All language subtitles for Perry Mason S06E01 The Case of the Bogus Books.DVDRip.NonHI.en.CBS

Miss Carter, these I'm taking.

Three 25¢s, one
50¢, and two $1 ones.

Even Einstein would
have to admit that's $3.25.

- Agreed?
- Yes.

I'll call Mr. Kraft.

So big a deal as this...

You can't handle it
alone, Miss Carter?

Or you think perhaps I have a
Shakespeare First Folio here?

No, but you know
how Mr. Kraft is.

He's very suspicious of
rival bookstore owners.

Joseph Kraft is welcome
to buy books in my store.

Why should I not be
welcome to buy in his?

I guess it's all right, Mr. Gilfain.
May I wrap these for you?

From Joseph Kraft, for $3.25,

I don't expect to get
even a... a paper bag.

Kenneth, what
are you doing here?

I've got to talk to you.

If Mr. Kraft sees you, you're
likely to be talking to a policeman.

Besides, I told you...
No more money.

You don't understand. They're
gonna cream me if I don't pay up.

I mean really wipe me out.

You should have thought
of that a long time ago,

before you ever started playing
with professional gamblers.

Oh, nothing tonight,
Professor Muntz?

How's that? Oh, no thank you.

I'm strictly a browser after that
Izaak Walton I purchased last week.

Ruinous... simply ruinous.

Good night.

Good night.

Okay, sis, you win. Come
visit me at the morgue.

Kenneth, wait.

It's just that I had to borrow
so much from Mr. Kraft,

and each time I have to
make up a different story.

But this is the last time, sis.

I promise.

Oh.

After this, no more
gambling... never.

Do you hear me? Do you?

Never.

All right.

It's what's left in my
checking account.

Thanks, sis.

Miss Carter? Miss
Carter, I think I found it.

Found what?

The song for the Mississippi
section of my book.

Oh good.

- Would you hold the music for me?
- Sure.

Let's give a lesson here.

♪ This train is
bound for glory ♪

♪ This train ♪

♪ This train is
bound for glory ♪

♪ This train ♪

♪ This train is
bound for glory... ♪

♪ This train don't pull
no sleepers, this train ♪

♪ This train don't
pull no sleepers... ♪

Will you stop that?
What do you think this is...

Some kind of coffeehouse
or beatnik joint?

Now take that instrument and
get out. Get out and stay out.

Yes, sir, Mr. Kraft. Yes, sir.

- I'm sorry.
- You should be.

- Now turn off the lights and close up.
- Yes, Mr. Kraft.

Uh...

Mr. Kraft?

You remember that money I said
I might need for my landlady's...

Ellen, come here.

That Tristam
Shandy on this shelf...

You sold it?

No, you said I wasn't to sell
these books without consulting you.

Then what's become of it?

I don't know.

That brother of yours...
Was he here today?

Kenneth? You know you told him
never to come in here, Mr. Kraft.

But if you feel I'm responsible
for the book being gone,

I'll gladly pay the
$8 you had it marked.

$8? $8,000 would
be more like it.

$8,000?

Yes, $8,000.

Either you're stupid or you're
a sneaky thief like your brother.

- I don't know which, but you're through.
- But Mr. Kraft...

Now get out! Get out. Get
out before I have you arrested,

you and your brother both. You
want that? You want that? Do you?

Miss Carter?

Oh, Mr. Norland.

I was... I was just waiting
around out here to see if I could...

escort you home.

But I... I couldn't help
hearing through the open door,

and I think that's
a darn dirty trick.

You want me to go in there and
wrap this guitar around his fat neck?

It's a nice thought,
Mr. Norland,

but I'm afraid it
wouldn't do any good.

Uh, would coffee?

- Would coffee?
- Do any good.

Well...

yes, I think it would.

Pearl, Joseph Kraft.

About that Tristam Shandy,

I thought you were supposed
to pick it up tomorrow.

You didn't come by
and get it this evening?

Why no, Joseph, I've been
here in front of the fire all evening,

thinking of you.

Gone?

Are you sure?

You don't suppose the police could
have had anything to do with it, do you?

No no, that's out
of the question.

Maybe he changed his
mind and took it back.

You'll let me know if
anything happens, won't you?

I won't be able to sleep a wink.

Good night, Joseph.

Instead of a fashion artist, Pearl,
you should have been an actress.

Mmm.

Now how about
unraveling the mystery?

I steal this beat-up
old book for you;

you got the phone call you've been
waiting for. So now where are we?

