Original subtitles

Hi, Art. You buying?

What are you selling?

Lunch.

In a second.

I think that's about as close as we can get, Lieutenant.

All right, Jer.

I'll see the media gets it.

What's this all about?

Remember that parade last week,

where the bleachers collapsed?

Yeah, couple of people were killed.

Three.

She was one of them.

Why the drawing?

The problem is we don't know who she was.

Nobody claimed her.

No connection with the other two dead people?

None.

Not a clue about who she was or who she was with.

She could've been there alone.

Eh, not likely.

Even so, somebody... A parent, a relative...

Somebody would have come forward.

We've checked every possibility

and come up with exactly nothing.

What do you do now?

Get this picture into the newspapers and on TV,

hope she's recognized.

And if not?

Then, at the coroner's discretion, she'll be buried.

As an unknown.

Yeah.

Come on, I'll buy.

Joe, I have Art Malcolm on the phone for you.

Thanks, Peg.

Yeah, Art.

I was just looking at the picture.

Anything on the girl yet?

Do you call $500 anything?

What do you mean?

It came in the mail this morning with a note.

"Please see the little girl is given a decent funeral."

No signature.

The way things are, the coroner's office doesn't see

any reason not to go ahead with the funeral.

Services are at 10:00 in the morning.

- Where? - Westhaven.

Oh, Joe, we're not going to make any announcement

to the media till after it's over.

We don't want this to become a morbid spectacle.

"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,

"but have not love,

"I am become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

"If I have the gift of prophecy

"and know all mysteries and all knowledge;

"and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains,

"but have not love, I am nothing.

"And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,

"and give my body to be burned,

"it profiteth me nothing if I have not love.

"When I was a child, I spake as a child,

"I felt as child, I thought as a child.

"Now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things.

"For now we see in a mirror, darkly;

"but then, face to face:

"now, I know in part;

"but then shall I know fully

"even as also I was fully known.

"But now, abideth faith, hope, love, these three;

and the greatest of these is love."

♪♪

♪♪

Elizabeth Farrell?

You went to some trouble finding me.

Is it Miss Farrell?

Missus.

My name is Joe Mannix, Mrs. Farrell,

and it was no trouble at all.

A friend of mine at DMV checked out your car license,

and the auto rental agency gave me your address.

Come in, Mr. Mannix.

Thank you.

I suppose you want to know why I was at the cemetery?

If you don't mind telling me.

I read about the little girl in the paper.

And you donated $500?

Yes.

So that the little girl wouldn't be quite alone?

I had a daughter.

She would have been the same age.

Four years ago, her father was driving her to San Francisco.

They were going to the circus.

Mm.

I was down with the flu.

I couldn't be with them.

Just outside of Merced,

a trailer truck jumped the center divider and hit the car.

They were both...

Mr. Mannix, what's your interest in all this?

About the same as yours, Mrs. Farrell.

I felt the little girl...

well, deserved someone.

Thanks for seeing me.

Not at all.

A little talk, Mr. Mannix?

About what?

Liz Farrell.

What about Liz Farrell?

Keep away from her, okay?

Mind telling me why?

Look, Mannix, if I have to deliver the message twice,

you're in trouble.

Big trouble.

Is that it?

In a nutshell.

Are you through with my keys?

Sure.

We'll talk again sometime.

Oh, excuse me a moment.

Hi, Joe.

This is for you.

Who is it?

Elizabeth Farrell.

She seems to know you.

Hello, Mrs. Farrell.

What can I do for you?

Mr. Mannix, does a private investigator's work

include protecting people?

Well, now that depends on the people.

Me?

Ah.

There's a man following you,

about 35, six feet, 180 pounds.

How did you know?

We met, had a little chat.

I didn't catch his name.

Ryker, Tommy Ryker.

R-Y-K-E-R?

I suppose so.

Where'd you meet?

Why don't I tell you about it tonight.

Pick you up about 8:00?

- For what? - Dinner.

A man should enjoy his work, shouldn't he?

8:00.

A client?

I haven't decided.

So you're taking her to dinner tonight to help you decide.

Yeah, you might say that.

Peggy, call Malcolm.

See if I can drop by in about an hour.

Right.

"Ryker, Thomas Francis, age 34."

That was three years ago.

