Original subtitles

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Ben left a message with my service

"Get over to my house fast." Me too.

Why is the door open?

Ben?

Oh, my God.

Whoever did this might still be here.

Where's Ben?

Oh, no!

Oh, Conrad!

Oh!

Oh, thank God.

Ben's been kidnapped.

I'm calling the police. No, wait.

Maybe we shouldn't.

What does it say?

"I've kidnapped Ben Matlock.

"I'll exchange him for the rare coins in his safe.

"Unless you want to see him expunged, don't call the police,

"do exactly as I say.

"Failure to follow instructions

"will be the direct and intervening cause of his death.

Go to the office and wait for my call."

What kind of person would do this?!

How many people has he sent to jail?

Oh, we've gotta find him. And fast.

Looks like we're dealing with a lunatic.

The kidnapper must be a lawyer.

Listen to this, "If you want to see him expunged,

"direct and intervening cause of his death"

these are legal terms.

Who else but a lawyer would know them?

Well, did Ben ever send an attorney to prison?

No, I don't remember any lawyer.

Wait a minute.

Wait a minute, a judge is a lawyer!

Ben's been kidnapped

by Judge Addison.

I don't remember the name.

Judge Carter Addison was an old friend of Ben's.

Judge Addison was respected, admired,

no one knew he led a double life.

He had a mistress.

A lovely young woman named Joanne Lee

of whom he was insanely jealous.

When Carter Addison discovered she was seeing another man,

something inside of him snapped.

♪ ♪

His jealousy drove him to do the unthinkable.

Addison murdered Joanne Lee

and framed her boyfriend, Jim Meredith.

No!

This is the lobby, Hobbs speaking.

Get up to 1102 right away!

There's a woman screaming for help!

Something terrible has happened.

Hurry!

Superior Court 3 is now in session.

Honorable Judge Carter Addison presiding.

All rise.

Of course, Ben didn't know any of this.

He defended Jim Meredith for the murder of Joanne Lee.

He had no reason to be displeased that his old friend,

Carter Addison, was the presiding judge.

We'll, uh, start with the private counsel cases.

The State v. Meredith.

Benjamin Matlock for the defense, Your Honor.

Defendant has been advised of his rights,

pleads not guilty, requests a jury trial.

Time is waived.

How would September 28th, 9:00 a.m. be, Counselor?

Fine with me, Your Honor.

You know, I can't get over Carter Addison

asking me to step aside on this.

I mean,

I can understand a lawyer asking a judge to step aside

because of prejudice.

But a judge asking a lawyer, don't you think that's odd?

Yeah, it is.

Ben, I didn't find any fingerprints

on that Cognac bottle.

I did find this.

A pipe cleaner and some tobacco.

Ben wasn't suspicious of Judge Addison

until he asked Ben to step aside on the case.

Evening, Carter.

Well, hello, Ben. What are you doing here?

Oh, sometimes I get the wanderlust.

Buy you a drink.

Uh, well, it's a little late.

Oh, just one.

They got something here very special.

Two Langlois Napoleon cognacs.

Well, uh, let me say good night. Okay.

Well, here's to dandelion season

or whatever season it is.

Yeah, interestingly enough,

I found a bottle of this in Joanne Lee's pocket.

Uh, who?

Joanne Lee, that murdered girl.

Oh, yes, yes.

I really am glad I didn't step aside on this case.

It's fascinating.

It really is.

I think, I think she was being kept by an older man.

I think he smoked a pipe and drank this same cognac.

I don't know that he killed her,

but he could have.

Well, I better get home.

My wife's by herself.

Big day tomorrow. Oh, for me too, Carter.

For me too. Thanks, Ben.

Yeah. Good night.

We haven't met.

I'm Joanne Lee's mother.

They're waiting for you in court, Mrs. Lee.

Well, I thought we should talk first.

Hmm, why is that?

Joanne told me all about you.

What is it, Mr. Matlock?

I'll get right to it, Your Honor.