Well, first, this beat-up
old book, as you call it,

happens to be
worth about $8,000.

$8,000?

If I'd have known that, I'd never
let you con me into taking it.

Well, that's why I
didn't tell you, darling.

Besides, it's hot, so there'll be no
complaints... at least not to the police.

Oh. The old boy
Kraft, he's a book thief.

No, he's a receiver. And
he's not so old, either.

Oh? Where do
you fit in with him?

Not how you're thinking, sweet.

Actually I'm sort of a
junior business partner.

Only I'm ambitious; I'd
like to move up in the firm.

And that's where you fit in.

All right, what's
the proposition?

About once a month,
I get a call from Kraft.

He has a first edition
of Tristam Shandy

or Vanity Fair or Alice in
Wonderland for me to buy.

- Buy?
- The next day I go to the store.

The book's marked
$6.50 or $7 or $8.

The clerk checks the
price with Mr. Kraft,

but there's no
contact between us.

I just pay for the
book and walk out.

Then what?

Over here.

Specially aged inks,
paper, thread, old-time pens;

even special kinds of glues
they used in the old days.

You change the books.

Exactly as Kraft tells
me to; nothing drastic.

Just enough so that nobody
will quite be able to identify

any particular
copy of an edition.

Then I mail them back to Kraft.

In a couple of days, the
postman hands me an envelope

with five crisp
$100 bills in it.

$500? You're kidding me.

You didn't think fashion sketching
let me live like this, did you?

I wondered.

How does Kraft get the books in the
first place? Who steals them for him?

He doesn't know.

If he doesn't know him,
how does he pay this guy?

I don't know.

But I did learn one thing
checking the book auctions.

Kraft's been averaging
better than $6,000

on the books I've fixed for him.

Ho! At a book a month,

that's better than
$70,000 a year.

That's right, sweet.

So don't you think this is one
book club you ought to join?

It does seem a bit
arbitrary, Miss Carter,

dismissing you because
one book is missing.

However, I'm afraid you'll
have trouble collecting damages,

if that's what
you're thinking of.

Oh no, that's not it.

I just want to know
how to go about...

straightening things out
so I don't have to live in fear

of his suddenly deciding
to have me arrested.

Have you tried to see him today?

No.

Well, I did.

That's where I got this.

But it took Kraft, his clerk and three
customers to throw me out of the store.

You also arranged for
this interview, I believe.

Yeah, that's right.

Why all this interest, Mr. Norland,
when you barely know Miss Carter?

Just say it's the slice of life for the
great American novel I'm gonna write...

and nosiness.

Nosiness?

Over why Kraft would mark a book
$8 and then say it was worth $8,000.

Temper, maybe.

Yeah, but would he get into such a
temper if the book was worth only $8?

He might have thought
I was starting to...

do what Kenneth did.

My brother.

When our mother died,

Mr. Kraft asked us both
to come and work for him.

We'd never met him, but
we're the only relatives he has.

And the idea was that someday

we might even
inherit the bookstore.

But last month,

Kenneth took $200 from the
cash register to gamble with

and couldn't pay it back.

And Mr. Kraft fired him?

Yes, even though I
gave him the money.

But I...

owe him some more.

Look, Mr. Mason, Kraft
is just suspecting her

because of the kind
of guy her brother is.

But has he got the right to
condemn Ellen without proof?

Certainly no moral
right, Mr. Norland.

Della, didn't you
tell me that volume 6

of Manning & Granger's
Reports had somehow been lost?

That was two years ago.

Don't you think it's about
time I tried replacing it...

Perhaps after lunch at
Mr. Kraft's bookstore?

Yes I do.

No, madam, Tropic of
Cancer is not a medical book...

Far from it.

May I assist you, sir?

Are you Joseph Kraft?

No, Pickson... Herbert
Pickson, chief clerk,

but if it's a particular book,
I'm sure I can find it for you.

You can find Mr. Kraft for me.

He's in his office, but he never
sees anyone without any appointment.

He'll see me.

Who is it?

My name is Gene Torg, Mr. Kraft.

I'm calling in regard
to a mutual friend

by the name of Laurence Sterne.

Steel mesh on the
window; locks on the door.

What do you keep in here,
Mr. Kraft? Gold bullion?

Valuable books sometimes.

Would have been wiser if you'd
have kept this Tristam Shandy in here

instead of on a shelf outside.

You took it last night?

Borrowed it, let's say...

pending an agreement on
it and future stolen books.

