Original subtitles

Oh, Mr. Marshall,

Mr. Pierce left word he wanted to see you

- the moment you came in. - Where's Adam Conrad?

Why, in his office, I suppose. Shall I ring him for you?

This invoice from two weeks ago

on that Santa Monica high-rise job,

did you disapprove it?

Yes, I did.

The materials are below specifications.

- Whose specifications? - Mine.

Three years out of engineering school, you think you know

all the answers, don't you, Conrad?

Enough to do the job I'm paid to do.

The job I order you to do, the way I order you to do it!

Even if it's wrong, Mr. Marshall,

as this is wrong?

Get this straight, kid.

I've been senior engineer with the Pierce Construction Company

for 25 years, it's almost as long as you've been alive.

After you succeed in bootlicking your way into my job,

you'll call the shots.

Until then, I approve or disapprove invoices!

I turned down that invoice at Mr. Pierce's direction.

You were at the construction site.

The boss' fair-haired boy with the clean hands, huh?

Does your magic slide rule show how long

we've been doing business with this outfit... 15 years?

15 years without a complaint,

without one single case of defective material or failure?

The materials were below specification.

Which you casually or accidentally pointed out

to Ed Pierce while I was out, huh?

Mr. Marshall, I don't know why it is you resent me,

but I don't think it's fair to the company to let it affect

the jobs we were both hired to do.

Oh, you're so right, kid... Jobs... with an "s."

Because it's gonna be a cold, cold day

before I let you shoehorn me out of mine!

What do you take me for, Pierce, a complete fool?

This isn't an access road, it's a jigsaw puzzle!

By the time you finish grading half a mountain range

to get that road in, there won't be enough money left in

the construction budget to pitch a tent

much less put up the buildings!

Oh, come in, Joe.

Mr. Osmond, none of us knew

the planned county highway would be rerouted.

I'm not interested in the County!

I am interested in Osmond Acres!

It's all because of that new recreation park.

They had to change their county highway because of the park.

We had to make new plans.

Park or no park, I want that access road in there

and within the budget!

Now, you let the costs get out of hand on this job,

and I'm canceling the entire contract

with your construction company, Pierce!

Beefing about budget already?

Legitimate beef, Joe, the figures are too far out of line.

Too far for what?

Too far for accident,

carelessness or just so-so planning.

Itchy fingers?

Almost ten percent over budget on the last job we did for him.

We're barely started, this one looks worse.

And this time he has me tied to a default clause.

I can't afford it, Joe.

If I find proof somebody's been padding bills

or taking kickbacks, I'll swear out a complaint to the D.A.

The D.A. can't tell us where to put an access road

we suddenly gotta have.

Osmond's title to his tract acreage included an option

somewhere for an access road, didn't it?

Yeah, the old Manzana place.

Manzana... You could have saved miles, Joe,

miles going through the canyon.

The geologist's report warned us

the canyon was a potential headache:

there's bad slippage, a need for drains,

lots of bulldozing for terraces.

I want a preliminary survey through the canyon.

I want the survey and a rough cost estimate

on my desk Monday morning, Joe.

- Conrad! - Yes, sir?

The Osmond building project,

get the maps, bring 'em over to my office.

You're gonna get your shoes dirty this weekend.

Hold on, Joe.

Wait a minute.

Joe, you got a half-a-dozen kids here

who can manhandle a transit.

Adam's never even been out there.

Why bother him with a job like that?

When I stop laying out the engineer's work at Pierce,

it'll be because I'm dead... or because you fired me.

Bring in the maps.

I'll tell you what I want.

You deliberately killed a weekend for Adam Conrad. Why?

Nights, weekends, that eager beaver's always working.

This weekend, I don't want anybody around,

especially Adam Conrad

because I intend to find out for sure

whether somebody has his hand in the cookie jar,

if I have to turn the office upside down and inside out!

What happened?

Are you hurt?

Only my pride.

Well, I want you to know

I don't usually give rod men this kind of treatment.

You're a very civil engineer, sir.

Ooh, it's gonna pour in a moment!

- Well, that's that. - What do we do?

I'm gonna get soaked to the skin,

but there's no reason why you should.

Come on. Let's get out of here.

I think I spotted a house on the other side of the hill.

Your house is lovely, Miss Keith.

Please call me "Marguerite."

Yes, I've lived here all my life.

I love this old house.

That tile, my father found it in Italy and brought it back in

his ship especially for the fireplace.

