"(theme song playing)" "* *" "* *" "The Adam York party, now three days overdue, must have been caught in the sudden flash floods that turned rivers into raging torrents." "Little or no hope is held that any of the three men in the fishing party could have survived the rapids in the desolate north country." "Canadian authorities have organized ground search parties, while Royal Canadian and American Air Force helicopters are combing the area." "We will bring you further developments as we get them." "The three missing fishermen are now five days overdue, and at nightfall, authorities have announced, they will recall the search parties." "An anxious world has all but given up hope that the three men are still alive." "With their death, an era of journalistic history will have come to a close." "Adam York-- the legendary Adam York-- was the last of the crusading newspaper tycoons." "The world-famous publisher was accompanied on his fishing trip by his younger brother, Prentiss York, and by the managing editor of Adam York's newspaper, the Los Angeles Chronicle, Mr. Tilden Stuart." "* *" "(animal howling in distance)" "(grunting)" "(howling in distance)" "Hey, men!" "Over here!" "Mr. Stuart... (footsteps approaching)" "It's Mr. Stuart." "Mr. Stuart, where are the others?" "Where's Adam York?" "Where's his brother?" "Dead." "They're all dead." "* *" "Slug it slay." "Tell them to box it on page one." ""Slums breed another murder." "More Violence in Derrick Flats."" "And I'll tie that in with the lead editorial." "(intercom buzzes)" "Yes?" "Just a minute." "Boyd Alison to see you." "Boyd Alison?" "Your uncle didn't like him." "Said he was a business maverick with the ethics of a rattlesnake." "(chuckles) Well, as long as we have a snakebite kit handy, you send him in, Miriam." "Tell Mr. Alison to come in, please." "Well... you're sitting in a big man's chair." "I don't need you or anyone else to tell me I can't fill it." "What is it you want," "Alison?" "Do you intend to continue Adam York's annexation fight at Derrick Flats?" "Yes, I do." "Adam York is dead." "Where the Chronicle is concerned, his ideas are still very much alive." "You look a little like your uncle." "You even sound a bit like him." "I wonder how big you'll talk when the Chronicle is bankrupt." "Mind if I sit down?" "Your, uh, advertising volume is way off." "Your circulation has hit a ten-year low." "You don't have enough cash to meet this week's payroll, and there isn't a bank in town that'll lend you a red cent." "Do you, uh... do you also know what I had for breakfast this morning?" "(chuckles)" "The city's annexation election is 60 days off." "I figure it'll take, oh, half a million dollars to see the paper through till then, assuming a pickup in circulation and advertising both." "If half a million dollars were available to you, what security would you give for such a loan?" "The paper itself, I suppose." "There isn't anything else." "Yes, but you don't own the paper." "Adam York's will is being read this afternoon." "From what my uncle always told me," "I believe my mother and I will inherit a large part of it, probably half." "And the other half?" "Go to my aunt and her family," "Mr. and Mrs. Seward Quentin and their son, Ralph." "Oh." "Would they pool their stock for security?" "No." "The Quentin's only interest in the Chronicle is to sell it at the highest price." "And that isn't your interest?" "Mr. Alison, I don't particularly enjoy playing verbal checkers with you." "(chuckles)" "Now, if there's something you have to say, that's fine." "If not, I have work to do." "I'll lend you half a million dollars for 60 days, without interest, with just yours and your mother's stock as security." "Well, Mr. Alison, I..." "Save it." "Your uncle didn't like me any more than you do, obviously, but he was a fighting man, and I liked and respected him." "I think you're a lot like him." "My lawyers will be in touch with you shortly." "And good luck." "Snakebite antitoxin or a good, stiff drink, what'll you have?" "Anybody looks for me, I'll be in Kerry Worden's office." "(door opens)" "(door closes)" "Everything seems to be all right." "Okay, now, nice and bright." "Snap it, Charlie." "That wraps it up, girls." "Mark a set of proofs for the fashion department." "I'd like to check 'em this afternoon." "Oh, Ralph." "I just can't have lunch today." "I'm much too busy." "All right." "All right." "Cousin." "Kerry... it worked like a dream." "Money" " I can get ahold of enough money to keep the paper going." "It's the answer to everything-- the annexation fight, all the things Adam would have wanted." "I'll tell you all about it tonight." "We do have a dinner date?" "8:00." "Joe..." "I was in Perry Mason's office this morning." "I know you're going there this afternoon about Adam's will." "I was there this morning to see about another