"Hey, what did you order, Five?" "Doggone I know what I'm gonna order when it's my turn." " Here you are, it's nice and hot." " I don't want it." "Eat it, Five." "You'll feel better." "How long now?" "About three hours." " Priest wait the Governor?" " Yes, he did, Five." "Your wife?" "How do you tell the time if it hasn't got any hands?" "Ah, he's getting uptight, boys." "Play that phonograph of yours for taking his mind off of it." "Yeah, sure." "Why don't you tell us how you got here, Five?" "Go for it." "It'll make you feel better." "Yeah, talk boy." "Talk of this." "Nothing helps better than talking when you're up close." "You talk, boy." "Tell us." "How did I get here?" "Still seems like a dream." "I'll be taking the chair in a little while to settle it oddly." "I guess it started at night." "I was waiting for Ann." "I remember it was a hot July night in New York." "She was late." "I used to get the heebie-jeebies when she was late." "Not all those creeps were taking dancing lessons, borrow dancing lesson from Ann." "The dancing school was closed, but Ann still wasn't home." "I turned on the phonograph." "Anything to get my mind out of the fact that Ann wasn't home." "That wasn't very good." "Nothing was." "When you wait for a woman, you get knots inside your stomach." "I am a milkman." "I have to get up at 5 AM!" "You want me to come upstairs?" "Say yes!" "This is your last warning." "Hey, listen, Kip." "Hello." "Where have you been?" "Around the world in a row boat." "Yeah, that's very funny." "I wonder where you've been." "Are we going to go through that again?" "I've got the right to know, haven't I?" "Yes, darling." "I've been dying here." "Where did you get that?" "A customer." "He wanted to sit and talk to me after the place closed." "What's his name?" "I don't know, I call him Santa Claus." "He comes around all the time." "He's one of those creeps, huh?" "What is that place?" "A dancing academy or a Lonely Hearts Club?" "I guess for some of the creeps it's a little of both." "What a rotten way to make a living!" "Will get on again as a team?" "Yes, sure." "Oh, we always do, don't we?" "Sure, but will be hit regular?" "Dance teams works eight weeks in a year and starves in between." "Big time." "We can't even get small time anymore." "You are a great dancer, Tom." "Maybe I should spend my time dancing for you then." "We have to get to California." "Things will be different." "Hey, you're stealing my line." "Somewhere else things are always gonna be better." "They've got real clubs out there." "And a chain of drive-ins." "That's where we'll end up juggling trays and peanut butter sandwiches." "We'll end up in a big studio, you'll see." "I don't know." "I wonder if we keep saying and believing if it could come true." "Of course." "It has to." "I am beginning to think New York is run out." "It's dead as Wall Street on a Saturday night." "Well, I better get some sleep if I'm gonna start making the rounds in the morning." "Don't worry, darling." "We'll get our pot of gold yet." "I think I'll put it an order with your patron saint." "I wouldn't care even if it came from the opposite of saint." "Sorry I yelled at you." "I'm always losing my temper like that." "Oh, that's all right." "Good night." "Good night." "How do I get to sleep with that going on?" "I'll fix them for good." "I missed!" "What did you do?" "Throw your shoes out?" "That's just an old worn out pair." "Oh, no, they weren't." "I got rid of those yesterday." "You are throwing out your one and only pair of shoes." "I'll get them in the morning." "You'll get them right now before the janitor or somebody picks them up." "What are you gonna do?" "Walk around New York barefooted?" "I used to call them my magic shoes with those built-in taps." "Can't even hit cats with them." "When I get down, I'm gonna strangle both those cats with my bare hands." "What took you so long?" "I couldn't find them." "Oh, what?" "I don't know where they went." "Maybe into somebody's window." "Every window in New York is open at night." "Fine!" "The barefooted tap dancer." "Is that supposed to be funny?" "You'd better find them first thing in the morning." " I'll find them." " Ask around, you know." "Ask?" "I'll start a manhunt." "What makes me do things like that?" "You get a little impulsive and pretty jumpy when you're sleepy." "I think I used to like cats." "Well, I hope you find them." "What, honey?" "The cats?" "No, silly, your shoes." " That's a joke." " Yes, I know." "Good night." "Good night." " Tom..." " Uh?" " Here they are." " What?" "Your shoes!" "Hey, where did they come from?" "When I came out of the bathroom they were in the hall, right outside our door." "But they weren't there when you went out?" "I didn't see them." "But who put them there?" "How should I know?" "Maybe somebody found them, knew they were mine and brought them up." "Oh, a lot of people would know they were yours by the taps." "It's nice, and whoever was, he restored my faith in humanity." "If somebody would only restore my faith in theatrical managers, everything would be okay." "Where are you going today?" "Ah, the clubs." "I'm asking if anybody wants a good cheap dance team." "Well, get a shine, will you?" "Maybe it'll change your luck." "Honey, I'll try anything." "You ought to see me more often, Mr. Quinn." "I would, except for the high cost of living." "These new hard times, Tony." "You ain't kidding." "You know, these were once expensive shoes." "Yeah, I know." "For theater." "What do you do?" "You use them all the time?" "Sure!" "Well, I never know when I might have to go into a dance." "That's right." "Hey, what's going on over there?" "I don't know." "Police." "Maybe someone died." "That's the trouble with this town." "Somebody is always dying." " Come on, Tony." " Thanks, Mr. Quinn." "Living in a place like this is asking for it, I'd