"I'm sure you'd rather wait for your investigator to get here." "She's here." "I could hardly ignore a telegram from a dear old friend saying that someone was trying to kill her." "If Jessica needs help, then you're hired, for muscle, mop-up..." "Muscle?" "Magnum..." "I'm sorry, but I'm not available." "Even for twice your normal rate?" "Look out!" "Get down!" "Good luck with your investigation." "Thanks." "Good luck with your next novel." "Thank you." "Echoes of Ecstasy." "Mr. Masters had hoped to complete it in time to be here for your arrival." "But he feels confident that he'll finish the final pages today and leave Greece this evening." "Echoes of Ecstasy?" "What's wrong with it?" "Oh, nothing, as a title for a soap opera." "But it hardly heralds quality prose." "Serpent's Whisper." "That was his best title." "Thank you." "I suggested that." "You know, Robin was gonna call that one Valley of the Vipers." "Pamela, I thought we'd have tea at the estate before I deliver your friends to their hotel." "Oh, good." "Joan, please, will you cancel that reservation?" "I didn't talk you into making this trip just so you'd hole up at some hotel." "Darling, please, don't start in again." "Just meeting Robin Masters will be quite enough." "Amy and I wouldn't want to impose." "Oh, don't be silly." "Robin would want my friends to stay there with me." "Right, Jonathan?" "No." "He can't possibly pass here." "I just can't jump into something that risky." "Risky?" "Thomas, my friend Ron works for the hotel chain." "He guarantees me that they're gonna make a bid on the whole Makali Pua Valley within a month." "People go to Maui for the beaches." "Why would anybody build a hotel that far inland?" "Who cares?" "The point is, it's gonna triple in value once they make the bid overnight." "Yeah, but when it doesn't, I'm stuck with the payments on a $10,000 loan." "I'm sorry." "Come on, Thomas." "Look, T.C. And I are committed to this deal." "We can't swing it by ourselves." "You gotta help us." "Oh, Rick..." "Okay, maybe I'll go along, but only 'cause you two guys are my friends and you need a third partner." "I guess I can talk to the bank next week." "Today." "We're leaving for Maui in the morning." "Tomorrow?" "I can't qualify for a loan that fast." "I hadn't thought of that." "I guess you can't qualify at all." "Yes, I can." "I'm just..." "Hi, Higgins." "May I present Miss Pamela Bates," "Mrs. Joan Fulton and her secretary, Miss Amy Salyer." "Jonathan, for God's sake, this is no time for introductions." "Joan, as soon as I've made my call, you phone the hotel and cancel." "You and Amy are staying right here until this matter is settled." "Pamela, I've had closer calls in cabs on 7th Avenue." "Wait a minute." "What matter?" "Yeah, what happened to the car?" "En route from the airport, we were involved in an incident with suspicious overtones." "This is no time to be euphemistic." "Somebody just tried to kill us." "It could have been deliberate on the driver's part." "And then again, it could have been an act of carelessness." "Maybe the driver planned on being careless." "I don't think that truck had a license plate." "It was a truck?" "What kind?" "You got things to do, remember?" "Don't get involved." "At least not until we've been introduced." "Oh, Thomas Magnum." "This is Rick Wright." "If you ladies will make yourselves comfortable," "I'll arrange for your rooms." "Mrs. Fulton, it would be safer here." "I guess we'll find out." "I'll show you around." "Okay, Higgins." "Let's have it." "Thank you." "That's not what I meant." "Look, I know you don't want to show concern in front of the ladies before you get me to take the case." "Yes, if you could take another one, that would be most helpful." "Oh, will you cut it out?" "Why are you being evasive?" "What really happened out on that road?" "It's a routine police matter, and I can't understand why you or Pamela feel that a private investigator is needed." "Oh, Miss Bates wants to hire me." "It will only distress you to continue this conversation." "Distress me?" "Why?" "Very well, if you insist, no one wants to hire you for the case, Magnum." "Not Pamela and certainly not I." "Excuse me." "My Aunt Mildred should have been in the diplomatic corps." "She was a master of reverse psychology." "Whatever she wanted you to do, she'd forbid you to do it." "I'd learned that Higgins was no slouch at the art, either." "Telling me that I wasn't wanted was supposed to make me come begging." "And swallowing my pride might be preferable to eating a big real estate loss, but it was a lot easier to lose to Aunt Mildred than to