Original subtitles

Barnaby Jones, starring Buddy Ebsen.

Also starring Lee Merriweather, with guest stars Pippa Scott,

Murray Hamilton, Richard Anderson.

Tonight's episode, Fatal Flight.

Hey, Bill?

Bill?

Yeah? Phone call.

Who is it?

I don't know. Just ask for Bill Claymore. Okay.

Warmed up, Dan?

Yep. It's all set to go, Mr. Gordon.

Say, Mr. Gordon?

Sure you don't want me to fly you up?

No, thanks. Keep my hand in.

Hey, uh, they hung up. Who was that on the phone, a man or a woman? I don't

know. It was such a lousy connection, I couldn't tell.

Huh. Well, I'm going to call the wife.

See if she's trying to reach me.

Yeah.

3 -5 Romeo, cleared for takeoff.

Pretty sloppy takeoff.

I don't think imports from the Far East will cause any serious problems.

One area needing reappraisal are the short -term bank loans, totally

in view of higher interest rates.

With your permission, I'll put out feelers on how receptive the financial

would be to a convertible issue at this time.

No, thank you.

Gordon started using this type of communication with me when I took over

board chairman.

I have to wade through about 16 pounds of reports a week.

So I was grateful to have Gordon consolidate his own on tapes.

We're coming to it now.

Just one other item, Bob.

I won't bother you with speculation at this point, but tomorrow I expect to

confirm what may be a very delicate situation in the Towers.

I'll be at the Coventry Lodge for the weekend. Call you when I get back.

And that's it.

Expecting to confirm what may be a delicate situation in the Towers.

Mr. Jones, I haven't the faintest idea what he's talking about.

Mr. Drexel, what did he mean by the tower?

The executive suites in the Drexel building.

It's possible, Mr. Jones, that this is simply a coincidence.

Ted Gordon crashing that plane into a mountainside the same day he's delving

into a company problem.

But Gordon was an excellent pilot. I can't believe that he was careless.

I saw the preliminary FAA report.

They seem to think that they tried to fly across that mountain range at too

an altitude and got into a downdraft.

They think, but they don't know for sure.

Of course, Gordon may have had a heart attack, or there may have been foul

Somebody may have tampered with the airplane.

That's what I want you to find out.

Where do you intend to start, Mr. Jones?

Well, I think the logical place to start would be in the tower.

I hope I don't step on too many VIPs' toes.

Yes?

I've moved the board meeting up to the 5th.

I think two weeks is a suitable morning period. All due respect to Ted.

Drexel talked to you about this man Jones?

Briefly. We're supposed to give him our fullest cooperation.

I don't see why our own security people can't handle it.

Yes?

Uh, Mr. Jones is here, Mr. Balford.

He... Show him in?

He's already in.

Mr. Gordon's office.

Well, he asked for that office, and when I pointed it out to him, the door was

open.

Simply went into it.

Ask Mr. Cassidy to join us there.

We'll get this over with in one shot.

I don't want Jones wandering around these offices wasting everybody's time.

Hey, you know, times really change.

I can remember when a company used to be in just one business, but you people

are in there.

Construction business, power business, airplane business.

You know, I think today a company has to have about 20 other companies attached

to it, all doing different things.

It's called a conglomerate.

I know.

You know, when I was a boy, and probably when you were a boy, Mr. Balford, I'll

bet you that word wasn't even in the dictionary.

I don't think we've ever met.

Oh, Barnaby Jones.

Oh, you mean, how did I know your name?

Well, your picture was in the annual report.

First Vice President and Miss Harley, Gordon's executive assistant.

I see you've done your homework.

Well, it saves a lot of time. Oh, Mr. Cassidy, I'm Barnaby. Yes, I know.

Is there some way I can help you?

Well, try not to take up too much of your time. I just have a couple of

questions.

Mr. Gordon's tape recording, he said that he thought that a very delicate

situation existed.

In the tower?

Could any of you throw any light on that?

Mr. Drexel has already spoken to us about that tape. I'm afraid we can't

you. Oh.

Well, you had an appointment with Mr. Gordon at 10 o 'clock the morning before

his plane crashed.

Do you mind telling me what that appointment was all about?

Where did you get that information?

Right here, out of Mr.

Gordon's appointment calendar.

10 a .m., Belford, 3 p .m.

Cassidy, and here's one CG at 12 .30.

Was that a luncheon appointment, Miss Hartley?

What? CG, 12 .30.

