Original subtitles

I think we have to assume poor Lynn was murdered.

That means there's a psycho killer on the loose.

If he gets arrested, he'll be lucky.

Lucky?

Yeah, this way he might get killed.

I know who did it.

Him. Lester Hodges.

All I did was find the girl and put our client in jail.

But our client just might be guilty of those sex murders.

Hey, listen, I'm late. I've got to run.

I'll see you later, all right? Bye-bye.

The first time I ever saw Lester Hodges, he was smiling.

But considering that he was in a police station

as a suspect of possible homicide,

I didn't know what he had to smile about.

But when I got to know him better,

I realized Lester was listening to music the rest of us never hear.

And I'm asking you, Lieutenant,

what you managed to wring out of my client

in the absence of his lawyer.

He hasn't been arrested.

He came down to make a voluntary statement.

He came down in a police car.

To make a voluntary...

Orwell, will you wait outside? I'm busy.

He's with me.

What?

He's with me. I'm with him.

All right. Stay.

Now, can we get back to my client's, uh, voluntary statement?

Hodges, will you tell Mr. Valentine, your attorney,

just what you told me?

Hello. I don't think we've met. I'm Lester Hodges.

Oh, yeah. Harry Orwell.

Lieutenant Trench would like me to tell you

I'm not one of his men.

Orwell, that's obvious.

Orwell is a private investigator.

Criminologist.

That's very exciting.

Lester, come on.

Settle down.

Now, sit down and tell me what happened.

Well, you see, they can't find Lynn.

Lynn?

That's a girl, Mr. Valentine.

Lynn Northrop.

I've dated her a few times,

and last night she phoned and wanted me to meet her.

But she didn't show up.

Or maybe I was too late.

You see, I had much further to walk than she,

and she may have gotten tired of waiting and left.

But where did she go?

That's the crux of the matter, of course.

Well, she didn't go home.

This morning one of her roommates

filed a missing person report.

And you got into a flap over a girl

who's missing, what, 12 hours?

There's more, Mr. Valentine.

Well, I should hope so.

Last night the campus security patrol

checked out a report that a woman had been screaming.

You want something?

No, where?

About 50 yards from the park fence

where Hodges says he didn't meet her.

Her, meaning a Northrop girl,

not necessarily the woman who screamed.

There was evidence of a struggle,

but they didn't find any.

What evidence?

Broken shrubbery, tire tracks on the grass.

A smear of blood.

Oh, so you think the girl was dragged into the car

and driven away.

Well, it's certainly a possibility, Orwell.

But he said he walked.

That's what he said.

The imminent French criminologist Leclerc states

the presence of three elements of a corpus delicti

equalizes the absence of a victim.

So, I think we have to assume

poor Lynn was murdered.

Actually, the first thing we'll have to do

is find poor Lynn's body, right?

Wrong, Lester, wrong.

Mr. Orwell, you concur with Leclerc, don't you?

I don't know. I never read him.

First thing, Lester, you call O'Hein

and you tell your father you've been released.

He knows?

Oh, yeah, I guess he must know

or he couldn't have sent you.

Now, how far was the dormitory

from where you were supposed to meet Lynn?

I should estimate a mile.

And you walked?

Actually, I ran.

Well, most of the way.

Huh?

That's even better.

Usually there's somebody around.

That's your assignment, Orwell.

Find a witness who saw Lester running

at about what time?

Nine o'clock.

Nine o'clock, got it.

Running to or from the scene of the crime.

Orwell, actually, he has a point there, Mr. Valentine.

You see, I did run both ways.

Lester, shut up.

Had you come here before?

No, never.

Whose idea was it?

Hers.

Something she had to tell me, she said.

Drive a car?

Oh, sure.

Did she smoke?

Mm-hmm.

If you'd driven the car,

you might have gotten here in time.

We don't know that she got here.

Why didn't you drive the car?

Well, somebody was using the car.

Who?

I don't know.

Could have been anybody.

I always leave the keys in the glove compartment.

Why?

So people can use the car.

Of course, they usually check with me

to see if I need it,

but it could have been an emergency.

This looks like the place

where it must have all happened.

Yeah.

Get some evidence.

Hey, hold it, young lady.

May I talk to you?

Are you a policeman?

No, I'm a private detective.

Then I've got something to tell you.

I should have mentioned it before

when I made the missing persons report.

Oh, you're Lynn's roommate?

One of them.

I'm Sally.

Sally Seibel.

If I had known about that,

then I...

Lynn's dead, isn't she?

Well, we don't know for sure.

Well, I do.

She was murdered.

I know who did it.

Who?

Him.

Lester Hodges.

Yep.

Why him?

He's weird.

If she thought he was weird,

why did she phone him?

I don't know.

They just talked on the phone.

I don't know who called who.

She agreed to meet him.

Okay, I can't explain it.

Can you explain why she never came home?

I wish you'd ruminate out loud.

Huh?

It's just as though I wasn't even here.

That way, I can observe a criminologist's mind at work.

