Original subtitles

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

All right, folks stand back.

Don't block the sidewalk. Come on.

Look out, there... make room.

Stand back now.

Carlos, what happened?

Hi, Mannix.

Old man Kester.

Killed during the robbery.

Oh, Kester. Wow.

Who did it?

Don't know.

Robbery detail's upstairs right now.

We'll get him.

I sure hope so.

Nothing to see. Just keep moving.

Come on, folks.

Carlos.

Stand back, huh?

Bill? Bill Chase.

Huh?

Joe Mannix.

Joe, how are you? Fine.

It's good to see you.

Well, son of a gun.

Hey, what happened here?

There was a robbery, a killing.

Killing?

You forget.

Then you see a thing like this and it's Korea all over again.

You remember how thin the line is between living and dying.

Yeah.

Well, where you been keeping yourself?

The mountains.

I'm with the Forest Service.

I got married.

Mountains, huh?

Well, you always said you were going to get away

from people, armies, killing.

Yeah. What about you, Joe?

Oh, I'm still single.

Got an office over here in the Paseo.

Private investigator.

Ooh, investigator!

Hey, listen, why don't you come on over

and let's bend a couple beakers,

and talk about old times.

I'd love to, Joe, but I'm due on the fire watch.

I got to get up to the lookout.

Oh, that's too bad.

Now, look, the next time you're in town you let me know

and we'll get some of the old gang together, huh?

I promise.

I'll see you, Bill. Okay, Joe.

Joe...?

It just got through to me.

What's that?

You're an investigator; you can handle trouble.

You got troubles, Bill?

I got big troubles, Joe, big troubles.

I could end up on a stretcher like that old man,

with a lot of strangers looking down at me.

Will you help me?

Sure. Just tell me how.

Can you come to my place tomorrow?

I can come right now.

No, no, not now. Not together.

I want you to kind of slip in,

on the quiet. Okay.

I'll be all right as long as I know that you'll be at my place

around 10:00 in the morning.

How do I find it?

Pineville. Off Highway 17.

My house is right at the end of Lakeview Drive.

I'll be there.

Thanks, Joe.

♪ ♪

Fill it up?

Your move, George.

Your queen's in danger.

Sure put pressure on a guy.

Excuse me, old-timer.

Do you know how far it is to Lakeview Drive?

Old-timer... You hear that, George?

I finally made it. I'm a native.

I am Dr. Stephen Daedalus Harris,

born and bred in Philadelphia,

and I know precisely how far it is to Lakeview Drive.

Well, I'm, uh... sorry, Doctor.

One and one quarter miles due north.

Thanks.

Doc hasn't got much of a bedside manner.

Figures the world's a better place with just trees.

No people.

He might have a point.

I have.

And when you see Bill Chase,

tell him I'd like my copy of Thoreau's Walden back.

Who said I was going to see anyone called Chase?

Only two houses are occupied up Lakeview Drive

this time of the year.

Bill Chase and the Widow Johnson,

and no one goes calling on the widow.

This might be her day.

Well, thanks again.

Hey, Doc, your move.

Hmm?

Oh.

You must be Mr. Mannix.

Yes.

I'm glad you came.

I've been worried sick about Bill.

Come on in.

Do you know what kind of trouble

Bill's in, Mrs. Chase?

No, he didn't tell me.

I was hoping you could.

He's been very upset lately.

Yeah, I noticed that when I talked to him.

Is he around? No. He's on duty up at the lookout.

But he told me to send you up the moment you arrived.

How do I get there?

He left a map so you wouldn't have to ask directions.

He said it would be better

if no one knew you were coming up here.

You didn't tell anyone, did you?

No, I came directly here.

I stopped for some gas.

Where?

About a mile down the road.

Who was there?

Well, there was a boy on the pump,

uh, a sheriff and a Dr. Harris.

But you didn't say anything

about coming to see Bill, did you?

No.

But I think the doctor might've guessed.

Oh?

Well, I guess I'd better get up to the lookout.

Mr. Mannix...

the road's very dangerous.

You better take the jeep.

Don't worry, Mrs. Chase. We'll figure it out.

I hope so.

Bill said you were the answer.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

I feel dislocated, Doc.

Let's just say you're suffering

from strained ligaments and muscles

and minor contusions.

Let's just say I hurt.

There you are. Mm.