What's the idea of that?

So you won't leave, Mr. Torg,
while I'm calling the police.

Are you out of your head? How
are you going to explain this to them?

I'll leave that to you.

Apparently you came
into my store last night,

took a copy of Tristam
Shandy off the shelf,

and now for some mysterious reason,
you're attempting to use it to threaten me.

You've got the nerve
of a riverboat gambler.

Only I happen to have the
hole card that'll call your bluff...

The Queen of
Hearts, Pearl Chute.

She's in this with you?

Mr. Kraft?

Can you spare a
minute for a Mr. Mason...

Mr. Perry Mason?
He says it's important.

Mason?

Come in. Come in, sir.

Mr. Torg here was just leaving.

Mr. Torg. Haven't we met before?

No, I don't think so.

Our deal... I'll be back
tonight to iron out the details.

Good day, sir.

Well, what can I do
for you, Mr. Mason?

I'm here on behalf
of Ellen Carter.

Oh. You're a lawyer, aren't
you? She came to you?

Extremely disturbed over a threat you
allegedly made when you discharged her,

namely that you would
have her arrested for theft.

Mr. Mason, I have
a hair-trigger temper

and I very often do
things that I regret later on.

I'm ashamed of threatening Ellen
and I'm ashamed of discharging her.

And all the result of a
misunderstanding over a mislaid book

which I found this morning.

This book... Tristam Shandy?

As a matter of fact, yes.

How is it you'd keep a book as
valuable as this on an open shelf?

Valuable? Oh, I see.

You mean my telling Ellen
that it was worth $8,000?

Temper again, Mr. Mason.

Actually it's worth about $8,
as you can see. It's marked.

So it is.

Now as to your
misunderstanding with Miss Carter,

do you plan to rectify it?

Oh, I've been trying
to reach her all morning

to apologize and
give her her job back.

That seems fair enough.

This is quite a handsome volume.

Since I've always
enjoyed Sterne, I'll take it.

Oh, no no, that books been sold.

I'm sorry, Mr. Mason.

May I ask if the
buyer was Mr. Torg?

Odd that he didn't
take it with him.

Well, it's part of a deal
that we're concluding.

You, uh...

you won't forget to
phone Miss Carter?

Oh, I'll do that right
away... Right away, sir.

Good.

Good day, sir.

Pearl?

Oh, I see.

Do you know where Miss Chute is?

No no, I'll call back later.

Excuse me. You're
Professor Muntz, aren't you?

You're Mr. Mason. I haven't seen
you since that regrettable hazing affair

at the university five...
Or was it six... years ago.

Six, Professor.

As I recall, you were specializing in
17th- and 18th-century English literature.

I still am.

Then perhaps you can tell
me what distinguishing marks

to look for in a
first-edition Tristam Shandy

to be sure it's genuine.

First-edition Tristam Shandy s are
a little rich for my blood, Mr. Mason,

but, well, let me think.

Could one of the
libraries help me?

The Cosgrove maybe?

In San Marino, yes.

Yes, I guess the Cosgrove
might be worth trying.

You see, Mr. Drake, first editions
have their own unique fingerprints,

so to speak, just as people do.

Now take the King James Bible...

The important fingerprint
there is in the Book of Ruth...

"He measured five
measures of barley...

and he went into the city."

Subsequent issues read:
"and she went into the city."

And that makes a difference?

Of about $200,000 in regard to
the King James Bible, Mr. Drake.

Yes, but you were asking me

about some Tristam
Shandy fingerprints.

Now suppose we start with
volume 1, published in 1760.

Now this particular
copy is rather valuable.

It was one of several
presentation copies

given by Sterne to
David Garrick, the actor.

And there's his inscription...

"To David Garrick from
his constant admirer,

L. Sterne."

Now the answer here comes
from certain missing fingerprints.

Oddly, the
first-edition title page

bore no printer's,
no publisher's name,

no place of publication
and not even...

"By L. Sterne."

- By L. Sterne?
- What's wrong?

The first-edition title page was
also without the author's name.

This book is a substitution, and
even the inscription must be a forgery.

But that's impossible.

That's impossible.

Ellen: The Indoor Barbeque
Cookbook marked $1.50.

Here you are.

- Would you like me to wrap it?
- No thanks, I'll eat it here.

- Eat it?
- Barbequed Cookbook. Eat!

Well, you can't win 'em all.

Mr. Mason, I tried to reach
you this afternoon to thank you.

