"## [theme]" "[Woman on PA system] Your attention, please." "Now arriving, Flight Number 13 from Athens, Rome, Paris, London and New York." "Passengers will debark in about five minutes at Satellite Number 2." "That's quite a piece I sent in from Athens." "Eh." "You get a couple of good shots to go along with my follow-up story, we'll be a team, okay?" "Got quite a face, hasn't he?" "Wait'll you see the rest of him." "Half genius, half goat." ""Hats are for horses," he says." ""Soap is for dishes." And the clothes?" "The clothes look like he's worn his in a sleeping bag for five nights." "O'Malley, you old horse thief." "John." "Where you goin', to a costume party?" "Come off it, man." "You're through Customs now." " Welcome home." " Danny, there are people around here." " Oh..." " What are you doing?" "Shush!" "Oh." "Danny this is Theba Grammas." "Theba, my dear, I really shouldn't do this to you, but meet Daniel Patrick O'Malley-- whiskey-sponge, card-shark, and one of our more prominent literary failures." " How do you do?" " How do you do?" "And this is Cleo, Theba's mother." "You must remember her." "From Athens, Danny." "When Mr. O'Malley was writing the story about you in Greece" "Oh, the housekeeper in that house." "Yannis." "Look." "Is you on the cover." "Yes." "They're with you?" "They come with you?" "I brought 'em, you lunk-head." " Theba's going to be my model." " A woman?" "What's so strange about that?" "I've used 'em before." "Once." "A peasant woman with muscles, pushing a plow." "But this kid" "Danny, I'm gonna do her life-size, full figure." "Just the girl standing there, simplicity itself-- pristine." "This is your angle for me doing a follow-up story of the great John Kenyon at work?" "Danny, just wait." "You'll see." "All right, ladies, let's go get our luggage now." "Right over here." "What a beautiful girl." "As the sun sinks slowly in the west, we bid a sad farewell to the great John Kenyon and say hello to Melvin Milksop, dabbler in dainty doodads and sugar and spice and everything he's got no business to dabble with." "Now Old Mose here." "I made him for an English duke, and then I stopped the sale when I found out he was going to plant him in a rose arbor." "Can you imagine that?" "I'd rather keep old Grandpa around for a hat rack." "Now, this, ladies, this is my own private swimming pool, all the way from here to Hong Kong." "[chuckles]" "Oh, Yannis, this is the most beautiful house I ever had the pleasure to see." "And you, too, are beautiful." "I'll bet there's nothing to match it even in Greece, right, Cleo?" "It's a very nice ocean, yes." "Oh, George, here, let me help you with those." "There." "If this is where the famous American sculptor lives, he should be the horse." "It looks like the barn." "Shh." "Please." "Ladies, I want you to meet my pal George Spangler." "Pal, handyman, barber-- ask, ye shall be served." "Is nice to meet you." "Now, while you two ladies freshen up, as they say in the movies," "I'll fix us a couple of snorts so we can have a toast-- happy times for you and a new career for me." "How long are they staying, boss?" "Why, forever, of course." "Ah, now, Ken, look, I told you no pictures." "No magazine's printing anything except the finished product on this, and Dan O'Malley better get that through his thick head." "It's not for O'Malley." "The magazine turned him down on that follow-up piece." "Turned him down?" "They did a follow-up piece on that what's-his-name, that nut, that far-out painter." "You see these I took the other day?" "Copies I made up for you." "Oh?" "Thanks." "Yeah, now where is she anyway?" "Oh, I'll never get my work done." "Theba!" "Yes." "[both laughing]" "My dear, would it be asking too much for you to step up there and p" "You changed." "Do you like?" "Yeah, It's great." "Oh, Kenny, I love this man." "For this and all the other beautiful things he buy for me." "Okay." "Now back into your costume." "Oh." "Yannis, Mama want me to do shopping for her." "Is all right if I go?" "Yeah." "Sure." "It's okay." "Kenny will take me." "I hope you don't mind, Mr. Kenyon." "Mind?" "Why should I mind?" "I mean, I'd feel like I'm holding up your work, dragging her away." "Oh, go on." "It's good she's got somebody to show her around." "New country." "Can't keep a girl cooped up in a studio like this." "Besides, I haven't got the time to take her." " Swell." "So long." " Bye." "And don't be all day now." "She say when she'd be back?" "Got some shopping to do." "I suppose they'll stop for lunch." "I'd say around 2:30." "You want to bet?" "Oh, boy." "If