say." "So that's him, huh?" "My only surprise is it didn't happen long ago." "He only left the place once a month." "That was to buy can goods;" "he never left it outside of that." "He's gonna leave it now and it won't be to buy can goods." "He's going to the morgue." "How did he get in, whoever it was?" "He must've busted in the door." "How does it look to you?" "Well, it looks to me like the murderer got what he came after, inspector." "Are you sure there was money here?" "Must have been, since the old boy didn't live on air." "And besides, the store keeper tells me that's where he bought his groceries." "He says the old guy never showed up there with anything smaller than a twenty-dollar bill." "And get this, inspector." "All the bills are of a large old-fashioned type that aren't in circulation anymore." "What about the store keeper?" "Well, he's okay at first look." "As a matter of fact, he's the one that notified this." "You see, old Wontner has been buying groceries from him for so long that he knew just which day to expect him in, say?" "So when he didn't show up and today being the day, came over and knocked." "Think that maybe the old guy was sick and in need of help." "He got no answer, so he tipped off the cops." "It happened last night, the examiner tells me." "Yes, so we're within the past 24 hours." "Yeah, well, I guess he got the money, all right?" "We'll keep the news about the hoard of old bills out of the newspapers." "And we will watch for any sudden signs of mysterious prosperity in the neighborhood." "Anybody starts... breaking out in a new suit, dolling up his wife, moving to a new flat all of a sudden or anything..." "Who is that out there?" "Clinton Judd?" "Oh, yeah, he's up there digging for worms, I guess." "You know, these kind of cases are his meat." "He's cracked more than anybody I can remember." "Just in time, inspector." "I've got a beauty out here." "Come and have a look." " That's far enough." " Well, what is it?" "Right here, my own private Venus de Milo." "The water pipe dripping keeps the ground damp." "Look: right in the middle." "What more can you ask for?" "Yeah." "Looks like the thing is over before the dripping began." "Harry, phone the lab." "Get some men up here with some more lights to take an impression." "By the time they get through, we'll know what he looks like and everything about him." "It's better than a photograph." "Well, whoever he is, his luck has run out." "Come on, Joe." "How's it coming?" "Well, here's is the mold." "And it's a sweetheart." "And this is the sketch of the man we reconstructed from it." "Well, that's fine." "I'll have a photograph and I'll pass it around." "And now, here's a few other details." "The man you want is six feet tall, weighs about 170 pounds and wears a size 9 shoe." "The shoes have taps on them that are built in half arch." "Now that should narrow it down a little." "The firms that sell those shoes usually keep a list of their customers." "His occupation is dancing, but I believe he uses his shoes for normal use." "If he bought them here in the city, you should be able to get his identity and his address within the next 24 hours." "What's the matter?" "Don't talk, not yet." "What is it?" "You act as if you had committed a crime or something." "I came here to wait for you as usual, and then..." "Never mind, I'll tell you later." "Oh, what is it, Tom?" "I'll tell you when we get home." "Come on, here's the bus." "Rather this had better be good." "Feel my heart and see if it's still beating." "I think I got heart failure." "What's the matter with you?" "Where did you get that?" "I found it." " But..." " I found it." "I tell you, right beside the weighing machine, in front of the ballroom." "I was planning to get my fortune told like I do every day, and before I can even get my penny back I saw it lying there on the sidewalk." "I kept thinking somebody missed it and would begin to yell." "I expected a hand to drop on my shoulder any minute." "What's in it?" "Just a bunch of bills." "I looked at it before you came down." "Is it stage money?" "Just those big bills like we used ten years ago." "Do you mean is real?" "You don't see many of them anymore." " Who do they belong to?" " I don't know." "There was no driver's license, identification card papers or anything." " I looked for them right away." " Then we can keep it." "No, I figured that way at first too, but..." "But what?" "I thought it over and..." "Well, it was nice having it for a little while and anyway, it made me feel important." "I wanted to show it to you before I turn it over to the police." "Well, this is a fine time to be law abiding." "Two thousand and twenty..." "I've always been law abiding." "I know, but this isn't what I mean." "Look, Tom, you found that money and gosh it's enough to take us to the coast first class on a constellation." "No, look honey, this money belongs to somebody, we can't just glom on to it." "Why can't we?" "We could, but it might be somebody's life savings." "What were you supposed to do?" "Leave this lying next to the weighing machine?" "I don't say that." "The spending is another matter." "You said there's no identification in here." "How can you notify the owner, even if you wanted to?" " That's up to the police." " The police!" "Look, honey, if they don't find the owner, we'll get the money back, it'll be rightfully ours." "If you do that, there's no telling when you'll see it." "Oh, Tom, I need so many things." "We both need a break." "Don't you see, darling?" "This is it." "It's all kinds of money, honey, good luck money and bad luck money." "There you go with your superstition." "Broken mirror, black cat, two-dollar bills..." "Okay." "Okay, I tell you what we'll do." "Keep the money here with us intact, say for a week." "I'll keep watching the lost and found ads in the papers." "If