Original subtitles

Barnaby Jones, a Quinn Martin production.

Starring Buddy Ebsen.

Also starring Lee Merriweather.

Mark Schera.

With guest stars Granville Van Dusen, Alan Rosenberg,

Ivor Barry, Ryan McDonald.

With special guest star

Claudette Nevins.

Tonight's episode, Memory of a Nightmare.

Oh, good night, Ellen.

What do you mean, good night?

The party's moving over. Might as well make sure you come in.

Oh, Joe, I'm sorry.

By the time I drive Larry to the airport, it's going to be so late.

As a working girl, you know.

A working girl, yes.

Always working overtime on another girl's mess.

Come on, Pat, quit crying in your beer. You and Larry have been divorced over a

year. A mere technicality.

Since Larry and I have been working together at the office, we've never been

closer. Even when we were married.

Well, it's obvious, Pat, that you are in no condition to drive.

Will you let me call a taxi for you?

Oh, this is for the birthday boy.

Now you take it and your taxi and stick it in your ear.

All right.

If you change your mind, Pat will be over at my place. I'd love to see how

two turns out. Oh, thanks a lot.

Good night.

Good night.

Oh, hi.

Hi. I'm sorry.

It's all right, Mary Lee.

Listen, it'd be a shame to waste the food. Take as much as you like. Thank

Have you seen Larry?

For Pete's sake, Larry, you're my brother. If I can't ask you for the

can I ask?

They're going at it again.

Big deal. All I'm asking for is a loan of a lousy few thousand dollars. Damn

Ray. Why don't you grow up?

Stop wasting your brains and my money over this crackpot ideas of yours. The

only money I've wasted is on this lousy birthday present I bought for you.

Ray, you just blew $37.

Oh, come on.

My brother's a genius.

He invents things.

Mostly how to get money without working for it.

Where's that smile I saw earlier this evening? Come on. Come on.

Come on.

That's better. Better? Much better.

Yes. Much, much better.

Now, look, if we don't leave for the Air Force, you are going to miss your

plane. I may have to postpone going to San Diego altogether.

Oh, honey, that's super.

Could we take a drive down to the marina and go out for that midnight sail that

you've been promising me?

Okay. If a letter I'm expecting doesn't arrive in four and a half minutes, you

and I will be having breakfast in Avalon Harbor.

Boy, am I going to hate myself.

Is that what you've been looking for?

Something important?

Will

you

look at me, cowboy?

Go on back to the house and call the police.

Hello, Betty.

Hi.

How are you feeling?

Pretty good, I think.

How is this for going home?

Say, if I lived in the North Pole, it'd be perfect.

Didn't you see the light green one right next to it?

Well, there's a little nip in the air. You know, you can't be too careful.

Was it... Were there many people there at the funeral?

Larry had a lot of friends.

I just talked to the doctor, and he said that he has to wait for one more test,

but he's pretty sure you can go home this afternoon.

That's great.

You know, it is...

Strange.

I've been lying here for a couple of days trying to remember what

happened after the car went off the road.

What's going on, Barnaby?

Yesterday there were a couple of police officers also by asking about Larry's

accident. What's the matter? Doesn't anybody believe Betty's story about

pushed off the road? Well, that's the way it is with investigations.

Sometimes you have to raise some doubts in order to nail down the truth.

Is that Pat Ronkel's plane?

It's a shame.

Pat, Larry's ex -wife, and Betty.

The two women in his life that meant anything to him, neither one could make

to his funeral.

Well, Larry and Pat must have gotten along pretty well.

Larry keeping her on as head of public relations after their divorce.

You might say that marriage almost ruined their friendship.

Besides introducing Betty to Larry, I understand that you recommended the

company bring him in here as president of Sun Aeronautics. Did that create any

resentment? We were in bad financial shape.

Larry turned things around. Why should anyone resent that?

There must have been some who didn't exactly appreciate being passed over in

favor of an outside man.

Uh -huh. The devious mind of a detective, huh?

You know, Larry might have put a few noses out of joint, but not enough for

anyone to want to seem dead.

Hi, Joe. San Diego office. Can I touch with you?

Yes. They called just after you took off. Congratulations.

Thank you. Madison Avenue couldn't have handled the sales promo on the Sky

Commander any better than you did.