will." "Prentiss?" "He was a strange man, my stepfather." "He was always busy, busy with the paper, busy fighting Adam's fights, and yet, not so busy to leave me everything he had." "Ah, it wasn't much." "He didn't have much." "But that he should think about me, that he should be concerned about me... (intercom buzzes)" "Kerry Worden." "(woman speaks inaudibly over phone)" "It's Miriam." "There's an attorney named Bradshaw waiting for you." "Miriam says he represents a Boyd Alison." "Whew!" "Mr. Alison wastes no time." "Tell her I'm on my way." "And I'll see you at 8:00." "He's on his way up now." "And, Joe... good luck at Mason's office." "There are 100 outstanding shares of stock in the Chronicle corporation." "Adam York owned all the shares." ""To, uh, Tilden Stuart, devoted friend" ""and respected coworker, I bequeath ten shares," ""his shares to be nonvoting." ""To the surviving members of my immediate family," ""to my only brother, Prentiss York," ""to my sister, Hope York Quentin," ""to her son, Ralph Quentin," ""to my younger sister, Grace York Davies," ""to her son, Joseph Davies," ""to each of these five members of my family," ""I bequeath 18 shares." ""If any of the five members of my family" ""fail to survive me, his or her shares shall be divided equally among the remaining survivors."" "Now, since Prentiss York died in the river accident with Adam, his 18 shares are to be divided, uh, accordingly among the four remaining survivors." "So you mean ownership of the Chronicle is to be divided equally between my sister and her son on the one hand, and me and my son on the other." "That is correct, Mrs. Quentin." "Well, what happens if my sister and her son decide they want to continue operating the paper while my son and I decide we want to sell?" "Is that what I wish to do?" "Shut up." "Yes, Father." "Adam York's stock is assigned to a trust corporation." "To avoid any gap in the, uh, operation of the newspaper, the management of the trust is vested in me during probate, with the stock to be voted in accordance with the instructions of those who receive it as set up in the will." "That doesn't solve anything-- there's still a 50/50 split where control of the paper is concerned!" "There's an added provision in the will that the voting rights in Tilden Stuart's ten shares of stock be assigned to Joseph Davies, that Joseph Davies be named publisher of the newspaper." "HOPE:" "That gives you and your son complete control." "If that boy runs the paper, I wouldn't give it 30 days." "Say, Mr. Mason, there's something puzzling me." "Uncle Prentiss had a wife." "She's dead, but there was a stepdaughter." "How come she doesn't pick up the 18 shares?" "Under the law, since Prentiss York did not survive his brother, neither he nor his heirs are eligible to inherit from Adam York." "Uh, excuse me, Perry." "But that's what I came in to tell you." "I'm afraid what you just said isn't so." "The applicable law is the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act, section 296 of the Probate Code, Paul." "It's not the law I'm talking about, Perry, it's the facts." "Prentiss York did survive Adam." "They just found Prentiss York's body." "Mr. Stuart here didn't find Prentiss at the same time he found Adam at the shore of the river, because Prentiss, even though he had a broken leg, managed to drag himself more than two miles away from the river." "He also managed to light a fire in the heavy timber country." "But he died." "And he must have survived his brother by at least a day." "This wire from the Canadian authorities confirms what Mr. Drake just said." "In the light of this information, the 18 shares of stock willed to Prentiss York now become the property of his legal heir," "Miss Kerry Worden." "(knocking)" "Good evening, Kerry." "Seward." "May I come in?" "Please do." "Thank you." "An interesting situation." "Joe and his mother foolishly wanting to continue on with the paper." "Ralph and his mother wanting to sell." "Neither of the opposing groups able to have its own way." "And now you enter the picture." "My 18 shares seem to represent the balance of power, so to speak." "Kerry, I won't waste a lot of your time, but I would like to ask you one question." "Exactly how much is love worth?" "That's not a question." "That sounds like an opening gambit to a proposition." "(chuckles)" "If you marry Joe Davies, it could cost you a half million dollars." "If I vote my stocks with him." "Could you marry him and not vote with him?" "Joe's an impractical dreamer-- just like Adam." "In one month that paper will be bankrupt, if it isn't already." "Well, a coin usually has two sides to it." "There's a bona fide offer of two and a half million for the paper." "One fifth of that, your share, would be worth one-half million dollars." "I really don't want to bother thinking about it right now." "I