there's no mention made it at lost..." "Now you are making sense." "That's more than fair." "And if nobody advertises, the money is ours, okay?" " Yeah." " Good, put it away." "I'll put it in your shoe box in the closet." "Oh, darling, this is our lucky day." "I got him, inspector." "Third place on my list." "Supported Footwear." "They stock a line of theatrical shoes as well as corrected." "They keep a litmus paper graph of the shape of the foot of each customer." "The graph matches our print." "No possibility of error?" "None." "The salesman can almost identify him by the sketch regardless." "All right, let's hear it." "Thomas J. Quinn, 28 years old." "Height: 6 feet, weight: 170." "Occupation: night club entertainer." "There he's in a rooming house on the street where the murder took place." "He lives even closer than I expected." "Close enough to suck up a lot of gossip about old Wontner's hidden cash." "Yeah, and the temptation to get his hands on it was too much for him." "Good work, Harry." "I'll call in the rest of them." "In the meantime you get over there as quick as you can." "If he's left out already, you report it to me and we'll send on an alarm." "But if he's still there, you keep your eye on him." " But inspector..." " No." "I'm not pulling him in just yet." "I want to keep him under observation for a while to see if some of that money doesn't show up." "We've got him now." "There's no need to hurry." "The strong we make our case now, the less work we'll have in the end." "But, just you'll keep him inside all the time." " Did you find anything?" " No, not a thing." "Well, that's the first day scratched off." "If it isn't in the first day, the chances are won't be in the second." "And if it isn't in the second, we'll keep the money and throw the wallet away." "If they don't advertise, I'm gonna do my Christmas shopping early." "All the things I never bought you." "What I like most is getting out of this neighborhood." "I went to the store twice today and some men followed me there and back both times." "No kidding." "It's getting terrible when a girl can't go anywhere without some man following her." "You shouldn't be so pretty." " Then you wouldn't like me." " Yeah, never thought of that." "Hey, the chops are ready." " Hello Miss Finkelstein." " Hello, Tom." "You are buying all these papers, Tom?" "Well, the show opened last night, Miss Finkelstein." "I wanna catch all the reviews." "And the night before last, cannot the show also open?" "I did buy all the papers last night, didn't I?" "Well, the... the review is today instead." "Oh, are you in the show, Tom?" "It's nice that you're working." "No, I'm not in the show." "A friend... a friend of mine..." "Who's that out there?" "Who knows?" "Lots of people look if you come in." "It's enough." "Good customers like you." "I've got a bag of your favorite candy." "A dime more, is that right?" "Oh, those kids!" "If I would let them, they would buy me all out." "Thanks, Miss Finkelstein, I'll see you soon." "It's a pleasure, I'm sure." "Three days now and he hasn't spent more than a dollar or two." "You keep watching." "He may have that money hidden up somewhere." "If we arrest him now, we'll never find it." "You'll break loose of it pretty quick." "If they don't advertise in half a week, they never will." "What's the sense of waiting anymore?" "Okay." "We've waited." "We played fair." "I've read these lost and found columns a line-for-line." " Do you mean the money is ours?" " All ours." "It look to begin with I'll take 200 bucks and you take 200." "We will each go our own way and we meet here at 6:00." "Mr. Quinn, I shall be delighted." "I've got a million things to buy." "Oh, you're wonderful." "I didn't know you cared, Mrs. Quinn." "Oh, you didn't, well..." "Watch it, you have a high!" "Looks like you bought up the store." "Aha." "And a new radio too." "Yeah, that was the first thing I bought." "That's a good looking hat." "Oh, thank you, sir." "Come on, I'll show you the rest." "Wait a minute, you'd better have this too." "That's the present I didn't buy you last Christmas." "Oh, Tom, I didn't buy you anything." "Skip it." "Anyway, I'll save it until next Christmas." "Yeah, have a heart." " Somebody is knocking." " I didn't hear anything." " We better answer, huh?" " Okay, okay, I'm coming." "What is this?" "My hello." "Who's he?" "Santa Claus." " From the dancing?" " From the five-dollar tips." " I didn't know..." " Didn't know what?" " You're Thomas J. Quinn, aren't you?" " Yeah." "You're under arrest for murder." "Murd...?" "I haven't murdered anybody since I played in Newark." "Go ahead, make jokes, chump." "You're coming too, lady." "No, wait a minute, you guys aren't serious." "What are you, a couple of actors out of work?" "You don't even look like detectives." "Some joker this fellow." "Mind?" "Just tell us what you did with the rest of the money." "It will make it easier for you." "What money?" "I don't know what you're talking about." "Look Quinn, old man Wontner had a lot more than this." "Where are you hiding it?" "Who's Wontner?" "Who's Wontner, hey?" "If you don't know who Wontner is why did you buy a copy of every single New York newspaper 3 nights running so you can follow the developments of the case?" "I do remember something about it." "Just a few paragraphs on the second or third page of the paper." "Didn't say anything about money in old-fashioned bills." "No." "You bet your life it didn't because if it had, you wouldn't have spent the money." "And we wanted you too." "We don't tell the papers everything, Quinn." "That's when we got a trap setup and you walked right into the trap, Quinn, just like we figured you would." "Quinn, why don't you to sign this confession like a good boy to make it easier for you all the way around." "Look, I've been telling I didn't kill anybody." "All right." "So