Original subtitles

Good.

He killed him. What are you talking about? I lost them all. I saw him with

knife. He stabbed him.

Does he know you saw him? The killer?

Huh?

Who's this fan there?

Come on.

Are you inside?

Uncle Bob?

Peggy, where are you? At the National Department store.

Here in San Francisco?

Yes. Oh, Uncle Bob, I'm so afraid.

What is it? I just saw him.

He's my godfather. He can help us.

Peggy? He's a cop.

I need to talk to him. Hey, he got me to talk to you, baby. Come on.

Come on, let's go.

All right, find out what's going on over there.

I'll be in the store.

She was with that boy who did the Harlequin Act.

Harlequin Act?

In the window.

Well, they're not there now.

Yes, I know.

It's a very clever act, all right.

I never would have hired a boy off the streets like that otherwise.

The way he held those poses.

And his stamina.

Why, he only had a few seconds rest when he came in here.

And then he went right back out again.

For how long?

Oh, two, three hours.

What did she do?

Hung around, far as I could tell.

He was very secretive about his work.

Wouldn't let anybody come in here while he was doing his act. Not even me.

Did he give you a name?

James something or other.

I didn't fill out any employee forms because he was only working for a week.

And I thought I'd pay him out of petty cash.

Of course, the way he ran out on me, I let him try to collect.

What did he look like?

Well, he was 19,

20, brown hair.

Wore it kind of short, surprisingly.

5 '8", 5 '9", maybe shorter.

He's kind of a skinny kid.

It's hard to tell. Mr. Saunders.

Telephone, please.

Mr. Saunders.

Would you excuse me, please?

Hey, Chief.

Man was killed over there. No ID.

Heard it?

With a knife. Looks like they couldn't find it. Any witnesses?

No one admits it. Seems like most of the people are over here looking at some

act in the window.

Harlequin act.

Peggy was with him.

I think she saw the murder.

She or her boyfriend.

As easily as I saw you standing over there.

Yeah, I could see into the window, too.

So could the killer.

Too bad those kids ran away. I mean, apart from losing the money.

Well, that phone call I just got was from a North Beach nightclub operator.

He wanted to book the act.

What nightclub?

He didn't say.

I thought that was kind of funny.

When I told him I didn't have a name or an address for the kid, he just hung up

on me. It was weird.

If you should see them or hear from them, please let me know at once. It's

important. Sure.

Well, yeah, sure.

If that was the killer posing as a nightclub operator, that means he hadn't

caught up with him yet. Is that the way you read it? You'd better run a check on

North Beach nightclubs anyway.

Right. Then who was the guy you heard on the phone with Peggy?

Probably our boyfriend.

Why, we didn't want him to talk with you?

Put out an APB on Peggy and the boy.

The name's no help, it's a description.

See if anyone answering that description is wanted.

Hello? Sylvia, I'm sorry to waken you.

Who is... Bob!

Yes? What is it? It's something... Peggy.

Did you know she was in San Francisco?

Oh, thank God.

I looked all over Detroit and I thought... Bob?

Is she all right?

As far as I know.

I'll come right out there.

Yes, I think you'd better.

Chief, you look terrible.

He's been up all night.

I know. Mark called.

Mark turn up anything?

No, not yet.

Chief, I'm so sorry about Peggy.

I don't think all there is about the murder.

Yeah, only now he's been identified.

His name was Phil Pearson.

Lone shark enforcer.

And he muscled one person too many. That could be.

This is the last letter Peggy sent me.

A little over a month ago.

No indication she was thinking of running away, but she does mention that

misses her father.

Her parents were divorced, weren't they?

About a year ago.

Not long after they'd left San Francisco for Detroit.

And it set her for a time.

Letters always mentioned her father.

What can we do, Chief?

Find her.

Find her before the killer does.

I'll check on the DPB.

Bob. Sylvia.

Where is she?

Where's Peggy? We don't know, Sylvia. We're trying to find her.

What? Just a minute.

This is my husband, Elliot Harris.

Chief Robert Ironside.

Chief Harris?

My staff, my associates, officer building. How do you do?

