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i got this in the mail this morning.

Well?

Well, i can tell you three for nothin'

where this came from.

You mean who sent it?

No, i'd have to charge you for that.

No, this came from an ad for a movie

called "meeting at dawn".

The ad is in all the magazines.

Well, sir?

What?? M i gonna do?

I'm sure i don't know.

But this is not just the usual junk

from an anonymous crank, Wolfe,

someone is gonna try to kill me.

I don'know who, why, when, or how...

but i want some protection,

and i want to buy it from you.

(Archie Goodwin) I could feel a yawn coming on.

I'd heard Wolfe tell at least 50 scared people

of all ages and conditions...

if someone is determined to kill you,

the fact is that they will succeed.

We knew ben jensen from the peter root case.

I'd always thought jensen would've bought

the military secre root had tried to sell him,

if he'd been able to figure out how to use them.

He was a publisher, a politician,

and, in my opinion, a poop.

That's why i want to hire your brains.

You might be able to interest the police,

and, if not, we can provide a list

of reliable detective agencies

who can provide bodyguards.

About him?

Uh, major Goodwin is unavailable.

He's an officer of the united states army.

He's not in uniform.

Officers in military intelligence

on special assignment have freedoms.

Special assignment.

Yes, he assists me in various projects

entrusted to me by the army,

such as the affair with peter root.

Which resulted in his court martial

and conviction.

It leaves me little time for my private business.

What am i gonna do?

I suggest you use your own brains

go about your business but with rea

when licking envelopes, for instance,

examine the mucilage for signs of tampering.

When opening a door, stand to one side

and fling it wide before crossing the sill.

Bear in mind your correspondent is severely restricted.

By saying, "i will watch you die,"

erson has to be there by saying, when it happens. H you die,"

good god.

No panic is called for, sir.

How many people, Archie, have threatened my life

in the past 10 years?

Ah, about 22.

Phooey! At least a hundred.

And i'm not dead yet, mr. Jensen, i'm not dead yet.

Jensen pocketed the clipping and left,

no better off than when he came,

except for the valuable tips about licking envelopes.

Cornwall and mayer, if you decide to hire a bodyguard,

have the best men.

There you are.

That's all right, come on.

What the devil are you doing?

I am trying to look as much like an officer

as possible, sir.

Yes, i have an appointment in washington

day after tomorrow with general carpenter.

Oh, indeed.

Yes, i want to take an ocean voyage.

I have thought of a crushing remark

to make to a german and i'd like to use it.

That's nonsense.

Every attempt you've made to go overseas has been denied.

Yes, i think carpenter will see my point.

Look, i admit that you are a great detective,

a champion beer drinker, and a genius.

But this is a hell of a way to spend a war.

If carpenter calls, and you tell him

that you can't do without me,

well, then i am gonna p gristle in your crabmeat

and sugar in your beer.

Morning, Fritz!

Whoa!

(sighs)

I've got it.

Archie...

the next morning, i decided

to join my employer for breakfast.

Where's Fritz?

Archie?

I knew he couldn't miss

about last night's murder of a certain familiar publisher.

It turns out ben jensen paid us a visit

the same day he stopped a bullet.

(doorbell ringing)

(inspector cramer) All right, i want all the rats out of their holes!

Fritz, hortsman... all of 'em!

And i want the rats to start talking,

especially the big one in here!

Jensen came to see you yesterday

12 hours before he was murdered.

Not interested, not involved, not curious.

Why?

Why diu decline to work for him?

What did he ever do to you?

Nothing, i don't do that kind of work,

you know that!

Besides, he said he had no idea who intended to kill him.

A man who receives an anonymous threat

is either in no danger or his danger is so acute

that his position is hopeless.

Yeah, that's what he told cornwall you said.

And he now thinks you passed

because you knew it was too hot to handle.

Naturally cornwall's bitter,

he just lost his best man in doyle...

20 years in the game.

Okay, he and jensen spent the day together.

After dinner, they went to a meeting.

At 11:20, they arrived at jensen's apartment building.

Two men dead, and you gotta get upstairs

to your damn horticulture?

What about witnesses?

Stebbins said there were none.

The two seventh avenue models who found the bodies

never heard of jensen.

The doorman was in the basement...

confound it!