you didn't kill him." "So he ran into a clothesline and strangled himself." "But tell us this Quinn, what did you do with the rest of the money?" "We have it on good authority that the old man had 60 or 70 thousand dollars." "Now, where is it?" "Hey, look, I told you this is all there is." "I told you how I found it." "Yeah, do you expect us to believe that?" "When a 12-year-old kid can think of a better alibi than that." "You found it beside a weighing machine, huh?" "All right, if you did, why didn't you turn it over to us?" "And if you did, where's is the wallet that you said you found it in?" " I took the wallet..." " Listen to me, Quinn." "I've been on the Police force for 25 years." "I've turned in some honeys for indictment, but never in all that time have I had a such unbeatable airtight case as I got against you." "Was the very box we found the money in a sort of poetic justice?" "Your shoes betrayed you." "Now we find some of the money in the box they came." "Look, you keep talking about shoes." "What I got it is..." "Yes, your shoes, Quinn." "He knew my wife, he'll tell you." "He wants a character reference from you, Clint." "I never saw him before." "You know Ann!" "Sure, why not?" "Anybody at the Ortiz Academy with the price of a dancing lesson can make her." "No use wasting any more time on him." "Take him out!" "What about the girl Ann, inspector?" "I don't know." "She is a problem." "Are you gonna hold her as an accessory?" "I suppose we should." "But, frankly, if I could avoid it, I rather not." "If there's any one thing that will weaken our case against him is to put her upon trial with him." "She'd draw sympathy and he'd automatically benefit from it." "Meanwhile, he still have the rest of that money hidden somewhere." "Yes." "Why don't you let her go?" "Maybe she'll lead us to it." "You know, Clint?" "Sometimes you get a good idea." "Go ahead." "I'll arrange the release order." "Are you following me?" "Sure." "Is there a law against it?" " Yes, there is." " Why don't you call a cop?" "What do you want?" "There's a little diner down the street." "Come on, we'll have a cup of coffee and I'll tell you." " What it'll be, folks?" " Coffee." "I wanna help you." "I can imagine." "Why didn't you tell me you were married?" "You didn't ask." "As long as the five-dollar bills held out you weren't volunteering the information, huh?" "I didn't think it mattered." "I didn't take it that seriously." "It mattered to me." "I didn't know." "What do you think?" "I went there to learn the waltz?" "Look, I didn't encourage you." "No, you took me for a chump." "Do I look like the type that has to give a girl a five-dollar bill just to get her to talk to me?" "You said you wanted to help me." "Is it your idea of a beginning?" "Sure, I'll do, I'll help you, but there's nothing I can do for him." "He's guilty." "How do you know he's guilty?" "You're all so sure, but you'll never prove it, see, not if there's any justice." "Don't you go talking about justice." "Why don't you..." "No, let's leave the dancing school out of this." "That's over bad." "Now, forget it, the issue is closed." "I don't wanna forget it." "You just run out of time, Santa Claus." "School's out." "All right." "The issue is closed." "...our supporter "Supported Footwear"." "And out of the news." "At Tooles Prison the Coroner's jury today indicted Thomas J. Quinn of first-degree murder in the brutal slaying of Ottis Wontner, agedmiser." "Meanwhile, a large part of Wontner's hoard amounting to thousands of dollars is still missing." "And Police are of the theory Quinn has it hidden somewhere within the city." "With the State asking the supreme penalty," "Quinn will go on trial for his life a week from today." "I remember the trial like through a fog, its words and faces." "All the time that song was in my head." "A blinding toothache that never went away." "It was all unreal." "Only had the realest things in your life always seem that way." "They said the district attorney was intrigued by the legal aspects of the case." "He called it a circumstantial case before that appeal." "And if he handled it right, my conviction will make good reading for years to come in law journals." "Just one shoe?" "As the way it stepped in a splatter of mud?" "Yes, sir." "Can you remember anything else about these shoes on the day in question?" "Outside of the fact that they needed polishing badly." "Yeah, they were tap shoes, steal tip." "Yes, sir." "He used to come in once a month." "He always paid with old-fashioned bills, you know, the big ones." "We made an impression of the defendant shoes the night he was arrested." "It was identical with the mold made at the scene of the crime." "The judge was impressed." "A toothache kept bothering me." "That song never went away." "Stayed like songs do sometimes for no reason." "Ann sat through it all." "I wanted to take her and run away." "I guess the lawyers of the city that punished me meant well." "but there was just too much evidence." " You examined the defendant shoes?" " Yes, sir." "Does the measurement of the defendant shoe fit the shoe print the police found at the scene of crime?" "Yes, sir." "Exactly." "I found the foot print in a patch of mud outside the window where Wontner was killed." "Well, he had some cock-and-bull story about throwing the shoes though a window at a cat." "He used to call them his magic shoes." "He did throw them out of the window that night." "I saw him!" "It's all my fault about the money." "I told him we could spend it." "He was wearing the shoes the night we picked him up." "I told him that his shoes..." "Shoes... shoes... shoes..." "Shoes... shoes... shoes..." "Shoes" "If there's anything you can think up to save you, son, you'd better think of it now." "Tomorrow at this time, it will be all over." "I'm trying to think." "What about the