"( noirish jazz theme playing )" "( mysterious theme playing )" "( man and woman laughing )" "( ringing )" "Yes?" "Karl?" "Karl, I've been calling and calling." "Are you all right?" "Adele, take it easy." "It went off almost perfectly." "Like a dream." "Another couple of weeks and I'll be able to do it in" "Mr. Slade is returning from Europe." "He'll be here tomorrow afternoon." "We'll have to give it up now, Karl." "It's just too dangerous." "No, no we've got no choice." "I'll just have to start the ball rolling tomorrow." "Karl, please." "Tomorrow." "We can't wait." "I'll see the doctor in the morning." "It'll be all right, Adele." "I promise you." "Everything is going to be all right." "Good night, Adele." "Good night." "( ominous theme playing )" "( ominous theme playing )" "Everything looks fine, Mr. Addison." "We'll have no trouble." "You'll want me in the hospital tonight?" "We'll operate first thing in the morning, if that's agreeable." "Uh, how long will I be in the hospital?" "Oh, just a couple of days." "After that we'll let you go home, take things quietly for a week." "But let me warn you again." "For that first week you'll have to be bandaged." "You'd be blind, in fact, even if you removed the bandages, completely blind." "But remember." "A vacation." "Six months of rest, if you can possibly manage." "Yes, I've already made the arrangements." "A nice long trip." "Just get away from it all." "( ominous theme playing )" "Good morning, Mr. Addison." "Oh, morning, Edgar." "Mrs. Farraday phoned just a few minutes ago to say that she's most anxious to see those pearl earrings you mentioned to her." "I took the liberty of making an appointment for you for 3:00 this afternoon." "Sorry, I won't be able to make it." "Oh." "Uh, you take over." "As a matter of fact, you'll have to take over everything for me." "For about a year or so." "A year?" "Yes." "Oh, the operation." "You've decided to have it done?" "And I know that Mr. Slade will look to you, as he has to me in the past, to see that things run smoothly." "Thank you, sir." "Uh, you've heard that Mr. Slade is coming back?" "Yes." "Yes, I heard." "Karl." "I go into the hospital tonight." "Oh, no." "Now, we've been over it a hundred times." "You know exactly what you have to do." "It'll be three days at the most and I'll let you know when I feel well enough." "Oh, Karl, please don't make me do it." "I'm scared." "Adele, you've got to face the truth." "How long do you think we could go on using the firm to fence stolen jewelry with Charles Slade back home again?" "We?" "Well, you know what's been going on." "Shutting your eyes won't keep you out of jail." "Yes, sir?" "May I help you?" "Yes, I'd like to see Mr. Addison." "My name's Kincannon." "Well, hello there, Jim." "How are you?" "I've tried to call you several times on the phone, but you always seem to be busy, so I thought I'd better just come down myself." "Well, uh, I have been pretty busy, Jim." "How's your mother?" "Fine." "That isn't what I wanted to speak about." "Well, I'm pretty busy right now, as a matter of fact, Jim, but why don't you give me a call later in the week?" "Because I have to talk to you now." "It's about our jewelry." "Our necklace out there, Mr. Addison." "Well, what about it?" "( chuckles )" "Now, you cannot borrow against the collection, if that's your trouble again." "Oh, I suppose I could manage a personal loan of a hundred or two, but, uh, no more than that." "I just want to know if your company has changed its mind about selling the collection." "Are you asking on behalf of your mother, Jim?" "I haven't spoken to her, no." "Well, then I'd say, uh, whether or not we've changed our mind happens to be none of your business, Jim." "Then I'm going to make it my business!" "Really?" "Jim." "You and your mother are flat broke." "Now, the Kincannon Jewelry Collection displayed out there is your only asset, outside a once socially prominent name which you've managed to dirty up quite a bit since your father died." "Mr. Addison, I'm not concerned with what y" "Now, the jewelry is displayed out there because you and your mother can't even afford the insurance." "But Slade's contract is with your mother, Jim, not you." "Now, in return for displaying the collection, we pay the insurance costs plus a monthly rental which helps support your mother." "Also in that contract is the stipulation that the collection stays in our hands until such time as we, Slade's, recommend a satisfactory sale." "Now, satisfactory, Mr. Kincannon, means for a sum of money which I deem adequate." "You don't think a third of a million dollars is adequate?" "A what?" "Don't be ridiculous." "We could never get any amount like