Are these the people you called me about?

Barnaby Jones, J .R. Jones, Pat Ronkle.

Joe, I told you, I have nothing to say to them or to anybody.

This is, uh, Betty's father -in -law. You can give him a few minutes of your

time, okay?

Yeah, I'll take this.

Um, tell Betty that I'll drop in the first chance I get.

Mr. Jones, I didn't go to Larry's funeral because I couldn't share my

all those other people.

And I feel the same way now. I don't want to talk about it. Pat, I have a

daughter -in -law who's taking it pretty badly, too.

Well, why shouldn't she?

As far as I know, Larry's dead because she had too much to drink that night.

According to Betty and other guests, she only had one glass of champagne to

toast Larry's birthday.

Well, undoubtedly, she had more after the rest of us left.

If that were true, it would still be an accident.

But if it wasn't... Yeah, yeah. Joe told me all about that other car theory of

yours. And I still don't believe it.

Well, supposing that were true, do you know of anyone who might have held that

kind of a grudge against Larry?

Larry didn't have an enemy in the world.

This monkey's on your daughter -in -law's back. And that's exactly where

going to stay.

And now, you'll excuse me?

You know, Diane, I'm beginning to feel like... one of these airplanes flying

around up there in the dark at night without a compass.

We don't even know enough about what happened to ask the right question.

know. We can only get Betty to remember something about that other car.

We'd have a lead to go on, you know.

On second thought, there might be a way.

On the... Clear your mind, Betty.

Concentrate.

You're getting drowsy now.

Very drowsy.

When I count to three, you will be asleep.

But you will hear everything I say.

One.

Your eyelids are growing heavy.

Try to think back to the night of the party.

Who?

Very sleepy.

Deep, deep sleep.

Three.

Sleep.

All right, you can open your eyes now, Betty.

Tell me about the party.

Did anything unusual happen before you left with Larry for the airport?

It was a very nice party.

Everyone was having such a good time.

Do you see Larry?

Yes.

He really liked the sweater I gave him.

It's later now.

The party's nearly over.

No, I'm...

I'm sorry, Ray. I really can't do it. I'm sorry.

Is this the Ray you told me about earlier, Larry's brother?

Yes.

Ray wanted me to ask Larry to help him finance some scheme he had for promoting

a Grand Prix for motorbikes. I told him I couldn't interfere.

All right, let's go on.

It's getting near time to start for the airport.

Besides the incident with his brother later,

Did anything else happen to upset Larry?

No, except... Except what?

Betty, what else happened to upset Larry?

They're... They're arguing in the library about something.

I've never seen Joe so angry.

What were they arguing about?

It's something about business.

Joe doesn't like the way Larry's running Sun Aeronautics. That's not what Joe

told us.

All right, Betty.

I think it's time to move on again.

You're on the road now, driving Larry to the airport.

The car that ran you off the road, can you see it yet?

Lunatic.

He's going to drive us off the road.

He? It was a man?

I don't know.

It could have been a woman.

It's too dark to tell.

What about the car? What color is it?

White, blue.

White.

I can't.

I can't.

Oh, Lord.

What is it? What do you see?

Whoever it is is taking the letter from Larry's pocket.

What letter is that?

I can't.

No, no, no.

Leave it to me. She has to be brought back correctly.

Betty, Betty, when I count to three, you will wake up and you will feel fine.

One, everything is all right.

Two.

Now on three, you will wake up and you won't be frightened anymore.

Three.

Anybody here?

That all depends.

Who are you looking for?

Uh, Ray Reed.

Somehow I get the feeling you're not him.

How can you tell?

Uh, well, the buttons are on the wrong side of your shirt. It's a dead

You're kind of cute yourself.

But if you're making a path, you've got lousy timing.

I told the credit manager I'd pay the bills on those transmissions as soon as

got some money for my brother's estate, so get off my back. Hold it. Wait a

minute. I'm not a bill collector.

My name is J .R. Jones.

I'm with Barnaby Jones Investigations.

Jones? You related to Betty Jones, what my brother was going with?

That's why I'm here. We're looking into your brother's death.

What for? Everybody knows what happened.

Yeah, but not why somebody made it happen and who.

Yeah, anybody got any theories?