You find out anything, Sheriff?

Nothing yet.

I sent my deputy up the hill to check.

You've had quite a day, Mr. Mannix.

Somebody tried to make it my last.

Never had a man shot at in Pineville before.

Least not while I've been here.

Then there's always a first time.

Would you mind telling me

why you wanted to see Bill Chase?

I'm afraid that's my business, Sheriff.

I'm a private investigator.

Claiming you were shot at makes it my business.

There's nothing private about me, Mannix!

I'm the law and, when I want to know something, I get answers!

Look, I'm the guy someone took a potshot at.

I'm the victim, not the suspect!

Now get off my back!

"Get off..." Listen, Mr. Investigator,

I'll get on your back... George!

That temper is no good for your blood pressure.

Relax. Besides,

Mr. Mannix is probably right.

It's deer season.

And, if you ask me, it was some hunter

indulging in man's eternal urge to kill something.

Three shots, Doc?

I might look like a deer once,

but three times? Hardly.

All right, Mannix. Let's go.

Where?

You won't tell me, Carol will.

Carol?

Mrs. Chase.

Come on.

He's got a short fuse, hasn't he?

What's his problem?

High blood pressure...

and a bit of trouble with one of the Commandments.

Which one is that?

Well, in my faith, it's the tenth.

What faith are you, Doc?

Lutheran.

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife."

Come in. The door's open.

Hello, Carol. I want to hear your version

of what you told him this morning.

I told him?

Why, I never saw this man in my life, Sheriff.

Another woman? In this house?

You must be mistaken.

I assure you, Mr. Mannix, I'm Carol Chase.

Sheriff, there was another woman

in this house this morning.

She was a brunette.

That so?

Yeah. She was about her size,

wearing a blue skirt and sweater.

Did she tell you she was Mrs. Chase?

Well, I don't remember. But I called her Mrs. Chase,

and she didn't deny it.

Now, look, she told me to take the jeep

so I could keep my appointment with Bill.

In fact, she gave me a map he had drawn

so I could find my way up to the lookout.

She took it right out of that drawer.

You got it with you?

Yeah, I got it.

It must have fallen out of my pocket

when I took that roll down the cliff. Of course.

Just when did you make this date, Mr. Mannix?

Yesterday, when I was in Los Angeles.

He told me he was in trouble.

Well, what kind of trouble?

He didn't say. He just told me to get up here.

He's lying, George.

How do you know, Carol?

Bill's been up at the lookout since yesterday morning.

I drove him there myself in the jeep.

Have you got another car?

The black one outside,

and they were both here all day yesterday.

Well, Mr. Mannix?

Look, I saw Bill Chase in Los Angeles yesterday

in a yellow convertible.

You couldn't have, Mr. Mannix.

I talked to Bill

by radio this morning, right before I went

into Pineville to do my weekly shopping.

And, other than being bored and missing me,

Bill is in absolutely no trouble or danger.

You can call him on that thing?

That's the only way.

The only phone up in the lookout

is a hotline for fire alerts.

Well, then call him and let me talk to him.

Yeah. All right.

Maybe Bill can clear this up.

Lookout Tower, this is Sheriff Hale calling.

Do you read me?

Bill, this is George Hale.

Are you there?

You still sure he's safe, Mrs. Chase?

He isn't always by the phone.

Bring in the jeep, Tom?

Nah, I couldn't. I didn't find it on...

I left it right...

Shut up, Mannix. Go on, Tom.

Like I was saying, I didn't find it on the road,

but I did see it. Where?

It was halfway down the cliff, smashed pretty bad.

Take a big crane or a winch to get her up.

Be a full day's work.

I left that jeep on the road

in front of a barricade.

What barricade?

No barricade?

What for?

George, try Bill again.

Now I am worried.

Lookout Tower... this is George Hale calling Lookout Tower.

Do you read me, Lookout Tower?

Bill! Bill Chase!

This is George Hale.

Do you read me?

This is Sheriff Hale calling Bill Chase.

Urgent! Calling Bill Chase.

If you read me, come in at once.

Come in, Bill!

Bill, is that you?

Yeah, it's me.

Let me get my breath.

Take it easy, Bill.

Take it easy?

I run up half a mountain... 40 steps...

And you tell me to take it easy?

What's wrong? Where's Carol?

She's right here with an old friend of yours.