that." "We might." "Listen, there's this millionaire up in San Francisco." "All we have to do is get him a new appraisal." "Then when he sees it he'll let us know whether or not he'd like to see the collection personally." "We could hear from him in a day or two." "And if he would pay that much money, my mother might agree." "KARL:" "Jim, that's absolute nonsense." "I've got enough problems without listening to your half-baked schemes." "Mr. Addison, I've got problems too!" "You've got to listen to me." "Get out of here." "Go on." "Get out of here before I have you thrown out!" "( dramatic theme playing )" "( door shuts )" "Oh, Karl." "Adele, get hold of yourself." "There's nothing he can do." "It's going to be all right." "There's nothing he can do to interfere." "* No time at all *" "* For love *" "* And no one at all *" "* Will do *" "* I've no time to spare *" "* For another affair *" "* With someone new *" "* Thanks for it all *" "* My darling Thanks are so small *" "* It's true *" "* But what can A poor heart say?" "*" "* Bless you for yesterday *" "* Ticktock, ticktock *" "* Says the clock to me *" "* Your time's marching on *" "* Relentlessly *" "* Must you live in the past *" "* With a love that's over?" "*" "* But I know so well *" "* I'm still under your spell *" "( crowd chattering )" "( sighs )" "Been a long time, Jimmy." "Yeah, well, I meant to come by more than once, but..." "Well..." "But you can't stand cheap saloons or women, hm?" "Helen." "Oh, that's what my used-to-be father-in-law called me." "Do you agree with Mr. Charles Slade?" "Am I cheap?" "Did I ruin him?" "Did I destroy the only thing I ever loved, Jimmy?" "Did I, huh?" "Harry Slade was killed in an automobile accident." "You had nothing to do with it, Helen." "It wasn't your fault." "Well, maybe he wasn't much of a husband... but I loved him, Jimmy." "I loved him." "I'll have another one." "Make it a double." "I'm sorry, I" "I guess it's" " It's just seeing an old friend." "Didn't Harry leave you any insurance, or anything like that?" "You were always a bad poker player, Jimmy." "How much?" "How much did Harry owe you?" "Oh, now, don't be upset." "Harry owed everybody." "Helen, I'm in trouble." "Because of Harry?" "Never mind that." "It doesn't matter now, but I need money and I need it bad." "Why did you come to me?" "I've gone to everyone I know." "You're my last resort." "Harry..." "Yeah, he owed me some money." "Harry borrowed on his insurance until there wasn't anything left." "He had a passion for racehorses with three left feet." "And as for Daddy Slade, he hated me so much, he wouldn't give me the fuzz off a peach." "Why don't you try Harry's father?" "Sit down, Jim." "Sit down." "Well, I haven't seen you for some time." "Harry became a stranger to us too, after he moved away, married that" "Well, you young people move in different circles, you find new friends." "Are you in some sort of trouble?" "Money perhaps?" "Yes, I've been hearing disturbing things about you." "Things I don't want to believe." "Also there was that argument between you and Mr. Addison." "I only wanted to talk to him a" "Mr. Addison and I discussed the matter of your mother's necklace before he entered the hospital." "I'm afraid I'll have to rely on his judgment." "Perhaps, sir, you'll change your mind when you hear what I have to say." "Well, go ahead." "It concerns Harry." "I guess I should have come to you sooner about this, and I meant to right after Harry was killed, but..." "Get to the point, Jim." "Harry was in trouble at the company where we both worked." "It was a matter of nearly $20,000 he couldn't account for." "I covered up for him on the books." "Well, what was I supposed to do?" "Harry was my best friend, Mr. Slade." "He promised to repay it and-- And he did repay some of it." "But then the accident." "Harry killed." "Well, there's no way I can prove that I didn't take that money." "You're telling me my son was a thief." "I'm sorry." "Do you recall" "Granted it was some time ago." "you asked your mother to dispose of the Kincannon necklace." "You came up with a story of being blackmailed, or some such thing." "And all you wanted was money to impress some some frowzy little B girl in San Pedro?" "That was over six years ago, I was a crazy kid--!" "It was a cheap trick you tried to pull then and it's a cheap trick you're trying to pull now." "Oh, Mr. Slade-- You're a filthy liar." "Get out." "Get out before I call the police." "( dramatic theme playing )" "MASON:" "Tell me, Jim, why did you wait so long to contact Mr. Slade Sr.?" "Well, he went off to Europe right away." "I suppose to get over the shock of his son's death." "Anyway, I kept figuring that I could get