You recall anyone with those initials?

I wouldn't know.

My meeting with Gordon was about that annual report.

He planned on studying at the company lodge.

Our meeting was about the same thing. Now, if you have no further questions,

Jones, I have an awful lot of work to do. Well, yes, I just have one more

question.

Mr. Gordon crashed his plane about noon on a Saturday.

Would it offend anyone here if I were to ask what each of you were doing on that

Saturday?

I believe I took a drive.

And I was shopping most of the day.

I don't know where I was.

Mr. Cassidy's very impatient for a man in charge of research, but maybe that's

what it takes.

We'd all like to get on with it, Mr. Jones.

Thank you very much for your time, Mr. Balfour.

Mr. Hartley?

Drexel's subjecting us to this kind of thing.

Hmm.

You do have to admit it was strange, Gordon flying his plane into that

This is what's left of the automatic pilot.

Do you have any evidence that would pinpoint a cause of the accident?

Our agency's investigated quite a few of these types of accidents.

In this case, our conclusion of pilot error is more than justified by the

plane handling right from takeoff.

Sloppy in what way?

Well, according to the controller, the tail almost hit the ground.

What would cause that?

Trim tabs adjusted wrong, insufficient speed for takeoff, overloading of the

luggage in the rear, among other oversights.

How much luggage was he carrying?

None at all. Just a briefcase.

You have the briefcase?

We released it a few moments ago to the Drexel people.

Their pilot has it.

Probably charred whatever he was carrying.

Ah, it's just some burnt papers.

Interesting to read.

How can you do that?

They got ways to bring the print back.

It's Claymore.

You serviced Mr. Gordon's plane the day he crashed.

Did anyone touch it before you turned it over?

No.

Not from the time I gave it a ground check.

Oh, Foley called me to the phone, but I wasn't away from the plane maybe a

minute or so. It's a bad connection. Party on that.

Thanks.

Now, by noticing you're packing your chute here, you belong to that skydiving

club I've seen a little way out of town?

Yep, I'm one of those crazy bunch.

Oh, no, no, I wouldn't say that. I admire you guys. Very cool. You take

long free fall right up the circle holding hands.

I'd like to see that sometime.

Getting ready for a jump?

First thing tomorrow morning. The weather's decent.

Don't be surprised if you see me there.

Hey, there's something hasn't changed, has it?

Still basic.

Well, not always.

Maybe it's time for a change.

Now, here's a new wrinkle being developed by Mr. Cassidy.

Now, it's just a prototype.

We're still working on how to contain it.

You see, a jumper depends on the ear they're falling through to open their

Now, would you mind stepping back a little bit?

Now, watch this.

Something like this would permit low -level jumps.

Hey, that's really something.

Looks like it shoots full of air.

Yeah, Mr.

Cassidy's still tinkering with it, as he likes to say.

You know, that's how he started with the company, as a research engineer.

Hey, by the way, the FAA says that Mr. Gordon's takeoff wasn't everything it

should have been. You know anything about that?

Well, no, I was in a hangar on the phone with my wife.

Hey, Dan, you saw the takeoff, didn't you?

Hail dropped a bit.

No big thing.

Didn't seem unusual to you?

Well, it happened.

Could have been a crosswind.

Can you get me a chopper and a pilot?

Oh, sure.

Looking at the pilot. Cut my teeth on him in Vietnam.

You mind flying me out to the crash site this afternoon?

No problem.

Happy landing.

Jones has a briefcase.

I don't know. He took it before I could get my hands on it.

Hey, listen, I don't feel too good about this around here.

Jones is running around asking a lot of questions. Now he's going out looking at

the crash site this afternoon.

I didn't get a chance to get my hands on it.

Jones just went at it like a bird dog.

And I have to name a little higher figure for that kind of work.

Now there's a private field about 30 miles north of that range and the lodge

about 20 minutes more by car And Gordon must have been underway about an hour

We have to make a turn in order to end up at that mountain.

Let's make the same turn.

of impact just about down there.

Did you claim more?

I know it's a little clearer

Where are you going?

Notice this piece of cloth in the tree as we came down.

Looks like it's a parachute.

Looks like he did a little misjudging.

I bet he landed here.

I'll bet you one thing.

He didn't walk 40 miles out of this forest.

Here's a transportation right here.

Somebody waiting for him, you think?

Not necessarily.

He could have parked the car here before he jumped.

Betty, have you got your measuring tape?