Old friend of mine? Who?

I'll let him tell you himself.

Bill, it's Joe.

Joe?

Joe Mannix.

Joe. What are you doing there?

Where did you come from?

Hey, you told me to come up here, remember?

I did? When?

Yesterday, in Los Angeles, when we talked.

Aw, come on, Joe, you're putting me on.

I haven't been to L.A. in months.

Not since last May.

Yeah, that was it... Mayday.

First of May.

Had me a real Mayday celebration.

Had a hangover like the one

we used to have in the service.

By the look on his face,

looks like your friend still has one.

Well, listen, you tell him

to stay there until I get off duty.

Then we'll go out and get another hangover,

and tell each other how great we look out of uniform.

You read me, Joe?

I read you, Bill.

Okay, Bill. See you.

Two Mrs. Chases, a wrecked jeep,

Bill Chase hasn't been in L.A. for months.

Now, what's your next story, Mannix?

I need your help, Doc, one big-city boy to another.

Ribs acting up?

No. My curiosity.

An infinitely more intriguing subject.

How long have you lived in Pineville, Doctor?

15 years, four months, two weeks and six days, precisely.

Very precisely.

I considered myself reborn

when I left the rat race and came up here,

so I keep track of how long I've been alive.

15 years, huh?

Well, maybe you can help me find the lady I'm looking for.

I thought it was Bill Chase you came up here to see.

Well, it was, but the right Mrs. Chase

turned out to be the wrong Mrs. Chase.

See, the Mrs. Chase I'm looking for

is about five-five, 28 years old,

brunette, well put-together.

Have you ever treated anyone like that, Doctor?

That description could fit any one of four or five women.

Could you narrow it down for me?

Mr. Mannix, I'm not a magician.

I can't just pull a woman out of a hat for you.

I'll have to give it some thought.

Will you?

All right, Mr. Mannix.

You've awakened a long-dormant

sense of adventure in me.

I'll think about it,

and see if I can find the wrong Mrs. Chase for you.

Well, Mrs. Chase.

You're not surprised to see me?

Let's say I'm surprised to see the real Mrs. Chase.

Come in.

Mr. Mannix, I'm sorry

if I seemed hostile this afternoon.

That's all right.

You didn't believe me. That's a woman's privilege.

Besides, I like standing around with egg on my face.

I do believe you, Mr. Mannix.

You mean about Bill being in L.A.?

The phony Mrs. Chase? You buy that?

The jeep, the map, the rifle shots, the whole package?

Yes.

You know, I could've used your support

in front of your uniformed friends.

Why didn't you say so this afternoon?

I'm sorry, but I had my reasons.

One of them, by any chance, wearing a badge?

George Hale?

Yeah. The friendly sheriff.

What do you know about him?

Just that he's got a hair-trigger temper,

and doesn't pay much attention to one of the commandments.

What?

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife."

Oh.

No comment from one of the neighbor's wives?

I knew George Hale for a couple of years before I met Bill.

We saw a lot of each other and I...

I think I might have married him,

except he's so... so terribly possessive and jealous and...

well, you were right about his temper.

And I don't figure him to be a good loser.

No.

Mrs. Chase, did he ever have a run-in with your husband?

Did he ever threaten him?

I don't know.

Somebody put a scare in him.

He made no bones about it in Los Angeles yesterday,

and he made it pretty clear again

on the radio this afternoon.

But how? I-I heard him.

It's a word he used.

He said it twice.

He pulled it in out of left field

to make sure I got it... "Mayday."

Mayday's a word we used in the service

when you were in trouble,

needed help; an emergency.

That's why I've got to talk to him, Mrs. Chase.

All right.

He calls in every night around 11:00,

if you want to come to the house.

I'll be there.

Mr. Mannix... yesterday,

when Bill came to see you...

Well, he didn't come to see me.

I ran into him on the street.

A man was killed near my office,

and Bill got caught in the traffic jam.

In any case, was he alone?

Yeah. Why?

I was wondering who drove him.

Both our cars were up at the house all day.

He was doing his own driving.

What sort of car? Did you notice?

I thought I told you.

It was a yellow convertible.

Oh, yes, you did, didn't you?

Well, I'll see you about 11:00.

Good night.

Mrs. Chase?

Mrs. Chase?

Hello, Bill, this is Joe here.

