Original subtitles

There I was. The chief had me by the collar, right?

I was a lot smaller then, especially up here.

He said, what's such a bright young boy like you doing acting like such a dumb punk?

He said you got brains in your head that your other brains don't even know about.

What's it gonna be, he said, life of stealing hubcaps or a real life?

Are you worth the second chance or not?

You give me the chance, I said.

You give me the chance to go to college and I'll graduate at the top of my class.

Five bucks, he said. Five bucks, because I know I sure bet when I see one.

I don't know the way it was, chief.

Would you believe that Tom worked his way through Stanford and graduated summa cum laude

just so he could beat me out of my hard earned money?

Well, I'd believe it.

Hey!

I'm gonna frame this and hang it right next to my other diploma.

Come on, mom, it's your turn. You gotta say something.

Oh, no, I just cry.

You better let your father do the talking.

Me?

Well, come on, dad, you heard her.

What's there to say except how proud I am of him?

My kid at the top of his class.

How am I ever gonna make a carpenter out of him now?

I'll build a stairway to the moon, pop.

You got any idea how much lumber that would take?

All right, seriously, you young folks have got the whole world ahead of you.

I wish you the world.

I wish you a son like mine.

I wish you a wife like mine.

I wish you all your sweetest dreams come true.

I wish you...

I wish you all go back to drinking so I don't get stuck with all that beer.

That's more than he's said in 20 years.

Oh, hello, Ted. Neighbors complaining about the noise?

Hiya, Chief. I didn't expect to see you here.

I'm looking for Walter Stowe.

Mr. Walter Stowe?

Have you ever been known by the name of Frank Tomlachek?

You mind coming along with me, sir?

Pop. Second Ted. He's entitled to hear the charge.

No.

Well, if he doesn't want to hear the charge, I do.

It's a fugitive warrant from the state of New York.

Happened 19 years ago. He was convicted, but he escaped.

The charge is murder one.

The state of New York has requested him returned for execution.

Mom, it's not true!

No, sir.

All I'm telling you is that the trial transcript came through fine.

Very interesting reading.

But I'm still looking for the medical examiner's report,

the report of the arresting officer,

not to mention the transcript of the coroner's inquest.

Look, you represented Tomlachek at his trial.

I know it's all ancient history to you, but to Tomlachek, it's happening.

Dig those documents out and get them here.

And thank you for your cooperation, sir.

You told him.

He needed telling.

Yeah, but you wasted the phone call.

If we'd had a window open and it's buzzed,

it's Rue Steeter heard you, all the way back in New York.

I suppose I woke you up.

That you did.

About time he got out of the sack.

It's about time you hit the sack, isn't it?

You haven't been away from your desk since that package got here from that attorney yesterday.

I'm all right.

Sure. Those circles under your eyes come from vast living.

Has he got a chance?

Tomlachek?

I don't know, Mark.

If you believe the words in this transcript of his trial, he's guilty.

But he don't believe those words.

I didn't say that.

Trial was fair enough. He's had his day in court.

Was it much of a day?

He was a working stiff.

What kind of legal help could he buy?

The state of New York paid his lawyer.

What I thought.

I've been that route.

I've talked to Commissioner Randall.

Stowe's extradition papers are on their way to Sacramento.

Probably be signed in the morning.

Find out how they got him?

Right out of O'Henry.

Carpenter built platform for son.

Wally Stowe, a man with no formal education beyond grammar school,

constructed the platform at Stanford University from which the valedictorian gave his speech.

The valedictorian was his son.

Tom Stowe, who topped the dean's list, has received numerous job offers,

but turned them all down to work for NASA's moon project.

America Today. Six million readers.

One of whom is Mrs. Richard Chase, the murdered man's wife.

She recognized his picture 19 years later and told the New York police.

They contact San Francisco? The rest we know.

Not necessarily. All we know is what we read in the record.

There's got to be more to this case than that.

I don't know what I could tell you that would mean anything.