money?" "They claimed there was a lot more than the 2,000 I found." "If we can only prove that I haven't got it..." "But we can't prove that." "As a matter of fact, they can't prove that over 2,000 ever actually existed." "That's why it hasn't come up." "There must be something." " Maybe the wallet." "I'll harp on it tomorrow and I hope that whoever lost it will read about it in the papers and come forward to claim it." "If that would happen..." "It won't, Mr. Lake." "At least we can try." "Think, son, think hard." "Remember, it's... it's your life." "I will." "Good night." "Thanks, Mr. Lake." "Good night." "Somebody that owns a candy store sent this to you." "Has the jury reached a verdict?" "We have, Your Honor." "What is your verdict?" "The defendant is guilty as charged." "Prisoner, step forward." "You have been found guilty as charged by a jury of your peers." "Therefore, it is the duty of this Court to sentence you to be executed in the electric chair in the State Penitentiary on the first Tuesday after Christmas." "Court adjourned." "I did the best I knew how, son." "Thank you, Mr. Lake." "Oh, Tom!" "Come to see me, baby." "Come on, Quinn." " Yeah, have a heart." " No, you don't, Quinn." "Let me see that." "You read the take in the ounce, don't you?" "Ann!" "How are you?" "I haven't seen you in a long time." "Gee!" "You look great." "How's Tom, what's he doing?" "Is he working?" " No, he..." " You see, I just got back in the coast." "I was booked solid all the way through." "Made all my jump hitchhiking." "Now, when you see Tom, be sure to give him my regards." "And if I don't see you anymore, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas." "How am I doing?" "You're improving." "Oh, I'm gotta need a lot of it." "What do you want for Christmas, baby?" "Do you really want to know?" "No." "Please, don't let him die." "Please, help him." "It's all my fault." "I'll do anything, only please, don't let him die." "All we need is a break." "Don't..." "Please." "Annie!" "Annie!" "Come in." " Hello, Mrs. Finkelstein." " Hello, how are you?" "It would be a shame if it was wasted." "Oh, I..." "I really wasn't planning to have it." "Last year Tom came in and he said:" ""Happy Russian Shannon, Mrs. Finkelstein"" "That's New Year's, you know?" "Well, how much is it?" "Oh... nothing." "I wanted this year to say:" ""Merry Christmas, Tom"" "I'm glad tomorrow's Christmas." "One day more I couldn't stand, I sold out my whole stock." "Even the momma dolls that could not behave." "Proper diapers I have to get for them yet." " Thank you very much." " You are welcome." " Bye." " Good bye." "Tonight as countless children throughout the land hang their stockings and anxiously wait the sound of reindeer and the coming of Santa Claus, we dedicate our next Christmas Carol to the old Santa Claus himself." "Is it you?" "Yes." "Thank heaven!" "You sound almost as if you're glad to see me." "I am." "Why did you phoned me tonight and asked me to come to this place on Christmas Eve?" "What do expect to find in this house?" "I don't know." "But I do know I've got to help him." "And I had to start somewhere." "Even if I wanted to help him, and I couldn't, he dies next week." "That's why we've got to do something." "I don't know what." "You're a detective, you tell me." "What's the use?" "At least, you can try." "What for?" "What could we accomplish?" "If we don't try, we'll never know." "Well..." "Leave it down." "Why?" "I'm crying." "It's Christmas Eve and I'm lonesome and afraid." "You are lonesome too, aren't you, Santa Claus?" "But there's a big difference." "I'm used to it." "You don't have to be..." "Santa Claus." "I asked you once before, don't call me that." "You are a nice guy." "I'll find a girl that really will fall in love with you." "A wonderful girl." "I don't want just any girl." "If you set him free, and if you want it that way," "I'll marry you myself." " I don't believe it." " I would." "I wouldn't want you that way." "We can talk about that later." "All this is terribly unimportant right now." "Then, what could I do to get him released?" " You must believe he's innocent." " But the evidence..." " Please, believe me." " But..." "A Christmas gift, Santa Claus." "Please, aid him." "Do you remember anything else that happened the night he threw the shoes out the window?" "No, just he couldn't find them that night, and... the next morning they were in the hall, outside our door." "And you don't have any idea who put them there," "No, I asked everyone in the house." "They could have landed in somebody's open window." "Anything could've happened to them, don't you see?" "And whoever returned them, probably is the guilty one." "It's a tiny loop for what was otherwise an airtight case." "Maybe Tom is innocent." "The whole case was built on circumstantial evidence." "Maybe this will shoot holes in it." "There's so little time!" "Don't worry." "I won't waste any." "You're as good as your word, aren't you?" "You will help him." "Yeah." "This makes things different." "You've given me an angle to work on." "I'll meet you the day after he's released." "Not until then?" "No." "Look, I'm not gonna hold you to your promise." "You don't have to see me then if you don't want to." "Why bother me at a time like this?" "I'm busy playing Santa Claus." " That makes two of us." " Huh?" " Hello, Clint." " Oh, good evening Mrs. Stevens." " Where these go, Sid?" " Oh, right over here." " Isn't it beautiful?" " Yes, it certainly is." "Inspector, you know that money in that Quinn case?" "The 60,000 or so he was supposed to have hidden." "It's never turned up." " Did you say the Quinn case?" " Yeah." "That's closed." "But suppose there was a mistake." "Take the money angle." "I've checked on Quinn's wife." "If she knew where it was, she'd gotten it by now." "That's easy." "Quinn hasn't told her where it