Sergeant Brown. How do you do? I'll make those calls from the other room. Excuse

me. Why don't you sit down?

All right.

Peggy wrote me about your divorce, Sylvia, but she didn't say anything

Harris.

I met Elliot long after Joe and I broke up.

We've been married only a month.

Around the 10th?

The 12th.

The 12th. Could that have been the reason Peggy ran away?

I think it is, Chief.

Elliot tried so hard.

She liked me all right until she found out that we were planning to get

That was it.

Nobody could take Joe's place in her eyes.

She never forgave me for the divorce.

What do you know about her, Chief?

I know that she's running.

I know that she's hiding.

I know that we have to find her.

What can we do to help?

I'm going to send you over to missing persons.

Fran, Ed.

Fran, I would like you to go with these folks.

Mr. Harris, Sylvia, give them everything you can.

Oh, names of friends, schools, clubs, anybody she corresponded with. Oh, was

there any boy she left behind when you moved to Detroit?

Yes, but Joe and I didn't approve of him and we convinced her to break it up.

What was his name?

Jamie, Jamie Fields, I think. Mrs. Harris, do you know anything else about

An address, where they met, what he looks like?

Well, she knew him in school.

He's a wild boy.

Brown hair, rather short, slender.

Right. Thank you.

Thank you, Chief.

Oh, incidentally, Sylvia.

Do you know where Jo went after the divorce?

Las Vegas, probably.

At first we thought she might have gone there to look for him. She threatened it

often enough.

We'll find her, Sylvia.

Fran, when you finish at MPB, I want you to check the drama schools and little

theater groups.

Right. Where will you be?

Out to lunch.

I'm sorry, Chief Ironside, but we're not open for lunch.

It's really your dinner hour I'm concerned about, Armand.

Did this man eat here last night?

He's hardly our type of clientele. However, you did see him.

Well, he had a drink at the bar.

Two, I think.

Was he alone?

No, he was with another man.

What did he look like, the other man?

Well, he was bigger than this one.

Huskier, taller.

40, 45, I think.

He was so angry.

The other one, too. They had some kind of a quarrel.

You overheard the quarrel?

Well, this isn't the kind of place to... Something about money.

The smaller one was demanding money. I was about to ask them to leave.

I don't like trouble.

Speaking of trouble, did you hear what happened right outside my door last

night? A man was killed.

Stabbed. Yes, I heard about it.

That is the man.

I knew they were trouble. I knew it.

Yes. They were trouble, all right.

Peggy, will you stop sweating it?

You didn't kill the guy.

I've always been able to turn to Uncle Bob for help.

He is a cop.

He could tell us what to do. I know what to do. We run.

We don't have any money.

Already told you there's a guy in L .A. working on the deal right now. Oh,

Jamie, come on.

Hey.

We're partners, baby.

Hmm?

We've got to stick together.

We've got to.

I'll take care of you, baby.

Come on.

Jamie?

We don't have to tell him where we are. I don't want a cop on my tail.

Look, honey.

A couple of us, we took a car for a joyride and we banged it up.

They want me, baby.

Yeah, crazy thing like that and there's a warrant out for me.

How do you understand?

That's why I can't let you call the heat.

And I can't let you...

alias James Springfield, alias Jamie.

Possession? Pot.

Stolen car?

Pushing.

Assault with a deadly weapon.

But is he the harlot? I stopped off at the store and showed Mr. Saunders his

mugshot. That's, uh, some boyfriend Peggy's got.

I wonder if she knows it.

All of it, I mean.

How good's that address on her?

Well, it's a year old. Days from the last time they picked him up.

Sure, it's my brother.

Haven't you guys caught him yet?

He might be better off if we did.

You've got to be kidding.

How about her?

Oh, yeah. That little gal I used to run around with a year or so ago.

Peggy something.

Moved to Detroit, I think he said. She came back.

No kidding.

Too bad she left.

The school, I mean.

She might have made it, that kid.

She had more feel for it than Jamie.

All he ever cared about was making a fast buck.

Yeah, she was a good influence on him. Her folks broke it up.

I don't blame him. I mean, that kid was pushing right here to my students. Are

you ready for that?