Defense intends to call His Honor as its next witness.

I have no information relevant to this case.

I have a sincere belief

that Your Honor may have knowledge of facts

that may shed some light on this case.

All rise!

You know how Ben is when he gets suspicious.

He gets tricky.

One of his tricks was Joanne's mother, Claire Lee.

Your Honor, defense has just been presented with new evidence

that's important to our case.

May we take a brief recess to prepare for our next witness?

All right, this court will recess

until 2:30 this afternoon.

Ben's plan worked.

♪ ♪

The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth

so help me God.

And Ben had another trick up his sleeve.

Mr. Addison,

do you know Mrs. Claire Lee?

I don't know her personally, no.

You are aware that she is the mother

of the deceased, Joanne Lee?

I believe that was the testimony.

Have you had any occasion to discuss this case with Mrs. Lee?

Absolutely not.

Isn't it true

that you met with her this morning

after she testified in your court?

No, I did not.

And at that time, didn't you give her

an envelope containing $15,000?

Objection!

The witness already testified he never met with the woman.

Sustained.

Did you know Joanne Lee?

No. Never met her?

Uh-uh, no.

Are you familiar with a condominium building

at 437 Highview Street?

No, I am not.

Let me refresh Your Honor's memory.

From this condominium building, with a pair of binoculars,

a person can look right into Joanne Lee's apartment,

which is what the killer did.

While he watched and waited for his chance

to murder her.

Matlock, I warn you, making these unsubstantiated charges

is contemptible.

Mr. Addison, I don't make unsubstantiated charges.

You see,

this morning...

when you went back to that condominium,

when Mr. Bryant saw you,

to remove your clothes

that you had left there

till this whole thing was over,

you didn't remove your clothes.

They were replacements that were placed there

by my associate, Mr. Tyler Hudson.

These are your clothes.

This is your raincoat.

See Joanne Lee's blood?

These are your gloves.

Your hat.

Your shoes.

Which I place into evidence now.

Carter,

you were one of the best and one of the brightest.

I'm truly sorry it's come to this.

You're right.

Sounds like the kidnapper could be Judge Addison.

Let's see when he got out of jail.

Yo, Charlie. Conrad.

Got a name for your computer.

Judge Carter Addison.

Two "D's."

Yeah.

Really.

I owe you one, Charlie, thanks.

When did he get out?

He didn't.

Judge Addison is still serving his sentence.

According to his prison file which Charlie accessed,

don't ask me how.

That leads us right back where we started.

This is wrong to go at alone, Conrad.

We've got to call the police.

Ben Matlock's office.

You know who this is.

You deliver the coins, I'll deliver Matlock.

We're in business. Yeah.

Where and when?

You'll find out.

When it's time.

I'll be calling back with instructions, wait there.

I want to talk to Ben.

Forget it.

How do we know you have him?

We have him.

How do we know he's alive?

Well, you'll just have to take my word for it.

Because if you don't... I'll just have to kill him.

♪ ♪

Good thing we put all Ben's case files on the computer.

Conrad, we have to do something!

We are. This'll work.

This is a hacker's program.

See, you know all this stuff. A little.

But how's this gonna help us find Ben?

What I'm doing here is

I'm asking the computer to search the case files,

come up with the answers to two questions.

First one is, "Which of the people Ben sent to prison

is out?"

That is straight data.

Then there's Charlie's psychological profile

program, and that'll give me the answer to the second question,

which is, "Which of those would commit a crime of revenge?"

Should work.

Michelle...

Hey!

Okay. Okay, what do we got here?

Five names. No, actually four.

Ben told me that this third name,

Michael Turner, died in prison. All right, four names.

What do you think? What do I think?

What do I think? What do I think?

Okay, okay, we know that, uh,

more than one person is involved in this kidnapping.

How do we know that?

Well, you heard him on the phone.

He said, "We have Ben."

Right.

And the motive is definitely revenge.

I think our best bet is Cathy Baron.

Cathy Baron. Yeah.

She hated Ben.