there's a seamy side to anything, that's where you look, right?" "Ken Judson's only a boy." "Well, the other ones aren't." "What other ones?" "It seems to me the old lady sends her on those errands with all sorts of people." "What are you talking about?" "Nothing, boss, nothing." "But there's words for women like that old lady, and they ain't just "mother."" "[car approaches]" "Oh." "Hello, there." "Yannis, look." "You like?" "Is pleasing to you, my new hat?" "Go in the house, Theba." "Now look here, we were only" "Get out of here." "Do you hear me?" "Now get out of here." "Get out!" "Yannis, is something I do not understand?" "The hat." "Where did you get it?" "Mr. Correll buy it for me." "You left here with the kid, what's-his-name." "2:30 at the latest I expected you back." "Oh, that I explain." "After the lunch, he have telephone from the office-- to do something, I not know what." "He give me money to take the taxicab, but I see Mama." "What did she want?" "Oh." "She have very nice friend she want to meet with me." "Mr. Correll-- this man you were not very nice to." "When we see hat in window of shop, he say, "you like?"" "I say "Yes, I like."" "Yannis, I do something bad?" "Theba, girls do not accept presents from men, don't you know that?" "But you give me lots of presents." "That is different, Theba." "Don't you understand the difference?" "But, Yannis, I ask Mama first." "She say is all right." "It's not Theba's fault, Perry." "She's a sweet kid." "She's warm, she's kind, she's loyal, honest." "And I want her to stay that way-- at least until I" "Well, I mean" "Have you told her you love her yet?" "Huh?" "That is what you're upset about, isn't it?" "Well, look here." "Theba's from the old country." "She grew up practically barefooted, and, well, you don't rush a girl like this off her feet" " until she's had a chance" " Never mind." "We get the picture." "Oh, no, you don't, see?" "Now, in the meantime, her mother tells her what to do, and she does it, like, uh, like getting her dates-- guys that Mama thinks are better men than I am." "She doesn't come right out and say so, but she thinks that I'm too old for Theba." "If Theba really loves you" "If I asked her to marry me right now, what kind of a thing can you figure out with that genius legal mind of yours so that I could just ship Mama right back to Athens on the next jet?" "Well, she's not in the country fraudulently." "She hasn't committed any crime." "I'm afraid Mama is entitled to stay until her passport expires, but" "That's two more months, almost." "You didn't let me finish, John." "I was about to tell you the only legal solution I know of." "It's not one of those complicated all-around-the-barn things where I get charged a heavy fee?" "No fee." "Just marry the girl, and then put a lock on the door." "You see, Della?" "You consult the smartest attorney in town." "Now, you expect him to expound on the law from Blackstone's Commentaries to the Corpus Juris, and he wraps up the whole thing with "Put a lock on the door."" "Why didn't I think of that?" "You're not the smartest attorney in town." "Only remember, the girl has to say yes to all this." "Oh, don't worry, Perry." "Don't worry." "I may have been slow up till now, but you watch me from now on." "Oh." "You'll come to the wedding next week, right?" "So long. [laughing]" "I wonder." "## ["Nutcracker Suite"]" "There is something special tonight, Yannis?" "Theba." "There's something special?" "You bet your sweet life." "I have something to tell you." "Something wonderful." "Come here." "You make lots money to sell of me the statue." "The statue?" "Oh, no, no." "I'll never sell that one." "Uh, no, look." "I" " Well, Theba, my idea is" "Well, I mean, I thought" "There are only two for the table." "Yes, we'll be alone." "Except George will serve, of course." " What about Mama?" " And say." "uh, maybe we'd better have that champagne right now, don't you think?" "Oh, champagne." "I have never had." "Well, I think we both should relax a little." "Uh, George!" "Soup is on!" "Bring it in." "Oh, if it tickles at first, don't worry about it." "George, where are you?" "Bring in the ice bucket, George, will you?" "Come on, you slow, blasted" "What's the matter?" "Did you expect I would be out chasing the wild goose?" "Well, George said" "Your stupid George has left." "Quit the job." "It's very, very unfortunate, I know, but, he just did not like me, that's all." "Well, the way you've been making life miserable for him around here." "Yannis, please." "Mama, do not fight." "No more, please." "Come