If you dig deep enough, you can always find somebody with a grudge.

A business associate or an ex -wife or even a brother.

And you hear this punk?

He's accusing me of killing my own brother.

No, no, but I am trying to show you how easy it is for people to make

accusations.

Against Betty or even you.

Hey, listen, man.

You start bum -rapping my pal with the wrong people and we're going to spread

you all over town.

Excuse me, you're in my way.

Betty, it's me.

Joe?

Hi. Oh, come on in.

Oh, hello, Pat.

Hello, Betty. We tried you at the hospital, but they said you'd checked

yesterday. Terrific. Is this okay here?

Oh, it's lovely. Thank you so much.

Well, other than that bruise on your forehead, you're not really looking any

worse for wear.

Well, I guess I'll never run the mile in under four minutes again, but I'll

recover. Listen, please sit down. Can I get you some coffee, a drink? No, no,

thank you. We can't stay very long. Joe insisted we come up, if only for a

minute. Yeah, well, we're on our way to a sales meeting, trying to keep up with

a promotional program that Larry laid out for the company.

Larry was always full of such great plans.

There never were enough hours in the day for him.

I met the detective of yours yesterday, Barnaby Jones.

Pat, let's not talk about that.

Why not?

We're all friends, aren't we?

How's he doing, your detective?

Well, first of all, he's not my detective.

He's my father -in -law and my boss.

Oh, how nice.

Comes in handy, doesn't it, having one in the family?

Has he come up with anything about that other car you claim ran you off the

road? Not yet.

But there may be proof now that there was another car.

You're kidding.

What kind of proof?

A letter.

It was delivered to Larry the night of the... Well, you accepted it from the

postman.

What letter?

Sure. You signed for it just before you left the party, don't you remember?

Oh, vaguely, maybe.

Please, Pat, it's very important.

Did you take a look at the letter? Did you see where it came from? Who sent it?

I really didn't pay very much attention.

That's too bad.

Oh, what does it have to do with the accident?

Well, when Pat gave me the letter, I gave it to Larry.

Whoever killed him took it from his pocket after the accident.

You sure of that?

Well, just before I passed out.

I'm almost positive.

I saw someone out there going through his pockets.

Proof almost positive is almost as good as no proof at all.

Wish I could help you, but... Joe, we'll be late for the meeting. Yeah.

All right, well, listen, take care of yourself, and if you need anything, let

know, okay?

Thank you for coming over.

I appreciate that, Tom.

I'll wait for your call.

My friend in the federal building put through a tracer on that registered

letter. Seems it was sent from a post office in San Diego.

San Diego certainly is popping up a lot, isn't it?

Larry was headed there the night he was killed. His ex -wife just flew back from

there, and now this.

Did your friend at the federal building say who the letter was from?

He's having somebody check the postal records.

How'd it go with Larry's brother Ray?

Nothing. Oh, wait a minute.

That is an emergency request for $50 ,000 made by Ray against Larry's estate.

I got those copies from the executor when I dropped by the scene.

Since your estate won't be settled for at least six months, and in the light of

the fact that Larry made a verbal commitment to invest this sum in a

motorcycle Grand Prix company, according to Betty, Larry refused to give Ray

the money.

That's right.

It isn't really...

You know, much of a lie, because Ray's gonna get all of Larry's estate anyway,

but it's a clue as to how desperate Ray is to get his hands on his brother's

money.

Hello?

It's a business phone, Barnaby. You're supposed to say, Barnaby Jones

Investigations. May I help you?

Oh, Betty, that just showed you how lost we are down here without you.

Well, I'm feeling much better. I think I'll be in in the morning, but there's

one thing I'd like to do first. I'd like to give Dr. Kirby one more try.

I got it. Betty.

Hornaby, doing investigations.

Hypnotherapy is a good thing, except when it affects people the way it

you. Hornaby, Tom at the federal building.

Hang on, Betty.

Yeah, Tom, what do you got?

Betty, hi.

What is all this about hypnotherapy? You're not going to go through that

are you?

Thank you very much, Tom.

Betty, why does the name G .W.

Laszlo mean something to me?

G .W. Laszlo?

Five or six years ago, didn't his name come up in an insurance case we were

working on? Well, if the G stands for Gerald, there was a private detective

working out of San Diego by that name.