is." "Hand me that bat, will you?" "All right, but there's something else." "The night of the murder Quinn threw his shoes through the window" "The next morning they were returned." "Yes, I know." "He told us that." "Only he couldn't prove it." "Of course not." "But don't you see, if he was true about the shoes, it changes everything." " No." "I don't agree with you." " Why not?" "The case was circumstantial." "If the shoes were out of his possession that night, the mainspring of it it's gone." "The least you can do is ask the D.A. to petition this." "Listen, Clint." "If there was any new evidence, I'll be glad to phone the D. A." "But you're just raking over dead coals as it is." "The evidence we had convicted him." "And there wasn't only the shoes." "There was a lot of other things." "A lot of other things!" "No matter how you look at it." "It's nothing but a loosely connected series of coincidences." "You don't mind if I look into it, do you?" "No, if that's the way you want to spend Christmas." "Oh, I'll take it for you." "Right away here." "You've done a wonderful job." "Oh, you did very well yourself." "I'm kind of proud of you, you know?" "Yes?" "It's Clint." "Come." "I'm sorry to wake you." "Just show me which window..." " You mean the one that...?" " Yeah." "Over there." "From here, huh?" " Did he throw them hard?" " I don't know." "You can see the fence the cats were on." "Okay." " Do you think...?" " I don't know." "Just keep your fingers crossed." "Oh, what do you want?" "Do you know what time it is?" "In two hours it's daylight." "Well, what about it?" "Police headquarters." "Oh, what do you want with me?" "Your two back apartments, 3 and 2." "How long have the people been living in 3?" "McGee's." "Oh, two years in April." "Now, in two." "Oh, that's Mrs. Alvin." "She's been in the house 5 years." "Police headquarters." " You're McGee, aren't you?" " Yes." "Is it Santa Claus?" "Is it, mom, huh?" "Who sleeps in that back room?" " My three kids." " They always sleep there?" "Ever since we moved in." " Good night, McGee." " Good night." "I can't sleep at that hour in this house." "What in blazes!" "It's the law, Mrs. Alvin." "No, it's the law, is it?" "Now, just what is the law doing prowling around at this hour?" "Asking questions." "Is that your room?" "Yes." "Who occupies that other room?" "It's not any business of yours." "I've rented out to roomers." "Who has it now?" "A very respectable young lady." "A librarian she is." "How long has she occupied it?" "Since two weeks before Labor Day." "It would be about the middle of August, huh?" "You might as well sit down, Mrs. Alvin." "This is gonna take some time." "I wanna know who had that room before she had it." "A... a young man, uh..." "a Mr. Kosloff." "Kosloff, huh?" "What was his first name?" "John L." "John L..." "When did he give it up?" "I refuse to answer any more questions until you tell me what this is about!" "He's in suspicion of murder." "When did he give up the room?" "Well, a week or two before she came." "You'll have to do better than that." "Don't you keep any records?" "I can tell by my Bank book, I think." "Oh, get it." "I just can't believe that Mr. Kosloff..." "He was such a quiet young man." "Here it is." "I got ten dollars a week for that back and I always deposit for each room all the sums I get it." "Burglary, you know." "Now, the last 10 of the year before she came in is July, 26." "In advance." "That it paid him up till August, 2nd." " Did he stay the whole week?" " No." "I remember now." "A day or two after, he never came back anymore." "He sent somebody after his bag." "Say, you've done swell!" "Now, think carefully." "What did he look like?" "Well, he was 28 or 30, dark hair" "about as tall as you are, in the same build." "Eyes?" "Yeah, of course." "Two of them." "I mean, brown." "Was he working while he stayed here?" "No, but he kept trying." "He just couldn't seem to locate." "Didn't he leave a forwarding address?" "Not a word." "He just stopped and went." "A letter came for him the day after the man took the bag." "I kept it around for some time thinking he may be around after it." "Well, where is it?" "Do you still have it?" "Oh, I had it for weeks, but..." "finally I threw it out." "Oh, where was it from?" "What was the post mark on it?" "Well, do you think that I would look at..." "Come on, you're a landlady." "Don't kid me." "Well, can anybody get in trouble for opening other people's mail?" "Why, of course not." "Not if it's left over 30 days." "Well, I didn't like to say anything, but" "I wanted to see if the letter was important enough for me to keep any longer, so I..." "I steamed it open." "It was just a mushy letter from some girl in..." "Let me see, Pitts..., Pitts..." "Pittsburg?" " No, Pittsfield!" "Say, don't you want a...?" "Say, what's this all about?" "Let's get away from the house before she looks out the window again and sees you." "But I'm having Christmas dinner here." "No, Kosloff." "You've got a date in New York for the murder of Ottis Wontner." " Murder?" " Oh, let's go, let's go." "I don't know what this is, but whatever it is, don't break my life, will you?" "I told you I was gonna ask that girl to marry me tonight." "I've got a diamond ring in my pocket right now I was taking to her." "I know." "You paid 515 dollars for it." "I've checking on you all day." "Where did all the money come from you've been spending since you got here last August?" "You didn't have a nickel when you were down in the city living with Mrs. Alvin." "Well, my mother died right after I got back." "She left it to me." "That's right." "She did die, but not until after you got back," "You already had money when you got off the train." "You've been buying presents, making a big supply." "I did that on my last few bucks." "It was all a bluff." "I knew she was going, and... well, and I wanted her to think I was a success before she died." "Is there anything wrong in that?" "No." "But what about now?" "I've been checking with the executor of the state." "Your mother left you exactly 500 dollars while your car alone... 