Higgins." "Forget it, Higgins." "It's too late." "I leave for Maui in 15 minutes." "I only need five." "I thought you'd still be in bed." "Mrs. Fulton, I'm very busy." "Please call me Joan." "Know any good beaches?" "We got a great one right here." "I'd prefer one with more men than Dobermans." "Well, I'm sure Higgins can arrange for you to use the one at the Club." "Or maybe you could?" "I'm sorry, but I'm not available." "Even for twice your normal rate?" "Higgins told me you were a private investigator." "I thought you weren't concerned about what happened yesterday." "I wasn't, but Pamela can be very convincing." "Yeah, I've noticed." "I love to watch men pack." "Look, all you have to do is keep an eye on me until Pamela's investigator gets here and cleans up this mess." "Until her what gets here?" "Oh, damn." "Higgins hasn't told you?" "I wanted to spare you further pain." "Pain?" "Higgins, I never wanted the case." "I'm not sure there even is a case." "Besides, this trip is very important to me." "So does this big mainland investigator have a name?" "Pamela Bates prefers that I not divulge the name, and I must honor her request." "Miss Bates is a very old friend of Mr. Masters, the editor of some of his earliest successes." "Does that mean you don't like her hiring this guy?" "You're just obliging her?" "Not at all." "I..." "T.C. Is landing here again without my permission." "Don't change the subject, Higgins." "Since when am I incapable of handling a simple auto accident?" "Magnum, I regret to inform you it may not be that simple." "No, Higgins!" "They could be after you." "There were four people in your car yesterday, remember?" "You're grasping at straws." "I'm not going to ask you to investigate." "I don't want you to." "Then lift off immediately." "Did you qualify?" "No." "He means, did I qualify for my loan?" "No, but I will." "I only got the application late yesterday." "Application?" "We just called our banks and got ours approved by phone." "Well, I'm not as liquid as you are." "Jonathan, just what the hell is going on?" "Pamela Bates, Theodore Calvin." "Pleased to meet you, Miss Bates." "Don't bet on it." "Jonathan, just what kind of security do you call this?" "The killer could have been in that chopper." "Miss Bates, T.C. Does not hire out to killers." "He and Rick are here to pick me up for a business trip, which I am taking, if you're sure you still have someone else for the case." "Well, of course I have someone else." "I mean, look," "I'm sure you do very well as an estate security guard, but, well, I need professional, competent help." "Where's Amy going?" "Shopping." "She asked for the Ferrari as Joan is not yet back with the Audi." "You mean you just handed them both the car keys and said go?" "They're not prisoners here, Pamela." "God give me strength!" "Hear, hear." "Let's go to Maui." "Higgins, if this investigator didn't work out, you wouldn't be too proud to call me, would you?" "For the last time, Pamela doesn't want your help." "Now lift off!" "Maui, Thomas." "Just follow her a little further." "Hey, Thomas, didn't you get the hint?" "Higgins said to stay out of it." "Come on, Rick, you saw Amy yesterday." "She was too scared to stay at a hotel." "Now, all of a sudden, she wants to go shopping?" "It's her business." "And speaking of business, what about the cash for your part of the closing?" "Oh, I can't get the cash until I show the bank a deed for collateral." "She's going shopping in an office?" "T.C., can you get closer?" "Listen, Thomas, if you really think you can qualify, well, maybe I can advance you your part of the down." "Down." "T.C., please, can you set down?" "I'd rather set her down on Maui." "I know what you're thinking." "Okay, so maybe I was still hoping that the big mainland investigator was a myth, that maybe Higgins had pulled the ultimate Aunt Mildred to get me on the case." "Or maybe I was beginning to believe that there really was a case." "Or maybe I just wanted an excuse not to go to Maui." "Miss Salyer?" "If he can afford to buy land on Maui, why does Robin let him loaf around here rent-free?" "Pamela, I'm afraid you have some misconceptions about Magnum." "He's neither a loafer nor a sponge, exactly, and he isn't without merit as an investigator." "Fine." "Good." "I'm just glad his merits are on Maui." "Higgins." "Magnum, how did you get here?" "I took the bus." "Did Amy and Miss Bates' investigator come back here?" "My what?" "The guy you hired to handle this case." "Was he tailing Amy?" "Robin's Nest." "Mr. Magnum, I don't know what you're talking about." "My help hasn't even arrived yet." "I saw