Stoking the water heater, the elevator man

was taking a tenant to the fourth floor.

And beyond that, all we got

is the population of new york city... hey!

And that's why i came to see you!

For god's sakes, give me what you got!

You can see i need it!

I repeat, sir.

I am not interested, not involved,

and not curious.

Now, i would appreciate if you would leave my bedroom!

With pleasure!

Here, here's an extra funny paper.

And don't throw out paper, ever!

That black silk bed cover of his

can be used for a shroud when the time comes.

Let me know, i'll come over and help you sew it up.

This is a violation of our agreement, Archie.

I suppose so,

but i ran across something in the mail

i thought you'd find amusing.

Sure is a coincidence, huh?

The edges are clipped closer to the words on this one.

Yes, i will deal with the mail

at 11:00, as usual.

(typing)

You will, of course, postpone your trip to washington.

Why, because of that tomfoolery?

No panic is needed.

You intend to go?

Yeah, just don't lick any envelopes

and bear in mind your correspondent

is severely restricted as...

when do you leave?

I'm booked on the 6:00 train.

Oh good, we will have the day then.

Your notebook.

But, first, a comment on your jocosity.

When mr. Jensen showed us thatthing,

we had no inkling of the character

of the person who sent it.

We no longer enjoy that ignorance.

I agree, and if you decide to stay in bed

until i return from washington,

i won't tell anyone.

Well, that thing was not sent to you.

True.

Learn the whereabouts of captain root.

Locate mr. Root... well, that's easy.

He was put away for three years in the cooler.

Then call general carpenter

and arrange for him to be brought here,

as well as any records of root.

Inform mr. Cramer of these developments.

And find that fiancee of his.

Ahh... Jane Geer.

Yes, she raised quite a ruction about root.

She called me a mongrel bloodhound, not a good epithet.

A contradiction in terms.

Yeah, i've, ah,

sort of struck up a kind of acquaintance with her, ah...

yes, excuse me for interrupting,

but you have a train to catch, don't you?

Ah, would you like to see her before i leave?

Well, you have a habit of knowing how to locate

personable, young women without delay.

(Archie) I called cramer, general carpenter,

and then went in search of the elusive miss Geer.

It took most of the afternoon.

It was not my opinion that this special item

of god's second bounty for man was guilty

of premeditated and cold-blooded murder.

She claimed she was being framed,

but she had a different slant on the peter root case.

And after Wolfe is finished,

do you take me down to the station?

Now, listen, tiger eyes,

do you see me sneaking up behind you?

I should have known.

You, with so many women, you have to issue ration coupons,

and yet you find so much time for me.

Well, you know why.

Do i?

You've got a mirror.

Hmm...

now, i understand that you have acquired

a slightly different slant on captain root

since you called mr. Wolfe a mongrel bloodhound.

I was taken in.

I thought peter was innocent and being made the goat.

Ah.

But i'm over that... as you should know.

Unless you're a two-faced, subhuman pithecanthropus.

Am i?

After my experience

with the charming, irresistible mr. Root,

i wouldn't marry a combination

of winston churchill and victor mature.

I wouldn't even marry you.

(clears throat)

Oh, i know you're disappointed.

But i'm going to become the first female vice-president

of the biggest advertising agency in the country,

i never will if my name's made public as a murder suspect.

I see, well, i'll tell you what,

you shouldn't use that line on mr. Wolfe.

See, he has a peculiar attitude toward women in business.

I'll handle Nero Wolfe.

Oh, you will, huh, you'll handle Nero Wolfe?

Well, hooray for you, no one else has.

Now, come on, i can't miss all my trains.

Let's go, drink up.

Good evening, mr. Goodwin.

Good evening, mr. Brenner, is he in his office?

No, he is in his room.

Excuse me.

I beg your pardon, i need to see mr. Wolfe.

Well, i'm sorry, he has an appointment.

I'm emil jensen, the son of ben jensen,

who was killed last night.

(Archie) There wasn't much of a father-son resemblan

but that's nature's lookout... i'm busy enough as it is.

When i heard about my fat i got leave.

I'm still rather disconcerted.

Oh.

Here, let me.

Yeah, i have miss Geer here... ah, sir,

also, emil jensen just arrived, son of ben jensen.

I'm engaged and can see no one.

