"What is it George?" "Suicide?" "No sir, an accident." "Mme Tremayne was..." "All right, where is she?" "Upstairs." "We probably won't need that, just stand by." "It was like being smoggered." "My head was pounding." "I tried to reach the balcony, the doors were closed." "I called up for Charles." "I was in my room in bed reading." "Where is your room?" "Across the hall." "I thought I heard her cry out." "She was lying there." "The room was full of gas so I- pulled her out into the air." "I shouted at the butler but I guess he didn't hear me." "I saw she was coming to, so I left her to turn off the gas, but the key wasn't there." "Someone took it I tell you." "Someone tried to murder me!" "The key is here now." "That's the one from my room." "I got back across the balcony and got it." "Is this the other one down here?" " Where?" " Under the logs." "She might have kicked it with her foot." "Unless you think she..." "Oh no, that's out of the question!" "I'll telephone the drugstore to send up some pills she can take when she wakes up." "Will you need us any more doctor?" "Now, will you show me your room?" "There's my bedroom." "And uh, this is my study." "She's ok, she didn't even need this." "The doctor gave her a sedative." "Take it easy, I told you she's gonna be fine." "Leave me alone!" "Now look, come on, stop it." "Leave me alone please!" "The manual says that's supposed to stop hysterics." "It doesn't say a word of getting slapped back!" "I'm sorry." "It's all right, forget it." "I've been slapped by dames before." "Is that your mother?" "Stepmother." "Next time see if you can remember to pull that punch a little bit eh?" "Yes I'll remember." "Wanna go for a cup of coffee?" "No I promised Mary I'd call her, she's waiting for me." " Lucky!" " You know it!" "See you tomorrow Billy." "Well, if it ain't the dead body jockey!" "Sure Harry, that's why I come here." "It's so much like the morgue." "That ain't funny." "What's happened to business anyway?" "got nothing to do but sit here and dope on the horses." "How do you like Killy in the 7th?" "She'll still be running when they start the 8th!" "You do get around fast, don't you!" "I parked my broomstick outside." "Beer Harry." "And what do witches drink?" "Just coffee." "Smoke?" "No drink, no smoke." "How old are you?" "20, next month." "I had to get out, I couldn't stay there after what happened." "What did happen?" "I don't know." "Father didn't even let me in the room." "He told me to call the doctor and just wait." "It was horrible not knowing." "Shouldn't someone answer?" "Get that phone, will you?" "Maybe it's for you." "Maybe it's the girl you were calling when I came in." "What makes you so sure I was calling a girl?" "Would have to be..." "unless it's your wife?" "What's the matter, can't you hear the phone!" "I'm not married." "Are you here Frank?" "Yes or no?" "Yeah I'm here!" "Yeah, he says he's here." "Where did I get to..." "where were you when I called?" "But you know I can't here the phone when I'm in the shower." "Darling what's got in to you?" "Nothing's got in to me, I'm just beat." "That's all." "What was it a rough call?" "Yeah, rough." "I'll see you tomorrow." "Tomorrow?" "But I've got everything ready!" "Darling you stay there I'll be right over and" "I said we'll skip it for tonight!" "Besides I just had a sandwich." "You know something?" "I haven't eaten either." "Well let's go and eat." "This yours?" "It's not a stock XK (Jaguar)." "Twin stacks." "What is it the Le Mans model?" "That's right, do you know how to drive it?" "Oh I think so." "Did you race professionally?" "Midgets, hot rods, everything but Indianapolis." "I was getting ready to try when the war came along." "That's when you started driving ambulances." "No, I drove a tank till they shot me out of it." "Ambulance driving it just a job till I make enough money to open my own shop." ""Jessup Automotor", racing cars specialists." "I've got some ideas for a power plant that'll make this mill look sick." "Sounds exciting!" "I think your carburetion is a little sloppy." "Perhaps it's a little hungry too." "Oh yeah we were supposed to eat, weren't we!" "So I figure another 5-6000 $, and I'm in business." "Of course, Mary has some money but..." "She was the one on the phone?" "Do you love her?" "You ask an awful lot of questions." "I know, it's a very bad habit of mine." "You ask me some just for change." "All right I will." "What does your father do?" "He's a very famous novelist." "He hasn't published anything since we came to America, after my mother was killed in a raid." "But he's started to write again." "A novel." "He's been reading parts of it to me." "It's wonderful." "Catherine, that's my stepmother, she's very jealous because he only talks to me about his work." "I suppose it's only natural that she should be." "It's as if I robbed her something in a way." "Let me do this, I ask you." "Will you relax?" "I can pay the check even on my salary." "You're saving up for your shop and to get married and" "Who said anything about getting married?" "Mary expects it, doesn't she?" "What's her last name?" "What does she do?" "Her last name is Wilton." "She's a receptionist at the hospital, she has blonde hair, blue eyes, she weights 105 pounds stripped, she sleeps in pyjamas, she's a first rate cook and she doesn't ask questions!" "She does too." "Anyway let me pay my share, I insist." "All right, if that's the way you want it." "I'd like a night cap, how about you?" "oh no you don't smoke or drink, do you?" "I only ask questions and I love to dance!" "If I tell you something, will you promise not to laugh at me?" "No, but I promise I'll try not to laugh at you." "You're the first man I've danced with since I've been in America... except my father." "Really?" "You're doing all right." "Daddy why aren't you in bed?" "That's just what I was going to ask you, my dear." "For a drive." "I had to get out just for a little while." "How is she?" "Sleeping quietly." "Have the police found out what really happened?" "They suggested she might have accidentally kicked the key with her foot." "You don't think that she could've intended to commit..." "With her Bridge Club meeting tomorrow?" "You should know our Catherine better than that!" "It was nice of you to come." "You must have been surprised getting a phone call by a complete stranger." "Frankly I was." "You're no stranger to me." "Frank told me so much about you." "I was with him last night." "After he made the phone call from our house." "You must forgive me for that..." "and him