But there's nothing I wouldn't say if I thought it would save him.

I understand. But lying now won't help much.

We'll just have to trust each other, Dee.

You got a deal? Of course.

Dee, were you in court every day of Wally's trial? Yeah.

Were you satisfied with the way his case was handled?

It wasn't really much of a case. It was just his word.

Was there anything left out?

There couldn't have been. It was just his word.

What about the town you lived in, Millfield?

After Mr. Chase's death, was there any feeling against you and Wally?

Hostility? Did people talk or do things to hurt you?

No, they... We were such little people.

I guess we weren't worth much attention.

But Mr. Chase was very well thought of.

He was missed, and they blamed my husband for that.

They were wrong.

You know Wally. You know he'd never shoot down a man in cold blood for any reason.

Yes, I know Wally.

But I didn't know Frank Tomlachek.

But he's the same man. He hasn't changed. Believe me.

I do believe you.

Oh, it must have been difficult for you, living in hiding all those years.

The worst time was right after he escaped.

That year and a half when I didn't know if I'd ever see him again.

Hi, Chief.

Hi, Martin.

I thought you were supposed to leave for Houston today.

Yeah, my boss called this morning. He heard the news.

He figured I might want to start a week late.

Pretty nice guy, huh?

Very nice, if that's all it was.

Yeah, well, there was some mention about my security clearance.

So you went out and had a few drinks just to keep in shape?

No, I went out to get smashed.

Oh, Tom, don't say things like that.

And I couldn't even get drunk.

I kept thinking about the old man.

19 years of nailing little pieces of wood together.

You know what I figured out?

Mathematically, I mean.

You know, my old man did build a stairway to the moon.

Tom.

19 years wiped out just like that.

Not completely wiped out.

You have to count for something.

Who's counting them?

I am. For one.

I am. For one.

Not a chance, Bob.

You know extradition procedure as well as I do.

It's almost automatic. A formality.

All we can do is shipping back.

As if we didn't care.

It's a capital crime and he was convicted.

The governor's hands are tied. That goes for both governors.

He's been a useful part of society for 19 years.

That's a mitigating factor.

Without new evidence, the case is closed and you know it.

Come on, Bob, talk sense.

All right. Let's talk sense.

The man with all that evidence staring him in the face should have pleaded guilty.

Now, why didn't he?

How should I know? It happened 19 years ago.

Wrong. It's happening now.

Well, I struck out.

Commissioner says we play this one by the book.

Too bad we can't rewrite the book.

Who says we can't? I want to keep Wally Stowe in California.

To make sure this extradition isn't just a matter of routine.

Mark, you forgot your hat. I don't wear a hat.

Sure you do. When you go looking for it, try the press room.

The reason you're in such a hurry to find it is I'm waiting impatiently for you to drive me somewhere very important.

But don't tell anyone where you're taking me.

Check. Unless it's Cy Collins of the Observer.

Double check. And unless he slips you at least $5.

Now it's getting interesting.

Make it $10. We'll meet you in the garage.

Where is it that I'm taking you?

Where they're holding Wally. Portola Station.

On my way.

Chief, people say you're ruthless. Is that true?

Only when I want something.

Come on.

Hello, Wally.

Ain't you scared to be alone with a killer?

There's not much time, Wally.

I want to talk about your trial.

Nothing to talk about.

Making it tough to help you, Wally. Is that what you want?

What help can you give me?

I've thought about it a hundred times.

There ain't no help.

You could have pleaded guilty, received a lesser sentence.

Your lawyer says he told you that.

Sure. He told me.

20 years to life.

Bargain in the basement.

Better deal than change, Scott.

Will you get out of here?

You knew you didn't have a chance.

I don't want to talk about it.

Why didn't you plead guilty?

Because I didn't kill him.

I swore I'd never say that again.

I said it all 19 years ago.

Nobody believed me then, so why should they believe me now?

You don't believe me either.

Do you?

I'm trying to understand.