My constant companion until I get that living room redecorated. Why don't you

take a few pictures of the tire treads while I do a little measuring?

You know, at first I thought my theory was a little far out, but somebody did

land here.

There's a lot of skydiving going on in these parts. Do you think that could

explain it?

Any jumper would try to hit that clearing.

You're taking an awful chance for the sake of the sport.

Take a close -up of that.

Very good.

Figures are sharp and clear.

That's settled for more figures and less clarity.

Was Bernie able to do anything with the pictures?

Yes. He said that the pictures, along with your measurements, indicate that

car's a dune buddy.

He drew a sketch of what the tread should look like.

The left rear wheel with a long gouge running right along the tread.

Pretty distinctive.

I'll be able to do something with that. Now, the first thing tomorrow.

I want to check the members of the skydiving club, see what they're all

Then maybe we ought to take a ride out to the field and talk to Dan Foley.

That Drexel mechanic's still bothering you, isn't he?

Yeah, it keeps ticking in my mind. Why was he so nervous when he was talking to

me? I always pictured skydivers as being a sort of a breed of cool, no nerve.

You look awfully tired. Why don't you stay in the car, Ty?

Exactly what I'm going to do.

Orange Buggy, 703 IHJ.

It's Daniel Foley, all right.

Prime Minister Foley.

Right?

What?

Don't I know you from San Antonio?

I've never been there.

Yeah, the Sky Rover Club. You were one of the girl jumpers. Eight, maybe nine

years ago.

Oh, I think you're mistaken.

I doubt that we've ever met.

But you sure are a ringer for it. Hey, listen, I'm sorry.

It's all right. Okay.

Wow.

That's a new approach. Charlie?

Mr. Cassidy?

Oh, Mr. Jones.

I didn't know you were interested in skydiving.

Well, just a recent interest. I assume you're here professionally?

Yes, some of the jumpers are using equipment designed by our air safety

division. Oh, I understand.

I've been reading a lot about Drexel Company lately. Some of it very

complimentary to you, Mr. Cassidy.

I understand you developed much of the early patent.

Mr. Jones, is there some purpose to this conversation, or is this just merely

chit -chat?

Merely chit -chat for now.

If I have any questions, I'll call you during business hours.

Oh, Mr. Jones, I understand that you're trying to reconstruct those burnt papers

from Ted Gordon's briefcase.

Strange you should say that.

Somebody else seemed to be interested last night.

I've heard about the process, but I've never seen it. Any luck?

No. Well, our laboratories could help you if you want.

Well, thank you very much, Mr. Cassidy. I've practically got the job done. All

right.

Doesn't tell you much, does he?

Maybe he's got nothing to tell.

I don't see Dan Foley around. He's the last one out. He's coming around now.

Barnaby, is there any chance that whoever shot at you could have nothing

with this case?

I don't think it's possible.

But if it was Foley's buggy that picked up that jumper at the clearing, our

little talk should be very interesting.

Watching gives me butterflies.

Had to get pretty close.

I'll take those papers, Mr. Balfour.

What are you doing here?

Possibly looking for the same thing you are.

You have no right to read that.

I think I have as much right as you do.

You don't understand, Mr. Jordan. I understand enough to suspect that Dan

had something to do with Gordon's plane crashing.

Oak Ridge Sanitarium.

Bill is made out to cleat Balfour.

You have a drinking problem?

Might call it that.

Attempted a drying out period.

Something I'd been keeping from the company.

Foley found out about it, got his hands on that record. And he was blackmailing

you?

Well, you don't have any more problems about Foley. He died this morning.

I heard.

Did Gordon know you had a drinking problem?

He was ready to recommend my dismissal to Drexel.

Well, there's a pretty good motive for your wishing him dead.

Ridiculous. Not so ridiculous.

Foley was blackmailing you.

For a few dollars more, you could have hired somebody to stow away on the

airplane, see that it crashed, and then parachute down. That's a lie.

Weren't you the one that originally recommended Foley for that mechanic's

He blackmailed me into it.

All he wanted was a job.

Later, it became a thousand a month on the side.

But I didn't kill him or Gordon.

Didn't you, Mr. Balford?

Jones!

If you're looking for someone with a motive, Cassidy had a psychotic hatred

Gordon.

What does that mean?

Drexel International was a one -cylinder operation trying to meet a payroll when

Cassidy joined the company.

It was his research and developments that made us what we are today.

But Gordon took all the credit for himself.

Don't look to me for motive.