Lookout Tower... Bill... This is Mannix here.

Can you hear me?

I can hear you, Joe.

I guess you read my mayday.

Are you all right?

I'm all right now.

What's going on?

Why the cop-out about being in Los Angeles?

I had no other choice, Joe.

Carol was in danger.

Danger from what?

Look, Joe, can you get up here right now?

And bring Carol.

I don't like the idea of her being alone.

She's not here, Bill.

What?

She, uh, she wanted me to meet her, but, uh...

Wait a minute. Here comes a car.

It might be Carol.

Bill, it's Sheriff Hale.

Joe, get out of there.

What's going on? What's bugging you?

It's Hale, he's crazy... If he finds out that

you're trying to help me, he'll kill you.

Now get out of there, quick!

♪ ♪

Sheriff!

She's dead.

Yeah, Bill was going to call in at 11:00.

She wanted me...

Use your head, Sheriff!

I didn't kill her!

Cut it out!

You'll hang for this! I'm going...

What are you...? Wait!

He's gone.

He's not getting off this mountain.

Call the Highway Patrol.

I want roadblocks on everything

from a cow path to the main road.

I'm going to take him.

Sheriff?

Yeah?

Are you gonna take him alive?

Yeah, alive.

But I want him.

What happened to you?

I've taken up jogging.

At 5:00 in the morning?

You have any luck with that mystery lady?

I think so, but you need...

I know, I need a doctor,

but, right now, I need the first Mrs. Chase a lot more.

Who is she?

Laura Giles.

Any connection with the Chases?

She's a friend.

Does she by any chance drive a yellow convertible?

Yeah, she does.

Where does she live, Doc?

Well... Where?

You can't get there without a car.

That's the only way out.

If you prefer to remain unseen, wait in there.

Doc, there's been a murder.

Murder?

Carol's dead.

Carol Chase?

How? When?

About six hours ago.

She was drowned.

And you think whoever did it is still around?

I know who it is.

And it's not "whoever,"

it's our private investigator, Mr. Mannix!

Are you sure?

I found him with her, and he ran!

Why would he kill her?

I don't know.

I'm warning everybody to keep a lookout,

so consider yourself warned.

And lock the door.

Yes, of course.

This is more excitement than I care for.

Believe me, Doc, I... Explain, Mr. Mannix.

You really think I killed her?

Well, then why don't you call the sheriff back?

What's your motive?

Why would you do it?

I didn't.

Then why did you run away?

'Cause Hale found me next to her body.

He didn't bother to ask questions.

He just belted me and went for his gun.

His gun!

That's right... you know how he felt about her.

You're the one who mentioned it, remember?

Yes, I know.

She was never out of his mind very long.

Everything reminded him of Carol.

Like last Friday.

We went fishing, George and I.

Nice, quiet, peaceful.

Not catching much of anything.

There was a family rowing on the lake...

A man and a woman and a boy about eight.

George watched them.

He never took his eyes off them

till they rounded the point.

And then he said, "Doc, that could have been me,

Carol, maybe our kid."

He never believed Bill was right for Carol.

No, she was never out of his mind very long.

Knowing that, do you think he could be rational

about someone he thinks killed Carol?

Guilty or innocent, do you think

I'd be safe in his custody?

Doc...

that woman you mentioned... Laura Giles...

The one with the yellow convertible.

I'm sure she's got the answer to Carol's death.

All right... my car keys.

You'll find her at a place called "Pineville Lodge,"

north of here... You can't miss it.

Watch out. It's getting light out.

Thanks, Doc.

♪ ♪

You know, then?

Dr. Harris called me.

I only wish it had been me instead of Carol.

Anyone tell Bill?

I don't know.

He's a madman.

He's never gotten over losing her.

Sheriff Hale?

He swore if he couldn't have her, nobody would.

I've got to get out of here.

You? Why?

I don't know what he'll do when he finds out

I helped Bill get to L.A.

You mean Friday when I bumped into him?

Yeah, he didn't want anyone to know he was off the mountain.

So you took your car up to the lookout,

and Bill drove it into Los Angeles.

Right.

Why?

He was following the sheriff.

To find out what?

Hale used to go with Carol.

Go on.

He convinced Carol to meet him in L.A.

Bill found out and followed them.

Hale was like a madman, threatening to kill himself

if Carol didn't come back to him.