What did happen?

I'd like to hear it from you.

All right.

All right.

Once more.

I fought with Chase.

And I left the house, and I...

I walked around for a while, miserable.

And I come back to apologize.

I heard a shot.

I ran into the room, and...

there was the gun...

right alongside where he was on the floor.

I don't know why I picked up the gun!

I don't know why I did it.

And then all I know is...

Mrs. Chase stood in the doorway, screaming that I'd killed him.

And I didn't.

Mrs. Chase stood in the doorway, screaming that I'd killed him.

I dropped the gun, and I ran.

Why?

Why?

Why'd I run?

Why'd I fight?

Why'd I pick up the gun?

Because I'm dumb.

There was no time for you to leave the house and come back,

according to Mrs. Chase's testimony.

I can't help her testimony.

I did what I said.

Mr. Chase was killed with your gun.

I gave him the gun the week before.

He needed fixing it.

Was he in the habit of repairing guns?

No, I mean I asked him to take it to the city to get it fixed for me.

All right.

Why did you hit his daughter?

I didn't hit her.

I spanked her for riding a horse.

She wasn't allowed to. A mean jumper.

Then Mr. Chase, he claimed I beat her, and I said that wasn't true.

And then he said a lie, and he hit me, and then I hit him back.

And then I left.

That's when you walked around for this hour or so.

Yeah.

Wally, let me give you the legal facts of life.

You've been convicted and sentenced.

If you could help us find some mitigating circumstance for this murder,

you could still be executed.

Then let them come and kill me.

I've been dead for years anyway.

Every time a salesman came to the door, every time a phone rang,

every time some guy in the job said,

Hey, ain't I seen you before? I died.

Right then and there.

When you first started coming around to see how Tom was making out,

it was like a knife in my guts.

What can electric chairs do worse than that?

What about your family?

You talk like I had a choice or something.

Is that the way it works?

No.

No, it works like this.

We find a reason, anger, the result of a fight, an act of passion.

We add the last 19 years of good citizenship with letters of recommendation,

and we hope for executive clemency.

But first I've got to plead guilty.

You've got to plead guilty, don't I?

First you've got to tell me what happened.

I don't know what happened!

That's the trouble of being innocent!

You don't know what happened!

Interview, Chief Ironside, Portola Station. Take it.

Chief, how about a word from our listeners?

And ladies, what a surprise. I didn't realize I was news.

Chief, don't put us on. Why would I do that?

You tell us, and we've got a big story.

There's an unconfirmed report that you made this trek to Portola Station

to see a Wally Stowe, also known as Frank Tomlachek,

facing extradition to New York for a murder rap.

Somebody talked.

What about it, Chief? Is this a story?

What's special about Stowe, alias Tomlachek?

Special about him?

Well, I hate to tell you your business.

That'll be the day.

I play around with this for human interest.

Model citizen, loving wife,

by a better cap, a son,

caught in the inexorable toils of justice.

A ghost crime from the past.

Question. Is he guilty?

Question.

Has he earned the opportunity to prove his worth to society?

Question.

Does society want the blood of this man,

innocent or guilty, on its hands?

Now, we've heard the questions.

How about a couple of answers, Chief?

You'd better save something for your next edition.

Mark.

Okay, end of interview with Ironside.

They spell the names right?

You'd better believe it than often.

Made the front page.

Model citizen, a martyr.

You know the headline, right?

Tells all about Wallace Beef with the cats in New York.

You come off big. Very big.

I bet you could be elected senator tomorrow morning.

Telephone rings

Commissioner, what a coincidence.

I was just thinking about you.

I know what you've done, and you know what you've done.

You're making it look like we're extraditing a man

before the facts are looked into.

And that New York can't wait to drag some poor guy

into the state of New York.

What is the rush anyway?

They've waited 19 years.

Another week won't kill anybody except Wally Stowe.

And who's going to be fighting for him back there?

I read this case last night, Bob.

Looks clear-cut to me.