the money, but I couldn't." "Then last week I found out that my company is going to merge with another one." "Which would of course mean a thorough audit of your company's books." "I got pretty frantic, so I went to see Mr. Addison, but he refused to approve a sale of either the necklace or the whole collection." "He said that according to the terms of the contract" "Well, you know the terms of the contract, Mr. Mason." "Yes, I drew it up for your mother." "Addison isn't the last word." "If, in your mother's opinion" "I haven't discussed this with her yet." "You may have to." "I can't." "You see, she hasn't been very well." "Besides, her living in the memory of the past is about the only enjoyment she has left." "And the collection is her link to it." "Della, get our office copy of the Kincannon-Slade contract, and see if you can reach Mr. Addison on the phone for me, will you, please?" "Right." "Time's running out for you, Jim." "You can't force Addison or Slade to approve a sale if they think the offer is too low, but we certainly can investigate it." "If the offer's high enough, we could force a sale then?" "I mean, without getting Mother too involved or too upset?" "I don't know about that, but I do know we can have that collection appraised and there's still time enough to do that today." "They came in a few minutes ago." "We were just about to close." "So they're appraising it." "Adele, listen." "I'll get out of here right away." "Karl, you're still weak, it's too risky." "We have no choice." "Oh, Adele, you know what you have to do." "Karl, I can't." "You have to." "I'm blind." "I can't risk touching those wires again myself." "Karl" "Now." "( ominous theme playing )" "( door opens )" "You'll find some over there on that table, Mr. Kincannon." "Thanks." "( door shuts )" "( ominous theme playing )" "( clatters )" "( ominous theme swells )" "( dramatic theme playing )" "Ah, Mr. Mason, I sent for you right away because I know you represent the Kincannons" "Now, just a moment." "Do I understand you haven't called the police yet?" "Well, perhaps your client should be grateful I haven't." "I" " Well, I thought you might help me get the jewelry back even more quickly." "By pulling it out of my pocket?" "Oh, not your pocket." "James Kincannon's." "Why on earth should Jim steal something that already belongs to him?" "The collection belongs to his mother, not to him." "He's in some sort of trouble at his company." "He's desperately and urgently in need of money." "Now I can't locate him." "Well, even if Kincannon had the motive, Mr. Slade, what about opportunity?" "Fixing those wires would seem more like an inside job to me." "James Kincannon was inside." "Yesterday." "He was here with you." "But while the appraisal was being made," "I understand he made some sort of excuse to come into this room, stayed here a few moments alone." "The closet with the junction box opens from this room." "Paul, I want you to find Kincannon." "And, uh, get the jewels back?" "No, Jim may be a little hot-headed, but somebody else fixed those wires." "Somebody really on the inside most likely." "As for instance an employee of Slade and Company, who might have done the whole job." "Now, gentlemen, see here" "Check them all, Paul, and fast." "All right." "( suspenseful theme playing )" "( dialing )" "Who you calling?" "Mr. Slade," "I can't very well become an accessory to a felony." "I don't think you should either." "( dramatic theme playing )" "Police Department?" "Sergeant Ferris, please." "Burglary Division." "You're aware, Mr. Slade, that these sweepings here, most of them from your workshop, are full of mineral particles?" "Yes, naturally." "My men do a lot of setting work on precious and semi-precious stones, cutting, grinding, cleaning." "The crime lab boys found traces of these sweepings on the floor, but the cleaning woman, who left this pail here, swears she didn't spill any, nor knock the bucket over last night." "Which means the burglar must have." "If he got any of these particles on his shoes, he left a trail." "That's what we're hoping for, Mr. Mason." "Well, I don't see any marks on the floor." "Well, they wouldn't be visible to the naked eye, but this mineral dust may fluoresce, glow, under black ray." "Eddie?" "Start about here." "( suspenseful theme playing )" "( light turns off )" "( light turns on )" "That's about it, sergeant." "By the time he came out on the roof, just about all the stuff was gone from his shoes." "All right." "Our guy robs the shop, takes the stairway to the roof, crosses over it to the next building, and uses that to get down to the street again." "That penthouse apartment on the next building belongs to the