Where's Mr. Kraft, Ellen?

In his office.

You sure he's in there, Ellen?

Yes, Mr. Mason, I heard him
turn the radio on an hour or so ago.

Perry, I smell gas.

Mr. Kraft? Mr. Kraft.

Mr. Kraft?

When the radio came on?

Well, I'd just come
back from dinner,

so it couldn't have
been much after 7:00.

Mr. Pickson was still here.

- Pickson?
- Terrible...

A terrible thing.

I... I couldn't believe it
when the police phoned me.

The radio, Pickson?

Oh yes.

When Mr. Kraft turned it on, it
was a moment or two after 7:00,

which is when I always
leave for the night.

And it was around 9:00
when you broke in here, Paul?

That's right. So knockoff time must
have been between 7:00 and 9:00.

Well, thank you very
very much, Mr. Norland.

I might never have
figured that out.

And now if you don't mind,
you two... you and you...

Wait outside.

Uh, anything there, Andy?

Hasn't been tampered
with as far as I can make out.

All right, let's see
what we've got so far,

preliminary to the
autopsy, of course.

A little before 6:00, according
to half a dozen witnesses,

Kraft comes back from
supper to hole up in here

the way he did
almost every night.

At 7:00, he turns on the radio;

maybe the heater
and the lamp too then.

Anyway, he goes
back to the couch

- and falls asleep.
- What makes you say that?

Well, if he'd been awake, he'd
have smelled the escaping gas.

He turned the valve like so,

not noticing that the
pilot light was out.

And they do go out.

I know because I've got one in my basement
I have to light about once every month.

An accident then?

Of course, suicide's
a possibility too,

but the pilot light would probably have
been actually turned off in that case,

and there'd most
likely be a note.

Doesn't it seem to you that
he fell asleep rather quickly?

Gas escaping like that would certainly
be noticed in three or four minutes.

You should see me fall asleep.

Perry, Homicide has to
double check these things.

Don't you try to make
a murder out of it.

Why not?

Well, it's the
granddaddy of all the

locked-room puzzles
that I've ever heard of.

And how. No other
way into the room

except through this door,

and that locked from the
inside until you smashed it,

and these windows,
also locked from the inside

and protected by steel mesh.

Anyway, nobody'd get
through 'em but a midget,

and none did or else these dead
flies and this dust would be disturbed.

Well, Perry?

You have the locked room,
Lieutenant. I'll grant you that.

But I'd still like to
know what happened

to that copy of Tristam
Shandy I told you about.

- Who is it?
- It's me, Pearl... Gene. Open up.

Coming.

What's the matter?

Kraft. He's dead.

Dead?

But I saw him not...

- When did he die?
- How should I know?

The desk clerk at my apartment

just said there was a lot of
excitement down by his store...

Police cars, ambulance.

When did you see Kraft?

I didn't mean "see him." I meant
when I talked to him on the phone.

Phone?

That how you got this
from him? By phone?

Paul: Miss Chute?

Yes, what is it?

I'd like to speak to Mr. Torg
a minute if you don't mind.

- Who are you?
- My name is Paul, Miss Chute.

I'm a collector of old books and
Mr. Torg has one I'm very interested in.

You see, I arrived at his
apartment just as he was leaving,

so I...

Come in, come in.

You know who this is, Pearl?

The pet private eye of
that lawyer, Perry Mason.

Name's Paul, all
right... Paul Drake.

I'll lay odds the only books
you ever collected in your life

were bound copies
of The Police Gazette.

Could be, Torg.

But right now I am interested in
a first edition of Tristam Shandy.

You mean Mason is.

Well, you can tell him for me the last
time I saw the book was when he did,

on Kraft's desk
today around noon.

- Then this couldn't be it over here.
- Drake!

Get out.

Just as you say.

Good night, Miss Chute.

Well, big shot, you've done it.

It's my fault. I shouldn't
have let him in.

How did that book
get here, Pearl? How?

I got it from Kraft. He
called after you'd been there.

So you went over there and
made you own deal with him, huh?

But I didn't; I made our deal...

Half of whatever he cleared on the
books with you to collect the money.

And then he agreed
to that without a fuss?

Yes.

It couldn't be, could
it, that he didn't agree?

And in the argument you shoved
him a little too hard or something?

Kraft said you were supposed
to come by his place tonight.

Now it couldn't be that you shoved
him a little too hard or something?

Volume 2 of our Tristam
Shandy, I believe you said, sir?