have a dinner date with Joe in about an hour." "Well, maybe you should bother thinking about it long enough to break that date." "Somehow you strike me as being a girl who is very good at arithmetic." "I'm afraid my arithmetic is a little better than yours." "If I marry Joe-- zero for everybody." "If I vote my stock against him, there's a million for your wife and son, but only a half million for me." "Seems my decision is just as important to the Quentins as it is to me." "Twice as important." "Well, my dear, perhaps it shouldn't be twice as important." "Tell me something-- when do you announce this engagement of yours?" "You'll be getting an invitation soon." "Dear Mother Grace Davies is giving the engagement party at the Fairmount Club a week from Saturday." "That's plenty of time to add, subtract or divide." "I announce with pride and all my love and warmest good wishes, the engagement of my son Joseph to Miss Kerry Worden." "Just a moment, Aunt Grace." "You're almost right-- almost." "Well, this is an engagement party, but the trouble is," "Kerry isn't getting engaged to Joe." "She's announcing her engagement to me right now." "SEWARD:" "Well, since this seems to be a propitious moment for exploding bombs, I may as well inform you that on behalf of my wife and my son, I'm requesting a stockholder's meeting tomorrow for the purpose of approving" "the sale of the Chronicle." "Take it easy, Joe." "You keep out of my sight." "If I ever get my hands on you, I'll kill you." "Tilden, will you take me home, please?" "Isn't the groom-to-be going to kiss the bride-to-be?" "Another double and keep 'em coming." "Yes, sir." "That's not going to solve your problem." "No problem left to solve." "Adam lost, I lost-- and you lost, Alison." "The paper's being sold tomorrow." "And there's nothing you can do about it, huh?" "Short of murdering a two-timing witch by the name of Kerry Worden, no nothing." "You have any ideas?" "Here, give him a bottle." "Adam York was a fighter." "I never saw him wallowing in self-pity or drunk." "I was wrong about you." "(door rattling) Kerry, it's me" " Joe!" "Open up, you hear me?" "!" "* *" "JOE:" "Kerry." "She's-- she's dead." "She's dead." "All right." "I'll look into the Boyd Alison loan-- see where you stand." "I keep thinking, thinking about last night." "Trying to remember." "Something keeps nagging at my memory." "What prompted you to go to her apartment?" "Anger?" "Jealousy?" "Funny-- that's one thing I do remember." "I guess I was still boiling mad-- but I wasn't jealous." "I-I was almost-- relieved about not marrying her." "Maybe that's what I wanted to say to her." "It's worth losing the paper to be saved from her in time." "Was it worth it?" "No, not really." "That would have been a betrayal of Adam." "Nothing was worth that." "All right, I'll, uh, I'll be back tomorrow." "In the meantime, if there's something you want or need, just ask them to give me a call." "Wait." "Wait a minute." "What is it?" "I remember now-- it was a call." "That's it, I got a call at the bar." "I remember." "I had no reason to kill Kerry." "Who called you?" "She did." "Kerry called me at the bar in the club." "She told me it was going to be all right." "She wasn't going to vote her shares with the Quentins." "If Joe Davies wasn't dreaming, and Kerry Worden did call, we'll need corroboration." "Check the Fairmount Club." "Also the switchboard in Kerry Worden's apartment building." "It might be highly interesting to know if she called someone else that night." "Mm-hmm." "As well as who might have called her and when." "One more thing." "This Derrick Flats annexation business-- put some men on it." "Find out what's involved." "Do you think the Chronicle's involvement in the annexation election might have something to do with the murder?" "The key to the murder must lie in the efforts to gain control of the newspaper." "Paul, I want that information..." "Fast." ""And, Paul, don't spare the expenses." ""If somebody has to pay" ""for Paul Drake's expensive tastes, it might as well be Perry Mason."" "(all chuckling)" "Della." "Mm-hmm." "Send a rush telegram to each of the stockholders of the Chronicle." "Include Boyd Alison in that group." "A telegram informing them that as voting trustee of the stock," "I'm calling an urgent meeting at 8:00 tonight in the Chronicle offices." "Prepare a power of attorney for Joseph Davies, naming me his proxy to vote his shares." "I'll want you to get his signature on it later." "I'll have it ready in 15 minutes." "Oh, Della." "Yes, Perry?" "The wire about the meeting tonight-- send a copy of it to the district attorney." "To Hamilton Burger?" "Mm-hmm." "And please, make it five minutes, not 15." "Mrs. Davies and Tilden Stuart are waiting for us at the Chronicle building." "This unincorporated strip of county here, made up of abandoned, worked-out oil