Original subtitles

I see. And you've checked with the harbor patrol?

All right. Please let us know as soon as you have anything.

Didn't take them long.

Tide was coming in at that time, huh?

I can't keep my mind on this.

Well... Leaving? I thought it would be easier if she were alone.

All right.

Later.

Good morning, everybody.

Hi, Fran.

Well, you're off and running early.

Lots to do.

Smells like it's going to be one of those go -go days.

How's the breeze coming, Mark?

Slow.

Fran, excuse me.

Chief, something wrong.

Here, sit down, Fran.

I wish there was some way...

To make this easier for you, Fran, there's been a death in your family.

Your cousin, Robert Adams.

Bobby?

How? When? What happened?

The young man answering his description jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge

around 11 last night.

That's impossible.

Bobby, a suicide.

It's impossible.

His blazer was found on the bridge.

You recognize it?

It's from a college in Oregon where I graduated.

His wallet, credit cards, driver's license.

And this note was found in one of the pockets.

The note was crumpled.

Perhaps he couldn't make up his mind to leave it or not, but it was there.

Fran, I can't keep on swinging it without you.

You must know how I felt about you all this time, but in your cousinly way, you

put me away.

Ciao.

Pray for me, Bobby.

I don't understand this. I don't.

His body... Has it been recovered?

Not yet.

No.

What can I do?

Do... Bring Bobby back.

Can you do that, Chief?

You all right?

Yes. It was a very nice service.

Strange.

A memorial without really knowing.

Oh, he's dead.

I've accepted that.

I'll take you home.

No, I...

I want to go to work.

Here you are, Chief.

I wanted the Baylor's file.

I know, isn't... I'm sorry, I'll... Never mind that now.

Let's take a break.

How about some coffee, Ed?

That's a good idea. Mark, coffee?

I've sworn off food and drink until I finish this.

I'm sorry about all the goofs this morning, Chief.

I guess I'm still just not with it.

How about some time off?

A little vacation would do you good.

I've had three days. That's enough.

There's no statute of limitations on morning, Fran.

But I think there is a law against misplaced guilt.

You're just giving yourself a beating.

Wouldn't you?

No.

Not if I'd examined my conscience and was absolutely certain I wasn't at

I just don't know, Chief.

We practically grew up together.

He always had a crush on me, and I loved him too, but like a brother, I

never did anything to make him believe it was anything more than that.

So, you couldn't help how he felt. But I can't help how I feel now.

Here we are.

Hot and black.

Thanks.

Drink up. It'll help clear up the cobwebs.

Chief Ironside's office. Sergeant Brown.

When?

I see. All right.

We'll take care of it. Thanks for calling.

Man's body was just found.

washed up on the bay side of the Golden Gate Bridge.

General description tallies, but they'll wait for official identification.

No.

It isn't Bobby.

It isn't Bobby.

Do you want any butter?

Just kind of now.

No more work for you today, Fran. I'm taking you home.

I'm sorry, Ed.

I've been pretty ghastly company.

I'm not exactly singing and dancing myself.

It's just that... Well, I'd made up my mind that Bobby was dead.

And seeing that poor man.

It was one of those sorry coincidences.

Now, there's no reason to get your hopes up. I know.

I know.

Just for a few minutes there in the car, I... I couldn't help hoping.

Thanks for bringing me home. You were right.

I'm in no shape to go back to work. You take tomorrow off, too.

Hey, you're pretty free with it, you, Simon.

Excuse me. Sure.

Hello. Oh, hi, Miss Building.

I just found this telegram stuck under my door by mistake.

It's for you.

Oh, thank you. You're welcome.

Bye.

New neighbor.

A musician.

He's pretty good.

Even at Kuna Memorial.

I have missed you like crazy in my cousinly way.

We'll be back in town tomorrow. We'll call you soon as... Oh, my love, Bobby!

And the body

you saw?

I talked to the Marin coroner's office.

It was a sailor from a freighter that arrived last night.

Fell overboard.

Thank you.

What are you thinking?

What can I think?

Has to be weighed against the blazer, his wallet, and the note.

You're still certain it was his handwriting?

Yes.

Then there's his description reported by a witness.

What witness?

I called the watch commander at the precinct where the suicide was first

reported. I was checking to see if we'd overlooked any details. He reported the

witness.

Well? A cab driver named Peroni works out of Sausalito. He actually saw Robert

Adams? According to the watch commander.