too." "Frank is free to go out with whoever he pleases Miss Tremayne." "But you're angry because he lied to you on the phone." "Wouldn't you be?" "Put yourself in the poor man's place." "What could have he said without hurting your feelings even more?" "You must know that I wouldn't be telling you this if it wasn't completely innocent." "Don't be crossed please." "Do call me Diane." "Diane I'm sure your motives for telling me all this are good but... frankly I wish you hadn't." "But why?" "We spent most of the time talking about you, and about his plans for his racing car place." "That's why I called." "I'm afraid I don't understand." "Mary would you accept 1000$ from me to add to that garage fund?" "1000 $!" "But why?" "I have few friends." "None actually." "And last night after I left Frank, I got to thinking about you two." "And I thought that if I could help you both to realise your dream," "I'd have a little part in your life." "That's very generous of you and all that but..." "I'm sure Frank feels the same" "You mustn't tell him ever." "It would be our secret." "Hasn't anyone ever told you about hospital salaries?" "How do you think I could explain away 1000 $?" "But you could say you won it on the radio on a contest... there're all sorts of ways." "And he wouldn't believe any of them." "Well, I can see my little plot didn't succeed." "Oh I wouldn't say that." "You brought me here today because you wanted to shake my faith in Frank." "You have." "You wanted to find out how clever or stupid I am." "I guess you've done that too." "So your little plot has succeeded after all." "And what do you intend to do about it?" "Nothing." "Not one thing." "I suppose I could pick up the check but I'm too practical." "You see, I have to work for my money." "I won't say goodbye Diane." "I'm sure I'll see more of you." "Well what will it be, Gilmore Field or the drive-in movie?" "Aren't you too tired after your rough night?" "I'll buy you a T-bone twice as big and twice as beautiful if it takes my whole pay check... which is good!" "You do that, some other time." "Oh honey stop, you're not gonna let a T-bone steak come between us." "Now come on, cheer up." "I've been in a lousy company last night." "Ten minutes after I left Harry's I was in the sack." "I can believe that!" "Well you can hit for the same sack tonight!" "I've got other plans." " Oh you have?" " Yes I have." "Quiet please." "This is a residential district." "Don't tell me, just let me hope." "You know in times like this a guy can offer a girl a handkerchief... or a double old fashioned." "What'll it be?" "Both." "Come on you red headed double crosser!" "Who me?" "Double cross a pal?" "I should say!" "What's the matter?" "Were you on Fly-Boy too?" "This time I'm making no fresh coffee, see?" "It's all right." "I don't care fore any right now." "Go ahead, hit me." "First I'll buy you a dinner, then we go ahead" "I wish I could but the family expects me." "This is definitely not my day." "When I tell you what I did you probably won't want to see me again.. ever." "It sounds pretty grim." "I had lunch with Mary and I told her abut last night, oh not everything just that we went out together." "Why did you say that?" "I told her I" "I only did it because I wanted to help to get the garage." "Oh you're a big help." "I offered Mary 1000$." "You offered her 1000$, just like that!" "And what did she say?" "She was rather angry" "I gathered she resented you knowing anybody else." "Look I'm a free agent." "Mary admits that but, you know what girls are." "It's only natural." "Look what I found." "They're running the Pebble Beach road races later on next month." "I thought that we could enter the car and you drive." "I drove that course in 41." "Then you're eligible even though you were a pro, as long as you haven't raced for 2 years." "Two years?" "I haven't raced in 10!" "You could tune it up, change anything you want and we could take it out weekends." "Do you think Mary would mind?" "Mary has nothing to do with this." "We take that race that'll make a lot of publicity." "Make a lot easier for me to get backing for the shop." "Come on, let's have dinner, I'll talk to you about it." "I can't, the family." "I could get away later though." "10 o'clock?" "Charles if you must play that, would you mind turning it a little lower?" "I'll have another Ito." "You needn't to turn it off." "You seem particularly festive this evening." "What is it?" "New dress?" "Yes I got the bill this morning." "Really Diane, when I gave you permission to pick up something simple" "Oh Catherine darling, you know simple things always cost the most." "Ito you're an angel." "Now what is it tonight?" "Don't tell me, let me guess." "Pineapple, certainly... orange." "What's the other?" "It's Crème de fraise dear, I'm sure you knew it all along." "Tell Chiyo to hurry dinner please." "I'm famished." "Don't you think we ought to have a chauffeur?" "I thought you enjoyed driving that horrible little jet propelled torpedo." "Well I do but you don't..." "No argument there!" "And Catherine you know how nervous and absent minded you are after your bridge games." "I wouldn't say that." "Only three tickets last month for not observing stop signals." "Only one collision." "That was definitely not my fault." "I distinctly signalled I was making a left turn." "Dinner is served please." "But you turned right darling." "I think Diane has a point." "And besides I think it would be a good idea to have another man in the house." "Might keep away the prowlers." "You could do just as much money as you make at the hospital." "There's an apartment over the garage." "Not very large maybe but at least it has a regular bed, not something that leaps out of the wall at you!" "No I don't think I'm quite the type for that." ""Yes Sir, No, Madam, home driver, walk the dog Franklin..."" "We don't have a dog and my family isn't like that." "Father never goes out and mother just goes to her bridge clubs and..." "I'm no trouble" "Just think, we could get set for Pebble Beach!" "Well, where will it be, "Home, James"?" "No, not yet." "What she say?" "I ask if she trim the toast for Miss Diane." "She said "I always do", then she got angry and... well, in American I think it would be "Drop dead"!" "I thought the men wore the pants in Japan." "Maybe she's been too long with Mrs. Tremayne." "Woman acquire bad habits so easily." "I'll get it." "Is that you Frank?" "How wonderful to hear your voice in the morning." "Even if it is just "hello"!" "You might have said:" ""Awake thee my lady love, awake