That's right.

Please return it to
me when you finish.

I think you'll agree that this is
one way it could have been done.

Notebooks? It
never occurred to us

that books could
be hidden in them.

How many substitutions
have been discovered so far?

Six if you include the
volume 1 of Tristam Shandy...

One Fielding, two
Brontës, one George Eliot,

and an exceptionally fine
copy of Swift's Gulliver's Travels.

And their total value?

$30 to $40,000,

provided they could be
sold somewhere, of course.

I don't think the Shandy's been
sold yet, but the others probably have.

Have you received any
replies from the other libraries?

UCLA has found
two substitutions;

Huntington and
Oldbury, one each.

Then the losses could run
into hundreds of thousands.

Quite easily.

You see, the substitute books
are so close to the originals

that only an expert
would notice the difference

and then only if his
suspicions had been aroused.

So this may have been
going on for a long time.

A fiendishly clever
man, this Joseph Kraft.

Clever, but not very lucky.

We'll keep in touch.

I would appreciate that.

Uh, Mr. Mason?

Aren't you forgetting something?

Joseph Kraft substituted
second or third editions

for valuable first editions.

Pearl Chute altered
the stolen first editions.

Then Kraft sold them as finds
he'd come on to someplace.

But where did Gene Torg fit in?

Wherever he could get his foot in the
door. That's why Perry had me go after him.

We'd met Torg once
before in a con-game case.

Did the police question him?

This morning. He denied
everything and so did Pearl.

And it looks like they're
gonna make it stick.

Your people are still watching
them, aren't they, Paul?

Also the boy from the robbery
detail, so it's gotten a little crowded.

Yes, Gertie?

Peter Norland?

Send him in.

Mr. Norland.

For an hour I've been pacing up and
down in front of your building, Mr. Mason,

like a picket
without a signboard.

But I can't decide whether coming
here makes me a double crosser

or a knight on a white mustang.

Sit down.

It sounds as though you
have a very serious problem.

I have... Miss Carter
and a small snowstorm

- of brand-new $100 bills...
- $100 bills?

That floated out of her purse when
I accidentally knocked it off a table

in the bookstore this afternoon.

How many $100 bills?

She collected them
so fast, I couldn't count.

About $2,000, I'd say.

I feel like a heel reporting this
thing, but Pickson saw the money too

and he'll probably
tell the police.

Pickson... he's the chief clerk.

How did the bookstore
happen to be open?

It isn't. He and Ellen
are taking inventory,

along with Professor Muntz, who the
police called in to check the rare books.

I don't like the
sound of this at all.

The inventory?

The snowstorm of $100 bills.

Do you think somebody could be trying
to frame Ellen Carter for the book theft?

I think somebody is trying to
frame Ellen Carter for murder.

Mr. Mason, I can't
explain the money.

I... not sensibly...

I found it in my handbag,

folded in a little zipper
pocket I hardly ever use.

That's just about
what we thought, Ellen.

You mean you believe me?

Yes.

But the question is will
the police believe you?

What have the
police got to do with it?

I'll try to show you.

Now let's go back
to 7:00 last night.

Mr. Kraft had been in here
since 6:00, reading, napping...

Whatever he did after supper.

This still the locked-room deal the
police were talking about, Mr. Mason?

That's right... door bolted on the
inside, windows tightly secured,

no other way in.

At 7:00, it being dark outside,

let us say Mr. Kraft rolled over

and switched on
the reading light...

also the radio

and the heater.

And then he sank back on the
couch intending to read for a while.

And then he dozed off again.

Paul?

Now watch the heater.

Now listen. Listen closely.

It's gas.

All right, Paul, that'll do.

Just as the murderer
must have done last night,

Paul turned off the
gas at the meter,

thus extinguishing both
the heater and the pilot light.

Then he turned the gas on again.

And goodbye, Kraft.

How'd the killer know
where the gas meter was?

I called the gas company.

I knew where it was. Anyone who ever
used the little washroom at the back did.

'Evening, folks.

Well, that's a very interesting
experiment there, eh?

And closely duplicating one
that we performed earlier today.

And thank you for saying that
you knew where the gas meter was.

It helps.

Helps, Lieutenant? In what way?

In justifying this first-degree-murder
warrant I have here

for Miss Carter.

The prosecution's going to
have a lot to work with, Ellen...

Your telling the police that you were
alone in the store at the time of death;

then the money
found in your purse;

not to mention the fact that you
are going to inherit the bookstore.