somebody take off after her." "Yes, yes, she's a guest here." "Did you get a license number?" "No, the car was too far away." "Brother." "And you wonder why I don't want you on this case." "Miss Bates, could we forget about your opinion of me for the time being?" "I think Amy could be in real trouble." "What a brilliant deduction." "That was the police." "The Ferrari has been found abandoned, and there's no sign of Amy." "And you saw her?" "You could have saved her and you just stood there?" "Magnum, how could you?" "Look, I'm not supposed to tell you anything, Magnum, except, "Go to Maui."" "Does that mean something to you?" "It means Pamela Bates is giving the orders, as usual." "Yeah, well, she's the girl's next of kin." "Next of kin?" "Sergeant, who's handling the Amy Salyer case?" "Me." "Oh, Pamela asked you to handle it personally, huh?" "She doesn't want you involved, and neither do I." "Well, I'm involved, whether anybody likes it or not, Browning." "I've been out all night looking for Amy." "Captain Browning." "Listen, you have your car back, and I'm sure you can get another girl." "Just let us find this one." "And what about the guy who was following her?" "Who told you about him?" "I'm the one who saw him." "I guess the next of kin didn't bother to tell you that." "She just said that the bum that ID'ed the car was too inept to get a license number." "Captain?" "Captain Browning here." "Yes, ma'am." "Oh, I understand." "Oh, I'm sorry." "Your door was open." "I just wanted to call home, see if maybe Amy had contacted them." "Look, Captain, it's 6:00 a. m." "You wanna get some coffee?" "Get out, Magnum." "If Amy Salyer turns into a homicide, you can come back here and buy Tanaka a whole breakfast, but me, you don't manipulate." "Thanks for letting me use the phone." "You didn't use it." "Not to call the estate, anyway." "If you had, you'd have known that was Pamela Bates on the phone just now." "Now her sister's missing." "Her sister?" "Joan wouldn't stay out all night without phoning." "I guess you know your sister better than anybody." "Cute." "Amy's not my niece, either." "Well, I just wanted to avoid all those unimportant explanations." "No, Miss Bates, I think you just wanted to control the situation." "Either that or you don't want the police to know much about your friends." "Mr. Magnum, I've asked you to get lost as nicely as I know how." "And I believe you." "And I believe I know why you don't want me around." "And if you tell me the truth, maybe I'll stay quiet." "Now, what the hell does that mean?" "It means that if Joan Fulton had a book to promote, this'd be a great way to do it." "What a preposterous theory." "Mrs. Fulton is not even a writer!" "Then why does she have a secretary with her?" "Her husband dropped dead three months ago and left a business for her to run." "Well, maybe Amy's the one with the book to promote." "Look, nobody's promoting anything." "And I refuse to stand here defending my concerns, not when there's real help on the way." "Why are you doing this?" "Why are you?" "I wanna know this real help's name." "Pamela's investigator is one of the finest in the field, a renowned name in the intelligence community." "Well, if he's so renowned, why can't you tell me who he is?" "I have a right to know who's replacing me." "You're not being replaced." "You were never hired." "Maybe because there never was a case." "If it eases your pain to believe that, then by all means do so." "And by all means go to Maui." ""Amy Salyer?" "She said to look her up when I got to the Islands." ""Receptionist:" "What was your name, sir?" ""Response:" "Well, I kind of wanted to surprise Amy." ""Can you tell me how to reach her?" ""Receptionist:" "Please have a seat."" "Then she called you, Mr. Houston." "Transcription from the reception area voice recorder." "Miss Salyer's told you that she worked here, Mr. Magnum?" "Yeah, but I didn't expect to rate the president of the company's help." "She's one of your top people?" "Cut it out and tell me why you're here." "Press?" "Undercover police?" "Well, I'm just here to see an old friend." "Tell me, does everything everybody says here get written down or recorded?" "In Amy Salyer's case, yes." "My attorneys want a record." "I intend to go after the first paper that prints a headline like," ""Pacisle Mystery Woman Still Missing."" "Well, maybe you should just explain what she was doing here." "She's never been here." "But one idiot claims he saw her run from this building, and everybody takes him seriously." "She was here." "You're the idiot?" "Can I talk to your security guard?" "I saw Amy speak