"(tires squealing)" "(gunshots) (car skidding)" "MAN (over speaker):" "It's too fast... too fast!" "(gunshots)" "Fred, can you see who it is?" "I can't..." "I can't." "(gunshot)" "Fred, can you spot anything?" "Can't... too fast." "Can you hear me?" "Can you spot anything?" "Can't see... can't see." "Who is it?" "It's Fred Reston." "They picked him up a few minutes ago." "(gunshots)" "Fred, a side road, find a side road." "(tires squealing)" "What's the car?" "What kind of car?" "(screaming)" "(theme music playing)" "¶ ¶" "(winch whirring)" "RADIO DISPATCH:" "12-8-79, you're clear." "(garbled radio transmission)" "(beeping)" "Mannix." "Mr. Carlisle, the president of Vancom Industries has been calling." "There's been an explosion, a man has been killed." "They want Agent Reston over there right away." "I didn't tell them anything." "All right, I'll go." "There's something else I've got to do first." "(doorbell chiming)" "Freddie, you're early..." "Hello, Edna." "Oh, Joe Mannix." "Well... when was the last time?" "Oh, now don't tell me." "Fred asked you for dinner without calling." "Where is he?" "You know, the kitchen closes at 7:00." "A woman has to have some organization, too, you know." "Fred's always drifting in at any time, hanging around Intertect, talking to all the other agents." "Well, I, I finally just laid down the law." "I said, "Fred, look, now, plant security is your specialty, and the kitchen is mi..."" "I'm sorry." "Come on, sit down." "Can I fix you a drink?" "Edna..." "He's not coming." "I know." "I told the office not to call you." "Nobody called." "I just, uh read it in your eyes." "Did, uh... did Fred say anything this morning before he left?" "Anything that might give me a clue as to what happened?" "He said, "Good-bye," "I'll be home early."" "Edna, would you mind if I looked through his reports?" "Fred was checking the security at Vancom, programming the employees." "Edna... apparently, Fred was photographing the installations at Vancom." "Do you have any idea where the pictures might be?" "Pictures?" "We don't even own a camera." "No, not developed yet." "Try tomorrow." "Thanks." "It's like seeing your child run over by a car." "I invented that modification of the laser." "I was its father." "Oh, there you are, Dr. Forrest." "I was looking for you." "Yes, Mr. Mannix, this is Dr. Carlisle," "President of Vancom." "How do you do." "You saw the lab?" "Yes, I did." "Dr. Josephus is waiting in my office." "Good." "Your man Reston convinced us that he was the great protector of Vancom Security." "It took a lab explosion to tell us what they were up to." "Now we can't even prove that a theft took place or that they were involved." "Well, uh, who are they and just what did they steal?" "Andrew, this is Mr. Mannix from Intertect." "Andrew Josephus, our project chief." "Mr. Mannix." "How do you do?" "Please sit down." "Yeah, thank you." "Mr. Mannix, do you like cocktail parties?" ""Berwyn Electronics invites you to a private demonstration" ""of its exciting new development" ""in the field of laser technology." "Tuesday, May..."" "That's tomorrow night." "New development all right, but not theirs-- ours." "Stolen!" "FORREST:" "They blew up our laboratory to hide the theft." "CARLISLE:" "And if they're about to go into production, as they say they are, they've had a man here since we began." "Mr. Mannix, we spent two hard years on a project that is very important to each of us." "We hire a supposedly competent company to protect our work." "And you come in here and ask us questions as though you didn't know one lousy thing about what had happened-- which obviously you don't." "Where is Reston?" "He said he was onto something." "Reston was just murdered." "Well, I'm sorry." "I'm very sorry to hear that." "We were all very close to Fred." "But Reston should have been more aware." "He should have known what was going on long before this." "We'll pick up Reston's leads." "It may take a little while, but we'll find something." "What do we do while people point at us and say, "Guess the thief"?" "You seem to think you're on this spot all alone." "Mr. Mannix, I understand, I really do." "You're confused." "Your man is dead and you're upset." "And even though we've come a long ways from the cotton fields back home, this project does have an unusual chief." "Or haven't you noticed that either?" "Can't you at least tell us what your plans are?" "You seem to think this is an inside job." "Can't very well tell you my plans, can I?" "WICKERSHAM:" "Frankly, I don't blame them." "A technician was killed, our agent in charge was murdered, and they have millions at stake." "I'd have thrown you out on your ear." "Hey, I thought the doctor told you to stay in bed." "The doctor told me to take this junk three times a day and avoid hardnosed agents the rest of the time." "Now, what have you found out?" "Wait a minute, Lou-- the theft at Vancom has