fields-- old derricks still standing-- is what is known as Derrick Flats." "It's a dirty shantytown." "In water, sanitary conditions, fire hazards, the whole area is substandard." "It's an ugly, dangerous eyesore." "The Chronicle supports annexation." "The election will decide whether the Flats are annexed and become part of the city." "And the slums condemned and new and decent housing facilities erected." "In addition to a huge new boat marina right there." "Mr. Stuart, that bond issue, does it also include the cost of the marina?" "No, the funds for the marina have already been voted." "If the vote is no on the annexation, does that mean there'll be no marina?" "Oh, no, there's still..." "Sorry." "Go ahead, Miss Coffey." "Well, you see, the city had previously optioned another area for the marina, before they picked the Derrick Flats section." "They could go back to that first area." "Somebody wins, somebody loses." "Either way, I have a strange feeling there's an awful lot of money involved." "Obviously enough money to motivate murder." "Not Joe..." "I mean Mr. Davies." "He couldn't murder anybody." "On that, we agree, Miss Coffey." "Well, now I think this does it." "Please, Mr. Mason, is there anything I can do?" "Anything?" "As a matter of fact, there is." "Della, do you have that power of attorney?" "Mm-hmm." "Miss Street and I have a conference coming up, so if you'd be kind enough to get Mr. Davies to sign these," "I'd appreciate it." "I'll take care of it right away." "Thank you for all your help." "We'll see you tonight at 8:00." "Don, I know I had you on another assignment, but this is important." "I'd go myself, but the switchboard girl at the Worden apartments knows me by sight." "Is there a good-looking girl in Los Angeles that doesn't know you by sight?" "A couple." "Anyway, I sort of stood her up on a date one night after I got some information from her on a divorce case." "So, you are going to have to do it for me." "Okay, so I have to do it for you." "Now tell me how." "How?" "You're asking me how?" "Look, buster, that's what I'm paying you for, and I'll be waiting for your call." "Okay, boss." "Beat it." "Hello." "Yes?" "Butler 2-1-5-1-8?" "Yes, I'll tell him." "Thank you." "You mean that's really going to be in the Chronicle?" "That photograph of me?" "DON:" "Yes, front page spread." "Hey, hey, I forgot." "The new city editor's on today-- a real tough baby." "Won't print pictures unless there's a good story to hook 'em to." "Well, you're a reporter, aren't you?" "So think of something." "I got it!" "We do a piece on the calls that went in and out of the dead girl's apartment that night." "Nothing to it." "Oh, gee, I don't know about that." "The cops wouldn't like it." "Well, that's it." "No sense wasting more pics for nothing." "Sir." "Well, look, the cops couldn't say anything if you was to accidentally get a look at my call record book." "Hmm, now could they?" "Bonnie Mae, you're a dream." "All right, big smile." "Big smile again." "Oh, it's you." "Well, now, there's a sparkling quotation." "Like, "What happened?"" "or "What am I doing here?"" "Really, Joe." "I'm sorry, Miriam." "They said Mr. Mason's secretary was here with some papers to sign." "Where do I do it?" "Here, here and here." "Disappointed?" "Well, Mr. Mason said that I could come here if I liked, instead of his secretary." "She's very attractive, Miss Street." "So was Kerry Worden." "Remember?" "Signed, sealed and delivered." "Joe, would you really have married her?" "Kerry?" "Why do you ask?" "Oh, just curious, I suppose." "(sighs)" "Oh, who knows for sure?" "I..." "I honestly don't think I-I could have married her." "Or that I ever loved her." "Any more than she could ever have married or loved Ralph Quentin." "Oh, maybe the two of them deserved each other." "Kerry and Ralph." "Well, there's a match that wasn't made in heaven." "Are any of them, Miriam?" "I think so, Joe." "Miriam..." "I-I better be going now, Joe." "Good luck." "You just can't get enough of that stuff, can you?" "I like it." "You like it." "I'm sure you do." "Hope, can't we stop this constant bickering, please?" "Please?" "Please me no pleases." "It's too late for that now." "The two-and-a-half-million- dollar offer to buy the paper has been withdrawn." "Thanks to you and your son." "Good evening." "Good evening, Mr. Mason." "Uh, may I suggest that the stockholders sit around the table?" "Uh, if you will, Mr. Alison." "Ms. Coffey, would you please take notes?" "Since the arrest of Joe Davies for murder, we're faced with the problem of policy and continuing management of the Chronicle." "The problem of continuing or selling." "I understood you to say the offer to buy had been withdrawn." "A matter of temporary misunderstanding." "I can assure you, there will be no difficulty in reactivating the offer and for the two-and-a-half