to him." "The police already questioned him, and he says that no one fitting Miss Salyer's description came into Pacisle yesterday." "And I'm busy." "Goodbye, Mr. Magnum." "Yes?" "Wait a minute!" "Did you ask your doctor to call you here?" "Doc Ibold?" "I..." "Bold." "B-O-L-D." "May I?" "Hi, Doc." "Her dyphylline prescription was phoned into Pill Box Drugs." "She wants it delivered to the Seaview Motel, room number 1." "You should've tried the bathroom window." "It was open." "What are you doing in my room?" "It's not yours." "Now, who are you, and what do you want with Amy Salyer?" "What are you doing in my room?" "Look out!" "Thanks." "Your delivery from Pill Box Drugstore." "Very good." "I'll bet you're the only private eye in town who knows that asthmatics can't be without their medicine." "It's "private investigator,"" "and my doctor asked his asthma specialist friends to call him if you made contact." "One of his golfing foursome phoned in your prescription to Pill Box Drugs." "Why'd I have to panic and leave my dyphylline in the car?" "Yes, Amy, why?" "Now, come on, you must have some idea who this guy is." "I told you I don't." "Well, why'd you run away from him?" "Well, because I dumped my boyfriend." "I had this friend in New York." "I just left without even leaving a note or anything." "And I think this man may be a detective he's hired to bring me back." "That's it?" "For that, you went into hiding, let everybody worry?" "Yeah." "No." "Look, I just didn't plan any of this." "You didn't plan to go in the Pacisle offices?" "No." "I was lost." "I just stopped to ask for directions." "Amy, you knew exactly where you were going." "You were nowhere near the shopping district." "Amy!" "Oh!" "Where did you find her?" "Find her?" "Oh, I just happened to run into Amy, Miss Bates." "I mean, I wouldn't want you to think I was on the case." "Mr. Magnum..." "Incidentally," "I may have also run into the guy who tried to run you off the road." "I got the license number this time, but I'm sure you'd rather wait for your investigator to get here." "She's here." "She?" "She." "J.B. Fletcher." "I know J.B. Fletcher." "Well, I mean, I know of J.B. Fletcher, but I thought he was an author." "No, I mean, if you're the J.B. Fletcher I know of," "I just didn't know you were a woman." "That is, that he was a she, and that she was also an investigator." "An investigator?" "Mr. Magnum, I'm afraid you have me confused with someone else." "No, no, he has his terms confused." "I said help was coming." "Will everyone please excuse me?" "It was very nice meeting you, Mrs. Fletcher." "Oh, yes, of course." "I'm sure that you've been through quite an ordeal." "And I'm sure we haven't heard all the details of it, right, Amy?" "Mr. Magnum, I have to speak to Jessica alone." "I know that you will find out if Amy's little secrets have any real bearing on the case, Mrs. Fletcher." "Look, she just arrived." "We've hardly had time to talk." "Just a moment, Pamela." "Mr. Magnum, I could hardly ignore a telegram from a dear old friend saying that someone was trying to kill her, but I am certainly not here to "work on a case."" "Oh, my God." "J.B. Fletcher." "Jessica, Jonathan Higgins." "Oh, Mr. Higgins." "Forgive me." "I'm somewhat overwhelmed." "Please forgive my appearance." "Oh, yes, of course." "Cymbidiums always need care, no matter what the crisis." "Extraordinary." "How did you know?" "Well, it's obvious that you have been working with a compound of hapu'u and volcanic ash, which, incidentally, is an excellent bed for cymbidiums." "I should have known that you'd be a lover of flowers." "I think you should have known a lot more than that, Higgins." "Miss Bates never mentioned Mrs. Fletcher's name to you?" "No, I didn't." "Well, then, this must be kind of a shock for him, to finally learn the identity of the big mainland investigator." "Pamela, what have you been saying about me?" "Nothing, Mrs. Fletcher." "Maybe you shouldn't be in here." "You're dropping dirt on the rug." "Excuse me." "Mr. Higgins, is there somewhere a bit more private where Pamela and I could go and talk?" "We have a little catching up to do." "Yes." "But, Jessica, I swear I never called you an investigator." "Well, perhaps not, but apparently you inferred that I..." "Inferred." "That's a good word." "Now, that's all I did." "I suppose Jonathan told the bum P.I. All those lies just to keep him off the case." "Keep him off?" "Oh, Jessica, please, I need a friend helping me." "Pamela, I am here as your friend, and that is all I am." "But you need professional help, and if this Mr. Magnum is a P. I..." "He's a