I kicked him out.

How long ago was that?

Oh, I don't know. It was a long time ago.

Six months at least.

You haven't seen him since? No.

Know where he lives?

No.

Now, listen, if you find him, you do me a favor.

Don't tell me.

So as far as I can tell, there was no nightclub owner looking for a harlequin

act. All right.

Follow up on the loan shark angle. If we can find out who Pearson was working

for, we can get a line on who he was muscling, and that could lead to the

killer. Trouble is, he worked with more than one loan shark.

If it was easy, anyone could do it.

Hey, you two look like you could use some coffee. Just put a fresh pot on.

you.

Come on in.

Pretty thorough at MPB.

Must have been rough.

Well, I tried to get her to go to the hotel, get her some rest, but she wanted

to go to the old neighborhood and look around.

It was useless.

Nobody had seen her.

Thanks.

Missing persons will check all that out, too.

Bob, they asked me if she was on drugs.

They even asked me if she was...

A prostitute.

They have hundreds of cases.

They were just being realistic.

Just trying to help.

I guess I didn't know as well as I thought I did.

I didn't even know she was interested in the theater until Officer Belding told

them.

I thought it was because of that boy.

And then she got over it.

I never could get close to her after Joe left.

Do you understand the reason for the divorce?

How could she?

How could I tell her what her father was?

All right, Sylvia.

What was he?

When I last saw him, he seemed to be just a man down on his luck.

Bob, he made his own luck.

When you knew him, there was still something left of the warmth and charm

wit that used to be in him.

But... Do you know what his problem was?

He wanted.

And whatever we had, he wanted more, bigger, better.

He began to take chances.

And the worse things got, the bigger the chances got.

Start hitting the bottle.

He'd get drunk and take things out on Sylvia.

He really hurt her.

You never told Peggy?

How could I destroy her illusions?

And even if I tried to tell her the truth...

I don't think she would have believed me.

You think he's still in Vegas?

As far as I know, he wanted money.

I didn't give it to him.

He was at the Sea and Sand Hotel.

He wears this black and white Harlequin costume with a black skull cap. White

makeup like a clown. Yeah, I've seen Harlequin, sure, but I don't remember

And the act, it doesn't sound familiar.

Okay, thanks very much. Sure, anytime.

Excuse me.

Oh, uh, you here to try out?

Oh, sorry.

Do you recognize either of those two people?

I've seen him before.

Uh, Jamie.

Uh, Jamie, uh... Jamie Fields?

Mm -hmm.

Might use the name Springfield.

That's the one.

Let's see, I think I got a bio on him.

Does a harlequin act?

A harlequin?

Isn't that just typical? It rains, it pours. There was a guy here a few

ago. Guess what he was looking for?

Harlequin.

Did you get his name?

No, but he says he runs a nightclub in North Beach.

Come on in. Let me show you the file.

left here maybe two, three hours ago. No more than that.

She lived with him then.

Moved in with him two weeks ago.

And he wasn't married. You can bet your bottom dollar on that.

You don't approve their morals, I take it.

Who cares about morals?

It's the hot water. Every time a girl moves in here, the bill goes sky high.

Not that they care.

They still owe me for last week.

I suppose they didn't leave a forwarding address.

Are you kidding?

Rats like that?

There's no phone in the apartment, so I presume they made all their calls out

here. Could be. I wouldn't know.

Well, you live there.

It says so, don't it? And I bet every time the phone rings, your tenants wait

for you to answer it, right?

Right. Did you ever take a call for Jamie or Peggy? I don't want to get

in no kind of trouble, you know?

You won't.

Who called them?

I don't know who he was.

He just said he had a job for him. That's all he told me.

Well, do they make any calls, like today?

I am not the kind of person... Please.

It's very important.

Boy made a couple.

Local or long distance?

Now, how would I know a thing like that?

By the number of coins you heard drop.

Long distance.

Yes, a long distance call.

Oh, you have the information for me?

Could you hold on a moment, please?

Chief Ironside's office.

It's Ed.

The chief will have to take it, Ed. I'm on the other line.

Hello?

Yes.

Yes, Ed?