That little window was a port in the Master's cabin of that ship

the Bonny Scot.

And these carvings with the Manzana crest,

hand-hewn oak from my mother's family home.

And this bas-relief, sculptured right onto the wall

by one of father's European artist friends.

I remember watching him work on it when I was a little girl.

- Did you say Manzana? - Yes.

Your name is Keith... Miss Keith.

I may be Miss Keith, young man,

but I did have a mother, and her name was Manzana.

It's Spanish.

Then this is the old Manzana house I've read so much about.

Yes, of course.

Part of the Manzana Estate.

Why are you so interested?

Well... the road.

What road?

That's what we were doing

when the rain caught us,

making a road survey from the Osmond property.

Oh, no, there will be no road.

I don't care what provisions my father put in the deeds

when he sold off parts of the estate.

He had no way of knowing what Manzana would come to mean.

The only way a road will ever be built here is over my dead body.

Uh, Mr. Marshall, you know who Quincy Davis is,

the famous columnist?

Well, about three years ago,

he and his wife were in Europe, and she died.

Before they left for Europe,

they spent their honeymoon in a house,

a house belonging to Miss Marguerite Keith.

Do you have a copy of those cost-estimate figures?

Yes, sir, typing them now.

These clippings from his column...

my girl, the girl I'm engaged to,

she knew Davis' wife, and, well, she saved these clippings

that were written while he lived in the house.

Davis writes that he thinks

the house is over a hundred years old.

He feels it should be a landmark.

If you're looking for a donation,

you ought to hit Pierce.

He flew up to San Francisco, gets back this afternoon.

Miss Marguerite Keith's house is in the canyon,

part of the Manzana Estate.

So?

Well, I wasn't able to survey

the entire estate without trespassing,

but my girl and I were in the house.

We saw the house and the land.

It was raining.

You saw the runoff of that rainwater, didn't you?

No matter where in that canyon you put that road,

by the time we get through terracing...

We'll have to bulldoze that house out of the way.

My orders are to push that road through, period!

I'll push it through.

When you hit Ed Pierce for that donation

to save the old homestead,

you might show him the Quincy Davis column.

It might ease his pain when he loses his shirt

trying to put that access road anyplace else.

Adam Conrad.

Oh, hi, Hilary.

Yes, I was just talking with him.

Well, in the old curmudgeon's own words,

we're gonna have to bulldoze that house out of the way.

All right, Miss Gray, you knew my late wife,

you know Marguerite Keith,

and they're gonna put a road or something

through her property.

You multiplied apples and oranges

and came up with Quincy Davis. I'm flattered, but confused.

I'm not sure why I'm here exactly either,

except that I want to help her... and Adam.

Adam says there's really nothing anybody can do.

Well, naturally, when there's nothing

anyone can do about something,

I'm the one to do it. Who's Adam?

The man I'm engaged to.

Would you like me to memorialize

the fact in my usual purple prose?

How about one of Quincy's Quotes?

Mr. Davis, you don't understand.

Adam made the survey for the construction company

to put the road through Miss Keith's property.

He doesn't even know I came here to see you.

Boy, the conversation takes more turns

than a merry-go-round.

Look, Miss Gray, I don't mean to be rude or rush you,

heaven forbid, but I've got a date with a platoon of martinis,

and you know how impatient olives can get.

Don't you understand?

Miss Keith doesn't want to sell!

Then she won't sell.

Well, they may force her to.

She insists that she doesn't have to,

but I don't think her lawyer, Perry Mason, agrees.

Apparently, when her father sold parts of the estate,

the deeds provided for buying land

for a road through the canyon.

Poor Miss Keith once renewed those agreements

without realizing what could happen.

So dear old Marguerite will simply have to live

with a smelly road running past her house. It's tough, but...

Not past her house.

They just plan to knock it down and get rid of it!

Knock it down?

That's what I've been trying to tell you.

To put the road in, they've got to get rid of the house.

This, uh, engineering boyfriend of yours,

Adam what's his name,

you sure he said they have to tear the house down?

Yes, no matter where in that canyon they run the road.

You see, I read those columns that you wrote about the house.

I knew how you felt about it.

So I thought... You thought what?

Well, maybe you'd call this Mr. Osmond.

He owns the property.

He's the one that the construction company's building

this whole thing for.

Osmond... that's Archer Osmond, isn't it?

Who's got all those other tracts and houses for sale?

Yes. Will you call him?

No.

Vox Populi... The voice of the people.