company." "Mr. Addison, our general manager, is using it." "Let's check." "Could be he saw something last night." "Well, I'm afraid that's impossible, sergeant." "Uh, Mr. Addison is temporarily blind." "He had an operation yesterday." "Well, he can still hear, can't he?" "( suspenseful theme playing )" "Somebody got a little clumsy around here." "( buzzes )" "I have a key." "Karl said they put him under pretty heavy sedation." "He may be asleep." "Open it." "Karl?" "Where's the bedroom?" "In there." "Karl?" "What in the name of" "His bed hasn't even been slept in." "Sergeant Ferris." "Yes." "A little rough house here too." "Someone left a souvenir behind." "SLADE:" "That's one of our jewelry boxes." "EDDIE:" "Hey, sergeant." "( dramatic theme playing )" "It's Karl." "It's Karl Addison." "No, Perry, so far not a sign of Jim Kincannon, but look, it's far-fetched enough to figure the kid would steal his own family jewelry." "The police can't possibly be thinking of him for murder." "Can't they?" "Mr. Slade didn't quite tell us the truth, Paul." "It seems the reason he came back from Europe was because something funny's been going on with his firm." "Oh, what kind of "funny"?" "An insurance company reported to him that three separate people who'd bought jewelry from his shop had trouble getting those items insured." "What kind of trouble?" "The items contained gems which investigators suspected were stolen." "Of course the people who bought these items were perfectly innocent." "But the shop wasn't?" "No, nothing's been proved yet, but in each and every case, guess who had recommended Slade's?" "Jim Kincannon?" "Mm-hm." "Well, maybe he did do it." "I'll still keep all my men looking for him." "Well, let's wait until we hear Jim's story, Paul." "What we need right now is to get more dope on the other people around Addison." "Well, so far it's pretty sketchy." "There is one thing:" "Addison was a fairly frequent visitor to a dive on Washington called "Gibby's Place."" "The main attraction there is a tired canary named Helen Slade." "Helen Slade?" "Married to the old man's son, the boy that was killed in the automobile accident." "However this Addison-Helen bit is only an occasional thing." "Addison's heavy romance is with a girl right at the office, Adele Bentley." "You'd better follow up on her, Paul." "I'll talk with this Slade girl." "You stay with Adele Bentley." "All right, Perry." "After Jimmy left me the other night," "I got to thinking." "I mean, you didn't have to be psychic to know he was in trouble." "It" " It written all over him." "He was in trouble, Mrs. Slade, trouble your husband had made for him." "Yeah, but, I don't know anything about that." "Did you try to help Jim?" "Well, not with money." "I" " I couldn't." "I" "But something kept nagging at my mind." "Something about Jimmy and money and Harry." "And then I remembered Karl." "Karl Addison?" "Karl and Harry were close friends." "Oh, it was at our place, a month or so before" "Before the accident." "I was bringing ice in from the kitchen, and Karl was handing Harry some money." "What did that have to do with Jim Kincannon?" "I-It was what Karl Addison said." "He said, "Crumbs for Kincannon the pigeon." "Here's the sucker's payoff."" "Then Harry laughed and-and said something about Vegas." "You told all this to Jim?" "Last night." "Well, he got pretty excited on the phone." "You know, Mr. Mason," "I thought that" "Well, whatever trouble that Jimmy and Harry were tied up in, maybe Karl was tied up in it too." "You see, Karl's pretty well fixed." "If Jimmy pushes Karl, he might come through with some money to help him." "Now, that's all I thought." "I'm afraid somebody's already pushed Karl." "Too hard." "Well, what do you mean?" "Last night he was pushed off his roof." "He's dead." "( dramatic theme playing )" "Oh..." "You, uh" "You're a detective?" "That's right." "I'm looking for Miss Adele Bentley." "What makes you think that she's here?" "I don't think she's here, I know she's here." "We traced the cab that brought her here from her own place." "Your superintendent says she's an old friend of yours who visits here often." "The janitor saw her get out of the cab and come up here." "Now, will you please, tell Miss Bentley" "I'd like to see her?" "She" " She's not here." "Look, Miss Padway, I" "( window opens, shuts )" "( dramatic theme playing )" "( footsteps approaching )" "He practiced every night for weeks." "He went over and over every move until he knew how to do it without using his eyes." "You know something?" "He would have gotten away with it." "He couldn't have been accused." "And Miss Bentley had an alibi all set for herself." "Let me get something straight, Miss