"Welcome home, darling." "Okay, what is it?" "Why did you want me to set down out here?" "It was Luchek's idea." "Federal agents are waiting for you in L.A." "They want those records." "What does he want me to do?" "Turn them over to me, and then you land in L.A., clean." "No." "No chance." "This stuff is dynamite." "And Luchek should know better than to involve you." "But I'm your wife." "He has no other choice." " Trust me, darling, Luchek said..." " Forget what Luchek said." "I collected this stuff, and I'll make the decisions about it." "And I'm not so sure how much I can trust you, darling." "You're too beautiful." " Now, get in that car and back to L.A." " All right." "You know, darling," "I had a feeling you weren't going to turn those records over to me." " Morning." " Morning." " Are the cineraria blooming yet?" " Not yet." "It's been too cold." "Been the same down south, all the spring flowers were late." "Good morning, Mr. Phelps." "Two days ago, a private plane exploded while en route to Los Angeles, killing John Vayle, a member of an underworld family headed by Stanley Luchek." "We have reason to believe" "Vayle's death was arranged by Vayle's wife, Eve, enabling her to obtain records he carried vital to the Luchek organisation." "In proper hands, those records would put an end to the mob's operation and place Luchek himself behind bars for life." "Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to locate those records and turn them over to the authorities." "This tape will self-destruct in five seconds." "Good luck, Jim." "Jim, all the news reports say the body is unrecognizable." " How do we know Vayle is dead?" " The authorities haven't released the fact that a wrench was found near the airstrip with Vayle's blood on it." "He was hired by Eve Vayle and he disappeared before the plane crash." "We've located him under the name of Joseph Collins, living at the Seamore Hotel here in town." "Now, the man standing beside Vayle in this picture is Homer Chill, his chauffeur and bodyguard." "He now works for the widow." "Willy." "These are duplicates of the items taken from Vayle's body." "Vayle's tailor supplied this." "An exact copy of the suit he was wearing when he died." "Good." "Now, this is Eve Vayle's bedroom." "The safe is located behind this panel." "There's a concealed catch right here that opens the panel." "These are exact copies of the customary sleeping pills used by Eve Vayle." "However, when she uses these, she'll sleep for a specific period." "Vayle's mask is almost ready and this is a copy of his thumbprint." "All right." "Johnny Vayle's funeral is tomorrow morning." "After that, everybody will be at the Vayle home." "Stan Luchek, Eve Vayle, Homer Chill and you, Barney." "Eve." "Homer." " Thank you for coming, Stanley." " We appreciate it, Mr. Luchek." "Homer." "What do you think you're doing?" "Taking down licence numbers, Mrs. Vayle." " Why?" " Because I can't very well question Johnny's friends if I don't know who they are." "Lieutenant Danvers, Intelligence Division." "What questions?" "Depends upon what answers I need." "You could at least have the decency to let me mourn my husband in peace." "Would you like to use my handkerchief?" "Watch your mouth, cop" "I've had enough of you." "Get out of here." "You heard the lady." "Run along, Homer." "Stop barking." "Or I may have to put you on a short leash." "I was hoping we could talk, Stanley." "About Johnny?" "About business." "Here?" "Now?" "No." "I have a certain sense of loss, Stanley." "And I can't wait too long." "Where and when?" "You're quite a lady, Eve." "Five o'clock, my home." "I'm sorry, senator, but I cannot recollect any details of narcotics." "How are you coming with Johnny's voice, Burt?" "I'm sorry, senator, but I cannot recollect any details of narcotics." " I've just about got it, Jim." " Yeah, good." "The mask will be ready very shortly." "The bits and pieces of Johnny Vayle." "How much?" "It's not for sale." "What do you mean?" "It's for rent." " Where's the original?" " In a safe place." "How did you get hold of this confession?" "Johnny's legacy to me." "Along with the rest of the information he was carrying, just before he died." "Like that." "I knew you and Johnny weren't getting along." "But to kill him?" "And to think I held you in my arms the day you were baptised." "And comforted me when they found my father's body in a ditch, with the barbed wire you paid for twisted around his throat." "All right, what do you want?" "A hundred thousand dollars now, twenty thousand a month for as long as I live." "And the original?" "It stays hidden, in case something unfortunate happens to me." "You'll get your pension, honey." "But if I ever get hold of those records..." "Thank you." "I'll take the hundred thousand now." "You can put the car