And not just because he sent her to prison,

I think she always looked to Ben and saw all the men in her life

who'd hurt her. What, they all loved her and left her?

Not quite.

Cathy Baron was the daughter of a Mafia Don.

And the men around her seemed to die violent deaths.

The Don, Nicholas Baron,

was charged with the murder of both Donald Kovak

and Eddie Alonzo.

Ben, as usual, had a few questions to ask.

Well, hello.

I could've told you you'd wind up taking the case.

I'm Cathy Baron. Turn around and place your hands on the wall...

Hey, leave it, Marty.

This is Benjamin Matlock, father's attorney.

There's one thing about this case

that bothers me.

The man who killed Kovak

and then was himself killed, Eddie Alonzo,

was someone whom all of you knew.

Are you saying that one of us hired him

and then had him killed?

He was like a brother to me.

Like a second father to the children.

Besides, he was retired.

I know.

But who could best talk him out of retirement?

I don't think a stranger.

I think someone he knew and trusted.

Well, if you'll excuse us, we'll go to work.

Cathy Baron proved to be a fascinating puzzle

for Ben's daughter, Charlene.

God, it feels good to get out of that house.

You still live at home?

Well, when Nicholas Baron is your father

you don't exactly have a whole lot of options in life.

That's tough.

So, how's the case going?

Whoever killed Eddie Alonzo

had to have access to your father's house.

You mean like one of us.

We can't rule that out.

You better learn one thing fast,

and that's no matter what, we are a family here

and no outsider dare questions our loyalty to each other ever!

Not everyone was happy Ben was defending Nicholas Baron.

Charlene? Dad?

Good Lord!

Are you all right?

I'm all right, are you all right?

Well, I got this phone call,

I didn't...

Hello?

This was just a game.

Walk off this case while you still can walk.

Somebody's trying to scare us off this case.

Let me tell you something.

Now, I don't care who it is.

Anything, I mean, anything happens to my daughter,

there's gonna be hell to pay.

My man'll find out who did it. Oh, Paul, please.

He's here because he thinks it's one of us.

That's impossible!

Let me tell you something.

Whenever I find who's responsible

for endangering my daughter,

I'm gonna feed him to the district attorney

piece by piece.

You know...

I lost my mother when I was young.

Was it difficult for you?

My father divorced my mother over 20 years ago.

I barely remember her.

Where is she now?

When she walked out,

my father forbade any of us to have any contact

with her.

He'd punish us

if we so much as mentioned her name.

He even had all the photographs of her destroyed...

Every single one of them.

Well, why did she walk out?

My mother loved my father but hated what he did.

I guess she thought by marrying him she could change him,

but she couldn't.

So she finally left.

With another man.

Finally the secrets the Baron family

so carefully hid were revealed.

I know how difficult this is gonna be for you.

But, remember, no matter how it turns out...

Now, it might turn out to be

what neither of us wanted...

But that was our deal, and, like it or not,

I'm gonna have to hold you to it.

I'm gonna go ahead with it.

Miss Baron,

you were having an affair with Donald Kovak.

Yes.

Was that affair going on at the time of his death?

Yes.

Donald Kovak was a married man, wasn't he?

He was going to leave his wife.

When?

Eventually.

I understand...

Eddie Alonzo's an old friend of the family.

Did you keep track of him?

I haven't seen him in years.

Are you sure?

Yes.

You took $25,000

out of your trust fund the same week

that Eddie Alonzo put $25,000 down

on a house.

You think that's just a coincidence.

I suppose so.

You know...

I've been meaning to tell you

that locket you always wear

is beautiful.

Thank you.

My mother had one something like it.

You open it up

and there's pictures inside.

Does yours open up?

Yes.

Would you open it, please.

Stop! I confess!

I did it! I killed them both!

Please, stop! Stop!

Please! Please!

It's too late.

Would you like some time with you client, Mr. Matlock?

No, Your Honor.

We apologize for the outburst.

You may proceed.