Right.

Turns out he was the one that sent Larry that registered letter.

Do we have his phone number around?

In my book, on the desk.

Talk to you later.

Yeah, this is General Laszlo.

Yeah, that's my license number. What's the matter?

You backed into my car?

Well, was there much damage?

All right, all right.

It's very nice of you to call and tell me.

Are you in the garage now?

Yeah, I'll be right down.

Lieutenant, is Laszlo spelled with a W or an O at the end of it?

Laszlo?

With an O.

Didn't you go to school?

Barnaby.

Hey, pal, what brings you to San Diego?

Did you take the wrong turn on the freeway?

If this is the Laszlo the officer was asking about, looks like we got here too

late. Gerald Laszlo.

You know him?

We flew down here to talk to him about a case we're working on. Well, you're

about two hours late.

That's when the security guard was making his rounds and found him like

you have any idea what happened?

This is my cousin Jedediah Jones. He works with me.

How are you?

We found his wallet in the street and money gone.

All the earmarks were mugging.

Pretty careless mugger, wouldn't you say, to leave a ring like this?

More than likely, the security guard was making his rounds about then.

Scared him off.

Lieutenant, the coroner wants to know if it's okay to remove the body.

Yeah, but I want to talk to him first.

If there's any way I can help you with this case you're talking about, let me

know, Barnaby, okay?

Thanks, Ray. I'll call you.

Thank you.

Well, Jedediah, let's go see what else we can find out about Mr. Laszlo.

Excuse me.

Was this Mr.

Laszlo's apartment?

Yes. I'm Mrs. West, the manager.

Lieutenant Griffin told me that you fellas were finished in here.

Well, Lieutenant's apartment's probably finished, but we're conducting an

independent investigation, you might say.

I'm cleaning up and throwing out the dinner Mr. Laszlo was cooking before

terrible thing happened.

Did Laszlo live here alone?

Nicest bachelor tenant we have had.

Do you have any relatives you know of?

Just a brother in Philadelphia.

I don't know the address, but the lieutenant said he'd look it up and ask

make arrangements.

Who belongs to this? There's a whole closet of women's clothes in there.

I said he was a bachelor, not a monk.

She'd come to visit every now and then.

Pretty woman.

Well, more sexy than pretty.

This one?

Uh, yeah.

You know her name?

Once or twice I heard him call her my little atom bomb.

Sounds kinky, if you ask me.

Boutique of the Stars, Hollywood.

Yeah, that's Jean. She buys here a lot.

Do you know her last name?

That's all I know her by.

What about an address or a phone number from a check or a credit card?

Uh -uh. Jean always pays in cash.

All right, just one more thing. If Jean ever comes in again, tell her that I'll

really make it worth her while if she gives me a call.

What about my while?

Well, you set it up for me, and I'll buy you another dress like that. Are you

kidding? Outside of here, I wouldn't be seen dead in this thing.

But I wouldn't mind you taking me out for some lobster Cantonese at the China

Dragon. You got yourself a deal?

Larry, we're going to crash.

It's all right, Betty. It's all right.

You're in your own apartment. Nothing can happen to you.

It's tan, I think. The car that ran you off the road?

No, it's like beige.

Ray Reed has a beige car. I saw it out at the ranch.

Betty, I want you to concentrate.

On the person who took the letter from Larry's pocket.

Try to tell us if it's a man or a woman.

If it's someone you know.

Think hard.

Whoever it is is bending over Larry, getting the letter.

Oh.

I'm sorry.

Are you all right?

I just can't seem to stay with it. I'm sorry.

Is it because of something you saw?

It's something I didn't see that keeps bothering me. The letter.

I didn't see him or her or whoever it was take the letter from Larry's pocket.

Well, did you see the letter being taken the last time?

I saw something white and shiny.

What if it wasn't the letter at all?

What if it was this shiny thing that I saw both times?

The letter wasn't found on Larry's body.

What else could have happened to it?

I don't know.

I suppose he could have left it at the house.

You know, before we started for the airport.

Hey, hey, hey, look at this.

Hey, new meat.

Hey, come on, Sadie, take off your clothes and join the party.

Ray, what are these people doing here? What are you doing here? What does it

look like, celebrating my inheritance?