They'll do the calling.

Give me the Composing room.

The voice of the people?

Jack, this is Quince. Do me a favor, huh?

Yeah, I know it's late, but be a buddy.

Look, pull my column out of tonight's paper.

I'll have a brand-new one for you in half an hour.

Can do? Good boy. Thanks, Jack.

Adam... A-D-A-M.

Like in the Garden of Eden.

Last name?

Oh, wait a minute, I'm not sure.

Do you want to help Marguerite?

Conrad.

Adam Conrad.

Don't worry, Mr. Osmond.

There's nothing we can do about the column in the paper,

but it'll be all right, I promise you.

I told you what we'll do,

and I'm sure it will satisfy everybody.

Yes, you make the call now.

I'll let you know what happens.

Good night.

You wanted to see me, Ed?

Adam go home?

About an hour ago, just before you got back.

Before the bulldog edition of that paper hit the streets.

You've seen this?

Quincy Davis?

Yeah, I read it.

Osmond's just about in orbit.

He says his phone hasn't stopped ringing

since the paper came out with this column.

Threats to boycott, even picket the houses he has up for sale.

I can imagine.

Way that paper paints him, he's like some kind of a monster

ready to throw little old ladies out in the cold.

It doesn't exactly improve my image either.

An entire canyon, and I have to run a road

right through this woman's living room.

Oh, that's a mistake; nobody said that.

What was said?

Well, I, uh, I just admitted to the kid

that no matter where we put the road in that canyon,

we'd have to bulldoze the house down

to make way for drains and terraces.

"We" and "bulldoze."

You did use the expression, Joe, "We would have to bulldoze?"

We got a right to the property.

We have a right to it.

You ordered a road, you get a road.

I don't have enough trouble with Osmond, oh, no.

You have to turn into a stupid guardhouse lawyer.

"You want a road, boom, you get a road, boom boom."

Oh, come on, get off it, Ed.

This isn't the first collection of antiques

we've shoveled under in 25 years.

You can't build for tomorrow and worry about yesterday.

Did it ever occur to you

that there was absolutely no necessity

to talk about bulldozing?

That an arrangement could be made

before the road went in to move the house?

Move it intact to another part of the estate?

Well, I...

I guess I didn't think it out that way.

You didn't think, period.

Osmond's calling the press now to get them off our necks,

and to tell them we plan to move the house,

not bulldoze it to rubble.

What about the old lady?

I called and explained your mistake to her.

I assured a site would be cleared and landscaped

and her house lifted off its present foundation and moved

intact and unharmed to its foundation in the new site.

If it can be moved.

I'm sure it can.

I'm sure because you personally

are going out there to the house right now,

and if it takes you all night,

all night crawling

on your stomach under and around that house,

you're going to tell me it can

and how it can be moved.

All right, Ed, so I made a mistake.

So take away my good conduct medal.

Only, just remember this,

I didn't go running to the newspaper.

All I did was mention it

to that little itchy-fingered genius of yours

He's the one who went slobbering to Quincy Davis.

You know, that's the second time

you've inferred that Adam Conrad was a thief.

You said that somebody might be getting kickbacks

from the subcontractors,

that somebody might be padding the budget

and swiping what's left over.

All right, I spent the weekend going

through that office from top to bottom.

You know what? You were right, Mr. Pierce.

But not "might."

Somebody is.

There is a crook in this company,

and I can prove it.

Mr. Pierce.

Uh, come in, sir.

Thank you.

You remember Hilary.

Yes, of course.

Mr. Pierce, if you're here to ask Adam

about that column, it was...

We were just discussing it when you rang.

I was going to call and explain.

Well, I did come here for an explanation, all right,

but... Adam, I don't understand it.

After all the trust I had in you,

all the plans I had for you with the company...

Why did you do it?

- Mr. Pierce, it wasn't his fault. - Be quiet, Hilary.

I'll accept full responsibility for the consequences of...

Young man,

Joe Marshall is at Miss Keith's tonight

to see about moving, not tearing down her house.

Now, before Joe left, he showed me the-the evidence.

I felt I owed it to you

to tell you to your face, not over the phone.

- Evidence? - Adam,

I have no choice but to turn it all over to the authorities.

But I admitted I went to see Davis.

So maybe that's wrong, but it's not a crime.

And I am not talking about any newspaper column.

I mean evidence

about your embezzling money from the company,

altering invoices and bills, padding accounts.

You mean, Joe Marshall says something.