bum." "Yes?" "I've arranged for a light lunch." "Maine lobster salad in honor of your arrival." "Oh, how very kind of you, Mr. Higgins." "Will you ask Mr. Magnum to join us?" "Heliconia seemed appropriate." "In the Fijis, it's the flower presented to important visitors." "Oh." "Well, it's certainly a lovely centerpiece, but are you certain that we couldn't squeeze up, make a little bit more room at the table?" "No, that would require a complete resetting." "Magnum understands." "I'm fine, Mrs. Fletcher." "Really." "You wanted to talk to me?" "Yes, about Pamela's problem." "Could you conduct an investigation?" "With all due respect, Mrs. Fletcher," "I think that's what you're supposed to do." "Yes, but wouldn't that be a little ridiculous?" "I mean, with a private investigator available, why would you need me?" "I mean, don't you agree, Pamela?" "Well..." "What is this lead you claim you have?" "Lead?" "You said earlier you thought you knew who ran us off the road." "Did I say that?" "I think that Mr. Magnum has a reason for not wanting to reveal his clues." "Yes, Mrs. Fletcher, I do." "I quite understand." "I mean, after all, it's your responsibility, professionally." "And I'm just so glad that you're going to take the case." "I'm not on the case." "Amy, what a lovely diamond." "May I see it?" "Oh, sure." "I just wish it was real." "I'm not on the case." "Are we still arguing that point?" "Where in hell have you been?" "On the beach, more or less." "Well, in your "less" periods, couldn't you have called?" "I've got the police looking for you." "Pamela, I'm f... 39." "I'm an adult." "I don't need a babysitter." "Oh, this is Jason." "Jason Bryan." "Joan and I met on the beach." "I'm sorry to interrupt your lunch." "Joan said it was urgent that she stop by here." "What was so urgent, if you didn't know anybody was looking for you?" "I have been in these clothes since yesterday." "I doubt it." "Pamela, please." "May I present Mrs. Jessica Fletcher." "How do you do?" "Well, I'm impressed." "I came here to meet a famous writer, and I'm finally getting to meet one." "Well, we're all so pleased that you're safe, Mrs. Fulton." "You seem to have been spending a great deal of time on the beach." "Couldn't drag her away yesterday." "I'll arrange for more salads." "Well, I feel like this is an imposition, and I'd like to reciprocate by inviting you all over to my place at 5:00 today." "I'm having a little cocktail party." "Mr. Bryan, we appreciate your invitation, but Mr. Masters is expected here this evening." "Yes, and you ladies probably shouldn't go out until Mr. Magnum has solved the case." "I'm not on the case." "Oh, yes, you are." "If Jessica needs help, then you're hired, for muscle, mop-up, whatever." "Muscle?" "Mop-up?" "Magnum..." "No, Higgins, that's it." "I have had it!" "No more abuse!" "Now, I have tried to put up with it because I thought there might be a real problem here." "But if there is, nobody wants to talk about it." "Amy won't talk, Joan has absolutely nothing to say, and you, Miss Bates, have never even offered a reason why somebody would wanna kill you." "And I'm the only one who's been shot at!" "Magnum, sit down and be calm." "Higgins, stop treating me like a child!" "I'm an adult!" "No more abuse!" "Look out!" "Get down!" "Is everybody all right?" "Excuse me, please." "It was foolish of me to give her the code." "I should have realized she might be irresponsible enough to leave the gates open." "I wanna know why someone just happened to be waiting there to follow them in." "Perhaps they were tailed here." "Or Amy and I were." "You know, Mayfield could have had the place staked out." "Mayfield?" "The guy who was after Amy." "He was driving a rental that was booked out to a Paul Mayfield." "God, it's busy." "And I can't get ahold of Rick to find out if he checked the address or talked to Ice Pick." "Why would he talk to Mr. Ice Pick?" "Higgins, Mayfield or whoever took the shot knew exactly what he was doing." "In and out quick, no traces." "A professional assassin?" "Magnum, your performance at lunch leads me to feel that I and not you should pursue this matter." "What hotel were Amy and Joan staying at originally?" "The Royal Hawaiian." "Did you hear what I said?" "Please remain off the case." "Fine, I'll take it." "But maybe you shouldn't discuss this with Mrs. Fletcher." "It's getting too messy for amateurs." "Are you kidding?" "We're talking minimal risk." "Beautiful flowers." "Why, that's what Makali Pua means, Thomas, beautiful flowers." "And the flowers here are great!" "Why, Thomas, in the long run, we can't lose." "Long run?" "You