"491 Brockton Avenue, Tulare, California"

He was down here in L.A. in a massage parlor.

Apparently, the service wasn't quite what he wanted.

He decided to break the place up.

Put two of the girls in the hospital.

Uh, charges were dropped after he agreed to pick up the bills.

That sounds like him.

Tulare, huh?

There's a boy who travels a long way for his fun.

That's all we've got on him locally.

If you want, I'll request a full profile

from CII Sacramento.

Well, maybe later.

What about the girl?

Elizabeth Farrell?

Not a thing, sorry.

Mm.

You know, you look like

you're actually glad to hear that.

Relieved, Art.

The word is relieved.

Thank you.

Now, tell me all you can about Tommy Ryker.

Well, it's simple.

Wherever I go, he's there.

How long has he been bothering you?

Oh, it began about two weeks ago,

when I came down here.

From where?

Santa Rosa.

I met him at the hotel.

We had dinner and then a nightcap.

He seemed pleasant enough, but when I told him

he couldn't come to my room, he flew into an absolute rage.

Since then, he hasn't let me alone.

Have you complained to the police?

Oh, I don't want to make a big thing of it.

I just want him to leave me alone.

Here's hoping.

Okay.

So you left the small town of Santa Rosa

and came to the big city.

Well, only because the big city

is where big airplanes leave from.

I'm flying to Europe in a few days.

Business?

No, rest and relaxation.

So that's what the ladies of Santa Rosa do

in their spare time... Take European trips.

That's what this lady of Santa Rosa does.

Now you sound like one of the idle rich.

My husband left me fairly well off.

Do I detect a slight note of guilt?

For having and enjoying money?

Let me tell you something, Mr. Mannix...

Now, that's not good.

What?

Joe.

Joe.

I was one of ten children.

Ten.

We were so poor we couldn't afford cornflakes

for any one child two days in a row.

I swore, when I grew up, I'd have money,

and now I have it, Joe,

and I feel good about it.

Well, I, uh,

wonder how Tommy Ryker feels about that.

Well, I gotta hand it to him; he doesn't give up.

What do we do?

Your nose is shiny.

Now, why don't you go powder it?

And then slip out front

and ask the parking attendant to bring up my car.

What are you going to do?

I'll join you in a minute.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Tommy...

you don't listen too good.

You're pressing your luck, Mannix.

Mrs. Farrell hired me to protect her.

Now, you bother her once more, Tommy,

or you even show your face anywhere near her,

the police are going to get a call

about a punk who's got an L.A. arrest record...

and a general all-around pest.

Now, if that doesn't work, Tommy,

you and I are going to have to have

another one of our little talks.

♪♪

Do you think he'll bother me again, Joe?

Eh, that's hard to say.

He's a bad boy.

I do attract the bad ones, don't I?

Well, I don't know.

Do you?

Now, that doesn't usually come with the service.

I'm glad you're selective.

Operator 12, Tulare.

All I have is vodka.

All right?

It's fine.

Water?

Uh, just ice, thanks.

Don't you think you ought to do something

about Operator 12, Tulare?

It can wait.

It might be something important.

It might even be something about Tommy Ryker.

Ryker?

He's from Tulare.

What are you trying to say, Joe?

I'm saying, Liz, I'd like the truth...

about him and about you.

All right.

I met him last year in Tulare.

That's where I'm from, not Santa Rosa.

We went out for a while.

Then he got serious and I told him

I thought we'd better call it quits.

But he didn't agree.

A day later, just as though nothing had happened,

he was knocking at my door.

I wouldn't let him in, so he broke it down.

Then, one night when I was waiting for a date,

I saw Tommy parked outside.

When my date arrived, Tommy frightened him away.

So I decided to come to Los Angeles, but Tommy followed me.

Liz...

why didn't you tell me all of this in the first place?

Yes, wouldn't that have sounded wonderful?

Mr. Mannix, I got involved with this animal

because I'm a lonely and vulnerable woman

who desperately needed someone.

But it was a mistake, Mr. Mannix,

so will you please help me out?

Joe...

You may not believe it, but I do have some pride.

Liz...

I couldn't tell you, don't you see?

Take it easy.

It's going to be all right.

Your gun.

Oh, not again, Tommy.

Your gun.

You were in there a long time... More than two hours.

We were talking about you.