500 dollars was all she had banked." "I came into thousands in cash." "She kept them in the house, in a wall safe." "Can you prove that?" "No." "No, she never let anyone know that the money was in the house." "She was afraid of being robbed." "But can you prove that I got it from this guy you think I killed?" "How are you gonna do this to me?" "This is a rotten business I'm in." "Come on." "Hey!" "Merry Christmas." " Campana!" " Yes, sir." "Take off your hat." "Do you identify this man?" "Look at him good." "Have you ever seen him before?" "Sure, sure." "He was any other day Wontner bought groceries." "He is Mr. Kosloff." "Why, I even told the detectives about him at the time of the case." "He was in the store the last time Wontner was here?" "Sure, that's right." "And when Wontner left, some customers began to talk about him." "Mr. Kosloff seemed very interested." "Interested in the room where the old Wontner had a lot of cash, huh?" "Yes, sir." "Mr. Kosloff began to ask questions." "Why not?" "I was curious." "Who wouldn't be?" "And I wasn't the only one who knew about that hidden money either." "Dozens of people in the neighborhood did." "Sure, Kosloff, sure." "But dozens of people in the neighborhood didn't have a room across from Tom Quinn where they can get hold of the shoes, put them on and go to commit a murder." "Oh, shoes must've come sailing right through the window and hit you on the head, and gave you the idea." "Great idea, wasn't it?" "I didn't do it!" "Of course not!" "That's all, Campana, thanks." "Come on." "Bring the prisoner in." " Please, be seated, Mrs. Quinn." " Thank you." "I sent for you because we have arrested a man that we think very possibly may have killed Ottis Wontner." "I intend to phone the D. A. about him just as soon as you leave this office but I want you to see him first." "I want you to study his face, as I question him." "You may have seen him before somewhere." "You may possibly be able to add some little things that will help us to build our case against him." "Each little detail, anything you may remember is important." "Inspector, I can't thank you enough, I..." " What's your full name?" " John L. Kosloff." " Age." " 28." "Your occupation." "None." "Were you recently operated on for appendicitis?" "Yes, sir." "On what date?" "Oh, I..." "I don't remember exactly." "It was sometime in July." "The hospital record shows that you underwent an emergency operation on July, 27th." "Oh, yeah, yeah, that's right." "I got an attack in a friend's house." "They sent for an ambulance." "A couple of days later I forwarded him to the rooming house I was staying in and he got my bag for me with my clothing." "The following week I was released from the hospital and then I took a train directly to..." "Pittsfield." "What day was Wontner murdered on?" "July, 28." "You may return to Pittsfield, Mr. Kosloff." "I'm very sorry that you were detained." "That's all right." "Thank you." "But, the..." " If he's innocent, what about the...?" " Coincidence." "A whole series of coincidences, just like you said the other night." "Coincidences!" "That's how you convicted my husband." "He dies tomorrow night." "It isn't right a man should die on circumstantial evidence alone." "Can't you say anything?" "Our hands are tied, Mrs. Quinn." "All you are interested is in killing somebody." "You don't care who it is as long as you kill somebody." "Well it'll be on your conscience!" "No chance?" "No." "It's tonight, midnight." "The other day I was thinking about Memphis." "We were rich in Memphis." "Poor again in Wilmington." "We played that whole state of Delaware, remember?" "Yeah." "Gee, I'm glad I have a wife like you." "You've been a wonderful husband, darling." "I'd marry you over again a million times." " You would?" " Sure." "You know?" "Maybe, maybe I..." "I shouldn't have added jokes to our ride." "Maybe that's what killed it." "My jokes are always so bad." "No, they weren't." "I laughed at them." "I want you to go to the dancing school tonight." "I don't want you to think about anything." "You know the old formula we used to have when things are bad." "You just don't think about it." "Don't worry about me." "Yes, but I do." "It's funny what a guy really worries about" "I'll feel better if you promise." "I'll do anything you ask." "Really, please do." "I will, Tom." "But I'll miss you." "It was a silly thing to say." "Why... if we'd ever gotten to the coast, we'd have killed them." "Serious..." "Serious, without jokes." "Just right dancing." "All right, Quinn." "They're always calling time on you around here." "It's a terrible goodbye." "I had so many things I wanted to tell you..." "Things are never right for us." "And I don't wanna go." "I don't wanna go." "That's the whole thing up to now." "It's still like a dream." "I guess it will be like a dream when they come and get me." "It could happen to anybody, but it happened to me." "Well boys, I reckon Five ain't gonna tell us." "Hey, One, ain't none of your business, anyway." "He was just trying to help him." "Listen here to me." "Every man's gotta die his own way." "Let's Five do it how he wants." "What time is it?" "You have a couple of hours yet." " Like to see the priest?" " No, not yet." " Want a cigarette, Five?" " Yeah, Four, I do." "Thanks, Four." "When do you go?" " Next Tuesday." " I'll see you then." "See you all soon." "That's a pretty tune, Three." "Would you like to hear it again?" "Yeah." "That's Chopin." "Chopin." "I know how you feel, Ann." "But you've got to get your mind off the clock." "I did everything I could." "It wasn't enough." "Oh, Ann, have a