on, Theba, we'll go someplace else" "Theba must stay here." "You are through giving orders around here." "Theba." "Mr. Correll is coming." "You know that." "Correll?" "You dressed up for that guy, not for me?" "Yannis, she not tell truth." "Is for you, I swear." "Theba, I'm asking you to marry me." "We'll drive to Las Vegas right now." "Well, how about it?" "You're not saying anything." "Theba, darling" "She needs time to think." "Tomorrow she will tell you." "Well, she doesn't need you to think for her." "And tomorrow, first thing tomorrow morning, you are getting out of this house forever!" "Now let's go." "Yannis, I cannot go with you." "Is" " Is not just because of somebody else." "It" " Yannis, you do not understand." "I just cannot" " I just cannot!" "Somebody else." "I told you all along, she's no good for you, John." "All you've done for her... ready to make a famous lady of her" "Mrs. John Kenyon" " Think of that." "And what does she do?" "Always going out with somebody else." "I say let her take her old lady and go home." "That's my advice to you, friend." "Her and her old lady both-- back to Greece." "I don't know, O'Malley." "Maybe I was clumsy." "Uh..." "Maybe when Theba thinks it over some more" "Yeah, yeah, yeah." "At least I could have told her I loved her first." "Maybe it was the shock." "I mean, you know, a young girl like that, the first time that a man says" "First time?" "Hah!" "Now, you see, you don't understand Theba." "I know that down underneath, she loves me as much as" "Now we're fresh out of man's best friend." "See if there's 10 bucks on the bureau." "Send for a refill." "Well, you know, some girls just love everybody." "I tell you what we'll do-- talk about bull-fighting or the" "How about the South Seas?" "What's the matter?" "This is Theba's." "I bought it for her in Athens, before we left." "Uh, let me have it." "Theba was here?" "I found it on the floor after she left one night." "Well, I tried to tell you in a nice way, John." "[ring]" "Hello." "Officer Korchek speaking." "Give that to me again, sir, will you?" "And then I saw a man dragging something out of the house, over to the cliff by the ocean." "It was a woman." "I know it was a woman." "A girl." "Unconscious or maybe dead, even, and then he threw her over the cliff." "Do you hear me?" "He threw her over the cliff!" "No sign of your friend Kenyon, Perry." "Nobody has any idea where he is." "I had a hunch something was wrong when I couldn't get in touch with him last night." " What's going on?" " They're fishing for a body." "Perry, we can't find anyone who lives here." "I have a bulletin out for John Kenyon, but nothing yet." "Oh, if you see him, I'd appreciate a ring." "A bulletin for what, Tragg?" "Questioning." "That phone call we had last night." "Pretty wild story, wasn't it?" "Yes." "But the fellow who phoned looks like a solid citizen." "The man's name is Welsh." "Charles L. Welsh." "In business in L.A." "And when you and I just looked in the studio there, we saw what a mess the place was in." "Tragg, John Kenyon has quite a volatile personality." "He could lose his temper and still be innocent of any crime." "No." "Nobody could lose as much blood as you saw on that floor and still be alive." "All right, Tragg." "I'll call you if I see Kenyon." "Anything else, Paul?" "Got a lead from a neighbor." "Description of a man seen driving in and out of here quite a bit lately-- make of car, license number." "Let's go." "The license number checks." "Registered owner, Kenneth L. Judson, Junior." "Ken Judson." "He and that girl Theba have been seeing a lot of each other." "[knocking]" "What'll we say about Theba, Perry?" "Well, on the strength of just hearsay," "I'm not going to tell anyone she was thrown over a cliff into" "Yes?" "Something you want?" "You're Theba, aren't you?" "I'm very glad to see you." "Why?" "What is it you" "My name is Mason." "Perry Mason." "I'm John Kenyon's attorney." "This is Mr. Paul Drake." "Oh, Mr. Mason." "Of course." "Yannis say your name many times." "Come in." "[Ken] Theba?" "What's going on?" "Is Mr. Judson." "Mr. Mason and Mr. Drake." " Hello." " I think he sends you, no?" "Yannis, to bring me back to the house?" "No, as a matter of fact, I haven't seen John for a couple of days." "I not see him, not since last night." "Uh, where last night?" "When?" "The house." "I leave the house, that is all." "There is trouble in the house." "Trouble with whom, Theba?" "Yannis and Cleo." "Cleo?" "Her mother, from the old country." "Do you know what happened to Cleo?" "Theba hasn't seen