million-dollar figure." "Selling the paper's out of the question." "The answer was no before, it's still no, it will continue to be no." "At least for the balance of the 60 days involved in the loan to the paper from Mr. Alison." "HOPE:" "Loan?" "Boyd Alison?" "Yes." "A half million dollars for 60 days, secured by my shares and Joseph's shares." "MASON:" "In the event of default, how Mr. Alison votes is of course his own business." "(chuckles):" "Well, then, we obviously have no problem." "The loan will never be repaid." "In 60 days, the answer will be no." "But, now, see here, Mr. Alison..." "Save your breath." "I said no." "MASON:" "Which, uh, brings up another matter:" "a phone call." "You did tell your mother about Ms. Worden's call to you, didn't you, Ralph?" "What?" "Oh, Kerry's call." "Sure, I told her that Kerry changed her mi..." "Shut up, you drunken" "Shut up!" "Thank you for the corroboration." "I knew Ms. Worden called Joe to tell him she wasn't voting her stock with you, Ralph." "It didn't take too much to figure that she'd also called you." "(door opens)" "Oh, hello, Hamilton." "You, uh, all know the district attorney, Mr. Burger." "Evening, Perry." "Sit down, won't you?" "I believe I've talked to all these people just recently." "Evening." "Hamilton, if you overheard some of the conversation, well, so much for Joe Davies' motivation, and I'd say at least half your case." "(chuckles)" "Oh, we knew about Kerry Worden's two calls to Joe Davies and to Mr. Quentin here." "And her call to Boyd Alison." "And since we're sharing information, we now know about the contents of Kerry Worden's safe deposit box." "In it was a contract calling for the sale of her shares to Boyd Alison, signed by Mr. Alison two days before the murder, but not yet signed by Kerry." "Mr. Alison," "Joe Davies got two phone calls at the Fairmount bar the night of the murder:" "one from Kerry Worden and one..." "And one from me." "The girl told me she'd called Davies and that she was ready to sign my contract." "So I called Davies." "Why?" "I intended to own the paper and run it myself." "I told him that." "Once Kerry Worden signed that contract, he was out, once and for all out, and for good." "That's very interesting, Mr. Alison." "If you don't mind following me downtown," "I'd like to get a full statement from you." "Kerry Worden was a double-crosser, all right." "But she was an extremely attractive woman." "And as for your client's motive," "I imagine we'll be discussing that in court." "Good night." "Mr. Lewis, what time was it on the night of the murder that you came into the decedent's apartment?" "As close as I can remember, about 2:35, 2:36 in the morning." "Mr. Lewis, this poker-- People's exhibit one-- has been established as the probable murder weapon." "It's further been established that it had on it the fingerprints of the defendant." "Now, I ask you, when you saw the defendant standing over the dead body of your neighbor Kerry Worden, did you also see this poker?" "Yes." "The defendant Joseph Davies was holding it in his hand." "BURGER:" "Thank you, Mr. Lewis." "And then I struck out alone, away from the river, towards the nearest town." "And meanwhile, and without your knowledge," "Prentiss York-- his leg broken, suffering from internal injuries and shock-- managed to crawl some two miles from the river." "There, although he was able to build a fire, he died." "Is that correct?" "That was the report of the Canadian authorities, yes." "Now, Mr. Stuart, you were present at the reading of Adam York's will, when this information about Prentiss York was made known and when it was announced that Prentiss York's stepdaughter, the decedent Kerry Worden," "was to inherit a substantial share of the Chronicle?" "Yes, I was there." "The day after the reading of Adam York's will, did you and the defendant Joseph Davies lunch together?" "Well, yes, we did." "Some accountants from the newspaper were there." "It was a business meeting." "And during the course of this business meeting, did the defendant have the occasion to express himself about Kerry Worden's new status as a shareholder of the paper?" "Well, he... he laughed and said that it might be smarter to bring the long engagement to a head and marry her before the heiress figured out it might be more profitable to vote her stock with the Quentins." "It was just a joke, no more." "Yes, I'm sure it was." "Thank you." "Thank you, Mr. Stuart." "Your witness." "No questions." "When I tried to restrain Joe from attacking my father, he got furious and stalked out of the room." "Thank you, Mr. Quentin." "That'll be all." "Your witness." "So, Kerry Worden was to marry you, not Joseph Davies." "I take it, you and the decedent were in love with one another." "Why, certainly, of course." "Did you ever tell her so?" "Well, no, not directly." "As a matter of fact, my