Your father just confessed to murders he didn't commit.

Would you open the locket, please?

Very pretty.

Your mother?

I didn't know any pictures of her existed.

Where did you get it?

I... I can't remember.

That picture came...

from this photo album.

From that picture.

This photo album belonged to Eddie Alonzo.

It came from his apartment.

Isn't it true that Eddie Alonzo cut that picture out

and gave it to you when you came to him

with the $25,000?

Isn't it true you told him

you wanted to avenge your father's wrongful imprisonment?

When in fact you wanted to avenge

yourself on a man who wouldn't leave his wife for you.

Isn't it true that you gave Eddie Alonzo $25,000

to kill Donald Kovak?

And isn't it true that you took your father's car

and gun and went to the field where you knew Eddie would be

and shot him?

Isn't all of that true?

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

That's a woman I'd think twice about double-crossing.

Mm-hmm.

Bet you Charlie has her address.

Excuse me?

Hi. Are you the manager? Oh, yeah.

Uh, ground floor, two bedrooms,

lovely view of the park. Uh, no, no.

We'd like to ask you a few questions about Cathy Baron.

Ooh.

I'll bet you guys are

from the National Informer.

You got us.

Go on.

Well...

Cathy seemed like a very nice girl,

so I decided to rent her a place after she got out of prison.

Well, next thing you know,

she takes up with one man after another.

And they all give her a very bad time.

Then, this incredibly wealthy Turk shows up,

and takes her to Cairo.

We all know

why.

Where she visits

the ruins of these ancient tombs,

and has an amazing spiritual experience.

Which is how she ended up doing what it is that she does.

Which is what?

Oh, you're a kidder.

Very cute.

Oh, come on. I mean, who would have thought

that a killer like Cathy Baron would end up in L.A.

channeling the spirit

of a 2,000-year-old Egyptian priest?

Lady flipped out, Michelle.

Flipped out? Hell, no.

She calls herself Rama Da.

Celebrities flock to her.

She's pulling down 20 grand a month.

Thanks for the information.

Um, Dorothy Smith... S-M-I-T-H.

Thank you.

I'm 28 years old.

I'm telling you, we've got to call the police.

No, you heard him. They'll kill Ben.

What makes you think they won't kill him anyway?

Or that he's even alive? I'm calling

Bob Brooks. Wait!

I know how worried you are.

I am, too, all right?

Just let me give the computer one more shot.

If it doesn't work, we'll try it your way.

Deal?

All right.

All right, let me just ask this sucker one more question.

Who of this bunch is a lunatic?

Certified.

Ben Matlock's office.

Okay, McMasters.

Here's what you do.

Take the coins...

Forget it!

I've lost interest.

Hey, do you know who this is? - Yeah.

I know who it is, and I only have one thing to say to you.

Either I talk to Ben, or nothing else happens.

Oh, a lot could happen.

I could kill him.

Then do it.

What are you...?

Listen.

I've worked for Ben Matlock for less than a year.

We're not exactly buddies.

Fact is, I don't even like

the guy, and the worst thing that could happen to me

if you kill him is I'll find another job.

So, cut the crap!

Now, put the silver fox on, or forget it.

Ow!

Talk fast, and careful what you say.

Hello?

Ben!

Ben, you all right?

I'm fine.

We're working on it, Ben.

I know.

Feed my cats, Sarah and Esther.

Ben?!

Okay, no more games.

Michelle Thomas will be at the pay phone

in Butler Park at Laurel and Newcastle.

She'll have the coins with her,

or Matlock's a dead man.

Wait...

Oh, God.

What was Ben trying to tell us?

Okay, he doesn't have cats, so...

Sarah and Esther.

Sarah... and Esther...

Morgan.

Morgan.

The Morgan twins.

They kidnapped him.

I don't think so.

They're Ben's neighbors.

They're over 80, and God-fearing women.

They give Ben hand-knitted mufflers every Christmas.

Well, maybe they suddenly went wacko or something.

No. No. No. No?