For how long?

I'm making no appointments this week, Archie.

I see, but you said...

Archie... tell them that, please.

Ah, mr. Wolfe sends his regrets,

but he will be unable to see you this evening.

After dragging me up here?

Sir, with all due respect, my father had a conversation

with mr. Wolfe that i would like to know about.

That's just the way it goes.

There's nothing i can do about it.

Not to mention the fact

i had a whole evening planned for myself.

And it all changed for me to be here,

and now look what happens.

Yes, i can see your point, very much so.

But, you know, all parties have to agree upon a meeting.

Two out of three doesn't cut it.

Miss Geer...

i'm sorry about your troubles,

but it seems hopeless, at least for this evening...

the three of us had an extended conversation

that got nowhere, other than to increase

major jensen and Jane's inclination to cast

sympathetic glances at each other.

Perhaps you and i could join forces on a taxi?

Going down the stoop, i noticed

she steadied herself on his unobtrusive arm.

That showed astonishing progress

as she was by no means a born clinger.

This is what you were engaged in?

Mm-hmm.

When's the next train?

Seven.

But what the hell, i can put it off a week.

No, i know it's on your mind.

Ah, my motive is selfish.

If i'm with carpenter when the word comes

that you've been killed, i'll never get my transfer.

Confound it, i have no intention of being killed.

Get out of here.

Your role as mr. Wolfe's assistant is absolutely vital.

At the pentagon, general carpenter and i

had a frank discussion regarding my role in the war effort.

He saw no reason to change it.

Play ball, son.

Whoreson cur.

That's rather a nice little epithet, isn't it,

"whoreson cur"?

A bit medieval, i must admit.

Why did you not listen to mr. Churchill?

Did he tell me something?

He was warning us that the germans were rebuilding...

violating versailles.

Ah, oh, well, versailles, yes.

I've actually heard that it's a very nice place to live

and probably the reason the french had that revolution.

Exactly.

Allons, enfants de la patrie...

reason was the goddess then.

And then came clausewitz.

And he rules us all, hmm?

Yes, sir.

(clears throat)

Thank you, sir.

Now that you're here, why not stay around a few days?

We'll get colonel Rickey

to see if there are any questions

about mr. Wolfe's current cases, hmm?

Yes, sir.

(intercom buzzing)

Yes?

Ah, colonel Rickey?

Dickey, sir.

What's that?

Dickey.

My name's not dickey, i'm general carpenter.

I'm dickey, sir.

Well, of course you are. Proceed.

Questions.

Yes?

You wanted to know if we had any questions

about the cases mr. Wolfe is working on?

Yes, yes.

Ah, if i may, sir, we were talking about

why it is we didn't listen to churchill.

Yes, on the treaty of versailles, indeed, indeed.

As flavius vegetius renatus once remarked,

mount without delay during th

no one listened.

No one.

And then they came across the fields of europe

and took france.

Just like they did during the great war.

Just like the goth during the sacking of rome.

And what the dodgers tend to do to cleveland.

Ha! Play ball.

Dickey, there's a hard "g" in that latin name, you know.

It's "veg-etius".

I stand corrected, sir.

Absolutely, i should think so.

Allow me to invite in the staff.

Good, proceed.

Thank you, sir.

Questions, gentlemen?

A room full of colonels

putting our heads together to come up with a question.

I wondered what Wolfe was doing.

Mr. Root.

Mr. Wolfe.

Ah...

well, i understand you think

i have been trying to murder you

from my prison cell.

Ors have from my prison a long reach. Irat

well...

Jane has broken it off with me.

I haven't seen her since the trial.

The phone records from prison

indicate repeated calls to ohio.

My mother teaches first grade in danforth.

She is a very forgiving person.

She believes you're innocent.

What about your father?

Well, i wouldn't know.

He abandoned us 10 years ago.

Last i heard, he works in a war plant in oklahoma.

What about brothers or sisters?

Anyone who might feel rancor at the injustice done to you?

No one would take a subway ride,

much less commit murder

in order to avenge me, mr. Wolfe.

Hmm.

A patriotic traitor would have advocates...

ly greedy one has none.

You have built your own prison, sir.

Gentlemen, any pearls of wisdom as y?

(chattering)

When i was in the great war... ell you,

...that's the price of freedom.