away now." "Good night, Homer." "Good night, Miss Vayle." "You!" "Don't move." "Sorry, I don't know him." "Are you positive, Mrs. Vayle?" "I've never seen him before, lieutenant." "If you don't know him, why did he try to kill you?" " I wasn't aware that he had." " You heard the lady, lieutenant..." "Shut up and empty your pockets." "No ID, no personal belongings, huh?" "Nothing." "He's a pro, Mrs. Vayle." "I want to know why you were outside spying on me." "And you have nothing to say." "Well, I do." "You're stupid." "Oh, I know." "The 11th commandment is:" "Thou shalt not be caught talking to a cop, for it may be injurious to your health." "All right, Mrs. Vayle, now you're forcing me to turn this man loose." "So I suggest you take a good look at him." "So you can get a running start the next time he comes after you." "If there's nothing else, lieutenant, I'd like to go to bed." "Sure." "Good night, Mrs. Vayle." " Been a real pleasure, Mrs. Vayle." " Move." "Well, his name's Dave Ryker." "He checked out last night." "No forwarding address." "That figures." "Did he have any luggage?" "Yeah, one suitcase and a garment bag." "Then he probably took a cab." "Yeah." "Hey, did you pick up a guy here last night?" "Tall, silver hair?" "Yeah, I think I did." " Yeah." " In fact, I'm positive." "I took him to the Kenlake Hotel." "I thought we could have a civilised chat." "Charming spot." " A little out of the way, isn't it?" " Quite." "So we can talk, Mr. Ryker." "Your name is a phoney." "No identification, no background." "I'm independently wealthy." "I'm surprised Lieutenant Danvers didn't hold you for questioning." "Yeah, well, you see, I had around $600 on me and now Lieutenant Danvers has around $600 on him." "A crooked cop on the take." "It's as simple as that." "Who hired you to kill me?" "Sorry." "You almost did." "If I hadn't tripped, I'd be dead." " You were very lucky." " I can't count on luck." "And if you don't tell me here and now who you were hired by, that man's gonna take you out and blow your head off." "Why bother him?" "From what I hear, Mrs. Vayle, you can handle the job yourself." "And what's that supposed to mean?" "Oh, well, rumours get around." "You know how it is." "Homer." "Well, Mr. Ryker?" "If I'm dead, you lose your only chance to find out who hired me." "Not only that, there will be another contract out on you in ten minutes." "How much are they paying you?" "Now, that's a fair question." "Five thousand down, 7500 on delivery." " I'll double it." " To do what?" "To kill whoever hired you to kill me." "That just never sounds right coming from a woman." "Especially one so young and so beautiful." "Just never sounds right." " I'd like an answer." " Twenty-five thousand dollars?" "That's worth thinking about." "You think about it." "We could discuss it over dinner tonight." "I'll pick you up at 8." "But without your Pomeranian tonight, Mrs. Vayle." " Yes?" " Orman Brothers." "Just a minute." "Are you sure you have the right address?" "We haven't sent out any of poor Mr. Vayle's clothes in over a month now." "Vayle's the name on the delivery slip, ma'am." "It's all I got to go on." "Of course I was shocked by Johnny's death." "Especially the way it happened." "But to tell the truth, no more so than had it happened to anyone I'm fond of." "Does that shock you?" "Not all widows weep, Eve." "I was 18 when we got married, to a boy that I'd met just twice in my entire life." " It was love at first sight, huh?" " Love didn't have anything to do with it." "The marriage was arranged." "To cement business ties between two families." "My father was" "Jules Luparr." "Head of a crime syndicate." "Found dead in a ditch a few years back." "Yeah, I remember reading about it back east." "And my turn's next, isn't it?" "Why, Dave?" "Why me?" "I don't know why." "Then help me." "Please help me." "All right." "Get out of here." "Out of the country, tonight." "No questions, nothing." "Just go." "But what good would that do?" "They'd find me." "They'd send someone after me and they'd kill me." "Only you can change that by finding the man that hired you and killing him." "I'll give you anything you want." "Anything at all." "All right, I have to level with you, Eve." "I don't know who hired me." "Not less than two days ago I got a phone call, a business proposition with the right references, everything was cool." "I agreed to meet a man in the lobby of a downtown hotel." "No man showed up, but a woman did." "Young, pretty." "She put an envelope in my hand, said there'd be 7500 more when the job was finished, and walked out." "In the envelope was $5000 and your name and address." "And you just let her walk away?" "Why not?" "The money was there, the deal was set." "You've got to find the man that hired you." "There has to be a way." "Yeah." "Yeah, maybe