Maybe it is. I don't know.

He's still worth keeping out of the chair.

I'm going to New York and try to talk the victim's widow

into writing a letter to the governor.

If the family's willing to forgive,

the governor's usually willing to go along.

I'll think about it.

Yes, what is it?

Commissioner, would you tell the chief

that I've confirmed his air reservations to New York?

I thought about it.

Tires screech

Thunder crashes

Music plays

Bells chime

Ironside, San Francisco Police. We call from the airport.

Mrs. Chase is expecting you, gentlemen.

Come in, please.

Thank you.

Oh, Mr. Ironside, Mr. Sanger.

I hope you had a pleasant flight.

Yes. I want to thank you for seeing us.

Oh, not at all.

I've been following your efforts, sir,

on behalf of Frank Tomlachek.

A letter of clemency from you to the governor could save his life.

Won't you sit down?

A letter of clemency.

Do you have a reason for one? Have you found no evidence?

No.

No, we're basing the appeal on the life he's lived after the act.

After the act?

It would mean a great deal to his family as well.

Yes, I'm certain that it would.

The death of a loved one in a family, you know,

can be particularly cruel.

But then Mrs. Tomlachek had 19 years more of her husband than I, didn't she?

We can't change the past, Mrs. Chase.

But we can amend the future.

Well, I suppose I could write a letter of clemency.

I mean, as a Christian, I believe in forgiveness.

But I also believe that one must pay for the sins one commits.

No, I won't write your letter.

An eye for an eye?

I didn't make the laws.

But you used them as you see fit.

Mr. Ironside... Isn't that what you're doing? Getting revenge?

Using the law to punish someone who hurt you?

Good day, Mr. Ironside.

Mother, Bill asked me to...

Oh, I'm sorry. Please excuse me.

Oh, that's quite all right, dear. These gentlemen were just leaving.

You're Phyllis Chase, aren't you? That's right.

My name is Ironside, San Francisco Police.

I'd like to ask you a few questions about the Tomlachek case.

I asked you to leave. Mother, I don't mind.

The quarrel that preceded your father's death was about you, wasn't it?

That's right.

You were riding a horse your father considered dangerous.

Tomlachek made you get down.

Yes, he... He grabbed the reins.

I hit him across the face with my riding crop.

What did Mr. Tomlachek do about that?

He spanked me in front of the grooms and everyone.

So you were humiliated. You told your father.

Yes, I wanted to get even. Get Daddy mad at him.

And you succeeded.

Yes, I succeeded.

What a brat I am.

What a brat I was.

Excuse me.

Now will you go?

It's time I did. I have an appointment with your attorney.

Mark.

Mr. Ironside, what can I do for you?

I'm interested in a former client of yours, Mr. Whittier. Deceased.

You have reference to Richard Chase? I'm afraid I can't help you.

Particularly since you just had a telephone call from Mrs. Chase.

In any event, I'd have to respect the attorney-client relationship. You understand?

Perhaps you'd better wait outside, Mark.

I didn't come here to pry into any confidential matters between you and your client.

But a man's life can depend on your answers to a few perfectly proper questions.

I'll be the judge of their propriety.

Was he temperamental? Short-fused temper?

If you're trying to justify Tomlachek's act by suggesting that Dick Chase was contributory by bad treatment of his caretaker,

I can tell you that Dick was very fond of Tomlachek.

Just a few days before Tomlachek shot him, Dick was in here making a codicil to his will.

If memory serves me, he made a grant of $5,000 to Frank Tomlachek, another $5,000 to the little boy's educational fund.

Was Mr. Chase normally given to this sort of largesse?

He provided for his other employees. Not to that degree.

When Chase added the Tomlacheks to his will, did he give any reason for this special generosity?

As I recall, no.

Simply, he was very fond of Frank.

He wanted to do something for him while he could.

I've read the transcript of the trial.

You weren't a witness.

Why should I have been? I had nothing to tell the court.