Talk to Cassidy.

I take it you don't like Mr. Cassidy.

I find myself no longer liking or disliking Mr. Jones.

You put in 15 -hour days trying to keep up with a growing company.

Finds you can't.

What do you do?

Say, I don't want my big house, my imported car, my country club.

Do you admit you can't cope?

Do you look for a... I found mine.

How I fought it.

Then Gordon gave me the ultimatum.

I began fighting for my very life.

Still am.

two people, Mr. Balford.

Would Mr. Gordon have kept a personal file on unrelated businesses, Bethany?

Oh, not that I'm aware of.

How far back can we go on these restaurant charges?

Well, the accounting department would surely have a file for the entire year.

Should I get it? Oh, yes, would you please?

Thank you.

C .D.

C.

Gee, isn't it odd that Gordon would write down Balford and Cassidy's names

remind him who he wanted to talk to that day, but used initials to indicate his

luncheon companion?

Check into the memo pad and see whether or not Gordon had it.

Here, June 19th, lunch, F .I.

Yeah, the restaurant chart slipped there for that date.

Here we go, June 19th. He had lunch with Thomas Harrington.

Thomas Carrington.

It's T .C., not F .I. What's the name of the restroom?

Um, Firelight Inn.

Firelight Inn, F .I.

C .J.

is not someone's initials.

It's a place.

Oh, I believe they were coming here for at least three years.

Always for dinner, though, never for lunch, until that one day last week.

And you really think they had a romance going?

It wasn't just business talk.

Oh, my, yes.

You run a restaurant as long as I have, you get to know the signs.

The little smiles, the laughter, the gentleness of Mr. Gordon.

Ms. Wilson, have you any idea why they broke up?

No. I certainly remember the last time they were here, though.

It was more than a year ago.

Neither one of them even touched their dinner.

The lady was trying very hard not to cry.

And Mr. Gordon was very apologetic.

I remember thinking, what a shame that they were breaking up.

You make nice arrangements.

That's the last time you saw them until Friday at lunch?

Yes, I was quite surprised to see them again. And I thought to myself, well,

nice. They're back together.

So I realized they were very angry with each other.

There. That's very pretty.

Thank you.

Mrs. Wilson, did you overhear Mr.

Gordon and the woman? Were they angry about the business dealing?

I really don't know what the quarrel was about.

They kept their voices very low and very bitter.

Is this the lady?

Yes.

Yeah, that's her.

Our relationship was none of your business, Mr. Jones.

Miss Harley, two men have already died under strange circumstances. I almost

became the third, but there would have been nothing strange about a bullet.

It doesn't surprise me that you have enemies.

You could have saved me a lot of trouble by telling me it was you Gordon had

lunch with that day.

That was personal, Mr. Jones.

Out at the field, you told one of the jumpers you'd never been a member of the

San Antonio Skydiving Club.

It was simple to check out.

You do a lot of congratulations for the number of trophies you've won.

You misunderstand that in my position, I had no desire to renew certain old

acquaintances. I understand that, but there are a lot of things I don't

understand.

Balford already told us you believed there was a stowaway on board the plane

that day.

Why don't you go to the police with that theory?

Because that's all I have is a theory. A motive is what I'm looking for.

And now you have my motive for killing Ted Gordon.

Our affair on the rocks, his refusal to marry me.

That's very interesting, Miss Harley.

I didn't know that Gordon had refused to marry you.

What was that lunch all about?

He wanted me back.

On his terms.

Still no marriage, but in its place, stock options.

Like a common... Well, perhaps not so common, but equally degrading.

You say we argued over lunch that day. Argue is a mild word.

I could have killed it.

Right there at the table.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm already late for a meeting.

Thank you.

You ought to be careful where you're going, Mr. Jones.

Well, thank you very much, Mr. Carr.

And listen, enjoy the rest of your vacation.

All right.

Bye -bye.

Mr. Barnaby, I finally located the lodge caretaker, Mr.

Carr, with something very interesting.

Didn't you tell me that Gordon was due to arrive up at the lodge around 1 o

'clock in the afternoon?

That's what we estimated.

Well, Mr. Carr said that Gordon phoned him and told him to expect him around

dinner time, 8 o 'clock.

8 o 'clock?

I wonder what Gordon expected to be doing for those 7 hours.

Well, I asked Mr. Carr the same thing. He said that he felt that Gordon was

going to make a stop by Drexel Records Building, which is about a 20 -minute

drive from the Lincoln Meadows airfield.