Let me get this straight.

Then we talked to this cabbie who gave us a full description of a young man

seen standing on the bridge just before he jumped. That's it. He said just

before he jumped.

Not as he jumped, Chief. Well, there's a difference.

So now you're prepared to think... Think? Hope? You call it, I've got it.

And I've got that.

Fran, all you have is evidence, conflicting evidence.

That he's alive.

Or that he's dead. But I... I want to believe. You have to

believe only in facts.

You've been taught to believe only in facts.

That's a fact.

Which we will check out.

Ed, you talk to the cab driver.

All right.

I could use a snapshot.

Oh, I have some instead.

Fran, someone, I can't remember who, said, hopes are woven of sunbeams.

A shadow annihilates them.

Well, we've got a few circumstantial shadows working against us so far.

I don't have to remind Officer Belding of that, do I?

No.

And I don't have to remind you, sir, how we've torn similar, even stronger

evidence into shreds.

Right? Right.

Chief, I don't read you. You really trying to make Fran believe that her

cousin's dead?

Either Robert Adams is still alive and deliberately left that suicide note, or

he's dead and someone sent the telegram. Either way, it's destructive.

Understood?

Understood. Loud and clear.

That's good. Very good.

Bach. Or Vivaldi. Could be Vivaldi.

Elliot. Hmm?

Elliot. That's who I couldn't think of before. Elliot.

Elliot.

Miss Pelley sent from this office, correct?

That's absolutely correct, sir. By whom? The sender always signs his name. You

should have it.

This is the one. Oh, this customer, I didn't hardly see him, let alone get his

name. What did he do, crawl in?

In a manner of speaking, it was a little before 1 .30 this afternoon when we

sent it out. Well, at about 1, Miss Hayes was out to lunch.

The boys were out delivering, and I was alone.

Well, things were quiet, so I went into the back.

Couldn't have taken me more than two minutes.

And? Well, when I was heading back to the counter, I saw this customer

Was that the man?

Well, I only saw him from the back for a second.

He was tallish. I mean, six feet, six one.

Go on.

When I got to the counter, I found this message here. Tight.

With a five dollar bill attached.

Well, five more than covers the word count, so we sent it out.

That's kind of wild, isn't it? Why?

Well, son, it happens all the time.

I mean, everything happens in this place.

Well, what is it?

You want a change of the five -pack, is that it?

No, even for the donut fund.

Well, how did you know we had one?

He's a detective.

Hey, look, Sergeant, I don't have all day. I've got to get out of this jungle.

have to work. I didn't have all day to track you down either. Now, let's have

from the top, okay?

It was about 11 o 'clock Sunday night. Okay.

I'm coming back here across the bridge after I drop off a fare on the city

Halfway across, I see this young guy standing near the rail. Standing there

Doing what? Just standing, looking down into the bay, spooky.

So I say to myself, Peroni, statistically speaking, there's about 50

year that start out like that.

And they end up taking that private elevator all the way down.

I think he's going to be a statistic.

And I answered myself.

That's it.

There wasn't much traffic.

So I stopped my cab and I called out.

Hey, do you want a lift?

And he answered you?

Nothing.

He just looked at me and then turned away.

Then I knew.

I couldn't stay there, you know.

So I radioed my dispatcher to call the cops.

I heard later that they were too late all they found was his jacket.

But you did see his face.

Oh, yeah.

Is it the man?

Yeah, that's the poor guy.

Nobody actually saw Bobby jump.

So I know there's only a chance.

But he might have accepted another ride.

Or walked into the fog the other way.

Maybe.

Ran?

Walked where?

And has anyone seen him since that night? The clerk in the telegraph office

someone. But who? And if it were your cousin, then why this senseless

game? I don't know.

Unless he's in some sort of trouble again.

What does that mean, again?

About a month ago, he phoned me.

He sounded nervous, groggy, like he'd had a few drinks.

He wanted to borrow $500.

He needed the money for plane fare, wanted to visit a girl.

I told him I could only lend him half, and that was all I could spare right

then.

And? Well, he said something very Bobby, and okay, mail me the $250.

Fran, I don't want to pry, but what was the something very Bobby he said?

Just, okay, I'll take less than I asked for.

There you go, cuz, letting me down again.

And what would that mean?

Well, me... that he was teasing his way.

Well, he had to be. He knew.

He must have known that I would have helped him any way I could.