Here, have a beer.

Hey, come on, pretty mama.

How about a swim?

I'm sorry, I forgot my swimsuit.

Oh, you don't need a suit, does she, Mary Lee? No, raw, it's healthy.

Ray, Larry's estate is still in probate. You could be cited for trespassing, you

know. Don't give me that probate bull.

This house, everything, it belongs to me now. I can do whatever I want.

You're the one who's trespassing.

And that's against the law.

Let's call the cops. Come on.

No, no cops. I'm the law on this property.

I say let's have a trial. Hey, come on, let's have a trial. Yeah, trial, right.

Archie, you be the judge.

I came here to look for a letter that Larry might have left here the night he

died. Okay.

So show us the letter.

Come on. Where's the evidence?

Here, let's go.

Court's waiting.

I don't know where the letter is, but I could use your help to find it. It could

prove that Larry's death was not an accident.

It wasn't an accident. Do you believe that?

Well,

that's all. Then the defense rests.

What does the jury have to say?

The butler did it.

Judge?

Billy, you heard the verdict.

Stop being such stupid fools.

And the sentence is death by drowning.

Okay, let's get her in the pool.

Okay, hold it right there, folks.

Oh, J .R.

Betty, I just came from the Supreme Court.

And you have been reprieved.

Yeah, well, I say they both go in the drink.

Good, I think my client and I'll be leaving.

Just keep walking, don't look back.

At first I was able to remember things past that white sparkling thing, and

nothing.

I swear it's as though my mind is focusing in on that, telling me to

remember what that was.

What about Ray Reed's car?

Well, J .R. pointed it out to me as we left Larry's place. It's a light beige

car, all right, but Barnaby, I can't swear whether that's the car that forced

off the road.

Barnaby Jones Investigations. Are you still set on giving hypnotism another

Yeah, thank you. We'll be right over.

Laszlo's girlfriend just walked into the dress shop.

Stop you off at your home. Oh, no, that's all right.

Dr. Kirby isn't due there until 8 o 'clock. I think I'll stick around and

up on the mail.

I will talk to you later. All right.

Oh, you gave me a start.

Oh, dear, I'm sorry.

You were out there a long time, weren't you? What were you doing?

Trying to decide whether or not I could bring myself to apologize to you.

Come on in, Beth.

All right.

Just for a minute, though.

Betty, I, uh... I read about Gerald Laszlo's murder.

Did you know Laszlo?

Well, that's why I came.

With him and Larry both dying so suddenly, I think now there must be

terrible going on.

That you must be right about that crash not being an accident.

What do you know about Laszlo?

Not very much.

One day last month, Larry and I both flew down to San Diego on business.

Larry was being very secretive, so I followed him.

I thought he might be meeting... I've never been to San Diego with Larry.

I was jealous.

Oh, what else is new?

At any rate, it turned out that he was meeting Laszlo. But in the meantime, he

had spotted me following him, and we both had a good laugh over it, and he

introduced me to Laszlo.

Well, did Larry say whether Laszlo was investigating anything for him?

I didn't even know Laszlo was a private investigator until I read about it in

the newspaper.

Look, Betty, I have to meet Joe and some clients for dinner, and I'm late now.

But I want to help you get to the bottom of this if there's anything I can do I

want you to call me, okay Thanks for coming by Pat

It's nothing and I'm sorry for the way I behaved

It's a little tight, but it's me. What do you think?

I think if you bottle it and stick in a couple of straws, you'll make a fortune.

What's going on, Lois?

You turning this place into a peep show?

Jean, they're private investigators.

They want to talk to you about something.

About another private investigator, to be precise, Gerald Laszlo.

Never heard of him.

On second thought, maybe this isn't me.

What about Larry Reed?

Does that name do anything for you?

Look, fellas, don't call me and I won't call you.

I think I'll try to.

Hello, Sergeant. Yeah, let me talk to Lieutenant Biddle. It's about the Laszlo

murder.

Lieutenant, uh, yeah, we seem to have an uncooperative witness here. Uh, if she

doesn't straighten out, I'll call you back.

Think that's funny, don't you?

That's all it takes to make a real call to the police.

But a lady in your business doesn't want that kind of heat, does she?

Okay.

What do you want to know?