Hadn't you?

The fact that your client made a substantial revision in his will days before his death because, according to your recollection,

he wanted to do something for the Tomlacheks while he could.

That's not an unusual statement for a man to make under the circumstances.

Not even if he's dead within days?

Dick Chase hardly died of natural causes, Mr. Ironside.

He was murdered.

The timing of the changes to Mr. Chase's will, that was only coincidence.

Purely.

Too bad you didn't let the trial court decide that.

Too bad for Mr. Tomlachek.

Thank you, Mr. Whittier.

Too bad.

The trial is adjourned.

There is a question of medical ethics here, Mr. Ironside.

The doctor may not freely discuss his patient's medical problems.

Richard Chase has been dead 19 years, Dr. Michaels.

I think all of his problems are solved by now.

He has a widow and a daughter who are also patients, Mr. Ironside.

What possible difference can it make to them if you simply tell me the state of Richard Chase's health at the time of his death?

Perhaps if I call Mrs. Chase and she approved.

Forget it, doctor. You've already answered my question.

If Richard Chase was in robust good health, there'd be nothing to approve, now would there?

Well, I can't stop you from putting that construction on my words, but...

Was he well, doctor?

All right. How sick was he?

A brain tumor.

He had been through the Columbia Medical Center just a week before he was killed.

I had given him that report.

Terminal?

Yes.

Nothing was said about this at the Tomlachek trial.

Didn't you come forward with that information?

Of course not.

Why not?

He died of a gunshot wound.

Which could have been self-inflicted.

I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't know.

He died of a gunshot wound.

Which could have been self-inflicted.

Mr. Ironside, Mrs. Chase saw your man with the gun in his hand.

I remember that very well.

I'm sure you do, doctor.

That got you off the hook, didn't it?

You didn't have to be involved.

Embarrass a patient's family with a cloud of possible suicide.

Come on, Mark, get me out of here.

Well, Chief Wilson, what a surprise.

Don't give me that.

Sergeant said you'd been here for over an hour.

Using my phone like telephone's going out of style.

Meet Mr. Sanger.

Hi.

Hello.

All right, you got me here from a golf course.

What do you want?

I wanted to meet the officer who originally investigated the Tomachek case.

I'd like to see the package on it.

What for?

That was an open and shut case.

When did you decide that?

Before or after you investigated?

Service.

With a smile.

What are you looking for?

Something I have yet to find in this case.

One person connected with it or evidence of one person who really did his job.

Like what job?

Like any job.

Everybody dogged it.

Because they'd prejudged Tomachek.

As far as they were concerned, the poor goof was guilty, so why break into a sweat over it?

These must have been taken when they made the coroner's report.

Now we know Chase had a reason for wanting to die.

He could have killed himself.

How do we prove that?

We prove that or we've come 3,000 miles for nothing.

Hey, Chief, how was New York?

You don't miss much, do you?

How could we?

E. Whitfield's been giving us a daily flash.

What's the latest in the Stowe case?

The latest?

Well, he's innocent.

If he were being tried today, he'd be acquitted.

That's a great story, Chief, but naturally you don't want to be quoted.

I'd sue you if you misquote me.

Wally Stowe, alias Frank Tomachek, was wrongly convicted.

Hello, Wally.

You came back.

Didn't you expect me?

No, I don't expect much of anybody, maybe.

Well, you've got friends, Wally.

You know, I've been to New York, talked to some of the people connected with this case.

Now, we're still deep in the woods, Wally.

Nothing's changed back there, and nobody's giving.

Ah.

Why should they?

I'm nothing to them.

Well, that's their problem.

Let's work on ours.

Now, 19 years ago, when you had your fight with Mr. Chase, what was his mood?

Was he nervous? Was he tense? Bitter?

He was, uh, upset.

Yes, that's it. He was very upset.

Did Mr. Chase ever tell you that he was ill?

Did you know that Mr. Chase left you $5,000 in his will?