anybody." "Look, they fought all the time, so she ran away from there." "She phoned me last night, all upset, so I came out and found her a place to stay for the night." "When I came back this morning, she" "No, Ken, please wait." "Mr. Mason, is more worse trouble?" "I'm not quite sure what happened yet, but until we locate John and your mother" "But she hasn't seen them, don't you understand?" "She hasn't seen her mother." "Stop that word." "Mr. Mason, I am such a very bad, bad girl." "Theba, you don't have to tell them anything." "But I must tell everyone... like I not tell to Yannis." "Mr. Mason, that woman Cleo-- she is not my mother." "Then who is she, Theba?" "Who are you?" "I am bad." "That's who I am." "All my life I think of America." "No one here understand." "I work on farm." "I never have dress from store to wear." "I never" "Then Cleo come." "She just a woman from the village, that is all." "But she says there is man who must look at me." "I afraid, but man is Yannis." "He only looking for model for statue." "Big, wonderful Yannis." "He say I am beautiful and we go to America, maybe." "I" " I very excited, and-- and then Cleo, she says she is my mother and she must come, too." "And I must never tell Yannis the truth or she stop everything and throw me back in the wheat field." "She's the one who's bad." "I've been trying to tell Theba that." "No, is I." "Last night Yannis, he ask me to be his wife." "I not know." "Big, happy bear of a father." "I not know he was" "I understand, Theba." "But first there's something I want to know about Greece." "Now, how on earth did this Cleo woman happen to know a famous person like John Kenyon?" "Oh, that's simple, Mr. Mason." "For years, Cleo was housekeeper for a guy Kenyon used to visit over there-- a big millionaire wool man named Stamatis." "Uh, he died of a stroke." "I see." "But now, Theba, these other men you've been seeing since you've been here" "Oh." "Mr. Correll, you mean." "Roger Correll." "But Yannis not understand." "He Cleo friend." "With her I only see him sometimes when shopping, that is all." "Once I foolish over hat." "Oh, poor Yannis." "Say, he's in the wool business, too, if that means anything." "I got a little jealous myself once and dug that much up." "Wool business, eh?" "Mr. Roger Correll." "I don't mind giving you my time, Mr. Mason." "I've always respected you as an attorney." "In fact, I'm flattered by your visit." "But why come to me?" "I don't know where your client is, and I don't know anything about his problems." "But you've been trying to date his model, a girl by the name of Theba." "What's wrong with that?" "Or is it Cleo Grammas you're interested in?" "Scarcely." "No, Cleo's just a woman I met in Athens once." "Home of a man I did business with for my firm." "She was housekeeper, nurse, factotum around the place." "Interesting that Cleo met you and John Kenyon in Europe at the same time, about the same place, and now the three of you are tied together back here." "We're not tied together." "And back in Athens, I certainly didn't have time to plan any reunions." "When you work for a heckler like Welsh, it's" "Well, never mind." "It was just a coincidence, bumping into Cleo, that's all." "And now, if you'll excuse me, I am rather jammed up today" "Wait a minute." "You work for someone named Welsh?" "I'm just the manager here." "He's the president." "Charles L. Welsh." "Why, you know him?" "Yes, I think I've heard his name mentioned." "Just today." "Yes, yes, of course I was the one who made that phone call to the police." "But I already told them everything I know, so I just don't have time to answer all your questions, too, Mr. Mason." "Frankly, I have got quite enough problems of my own to attend to." "You do?" "I was under the impression that you had quite a successful company going here." "Well, I was referring to something that was personal." "And if you don't mind" "Mr. Correll's business trip to Athens was quite successful, then?" "I only ask because my broker was touting your woolen mills stock just the other day." "It so happens that Mr. Correll's trip was highly successful." "He brought us a contract giving us exclusive rights to a new Greek patented process for carding wool-- faster, cheaper, better." "A man by the name of Stamatis figure in that deal somehow?" "He signed the contract with Correll." "It was Stamatis' patent." "Now, isn't that being nosy enough, Mr. Mason?" "I find it very often pays off." "Mr. Mason, you didn't come here to ask the only eyewitness to a crime your client may have committed how