I can." "I need a down payment." "I have to lay some money around town." "Here, help yourself to a drink." "I'll be right down." "Twenty-five thousand." "Brandy." "And nothing personal, Mrs. Vayle, but I think I'd better count this." "Business is business, you know?" "A cliche I've been hearing half my life." "We seem to be getting off to a bad start." " What do you mean?" " Twenty-three thousand." " Twenty-three?" " On the nose." "Each packet is 2000 short." "I counted and locked these in the safe last night." "Nobody knows the combination." "The only ones who used the safe were Johnny and me." "The safe wasn't cracked." "Somebody just opened it." "Well, then why didn't they take all the money?" "Why don't we just forget about it?" "Everybody makes mistakes." " Now we're in business." " You don't believe me, do you?" "You got some face powder?" " Yes." " Let me have it." " That's a man's print." " It must be an old one." "No, that's not possible." "Prints dry out in a few days and this one is fresh." "Are you sure that only you and your husband used the safe?" "Yes." "Have you got anything around with your husband's prints on it?" "There's a duplicate driver's licence." "It's not possible." "Hello?" "It's for you, Mr. Luchek." "Chill." "Yeah?" "Mr. Luchek, I have something to report." "Okay, Chill." "I'll check out Ryker." "You keep a string on the lady." "He took his passport out of the safe the day he left for Europe." " That's how his print got there." " No, it's not." "The print was fresh, otherwise the powder wouldn't have shown it." "Now, something's going on here." "Somebody hired me to knock you off." "You turn around and hire me to find that guy and kill him." "It can't be your husband, he's dead." "Only maybe now it turns out he's not." "Unless you want me to go believing in ghosts running around leaving fingerprints." "I want the truth, Eve, and I want it now." "I don't know what to tell you." "Johnny's dead." "I know he's dead." "David, you've got to believe me." "Oh, I'm sorry." "I'm all mixed up." "And so terribly tired." "Do you mind?" "No, no." "I'll call you in the morning." "Okay." "Sorry, Mrs. Vayle, I heard some of that." "You're not falling for that guy?" "I do what has to be done, Homer." "Sometimes it looks like affection." "If anyone calls, tell them I've gone to bed with a headache and I cannot be disturbed." " Yes, ma'am, can I help you?" " Which room is Mr. Collins in?" "Collins?" "No one by that name registered here." "No, he checked in five days ago." "I made the reservation myself a week ago by phone." "I'll look it up." "Oh, yes." "Joseph Collins." "I'm sorry, ma'am." "Seems Mr. Collins just never showed up." "But that can't be." "You've got to locate Garth." "We had a specific deal, he had money coming." "He wouldn't just vanish." "Maybe he got trapped in the plane when it blew?" "No, I..." "I saw him make it safely." "Vayle residence." "Oh, just a moment, please." " It's some woman for you, ma'am." " Thank you, Mildred." "This is Mrs. Vayle." "Orman Cleaners, Mrs. Vayle." "I do hope our mistake hasn't inconvenienced you." " What mistake?" " Well, on Mister Vayle's suit." "We had instructions to deliver it to a different address." "We just discovered our mistake this morning." " Shall I have a driver...?" " Wait a minute." "Mildred." "Yes, ma'am?" "Did the cleaners drop off a suit here yesterday?" "Yes, one of Mr. Vayle's." "I didn't want to upset you." "Get it." "What address was it to go to?" "17 East Melrose Street." "Care of Billings." "I can send a driver out to..." "Thank you, Mildred." "It's Johnny's." "Let's go find out who it was supposed to be delivered to." "Anybody here?" "Johnny." "I figured." "Who are you?" "Where did you get this?" "Hey, you get out of here before I call the police." "Answer me." "Where did you get it?" "You must be out of your mind." "Now get out of here before I call the police and have you arrested." "Pretty cool, Miss Billings." " Well, it wasn't a very good bluff." " Dave." "Take it easy." "Guns are noisy and I'm not, and I don't bluff." "Now, tell us all about that ring or I'll teach you something about pain you never dreamed." "And Miss Billings, don't scream." "It's..." "It's my boyfriend's." "That's better." "You delivered an envelope to me, remember?" " Of course." " Who sent it?" "Well, Johnny sent it." "He asked me to deliver it to you, that's all." "Where is Johnny?" "I don't know." "I really don't know." "He hasn't been home in two days." "Well, then, you find him." "And you tell him to leave me alone if he wants to go on living." "Oh, I'll tell him." "But who?" "He'll know who." "And while you're at it, tell him not to bother to send the rest of my money." "So maybe Johnny jobbed the other guy." "Could be." "Johnny Vayle was a hard man to kill." "You get back