And $5,000 more for the education of your son?

Until that night, he... he liked us.

Wally, did Mr. Chase ever do anything to you that you deeply resented?

Something that made you want to get even with him?

No.

Do you remember any reason why somebody might have wanted to get you into trouble?

No.

Are you feeling all right?

Oh, I... I had, like this, shakes.

When I escaped in that prison van, I wasn't running from the electric chair.

You weren't?

No, no. I've been in jail for six months. I couldn't see as far ahead as the chair.

All I knew was I was looking at a year or two, maybe three years on death row.

That's what made me run.

Wally, you hold on.

Stay with it. Give yourself a chance.

Which is the 거Accilateral Fram of Love?

Well, now that I look at you, Commissioner, you do seem a bit shaggy around the collar.

However, you have to make an appointment for that chair.

Of course, I could take my business someplace else.

Welcome home, Bob.

Thank you.

It's heartwarming to find you like this.

How was your trip?

Successful.

Been interesting?

Uh-huh.

In other words, you bombed out.

Not at all.

Wally's got a lot more going for him than I'd hoped.

I doubt it.

In fact, I'm afraid you've lost, Bob.

Did you know Malcolm Henderson is in Sacramento?

The Malcolm Henderson?

Legal aid to the governor of New York?

Yes, he's here to expedite Wally's expedition.

I got the impression he wasn't too pleased by the public relations job you've been doing.

You'll love the story I just gave the reporters.

Why can't you let this thing go gracefully, Bob?

Let justice take its course.

You're the last person in the world I'd expect to try to influence due process with a newspaper

field day.

Using the weapons I have.

Look, I want to see this Mr. Henderson.

Can you arrange it?

Invite him to your office?

I can invite him, but I can't order him to show up.

I don't care what method you use to get him there.

I want to talk to him.

Why?

Well, I'm certain I can make him a believer about Wally.

And if he's a believer, I'm sure he can make the governor believe.

You're a hard man on the inside.

Dennis, I need Mr. Henderson.

Thanks.

Hope I haven't kept you waiting too long.

Had to come up the back way, building swarming with reporters.

Bob, I'd like you to meet Malcolm Henderson.

Mr. Henderson.

My pleasure.

I trust it is, sir.

Understand my thrashing about has brought you 3,000 miles.

I'm very fond of San Francisco.

I appreciate any excuse to come out.

Have you had an opportunity to study my report in the stowcase?

We both went over your report carefully.

The doctor's reports, the will, they add up to an intriguing theory, but that's all, I'm

afraid.

Suicide.

A man knows he's dying, changes his will, kills himself.

With all due respect, Mr. Ironside, he couldn't have done it in front of Tomlachek and then

influenced him to pick up the gun.

Agreed.

Tomlachek, stow, doesn't know what motivated him to pick up the murder weapon.

Under stress, shock, humans do unreasonable things.

Oh, I grant you that.

But the point is, you have raised doubt.

No one saw Tomlachek pull the trigger.

And then there is his excellent record over the last 19 years.

I am prepared to ask my governor for a recommendation of clemency.

No that's no good, Mr. Henderson.

I don't understand you, Bob.

The man's innocent.

Clemency, 10, 20 years in prison is no bargain.

Well, it beats the electric chair.

Wally Stowe did not kill his employer.

Any time he does in prison is unjust, even time spent in a cell sweating out due process.

I'm certain with the new evidence we can present, we'd get a reversal from the appellate court.

But that would be a year from now at the earliest.

I seriously doubt if Wally Stowe would ever be able to pick up the pieces of his life again.

Chief, we all want justice for this man.

I'm certain the governor wants to give Tomlachek every opportunity to free himself.

Would you be willing to present all this new evidence to me?

Yes.

If I find your new evidence as persuasive as you suggest,

I'll recommend the governor grant a full pardon.

Mr. Henderson, you've bought yourself a package.

How much time can you give me?

Till tomorrow morning.

You call me.

Commissioner.