he happened to obtain the patent rights for a wool-carding process." "No." "No, I'd just like you to tell me what you were doing in front of John Kenyon's house that night." "Well, I just happened to be there." "I often take drives along the ocean after a hard day's work." "It... relaxes me." "[ring]" "Yes." "It's for you." "Thank you." "Yes." "Oh, yes, Paul." "You found" "Yes, of course." "I'll be right there." "Found what?" "Found whom?" "Good day, Mr. Welsh." "What is this, an Elks Convention or something?" "Drink your coffee." "Then we'll talk." "How'd he get here, George?" " Well, after I quit my job last night" " You quit your job?" "I couldn't take that woman any more, that Cleo dame." "That bad?" "I should hope to tell you." "Anyway, I spent the evening in a couple bars, down on the beach." "About 2 a.m., I spotted the boss in another joint." "He was just sitting there, crying in his beer." "So I hauled him up here and dumped him into bed." "This morning I figured I'd better get his friend O'Malley over." "Oh, yes." "May the Lord deliver me from Good Samaritans." "Mr. Kenyon, you're in trouble." "A man saw you throw a woman's body over the cliff last night." "A man saw..." "John, try and remember what happened." "You left O'Malley's place." "You went home." "You had a fight with" "Get some more coffee, George." "Put some Tabasco in it this time." "You can't take him to the police in this condition, Mr. Mason." "Ha!" "Whaddya mean condition, George?" "If the police are looking for me, lead me to 'em." "John, I don't think you understood what we just said." "Of course I understood what you just said." "And you know what, Perry?" "The man saw right." "I did it." "I'm guilty." "Now let's go." "I mean, I'm" " I'm as guilty as..." "Ha ha ha ha!" "Hey!" "It's nothing but a statue." "What do you mean, nothing but a statue?" "How do you like the gall of this flatfoot?" "That piece of work is so good, if the book says five years for throwing statues," "I ought to get life for throwing that one." "[Tragg] You might get the gas chamber." "How do you do, Mr. Kenyon?" "I'm Lieutenant Tragg." "Ah, a man of taste and discrimination at last." "You just as proud of the other job you did?" "What other job was that?" "The one you did on Cleo Grammas." "What are you talking about, Tragg?" "We found her body under the wooden platform in his studio, stabbed to death." "Oh, when I got back from O'Malley's, Theba was gone." "But Cleo was there, and that witch started screaming at me." "She picked up one of my trowels." "They're sharp, so I grabbed it away from her, and it accidentally slashed her hand pretty bad." "Then I turned to toss the trowel aside when she slammed me on the head with one of my mallets." "I was out cold I don't know how long." "And when you came to?" "There I was all alone, looking at Theba-- or the statue I'd made of her" "that delicate face..." "lovely, innocent girl." "Aw, well, Perry, you know all the rest." "I tossed the statue off the cliff and went to the nearest bar, and that's all." "John, I have Paul Drake checking every possible lead, here and in Greece." "We'll do all we can." "But it doesn't look good, hmm?" "That isn't what I was going to say." "I have a duty to explain something to you." "Now, the district attorney will try to prove that Cleo's death was homicide with malice aforethought." "You trying to tell me that I can beat out of the murder rap, maybe, if I plead guilty to manslaughter?" "Voluntary manslaughter-- willful homicide without justification or excuse but under circumstances of recognized provocation." "Oh, come off it, Perry." "I didn't kill that dame." "All right." "But unless we can learn more about Cleo and more about Theba" "Look, leave Theba out of this, can't you?" "No, I can't." "Somehow Theba was being used by" "All right, just don't talk to me about her anymore." "Okay?" "You see, Mr. Correll is engaged to marry my wife's cousin, Dorothy Rivers." "Well, Dorothy had heard that Roger" " Mr. Correll-- had been seeing this young model from Greece a good deal, and she was upset, naturally." "The night of the murder, I happened to be out that way." "So I drove by there, out of curiosity, that's all." "Mr. Welsh, you heard the young woman from Greece testify that she left the defendant's house while the defendant and the woman soon to be slain were engaged in a violent quarrel." "You heard Mr. O'Malley testify that the defendant, just before the time of the murder, left his apartment making threatening remarks." "I gather that you arrived at the house just after the