Bentley." "You knew that Addison was using Slade's as a front to sell stolen jewelry, yet you said nothing about it." "That's right." "Who else was involved with Addison in fencing and selling stolen goods?" "I don't know." "Honestly, I don't." "TRAGG:" "Oh, I think we can manage to find that out." "Down at police headquarters, Miss Bentley." "I'm sorry to inform you, but you're under arrest, as an accomplice in the robbery of Slade and Company." "If you please." "Uh, just a minute, Tragg." "Did you just follow them here?" "Oh, no, no, I dropped over to have a talk with you about James Kincannon." "Well, with all the things Miss Bentley has just told us," "I doubt if you'll still be so anxious to see our client." "Oh, we're seeing Kincannon right now." "Down at police headquarters." "( dramatic theme playing )" "Well?" "That's him." "Number three." "TRAGG ( over PA ):" "Kincannon, step forward." "MAN ( over PA ):" "He's the one." "I'm positive." "All right, sergeant." "Tragg, what's this all about?" "Who is that man?" "Jack Shaw." "Address, Las Vegas." "His, uh, profession?" "Expert jewelry thief." "That's the man who supplied Addison with some of the stolen jewelry he sold through Slade's." "Then what about Kincannon?" "Why are you holding him?" "Well, we'll hold up on the robbery charges," "I suppose, but what we want him tried for is the murder of his partner." "Partner?" "You mean Addison?" "James Kincannon knew that Addison was stealing that jewelry." "They may have planned it together, who knows?" "He must have waited for Addison to come back with the stuff, wrestled it away from him and then killed him." "Tragg, of all the wild theories you've ever had" "That man Shaw is the man who gave Addison the stolen jewelry to sell, but he just identified your client, James Kincannon, as the man who paid off for the stolen jewelry." "Now, uh, what was that about a "wild theory," counselor?" "( dramatic theme swells )" "After you purchased this expensive brooch at Slade and Company, Mrs. Cartwright, what happened when you tried to have it insured?" "The insurance company informed me" "I'd bought some stolen gems, that had been put in my brooch." "BURGER:" "But could you tell us, Mrs. Cartwright, what induced you to go to Slade's in the first place?" "Induced?" "James Kincannon recommended it." "In fact, he almost pleaded with me to go there." "That's what induced me." "Thank you, Mrs. Cartwright, that'll be all." "Your witness, counselor." "Uh, Mrs. Cartwright, even though the defendant did recommend Slade's to you, and Slade's is, after all, one of the top jewelry houses in the city, he never told you what to buy, did he?" "Well, no." "Do you still consider it wrong of him to have, uh, picked up badly needed extra money by merely suggesting to his family's friends that they shop at Slade's?" "Yes." "Most decidedly and emphatically wrong." "MASON:" "Thank you, Mrs. Cartwright." "That'll be all." "Well, I guess it was about seven months ago." "After I deliver this hot stuff to Addison, he" "He calls me and tells me to meet this guy in a place in Vegas." "So it was in Las Vegas that "this guy," as you call him, met you and paid you for the stolen jewelry?" "Yeah, five grand." "And is "this guy" in court, Mr. Shaw?" "Can you identify him?" "That's him, James Kincannon." "That's all." "Your witness." "When my client was arrested, he was returning from Las Vegas." "Now, he'd gone there the night of the murder looking for you, but you weren't there, were you?" "No, I was out of town." "According to my client, a man named Harry Slade lost" "$5000 to you in a Las Vegas card game." "Now, that Las Vegas meeting, seven months ago, Mr. Shaw, wasn't that when my client gave you" "$5000 to pay off Harry Slade's gambling debt?" "SHAW:" "You're out of your mind." "Gambling debt?" "He gave me five grand to pay off for hot jewelry." "Period." "Well, it was shortly before 9:00 on the evening when" "When Mr. Addison was murdered, that he phoned me at the shop." "I had not quite finished cataloging the new stock that had arrived that day, but he suggested that I go home." "And it" " It puzzled me." "BURGER:" "Really?" "Why, Mr. Whitehead?" "With all due respect," "Mr. Addison was never particularly concerned about the number of hours he requested the staff to work overtime." "BURGER:" "And yet on this one night, even though you had not completed your inventory, on this night he asked you to leave the shop and go home at once?" "Is that correct?" "That's right." "I did so about five minutes later." "Thank you, Mr. Whitehead." "Your witness." "Mr. Whitehead, you were present when the defendant, accompanied by Mr. Horace Welling and myself, visited the