I've located Peggy's father, Chief, here in San Francisco at the Palm Plaza

Hotel. I'm there now, but he's out. You want me to wait for him?

I want to talk to him about Peggy. Just leave a message for him to call me.

All right.

The number Jamie was calling was a booking agent in Los Angeles.

Well, I can't talk to him until you get him on the phone.

Yes, sir.

Chief, all I can get out, I've booked an agent's office in Los Angeles. It's a

recorded message. Leave your name, number, and date of orbit.

Your home number?

Yes. Leo Goulden is head of the agency, but he's not home. Nobody answers.

All right, keep trying.

Pack a bag for me and get plane reservations to Los Angeles.

Mark, give her a hand.

Get people out to cover the airport, bus depots, major highways, everything

going to Los Angeles.

Right.

Oh, what did you find?

One of the men, Pearson, was outing his dad. One is in jail, two out of town.

The other four I reach have alibis.

He've only just begun.

Hello, Palm Plaza Hotel.

Mr. Joe Lynch, please.

Mr. Lynch has checked out, sir.

This is Robert Ironside.

I left a message there for him. Oh, Chief Ironside.

He got the message all right. I handed it to him myself.

But then he did a very strange thing.

Here's one.

Peggy and her father.

That's recent enough. It'll do.

Ed's going to meet us at the airport.

I don't know if I, Sylvia, that we have a line on Peggy. You know where to reach

us. When I get anything.

Yeah. Hello, Mr. Wallen?

Yeah, yeah. Who is it? Mr.

Wallen, do you handle the Harlequin Act?

It's the middle of the night, man.

I know. I've got kind of an emergency, you see. I've got a spot open in my

nightclub show.

And I heard of this mechanical Harlequin Act in a store window.

Yeah, I represent him. Do you know where I can reach him?

Well, you can catch the act in L .A. tomorrow night.

He's doing a local TV variety show.

What station?

You need some sleep. There's nothing more you can do tonight.

You know, she was only about nine when I was shot.

She used to visit me at the hospital and tell me funny stories.

Nice kid.

Very nice kid.

Chiefs are killers after a harlequin.

Have you seen that kind of act before?

Not that I can remember.

To do what that store manager described would be virtually impossible for one

person. That kind of rigid discipline of the body for two or three hours at a

time. Are you saying they were both part of the act?

Yeah. They could have alternated.

and made it look as if it were one person as part of the gimmick.

They wouldn't let anybody into their cubicle and have some kind of secret.

then the killer wouldn't know that there were two of them either.

He'd be looking for a single Harlequin, Jamie.

Anything from LAPD?

No, nothing on the kids, no.

What about the booking agent, Leo Golden?

Nothing.

I'll find him if it takes all night.

Mr. Golden?

You know, I don't want to sound critical, but you certainly do keep late

Oh, yeah? Well, listen, I had an offer I couldn't refuse.

San Francisco. Yeah, I'm trying to find a couple of kids who do a Harlequin act.

Jamie Fields and Peggy Lynch.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. My associate up in your town, Ted Wallen, sent them down

to me. Hey, look, they're not into something naughty, are they? I don't

represent acts that aren't straight.

Where are they booked?

It's a local TV show, one -shot gig, KCAL. Today?

Tonight, 8 o 'clock. You wouldn't happen to have an address on them, would you?

I wouldn't even know if they're going to spend the night in L .A.

You know what? Maybe you could find them at the television station, because

there'll be rehearsals all day.

KCAL. Yeah, thank you.

That's right.

Robert Ironside.

Room... 975.

Oh, it'll leave a number.

Yes, this is Officer Mark Sanger.

Okay, got it. Thanks.

Yes, what is it? San Francisco Police.

Oh, hi, Chief. There was a phone call for you from your office. I'll get it.

The wall phone is over there. Thank you.

The Harlequin Act, where are they? Just finished rehearsing. Should be in the

dressing room.

I'll show you.

Open it, please.

He's dead.

Get one of your security guards.

Yes, sir.

Not even a sink in here.

I'll check the ladies' room.

Did they both come back here after rehearsal?

I thought they did.

But you didn't see them?