I am? Still?

His lawyer said that Kraft
disinherited your brother,

but not you.

Now do you still maintain
that you have no idea

how those $100 bills
got into your purse?

All right, Ellen.

But you're not going to be able
to go on protecting your brother

if you're in prison.

Now with regard to this
analysis that you performed

on the victim's
blood, Dr. Hocksey,

what did this analysis reveal?

It confirmed what I initially suspected
when I visually examined the body,

that gas was the cause of death.

As Coroner's Physician, with long
experience in this type of fatality,

when would you say
the death occurred?

About two and half hours before I
saw the body, which was at 9:45.

Then in other words, Joseph
Kraft died at about 7:15?

Give or take a half
hour, Mr. Burger.

Thank you,
Dr. Hocksey. Mr. Mason?

Doctor, you said "give
or take a half hour."

That means then that Joseph
Kraft could have died as late as 7:45

or as early as 6:45.

Why yes, he could have.

I realize you've already testified
as to these times, Mr. Pickson,

but I'd like to double check
them if you don't mind.

First the time that Ellen
Carter returned to the store

- after dinner that night.
- A minute or two before 7:00.

And the time you say you
heard Mr. Kraft turn his radio on?

A minute or two after 7:00.

And the time you
say you left the store?

Right after that.

Now when you say
these things, Mr. Pickson...

I don't just say these things,
Mr. Mason. They happened.

Miss Carter heard Mr. Kraft
in that room too, you know.

I'm not questioning
that, Mr. Pickson.

But the prosecution
claims it will prove

that Miss Carter was
then alone in the store

for a considerable
length of time.

You know the store. You
also know Miss Carter's habits.

Couldn't you have left the store
and then sneaked right back in

past the counters to the washroom and
there have turned on the fatal gas valve?

No, I couldn't have done that
without Miss Carter seeing me.

And besides, I was
met outside by a friend,

Mr. Gilfain of the
Argus bookstore.

Yes, I saw the bills fall out of her
purse; knocked them out myself, in fact.

Mr. Norland, what were the
denominations of those bills?

$100 each.

Lieutenant Anderson, can
you identify this envelope

and its contents for me, please?

Yes, the 20 brand-new $100
bills I found in the defendant's purse

after Lieutenant Tragg
turned her over to me.

And what about this
second envelope?

This is a second
group of 20 $100 bills

I found in the
defendant's apartment

when I searched
it after her arrest.

On the day before Mr. Kraft
died, he came into our bank

and drew out
$2,000 in $100 bills.

And then the next day
he did the same thing...

Drew out $2,000 in $100 bills.

How do you
happen to recall this?

On the second day I had to open
a new bundle of bills to give him.

Now those 20 $100
bills were brand new,

fresh from the Mint,

just like the ones they found
in Miss Carter's purse there.

I tell you, my sister didn't steal
those bills from old man Kraft.

How do you know
that, Mr. Carter?

Because, well, I put
them in her purse myself.

I knew the police
had questioned her

and I was afraid they'd find
them when they questioned me.

- And where did you get the bills?
- I found them in the store in a book.

Once before when I was
working there in the store

I found some other bills in
a book in the same section,

but they had disappeared
before I had a chance to take them.

But after that I kept looking.

And the money that
was found hidden

in the apartment you share with your
sister... did you find that in a book too?

I don't know
anything about that.

I submit you do, Mr. Carter.

I submit you and your sister
obtained all that money from Mr. Kraft

either by theft or by
blackmail. Now which was it?

Neither! Besides, what can you
blackmail out of old man Kraft?

Second-hand books?

Perhaps not $1
million, Mr. Burger,

but Joseph Kraft's "substitution
racket," as you called it,

certainly netted him many
many thousands of dollars.

My latest check with the library
shows 21 first editions missing.

And other substitutions
will be found, I'm sure.

Since the defense will not doubt
claim that there is a connection

between the death of Joseph Kraft
and this racket that he was engaged in,

how in your opinion, Professor,

was Kraft able to engineer
all these book substitutions?

I hate to say this, but I
think he must have had help.

You gotta believe me... I
wasn't in the racket at all.

Maybe thinking about getting
in, you know, but, well, not in.

Now the appointment I heard you make
to see Mr. Kraft on the day of his death...

You kept that
appointment, did you not?

No. Well, I... I started to,

but when I saw a police car out
front, I ducked out, went home.

Well, then the copy of Tristam Shandy
you and Mr. Kraft were examining,

what became of that?