Okay, Sarah and Esther.

Morgan.

Morgan. Morgan.

Morgan, what?! Morgan.

It's a street name.

Morgan.

Morgan.

Morgan.

It's not a street.

It's not a boulevard, it's not an avenue.

It's not even an alley.

What was he trying to tell us?!

Do you remember my sister Emily?

Huh?

'Course you do.

Do you remember how sweet she was?

How pretty?

Know where she is?

She's dead.

All gone.

You see, you made Emily so very unhappy

that she killed herself.

Shoot him.

Come on, Julia, take a pill or something.

You're not thinking straight.

Don't say that.

Julia, listen, we need him

until we get what we want.

You want those coins, don't you, Jack?

Well, they're worth half a million, Julia,

and I know just where to sell them.

And you deserve them

for helping me escape from prison,

for helping me get him,

and for helping me kill Michelle Thomas.

Isn't this a great plan?

My uncle's in Florida, so we broke into his house,

kidnapped you, so Jack'll get the coins,

and all that money.

And I get to kill your dear friend Michelle.

I...

I-I knew you'd like this plan.

You see, Mr. Matlock,

I know you're close to Michelle, and I want you to know exactly

what it feels like when someone you love dies.

And you will.

I promise.

Sarah and Esther, Sarah and Esther.

Sarah and Esther.

That's it.

What?

It's not the name.

It's the relationship... sisters.

Ben's been kidnapped by sisters.

All right, I'll plug it in.

No. I know who it is.

Julia and Emily McCullough.

Sisters. Strange sisters.

Julia and Emily McCullough shared everything,

including the plan to commit the perfect murder

just to prove they could do it.

Am I you, or are you me?

Hurry up. Okay, okay.

Do you have my, uh, notebook?

Emily, let's go. You don't need it.

Okay. Julia, can't we do this another night?

Emily, we should have been at the library ten minutes ago.

Let's go.

Julia!

Come on.

You like playing with fire.

Good night, Uncle Harold.

Dribbles around, passes to Turner.

Turner to Pierson, Pierson to Pryor...

He's open. Shoots and scores!

Good evening, Miss Reese.

Look, D.B., I'm supposed to know my way around.

This John Doe moke must've cost you a fortune.

Harold, is that you?

Harold?

Harold?

Julia.

Shh, shh.

Uncle Harold?

What happened?

Esther... is dead.

She's been murdered.

But Ben, who defended their Uncle Howard for the murder of

their Aunt Esther, was suspicious of Julia and Emily,

and he investigated as only Ben can.

What do you want?

Oh! Oh!

I'm so sorry. Would you...

Oh, would you look at... at that? I'm sorry. I...

thought I was by myself.

Who are you?

Oh, I'm Ben Matlock, Harold's lawyer.

You must be his nieces.

Yes, we are.

What gives you the right to come in here?

Julia?

Harold said you were the one

that did the talking, that Emily was real shy.

Don't burn yourself

with that.

Oh, I'm not gonna burn anything.

Or anyone.

What are you looking for?

Silver polish.

Why?

Whoever killed your Aunt Esther

tried to clean that candlestick

before the police found it.

I can't find the silver polish.

If Harold tried to clean it,

where did he put the polish?

Look.

Silver polish.

Isn't that interesting?

I just found this one.

I guess you can't have too much silver polish.

Well, I'll be on my way, and

again, I'm...

Good night.

Where's Julia?

I'd like to have a word with her.

Um... She's here somewhere.

Let's go ask Miss Reese.

Mrs. Reese, have you seen Julia?

Yes, of course.

She's in the upper stacks.

There.

There she is.

Julia?

Where is Julia?

Right over here.

I could have sworn that...

Amazing how our eyes can fool us sometimes.

Mr. Hudson was interviewing your sister.

He tricked me.

I thought it was you.

So did Mrs. Reese.

I don't think she's so certain now

it was you she saw in the stacks

the night of the murder.

We have to study.

Uh, one other thing.