No kidding.

What did she say?

She said you were a fine, upstanding young man.

Well, she ought to know.

Now let's go.

Where?

A ride... for that little talk you promised me.

I told you you were pressing your luck.

Now drive.

♪♪

Stop here.

Get out.

All right, get up.

On your feet.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

How's it going?

Just about through.

From the beating he took, I'd say he's fine.

We found your car, Joe.

And I telephoned Elizabeth Farrell

at the Holiday House for you.

Thanks, Art.

Is she all right?

She checked out; no forwarding address.

There. Couple days rest,

and you can go out and do it all over again.

Oh, sign out with the nurse when you leave.

You told the officer it was Tommy Ryker.

That's right, Art. Pick him up.

We did, a few hours ago.

Where?

In his car, in Malibu Creek,

upside down, at the bottom of a 200-foot drop.

Dead?

All the way.

How'd it happen?

We don't know yet.

We're pulling the car out now.

CII sent down a full profile on Ryker.

Three assault-and-battery arrests,

two dismissed for lack of evidence,

one where no charges were preferred...

That's the one here in L.A.

One 502, he pleaded no contest.

One armed robbery, dismissed for lack of evidence.

Yeah, well, he must have had a good lawyer.

Oh, another thing we learned.

Three years ago, the vice president

of the Tulare Trust Company, one Carl Johnson,

was delivering $729,000 in cash and negotiable securities

to a savings and loan across town.

At high noon, on the busiest street in Tulare,

a man forced his way into Johnson's car,

pistol-whipped him and made off with the money.

Now, Johnson was critically injured... he almost died...

But he made a positive identification...

A former employee, a bank guard,

named Thomas Francis Ryker.

That wasn't on the arrest sheet.

No, it wasn't.

Because at the precise time of the crime,

Ryker was 300 miles away, in San Diego,

being booked for drunk driving.

And the loot was never recovered.

Well, some of it was...

$20,000 in cash and some securities,

found on a boat belonging to a small-time Tulare grifter

and ex-prize fighter named Joseph Devaney.

Are you saying that he's the one that hit Johnson?

Devaney looked enough like Ryker to make it easy

to understand Johnson's mistaken identification.

What happened to him?

He was killed when his cabin cruiser

exploded off Baja.

A classic boating accident: gasoline leaking into the bilge

and somebody lit the stove or a cigarette, and bang.

Convenient.

More than convenient... It closed the case.

What about the rest of the money?

They figure he stashed it somewhere.

Maybe he did.

Maybe.

But last week, the three-year statute of limitation,

on that particular crime, expired.

Oh, you're not suggesting a conspiracy,

that someone's been sitting on that money

these past three years?

The banker, Johnson,

is still working at the same job, same desk.

But last week,

the same day the statute expired,

Johnson took a vacation.

Fishing.

In Canada.

Well, if he sends in his resignation from Tahiti,

you'll have a pretty good idea what happened.

- Joe... - Yeah?

Elizabeth Farrell.

What about her?

Up until six weeks ago, she was Carl Johnson's secretary.

Joe!

How do you feel?

Well, like a million.

Half a million bumps, half a million bruises.

Oh, Joe, your client's upstairs.

Peggy told me you had some trouble.

It was Tommy, wasn't it?

Liz...

where'd you go last night?

After you left, I decided not to take any chances.

So I checked out of the hotel,

I drove around till the sun came up.

Are you all right?

I'm fine.

It was Tommy.

Well... he won't be bothering you anymore.

He's dead.

He missed a curve on Malibu Canyon Road.

I'm glad he's dead.

I'm sorry to have to say it, but I'm glad.

I knew it was bad the first minute I met him.

I worked at a bank in Tulare.

Tommy had been a guard there.

I really make the best scrambled eggs.

I'm afraid it's gonna have to wait.

I have to go out of town.

Mm.

Where?

Tulare.

If you want something, why don't you speak up?

Everyone looked busy.

Everyone is.

My name is Mannix.

Uh, I'm from Los Angeles.

My name is Horton. Myra Horton.

I'm from here, and I own this place.

Such as it is.

Now, what can I do for you?

I'd like to see some of your back issues.

All you got to do is ask.

What issues you interested in?

Well, about four years ago, a woman named Elizabeth Farrell

lost her husband and daughter in a car crash.