father discussed it with her." "MASON:" "How did you manage to propose?" "In person, by telephone, by letter?" "That was, uh, arranged by my father." "Are you, uh, sure Ms. Worden wasn't getting married to your father?" "(laughter) BURGER:" "Your Honor, I protest." "MASON:" "I withdraw the question." "(gavel tapping)" "I'm finished with the witness." "JUDGE:" "You may be excused," "Mr. Quentin." "Mrs. Quentin, could you tell us, please, about this matter of your son's engagement to the decedent?" "Oh, my husband handled the entire matter." "It was a straightforward business deal." "No more, no less." "BURGER:" "Mrs. Quentin, you seem to find it necessary to sell the Chronicle." "I have here a copy of a confidential survey made of the paper by an outstanding business analyst." "It seems to confirm what was well-known in newspaper circles:" "that the Chronicle was badly mismanaged and verging on bankruptcy." "I wonder if you could tell us the name of the business analyst who made this survey for you." "My husband, Seward Quentin." "BURGER:" "Thank you, Mrs. Quentin." "That'll be all." "Yes." "It was on my recommendation that the stockholders meeting was requested." "I had arranged for sale of the paper to Coast Publishers, Incorporated, for two-and-a-half million dollars." "Before the defendant left the engagement party room, did he do or say anything to the decedent?" "Yes." "He turned to Kerry Worden and he said," ""Keep out of my sight." "If I ever get my hands on you, I'll kill you."" "It was after 2:00, and I told him we had to close up." "And he left." "And then what, Mr. Young?" "Well, Mr. Davies is a nice guy." "Well, he always treated me fine." "Well, I was worried about him, and, well, I went outside after him." "He didn't take his car, he-he was just walking." "Well, I-I didn't want to embarrass him or anything." "BURGER:" "Yes, Mr. Young." "Well, he'd had an awful lot to drink, and I-I wanted to make sure he was all right." "So I followed him." "BURGER:" "You followed the defendant?" "Where to?" "Kerry Worden's apartment house." "I saw him go in." "BURGER:" "And then what?" "YOUNG:" "Well, after what happened at the club and the way Joe was-- well, Mr. Davies was feeling, I... well, I was a little worried." "Worried?" "About what?" "Ms. Worden's safety, I guess." "BURGER:" "I see." "YOUNG:" "Anyway, there was an all-night drugstore at the corner, and I, well, I figured I ought to call her and say something." "Now, wait a minute, Mr. Young." "What time was it when you saw the defendant go into the apartment house?" "2:30 in the morning." "BURGER:" "Are you sure of that?" "YOUNG:" "Well, I looked at my watch, uh, worrying if it was too late to call her." "But you did decide to call?" "Yes." "I looked up her number at the drugstore." "Then I called her." "And did she answer?" "Well, no, not exactly." "The line was busy." "The line was busy?" "What time was this?" "Couple of minutes after 2:30." "Now, at 2:30, you saw the defendant go into the apartment house of the decedent." "At 2:32 or three, you phoned her and the line was busy." "And at 2:35, her neighbor saw her lying there dead, with the defendant standing over her with the bloody poker still in his hand." "Thank you, Mr. Young." "Your witness, Mr. Mason." "JUDGE:" "One moment, Mr. Mason." "We've gone well beyond the hour for recess." "You may cross-examine after lunch." "Court is recessed until 2:00 p.m." "What about lunch, Perry?" "No lunch today." "I've got to make a phone call." "Paul, I want you to take the hospital and the newspaper morgue." "Della, you get to the bank." "Hospital, newspaper morgue, bank-- what are we on, some kind of a treasure hunt?" "No, an answer hunt." "The answer to who killed Kerry Worden." "All right, Mr. Mason, proceed with your cross-examination." "Now, Mr. Young, you testified that at 2:32 on the morning of the murder you tried to telephone Miss Worden." "When you called, you got a busy signal." "Is that right?" "Yes, sir." "I'm interested in trying to reconstruct the state of your mind at the time in question because I think it's pertinent." "Now, when you called, the line was busy." "Do you remember what your reaction was to the busy signal, what you thought?" "She was using it, talking to somebody, I guess." "That's a logical guess." "Now I show you people's exhibit three, the police photograph taken of the room in which the murder occurred." "Whoa, looks like there must have been quite a fight." "Chairs, lamps knocked over." "Place in a mess." "And here, what do you see here?" "Well, it's a telephone." "Well, it's disconnected." "The base is on the table, the receiver's hanging down to the floor." "Is that what you mean?" "Yes, it is." "Now, Mr. Young, in your own personal experience, if you were to call a number and, uh, the telephone had been similarly disconnected, what would happen?" "I'd