defendant returned." "Yes, I guess I must have." "Would you tell the court, please, what you saw there?" "I saw Roger's car pulling up, so I stayed and watched." "Roger walked up to the front door." "but there was something going on inside." "I began to hear it myself-- a man and a woman screaming at each other." "Roger hesitated, looked in, and finally went back to his car and drove off." "Did you see anything else after that, Mr. Welsh?" "I saw a man dragging a woman's body out of the house and throwing it over the cliff-- what I thought was a woman's body at the time." "Who was that man, Mr. Welsh?" "I didn't know who he was at the time, but I recognize him now as Mr. Kenyon." "Now one other question." "During all that time, did you see anyone else enter that house." "or anyone else leave the house other than the accused?" "No one." "Only the accused." "Yes, I got out of my car and went up to the front door." "I heard loud voices coming from inside, an argument." "So I looked in a window, and there I saw Mr. Kenyon in a fight with Mrs. Grammas." "They were struggling over something, something sharp-- a knife, maybe." "Anyway, there was blood, and she screamed, so" "Did you see anyone else in the house besides the defendant and the deceased?" "The defendant and the deceased." "No one else." "Thank you, sir." "Cross-examine." "Mr. Correll, I understand you phoned Mrs. Grammas, not Theba, for this date." "Would you explain why you called the deceased?" "I called the girl's mother-- at least I thought she was her mother-- because they're old-world people." "It's customary to ask the parent's consent." "A considerate, courteous gentleman." "I try." "But when you saw a man struggling with a woman, you didn't try to stop him." "I said I was a gentleman, Mr. Mason, not a fool." "Why didn't you call the police, then?" "I didn't want it known that I was there." " Why not?" " You heard Mr. Welsh." "I'm engaged to marry Dorothy, his wife's cousin." "How long have you been engaged to Dorothy Rivers?" "Since shortly after my return from Europe the last time." "Your return from Greece, you mean?" "After you visited a Mr. Stamatis there and obtained a rather important wool contract from him?" "Yes, that's right." "Wasn't it also shortly after that same trip to Greece that Mr. Welsh promoted you from salesman to general manager of his entire business?" "There's nothing unusual in any of this." "But mightn't there have been something unusual about the Stamatis contract itself?" "I don't know what you're talking about." "I think you do." "I've had that contract and the circumstances surrounding it rather thoroughly investigated." "I find, for instance, that at least one other firm claimed they were promised that contract on the same day Stamatis signed it over to your company." "Look here, Mr. Mason, in business" "And, of course, that was the same day Mr. Stamatis had a stroke, wasn't it?" "A stroke from which he died only a few days later." "Yes, but" "Your Honor, I scarcely see the relevancy of" "Just a moment, Mr. Burger." "I'm rather interested in this." "Mr. Correll, did Stamatis sign that contract before his stroke or after it?" "Or did you perhaps sign his name in some way?" "You can't say a thing like that." "Stamatis is dead." "No one could possibly substantiate a slanderous" "I know, I know." "In the wool business, it's just been nasty gossip, hasn't it?" "But, Mr. Correll, wasn't there someone who could have known the truth about how you got that contract?" "A devoted housekeeper, perhaps?" "A woman who had been Stamatis' nurse until the time of his death?" "A woman named Cleo Grammas?" "Yes, she-- she was there." "Well, I testified that's where I met Cleo" "But didn't she know enough of what you did there to find her way to this country and then blackmail you, Mr. Correll?" "I won't answer that." "The court should know that the Athens police and certain other wool companies have been investigating this matter for some time, Your Honor." "The possibility of forgery on that contract." "I think you'd better answer the question, Mr. Correll." "Well, I" " I did pay Cleo some money-- yes, I'll admit that much." "And now you claim you phoned a woman who had extorted money from you to ask permission to take out her daughter?" "Well, I used the girl as a cover-up for my dealing with Mrs. Grammas, that's all." "But what dealing was the girl supposed to cover up the night of the murder?" "You'd already made the blackmail payment." "Cleo wanted more" "$5,000 more than we'd agreed on." "So you made the date with Theba, using