I'm just a private detective.

I used to be a cop.

I know, but you're a professional.

See, what you know comes from doing,

not from reading about it.

Like Leclerc?

Oh, and Fodor and Smith Bullock

and Professor Heilman.

And you've never read any of them, have you?

No.

Well, you see, I've read them all,

and I only have practical experience in one murder.

You mean besides Lit?

It was in Ojai.

Over a year ago.

Case was never solved.

I suppose it's unfair to blame the police.

They just don't have a lot of murders in Ojai.

But the point is, they lack training.

Is that when you decided to be a criminologist?

Right on.

Hey, Sherlock.

Did you get the buzz string down?

Oh, it was nothing.

It was certainly nothing you...

It was nothing you had to call my father about.

Hey, man, I didn't call anybody.

Maybe your pal Judy did, but not me.

Well, I'll speak to her about it later.

Rand, this is the famous private investigator,

Mr. Harry Orwell.

Randy Wade.

What do you think happened to that chick?

We think she's been murdered, Rand.

Oh, wow.

You really think so, Mr. Orwell?

I think she's missing, just like Lester's car.

Hmm?

Well, it's not in the garage, Rand.

I saw it a little while ago.

Uh, down in front of the old administration building.

Who had it?

Nobody.

I mean, nobody was driving it.

It was just parked there.

Lester, Mr. Valentine wants you to call your father.

Yeah, I know. I'll do it later, maybe.

Lester, are you all right?

Why did you call my old man?

Well, I thought you might need some help,

a lawyer or something.

Well, I guess it worked out okay.

I met Mr. Orwell.

He's handling everything.

He is fantastic.

A criminologist.

Mr. Orwell!

Lester had told me what kind of car he drove.

And if it was still parked in front of the administration building,

it shouldn't take a criminologist to track it down.

Actually, it was easier than that.

That wouldn't, uh, be Lester Hodges' car, would it?

That's one label for it.

Well, what's another?

The vehicle Lynn Northrop was taken away in.

Are you positive?

I'll let you know when they finish.

Well, who found it?

I put a wand out on it.

Sharp patrolman spotted it.

Now, take a look.

Don't even come close, Orwell.

I'll keep my hands in my pockets like right now.

Lieutenant, I've, uh...

I've got a set of probabilities now, if you want them.

And if I don't?

Go on, Roberts.

Go ahead. He won't believe you anyway.

Well, the, uh, the mark on the hood is recent.

And it could have been caused by hitting somebody.

Huh.

The, uh, stain on the carpeting is, uh...

It's what we thought it was.

B-L-O-O-D?

Ignore him.

Just let me know if it matches up with the blood smear on the grass.

I found this stuffed up under the front seat.

L-N.

Now, what do you suppose that stands for, Orwell?

Long neck?

No.

Lynn Northrop?

Too obvious.

Lester Newton Hodges.

No H.

No, it's a woman's scarf.

Hodges is a transvestite.

Possibility.

That's it.

That is not it.

Roberts.

Come here.

The drum sent the message?

Phone.

They called me from the office to say you were coming over with a leaf.

I'm Barbara Monouch.

Professor.

Uh, the leaf?

Oh, yeah, the leaf.

Oh, yeah.

Mmm.

It's interesting.

Yeah.

Unusual.

Very rare.

Well, it looks like it came from a rubber plant, doesn't it?

Does it?

No.

It doesn't.

If someone were to ask me, and I suppose that's what you're doing...

That's it.

Well, I would say it's Garcinia Mangostrano.

That's just a guess, though.

I've never actually seen one.

Well, it's Garcinia Mangostrano.

Mangosteen tree.

Mangosteen tree.

It's the native of the East Indies.

Yeah, well, they wouldn't grow around here.

Oh, no.

They don't grow in this country.

Nowhere?

Oh, they tried growing them in Florida and here, but no luck.

I understand they've had better luck in the

Hawaiian Islands, but that's not here, is it?

Mmm.

But only one leaf.

Oh, I'm not saying you couldn't find a mangosteen somewhere.

In a botanical garden or a nursery.

But it just won't bear fruit, so what's the point of it?

Nowhere I could find one to park my car on.

Well, I don't think you'll find one along a road.

I would guess probably someone who landscapes

his grounds with rare or exotic trees.

Yeah, that's it.

Well, you might have to cover quite a few private estates.

Well, what if we narrowed down to within a five-mile radius?

Oh, the Larrabee estate.

What is that?

Well, that's up on one of the canyons.

Old Larrabee was an eccentric millionaire way back in the 1920s.

He built a mansion and he imported old statuary and young girls and exotic trees.

Sounds like my kind of guy.

Old Man Larrabee may have been an eccentric,

but he must have given great parties.

If you listened hard and you gave your imagination a

little play, you could still hear the sounds of revelry.

The dialogue was dated, of course, and the orchestra had the wrong beat.

Because it all happened a long time ago.

Now there was nothing in the old mansion except ghosts.