get a busy signal." "Didn't this explanation occur to you at the time?" "That when you called, the telephone might have been disconnected in a struggle, oh, let us say hours before, and yet you still would have gotten a...?" "A busy signal." "No, no, it didn't occur to me at that time, but it does now." "Thank you, Mr. Young." "I have no further questions, Mr. Burger." "Well, I have another question, Your Honor... on redirect." "Since Mr. Mason has been probing the state of your mind, Mr. Young," "I have a question." "You phoned that apartment at 2:32." "Now if, if the struggle which knocked the phone off the hook took place at 2:34-- which seems most likely-- why would the line have been busy when you called earlier at 2:32?" "Because she was using it." "That's correct." "Thank you, Mr. Young." "No more questions." "Any more questions, Mr. Mason?" "I think we've demonstrated that the question is not if she was using the phone, but rather when the struggle took place or, more importantly, when the murder took place." "No, I have no further questions." "JUDGE:" "You may step down, Mr. Young." "I call Mr. Boyd Alison to the stand." "I would have controlled the paper, Mr. Burger." "That always was and is my intention-- to own and publish the Chronicle myself." "That's exactly what I told Joe Davies on thephone the night of the murder." "So the defendant knew that if Kerry Worden went through with her deal with you, he could kiss the paper good-bye." "I made that unmistakably clear." "Now, on the night of the murder, Mr. Alison, you saw the defendant personally." "Was that at the Fairmount Club bar?" "Yes, after the so-called engagement party." "Davies had begun drinking heavily." "I asked him was there nothing he could do about losing control of the paper." "And what did the defendant say to that?" "Joe Davies said that short of murdering Kerry Worden, there wasn't anything he could do." "Thank you, Mr. Alison, that'll be all." "Your witness." "Uh, Your Honor, may we have a moment to prepare an exhibit?" "You may, Mr. Mason." "Mr. Alison, you say you want to own and publish the Chronicle?" "Quite an undertaking without previous experience in the newspaper field." "Or do you already own a newspaper?" "I own no papers." "The Derrick Flats Shopping News and the Derrick Flats Independent, two newspapers." "Throwaways, I grant you, but newspapers." "Do you own them, Mr. Alison?" "No, not directly." "Not directly?" "Both papers are owned by Coast Publishers." "Coast Publishers is owned by the D.F. Industrial Corporation." "D.F. Industrial is owned by Enterprises, Ltd." "Now Mr. Alison, who owns 100% of the stock of Enterprises, Ltd?" "I do." "I ask you once again, do you own a newspaper?" "Yes." "Coast Publishers is the company Seward Quentin testified made a two-and-a-half-million- dollar offer to buy the Chronicle." "That offer, Mr. Alison, came from you, did it not?" "It did." "Why did you subsequently withdraw it?" "I found I could get the paper for less by way of the loan to Davies and the purchase of Miss Worden's stock." "As for the Quentins, they were so hungry," "I knew I could pick up their stock, too, in time for very little cash." "At no time did you support either Adam York or his policies." "From the beginning, you were opposed to the Derrick Flats annexation and the paper's support of that annexation, were you not?" "I don't know what you're talking about." "The All Service Company owning over 80% of the Derrick Flats slum property." "And among other things, operating rental offices, rubbish and garbage collection services." "All Service Company, D.F. Industrial Corporation," "Enterprises, Ltd." "Mr. Boyd Alison, and a total net profit of better than $5 million a year." "What are you getting at?" "If annexation was defeated, and the city purchased the alternate land, what then?" "Every single foot of every single acre of that alternate marina site is owned by two companies:" "Souther Developers and Management Associates." "Two companies owned by" "Advance Land Corporation." "Owned in turn by Enterprises, Ltd." "Back again to Mr. Boyd Alison." "Tell me, Mr. Alison, you were not opposed to annexation?" "All right!" "All right, you've dug it all up." "But nothing you've said suggests that I killed Kerry Worden." "Kerry Worden called Joe Davies, she called Ralph Quentin and she called you." "Now exactly what did this rather double-dealing lady have to say to you that might have upset your apple cart?" "That she was gonna change your mind again?" "No." "That she wasn't gonna go through her deal with you?" "No." "That you would lose control of the paper, and losing that control, your hope of defeating the annexation?" "No, no, no!" "Your Honor, I object." "Defense counsel is deliberately..." "One moment, Mr. Burger." "You opened the door to all of this on direct examination." "Yes, but, Your