her as a cover-up, but intending to go out and kill Mrs. Grammas?" "No." "I went out there because I'd gotten the letter demanding the extra money." "I wanted to take that letter and" "But I didn't go in." "I didn't kill her." "I didn't." "I didn't!" "After I checked Theba into the motor hotel," "I told her I was going to drive over there and pick up her things." "And on the way over there, did you see anything?" "From the cliff above, I saw Mr. Kenyon down on the beach." "He was rubbing the sleeve of his jacket with water." "I show you now this jacket, marked People's Exhibit 12, and stained on the sleeve with a spot analyzed as human blood." "Have you ever seen this jacket before, sir?" "It's the one I saw Mr. Kenyon trying to wash down at the water's edge." "He was just sittin' there, holdin' on to that little locket, real tight in his hand, with tears runnin' down his face." "The crazy old man, old enough to be her father." "I warned him." "I told him she was no good for him." "Any ambitious kid like this Theba who goes around dating every guy" "Shut up, you idiot!" "You don't know what you're talking about!" "[judge pounds gavel]" " Shut up or I'll shut you up!" " Order!" "Order, please!" "Order, please." "Mr. Spangler, in spite of Mr. Mason's diverting attempts to pull the wool, and fancy Greek wool, over our eyes and despite his client's revealing outburst, let's go back to the moment when you found the defendant after the murder." "Yes, sir." "You put him to bed that night?" "Yes, sir." "And did he say anything at that time?" "Let me remind you, sir, that you're under oath and you must answer." "Did he say anything?" "Yes." "Over and over." "He kept mumbling the same thing over and over." "And what was it he kept mumbling?" ""Dead." ""She's dead." "She's dead."" "May and September." "I don't think anything the court does could hurt John half as much as that girl already has." "Oh, he'll get over it, Della." "Sure if he lives long enough." "You've got him bound over, tried, and convicted." "Giving up?" " With you defending him?" " [knock on door]" "I know better." "Well?" "Well, I saw Dorothy Rivers." "The girl Correll's engaged to?" "Mm-hmm." "She's really torn up." "Keeps crying all the time." ""Roger, how could you?" "Our lives together, our home, our business."" "Seems young Correll with the roving eye really gave her the business." " In what respect?" " That home she kept babbling about." " Something struck me as strange, so" " You investigated?" "Uh-huh." "And I found that the nice Mr. Welsh had given her and Correll a house-- an engagement gift." "Which our boy Correll went out and borrowed money against." "Paul, this loan, when was it made?" "Couple of weeks ago." "Probably the money used to pay off Cleo Grammas." "And the Athens police investigation of the Stamatis' contract?" "You told me that started before you contacted them." "That's right, about a week ago." "You think it adds up to something?" "It could add up to perjury." "Your Honor, at the conclusion of Mr. Burger's direct examination of many of his witnesses," "I reserved the right to recall at a later time." "I should now like to recall Mr. Welsh to the stand." "Very well." "Mr. Welsh, will you take the stand, please?" "The witness is reminded he is still under oath." "Proceed, Mr. Mason." "Mr. Welsh, do you know what perjury is?" "Yes." "Of course I do." "Yet earlier you testified that on the night of the murder, you went to John Kenyon's studio merely to look into the supposed romantic involvement of Roger Correll and Theba Grammas?" "That's the truth." "I said" "One moment." "I know about Mr. Correll's house and the loan he took on it." "Now, you were asked why you went out to Kenyon's studio that night, and remembering the penalty for perjury." "Well, perhaps I should have said that that was one of my reasons for going there." "And the reply you received after you wired the Athens police was another of your reasons?" "Yes." "I sank every cent I had, every cent I could borrow, into tooling up for the new wool process." "When I was told by someone on the telephone the contract might be fraudulent, I didn't believe it." "But after I found out about Roger and the money," "I thought I'd better investigate further." "Before extorting money from Roger Correll, the blackmailer had first approached you by telephone?" " Yes." " Whatever Roger had illegally done, what a blackmailer threatened to reveal, could have ruined you." "Did you go out to the studio that night determined to save yourself at any cost, even at the cost of