thee and rise... the sun through the bower beats into thy eyes", or something like that." "I might have and again I might not." "especially not over the intercom." "What do you mean "not romantic"?" "You try me some time later on the day." "And not on the phone!" "I spoke to Catherine last night." "She seems interested." "Come in." "She wants to see you." "Have you got your figures ready?" "I'll see you later." "You could tell me that in person." "I hope you will find everything perfect Miss Diane." "Looks wonderful as usual Ito." "I was under the impression that these uncomfortable little cars were just a fad." "There's a great deal more to it than that Mrs. Tremayne." "You have over 5000 sports car owners right here in this area." "So I see, but aren't there any repair shops?" "Sure but most of them just specialised in just one make." "With one big repair shop covering all the important parts for all the leading sports cars," "I don't see how it can miss." "I must say you're persuasive, and your figures seem to make sense." "Of course my lawyer'll have to look them over." " And there are a few questions." " Anything you'd like to know." "Sit down please." "Diane's told me a little about you, that you were driving the ambulance the night of that accident, and how she happened to run into you the next day." "I gather that is when you told her about your plans for this garage?" "Yes that's right." "We got to talk" "Doesn't really make any difference but, did you or she suggest the possibility of my investing in it?" "Mrs. Tremayne when we talked about my shop I had not thought of coming here to work." "I've been saving my own money and" "So it was Diane's suggestion?" "Well she's very interested in sports cars." "Of course." "Thank you Frank." "I'll call my lawyer today." "I don't want you to feel that you're a prisoner here, in the evening I mean." "Surely you have a girl?" " Yes she's working in the late shift at the hospital this month." " So that explains it." "Any time you want the car and we're at home don't hesitate to take it." "You'll hear from me Frank." "May I invade the "sanctum sanctorum"?" "Can you picture me as a co-owner of a garage?" "In overalls, of course!" "I'm really quite serious." "I have the facts and the figures right here, I'd like you to look them over." "He's a very nice young man." "I'll send the papers over to you, or better still I" "Well when you come back from San Francisco." "Call me." "Now that I've completed the time worn gesture you expect me to ask the ususal favour." "At this precise moment you are, with the speed of a mechanical brain, weighing and computing an infinite number of possibilities... 1) He spent this month's allowance." "2) He's borrowed against next month's allowance." "3) He's charged something at the store, which he promised, word of honour, he'd never do again." "4) He's just kissed you because he's very sorry and... he loves you very much." "And you're guilty on all four accounts?" "All." "Especially the 4th." "I'm terribly sorry darling but the moment I saw that dress I knew there was only one person in the world who could wear it," "My dearly beloved and horribly spoiled Diane!" "I dashed into the shop, "is that a size 10?" I asked, it was." ""I'll take it", I said." "And hang the cost." "It was 300$ plus sales tax." "I had just enough for the tax!" "At times your charm wears dangerously thin, right now is so thin that I can see through it." "Do you mean 300$ could so alter your perspective?" "Don't speak so contemptuously of 300$." "How long has it been since you've earned that much?" "I've been working incessantly!" "Sitting in your study sharpening pencils, listening to music." "You use to write a whole chapter in one sitting." "At least that's what you told me." "True my dear, that was before I met you." "You're not that late." "Look what I found in her waste-paper basket!" "Your figures." "I don't get this." "Did she talk to the lawyer already?" "Of course she has not, I checked." "He's out of town." "well then why did she talk to me like she was" "This isn't against you, is to get at me!" "She's done this to me so often before." "Just because I wanted her to put up that money for you." "She could've said no right away, couldn't she?" "That's too easy, don't you see!" "It wouldn't hurt." "It doesn't make sense to me." "Of course it doesn't." "That's the way her mind works." "Act the lady bountiful, raise your hopes and then..." "I'm so sorry!" "Don't take it so hard." "You had a nice idea it just didn't work, that's all." "I'm so sorry for you." "She changed her mind, forget it." "We'll make a big night of it." "Not tonight." "Now why?" "It would be safer not to." "We have to be careful for a few days." "More than ever now." "What do we have to be careful of now?" "If she finds out she'll dismiss you" " and I couldn't stand to lose you now." " If she fires me I'll get another job." "Maybe it's better that way." "At least we won't have to play around like this, hiding like kids." "You don't know her Frank." "She'd lock me in!" "Don't be silly, how could she lock you in?" "She could do anything to me because of my father." "If I try to fight her she makes him pay for it." "She knows I can't stand that." "Please, try to understand!" "Ok, if that's the way you want it." "You little beast." "Oh I concede." "You could win any time you wanted if you really try." "You know that." "More brandy?" "Ambulance dispatch desk please." "Hello, Mary?" "Oh Janie, this is Frank." "Yeah I have been busy." "No, I tried the apartment." "Your milk and biscuits are by your bed." "And your cigarettes and matches." "What would I do without you?" "No message." "Something wrong?" "What time is it?" "No don't turn the light!" "Calm down." "What's the matter?" "I can't help you if you don't tell me what is it?" "I'd gone to bed," "I don't know for how long," "I couldn't sleep." "I was thinking of you." "But I must have dozed because the next thing I had a feeling that someone was in my room." "I was too scared to move." "And then I saw her." "You saw who?" "She stood there looking down at me." "Didn't she say anything?" "It was so strange, I wanted to speak and I couldn't." "And then she went over and closed the window." "I heard her cross the room." "She seemed to pause at the fireplace." "I couldn't see from my bed." "And then I heard her go out and very quietly close the door." "I laid there for a second and then I heard it..." "The gas!" "That awful hissing sound that makes." "I jumped out of bed and turned it off and waited." "I