been going on for two years." "I just now got into the case." "Well, you have plenty of leads to go on." "Two years." "Reston's been on the case for two years." "He didn't say a word about it." "Reston was a good man!" "Now look, isn't it just possible that Reston was on the take \with a partner who killed him?" "Don't you question me!" "Find his killer!" "Don't you worry, I will!" "Where, in here?" "Don't tell me..." "(sighs)" "I, uh, got an invitation to the Berwyn cocktail party for the industry." "They're going to unveil the laser tonight." "I figure..." "Get me a plain car." "No radio, no, uh..." "nothing, no markings." "Are we going to both go?" "I'm going." "I speak several languages, science is my hobby," "I can get by in a technical conversation, and I won't blow the job by getting into a fight." "All right, Lou, I'll, uh..." "I'll just, uh, check on another angle." "I don't care what you do." "(intercom buzzing)" "I'm busy!" "What is it?" "!" "Who?" "What does he want?" "Look, tell..." "No, no," "I'll tell him." "(door closes) Hello." "Hello, Lou." "I thought I'd call to see how you were feeling." "That medication I gave you can cause side reactions in some individuals." "What kind of reactions?" "Well, they vary." "But I want to know if you experience any emotional problems, if you sense any instability." "I feel fine." "I'll let you know if there's any change." "Good." "You do that." "PENDER:" "Reston was a meticulous man." "His run between the two Vancom plants on the coast was made each day between 2:00 and 2:30." "He got to that second plant at 3:00 five different times." "Why?" "Stopped to eat?" "Maybe." "Or he could have been meeting somebody." "There shouldn't be too many places to check on that road." "No, thanks." "Tell me, have you ever seen this man around here?" "Thanks, uh, for the information." "I want to talk to you." "You'd better get out of here." "You'll get hurt." "You ever seen him?" "Yeah, yeah." "Are you sure?" "Yeah, yeah, yeah, some business." "In the morning, you get a salesman before he sees customers." "Then the lunch crowd, sandwich in the mouth, swinging away." "Afternoon's nothing but housewives, except that guy with two pals a couple of times." "Bought a pail for each, never used half of it." "Have you ever seen any of these fellas?" "(golf ball clunks on cart, then gunshot)" "(gunshot)" "(bullet ricochets)" "(gunshot)" "(gunshots)" "(gunshot, bullet ricochets)" "(gunshot)" "(click, device whirring)" "(whirring stops, click)" "(click, oscillating tone)" "(click)" "(click, oscillating tone)" "(hissing)" "DETWILER:" "I needn't explain to you gentlemen the fantastic potential of the laser." "The control and safe exercise of this enormous power has been our concern at Berwyn Electronics for the past three years." "The measure of our success is... (onlookers gasp)" "That's fantastic." "(murmuring)" "This beam, which has a critical focus of a fraction of a millimeter." "Intercept the beam at any point other than the focus, and the beam is safely withdrawn." "Feel free to ask for any further demonstration or specifications." "Thank you." "(click, oscillating tone stops)" "Vancom Electronics was very close to something like this now." "Very close is not enough, Mr...." "Doctor Feinman." "Ah." "International Petroleum." "What are you working on?" "I will tell you that when you speak of billions, it makes me feel here like I'm starving to death in my little laboratory." "Drink?" "Well, yes." "Water, please." "Perhaps International doesn't feel there's a potential in your work." "Well, what is the potential in low-cost underwater mining?" "Doctor, perhaps we should have lunch." "This is no place to chat." "I believe I've said too much already." "Call me." "Berwyn Electronics has an excellent profit-sharing program." "The idea was developed for another company..." "I am morally obligated to." "Why, of course." "George!" "I know the potential of the laser." "It took us two years to develop it." "DETWILER:" "If I knew your job wasn't on the spot because we beat you to the punch," "I'd sue you for slander." "How are you?" "CARLISE:" "Do you know Dr. Forrest?" "DETWILER:" "Of course." "Yes, we've met." "Andrew Josephus." "How do you do?" "Good evening." "Yeah, they've been ready a couple of hours." "I was just gonna call your girlfriend." "How did you know her number?" "It's there on the envelope." "Yeah." "Thanks." "(safe door clanks open)" "(knock at door, soft music playing)" "WOMAN:" "It's open." "Who are you?" "Oh, the name is Mannix." "Mallory Finance." "Unpaid bills." "I don't owe any money." "Now, would you mind leaving, please?" "You a friend of Fred Reston's?" "I knew him." "I just heard the news on the radio." "Yeah, it's too bad." "Well, now let's see." "TV set, sofa, one fur jacket." "This fella liked to go first class." "It's too bad he stopped payment." "Fight?" "Fred Reston didn't buy me any of