Questions, indeed.

(phone rings)

Mr. Wolfe's residence.

Ah, Fritz, it's Archie, where is he?

Well, he's in bed, he had a hard day.

Doing what? Ah, never mind.

Do you happen to know if he readthe startoday?

Oh, he never does, there's only my copy.

Take a look at page 11, lower right.

Just a minute.

Page... 11.

Ha ha ha, did you phone all the way from washington

just to make a joke?

Ah, i don't feel like joking.

Who did it make you think of?

Well, it entered my mind

that it's just a description of Nero Wolfe.

Ah, right, right.

Well, you tell him that it looks to me... no, no, no.

That'll just, that'll annoy him, never mind.

Just show it to him, all right?

And i'll see you tomorrow night.

At the pentagon, the room full of colonels

fed me lots of unnecessary details.

Having finally had the time to analyze the situation,

i realized that it turned out to be

a game of ring-around-the-rosy.

For a minute, it looked sticky.

But i wouldn't undertake to report

all the combinations they tried.

I calculated the odds at 10-to-one that by morning

no one would remember i'd been there.

(doorbe

Archie!

Hello there, Fritz.

Good to see you.

Good to see you, very good to be home.

I see he's up working late.

Fritz, i am officially a.w.o. L...

a-w-o...

oh...

you must be Archie godwin.

Goodwin.

Bring me another highball, would you, Fritz?

Did you have a good trip, Archie?

Interesting reading?

Peter root's prison records.

Ah.

Are you going to europe?

Am i going to europe? You know damn well i'm not.

Did you stop in the office on the way up?

Yes, and until he asked Fritz for a highball,

i thought i was talking to you.

Shut up.

No, the resemblance between the two of you is remark.

You paying him out of petty cash?

Social secur...

shut up. His name is hackett.

He's a retired architect with the manners of a wart hog.

Oh.

However, his appearance is suitable,

and he is such an unsurpassed nincompoop

he'll risk his life for a hundred dollars a day.

If he keeps on calling me "Archie",

i'll show you risk.

I don't know, why don't you just stay put

until the bird that killed jensen is caught?

By whom? Mr. Cramer?

He's wasting the money of the people of new york

to prove emil jensen did it.

Jensen?

Jensen just got back from europe.

Yes, and discovered that his father had filed for divorce.

That he has no motive for killing me,

mr. Cramer put a hundred men on his trail.

It's intolerable asininity.

And i sit here, handicapped!

The men i trust are all off to war, except you.

And you bounce...

(Archie) He was piling it on.

I knew better than to contribute a note of skepticism

when he was in one of his romantic moods,

having been fired for that once.

...i am taking the only way open to me.

The killer is bold to the point of rashness now.

And he can be tempted, which is why

i want you to take mr. Hackett around town tomorrow,

wearing my coat and my hat and using my cane.

Doing something like that might get someone killed.

Yes... perhaps mr. Cramer has a man who resembles you

and is alert and resourceful.

If an at hackett's life

leaves us as empty-handed as we are now.

No, no, yeah, i'll do it, i'll do it.

Yes, cramer may be able to find

someone as resourceful as me,

but i doubt if he'll find someone as...

well, you know, handsome.

Meant no offense. Well, you know, handsome.

Ah, none taken, no, no.

But clearly you're under a strain, i see.

Yes, ah, it's very evident.

You know, hackett's life in jeopardy,

it's made you nervous.

(crunching)

(chuckles, sighs)

What are you eating?

Ginger snaps.

Ginger snaps, oh, i didn't know we had any.

We didn't.

Fritz didn't seem to know what they were.

So i walked over to ninth avenue and got some, heh.

When did you do that?

Just a little while ago.

Oh.

(phone ringing)

Archie!

This is the second time this week you have interrupted.

I don't care.

He is eating ginger snaps.

What did you say?

Eating ginger snaps, making crumbs in your chair.

Get him out of the house!

Mr. Hackett.

A little walk. I are gonna go for

well...

$100 is a large reward for a small effort, and, um,

i understand that someone may mistake me for Wolfe

and try to kill me, but,

if it's more complicated than that,

if the intention is for you to shoot me

and say Wolfe is dead,

i, i'd like to say very emphatically

that that would not be fair.