said the land would triple in value in a month." "It will if the hotel chain makes a bid." "Lf?" "Look, Thomas, other happy investors have to get on the phone now." "I gotta get off." "Look, T.C. And I put up your down payment." "Rick, what about Mayfield?" "Yeah, he got a place here." "Swanky joint, too." "Now, Thomas, did you get the loan?" "Did you talk to Ice Pick?" "No!" "Come on." "Thomas, you cannot do this to Rick and me." "I mean, we signed the contract before we saw the land." "What's wrong with it?" "T. C., you level with me." "Tell me about this property." "What's to tell?" "Like Rick said, beautiful flowers." "Oh, yeah?" "Well, I'll let you know if I qualify." "When?" "When Rick talks to Ice Pick." "Thomas, wait a minute." "You can't..." "Thomas?" "Come on in, Joan." "Oh." "Oh, my goodness." "Well, with everything going on, isn't this a rather strange time to take a shower?" "Well, not when you smell like wine." "Oh." "Did you want something, Mrs. Fletcher?" "Well, I thought I might have some things that could help you with this case." "What case?" "Oh, please, Mr. Magnum, things are beginning to get serious." "That bullet could have killed one of us." "So you have some little things that might help find the gunman?" "Well, not exactly, just things that don't quite make sense." "I mean, for instance," "Joan said that she spent all of yesterday on the beach." "Well, why wasn't her skin more flushed?" "Sunscreen." "Oh, nothing could block the sun out for that number of hours, Mr. Magnum." "And what about Amy lying about her ring?" "I mean, she said it was a fake, but I noticed that it was an exceptionally fine stone." "Why does Amy lie about anything?" "Yes, and what is her marital status?" "I noticed, for instance, that the tan line on her ring finger was wider than the diamond band." "Now, what does that indicate to you?" "That her diamond casts a shadow." "Look, Mrs. Fletcher, all we know for sure is there's a potential murderer running around." "Now, I think it would be best if you let me, a competent professional, look for him or her." "Good luck with your investigation." "Thanks." "Good luck with your next novel." "Thank you." "Everybody, deep down inside, thinks he or she is a private investigator." "Jessica Fletcher was no exception." "Despite her denials, I was sure that she fancied herself as the consummate crime solver." "I had to admit that she had good instincts, but diamonds and tan lines, while interesting observations, were not germane to the case." "I mean, it's okay for a novelist to use non-germane clues in the literary process, but the criminologist has to have clues with a relativity to the relative." "Well, you know what I mean." "Thomas?" "I talked to Ice Pick." "So call me when you get your loan." "The deal's getting better all the time." "We get the flowers for nothing." "This establishes the trajectory." "The bullet passed right over this table." "Yes, where I had stood only seconds before the shot." "Are you suggesting that someone was trying to kill you?" "I have a colorful past, Jessica, with enemies who might well deploy a professional assassin to take their vengeance on me." "Sorry, Higgins." "Your theory's only half right." "Where's Joan?" "What?" "Oh, she and Amy went to Mr. Bryan's party." "We tried to dissuade them, but..." "Well, you should have tried harder." "A guy matching Mayfield's description was at the Royal Hawaiian yesterday looking for Joan." "Oh, I'm sorry, but you can't presume that she was a target just because someone was looking for her." "Mrs. Fletcher, guys like Mayfield only look people up for one reason." "I think he's a professional hit man." "He must have a contract to kill Joan." "Mr. Higgins, ladies, I'm glad you could make it." "Come in, come in." "Mr. Masters not flying in tonight?" "No." "He deems it necessary to remain in Greece." "Mr. Bryan, where is Joan?" "Hmm?" "Oh, well, she's around someplace." "Now, the bar is over that way." "Just enjoy yourselves." "Party, party." "I cannot believe we are doing this." "Pamela, please, I could hardly leave two women alone on the estate after today's attempt." "I'll be back shortly." "Pamela, let's try and find Joan." "Yes." "Jessica, this is ludicrous." "What if the killer is here?" "I might just as well walk up and ask him to murder me." "Pamela, what is it that you haven't told me?" "What?" "Well, you seem convinced that somebody wants to kill you, you personally, and yet you haven't given any reason for thinking that." "Please, Pamela, you have to tell me why you're so frightened." "Magnum, perhaps I was rash in agreeing to this