those things." "You got the paid receipts?" "I'm hardly in the mood to look for paid receipts right now." "(music stops) Well, that's all right." "Just take your time." "While you're looking, you know, I could sure go for a beer." "(chuckles) Hey, I'm not a hard guy to get along with." "No, sir, not when they look like you." "Will you get out of here before I call the police?" "Take it easy." "I have to see the wife next." "Uh, there's no beer." "He did buy me this." "I shot one roll of film." "I found out that he was married, and I said, "Good-bye, Fred,"" "and I've never seen him since." "Now will you please get out?" "Oh, why don't you keep this?" "That's on me." "I may have to come back after I check the rest of these bills." "Do it by mail." "Reston!" "Where is he?" "!" "Where is who?" "The other man!" "Just us here, sir." "Dr. Josephus?" "Water, please." "I saw you at the cocktail party of the Berwyn Company." "Your call said it was urgent." "Uh, yes." "I can't remember if I'm supposed to take one or if I already did." "The absentminded professor." "Well, just to make sure." "Steroids." "Oh, for a slight infection." "Go easy on that stuff." "It causes more problems than it cures." "Now, how is it to work for the Vancom Company?" "Another day on the levee." "Another bale of cotton." "I am thinking about a move." "Any more questions, or may I leave now, Mr. Intertect?" "I beg your pardon?" "Let's make it a game." "I'll say Intertect, and you'll play dumb." "You're a very bright man, Doctor." "Not really." "You fooled those others because they got where they are by hard work and circumstances." "I had to crawl up that hill on my knees." "It took a hundred years and a civil war, and I still don't belong." "So I can spot someone else who doesn't belong, for whatever reason." "Sensitive?" "Plenty." "These were taken in Detwiler's office." "This one has your name on it." "Oh." "It gets better." "A contract for employment between you and Berwyn Electronics." "Double what you're getting at Vancom?" "For the whole world, it's okay." "For a guy like me who's supposed to be filled with gratitude because there are no more minstrel shows, it pins me to the wall." "If that isn't clear, go to the devil." "He'll explain." "What I'm going to do is hang a thief." "If the devil wants to help, good for him." "It was Reston." "Doctor, you stole the formula!" "Day after day, you walked out with pieces of it!" "This contract, this contract was your payoff!" "You wanted it kept secret until things cooled down." "It was Reston, I tell you." "It was Reston!" "(Josephus's voice echoing):" "It was Reston!" "It was Reston!" "It was Reston...." "Reston, Reston, Reston," "Reston, Reston, Reston, Reston, Reston, Reston," "Reston, Reston, Reston, Reston, Reston, Reston, Reston..." "Mr. Intertect, your bale of cotton." "Reston!" "WICKERSHAM:" "Reston!" "Reston!" "Why, Fred?" "Why?" "(high-pitched scream)" "(screaming)" "(sustained piercing scream)" "Thank you, Ed, I appreciate it so much." "Cremated?" "Where is Mr. Wickersham?" "I've called him a dozen times, but he won't talk to me." "I want to know how it feels to be responsible for another man's death." "Edna, control yourself." "Fred hated that job, but he was loyal." "How are they going to repay his loyalty now?" "Please, take it easy." "Yes, I understand." "Reston was insured for $50,000 last year." "Some clients just cancelled their security contracts." "I don't believe it!" "Well, here, read it." "It came out of one of your big, fat computers." "Makes three cancellations in two days." "Oh, come on, Lou." "Insurance that size?" "Suddenly?" "Now?" "He had a dangerous job." "He's had the job for ten years." "Does Edna Reston strike you as the type that would murder her husband?" "Did you ask Pender that?" "Now, look, Reston was dating a brunette a few times." "Now, maybe Edna found out." "She's a woman, you know." "She's not one of your sophisticated data cards." "This company I have built sticks in your throat." "It always has!" "The way I run it, the methods I believe in." "Now you're either gonna work my way or you get out!" "My way, Mannix!" "(ringing)" "Hello?" "Hello?" "Hello!" "What does the loss of the laser mean to you personally?" "In dollars?" "Don't talk to me about money, Mr. Mannix." "What do we talk about?" "Glory." "Now, don't laugh." "Maybe you never lived with something 24 hours a day." "When you ate, when you slept, when you... held a woman." "For two years, I bore that child, Mr. Mannix." "The pain, the discomfort... and George Carlisle breathing down my neck." ""Are we on the right track, Forrest?" "Are we breaking through, Forrest?"" "All he cared about was his lousy job." "That's all he cares about now." "What do you care about, Forrest?" "One line in the history books." "Norman Forrest, inventor of the laser transmitter." "(door opens)" "Here's the special list that you asked for, Mr. Forrest." "Thank