Mr. Henderson.

Henderson will be looking for facts.

We'll get them.

It's a gamble.

Yes, it is.

With Wally's life.

Chief, we've got some good news.

Wilson, the chief of police of Millfield, called from New York City.

He did that legwork you requested.

Personally.

He filed a gunsmith?

Just like you figured it.

He remembered an important customer like Mr. Chase.

He had sold him a number of antique weapons over the years.

His records show the work done on Tomlachek's handgun.

Why didn't he testify at the trial?

He was in Europe and didn't know about the trial until he got back.

By which time it was over and everyone figured Wally was guilty.

It's the pattern across the board.

I'm afraid it wouldn't have happened that way if Chase had been accused of killing his caretaker.

At least now.

You can show that Wally didn't bring the gun into the room.

Eve, the problem is getting him out of the room during the shot.

Wally could have left the room.

I mean, long enough for the shot to be fired.

That's our story.

Let's hear it.

We've been working on it.

Look, the record shows that Wally arrived at 7.55 and was let in by the maid.

Her boyfriend picked her up a few minutes before 8.

He goes into the study and argues with Chase.

It's about 8.

Mrs. Chase said that she checked her watch a few minutes after 8.

Let's say 8.03.

They were going to a party with some friends and she remembered thinking she had plenty of time to get dressed.

A few minutes later, she hears the shot, runs downstairs and finds Chase dead.

Wally standing over him holding the gun.

He runs, she calls the police and the death certificate is signed by the police medical examiner at 9.27.

Go ahead.

Well, it's the few minutes.

What does that mean?

What's few?

If Wally arrived a few minutes earlier, say 7.50, the maid wouldn't have known about it.

All she knew was that her boyfriend came at about 8.

They could have argued at 8.

And Wally could have left even before 8.03 when Mrs. Chase had checked her watch.

Now stretch those few minutes between the time Mrs. Chase checked her watch and heard the shots.

And you've got 8.10.

That's 10 minutes for Wally to walk around, regret slapping Mr. Chase, come back, hear the shot, run into the study and pick up the gun.

It works.

No, it doesn't.

Why not?

Page 1794 of the transcript marked and underlined.

Here it is.

I don't remember how long I walked.

I remember reaching the old mill and turning back.

A walk like that would take from 45 minutes to an hour.

I've checked.

Well, isn't it possible Wally goofed or only thought he took that walk?

He was shook by what had happened between him and his boss.

Anything's possible, but that is in the trial record, sworn testimony.

And Wally stands by it.

We build a case on bits and pieces and it all makes sense except for that walk.

I've gone over it a million ways and I can't account for the time.

We're dead.

If Wally had only lied about how long he'd walked, he'd be home free.

That's honesty, baby.

It really pays.

One rotten hour.

What a crazy thing to die for.

Well, let's wrap it up for now.

Good night, everyone.

Good night, Chief.

Mark.

Mark.

What's wrong?

Mark, what's the last thing you said last night?

Good night, Chief.

Now, don't be wise.

Before that, when I said I couldn't account for an hour, you said one rotten hour.

That could have saved a man's life.

Chief, if you remembered what I said, why'd you wake me up?

Because I like to give credit where credit is due and you are a genius.

Like I said, Chief, if you remembered what I said, why'd you wake me up?

Because I want you to get Eve and Ed quick.

We've got lots to do.

Operator, I'd like you to place some calls for me, please.

I want Captain Wilson at Millfield, New York,

the research department of the New York Times and the Exeter photo lab.

Chief, Mr. Tomlachek was represented by a highly respected member of the New York bar.

He had every chance to present evidence in his behalf.

True.

And the defendant's alibi, the walk to the mill, was the very evidence that convicted him.

There was no time to take that walk and every member of the jury knew it.

What's more, the defendant knew it.

However, he insisted that was what happened.

Now, he didn't have to testify at all.

And when he did, he didn't have to specify the mill.