plan." "You have no real proof about Mr. Mayfield." "Come on, Higgins, I explained." "Ice Pick says Mayfield is a well-known hit man with a very clean image." "Just the type Arthur Houston would hire to do his dirty work." "And you believe he's trying to murder Joan simply because she wants to own her company?" "Well, it makes sense." "Pacisle's registered five bids since her husband died." "I checked with the SEC." "And Mr. Houston, unable to persuade Joan to sell, has decided to eliminate her and simply negotiate with her estate?" "Right." "When he found out he couldn't scare her..." "With the car incident, yes." "And you theorize that Amy Salyer was at Pacisle yesterday to deliver Joan's final refusal, and so he decided to take more drastic action." "It's not a theory." "Joan would already be dead if..." "If Mayfield had known her whereabouts." "And you speculate that he was following Amy in order to find his target." "Speculate?" "He followed Amy and me to the estate." "He saw Joan go in, he took a shot." "There's no speculation about it." "I suppose the theory is plausible." "Good." "I'm glad you understand." "Now, will you go back in, stay with Joan until I can catch Mayfield making his move?" "We haven't found Joan as of yet." "We?" "I had no choice but to bring Jessica and Pamela with me in order to go along with your plan." "I now realize that that was folly." "Their lives will be in danger again when the assassin makes another attempt on me." "On you?" "You said you understood." "You agreed that Mayfield was after Joan." "I did not agree, and I understood your theory the first time around." "I said it was plausible." "But as usual, you're basing it on a hunch rather than on deductive reasoning." "Higgins..." "I shall give Mr. Mayfield 30 minutes to arrive and make an attempt on someone before taking the ladies home." "That's the last place I'd wanna go right now." "You have to go back to New York and deal with it." "Tomorrow." "No." "Do you realize we're talking about millions?" "Pamela, do you have proof that he's been embezzling the royalties?" "Well, I took some very incriminating papers" "I found in his sock drawer." "Please don't ask me why I was looking in his sock drawer." "Look, all I ask is that you go back and talk to the police." "Talk?" "You think they'd take my word over a powerful publisher?" "Yes." "You have proof." "No, I'd never get there." "Pamela, you asked for my help, and that's what you're gonna get." "Now, you and I are going to take the first flight to New York tomorrow morning." "Paul." "Jason." "Good to see you." "Arthur." "Paul." "Come on, I'll get you a drink." "So tell me, Paul, how's Molly these days?" "Fine." "Jonathan." "Mrs. Fletcher, I was getting concerned." "Have you seen Pamela?" "Yes, and I'm afraid we're going to have to leave." "Leave?" "Why, how long have you been here?" "Glad you changed your mind about coming." "Anyone else with you?" "Everyone." "Joan, where have you been?" "I've searched the house, the grounds..." "I've been around." "Will everyone stop acting like I need a keeper?" "I think you better stay with her, Jonathan, just in case Mr. Magnum is right." "Pamela and I can take a taxi back to the estate." "We have packing to do." "Packing?" "I don't understand." "I'll explain later." "Pamela!" "Pamela, I've called a taxi." "Pamela?" "She isn't here, Mrs. Fletcher." "Oh, yes, so I see." "What are you doing?" "I'm trying to keep an eye on Mayfield without him seeing me." "Did Higgins find Joan yet?" "Yes." "If you don't mind my making a suggestion," "I have a hunch that it's Amy who may be in some kind of trouble and not Joan." "Uh..." "I don't play hunches." "I stick to logic and deductive reasoning." "Oh, and it's logical to think that this man is after Joan, when you found him following Amy?" "Yes, because he was following Amy to get to Joan." "Relativity, Mrs. Fletcher." "That's the kind of knowledge that makes me a private investigator and you a novelist, and a very good one." "Thank you." "I'm sure that normally you're very good at what you do." "Well, I'm afraid I have to say goodbye and find Pamela." "Goodbye?" "Yes, we're leaving for New York in the morning." "Well, good luck on your next novel." "Oh, and good luck on your next investigation." "Yeah." "Wait!" "Mrs. Fletcher, we may have a problem." "Could you please call the police, tell them to hurry, and then get Joan out of sight?" "Oh, yes, of course." "Thank you." "All right, Mayfield, come on out." "Come on." "Hey, what..." "Jessica, please, stay behind me." "Freeze!" "No, no, look, he had a gun." "You're under arrest for murder."