shop?" "Yes, sir." "Uh, Mr. Welling came to appraise the Kincannon collection." "MASON:" "Isn't it possible that during that appraisal, the defendant handled that particular jewel box?" "And in doing so placed his fingerprints on it?" "Well, yes, I'm certain that he" "Oh, no." "No, I-I'm sorry, Mr. Mason." "Mr. Kincannon couldn't have handled the necklace case." "Why not, Mr. Whitehead?" "Because I personally took the case from the stand and gave the necklace to Mr. Welling." "And then I put the case back on the stand." "Yes." "Yes, I'm sure of it." "MASON:" "Thank you, Mr. Whitehead." "That's all." "And after you had fixed the burglar alarm wires in the afternoon, and after Mr. Whitehead had been sent home so that the store was empty, it was then Karl Addison himself, despite his temporary blindness, who stole the Kincannon Collection?" "Yes, sir." "Thank you, Ms. Bentley." "Mr. Mason." "When did you last see Karl Addison?" "On the night of his death." "You went to the penthouse?" "Yes." "Around 7:00." "You had a key, you let yourself in?" "Yes." "Did he have any other visitors while you were there?" "ADELE:" "No." "MASON:" "Was he expecting anyone?" "No." "What time did you leave?" "Around 9." "A few minutes after." "Then you were there when Addison phoned" "Mr. Whitehead at the shop?" "ADELE:" "Yes." "The day after the robbery and the murder, you didn't go back to work after lunch." "Why?" "I was scared." "Because you had participated in a robbery?" "Yes." "Are you sure you left Karl Addison's apartment at 9:00?" "I didn't kill him." "I swear it!" "I loved him." "No further questions at this time." "And there was already a search on for Kincannon before Homicide got into it." "Before they called me to look at the murder apartment." "Where was the defendant apprehended, lieutenant?" "The highway patrol stopped him." "He was driving back from Las Vegas." "Thank you, lieutenant." "Your witness." "Uh, lieutenant, you testified there was evidence of a struggle inside the murder apartment." "That's correct." "A chair had been overturned, a lamp broken." "MASON:" "And in your opinion, the struggle continued outside onto the roof garden?" "Yes, that's right." "Isn't it possible that during the struggle the case containing the Kincannon necklace fell to the floor of the roof garden, spilling it's contents?" "TRAGG:" "Well, I suppose it's possible." "The struggle over, the killer could then have picked up the necklace and the rest of the collection and, um, left the case lying there on the floor." "Yes, sir." "It could have all happened just that way." "Except, we found the jewelry case inside the locked apartment." "Yes, lieutenant." "We did, didn't we." "Mr. Sassano, you reside in the same apartment building as the deceased." "Is that correct?" "Yes, sir." "Could you tell the court please what happened to you when you arrived at that apartment building on the night of the murder?" "As I walked into the lobby, a man suddenly got out of the private elevator from the penthouse." "We" " We almost collided, as a matter of fact." "He was in sort of a hurry, I'd say." "The medical examiner said the time of death was between 9 and 10 in the evening." "Now, could you tell us, please, at exactly what time you nearly ran into this man?" "I was little late getting home and I happened to look at my watch." "It was exactly five minutes of 10." "Mr. Sassano." "Yes, sir?" "Is that man in court today?" "Yes, sir." "Right over there." "The defendant." "BURGER:" "Thank you, Mr. Sassano." "Your witness." "Now, let's get this straight, Mr. Slade." "Are we to understand that you also were at the Addison apartment on the night of the murder?" "Yes." "I don't recall the exact time." "It was around 9:30." "That's very interesting." "Go on." "The apartment was dark." "I rang the bell a number of times, but there was no reply." "I was concerned." "Mr. Addison had just returned from the hospital." "So, what did you do?" "I went to a phone booth across the street and I phoned him." "He said he had been asleep." "I apologized for disturbing him, but told him I wanted to discuss some information I'd received from the insurance company." "Well, he said he was tired and weak and couldn't it wait until morning." "I agreed." "Go on, sir." "I walked back to my car and was about to drive away when another car pulled up in front of Addison's apartment house building." "The driver got out." "He went inside." "And did you recognize the driver of the other car?" "Yes." "It was James Kincannon." "And what did you do then, Mr. Slade?" "Well, I was curious." "Besides, I wanted to talk to Mr. Kincannon, to discuss this business about steering customers into my shop." "So I waited