Without asking me, you think I'm a thief?

I have to believe my own eyes, Adam.

What in the name of...

So, you find something wrong

and right away, you decide I did it?

Look, Adam, I-I just...

All right, tomorrow morning,

your office, 8:00.

You'll have my explanation, and my resignation.

Adam, what are you going to do?

I'm gonna find out just what this is all about

and why Joe Marshall accused me.

But if you go looking for him...

I'll beat the truth out of him if I have to.

Adam.

♪♪

♪♪

Wait a minute, Adam.

Mr. Conrad!

Don't you even wait for an invitation anymore?

Miss Keith is an old friend.

She called me immediately after she called you.

Well, in that case, maybe you'll see

that she doesn't do any more cleaning tonight.

Ever seen such a tidy murder?

It's my house.

I didn't ask for a murder in it. All I did was

straighten things up a bit.

You're sure you didn't touch the body?

It's lying exactly as it was when you first found it?

I did not touch him.

I put a sheet over him, that's all.

Know who it is, Andy?

An engineer named Marshall.

What killed him?

A blow to the head.

And it looks like we've just found the murder weapon.

When you called,

you might have said the emergency involved murder.

Do they think you did it?

Oh, my, no.

Then, why did you call us?

Because it's my fault, that's why.

Your fault?

It wouldn't have happened

if I hadn't spoken to that nice young man as I did.

I didn't realize how strongly

I'd influenced him against his own company's plans.

You have to help me, Perry.

Help you?

Help you what?

Why, help me protect

that nice young boy, Adam Conrad,

when the police find out he killed Mr. Marshall.

Adam, please let me take you to a doctor.

Later.

I'm Perry Mason.

This is my associate, Paul Drake.

We're looking for Adam Conrad.

I'm Adam Conrad.

I'm Marguerite Keith's attorney.

She asked me to come.

This is Hilary Gray.

Come in.

Marguerite's all right, isn't she?

Yes, but she's worried about you.

Looks like she has a good reason.

Must've been some fight.

Fight?

What is this? Just why are you here?

Mr. Conrad, I'd like to hear your version of what happened

at Marguerite's house tonight

because in a matter of minutes,

the police will be ringing your doorbell.

The police?

You're way ahead of me, Mr. Mason.

Something's happened that I don't know about.

All right, start with what you do know about.

Well, I-I went out there about 11:30 this evening,

- I guess. - Why?

Because Mr. Pierce came here and said that Joe Marshall

had accused Adam of all sorts of things.

So, you went looking for Marshall?

Yes, I'm still looking.

Go on, you went to Marguerite's.

Well, when I got there, the place was dark,

but I thought I saw a flashlight inside.

So, I-I went in,

and next thing I knew, I was flat on the floor.

You didn't see who hit you?

No, no, but it must've been Joe Marshall.

- Who else could it have been? - Then what?

Well, I thought I heard a car drive away.

Then I realized where I was.

I guess I was just coming to.

When I was able, I stumbled out to my own car

and went looking for Marshall, but I never found him.

Were the lights on when you arrived at Marguerite's house?

No, no, I told you it was dark.

I thought I saw a flashlight.

You didn't turn the lights on when you left?

No. Why?

You'd probably have found Joe Marshall right there.

He was lying dead on the living room floor.

I assume you've alerted Mr. Conrad

as to why we're here, Perry.

Why are you here, Lieutenant?

Well, we'd like Mr. Conrad to come downtown

and answer some questions.

Found a coffee machine.

Here.

Look, Miss Gray, Perry Mason's with Adam,

and he'll take care of him. Don't worry.

Now, take a sip of that.

Ah, feel better?

Okay, maybe we can find out what this is all about.

I should never have gone to see Quincy Davis.

Quincy Davis, the columnist?

Well, Quince is a friend of mine.

Why did you go to see him?

For support.

I certainly got it.

More than I bargained for.

Yeah, old Quince can be quite a boy.

I didn't mean for him to print all those things.

You can ask him yourself.

Yeah, maybe I can.

Oh, what do you want?

Oh, isn't anything private to a private eye?

How are you, Paul?

What-what time is it?

It's late, and I apologize,

but I have to talk to you.

About nothing important, I hope.

That piece you wrote about Marguerite Keith's house.

So I did a good turn for posterity.

Give me the Pulitzer Prize and go away.

Only... put it down quietly.

Quince, your column stirred up a tornado.

You're sitting on a murder story now.

A guy named Joe Marshall.