Honor..." "Objection overruled." "Proceed, Mr. Mason." "Your Honor, at this time," "I would like to recall Tilden Stuart." "JUDGE:" "You may step down, Mr. Alison." "Now Mr. Stuart, on the night of the murder, it was you who brought Miss Worden, the decedent, to the engagement party." "This is very important, Mr. Stuart." "On the way to that party, did Kerry Worden intimate that she might change her mind and sell her stock to Boyd Alison?" "Well, she may have talked about her stock that night, Mr. Mason." "I-I'm sorry, I just can't remember." "That's very disappointing." "However, you might be able to help us in another matter." "How much do you remember about the Advance Land Corporation?" "The Advance..." "Land Corporation?" "You purchased 5,000 shares of stock in that corporation." "You also purchased an option for an additional 5,000 shares at $150,000." "You might have become a millionaire overnight if the city bought that land for a marina." "Now, you liquidated all your assets to buy that first block of stock." "Where, Mr. Stuart, were you going to get the money for the second block of stock?" "Please, Mr. Mason, I was..." "Now, when you were on the boat with Adam and Prentiss York and the boat overturned, was it then, Mr. Stuart, when you pulled both bodies to the shore, was it then you figured out where you could get the money?" "You don't know what you're talking about." "MASON:" "The Prentiss York autopsy findings were uncertain as to the cause of death." "Since he'd been found two miles from the river, and since it was assumed that he must have got there under his own power, shock, exposure and internal injuries were listed as the probable cause of death." "Now... look at this photograph, Mr. Stuart." "It's a photograph of Prentiss York where they found him dead." "Now here is an enlargement of part of that photograph." "Will you please tell us what you see in it?" "It's a leg." "Prentiss York's broken leg." "Do you notice anything unusual about the shoe on that leg?" "No, nothing unusual." "It's unscuffed." "Prentiss York crawled two miles over rocky ground dragging a broken leg behind him, yet the shoe on that leg remained unscuffed." "Take a look at this, Mr. Stuart-- the hands he used to drag himself two miles over rocky ground." "Yet they're hands without a mark, without a scratch." "Both men were killed in the rapids by being smashed against the rocks, yet Prentiss York had no marks on his legs or shoes because you carried a dead man two miles to establish the lie that somehow Prentiss York survived his brother." "Now why?" "Why?" "According to hospital records, your first call, the very first call you made after reaching civilization was to Kerry Worden, and Kerry Worden was your first visitor at the hospital." "Again, why?" "I knew Kerry Worden." "I knew her greed." "And we made a deal." "I would set her up as Adam's heir through Prentiss York." "And then we would split the money from the sale of the newspaper by the Quentins." "The night you brought her to the party, did she tell you about her deal with Boyd Alison?" "Yes." "She found out about my investment and the alternate marina land and refused to split with me." "In fact, she threatened to expose me if I didn't split my share with her." "So you killed her?" "I went to see her after I took Mrs. Davies home." "I, I wanted to talk to her." "I had to talk to her." "We..." "There was an argument," "I picked up the poker and I," "I couldn't let her sell to Alison." "I couldn't let her tell people about me!" "I needed time!" "(voice breaking):" "I..." "I needed time!" "Time to get the money together, time to pick up the option!" "I was, I was desperate for time!" "(voice breaking):" "Just, just a little time!" "(sobs)" "At the very moment Stuart killed Miss Worden, he heard Joe at the door." "He put out the lights and hid." "And you, my young friend, when you smashed your way in and fell," "Stuart ran out." "He reached the stairs and was gone from sight by the time Mr. Lewis arrived." "Found me with a poker in my hand." "And egg all over your face." "That's what you get for being in love with the wrong girl." "And who, Miss Coffey, is the right girl?" "(intercom buzzes)" "Yes?" "Late election returns." "Annexation winning in a walkaway." "Oh!" "Well, with Boyd Alison indicted by the grand jury and every civic group behind you, it should almost be unanimous." "MASON:" "I, uh, hate to inject an unhappy note, but there is the matter of the Chronicle and a rather substantial loan." "Didn't Joe tell you, Mr. Mason?" "Our advertising's doubled, our circulation's gone into orbit." "We have enough contracts to pay that loan off twice." "The girl positively amazes me." "It's never-ending enthusiasm." "What am I gonna do with her?" "I, um, have a feeling you'll think of something." "(chuckles)" "(theme music plays)"