Ask her.

She knows the answer to that.
She got rid of the book, not me.

I know it was wrong.

But when that detective, Mr. Drake,
came nosing around, I was frightened.

So I burnt the book and
threw the ashes in the trash.

Well, that was an expensive
fire, wasn't it, Miss Chute?

Didn't you say you
were paid $500 apiece

to alter those first
editions that Kraft sent you?

Yes.

How much did he pay
the mysterious person

that he told you
actually did the stealing?

He never said.

Couldn't this mysterious person
have been your friend Gene Torg?

Gene? He couldn't get into a library
disguised as William Shakespeare.

Now Miss Chute,
about the defendant,

did Mr. Kraft say
anything to you about her

during any of the days
immediately preceding his death?

He did just the day before.

He told me he knew she'd been
lying to him to get money out of him.

He said that she'd been
using her brother as an excuse

and that he was going to get rid of
her before she tried anything worse.

Cross examine.

On the day Joseph Kraft died,

you went to see him in
response to his phone call

about Gene Torg.
What time was that?

About 5:45, I think.

He'd just come back
from the corner restaurant.

What time did you
leave the bookstore?

Not later than 6:00, I'd say.

Mr. Kraft was never good for
more than ten or 15 minutes

of staying awake after supper.

You seem quite familiar with
Mr. Kraft's habits, Miss Chute.

Well, I've known him
for a number of years.

In fact, you were once quite
close to Mr. Kraft, isn't that right?

So close you even spoke to your
hairdresser about the possibility

of a marriage to
"a rich old goat"?

Oh, yes, I knew he was rich all
right. Over $100,000 he'd saved.

But he wasn't about to
share it with anyone else

who was in on the book racket.

Because I heard him
telling the defendant once

how much money
he had in the bank,

and that if she minded her Ps and
Qs, they'd just keep it in the family;

she'd get every bit.

The rule is much the same in
every big library, Mr. Mason...

Anyone using the rare-book
collection either must be known to us

or have the proper credentials.

And either known or with
the proper credentials,

- they still must sign this register?
- Here at least they must.

Wouldn't the proper credentials
be rather easy to forge?

But then the autograph
also would have to be forged.

You and the police both
went over this, Mr. Drake.

But I didn't. And there's
something in these back pages

I want to look for, Paul.

Wait a minute, wait a minute...
There's a page missing.

10th, 9th... the 8th is gone,

torn out.

It must have been done recently,

because a man from
the District Attorney's

office was here only
yesterday looking at it.

Perry, the 8th... that was just
the day before Mr. Kraft died.

I want to see today's entries.

Ashcraft, Jorgensen, Baxter,

Freilinghurst, Lawrence,
Weigel, Norland.

Peter Norland.

Doesn't this come under the general
heading of breaking and entering?

Mmm, Ellen gave me her key.

Besides, we have
Lieutenant Tragg's permission.

That was ten days ago.

He didn't set any time limit.

Thanks. He got away, but
at least I got in one punch.

- You all right?
- Yeah.

- Did you see who it was.
- No.

All right, Paul, you watch the
office while I go into the washroom.

- Watch the office?
- Watch the office.

Well, that proves the
flies were right all along.

The flies were right?

I want a couple
dozen in the morning.

A couple of dozen flies?

All right, Mr. Mason,

the witnesses have been excluded
from the courtroom as you requested.

You may proceed.

Your Honor.

With Lieutenant Tragg to
check me should I go wrong,

let us assume that this is the office of
Joseph Kraft on the evening of the murder.

We know that Mr. Kraft
locked himself in at about 6:00.

At 7:00, according
to what we've heard,

he woke from a nap.

It was cold and dark.

So he turned on his reading
light, the heater and the radio.

Shortly thereafter followed
the trick with the gas meter,

putting out the pilot light,

thus allowing the gas to escape,

killing Kraft and the only
other living thing present,

some ordinary house flies.

But there were no
dead flies on the floor;

only on the sills
of the two windows.

Which proves there must
have been enough daylight

to attract the flies
to the windows.

Now according to
the Weather Bureau,

twilight extended only to
6:40 that particular evening,

so the gas had to have been
released prior to that time.

In other words, Joseph
Kraft was killed before 7:00.

Mr. Mason, how do you
suggest that a dead man

inside a locked room

could have turned on his
lamp and his radio after 7:00?

Also in the washroom, Mr. Burger,
is the fuse box for the bookstore.