(laughing nervously)

Confidentially, Archie, i,

i don't expect anything to happen.

I'm sanguine by nature, heh.

Yes, well, i'm, uh, sanguine by nature, too, mr. Hackett.

Come on, let's go for a walk.

(hackett) Ah, now, that's what i like...

n with tiny, little checks.

No, you prefer yellow.

Yellow?

Yes.

Like the sun, the spring sun, which makes things green.

No, i don't think so.

Mr. Wolfe... (clears throat)

You wear yellow shirts.

Yellow? Yellow.

Well, this is really quite exciting.

I didn't realize accepting this position

i'd gain a whole new wardrobe.

Could we stop at the art gallery next?

Ah.

They tried to get him from the top of the palisades

with a howitzer, but they missed.

Other than that, it all went fine.

Satisfactory.

Call miss Geer and say i would like

to see her this evening at 6:00.

I doubt she'll come.

Use your powers of persuasion.

She has not seen me before.

It will be a good opportunity to test hackett.

When you seat her, seat her at the far end of the desk.

I would like to observe her through the hole.

Then, she's on your list?

It will give her a chance to kill mr. Hackett.

Very efficient. Admirable.

Thank you.

(doorbell rings)

Jane arrived at six sharp, with a military escort.

Well, two on one hook.

We were having cocktails and major jensen decided

to come along on the spur of the moment.

I hope you don't mind.

Well, you could just wait in the front room.

I have to check on Wolfe.

All right.

Oh, here we are.

With hackett primed only for Jane,

we'd be pushing our luck to confront him with emil, too.

I needed new orders from headquarters.

She brought an outrider, a major jensen.

I put them in the front room, but the connecting door

to the office is slightly open,

so hackett could be seen.

Confound it!

Go to the front room by way of the office

and close the door...

(gunshot)

(emil) Who fired that shot?

Did you fire a gun?

No, did you? Did you?

You idiot, why would i fire a gun?

Ne you idiot, why would i fireyou're holding. E o

now, if you don't mind, i'd like you to search me.

Atta boy.

Oh my god.

I offer no apologies.

Ah, you're fine.

Now, we're gonna go in to mr. Wolfe and discuss this.

Well, i'm not going, i'm not walking into some frame-up.

Miss Geer, major mr. Wolfe.

Uh, mr. Wolfe is bleeding.

Fritz!

Which one was it, mr. Wolfe?

Which one was what?

Who shot you?

I don't know, i must have... dozed off.

It's been a big day.

Fritz, if either of them so much reaches for a handkerchief,

shoot them.

Excuse me, those instructions

are dangerous, he could...

he's fine, it's okay.

My head.

Is it my head?

No, no, it's just a little nick on your ear.

I'm, i'm not hurt?

Let's go wash it off.

Fritz, they're clean, i've checked.

But if one of them tries to exit, plug 'em.

It seems incredible to me

that one of them could shoot me from the front room

without me seeing anything.

Now, see here, if you think Wolfe shot you or i shot you,

then you have fleas in your brain that need attending to.

Now, just hurry back,

do not try to help me, and just look wise.

And, if everything goes as it should,

there's an extra hundred in there for you.

200... i was shot at.

Ah!

(chiseling)

Bullet.

Ah, mr. Wolfe, this is what nearly killed you.

Now, the way it passed through your ear

and into this wall, right into the plaster,

certainly indicates that

it must've come from that front room.

You've ruined my wall!

I can't abide patched plaster.

Mr. Wolfe could've fired that bullet himself.

Why don't you inspect his face for powder marks?

He just washed them off.

They don't wash off. Here you go.

No powder.

Still, wrapped in a towel...

i'll tell you what, i'll give you a gun,

you try it, aiming one inch from your temple.

I would suggest...

that i find the, uh, the gun, yes.

I was just on my way to do that very thing.

If you're gonna examine that room...

ah, sit down, brother.

Don't forget whose house this is.

Remember, Fritz, one false move...

shoot him in the knee.

Yours?

No.

Good.

This is an old veteran, it's a granville.38, uh...

pretty nice, huh?

Somewhat recently fired.

(Jane) You unspeakable rat!

This is a frame.

The dirtiest frame-up in history.