Elizabeth Farrell...

Yeah, blonde, very attractive,

about 30, worked in the bank.

He means Liz.

Oh, Liz Farrell! Sure!

Whatever gave you the notion that Liz had a daughter?

- She didn't? - None that I ever saw,

and I've known Liz Farrell for at least ten years.

Never had a husband, either.

Never needed one.

He knows everything, that boy Richard.

It was Carl Johnson over at the bank, wasn't it?

That's what they say.

They were pretty close, Carl and Liz.

She was his secretary, you know.

No, it was the sister that was killed

in the car crash, and the sister's husband.

When was that?

Oh... two, two and a half months ago,

wasn't it? In Boston?

Seven weeks ago, Hartford, Connecticut.

That's right.

Liz's niece came here to live with her

right after the accident.

Her niece?

The sister's child.

Poor little thing.

She wasn't here a week when Liz quit her job and left town.

Is, uh... that Liz Farrell's niece?

Pretty child, ain't she?

Is that her, Mrs. Horton?

Don't know.

I never saw her.

I told you she wasn't here even a week.

♪♪

Her name was Ann Marie Stevens.

She was my niece.

Her mother and father were killed in an auto accident.

She'd only been with me a few days when we left Tulare

to get away from Tommy.

We lived in a motel in Santa Monica for a month.

Then that terrible day when we went to the parade.

When the bleachers collapsed, I was knocked unconscious.

I awoke in an ambulance, and I heard them talking

about the little girl who'd been killed.

I couldn't claim her.

Our names would be in the paper,

and Tommy would know where to find me.

He found me, anyway.

I'm so ashamed.

So terribly, terribly ashamed.

Help me, Joe.

Please help me.

Sure, Liz.

After you tell me the truth.

That is the truth.

The rest of it, Liz, all of it.

No more stories about

disappearing husbands and daughters

and restful European tours... Just the truth, huh?

No matter what I said, you wouldn't believe me now.

Try me.

You can start with Carl Johnson and...

$729,000.

It was a faked robbery.

It was staged by Carl and Tommy Ryker.

Tommy Ryker was in jail in San Diego,

and there was nothing fake about Johnson's injuries.

- There was a third man. - Joe Devaney.

He's the one who actually attacked Carl.

They paid him off when he left for Mexico.

They paid him off, all right.

What happened to the rest of the money?

Carl has this place near Sequoia,

a cabin.

Go on.

One morning a couple of months ago,

we were up there.

Carl was out fishing.

I was cleaning around the fireplace,

and I noticed a couple of loose rocks.

They wouldn't push back in quite evenly,

so I pulled them out, and there was the money.

I was still sitting on the floor,

the money all around me, all those bills,

when Carl came back.

Since I knew about the money,

he decided to tell me the rest of it.

It was his idea for me to be nice to Tommy.

"Life insurance" he called it.

Only for a couple of months, until the statutes expired.

Then they'd be in the clear.

Yeah, well, the way Tommy was chasing you around,

those "life insurance" premiums must have been very tasty.

Do you think I enjoyed it?

It went on for a month, maybe a little longer.

Then I simply couldn't stand it.

A few days after Ann Marie came to live with me, I ran.

Not far enough.

No, not far enough.

Why did you stop?

I came to you for help, remember?

The night Tommy Ryker was killed,

you got a phone call from Tulare.

What was that all about?

I placed the call to Carl.

Why?

Tell him Tommy had found me.

What did he say?

I never spoke to him.

That's right; he's on vacation.

"Vacation."

You know what that means, don't you?

Yeah, he's sitting somewhere fat and happy

with $700,000.

Doesn't that bother you?

Why should it bother me?

I'm out of it.

I don't want any part of Carl or his money.

I'm glad to hear that, Liz,

'cause I'm going to make an appointment

for you to see the D.A. tomorrow.

What?!

A crime was committed.

You have vital evidence in the case.

Joe, the statutes have expired.

Nobody can be prosecuted now.

They could be... for murder.

Joe Devaney.

That classic boat accident

was just a little too classic.

I've been withholding evidence.

I can go to prison.

I doubt it.

Not if you help break the case.

Joe, haven't I been punished enough?!

Will you look at that poor little child!

I'll suffer from that for the rest of my life.