to the Vayle place." "Keep a tight string on Eve." "Okay, Mr. Luchek." "But what about this Ryker?" "We go along with him until we get those records." "Then we kill him." "Eve Vayle will be asleep until 2:00." "And Chill has the night off, so..." "Fine." " I'm on my way." " Fantastic." "I won't be back, Eve." "I've got all I need from you." " Good morning, Mrs. Vayle." " What do you want?" " I thought we should take a little ride." " No, thanks." "You have one of two choices." "You can either come along nice and quiet or I can drag you." "I'll get my bag." "I thought you'd be cooperative." "Let that be a lesson to you, Mrs. Vayle." "If you're gonna kill a man, use a gun." "That way, he won't come back to haunt you." "You killed him?" "Why?" "Well, Johnny and I were pals." "I did him some favours and he paid me some money." "He came to see me this morning." "He told me what happened." "How you got your hot little hands on some records he was carrying." "You planned to use those records to bleed Stan Luchek." "Am I right so far?" "I have nothing to say." "I didn't think you would have." "But you see, the first thing Johnny did was hire Ryker to kill you." "With you dead, those records end up in the hands of the police." "Luchek goes to prison for life, and Johnny takes over his place as head of the mob." "Simple, huh?" "Yeah, simple." "Then Johnny got to thinking." "Suppose you were dead." "You were the only one who knew where those records were, and Luchek would be free and Johnny would be out in the cold." "So he went to work on you." "And last night you told him where those records were." " I didn't tell him a thing." " Oh, no?" "Roll up your sleeve." "Sodium pentathol, "truth serum."" "Just the proper dose and you talked your head off." "You see, Johnny's girlfriend's a nurse." "She taught him how to use the stuff." "Like I said, Johnny came to see me this morning with the records." "He had it all worked out." "I go to the DA's office with the records and I'm a big hero." "Luchek spends the rest of his life in a cell block, and Johnny becomes head of the biggest crime syndicate west of the Rockies." "Only you have a better idea?" "Well, it's not often you get to kill a man after his funeral." "But that's not the discussion." "Let's get down to business." "How much is Luchek paying you?" " Three thousand a month." " That's a bad lie, lady." " I'd say it's more like 50,000 a month." " You're crazy." "Fifty thousand is not too much to spend to protect a 50-million-dollar racket." "It's nothing like that." "I..." "Besides, I wasn't so greedy." "I did shade it a little." "All right, now you listen to me." "I don't need you." "I have those records." "You're just a convenience." "Now, you tell me the truth." "Twenty thousand a month." "That's nice." "That's 5000 for you, 15,000 for me." "Beats being a hero everyday." "And how do I know you actually have those records?" "You know, I knew you'd be smart enough to ask me that." "You've got to kill him." "Are you out of your mind?" "The guy's a cop." "A crooked cop." "What's being crooked got to do with it?" "I make my living knocking off big-time mobsters." "The police don't mind that, as a matter of fact they love it." "But kill a cop, crooked or straight, you're on the run the rest of your life." "You mean you're willing to let him steal 15,000 a month from us?" "You did say from us?" "Of course." "Without you, the money means nothing to me." "That does change things." " Then you'll get rid of him?" " Not a chance." " You said..." " What makes you think he's not pulling a king-sized bluff?" "Johnny knew the guy was crooked." "He wouldn't go near him with those records without knowing he had a deal." "And only then just outside the DA's office door." "But he had Johnny's briefcase, I saw it." "You make a habit of memorizing briefcases?" " His initials were on it." "I saw them." " Oh, and that proves it, huh?" "I have to know." "I just can't ignore it." "If I make a mistake I'm dead." "Yeah, and if I kill Danvers, we're both dead." "Sorry, Eve." "David, you just can't walk out." "We can find out the truth." "Come with me." " Where?" " The desert." "A few miles east of here." "A place where Johnny and I used to spend a lot of time alone together." "Hello?" " What is it?" " She just left with this guy, Ryker." "Left for where?" "She said something about the desert." "A place where she and Johnny used to go." "Fine." "I think I know just where that might be." "OIlie, let's go." "It's still here." "You were right, darling." "It was a bluff." "So I won't be needing you anymore." "Freeze!" "It seems I owe you something for the help." "I'm afraid we'll have to kill you both." "You'll be all right." "I didn't kill Johnny." "You know I didn't." "Sorry, Eve, we know you did." "It was all a plant, wasn't it?"