The killer pulled
the fuse to the office,

then turned on the lamp
and the radio in that office

before Mr. Kraft
had even entered it,

perhaps while he
was out having supper.

Then at 7:00, with Kraft
either unconscious or dead,

the killer simply
replaced the fuse.

And on came the
lamp and the radio.

Your Honor, at this time
may we call the witnesses

- back to the courtroom?
- Bailiff?

First I would like to
call the state's expert...

Professor Muntz to the stand.

All right, yes yes, I was
in the store last night.

I realized sooner or
later they'd discover

that I was the one who'd
been stealing the books,

so I was afraid they'd
charge me with Kraft's murder.

I knew Miss Carter
must be innocent,

so I set about trying to find out what
really happened, and I ended up with this.

Let me see if I understand

how this substitution racket of
yours worked, Professor Muntz.

That's some expert witness.
Who recommended him?

Who recommended him?

Perry Mason.

Leave the stolen volume
in a shelf in the store...

A man named Perry Mason.

No longer be identified.

- Well, I had no part in that.
- Perry Mason.

How did Mr. Kraft pay your $2,000
fee for having stolen the book?

By placing the money in
an agreed-upon volume

in the English Literature
section of the store.

Did you get the $2,000
for the Tristam Shandy?

No. When I looked, it wasn't
there. I telephoned Kraft.

He said someone must have taken
it... Someone he thought he knew.

Did he agree to leave
another $2,000 there for you?

Yes. And when I looked,
that wasn't there either.

Now Professor,

where were you between 6:00 and
7:00 on the evening of the murder?

Oddly enough, I
was giving a talk

on rare books of
the 18th century

before the Librarians' Club.

And you still maintain you know nothing
about the $2,000 found in the apartment?

- That's the truth, Mr. Mason.
- All right.

Where were you between 6:00 and
7:00 on the day Mr. Kraft was killed?

In a poker game.
I was there all day.

6:00 to 7:00? That's easy.

I stopped to have my hair done on
the way home from seeing Mr. Kraft.

I know it sounds
like I'm kidding,

but I was getting a
haircut, shave, shampoo,

manicure... the works...
at that same time.

Yes, I was in the bookstore
that evening from 6:00 to 7:00.

I've never denied that.

And part of this time you
were alone in the store?

I suppose. Business
is generally slack then.

Now when you and Miss Carter

heard Kraft turn his radio on,

where were you?

Just returning from the
washroom, perhaps?

Well, I suppose, if
Miss Carter claims.

No supposing,
Mr. Pickson, you were there.

You started the radio going by
replacing the fuse to Kraft's office.

By the time the radio warmed
up, you had joined Miss Carter.

But he wasn't dead then.

If he wasn't dead,
Mr. Pickson, he certainly

was well on his
way to being dead...

Dead through your
manipulation of the gas line...

No. No!

Turned off and then on again

after you had sneaked out into the
alley and peered through a window

to make sure he was asleep.

No! No one saw me.

I'd hated him for years.

But do you know what
the final straw was?

He called me a thief.

He was going to dismiss me

for finding that
$2,000 in the book

and refusing to give it to him.

I felt that, under
the circumstances,

it was finders keepers.

I didn't know it was his money. I
didn't know anything about that.

I'd been plotting the old
pirate's murder for a long time

as a sort of enjoyable
mental exercise.

Only it wasn't quite so...

enjoyable after all.

Here you are, Mr. Mason.

What you originally
started out to get...

The missing volume 6 of
Manning & Granger's Reports.

- And with it, my lifelong thanks.
- That's very nice, Ellen.

I'm going to have a lifelong
question in my head, Perry,

if you don't tell me.

Who put the $2,000
in Ellen's apartment?

I can answer that one...
Pickson to implicate her.

He says it's the only
thing he's really sorry for.

But Perry, how did
you get on to the fact

that Professor Muntz
was in on that book thing?

When I discovered the Cosgrove library
had a very famous collection of Sterne,

it bothered me that our expert
hadn't quite seemed to know about it.

Then when I saw his signature
several times in their register...

All we noticed was
Peter Norland's name.

I guess Peter thought we weren't
solving things quite fast enough.

He figured he might be able to
identify the thief through his handwriting.

Oh, of all the silly
things to do. Why?

Let's ask him why.

Peter, what's the real reason

you're hanging around
and interfering so much?

Well, now if you'd
really like to know,

I've been trying to
get up enough nerve

to ask Miss Carter to marry me.