didn't dare leave the room." "And then after a while I looked out into the hall, and there was no one there." "So I came over here." "Did you tell your father about this?" "How could I?" "Well we're gonna have to tell the police." " We mustn't do that!" " Why not?" "She'd deny it and we have no proof." "The police couldn't do anything, they didn't before." "I've been thinking about that too." "If she's trying to kill you, why did she turn on the gas on in her own room first?" "To make it look as though somebody else were guilty!" "Is that what you did?" "Frank are you accusing me?" "I'm not accusing anybody." "But if I were a cop, and not a very bright cop," "I'd say your story is as phoney as a three dollar bill." "How can you say that to me?" "You mean after all we've been for each other?" "I don't pretend to know what goes on behind that pretty little face of yours." "I don't want to." "But I learned one thing very early." "Never be the innocent by-stander, that's the guy that always gets hurt." "If you wanna play with matches that's your business." "But not in gas filled rooms, that's not only dangerous it's stupid!" "I think you oughtta go in back to the house, get in bed and do some serious thinking." "Yes Frank I will, I'm very tired." "Yeah, that I can believe." "Why didn't you call me?" "Oh I have to call ahead of time now?" "I thought maybe you'd forgotten the number." "You oughtta stick around more, I called last night twice." "I was out with Bill." "I've got to get dressed, I'm on early duty." "It's all right I've been here before, remember?" "Yes I remember." "Had your breakfast?" "There's some coffee in the pot, if you like." "Help yourself." "What did you call me about last night Frank?" "I had some time off." "Why didn't you show up then?" "Bill was sure that you'd get there." "Show up where?" "I suppose it was some other guy who went at the singles in the hospital bowling tournament!" "Oh that." "I've been busy." "You have?" "How did Bill make out in the tournament?" "Wonderful." "He rolled a 245 in the 2nd game." "Been making out all right with you too eh?" "Bill was very sweet to me after you walked out." "I took a job that pays better that being a lousy ambulance driver." "Is that a crime?" "Is taking the bosses' daughter to the Mocambo part of the job?" "They've got a good band there." "Remind me to take you some time." "Who told you?" "Things get around." "Are you driving her car at Pebble Beach?" "I don't know, I've been thinking about quitting." "It's a weird outfit, not for me." "Here, zip me up will you Frank?" "Are you planning on coming back to the hospital?" "No." "I'm a little doped to stay there that long." "What's the score Mary?" "Did Bill take my place or I still have chance?" "That's a hard question to answer." "And I don't think a fair one to ask." "Very simple question: yes or no?" "Bill or me?" "Can't you make up your mind?" "But I want to be sure that you can make up yours." "Can't we let it go at that for a while?" "Oh I'm on probation eh?" "Ok, how about tonight?" "Have we got a date?" "Why not?" "You know something... you're a pretty nice guy, for a girl!" "Where are you going?" "I'm quitting!" "Why?" "Let's just say it's the altitude... living up here makes my heart pound." "Let's face it." "I never should've taken this job." "You shouldn't have asked me." " It's not that I'm" " Leave me alone!" "You know I'm right, you have your world, I have mine." "You've got beautiful clothes, a big house." "Some day you'll come into a lot of money." "I've got a pair of hands, not much else." "All I want is you!" "I can't let you go now, I won't!" "It's no good, I told you I'm not getting involved." "Involved in what?" "How stupid do you think I am?" "You hate that woman and some day you're gonna hate her enough to kill her!" "It's been in the back of your mind all along." "So she's fooled you too!" "Just like she has everyone else." "You don't know what she's done to my father." "I told you he was writing a wonderful book." "I believed it, until one day last year I... went into his study to..." "hide a present in his desk." "Just something between him and me." "And I found it in the drawer, where he's supposed to keep his manuscript." "It was nothing but a stack of blank paper!" "He hasn't written a line since she married him!" "So he got tired." "A writer marries rich widow, what you expect him to write..." "besides checks?" "Don't joke about my father!" "She's humiliated him and destroyed him!" "There's never been anything in my life that she hasn't begrudged or spoiled somehow." "Well there's no law that says you have to stay here, you know." "Lots of other girls work for a living." "Do you think I'd stay one day longer if it weren't for him?" "That's where I came in, I guess that's why I leave." "Will you tell me one thing?" "Do you love me at all?" "I must know." "I suppose it's a kind of love." "But with a girl like you how can a man be sure?" "Will you take me with you?" "You had it all figured out, didn't you?" "You mean you'd really leave your father and everything here?" "If I have to, to keep you." "I could be wrong about you." "I have my jewels so we can raise a little money," "I can sell my car." "And we get your shop, not the big one that we planned but something." "I know it won't be very easy." "Will be rough." "I think you'd better think it over." "I wanna be sure that you know what you're getting into." "But I am sure... aren't you?" "It must be her now." "You'd better get out of here" "We'll think it over for a couple of days." "You won't leave, you won't go without me, promise?" "I promise." "Ito!" "What's the matter?" ""Heavy" she says." "The only trouble with America it spoils women!" "I put a new set of spark plugs on this." "It oughtta run a lot better." "Sounds very good!" "Have a nice day." "Chiyo!" "Is she in here?" "No, Thursday off." "Could you help me dear, I've looked everywhere." "I can't find a single pair of gloves." "Where they've all gone?" "Take a pair of mine." "Will these do?" "But they are new." "I'd hate to lose them." "Haven't you any" "Please take them, I'd like you to." "You can be so sweet at times." "Oh dear, I must rush." "Oh Diane, now I can't find Frank!" "You know where he is?" "That man's never there when you want him." "I don't know what's got into him the last few days." "I'm so sorry, it's my fault." "I completely forgot..." "It's something to do with the rod." "I said he could take my car and pick it up." "You forgot?" "But you know I have to be in Santa Barbara by 