What does the name Larry Reed mean to you?

The one that was totaled in that car accident?

Mm -hmm.

Did Laszlo ever mention doing any investigating for Reed?

Yeah.

Gerald bragged a lot about his cases to me.

Poor guy.

Wanted to impress me all the time with how macho he was.

Did he say what the case was about?

Skimming. Funny, though, I thought that only happened in Las Vegas.

What kind of skimming?

Gerald didn't paint in all the colors.

Only that he was hired to find out who was stealing money from Reed's company.

Mention any names?

Mm -hmm.

But I knew he was only putting me on.

How come?

Because he said the crook's name was Bannock.

And that's my uncle's name.

I'll get Biddle in on this you call, Betty.

Anybody home?

Hi, Joe.

Oh, come on in. What are you doing here?

Isn't Pat here? She said she was going to drop in on you.

Oh, she did about a half hour ago.

Oh, that's the way my luck's been running today. You mind if I use your

Go right ahead.

Betty's line's busy.

Keep trying.

I was hoping to head her off. A business thing we had on was postponed until

tomorrow.

Say, how's the investigation going?

Touching any bases?

So far, it's been...

No hits, no runs, and a lot of errors.

Last time... Hello, this is Joe Bannock. Would you please page Pat Ronco?

She's probably in the bar.

Last time you mentioned something about a letter that could prove that Larry's

death wasn't accidental. What came of that?

The way things have been going, I'm not sure how that letter fits in anymore.

You were so positive.

My memory has been playing tricks with me.

Even hypnotherapy doesn't seem to work.

Hypnotism? Is that what you're into now?

Oh, don't laugh.

Oh, so far, it's only been backfiring on me.

No, I'm not laughing. From what I hear, they say hypnotism can be pretty

effective. Well, with me, the therapy gets to a certain point and then just

stops.

I see that...

Dark figure bending over Larry and... Well, something on the killer's arm or

hand. Makes everything go white.

And I'm blinded by it. I can't see anything.

It was dark. Maybe it was a flashlight.

No, I think it was something else.

Hello, Pat.

Yeah, the dinner meeting's been canceled.

I know you changed other plans, but...

In a way, the postponement works in our favor.

Um... Look, Pat, um...

We can't work this out on the phone. I'll stop by your place later.

Okay.

Nothing. Wow.

You look at the time.

If I don't get out of here, I'm going to miss my doctor's appointment.

Doctor's appointment this time of the night.

My therapist.

Well, if you don't want to miss that, I'll walk you to your car.

Oh, that's not necessary, Joe. No, no, no.

Riders can be dangerous at night.

Biddle wants us to be over at Bannock's place when the police pick him up. All

right. If Biddle's line's busy, I'll call it from there.

Barnaby. Barnaby, somebody just picked up the phone and then hung up.

We better get right over there.

Why, Joe?

Larry was your best friend.

I needed more money than I had.

So I took it from the company.

Was that what was in the letter?

Proof that you took it?

Suspicions. Hearsay. Laszlo picked up from people I owed money to.

And that's why Larry was headed to San Diego.

To get the proof from Laszlo.

I'm sorry it has to be like this.

It would have been a lot simpler in the office.

Now it looks like you're going to have a messy run -in with a car thief right

here in the garage.

Don't be a fool, Joe. It won't work.

Pat knows you called her from here.

Oh, I didn't mention it to her.

Anyone could have seen you.

And that's why I'll tell the police that I heard you screaming when I was

driving out.

When I got out of my car, I saw somebody running.

And I found your body.

Hold it right there.

Betty, you all right?

There are days when I felt better. I'll make the call.

Excuse me to hear.

There she is, all gassed up and ready for all the fishing you want to do. I am

impressed. So this is how the rich folks live, eh?

Now that I'm the boss around here, temporarily at least, nothing's too good

my friends.

And I do want us to be friends from now on, Betty.

I'd like that, Pat, really.

All right, there you go.

Do me one favor, huh?

Throw the little ones back.

Aren't you going fishing, too? The only thing Jedediah wants that comes out of

water is lobster.

Cantonese style.

Which he is going to find at the China Dragon with the girl from the dress

right? You know, that is the trouble with having too many detectives around

here. Can't keep your private life private.

Bye.