Records Building?

It's a computerized center. You push a button and anything that Drexel

International is involved in comes out in a few seconds.

According to those tapes that Drexel played for me, Gordon was trying to...

Confirm what he called a delicate situation in the tower.

Maybe call the tower and tell him I need a plane.

Well, it'd be quicker to call the airfield directly.

Oh, no, no. Call the tower. We need a little publicity.

Tell him I need a plane to fly me to Lincoln Meadows Field, and I don't want

car waiting for me to drive me to the records building.

Barnaby.

Anybody was worried about Gordon getting there with these figures, you ought to

be doubly worried about me getting there.

Ready to go whenever you are, Mr. Jones.

Expecting someone else?

I'm not sure. Can you give me a couple of minutes?

I'll take your time.

Mr. Jones, you mind some company?

Plenty of room. I heard you were going to visit our record building.

Reminded me that I haven't seen it in a while.

I wonder if Bill is ready.

Yeah? Good.

Travel in mighty fine style.

You don't, uh... I mean, you're not nervous, am I, coming along, are you,

Johnson? Should I be?

Whenever you're ready, Bill.

Well, strange things happen on aircraft.

Like, um... Well, the door opens at 10 ,000 feet.

Mr. Cassidy, I figured you for a lot more imagination.

Not for me, thanks.

Mr. Cassidy, isn't it true that you disliked Theodore Gordon?

No, no, I didn't dislike him.

I despised him.

He took credit for all of my ideas and my talents.

He tossed me fancy titles like you toss bones to a dog.

Second vice president of Drexel International doesn't exactly sound like

throwing bones to a dog.

It's all relative, isn't it, Mr. Jones?

Cheers.

Tell me, have you eliminated me as your number one suspect?

Not entirely, Mr. Cassidy.

Life is full of surprises.

You know, I have a theory about all this, Mr. Jones. I don't think that

was murdered.

I think you've taken a series of coincidences, added two plus two, and

up with five.

And to prove that, let's take a look at your briefcase.

That's not possible, Mr. Cassidy.

Of course it is.

We're not due to that field for half an hour.

What is this? We... I have that gun, Mr. Jones.

John it.

candle you've been along, Frank.

The first time worked so well, Miss Harley, you figured you earned another

Janice, what are you doing?

All those years I've been living on promises just like you, Frank.

But I had nothing to fall back on. A woman scorned.

Murder does seem a little extreme, doesn't it?

You know perfectly well that wasn't my reason for killing Gordon.

It was his life or mine.

Might have gone to prison after he had those records checked.

Janice, we're losing altitude. We're on a glide path right to those mountains.

Now, I'll have that briefcase, please.

Actually, Miss Harley, there's nothing in the briefcase that would interest

Slide it here.

that briefcase to me.

Frank?

I'll offer you some advice.

Don't do it.

But I have to.

I've been living a nightmare.

Getting rid of Gordon, finding Foley's chute.

I haven't been able to sleep since he's been asking questions.

the data, those figures.

Miss Harley, I showed the figures to Mr. Drexel and he agreed that so few would

have been no help to his accountants.

You're almost home free.

loss is expected to be about a million and a half dollars.

Mr. Gordon's signatures were all forged by Janice, of course, the payments going

directly to the bogus mining exploration company.

And that's it.

Disbursements for non -existent field work.

Janice Harley cashing the checks and building up a tidy bank account. Nobody

questioning Gordon's signature with Janice handling the details.

Any questions, Mr. Jones?

Yes, I have a question for Mr. Cassidy.

But before the question, I'd like to congratulate the new president of Drexel

International.

Thank you, Mr. Jones.

Now, what is your question?

Well, sir, that day out at the power plant where I almost got fried by the

-tension wires, it was quite a coincidence to look up there at the

see you standing right about where the wires parted. Right.

Tell me, was that an accident?

Mr. Jones?

That's just what it was, pure and simple.

An accident.

That's what I figured.

By the way, Mr. Jones, I understand you're a fanatic on fishing.

We have a trout lake by the lodge with action you won't believe.

How about joining me tomorrow?

Lake trout?

Let's make it eight in the morning.

You have got a date.

You're going to love this place.

I'll have a plane ready for us.

Mr. Drexel.

I mean, it's a nice drive up to that place. Why don't you let me pick you up

my car at 8 o 'clock?

Because, frankly, I have had all the flying I need for a little while.

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