12:00!" "Maybe he'll be back soon." "Maybe!" "They don't just hold up bridge tournaments, you know!" "Well I'll drive you." "No thank you, I'll drive myself." "Goodbye dear, wish me luck." "Where are the keys?" "In the car." "I'm in a dreadful hurry Charles." "I was wondering if you could drop me in Beverly." "I'm very late." "Any other time!" " Why don't you ask Diane?" " Her car is not here." "Very well I'll drop you." "But hurry please." "This way I can keep my appointment." "I won't take you off your way my darling, I promise." "Just drop me off at Wilshire and Rodéo." " Hello, Frank." "How've you been?" " Fine Ed, how are you?" "You know who I was asking about you just the other night, that red headed partner of yours." "Bill?" "I haven't seen much of him lately." "Driving for people like the Tremaynes makes you kind of exclusive eh?" "I wouldn't say that." "The job just kept me pretty busy, that's all." "Looks like you'll have to find a new one now with the Tremaynes' death." "How long were you up there?" "About a month." "How'd you happen to land in that job anyway?" "Just happened to fall into it." "We had a call from up there one night." "Yeah, I know." "I got the report right here." "Asphyxiation case, Mrs. Tremayne." "Probably accidental." "It makes you wonder, don't it?" "What do you mean?" "She claimed somebody tried to murder her." "She was hysterical." "Why would anyone try to murder her?" "Are you kiddin'?" "A woman with her kind of money?" "By the way Frank, what sort of a girl is this stepdaughter..." "Diane?" "Very nice girl." "Very pretty girl." "Any boyfriends?" "None that I ever saw." "She and her father were very close." "But didn't get along with the stepmother eh?" "I didn't say that Ed." "When was the last time you drove the Tremayne car?" "This morning when I took it out of the garage." " You noticed anything wrong with it?" " Not a thing." "Do you remember whether you left it in gear, in reverse maybe?" "No, I'd say not." "With me it's automatic to shift in the neutral before I cut the motor." "Bring it in." "Getting back to the stepdaughter, you say she had no boyfriends eh?" "Not that I know of." "You and the girl weren't planning to run off together, now were you?" "And how do you account for her suitcase in your room?" "If I were in your spot Frank, I'd hire myself a lawyer." "You can imagine what a shock it was, I'd known Catherine for 20 years!" "Her father was one of my first clients." " Did you draw up the will?" " 2 years ago." "Tremayne was to get a fixed income as long as he lived." "He wasn't very practical about money." "The bulk of the estate was to go to Diane." "The District Attorney will use that against us." "We're here to see Miss Diane Tremayne." "I wish you wouldn't speak too much about her father." "Today's the first day that she's gone without sedatives." "She idolised the man Fred." "It's no wonder her nerves are cracked." "Right over there." "Legal eagle Barrett!" "That Tremayne dame really must be in trouble." "Quiet!" "That's no way to talk." "Your lawyers are here." "Diane this is Fred Barrett, he's going to handle your defence." "Fred is just about the best trial man in the country, and we were very lucky to get him." "But I don't want anyone to defend me." "I know just how you feel." "It's the most natural reaction in the world." "I would want my daughter to feel the same." "She's just about your age." "But Diane, a girl of 20 has her whole life ahead of her." "You must not permit your grief, understandable as it may be" " But I did it!" " You mustn't say such things." "That's all right, let her talk." "Go ahead." "I did it all by myself." "Not Frank." "You're a very sick girl." "You know that, don't you?" "Otherwise you wouldn't be here." "I know what I'm saying." "But the doctor doesn't want you to make any statement." "That's why he hasn't permitted the D.A. to question you yet." "Frank is innocent!" "The law says that you're both innocent until proved guilty." "Both, do you understand?" "Now I want you to listen Diane, very carefully." "Everything the D.A. has... all the evidence, links you and Frank together." "The motive, the means, the opportunity." "It wouldn't do either one of you any good to shoulder the blame, or to pass it on." "It would only convince the jury you're both lying, and both guilty." "But I'm telling the truth!" "The truth is what the jury decides." "Not you, not me, not Frank." "If you quit he is through too." "But if you want to fight he has a chance." "I think a... pretty good chance." "I don't have to cooperate Mr. Barrett, I already have my own attorney." "You'll keep your own lawyer." "M. Lewis is not going to leave the case." "Of course not, but I don't think we should disregard Mr. Barrett's offer." "To be very blunt Mr. Jessup, I'm not particularly interested in saving your neck." "My only concern is with my client." "Yeah, that's what I figured." "But the point is, you have a much better chance together that separately." "And the evidence actually points much more to you than it has to her." "The fact that an automobile was involved" "If she thinks she can get away with that she's lost her mind." "No one's trying to get away with anything." "But in cases like this you can't overlook the personal equation." "She'll get a lot of sympathy." "A pretty girl deeply devoted to her father, on the best of terms with her stepmother, who was a kind and generous woman, as you well know." "Oh do I?" "The family lawyer told me she was planning to set you up in a garage business." "That's not what Diane said!" "Somebody's lying." "Probably a misunderstanding, but it's not important." "What I wanna know is whether you're willing to follow our strategy?" "You ought to bear in mind Mr. Barrett's record." "He's never lost a case yet." "Let's not say "never"." "Suppose you tell us what you have in mind Mr. Barrett?" "Your client and mine are getting married!" " What?" " Just a moment." "I don't quite follow you in this marriage idea." "It's very simple, all the world loves a lover." "Juries are no exception." "No Mr. Barrett!" "The D.A. is going to make a lot of that suitcase in his room." "He'll accuse them of having an affair." "We'll make a virtue of it." "Certainly they were lovers, and not ashamed to admit it!" "But a tragic accident and the intervention of the police prevented their elopement." "But even prison bars cannot change their love or halt the marriage." "But wouldn't the D.A. block it?" "He wouldn't dare stand in the path of true love, with an election coming up in November?" "Think