He was killed tonight at Marguerite's house.

The police are beginning to point the finger at Adam Conrad.

Hilary Gray's boyfriend?

I kind of hoped you might have some notion nestled among

that mess of martinis.

Got a call before, when the paper came out.

I thought it was just another crank.

Yeah, this is the guy he told me about.

You know, Paul,

when you've been around a while as we have,

you begin to think sneaky.

Come here. I'll show you something.

It'd be sad if that old house got knocked down, but not so sad

that someone should get killed over it, right?

Look here, Paul.

This is the Manzana estate, Marguerite's place,

and here's Osmond's new tract.

Originally, the highway was gonna swing up,

and they planned to tie it in here.

But now this, this little strip is a county park,

forcing the highway to go out this way instead.

So they have to bring their access road down here

through Marguerite's place or take the long way around

out here at the end of the property.

That's logical.

But where does the sneaky part come in?

Well, don't you get it?

Look, you see all this?

Land planned for subdivision. It's just waiting.

Now, if the access road to Osmond Acres were to go in here,

the long way, it would open up this entire area.

It belongs to a man named Harley Leonard.

Now there's a man who should have a real interest in

what happens to Marguerite's house, in anything,

to prevent a road going through her place.

But, Quince, isn't that farfetched to think...

Farfetched? Paul, it's this suddenly acquired,

brand-new little county park that caused the rerouting

of the highway and created the whole problem, right?

According to the person who called me before,

the only reason it became a park was because the land was donated

for that purpose, given to the county for nothing...

by a man named Harley Leonard.

Mr. Leonard, a friend of mine suggested you might give us

a scoop on putting an access road through

to a landlocked piece of property.

Your friend was obviously referring

to the Archer Osmond property that borders mine?

Mr. Leonard, do you plan to develop the property

which borders Osmond's?

Eventually.

How deeply were you interested

in the location of Osmond's road?

Enough to donate a strip of land to the county for a park?

It's a game like anything else.

And who set up the rules you play by, Mr. Leonard?

What was your relationship with Joe Marshall?

I never heard of him until I read the morning paper.

That's a safe statement. He sure can't challenge it now.

Now look here,

there's a lot of difference between encouraging somebody

to get a road moved and murder.

Encouraging someone to get a road moved, Mr. Leonard?

What does that mean in your game, bribery?

You'll have to excuse me, gentlemen, I'm very busy.

Joe Marshall found proof of what Adam Conrad was doing.

Go on, look at it.

Proof of Adam Conrad's chiseling and petty graft.

True or not, it's beside the point.

What do you think the point is?

The access road, Mr. Pierce.

How does this affect the access road?

Is there a motive for Adam to try to influence

the positioning of that road?

I have the answer to that one, Perry.

Marshall's death had nothing to do with the road.

He was killed because he'd found out too much.

The kickbacks, Andy?

Even if it were true,

that's not enough for motivation for murder.

Do you think a jury would believe that a man would kill

to hide $1,200 or $1,300 in kickbacks?

Would another $25,000 be more convincing?

We didn't find the entire $25,000,

only $10,000 of it.

Where?

In an envelope.

$10,000 in small unmarked bills

with a printed note saying

that the remaining $15,000 would be sent on delivery.

This envelope, Lieutenant,

how does it tie Adam Conrad in with Joe Marshall's death?

There was some writing on the back of the envelope,

writing identified as Joe Marshall's.

It was a statement, dated the day he died,

that he'd found the envelope taped on the inside

of a roll of blueprints... in Adam Conrad's office.

And where did you find the envelope?

An hour ago we found it hidden under the seat

in Adam Conrad's car.

Conrad's been arrested and charged with criminal homicide.

That 10,000 bucks they found was Harley Leonard's.

Leonard withdrew $10,000 in cash from his bank;

the exact number of bills and in the exact denominations

as the money Andy found.

He found it, all right, hidden in Adam Conrad's car.

Perry, I've got just a whisper of a lead,

but if it pans out, I think

I can prove that Harley Leonard knew

and had personal contact with someone

inside the Pierce outfit... Joe Marshall.

Paul, do you have a contact at the State Department?

- Sure. - Good.

Della, what time does the hearing start?

We're on the calendar for 3:00 this afternoon.

That should give you enough time for some digging

at the County Clerk's office.

Digging for what?

The actual identity

of the persons hiding behind a fictitious name.

Why, is something wrong?

No, no. County Clerk's office...

