." "It-it was self-defense." "You killed to rob a safe." "You missed $50,000 lying unprotected in that safe." "Tell me, Mr. Synder." "How much were you paid to photograph those reports?" "$10,000." "I still don't see how you knew, Mr. Mason." "Well, it was your father-in-law who started me thinking in the right line." "I remembered his first reaction." "His first words." "I'd just as soon not be reminded of that again, Perry." "I've been trying to explain to Sue Ellen that a blind man often accuses the whole world of darkness." "I wasn't thinking of what you said about Sue Ellen, Walter." "It was the words when you, uh, first looked around the room." "You said, "The safe's open." "The reports."" "Those geological reports made a perfect setup for Synder, or at least so he thought." "You see, Mr. Frazer, he'd learned of your impending trip from the taped conversations, and he knew that Greg's big burglary was planned for that last night when the maximum amount of cash would be in your safe." "He never planned on murder then." "Most murderers never do." "Only then, something always seems to happen." "Greg jumped Synder, they fought and Synder killed him." "Maybe Greg was trying to make up for some of the things he'd done." "You needn't say that, Miss Street." "There are some things that... just don't need any more explaining." "Thank you, Sue Ellen." "Thank you." "(theme music plays)"