you, Gail." "Oh, Miss Mason, this is Mr. Mannix from Intertect." "We've met." "It looks fine." "Thanks, Gail." "Here's a list of Vancom employees capable of understanding the data that was stolen." "You Intertect people deserve a citation." "Hell or high water, you'll transfer the stench." "I didn't say Reston was innocent." "I just think he had a partner." "FORREST:" "Reston could have done it alone." "And murdered himself, too?" "(ringing)" "Hello?" "Hello?" "!" "Who are you?" "What do you want?" "Why do you keep calling me?" "Look, my husband just died." "Please... (line disconnects)" "(ringing)" "(ringing continues)" "(ringing continues)" "(gunshot, glass breaking)" "(ringing continues)" "(phone beeping)" "Mannix here." "Yeah, Pender." "I'm following Edna Reston now." "She's changed cabs three times to make sure she isn't being tailed." "No, I can't tell where she's heading." "She sure isn't acting like a grieving widow." "(steam whistle tooting)" "(seagulls calling)" "(distant steam whistles tooting)" "Hey, hey-- hey, wait a minute." "No tours today." "A lady just came aboard." "You like tuna?" "I can sell you a tuna." "Move!" "Reston!" "(grunts)" "Mr. Logan?" "Yeah, that's me." "My name is Wickersham." "Your sister's husband worked for me." "What is this, a convention?" "Lou!" "Lou!" "(grunting)" "You identified Reston's body." "(blows landing)" "You want to buy some tuna fish, too, huh?" "(groans)" "I just want to be sure it was Reston you buried." "Mister, what do you want from me?" "I looked at a piece of charcoal." "(groaning)" "Lou!" "(water running)" "Lou, you gutless, no-good..." "I thought I told you to stay out of here?" "You ran out on me." "I told you to stay out of here." "No." "No, Lou, we're going to talk." "No more." "What's the matter with you?" "Look at me, Lou!" "It's about Edna Reston." "Edna Reston?" "Yeah, Edna." "Fred's wife." "I shook her up, Lou." "And she ran right to the docks." "All you had to do was press a button on one of those computers you detest so much and you'd have found out that her maiden name is Logan!" "Now, listen to me, Lou," "I don't want to fight you." "Her brother owns a tuna boat!" "Her cousin and two uncles are in the business!" "She had a better reason for going down there, Lou." "What reason?" "Reston is alive." "Did you hear what I said, Lou?" "Reston is alive." "Liar!" "Liar!" "Liar!" "Lou, Reston's alive." "I saw him on the dock." "He passed you." "Where is he now?" "He got away." "Got away?" "From you?" "Never!" "Lou, will you listen?" "I saw Reston." "Lou, Reston sold out." "Lou!" "It can happen." "Lou!" "You never did believe in anyone." "Use your head, Lou." "I believed in you." "We can get to the bottom of this." "Logic, planning-- that's how Intertect agents work." "Well, not you, Mannix." "You don't belong." "That's it, Lou." "Now, you're gonna listen to me." "Get out!" "What's the matter with you?" "We've been friends for a long time." "Everything ends." "You're gonna listen to me, Lou." "Listen to me, Lou!" "(grunts)" "Listen to me, Lou!" "You've got to listen to me." "No!" "Reston is alive." "Liar!" "He's a bad apple, Lou!" "Reston sold out!" "Get out of here, liar." "Liar, get out!" "Get out!" "Get out!" "Lou!" "Reston is alive!" "Get out!" "Get out!" "Go on, get out of here, liar." "Liar, get out!" "All right, Lou." "I'll get out." "I'll get out." "But I'll be back... with Reston." "(panting)" "Get out, get out... (door opens, then closes)" "(moaning)" "(kicks door open)" "Get out!" "(shouting):" "Get out!" "Where is he?" "I warn you, I'll scream." "Make it loud." "Now, where is he?" "What are you talking about?" "Fred Reston." "He's dead." "He's alive and kicking." "Don't be ridiculous." "Oh, it was him all right." "I saw him." "Good old Fred." "But he's dead." "He's alive." "I don't understand." "His body..." "Someone's body." "I think I'd better get you a doctor." "Right now, I'll settle for your boyfriend, Reston." "Where are you going?" "I don't know." "I gotta find Reston." "(labored breathing)" "Like it or not, I'm getting you a doctor." "I gotta find him." "I gotta get Reston." "Here, drink this." "No, I... gotta get Reston." "You can't drive." "You can." "All right, finish this drink." "I'll get dressed." "What happened?" "How did you get so badly beaten up?" "Not how... by whom." "Why?" "I got marks to prove it happened." "I still don't believe it." "(groans)" "(sniffs)" "Hurry." "Who are you talking to?" "I phoned Intertect and asked for your doctor." "You drugged me." "And you called Reston." "Now, get inside!" "I told you." "I called your doctor." "I called Intertect." "Sit down." "(music plays loudly)" "(shouting):" "Believe me, Fred Reston is dead." "No... no, he isn't." "The guy he sent over the cliff is." "And the man at the golf range is." "And the lab technician is." "¶ ¶" "But you're not going to put me on that list." "(theme music playing)"