State Department.

In a few hours, Adam Conrad faces a preliminary hearing on

a charge of criminal homicide.

If it isn't asking too much,

exactly what is it we're gonna try and prove?

The truth isn't always on the surface, Paul.

Sometimes you have to dig for it.

That house will always mean something special to me.

Aside from which, historically,

I think it's an important landmark.

I understand. Now how did you first learn

of the danger threatening the house, Mr. Davis?

Miss Gray dropped by my office. She told me.

That's Hilary Gray, the defendant's girlfriend?

But I want to make it very clear.

All she ever asked me to do was to make a phone call.

And did you make that call?

No, I, uh, thought there was a better way

to reach the man we wanted to convince.

I wrote a column.

Who did you want to reach. Mr. Davis?

Archer Osmond.

Telegrams, phone calls,

the street outside blocked with cars.

I tell you it's simply staggering

the effect one column can have.

And what did you do, Mr. Osmond?

I called Mr. Davis and told him it was all a mistake,

that we did not intend

to bulldoze that house into a pile of rubble.

I told him I would personally pay, personally,

to have the house lifted from its foundations

and moved to whatever spot on her estate she chose.

This was after I'd talked to Ed Pierce.

Well, from what we found out,

the person in our office who was stealing

never personally contacted any of the people he hit up

for kickbacks, just anonymous phone calls.

Well, how were these kickbacks made, Mr. Pierce?

The money was put in an envelope,

taped to the inside of a roll of blueprints.

Inside a roll of blueprints?

The blueprints were sent by messenger to our office.

Adam Conrad received and checked out all blueprints

before they were distributed.

I see. Mr. Pierce, on the night of the murder,

you sent the decedent, Joe Marshall,

out to Marguerite Keith's house, is that right?

Yes, that's right,

to see what would be needed to move the house.

And what did you do, that night, sir?

I went to Adam Conrad's apartment,

told him I'd-I'd found out he was the thief.

And now, after Mr. Pierce had gone, Miss Gray,

the defendant Adam Conrad also left, is that correct?

Well...

Just yes or no, Miss Gray, answer my questions yes or no.

Now, did Adam Conrad leave?

- Yes. - By himself?

- Yes. - To see Joe Marshall?

Yes.

And naturally, when he left, he was perfectly furious?

- No. - Mildly angry?

- No! - A little upset perhaps?

No!

No? I see.

He'd just been told he was going to prison,

so, naturally, he was calm, placid, totally unaffected.

Adam went out there to get the truth out of Joe Marshall,

not to kill him. Don't you understand?

Adam wouldn't kill anybody.

Of course you're right.

He just went for... As you say... the truth.

- Yes, the truth. - From Joe Marshall?

Yes.

Joe Marshall had been telling lies,

and now he had to tell the truth?

Yes!

Even if Adam had to force it out of him?

Yes, even if Adam...

Thank you, Miss Gray. That will be all.

No further questions.

The defense has no questions.

I realize it was wrong,

cleaning up the house the way I did, straightening things.

I'm, I'm very sorry.

But you see, it was, it was such a shock

to come home and find... find what I did.

Yes, I understand.

Now, where were you coming home from, Miss Keith?

I had a pass to the theater.

So when Joe Marshall came to see you that night,

you weren't home?

No. I'd gone to the show that night.

And when you returned from the theater, did you see a man

come running out of your house,

and then get in a car and drive away?

Yes.

And did you recognize the driver of that car,

the man who had just run out of your house?

Yes... I recognized him.

Would you point out that man

to this court, please, Miss Keith?

That young man, Adam Conrad.

What the...?!

Drive to the next corner,

turn right, and pull up when I tell you to stop.

Now listen, officer...

Stop the talking. Let's move.

Why don't you cops stop rousting me?

I ain't done nothing.

That's enough. All we want to know is the payoff.

What?

How much did he pay you?

I don't know what you're talking about.

About a week ago, you delivered a roll of blueprints...

At night.

To the Pierce Construction Company.

The man who sent those blueprints...

The man you just now saw...

how much did he pay you to forget that delivery a week ago?

Well, he, he paid me a hundred bucks.

Thank you for coming, Mr. Osmond.

Mason, Miss Keith.

Look aren't we all supposed to be in court

in less than an hour?

Yes, Mr. Osmond, we'll be there.

I have a few things I'd like to clear up with you.

Is it right for me to be here? I'm a witness.

The timing may be somewhat inopportune,

but this is simply a business meeting.