Subpoenas for both of you.

You can come to court together.

It'll be like always.

Emily,

when you were very young,

your parents died in a fire, didn't they?

Yes.

And you always felt bad about that, didn't you?

Even guilty.

Yes.

Did you know that fire was caused

by a broken gas main?

No.

I have the fire department report right here.

Julia didn't tell you that, didn't she?

She needed for you

to feel responsible for the fire and the death of your parents,

because you used to like to play with matches.

Leave my sister alone!

He's a liar! Liar!

Order. Order in the court.

One more word out of you, young lady,

and I'll have you in contempt.

Ben found the psychological key to Julia's domination

of Emily... and the key to proving them guilty.

No further questions.

You may step down.

Julia.

The court isn't finished with you.

Your Honor, I call Julia McCullough to the stand.

Now, Julia,

you stole Mr. Henderson's keys

the night you drove him into town, didn't you?

No.

Then, made your sister impersonate you

in the library. JULIA: No.

Then, you killed your Aunt Esther to prove

you could commit the perfect crime

and were therefore better than everyone else.

No. Then, you and your sister

hid this candlestick in the basement

for the police to find.

Of course not.

Who did?

Uncle Harold.

I don't think so.

I just noticed something

that somehow evaded me until a moment ago.

If it had been a snake, it would have bitten me.

When does the paper arrive at the house?

In the morning.

What time?

About 6:00.

Well, Harold couldn't have used this newspaper

to wrap the candlestick.

Why not?

Read the day of the week.

Read it.

It's Thursday's paper.

I didn't hear you.

It's Thursday's paper!

And Uncle Harold was taken into custody

by the police Wednesday night,

wasn't he?

Yes.

So, what does that mean?

It means this candlestick was placed in the basement

after Harold was taken to police headquarters.

Who was at the house Thursday morning, Julia?

The police were with you.

They know that you and Emily were alone.

Only you and your sister

could have placed this candlestick in the basement.

Okay, Julia went to the Taylor State Prison

for the Criminally Insane.

I don't know about Emily.

How can they be out?

Yo, Charlie?

Okay, time to go.

You okay?

I'm always okay.

Mr. Matlock and I are going to talk over

old times.

Aren't we, honey?

Then, you'll bring back Miss Thomas.

And we'll have a party.

You can count on it.

Okay, this is it.

I'm taking the coins to Laurel and Newcastle.

All right, it's a public place.

It should be safe.

I'll go to the McCullough house.

Whoever the guy is that's working

with the sisters will be guarding Ben.

Listen, be careful.

That house is full of secret passages.

Hey, I was born careful.

You be careful. Yeah.

Good luck, huh? All right.

Ben and I will meet you back here in a couple hours.

I like that.

Hello, Miss Thomas.

You should always wear red.

Where are you?

Close.

Now, listen.

Leave the park.

Drive ten miles west on Route 42

to the bus stop between South and Grand.

Get out of the car, and wait on the bench.

I have the coins.

Is Ben with you?

No questions.

Just do as you're told.

Damn.

♪ ♪

Hello.

Waiting for the bus?

No, for a friend.

Surprise.

I have something you want.

Save it.

You'll be delivering it in person

to an old friend of yours

who wants to say hello and good-bye.

Emily was beautiful.

Just like your Michelle.

You killed Emily,

so I'm going to kill Michelle.

And-and then, I'm going to kill you.

Let go of me!

Come on. All right, all right.

Let go of me!

There you go.

Let me out of here!

Thank God it's over.

No, it's not. He'll be back in a minute

with Michelle, and he's going to kill her.

All right.

I'll call the police.

All right. All right.

You okay?

Okay.

Hey, Julia, I brought you a present.

Nothing to it.

Ben, are you all right?

Yeah. You?

I'm fine now. Oh, good.

Oh, good, the cops.

I'll let them in.

He's out. I'll get Julia.

She's gone!

Gone?! Yeah.

Michelle!

Michelle, look out!

Bob?

Always good to see you.