Isn't that enough?

Joe, let Carl have his money.

Liz, you're the only one that can blow the whistle on Carl.

Unless you do, you'll never be safe.

He wouldn't hurt me; I know he wouldn't.

That's a sucker's play.

Go to the DA, let him help you.

Joe, I want you to help me.

I will... if you go in.

What, and make an honest woman of myself?

Why not?

Would you go with me?

Sure.

And stand by me?

Of course.

All right.

Uh, Peggy,

call the Tulare Gazette and ask for a reporter named Richard.

Does he have a last name?

Oh, he doesn't need one.

Ask him if he knows where in Canada

Carl Johnson does his fishing, huh?

Carl Johnson...

- You going fishing? - Yeah, something like that.

Oh, and when you hear Liz rattling around upstairs,

tell her I'll pick her up at noon,

and we'll keep her appointment, huh?

I'll tell her, Joe.

I thought you'd be interested

in the investigating officer's report

of this Tommy Ryker accident.

The way it looks,

he simply drove straight through that guardrail.

There were no skid marks.

Either that or he parked, passed out,

and the car rolled.

Was the car in gear?

Yeah, it was in drive.

But he had an alcoholic content reading of .30.

He could have knocked it out of park accidentally.

Two men connected to the same crime,

Devaney and Tom Ryker,

both victims of classic accidents.

Neat coincidence.

That's what I thought.

I'd sure like to have a talk with this Carl Johnson.

If you find him, let me know.

I'd like to talk to him myself.

Oh, Joe,

I spoke to Richard no-last-name,

and he hasn't the slightest idea where Johnson's fishing.

As far as he knows, Johnson did all of his fishing

at a cabin near Sequoia.

"Did"... past tense?

Mm-hmm. Cabin burned down two years ago.

Two years?!

You sure he didn't say two months?

He was very definite:

years.

She told me she found the money in the cabin a few months ago.

Fred Ritchie, please.

Fred, Joe Mannix.

Favor.

Sometime in the last hour,

a pickup was made at 17 Paseo Verde.

Where did the cab go?

Slip 106, the marina.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Well, Mr. Carl Johnson.

Mr. Mannix.

And the lady known as Liz.

You were in this from the beginning, huh, Liz?

I'm sorry, Joe.

Did Tommy Ryker know about all of this?

No.

Very neat.

Very nice.

About six weeks ago, you sent Liz down here

and convinced Tommy that, uh, she'd taken off with the money.

You planned to meet her here on the boat,

and the two of you take a pleasant little cruise,

and, uh, everybody lives happily and profitably, ever after.

Everybody but Tommy Ryker, that is.

Joe, please.

It would have worked, too, Liz,

if Tommy hadn't seen your niece's picture

in the newspapers and tracked you down.

That's where I came in.

Perfect, made to order.

One way or another I'd take care of Tommy Ryker for you.

That's not true.

Mannix, what do you want?

You, Johnson.

So you can explain a couple of classic accidents to the police.

Get his gun.

Hurry up!

Do what he says.

You wait here.

I'll be back in a minute.

Carl, what are you going to do?

You know perfectly well what he's going to do, Liz.

- Come on. - Carl, don't.

Shut up!

Let's go!

Move!

♪♪

Joe!

♪♪

Joe, that money.

$700,000.

Who would ever know?

I'd know.

Liz...

..this gun you threw me; it's mine.

It saved your life, Joe.

Where'd you get it?

Tommy Ryker had it last.

You saw him the night his car went over the cliff

in Malibu, didn't you?

It was pretty easy for you to get him drunk,

and when he passed out, you took my gun from him.

You then got out of the car, slipped it into drive

and let it roll over the cliff.

No.

Liz, you left a trail to this boat

even a Boy Scout could follow.

You wanted me to find you.

You figured I'd kill Johnson for you,

like you figured I'd kill Tommy,

only that one backfired, and you had to do it yourself.

You're wrong.

Maybe in a few of the details, Liz,

but the overall theory makes sense.

Art?

Okay, Joe, I'll expect you downtown in the morning

for a complete statement.

You too, Mrs. Farrell.

Mrs. Farrell wants to...

tell you about Tommy Ryker.

What about Tommy Ryker?

Is that how you want it, Joe?

That's how it has to be, Liz.