for him." "You waited for the defendant." "How long was he inside the building?" "Oh, five minutes or so." "I called to him when he came out, but he didn't hear me." "And by the time I had crossed the street, he had driven off." "Now, let's see." "Addison was killed between 9:30 and 10:30." "At 9:40 you talked with Addison on the phone." "At 9:50 you saw the defendant arrive at the apartment building and go inside, and at 10:00 you saw him come out of the building and drive away." "Is that your testimony, sir?" "That is right." "TRAGG:" "Thank you, Mr. Slade." "Your witness." "JUDGE:" "Gentlemen, it's just about time for adjournment." "The court will recess until 9:30 tomorrow morning." "( dramatic theme playing )" "( dramatic theme swells )" "( dramatic theme playing )" "How did you time out?" "One minute, 10 seconds." "You?" "Well, that elevator to Addison's penthouse is slower than the slow boat to you know where." "Two minutes, 15 seconds, street to lobby, lobby to rooftop." "Overall time, 3:25." "Which is slicing it pretty thin." "I know." "Still, the struggle could have been over very quickly." "Yeah, but it doesn't give the killer much time to get away." "Well, suppose he didn't." "At least, not then." "Killer heard the elevator, ducked back into penthouse." "Kincannon came along-- Just as he said." "stumbled over the empty case, picked it up, and tossed it in front of the doors just before he left." "Well, then you figure the killer had to be there to see Kincannon handle the case." "After which the killer planted it inside the apartment." "How else could it have been?" "One thing's for sure, part of Slade's story is true." "( dramatic theme playing )" "It happened exactly as I testified." "I did phone Mr. Addison from the phone booth and I did see James Kincannon go inside." "About, uh, five minutes elapsed from the moment you completed your call until the arrival of James Kincannon at the apartment house?" "If it please the court" "Your Honor, I intend to show that the murder took place within those five minutes and that Addison was dead before my client arrived on the scene." "Go on, Mr. Mason." "Now, Mr. Slade, you went up to Addison's, uh, penthouse before you made that call?" "Yes, around 9:30." "MASON:" "When you got to the penthouse, was there a light inside?" "SLADE:" "No." "The place was dark." "Now, you recall when we visited the penthouse the following morning, we found evidence of a struggle on the roof garden?" "Well, that's right." "I didn't see all of that when I was up there at 9:30." "You then went downstairs to make a call from a phone booth." "Now, during the time you were in the phone booth, did you see anyone enter or leave that building?" "SLADE:" "No." "MASON:" "After you had completed your call, you then walked back to your car." "Did you see anyone enter or leave during that time?" "No." "It was after I got in my car and was about to drive away that I saw Jim Kincannon come up and go inside." "MASON:" "Then aside from Mr. Sassano, who lives there, you saw nobody but James Kincannon go in or out of that building?" "That's right." "Now, Mr. Slade, let's consider the facts as you've related them." "At 9:30, when you called on Mr. Addison, you found no signs of a struggle and the penthouse doors were locked?" "That's right." "About ten minutes later, you spoke to Mr. Addison." "He must have been alive then and he must have been inside the locked penthouse?" "Yes, I" " I would assume so." "Now, those penthouse doors could be locked only by hand-closing the bolt from inside the apartment or by using a key from the outside." "Is that correct?" "Yes." "Yes, as a matter of fact, I-- I know you're right." "Mr. Addison often kept valuable merchandise in the apartment." "The special lock was a safety precaution." "On the morning after the murder," "I was with you and Sergeant Ferris when we found the empty jewelry case with Kincannon's fingerprints on it inside the apartment." "Now, how did we get into the apartment, Mr. Slade?" "Well, it was locked, and uh" "Well, I unlocked it." "With your key?" "Yes." "Your Honor," "I would like to interrupt the testimony of this witness to recall Lieutenant Tragg." "Yes." "Kincannon left the building just before 10." "Our investigation shows that he drove straight to Las Vegas." "Now, the struggle that started inside the penthouse and continued out onto the roof garden must have occurred after 9:45." "Is that correct?" "Yes." "Not before James Kincannon's arrival, not after he departed, but in what was left of the five or seven minutes he was in the building, not including the time it took him to go up and down in a slow elevator?" "That's the way it must have