Now, Osmond Acres is

the fictitious business name of a partnership.

And you're not the sole owner of Osmond Acres?

No, I'm not. The land is held in the name

of a limited partnership, true enough.

But I'm the general partner.

Your limited partner, is he, by chance,

named Ronald Litt?

The names of the actual partners operating under

a fictitious name is a matter of public record

in the County Clerk's office.

It's also a matter of public record

that the limited partnership faces possible insolvency

because of the unusual costs

and unexpected delays in starting Osmond Acres.

That is my business.

And your partner's.

Now, I spoke to Mr. Litt.

He's worried.

Well, there's no need to play games.

Sure, I offered to buy him out at 50 cents on the dollar.

Would you be interested in helping him

save all his investment?

Go on.

I have a contract...

an agreement by Miss Keith,

to deed to you whatever portion of Manzana Estate

you will need for your access road.

Without any more fuss?

What's the joker?

The fulfillment of two covenants:

first, in accordance with your own expressed desires,

that you move her house, intact,

to a designated place on the property.

And the second covenant?

Moving of the house is to start at 8:00 tomorrow morning

and you will issue to the press

a public announcement of this transaction...

Issue it to the press today.

Where's the papers?

Right here, Mr. Osmond.

One other thing... Adam Conrad and his employer...

Please try to heal the breach between them.

All right, I promise.

If they don't put Adam Conrad in the gas chamber for murder.

We found blood and a few strands of hair.

Both blood and hair matched that of the decedent Joe Marshall.

What else did you find on this crowbar, Lieutenant Anderson?

One set of fingerprints...

Identified as those of the defendant Adam Conrad.

Thank you, Lieutenant Anderson.

Cross-examine.

Where was Joe Marshall killed, Lieutenant?

In the living room of the Keith house.

And where was the crowbar found?

Outside, where it had been tossed into some bushes.

That's merely an assumption, isn't it, Lieutenant Anderson?

Maybe it wasn't tossed, maybe it was just dropped,

or left or placed in the bushes

but its presence in those bushes is a fact, not an assumption.

Based on such facts, then is it your contention, Lieutenant,

that Adam Conrad confronted the decedent in the living room;

that they fought, that he struck the decedent with the crowbar;

took the incriminating envelope with the $10,000;

hid the envelope in his car;

tossed, placed, dropped or left the crowbar in the bushes

and drove off?

That's the way the facts seem to add up.

Lieutenant, did I understand you to testify

that there was a struggle?

No, but I'm sure there was,

even though the living room had been, uh, straightened up.

So, in the heat of a struggle with the decedent,

Adam Conrad reached out,

and in the living room of a house occupied by a woman,

there happened to be a crowbar present?

There was a storage room in back,

with plenty of tools in it.

He could've gotten the crowbar from there

before he went into the living room.

Now, these other tools...

Could one of them have been used as a murder weapon?

Could have, but wasn't.

The defendant didn't handle any of them.

How do you know that?

Well, we checked everything for fingerprints.

We found Miss Keith's, her gardener's,

those of a handyman she used now and then...

None of the defendant's.

But his prints were on the crowbar?

No question of it.

Along with Miss Keith's, the gardener's,

and the occasional handyman's.

No, just his.

Lieutenant, how many years have you been on the police force?

15 years.

Tell me, Lieutenant, in all those years,

have you ever seen or heard of a murderer

who wiped a murder weapon clean before

not after he used it?

No further questions.

No re-direct, Your Honor.

The witness is excused.

If it please the court,

the state believes that it has presented

a prima facie case and it moves,

at this time, that the defendant Adam Conrad

be bound over for trial in Superior Court

on a charge of criminal homicide.

Your Honor, we had anticipated

that the district attorney would call another witness.

He has not, and we believe his testimony is of importance.

Who is this witness?

Harley Leonard.

Your Honor, the prosecution has no objection

to calling Mr. Leonard.

Mr. Leonard, did you go to

Marguerite Keith's house that night?

Absolutely and categorically, no.

Were you in the living room of that house with a crowbar

when Joe Marshall arrived,

and did you, in the course of a struggle,

strike and kill Joe Marshall with that crowbar?

Again, absolutely and categorically, no.

When you heard the defendant drive up,

did you lie in wait for him, knock him down,

place his fingers on the wiped-off crowbar,

toss the crowbar into the bushes,

hide the envelope of money in the defendant's car

and drive away?

No... no, no.