I want my lawyer, in fact, that's where i'm going,

and you can't stop me.

Huh!

Well, now i know you framed peter root,

and i let this skunk talk me out of it.

I will not tolerate this.

You come here, and you try to kill me.

You nearly do kill me.

Then, you abuse me about a peter root.

I've never heard of this fellow peter root!

This fellow?

I'm not listening at all.

How do you do? I am Nero Wolfe.

If you don't mind, sir, remove yourself from my chair.

All right, all right...

who the hell are you?

I have introduced myself, sir.

That gentleman is a temporary employee.

When my life was threatened, i hired him to impersonate me.

You may go to the kitchen, sir.

Fritz, take him.

Fat coward.

I hired this man, not out of cowardice,

but conceit.

I am insufferably conceited... should i be killed,

i doubted that the murderer would ever be caught.

Should anothlace,

i would still be alive to attend to the matter myself.

You said you were going to say something,

you haven't said anything yet.

What i wish to say is this:

It is demonstrable that the shot came

from the direction of that door

to the front room.

Do you both assert that, at the instance you heard the shot,

you were together?

Yes. Yes.

Get inspector cramer on the phone, Archie.

Ght, get inspector cramer on the phone, this is a frame-up.

It seems to me that calling the police in

is a dirty trick of yours.

May i ask, miss Geer, how long have you

been acquainted with major jensen?

Two days. I met him here.

Is that accurate, major? Entirely.

Inspector cramer, please.

Not long enough to form an attachment

warranting any of the costlier forms of sacrifice?

What?

Your mutual assertion that you were together

when the shot was fired is

a blessing for the one who fired the gun.

But when the truth comes out... and i assure you, it will...

for the other, it will mean disaster.

Ah, inspector cramer on the line.

Ah, inspector cramer on the line. Cramer.

Yeah, what?

Yes, i have a bullet and the gun which recently fired it.

I want the bullet compared to the bullets

which killed jensen and doyle.

And nothing you can say is gonna stop me.

Do you wanna stay and talk to mr. Wolfe,

(sighs)

Just as i thought, you'll stay and talk to mr. Wolfe.

Right this way.

Uh, major jensen.

Hmm?

Oh.

(Archie) Cramer had a man at our door in 10 minutes

and carried off the evidence.

Wolfe proceeded without him.

Miss Geer, where were you when the shot was fired?

We were both over there.

And then, i remember, i went toward the window to freshen up.

I heard the shot and turned.

Emil was hurrying toward the hallway, calling,

"who fired that shot?"

Do you concur, major?

Yes, we were just where Jane said.

She turned to open her purse,

and i took a few steps off to give her some privacy.

I heard the shot, but with all the doorways and halls,

i couldn't locate it, so, i called out,

"who fired that shot?"

After Wolfe was done with his questions,

we spent two tiresome hours

waiting for the results on the bullet and the gun,

during which time i got a kick out of watching

Wolfe's poison work on jensen and Jane.

The one who hadn't fired the gun

was suspicious of the one who had.

The one who had fired the gun acted suspicious

of the one who hadn't.

From the looks they were giving each other,

they were not friends.

The only good way to get a suspicion out of your mind

is to get something else in.

But i couldn't stop being curious.

Phooey! Look at this.

Oh, a search warrant, huh?

I'm surprised you two are still alive.

What's it for?

The entire premises.

You sent me the gun that killed jensen and doyle.

That's the gun, and you sent it to me.

Now i want the murderer.

Is he here?

I'm searching the house, Wolfe,

and i'm not begging you... i've begged you before.

The acceptance of your salary

is a fraud upon the people of new york.

Start searching.

If you do you'll never catch the murderer.

Oh, i won't, huh? Why?

Because i already have.

The hell you have.

Now, your report on the gun settles it.

But you're not equipped to handle it.

Tear that up!

I know you, Wolfe, god, i know you.

But i'm willing to, uh, talk before i execute it.

No, sir, i will not submit to duress.

Either tear it up, or proceed with it,

and i will speak to the district attorney

about why the murderer got away.

Confound it!

Don't you ever waste your time like that again!

Do you understand me? Or mine!

Now, who did it?

I don't know.

You just said you did!

No, i said i caught the one who did.

And i have.

The murderer is in the house.

He's not your client, is he?