been." "Lieutenant, did James Kincannon have a key to that penthouse?" "We searched him, his car and his home, looking for the jewels." "No, he didn't have such a key." "The dead man, did he have his key when you found him?" "Yes." "Now, if James Kincannon killed Addison, would you please tell me, Lieutenant, how his fingerprints got on that empty jewel case found inside a locked penthouse?" "Why would he put it there?" "And why--?" "Or better still, how could he have locked that door?" "Well, I, uh" "I guess I don't know." "Addison had a key, Mr. Slade had a key, and" "TRAGG:" "And Adele Bentley had a key." "Yes." "When I left at 9," "I locked the door behind me." "Now, this is important, Ms. Bentley." "As one of the three people who had a key to that apartment, did you or did you not return to that apartment?" "Your Honor, I must protest these harassing tactics." "Since when is it harassment to prove a point?" "BURGER:" "Well, you've already done that, Mr. Mason." "Beautifully." "You've proved that your client has to be the murderer." "Would you clarify that, Mr. Burger?" "Certainly, Your Honor." "The simple facts are these:" "Adele Bentley left the penthouse at 9pm and did not return." "Point number two:" "Mr. Slade visited there at 9:30, but saw no signs of a struggle." "Point number three:" "Mr. Slade phoned Mr. Addison at 9:40." "Thus, proving that at least at 9:40" "Mr. Addison was still alive." "Point number four:" "Even Mr. Mason admits that his client was there between 9:50 and 9:55." "And point number five:" "Between 9:40 and 10:00" "Mr. Slade had the front entrance to the apartment under constant surveillance." "During that time only one person went up to the penthouse and came down again." "And that one person was James Kincannon." "Any comment, Mr. Mason?" "Your Honor, everything Mr. Burger says is quite true with one exception." "There was another way to reach that penthouse." "( laughs )" "Your Honor, even if someone had landed there by helicopter" "One moment, Mr. Burger." "What other way to the penthouse were you about to describe?" "The way Mr. Addison himself got to the penthouse after he had committed the robbery." "Over the rooftops." "And if a blind man could do it, why not someone else?" "You may go ahead with your examination, Mr. Mason." "Now, Ms. Bentley, you and the rest of the staff at Slade's took inventory after the robbery." "What records did you use?" "A card index system." "Did those cards include the new stock received the day before?" "Was every item listed?" "Why, yes." "But Mr. Whitehead testified that he did not complete cataloging the new stock the night of the murder, that he went home early at 9:00 on Mr. Addison's orders." "That's right." "I did" "Isn't it possible, Mr. Whitehead, that you stayed on that night to finish the cataloging?" "Isn't it possible that you were an eyewitness when Addison" "Even though he was blind." "stole the Kincannon Collection?" "Isn't it possible that you and only you, got into the penthouse without being seen by Mr. Slade?" "No." "No!" "You could have done it by following the blind Addison." "You could have slipped into the penthouse when he was on the phone with Mr. Slade." "A third of a million dollars in jewelry already stolen by someone else." "Was the temptation too much for you?" "Didn't you take the jewelry, kill Addison, then try to frame Kincannon after he had come up to the roof garden after he had handled the empty jewelry case?" "Only one thing I don't understand, Mr. Whitehead:" "Addison was blind." "He couldn't see you." "Why did you have to kill him?" "He heard me take the necklace from the case." "He grabbed me." "He recognized my voice when I cried out." "I had to." "Understand?" "I had to kill him." "( dramatic theme swells )" "Whitehead had just struck Addison down when Jimmy came up." "He dragged Addison inside the apartment and saw you handle the jewelry case." "In his panic, Whitehead tried desperately to frame Jimmy." "PAUL:" "However, when he locked the jewelry case inside the apartment with Addison's key and then put the key back in Addison's pocket before he threw him off the roof, he made an awful mistake." "Well, I understand that, but what bothers me is the testimony of that man Shaw from Las Vegas." "But all the things the police blame you for, Jimmy, were done or-- Or started by Harry." "MASON:" "Yes, I'm afraid it was Harry who was involved with Addison in fencing stolen jewelry." "Harry also embezzled his own company's money." "Jim became involved only because" "Only because he was a very good friend to your son." "I'm afraid I have a lot to make up for." "To both of you." "( noirish jazz theme swells )" "( noirish jazz theme playing )"