murder?" "No, no." "Nothing like that." "I was pretty sure I knew who the blackmailer was-- the disguised woman's voice, the accent, Roger's loan, who he was running around with." "I just wanted to see her with my own eyes." "That girl." "Theba." "Could you have also been in the Stamatis house?" "And could you, like Cleo, have decided to use your knowledge for blackmail?" "No, Mr. Mason." "I never in my life meet this Mr. Stamatis." "I never be in Stamatis house." "This is truth." "I'm sure it is, Theba." "Tell me, when Ken found you after you'd run out of the house the night of the murder, you said there'd been a quarrel?" "Yes." "Yannis and Cleo, they fight." "About what?" "Me." "Cleo mad at Yannis because he want to talk to me alone to ask me to-- to marry with him." "And how did you feel about this proposal of marriage?" "I not get chance to answer Yannis what he ask." "But" " But I answer now." "He make me very happy." "I proud to be his wife." "This, uh, medallion, Theba, do you recognize it?" "Yes." "Yannis gave it to me." "Did you give it back to him?" "No." "I break." "Not want Yannis to know I not careful." "So I had fixed." "I not know where." "I give it to Yannis' good friend to be fixed." "Which good friend?" "To him, Mr. O'Malley." "If John told you what happened, then I suppose you not only know but know why it happened." "I'm afraid I don't, Mr. O'Malley." "Now, suppose you explain why you deliberately created that inference concerning the medallion." "John's my best friend, Mr. Mason." "But let's face it, when it comes to running his own life... he needs a keeper." "You disapproved of his feelings for Theba?" "No, not his feelings." "No, of course not." "Why should I?" "He can fall in love with any pretty child if he liked." "But get married?" "No, no, not him." "That shaggy old reprobate was chosen by the gods of greatness to walk alone... never enjoying beauty himself, only creating it for others to enjoy." "So you decided to give those gods of greatness a helping hand, so to speak." "You wanted him to get rid of the girl." "Of course." "But you were even willing to sacrifice your friendship in order to make him get rid her." " It had to be done." " And her mother?" "They were rather indivisible, weren't they?" "I suppose the harridan would go, too, yes." "Now, this copy of Vim, Mr. O'Malley, and the cover story you wrote, would you clear something up for me?" "I'll be glad to help." "I'm sure." ""Cleo Grammas was a fabulous cook and housekeeper," ""despite the fact that she came from poor peasant stock and could neither read nor write."" " Was that true?" " Absolutely." "If she could neither read nor write in her native Greek, how could she have written in English the extortion note Correll said he received?" "I'm afraid I can't be of any help there." "Is it possible she didn't, Mr. O'Malley?" "Is it possible there was a second witness to Correll's actions with that contract-- a second blackmailer?" "Where did you write this article, Mr. O'Malley?" " Why" " Go on." "In Greece." "In Athens, Mr. O'Malley?" "Where you were a guest in the Stamatis house?" "Where you saw the same things that Cleo Grammas saw?" "When I saw her" "Cleo at the airport, I wasn't sure." "But you found out, didn't you?" "Found out that she knew about Correll, that she was blackmailing Correll, even trying to blackmail Mr. Welsh." "It wasn't right." "They were my pigeons." "They were mine, both of them." "I counted on that dough." "I needed it." "She shouldn't have done it." "You can see that." "It was wrong!" "It was wrong." "Almost as wrong as murder, Mr. O'Malley." "O'Malley must have walked in the back way just as Mrs. Grammas hit you and knocked you out." "You mean O'Malley killed her right then with John on the floor?" "Yep." "John was on the floor, Correll was marching out to his car, and Welsh was parked and watching." "He killed her, hid the body, and beat it out the same back way." "Poor Yannis." "We make up for everything bad that happen." "I promise you." "[knock on door]" "You said you wanted to see me, Mr. Kenyon." "Yes, Ken." "Uh, do you have your car?" "Yes." "Would you do me a favor?" "Why, sure." "Well, take this pretty little Greek dish here out for a ride and park in some nice quiet spot and propose marriage to her." " No." " What?" "Oh, come on, now, kid." "Come on, get out of here." "On your way." "Yannis?" "Good luck to both of you" "Now get out of here, will you?" "I have work to do." "You know something, Perry?" "That statue I threw in the ocean... it was a lousy piece of corn to begin with."