I don't think so. I was calling the next act on.

Do you have a local address on them?

Yeah, there's some motel near here. I have it in the office.

Will you get it for me? Yes, sir.

All right, come on. All right, everybody, come on. Go back to work,

Come on, cooperate.

All right, you stay in here.

No need to tell you not to touch anything.

Cloud White.

Who was in the wastebath?

Must have been in the ladies' room while Jamie was being killed.

I used to talk to Mark.

Looking at your face, I must have been right. You were right.

About what? Tell her.

When Peggy's father ducked out on the chief, he tore a page out of a phone

in a hotel.

The desk clerk says it was page 466.

And page 466 lists... Theatrical agents.

Now, the little theater manager who gave you Jane's address?

Yeah. Mark showed him a picture of Joel Lynch.

He identified him as the nightclub operator who wanted a Harlequin act.

Are you telling me he's the killer? Mark says he owes a bundle to the loan

sharks. So he knifed Pearson.

Peggy saw him do it. Her own fault? Worse than that.

He doesn't know she's the witness. He's just been looking for a Harlequin act.

And he could still be looking for half of it.

Yeah. At least they found their San Francisco agent.

He'd know there are two of them now.

My assistant said he saw the girl come tearing out of the dressing room like

she'd seen the devil just before he found the body.

And she was alone.

Lynch missed her.

He's out to kill his own daughter and doesn't know it.

There's the motel address.

Isn't likely she'll go there.

But run it down.

Right. Look, I'm sorry, but I have a show to get ready for tonight.

I will be out of your way shortly. Just a couple of questions. Hey, I've got to

get back on schedule. Any idea how the killer might have gotten in or out

without being seen?

Listen, lots of people come in and out. I mean, who notices them? We're very

busy here. Or we were.

Oh, I'll never get this show on the road.

Sure you will. All you have to do is replace the Harlequin Act.

Fran, see if the officers will give us a ride to the hotel. I'll leave word for

Edward to find us.

Now, young man, about that act you have to fill.

She finds type of it.

Hello?

Is somebody there?

Who?

Look, where are you?

Los Angeles.

Please, I have to talk to Uncle Bob.

I'm begging.

Now listen to me.

He's in Los Angeles, too.

He's there trying to find you.

I owe you a few. Good.

I want an APB on a 16 -year -old runaway and on a man who's out to kill her.

Okay, you can dictate description to my... Second, Charlie. First, how's your

influence with the media?

Newspaper or TV?

Both.

In true show business tradition, the show will go on, even though one of two

harlequins who performed a mechanical man act was found dead in his dressing

room. a victim of stab wounds from an unknown assailant. His partner will do

act alone.

You can catch it at 8 p .m. on KCAL.

Turning now to the weather, it will be... Well, if he doesn't see it, he

on the moon.

Say it.

Leave it there. Right there.

Okay, Chief.

All right, you can drop it right there, Joe.

You are under arrest for the murder of Phil Pearson and Jamie Fields.

I'm glad it's over.

You should be.

Here, move.

Thank you.

What are you doing here?

Waiting for you, Daddy.

That's my costume.

What?

No, no, no.

Why?

Why?

For you, babe? Don't hang it on me. No, I tried to get it for you, babe.

I hid him in a corner, babe.

He hid me boxed in.

I had to stay alive, didn't I?

You don't have to kill Jamie.

Yeah.

He saw me, Billy.

I saw you.

Not Jamie.

Me.

Not me.

That I never have told.

Peggy?

You know, he asked me what kind of job it was.

And I said, it's a surprise. Just meet me there.

Pearson would have caught up with him somewhere, Peggy.

He was the one I thought I could depend on.

How about your mother?

We don't talk a lot.

Maybe you should start.

I should think that now you'd be able to appreciate the fact that all your life

she tried to preserve a decent image of your father.

No, it would have been better if she just told the truth.

Well, that might be a good subject for a conversation.

Or a fight.

Even that's communication.

And who knows?

Yeah.

Who knows?

You know, I always sort of did like Elliot.

You think I should go back with him, don't you?

I think what you do is entirely up to you.

Now, will you wait in the other room for me, please?