I always did.

Fran, this girl he flew to visit, did he mention her name?

Mary somebody. I don't remember her last name.

Did he say where he was flying to, where she lived?

No.

Did he ever mention to you that he knew another friend?

I know what you're thinking.

I try to think that at first, too.

That the suicide note was meant for someone else.

But, well, the cousinly reference doesn't exactly put me out of the

does it?

The wire you got.

The message was, we'll call you soonest. Right.

All right, I want you to take a tape recorder home, Fran. Tape everything

comes over your phone.

I want to hear everything said to you these next couple of days.

And, Fran, if there's no phone call from Bobby, and soon,

we have to consider him dead?

We have to consider this a hoax?

And we have to worry about that.

Agreed?

Agreed.

Hello? Miss Brown Building?

Yes, speaking.

This is Long Distance calling. Will you accept a collect call from Mr.

Robert Adams?

Yes. Yes, I will.

Oh, Bobby.

Good evening, Miss Belding.

Good evening.

How did you know I was... Oh, well, whenever you open your door, I get a

air rushing under mine.

Cross ventilation or something.

Oh, well, anyway, I thought perhaps my playing at this hour was disturbing you

and you were coming over to complain.

No, it doesn't bother me, really.

Good night.

Good night.

collect call from Mr. Robert Adams?

Yes. Yes, I will.

This from the memorial service yesterday?

Yes. It may have fallen from my coat pocket. I'd taken a few.

Or somebody might have slipped it under the door.

I suppose.

Were there many people at the service?

Only a few.

John Elkins, a school friend of Bobby's, a minister now.

He flew in from Oregon, then went.

Right back.

He arranged for the service, in fact.

Contacted the others.

Who else?

The Brodericks.

That's Mr. Broderick and his son, Ralph.

And his daughter, Susan.

We're all old friends from summers we spent together at the lake.

Our family and the Brodericks.

That's it?

No, there was another young man. I still don't know who he was or how he found

out about the service.

Don't know?

I wasn't on assignment that day, Chief. I...

I was in a chapel at a memorial service.

I was seated in the front of the room. I didn't see or care who else was there.

But when it was over, Sue, she was seated in the back seat, told me about

He had come in for a few minutes, said a prayer, then left.

This Reverend Mr.

Elkins is back in Oregon?

Yes.

But the Brodericks are here, right?

Right. All right.

Call them and set up a visit, will you?

Wow, that's wild. It's beautiful.

If he's alive, Sue.

Big if.

But who'd send a wire like that? I mean, who'd agonize you? All of us, if he

weren't.

That's what we're wondering, Miss Broderick. Sue, please.

Sue.

You've a fine -looking studio.

Daddy says I'm a misguided Georgia O 'Keeffe, but I try.

Oh, by the way, I'm sorry about his not being here.

He had to go off to New York on some mysterious business.

Business, business, he said.

And Ralph?

He's on his way.

I'll call him as soon as I talk to you.

Fran told me you saw a stranger at the memorial service yesterday.

Mr. No -Name. Came and went.

Well, he had a face.

I understand you got a good look at it.

Yeah, a quick one. Well, do you suppose you could memory sketch it for us? Might

help if we could track him down and talk with him.

Well, I'll try, if misguidedly.

I think you're very good. I especially like these.

Thank you, Sergeant.

This is like Astro up near Boyertown.

These were the cabins I was telling you about, Chief. Where we used to spend our

summers as teenagers.

The Brodericks, the Beldings, the Adams.

One incredibly noisy family.

Even Bobby back then, remember?

Spirit enemy. He was such a lovable goof.

One day he'd be Elvis Presley, singing and picking and undulating away.

And the next he'd be Mickey Mantle. There she goes, folks. My 40th Homer of

season and it's only June.

Of course, John Kennedy.

Think I'll be Prez like him someday.

Great job.

Great image. Great looking wife.

Remember then the fun, Fran?

Yes. But it's all changed now.

Fun's gone.

One of the cabins is boarded up.

A crabby old hermit with a long Lithuanian or something name lives in

one. It's practically blonde.

You and Bobby and I, we'd hate it now.

Sue, when did you talk to Bobby last?

About a month ago.

Called just to chat.

Did he mention anything to you about a...

Trip he was planning, or a girl named Mary.

No, the call was very brief.

As a matter of fact, he called to talk about you, Fran.

Said he'd been trying to find you, but couldn't.