heart." "I have a heart." "A little candy one somebody gave me once." "I didn't want you to be alone when... when he... uh..." "After tonight I won't be here anymore." " I'm leaving town." " Why?" "Oh, no you can't!" "Why can't I?" "You have to have somewhere to turn I want to help you." "Oh, yesterday I was racking my mind trying to think how I could and today I did something about it." "This life is over." "I've got an apartment for you, Ann." "Facing on the East River, 7, Tracy Square" "You don't have to go away." "I was going to wait." "Sort of say that it's a surprise, but..." "Don't look at me like that." "It's all yours." "The things in it for you, closet full of things." "It's all fixed up." "I've spent nearly every cent I ever saved, Ann." "And that later on you'll have it, it'll be our place." "I want you to come over with me and see it tonight." "You must be insane!" "How can you say that?" "I'm only thinking of you." "We made a bargain." "I did everything I could to carry out my end of it." "Please, don't go on with that." "Naturally, you are upset." "If you'd only go over and look at it." "Forget about the clock." "Come out with me and have a drink someplace." "I don't ever intend to see that place." " Ann..." " I mean it." "Now, get that idea out of your head." "I don't understand you." "You don't think I kissed you that night because I love you, do you?" "Oh, just playing me for a Santa Claus, huh?" "Maybe the tips that have been coming off ain't enough." "Well, here..." "You never let it be said I was cheap when you get over this." "You know where I am." "Come and see me." "Clint, wait!" " What's the matter now?" " I changed my mind." "Yeah?" "I'd like to go with you, any place you wanna go." " I think I can use a drink." " Now you're talking." "I wanna get my coat." "You will wait, won't you?" "I'll wait forever." "Where we go?" "How about the Green Angel?" "Okay, the Green Angel." "The Green Angel." "Clint, I changed my mind about going to the apartment of yours." "I'd like to see it." "Oh, what's the matter?" "You looked surprised." "Oh, I'll get over that." "Driver, make it 7, Tracy Square." "You're changing your mind about a lot of things tonight, aren't you?" "Aha." "You sent for me, Tom?" "Yeah, yes, it's about time, father." "Sit down, Tom." "I guess seeing me seems to make it, so I'm not so scared." "Take my hand, Tom." "Repeat after me." "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures." "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures." "He leadeth me beside the still waters." "He leadeth me beside the still waters." "He restoreth my soul." "Who fires up awfully tight, boy." "They're coming." "I hear them coming!" "Shut up!" "Shut up!" "Let me show you the rest of it." " Do you like it?" " Oh, yes." "It's beautiful." "The window here faces the river." "All your favorite shades and perfumes." " How did you know?" " Oh, I know all about you." "Come on, you haven't half seen the living room yet." "I know how you love music." "The best piano money could buy." "Why!" "It's lovely!" "I didn't furnish this place yesterday." "I've been working on it for months." "And if we ever get tired of it, we can go anyplace you want." "You really knew all about me, didn't you?" "Sure." "On my vacation I went back to Ohio, to your home town." "I saw the house you lived in, the school you went to." "I even saw the books that you used, the scrapbook you've gotten together when you were ten, an album with tintypes from pigtails to the dress you wore on your first prom." "I even talked to people who knew you." "But why?" "Why did you do it?" "I didn't want there to be anything about you that I didn't know." "I loved you before you ever saw me." "I used to go up to that dancing school at night because I was lonesome, and one night I saw you." "I knew right away, but I watched you a long time..." "Nights I couldn't get you out of my mind." "It took all the nerve I had to ask you to dance the first time." "You didn't even notice, but always the next day I could still smell your perfume, your face powder on my shoulder." "And I made plans for us." "They've come true." "But you know I was married." "Sure, I know." "And I didn't care." "Even when you wouldn't give me a tumble I didn't care." "I go wait." "You know everything about me." "Yeah." "Where I live, all my habits..." "And Tom's habits." "You must have hung around outside at night like a creep waiting for a chance to frame him." "And you know about Wontner's money." "You even put that wallet by the weighing machine where you know Tom would find it." "And you got the 60,000 that they think Tom has." "You are crazy!" "Who could have framed him any better?" "I tried to get your husband off." "Sure!" "So you could be a big hero in my eyes." "The only reason I kissed you is because I was desperate for any help I could get." "And the only reason you agreed to help is because you thought you had me." "That's not true." "Yes, it is." "Kosloff was no stranger who suddenly turned up." "He was a suspect at the time of the murder." "All you did was locate him and rub in a little circumstantial evidence." "Only in your hurry you forgot to check his hospital records." "You were in a hurry at the school tonight too." "You fumbled in your pocket for a bill." "You didn't see what bill you gave me." "This bill is just like the bill that was in the wallet Tom found." "You killed him, didn't you?" "Why don't you admit it?" "What does all that matter now?" "He was no use to anybody." "I wanted you to have everything in the world, don't you understand?" "What difference does that make now?" "I love you." "All right, Judd." "Get on that phone there, Harry." "It's all right." "We opened the line and put the Governor on stand by after you phoned from the dancing school." "Tom be...?" "Subtitle made by gamboler[noirestyle]"