He could have just said he took a walk and left it at that.

He didn't.

So he's a liar or a chump or a man who believes you tell it like it happened.

Which?

Mark, when I look at the record, he's a liar because he couldn't account for an hour's walk.

Neither could I until one of my brilliant associates figured it out.

But supposing we make up that hour, now the story fits.

Mrs. Chase's testimony sets the time of the gunshot at 8.03, not 9.03.

Let me come back to that.

First, I'd like to recreate the death of Richard Chase using this timetable.

My associates will help you visualize the order of events.

Time, 7.55.

Tomlachek arrives.

The maid lets him in.

A few minutes later, her boyfriend takes her to a movie.

Tomlachek enters the study.

Chase quarrels with him, strikes him.

Tomlachek strikes back.

Time, 8 o'clock.

Mrs. Chase takes a nap.

Ah, but you see, she...

Perhaps she was taking a bath.

Never been so quiet.

But you see, she... Perhaps she was taking a bath.

Never been established what Mrs. Chase was doing, and it doesn't matter.

Time, 8 o'clock.

Tomlachek leaves, goes for a walk.

Mr. Chase broods.

He takes out the gun he had repaired for Tomlachek.

Chase loads the gun, sets it on the desk, stares at it, thinks.

Time, 8.30.

Tomlachek reaches the mill.

He decides to go back and apologize to Mr. Chase.

Time, 8.59.

Chase does right as will and made up his mind.

His attorney confirmed sending a copy the previous day.

Police records show it was found on the desk.

Time, 9 o'clock.

Few minutes after.

Mrs. Chase checks her watch.

Recalls she has plenty of time to get dressed to go to a party.

Tomlachek re-enters the house.

The maid is gone.

No one sees him.

He moves slowly toward the study.

Time, 9.05.

The shot.

Tomlachek runs to the study, sees Chase, picks up the gun.

Mrs. Chase runs to the study, sees him.

Tomlachek drops the gun and runs.

Mrs. Chase calls the police.

Police arrive, pronounce Chase dead.

Time, 9.27.

And that is roughly the way it happened.

Fascinating, but you've lost an hour somewhere.

No, we found one.

I checked with the New York Times and learned the state of New York went on daylight savings time at Sunday.

Now, suppose Mrs. Chase didn't set her watch forward.

That's quite an assumption, Bob.

It will take a bit of supporting.

Would you accept Mrs. Chase's testimony on it?

Of course.

Have you got Mrs. Chase here, Chief?

I've been working on that.

Ed, what's the situation?

The first two are here.

I'll try and rush up the others.

These photos were taken by the Millfield police photographer

shortly after Chase had been pronounced dead by the medical examiner.

We've made blow-ups of them for projection.

Mark.

When Mrs. Chase heard the shot, she was wearing her watch.

Now, you see it there.

If we can read the time on the watch, and if it differs, we'll know.

Mark.

It's impossible to tell what time it is.

It's impossible to tell what time it is.

It's impossible to tell what time it is.

Largest we can make them, Chief.

After this, it's all grain.

Time, 8.27.

One hour behind the medical examiner's report on the time of death.

I'll buy it.

Well, welcome home, Wally.

Well, Chief.

Mark, Miss Eve.

Hi.

You, there just ain't no words for it.

You know that, don't you?

I don't want any words.

I want gratitude.

I need some bookshelves in my quarters.

I need the bed raised and the windows fixed.

When you finish that, I got plenty more to do.

Son.

Oh, um, Pop wanted to get you that.

Now, open it.

And we set it an hour ahead so you'd never be late.

Don't you know it's illegal for civil servants to accept gifts?

I ought to arrest a lot of you.

I'm sorry, I just wanted...

Look at there, Mark.

Somebody lost a watch.

Better remind me.

Put an ad in the lost and found.

Now, as I recall, when we were so rudely interrupted, we were having a party.

Well, that sure looks good.

Look at that cake.

It wasn't as loose as Larry taught me...

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