Said you were probably out of town on a case.

Well, that's what he looked like, more or less.

Thank you.

Ed, will you check this out? All right.

Ed, while you're on your way out, meet my brother Ralph.

Hi, Ed Brown.

This is Mark Sanger and Chief Ironside.

Sanger.

Chief Ironside. Hello. They have beautiful news.

Bobby might, fingers crossed, still be alive.

No, I never saw him. Not entering Mr. Adams' apartment or leaving it.

Besides, he was usually cooped up alone in there reading and writing about all

those books he'd review.

He didn't have much time for visitors.

How about girls?

Well, now you're talking about evenings.

Yes, he had a few would come visit.

There was one with the clickiest high heels you ever heard. I never saw her,

I'd hear those heels up in his apartment like she was tapping out the Morse code

for all the world to hear. Oh, I was more than a mite glad when she stopped

coming. When was that?

Oh, it was about a month ago, the same time. No, a little before he left on his

trip. Do you have any idea where he went, ma 'am?

England.

I asked him when he got back if he'd managed to get over to my hometown of

Dublin. And he said, next time, I promise.

He was a nice lad, Mr. Adams.

Thanks for the lip draft. Oh, no, no, I got it.

Fran, do you really think there's a chance that Bobby isn't dead?

I want to believe it.

For Bobby and myself.

Yeah, but the note, now.

Who could have written that note?

It wasn't Bobby.

Any idea?

At this point, and for one of the few times in my life, I really don't know or

understand what's going on.

Oh, bye, Ralph. And thanks again.

Yeah, take care.

Franny.

I'm sorry. I wish I could help you. I really do.

Thanks. Bye -bye. Bye -bye.

Miss Fielding? Yes.

The man says we're all anxiety.

What man?

Oh, that's all right.

Where did you get that?

Oh, Bonaventure College in Oregon.

Took me four years. A very hard, very boring study.

Do you know my cousin?

I beg your pardon?

Bobby Adams. Do you know him?

Well, Bonnie's a small college, but it's not that small.

No, no, I don't know him.

Well, excuse me.

Here, right there.

Dear Fran, I'm heading up to the lake.

Please come alone.

I must explain the trouble I'm in and the bad joke being played on the two of

us. Bobby.

He came back from England just two days before he committed suicide, supposedly.

I've been trying to figure out a connection between the trip and this

mess, but it just doesn't add up.

Nothing adds up.

Oh, I'll get it.

Chief Ironside, Dolphins. Sergeant Brown.

Yeah, he's right here. Just a second.

The morgue. They've been trying to get you.

Ironside.

Yes, I see.

Thank you very much.

Oh, uh, prints and dental work?

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Drag the body out of the bay.

Identification positive.

Bobby Adams.

Hey, this clip, there might have been a note attached.

More than likely.

Astor Lake near Boyerstown, Fran said.

Yes?

Yes, right here. Have you located the sheriff?

My husband and his deputy are way out in Paisley Heights.

They must be out of the car because they don't answer on the radio.

All right, thank you, ma 'am.

Can't reach him.

That's it.

But when we left our own backyard.

We found out growing up was hard to do.

When the sun began to haze, we cleared the fog and made it blaze much brighter.

We trapped a fierce rhinoceros and put him in our tiny bus to keep.

We rode bareback on unicorns and pastured every kind of horn there was.

But when we left our own backyard, we found out growing up was

hard to do.

We somersaulted at the fair and wowed the people everywhere with

magic.

The mansions we built in the sand were better than the plans of Frank Lloyd

Wright.

Together.

Would you please get me the mobile operator?

Thank you.

Bobby!

Bobby!

Never mind. Thank you.

I was doing this to me.

Help, Bobby.

You still think you should have had Antico?

Well, work's the best thing for her now.

It's her last crime.

I'm tied.

That's it. It's all right?

Just where you said they'd be. I'll get right on it. How long do you think it'll

take you? Well, if your lead pans out, it shouldn't take more than an hour.

Good. We'll be back in the city by then. Come right over.

See you.

And thanks.

You bringing Fran in on this?

Fran has to be in on this.

Hello, Chief. That's perfect timing. Any luck?

Yeah, you got a mean air on you there.

Almost as good as the box box.

What was the line that you had your hunch about?

Something like, long Lithuanian name.

You better start from the beginning.

Right, right.

Well, here we go.

Now, this is tape line A.