it over Mr. Jessup." "Let me know his decision as soon as possible." "I now pronounce you man and wife." "Congratulations you're married now, you may kiss the bride." "May I take just one?" "No pictures please." "Never, let be said, that this wedding was arranged without any thought of publicity!" "Congratulations!" "Sorry we can't stay to the party." "We thought you'd like a cake." "So the girls chipped in." "There ain't much, we can say." "But kids, we sure hope you feed the rap." "Have you reached any decision about the plea?" "Not guilty." "Isn't that too much of a gamble?" "What happens if we plead insanity?" "They turn over to the D.A. psychiatrists, you know what that means, questions, answers." "No we wouldn't want that." "And what if they did find she was all?" "That wouldn't help the man, would it?" "Insanity is not contagious, at least we can't prove it." "Besides it would tie up the estate." "Will you please continue Mr. Miller?" "So that rod, connected to the gear shift lever... on the steering post, comes down here" "and it's coupled to the belt crank here... by a cotter pin." "Will you demonstrate just how that operates Mr. Miller?" "Someone would be good enough to shift in reverse for me." "All right, now." "See, the bell crank moves forward, and drive... back." "But if I would've removed this cotter pin, and uncoupled the shifting rod, very simple operation as you can see, then no matter what you do with the shift lever," "the bell crank remains as it was, in drive, neutral or reverse." "Wherever it may happen to be." "Thank you, you made it quite clear." "Will you point out the throttle retractive spring, and explain its purpose?" "This is the throttle retractive spring." "Its function is to control the amount of gasoline released when you step down the accelerator." "Was this spring found in the wrecked car?" "This part, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, was missing from the wrecked Tremayne car." "Will you explain what happens if this spring is removed?" "A person stepping down at the accelerator opens it wide, like putting the gaz pedal right to the floor." "In other words: giving the motor full power." "This motor was removed from the wrecked Tremayne car under your supervision?" "And what did you find in connection with the gear shift rod?" "That there was no connection." "It had been disconnected and the cotter pin had been removed." "May the answer be stricken!" "The witness cannot know that the pin or any other part was removed or that anything had been disconnected." "Motion granted." "But the cotter pin was missing?" "That is correct, and so was the throttle retractive spring." "It was off too." "And in what position was the bell crank, in neutral, in drive or reverse?" "It was in reverse." "And will you tell the jury in what position was the shift lever on the steering wheel?" "It was pointed at drive." "Would you say that in your opinion the Tremayne car had been tampered with?" "Objection!" "As a qualified expert, the witness is permitted to express his opinion... as to the result of his investigation." "Well Mr. Miller?" "Yes sir, I would say that it had been tampered with." "You may cross-examine Mr. Barrett." "It has been testified that the Tremayne automobile fell a total distance of 150ft hitting and bouncing off rocks in its descent." "And now you say that strangely enough certain parts of this motor are missing or damaged." "As I look at this heap of metal before me I can't help but wonder that any part of it escaped undamaged!" "And as for missing parts..." "Do you see a carburettor, for instance?" "It was either unrecognisable or couldn't be found." "But there wasn't as much damage down to the shift mechanism." "Couldn't the throttle spring have been dislodged by the impact of the crash?" "The very fact that there was a spring with play in it, would make me to be inclined to think" "Forget your inclinations for the moment Mr. Miller!" "Isn't it a possibility?" "Yes, I'd have to say that." "You testified that the lever on the steering wheel was found pointing to drive while the car was actually in reverse." "Now I ask whether in your opinion... this lever could not have been jarred from one position to the other during the course of the drop?" "It might but" "And this missing connection, couldn't that have broken off when the car struck on the rocks?" "No sir, not in my opinion, if it had you'd expect to see a part of the sheered off cotter pin in one of the holes." "Or scratches, or marks or some bending that showed where it pulled out." "There wasn't a sign." "Excuse me but, could I ask the witness a question?" "By all means." "Is it improper ask if maybe this cotter pin might have been defective?" "I only ask because I had one bust off when I was fixing my kid's express wagon only last week." "That's a very good question sir!" "Mr. Miller will you answer the juror?" "He asks, might not the cotter pin have been defective?" "Well maybe one in a million might be but" "Would you be willing to stake your life on the being only defective cotter pin in a million?" "Think carefully now!" "Remember our juror came across one just last week." "Maybe not a million but" "Maybe one in a thousand, maybe one in a hundred?" "The question is argumentative!" "I object the counsel badgering the witness over this relatively minor point." "No point is minor when the life of two innocent people" "Now gentlemen, let's have no pickery." "Defence counsel is quite within his rights." "Overruled." "Could I ask another question now?" "You certainly may." "What I'd like to know from Mr. Miller is... whether rigging a car like he says is a very complicated thing, or could anyone do it..." "even a woman." "Tell the juror Mr. Miller." "As I said before is a very simple mechanical operation, once it had been explained." "I'm sure you could do it yourself, in a matter of minutes." "Mr. Miller do you live in Detroit, do you not?" "Will you please tell the jury who brought you out here from Detroit and employed you to make this investigation." "Objection!" "The counsel has no right to question the integrity of the witness." "Since M. Miller is employed by the same insurance companies... who rule the Tremayne policies, and stand to save an excess of 300.000$ if murder rather than a simple accident can be proved" "Counsel remarks are out of order and prejudicial." "Sustained." "The jurors are instructed to disregard the counsel's statement." "With his knowledge of mechanics and her familiarity with the victims' habits, they plotted this