He wanted her to divorce Bill.

She said she'd think about it.

Then she told Bill.

He knew what the sheriff was really like,

that he wouldn't stop at anything

if he couldn't have her.

So Sheriff Hale killed Carol tonight

when she turned him down.

And put the blame on you.

Bill thinks Hale will try to kill him, too.

Why didn't you tell me this morning?

Bill was going to tell you when you got to the lookout.

He knew Carol would be shopping,

so he had me go to his house,

get you in and out as quickly as possible.

Why you?

I've been their friend for years.

All right, let's go. Where?

Go pick up Bill and get off this mountain.

That's what you want, isn't it?

Yes, of course. Let's go.

Uh-huh.

Yeah.

Right, right.

Got it.

Sheriff? Yeah.

This call, they just spotted Mannix

on the way up to the lookout.

The lookout, huh?

All right, round up a couple of boys.

Meet me up there.

Sheriff?

You're not going up alone, are you?

To get Mannix, I'm not waiting for anybody.

George... you said alive, remember?

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

You finally made it, Joe.

Hello, Bill.

I knew I could depend upon you, Laura.

My relief will be here in an hour,

we'll go pick up Carol and kiss Pineville good-bye forever.

He doesn't know.

Bill... I know.

You've got a million questions and you want a million answers.

Okay, shoot.

What is it? What's happened?

It's Carol, Bill.

She's dead.

Dead?

She was killed last night.

Carol...

Like I said, Joe, in L.A.,

there's a very thin line between living and dying.

Like the old man on the stretcher,

a very thin line.

Hale?

Yes. We're not sure.

Well, who else could it have been?

Didn't you tell him?

Didn't you tell him everything?

She told me.

She told me why you were in Los Angeles,

why you're following the sheriff.

How he saw you, threatened to kill you, himself, Carol.

Don't, Mannix.

Don't make him live it over again.

Well, he'll be after me next.

He'll be coming up here.

But I'll be ready for him.

Hold it, Bill.

What's that for?

Insurance against a bullet from that rifle.

That's been the plan all along, hasn't it,

from the minute I stepped foot in Pineville?

Have you gone crazy?

Sheriff Hale wasn't in Los Angeles Friday, Bill.

Well, if he told you that, he's lying.

He didn't tell me; Doc Harris told me.

Sheriff Hale was with the doc out on the lake

fishing all day Friday.

Now you want to go down there

and tell Doc Harris to his face he's a liar?

Or would you rather tell me the real reason

you were in Los Angeles?

Not that it's necessary.

I think I already know.

What do you mean?

That little ruckus that jammed traffic

just before I ran into you in Los Angeles.

Don't say anything, Bill.

What, about the old man getting killed?

What's that got to do with it?

How did you know he was an old man?

Are you kidding?

I saw him.

I didn't see him. I was on the sidewalk.

His body was covered.

Well, I-I... I just assumed it.

All right, so he wasn't old.

He was old.

He's bluffing, Bill.

He said he didn't see him either.

I didn't have to.

I knew him when he was alive.

So did you, Bill, just before you killed him.

Jewels, armed robbery, an old man named Aaron Kester...

That's the real reason you were in Los Angeles, isn't it?

So perfect... so perfect.

And then you show up.

The million-to-one shot.

The one witness that could prove that I wasn't up here that day.

So you had to try and kill me.

I didn't want to, Joe, believe me, I didn't want to,

but if you'd have talked to anyone,

if you'd have told them you'd seen me,

you stood in the way of my one chance

to get off this lousy hill

to live like a man.

With Laura?

Is that why Carol had to die?

Killing her your idea?

No.

We didn't plan to kill anyone.

We just wanted to be alone.

But you knew I had talked to Carol.

She'd be wondering why you were in Los Angeles.

I didn't want anybody to die, Joe.

You've got to believe me.

Let's go tell it to Sheriff Hale.

♪ ♪

All right, Mannix!

Drop it!

Sheriff, don't shoot!

Chase is the one!

Shoot! He's trying to kill us!

All right, Bill!

I've got him now! Hold off!

Better get down here, Sheriff. He'll kill you.

He's gone crazy.

No.

He wants to kill us.

He killed his wife.

What?

He killed Carol.

We went through a lot together.

And almost got killed once, taking a hill just like this.

All right, come on.