And was the $10,000 in that envelope

money you sent to Joe Marshall?

I... I didn't know you...

Now, look here, Mr. Mason,

I don't know what you're talking about.

What money? To whom?

I remind you, you're under oath.

Was that your money?

I just finished telling you

I don't know what you're talking about.

Have you ever seen the person in this photograph?

Did you pay $10,000 as part payment of a $25,000 bribe

to have the Osmond Acres access road

routed along the edge of your property?

Yes.

You paid the money not to Adam Conrad, but to Joe Marshall.

That's right.

No further questions.

Your Honor, the District Attorney's Office

is perfectly aware of the witness's complicity

in this bribery business,

and intends to take appropriate action.

As a matter of fact, this subject will be fully aired

at the murder trial itself, if the defendant is bound over.

Well, I'll admit that I have entertained the thought

that the defendant was involved in the bribery,

that this was probative as to his possible motive.

Your Honor, it certainly appears probable

that whoever is involved in the bribery here

is also the embezzler who was working

inside the Pierce company.

Now, may I remind the court...

Whether it is Adam Conrad who was the embezzler

trying to cover up evidence of that fact,

or whether the dead man was the embezzler

trying to shift the blame onto Adam Conrad

the result was the same:

a confrontation between the two men

ending in a struggle which resulted

in the death of Joe Marshall at the hands of Adam Conrad.

No! No! That's a lie!

Your Honor, the prosecution has already moved

that the defendant be bound over.

All right, Mr. Mason, I presume you will

present your defense at this time?

We will not present a defense, Your Honor.

Well, in that case,

the defendant will be bound over to Superior Court

to stand trial on the charge of criminal homicide.

The complaint will be so endorsed.

Is it all right?

♪♪

Good evening, Mr. Davis.

You must have read the press release

Mr. Osmond sent to your newspaper,

announcing that the house

is going to be moved in the morning.

Here you are, tearing up floorboards.

A destructive souvenir hunter, Mr. Davis.

I'm disappointed.

Well, the, uh... the disappointment is mutual.

I didn't think you'd let them bind Conrad over for trial.

Not what I'd call an adequate legal performance;

at least not for the renowned Perry Mason.

I'm sorry I didn't live up to your expectations.

Go ahead, Paul.

Maybe Mr. Davis brought that crowbar here

to re-enact the crime, Perry.

To try to find out for himself

what really happened here the night of the murder.

No, Hamilton, he's much too sophisticated for that.

Surely you remember.

He and his wife honeymooned here in this house,

before they left for Italy, three years ago.

It was Italy, wasn't it, Mr. Davis,

where you took your wife from here?

Yeah, yeah, I was, uh, doing an assignment for a magazine.

I remember reading a very sad story you wrote

about her illness and death over there.

L-Look, I-I don't know what this is all about, uh...

All right, technically, I guess I'm a trespasser.

If you want to arrest me, come on, let's...

Please, Mr. Davis.

You don't want to leave now, do you?

There's nothing here that you're afraid of, is there?

Stop it.

Please, make him stop it.

Is that what you were doing, pulling up the floorboards,

when Joe Marshall walked in on you that night?

Is that why you had to kill him?

No, stop it... stop it, stop it!

Stop it!

Will we find your wife there, Mr. Davis?

No! No! She died in Italy!

But the only record of her death is the story you wrote.

And according to the State Department's Passport Division,

you left for Italy, three years ago, all by yourself.

I couldn't let them tear the house down,

don't you understand that?

And I couldn't let them move it, either.

I tried to tell Marshall... when he walked in on me, I...

I tried to tell him, to explain that...

it had been an accident.

You've got to believe that.

I was drunk; I didn't mean to kill her.

It was an accident.

He said that...

that he'd go to the police

unless I made it worth his while

to keep his mouth shut about...

uh, about her being buried here.

Yeah, I shut his mouth for him.

I shut it for good.

But how did you figure out

it had nothing to do with the road or our company

but was connected with the house itself?

It was a little far out,

but the only answer that fit.

You know, Marshall liked kickbacks.

He could have been bought off for very little.

His being murdered only made sense

if the stakes were a great deal higher.

Quincy's stakes were high, all right.

The cold-blooded monster,

sending me a ticket to go to a show

so he could get into my house and to... dig.

For three years.

For three years, I lived with that under my feet.

But you knew nothing about it until now, Marguerite.

It's past.

Have you thought of moving?

How about the top floor

of the tallest apartment building in town?