murder," "premeditated, cold-blooded murder." "But the plot did not stop there!" "They planned every detail even beyond the crime itself." "Her breakdown when taken to the morgue, to identify the bodies of Charles and Catherine Tremayne was a calculated bid for public sympathy." "However they made one seemingly insignificant mistake." "Diane Tremayne's suitcase was found in the garage apartment of Frank Jessup." "And then in desperation, and confronted with the growing chain of evidence they sought to remedy the situation by getting married," "and playing the part of the two young lovers for the benefit of every tabloid scandal sheet in the country." "I say the word "love" is profaned when applied to their unhealthy shameless passion!" "And their marriage under the circumstances is a travesty!" "I could've stopped it ladies and gentlemen of the jury, but I did not." "Because in the last analysis" "I knew it would damn them as utterly in your eyes as it did in mine." "I must admit I had a few anxious moments under the spell D.A.'s brilliant eloquence." "For a while he almost had me believing the prosecution had a case." "Until you strip away the opulent phrases and get down to facts, and then you discover he has no case!" "He argues that Frank Jessup's mechanical skill and knowledge was necessary to transform the automobile into a murder weapon." "Yet his own witness in answer to a question put by one of you, clearly stated that anyone without any special technical skill could have rigged that car in a few minutes, in the way the D.A. imagines it was rigged." "But why linger on details when the D.A. has not presented one bit of conclusive evidence that the car ever was tampered with." "And here I must remind you the burden of prove is on the prosecution." "If there's the slightest bit of doubt left in your minds, then your verdict must be "not guilty"!" "The D.A. asked you to send these two young people to the gas chamber for yet another reason:" "Because they're in love!" "I was shocked and surprised to hear Mr. Judson blacken the characters of a man and a woman... whose only offence to society is that they happened to fall in love." "A young girl wanting to leave a luxurious home... in love with a hard working ambitious war veteran and build a simple life together." "Is this profane and shameless?" "I leave the answer to you." "If love is a crime," "Diane and Frank Jessup are guilty." "But this is the only crime that can be or has been proved against them!" "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?" "We have, Your Honour." "The clerk will please read the verdict." "People of the State of California versus Frank Jessup and Diane Tremayne Jessup." "We, the jury, in the above entitled action, find the defendants "Not Guilty"." "Well we deserve a little rest all of us." "Won't you come in Arthur?" "Some other time maybe." "I hardly have seen my family in weeks." "Thanks again Mr. Vance." "Best of luck to both of you." "Goodbye Diane." "Welcome home Miss Diane and Mr. Jessup." "Very happy occasion." "Lunch is ready any time Miss Diane." " Not quite yet Ito." " We'll let you know." "Well, somebody thinks we ought to celebrate." "Why not?" "Champagne?" "Much rather have bourbon but I guess this'll do." "I'll get some bourbon for you." " Don't bother." " Oh, it's not trouble at all." "I said never mind!" "I guess I don't feel like a drink any more." "I don't suppose you'll ever forget or forgive me for" "I shouldn't even have asked." "But I want you to know one thing, and believe it." "I would give my life gladly to bring them back, both of them!" "I was only 10 when my mother was caught in that air raid." "I had no friends, so my father became everything to me." "And then he met Catherine." "I resented her from the first." "I remember I used to play a game:" "a game of pretend." "It always began:" ""If Catherine were dead..."" "I use to imagine all the wonderful things that Daddy would do together." "Death was only a word." "I never really knew what it meant until I saw his body and hers, hurt and broken." "And then I suddenly realised that she had loved him too and had done actually nothing to harm me." "Well it's done!" "All the talk in the world won't change it." "Please don't leave me!" "I wouldn't know what to do with my life without you." "You'll make out." "You're on the clear now you don't need me any more." "We've gone through all this together." "...because a smart lawyer had his jury figured right and for no other reason." "Don't try to make anything else of it." "I don't blame you for being bitter." "But I did try to tell the truth." "I wanted to confess." "He told me they wouldn't believe me and... they'd find you guilty too." "Oh I see, this was all for my sake!" "I don't know if it makes you feel any better but you might as well tell your lawyers to start preparing the divorce papers because I'm clearing out." "Mary won't take you back!" "You wanna bet?" "She wouldn't want to spend the rest of her life wondering whether her husband really committed a murder!" "What do you know about a girl like Mary?" "You don't even think the same." "No and we don't love the same either!" "It wouldn't matter to me what you were or what you did, and you know it." "You don't hate me really." "You couldn't hate anybody who loves you as much as I do!" "No I don't hate you but I'm getting out just the same." "You still want to make that bet?" "Name it." "Remember I'm not in the same league with you, financially." "Take my car, If I'm wrong it's yours." "If I'm right, bring it back!" "You mean bring the car back?" "That's right." "Fair enough." "I could say I just happened to be passing by." "Come in Frank." "Mary it meant a lot to me to see you in court every day knowing that you were rooting for me." "I might have known it." "One cold beer in the house and you show up!" "It's all yours." "We couldn't get near you in court this morning." "Anyhow I guess you know without our saying." "Let's skip it." "I'd like to forget the whole thing." "Right now I'd uh..." "I'd like to talk to Mary alone." "Objection, and I am not going to be overruled by anyone either!" "Anyone you want to say to Mary you can say in front of me." "About my marriage, I... just want you to know that there never really was anything to it." "Just something that Barrett cooked up for the trial." "I'm getting a divorce." "And that's supposed to make everything just dandy eh?" "I'm not talking to you Bill, this is between Mary and me!" "No, it's between Mary and me." "Please let's not have any