There is a man and there is a woman in the front room.

Now, granting one of them is the murderer,

i suggest you inspect the crime scene.

Now, why didn't i think of that?

Inspector cramer and sergeant stebbins

proceeded to investigate.

They measured distances, computed angles,

extrapolated trajectories and debated long division.

(Wolfe) Fritz.

Yes, sir?

Where is the other cushion?

What other...

there are three cushions on that couch.

Did you remove one?

No, sir, there were three here

yesterday when i cleaned up.

I want you to find it. Archie, help him.

I want to know if that cushion is in this room.

(cramer) Do you think it's a straight trajectory?

What's the matter with him?

(stebbins) This is a police investigation.

Ah!

Archie, get everyone out of my office at once.

Archie, find out if anyone has fired

any of your weapons recently.

Yes.

This one, very recently.

Tchah!

Assemble everyone, in the office.

Everyone? Everyone!

Archie, i appreciate being asked,

but i've had quite enough for one day.

I've just been shot at!

Okay, okay, yes.

I have no desire to go back into that room

with a murderer.

I just want to get paid and go home.

Yes, yes, okay. Now, listen.

When i am asked to fill an order, i do so.

Now, mr. Wolfe has asked me to assemble everybody out there,

so, come on.

No! L...

(hackett) You... can't do this!

Get in here!

He was a little reluctant.

Your murderer, inspector.

What?

I found this... in his pocket.

Yes, you will want to check that for blood.

Whose?

Ah, it's a farce, inspector, low comedy.

No, uh-uh, i know this guy.

Let me introduce mr. Thomas root,

father of the imprisoned captain peter root.

One more day... one more day.

Yes, no doubt, sir, one more day.

One more day, and i'd have been killed,

with suspicion centered on miss Geer or major jensen

because of your flummery.

Unfortunately for your plan, i became interested,

involved... and curious.

I am the father of a wronged man,

a wrong that needed to be set right.

Peter said he never knew his father.

His telephone records say otherwise.

Vengeance should have been mine.

Wait a minute...

all you've got is this scout knife.

And how does he fire a gun from in there

and beat it back to your desk?

With my cushion.

Knowing miss Geer was coming,

mr. Root waited for a moment when he was alone.

With the cushion to muffle the gun,

which he wrapped in a handkerchief

to prevent fingerprints or powder residue.

He embedded a bullet in the wall...

stashed the pillow in the desk

and planted the gun in the vase.

When miss Geer and major jensen arrived,

root got a gun from mr. Goodwin's desk

and fired through the pillow in the drawer.

(gunshot)

Undoubtedly, we will find that bullet torn into my floor.

And when mr. Goodwin went to the front room,

root returned the gun to Archie's desk

then used the knife to cut his ear.

Hey, wait a minute, hold it.

You can't prove that. How can you prove that?

I don't have to.

The court's just gonna take your word for it?

Much as i would like to see him punished

for threatening my life,

it will be easier to convict and execute him

of jensen and doyle. Murders

that's where i've seen him before...

the doorman!

Remember, inspector, i told you,

the fat nitwit who was just hired.

And he quit his job the day after the murder.

You shaved your beard, heh-heh!

You'll pay for this, Wolfe.

A father has rights beyond the law!

Sit down!

I invite comment,

anything from irony to derision

to the fact that i paid $100 a day

to let live in my house, eat my food

and sit in my chair a man who was resolved to kill me.

I wish you would takese, mr. Cra mer,

i've seen enough of him.

Yeah, can't say as i blame you.

Get him out of here!

Come on, tommy root, let's go.

You got him?

I got him. I got you.

Thatwas absolutely brilliant!

It was merely a job.

It was man apology, mr. Wolfe.

You were not my client, sir.

No, no, for my father.

Well, in that case...

wait a minute, wait a minute.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, "in that case," right?

When your father came to him and told him

somebody was trying to kill him,

he said he could do nothing for him.

And that's exactly what he did: Nothing!

So, legally, you don't owe him a thing.

Ah.

Emil.

Well, thank you very much, inspector.

Well, you're welcome, major stay-at-home.

You know, Wolfe, you weren't interested,

and you certainly weren't involved,

and you definitely weren't...

you weren't concerned!

Curious.

Same thing!

(door slams)

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