Here it is. This is your phone, Fran.

The other night when the call came in, a long -distance call, it's Fran Belding

right here, and you answer, yes, speaking, and the operator says, yes,

-distance calling.

Now, notice the long.

See the vibration with the little curlicue at the end?

All right, now, this is tape line B.

That's your telephone again the following morning.

And you're on the phone. May we come over? The other voice?

No, please come right along.

The along.

The vibration on the mm curling up exactly the same way, despite the

disguise.

Please come along.

Along with the waning sounding name.

Sue. Sue Broderick. A ridiculous machine.

Are you accusing me of this fantasy of yours on the basis of some stupid

confetti from a ridiculous machine?

And what are you accusing me of?

I'm just here to ask... What?

What do you think I am?

What do you think I've done?

Why? The term is criminal harassment.

The reasons are your own. I harass no one. I'm being harassed. And if this

on for one more moment, I want a lawyer. We advised you of your rights.

Ralph, call Daddy's attorney.

Why don't you move?

What are you all trying to do to me?

Sue.

Didn't you make that phone call to me the other night?

It was you, wasn't it? No, it wasn't. Did you send her any kind of a message?

No, I did not.

Did you get someone to send it for you? That's nonsense.

Someone to send it?

See that it was delivered?

See that the album was delivered?

Keep an eye on Fran's reaction?

A misguided Paganini, let's say?

No. The young man in the chapel. It was quite a sketch you made.

More. imagination than memory, wouldn't you say?

This is who you should have drawn, Miss Broderick.

Get out of here!

Stay away from me!

You ogre! Leave me alone!

Bobby's dead!

Why can't you let it so alone? Let it rest!

That note about the meeting at the cabin.

No. Not hard for an artist to forge something. Not hard for an artist to lay

hands on those old snapshots.

I asked her, Lake, how long since you've been there?

Years.

How many years?

Five.

Ten.

It's a blind hermit.

He's only been there for two years that you knew about him.

That spray of pine, still fresh.

From the lake, isn't it?

I know everything about this place.

Times we used to have.

Last fall, some kids tore up the hermit's cabin looking for money.

That was when he got the dogs.

Everyone knew about the dogs.

Everyone knew those dogs were trained to kill.

I remember every moment of that time.

They were the most wonderful.

For anybody else.

Just Bobby and me.

If Bobby were here right now, and he were to tell you that Fran was special

him,

he'd be lying.

He liked us both.

That's what he'd say.

They've left you.

Carol Britt.

That was no lie.

I, uh... I still can't understand what he meant. I... I can't.

He tortured him.

Thanks for calling.

Well, there's one more loose end tied off.

Fran's friend with the fiddle.

Name's Wilkerson.

According to Sue's statement to the D .A., he was Bobby's roommate in their

junior year.

Got to know Sue through Bobby. She phoned him about the memorial service.

Told him about the suicide note. She got him to go along with her plan.

He's being picked up now at the conservatory where he studies.

Fran Belding, is that you?

The Bobby Adams cousin, Fran?

Yes, that's correct.

Oh, good.

Maybe you can help me then.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

Oh, it's all right. Come in, please.

Thank you.

Sorry.

Where to start?

I'm just in from London.

I have my bags waiting in a cab downstairs.

And I'm looking for Bobby.

Well, I...

I dropped by his flat, but it was empty, and the landlady is away.

And he talked about you so often, here, after I met him, and in London, when he

came to visit me, so that, well, I thought maybe you could help me locate

him. And do forgive my manners.

I'm Mary France's cousin.

Only Bobby, when he isn't angry with me, snaps off the first name and calls me

Fran.

Like my own super -cousin in the States, he says.

Mary Frances' cousin. Did Bobby mention me?

And say something awful, I'll bet.

Not that I blame him. We had a terrible row.

But that's over with.

Buried.

And I've come on Hanson's knees to say I will, or I do, or you

bet, or whatever it is they say at weddings these days.

Is anything the matter?

Bobby? Yes?

Well, you see, there was an accident.

He had?

What kind of accident?

A car smash -up. It happened... Would you come inside with me? I'd like to

to you alone.

Mary Frances Cousins.

Fran Cousins.

Well, it all figures now.

The note, that message. As far as that young lady is concerned, there isn't

going to be a note nor any message.

Only a car accident.

She's not going to let her go through what she went through.

She's quite a girl.

Our girl's quite a girl.