fuss." "I'm not making any fuss, just tell him straight that's all." "I'm trying to if you give me the chance." "I'm sorry Frank but Bill is right." "You can't just walk in the door and say "I'm getting a divorce" and... expect me to fall into your arms." "I don't expect that." "I know I was off base, I'll make it up to you." "All I'm asking is a chance, unless he's afraid of the competition." "If you wanna talk it over it's ok with me." "No Bill, don't go." "I guess I'm the one who's afraid of the competition." "You know the night at the hospital, when the car came in from the Tremayne place?" "If it'd just come 5 minutes later..." "That's what I told myself at first." "And I wished with all my heart that it'd happened that way." "But Bill was on that call too." "With you I'd always be worrying, because there're a lot of Dianes around." "And I want a marriage not a competition." "I want a husband, not a trophy I have to defend over and over again." "Maybe you would keep coming back but that's not for me!" "You're sure you're not saying this because you think... that I am guilty after all?" "I never believed that." "I guess that's it." "So long you two." "Don't you think he'd go back to her?" "Why ask me!" "I never could've figured what he say in the dame in the first place." "For that you deserve a big kiss!" "You know?" "I've got the hunch this'll be flat before I ever get around of it!" "You are going away?" "Yes, I'm closing the house possibly for a long time." "You wish us to find other employment right away?" "No, take all the time you need, I want to be sure you find a good place." "Your very kind Miss Diane." "Are you going into town?" "Yes I'm going to the Agency, look for another job!" "Can you wait a moment and take me down to Beverly Hills?" "Has he come in?" "I'm sorry but Mr. Barrett hasn't called in yet." "There must be some way of reaching him!" "It's like I told you this morning." "When he left just then he warned us not to expect him." "He was tired!" "I know he isn't at home." "And I've tried all the other numbers I dare try." "What brings you here?" "I thought you'd seen enough of me to last a lifetime." "I didn't know you were waiting." "Would you like a drink?" "Perhaps a little Sherry." "I want to make a statement." "I want someone to copy it down." "And I want to sign it in the presence of witnesses." "Mind telling me first what the statement's about?" "I want it taken down just as I say it." "You want it signed and have it witnessed, very well." "Would you send someone in Shirley?" "Anything to please a client, especially if it is a lovely client!" "Miss Preston, Mrs. Jessup would like to make a statement." "Would you take it down please?" "I want to say that it was I, and I alone who killed my stepmother Catherine Tremayne..." "Hold on now!" "Never mind Miss Preston, just forget that." "Please stay here, I want it taken down every word." "Diane, why go all through that again?" "You've been tried, you've been acquitted." "There's only one thing to do." "Forget it." "Put it out of your mind completely, as though it never happened." "You wouldn't listen before, you wouldn't believe me." "But now you must listen," "Frank has been freed and I can tell the truth." "Now may I tell it and will she please take it down?" "All right." "If you insist." "I killed them both and Frank knew nothing about it." "He knew I hated Catherine, at least I did then." "And he suspected me." "I let him think that he talked me out of it." "And then one day, when he was working on her car" "I got him to explain how the automatic transmission worked." "So he did show you how to fix the car!" "But I know how to get things out of people." "I ask a lot of questions, it's a habit of mine." "And people are so accustomed to it they answer without even thinking why I want to know." "And you actually did it all by yourself?" "On that thursday," "Frank left right after Ito and Chiyo, and then before Catherine came down..." "It only took a few minutes, just as that Mr. Miller described at the trial." "At last a technical expert who know his stuff!" "Do you feel better now that it's off your conscience?" "It will never be off my conscience Mr. Barrett." "But now that Frank has left me, I've got nothing to live for." "I can't believe he's really serious about leaving you." "No young man in his right mind is going to run away from a girl like you, and a half million dollar inheritance." "He's gone to the girl he loved before he met me." "She's taking him back..." "I think." "He didn't come home last night." "So now may I please sign that and will you take it to the D.A.'s?" "Listen Diane, once you've been tried for a crime and acquitted, you can never be tried again, of punished for it." "But I'm guilty!" "It doesn't matter." "The law calls it double jeopardy." "You could sign that statement a dozen times, in front of a dozen witnesses you could shout it from the house tops, read it over the radio, and there isn't a thing anyone could do about it." "No, I'll take that back... there is one thing." "They'd probably put you in an insane asylum, do you want that?" "and so the Tremayne tragedy came to a happy ending after all" "With her acquittal, Diane takes full control of the Tremayne estate." "And it is expected that she and her chauffeur husband will take a belated honeymoon trip abroad, none of the principals was available to confirm this rumour, however" "Well you win your bet." "Thanks for the use of the car." "You needn't have packed, Ito could have brought your things over." "To Mexico?" "That's were I'm going." "Have you ever been there before?" "It's wonderful!" "Mexico City, Acapulco." "The roof of the Casa Blanca, dancing under the stars." "The night there is warm, and way down below is the harbour, the fishing boats." "The orchestra playing Clair de Lune." "I'm sorry, my bus leaves in 40 minutes." "Frank, take me with you." "I can't let you go darling, I just can't." "You just never quit trying, do you?" "Will you give me 40 minutes more to try?" "Let me take you to the bus station." "I've already called a taxi." "Only 40 minutes!" "Diane what's the use?" "It's all over, it's finished, we've said everything there was to say." "Just this one last chance." "You're just making it rough on yourself but, ok." "I'll only be a minute." "Here're the keys." "You know it would be fine to drive this clear to Mexico." "Why don't you do that some time?" " What's this?" " We didn't drink it yesterday." "Two glasses?" "Since when do you drink?" "Might as well begin some time!" "Watch it!"