A used flashbulb.

And something under a soiled overcoat.

THE LARRABEE ESTATE

Probably just like it looks.

A car driven here, raped, strangled with her own bra.

The killer must have known about this place.

I mean, he could figure nobody would find her for a while.

Which brings us to the question, how did you find her, Orwell?

You see that tree?

Tree?

That's a mangosteen tree.

It does not grow in this country.

Did you get it from Hodges?

No, from the East Indies.

Where is Hodges?

Home.

And when I want you, Orwell, where will you be?

Home.

If you talk about it, Harry.

It wouldn't help.

I hate to see you this way when I don't know what's the matter with you.

Somebody did something rotten to a girl,

and I feel like I ought to do something about it,

but I don't know what to do about it.

Why don't you beat him up?

I thought about it.

Grover will help you.

No, he's not going to help me. He doesn't like me.

I think you're winning him over.

You think so?

You're going to fly out?

Yeah.

All right, I'll try again. I'll feed him.

Orwell!

What are you doing?

Do you know what you've done?

Do you have any idea what you've done?

All I did was find the girl.

And put our client in jail.

Oh, Neil Valentine, this is Sue Ingram.

Hello.

Now, when they find Lester, they...

Miss Ingram?

Hello.

How do you do? I hope it is Miss.

Yes.

That's Grover.

Oh.

What do you mean, when they find Lester, he's at home?

Home happens to be in Ojai.

Well, I left him at the dorm two hours ago.

For Lester, that's plenty of time.

Now, you get up there and bring him back.

Why do I have to go?

Because if I don't have him back in

Lieutenant Trench's office by 6 o'clock p.m.,

they're going to have a fugitive warrant on him.

So get up there.

I don't think my car will make it to Ojai.

Then take the bus.

I don't want to take the bus.

I'm flying out tonight, Harry. Why don't you take my car?

That's not a good idea.

Well, that's a good idea.

That's not a good idea.

I can take you to the airport.

No, no, she doesn't want to go.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Excuse me.

Harry, don't forget to feed Grover.

Don't forget to feed Grover.

If that dog didn't kill him, my car probably would.

But I didn't really want to take the bus all the way to Ojai,

so I decided to risk it.

Clans would have applauded my optimism.

I have two other children, you know.

That's my baby you saw out there riding.

And we have a son in the Marine Corps.

You know, if I were to ask either of them straight out,

did you do it?

They'd give me a straight answer.

But Lester is a strange one.

Oh, not that I, you know, think that he's capable of committing a sex murder.

But I can't ask him.

Where is he?

Oh, he's with his mother.

I'll go get him.

You can wait here in his lab.

His crime lab.

Oh, there you are.

What do you think?

I mean, it's only pots and pans to a real criminologist, but...

Well, I guess it's a start, huh?

Well, I wish you'd never started it, Lester.

Mother always wanted me to follow in the footsteps.

But I guess nobody in the family made my kind of footsteps.

Oh, you would have made plastic casts of them.

That's very clever.

Is it?

What?

It's an inside joke, Mother.

Well, I think it's very tasteless of you to be making jokes

when that girl is lying dead in Los Angeles.

Well, it wasn't my joke, Mother.

You know, I apologize for being callous.

Well, you're a detective, Mr. Orwell.

You could hardly help becoming so.

But this is only the second murder for Lester.

Second?

The Jennings girl.

I told you about it.

It's the one that got me interested in criminology.

They dragged her into an empty house, attacked her, and murdered her.

This was the unsolved case?

The incompetent police?

They questioned nearly every young man in town.

And some older men who ought to have known better.

Jennings.

Claudia Jennings.

Claudia Jennings.

Well, I guess we ought to be starting back.

Oh, no, you have to stay and have something to eat.

We can eat on the way.

Oh, no, Mr. Orwell is our guest.

I insist.

Then I have to go into town.

But I'll have it ready for you when you get back.

I'll get it.

Bastard.

One thing I gotta know, Mr. Orwell.

What's your interest in this Jennings case?

Curiosity. Burning curiosity.

It's not good enough.

You sure you won't have some chicken?

Ah, no, thanks.

Is your son a fry?

Yeah, I can tell that.

Search yourself.

At least I can get the information out of old newspapers.

Public libraries right across the square.

I don't want to waste that much time.

I thought you might save me that time.

I figure my time is just as important as your time.

Look, I used to be a cop.

I had a lot of unsolved cases.

Oh, I can see you're trying to worm your way into my confidence.

Here, try some potato salad.

No, I'm on a diet.

Listen, I'll relate the case to you.

And when I get away from the facts, you just stop me, all right?

I quit.

A young girl.

She was kidnapped, taken to an abandoned house.

Clothes were torn off.

She was strangled with her own brassiere.

The body was covered up.

Next to the body was a flashbulb.

Nobody, I mean nobody knew.

We were very careful to hold back all reference to that flashbulb.

Yeah, why?

Why?

Somebody rapes and murders a young woman and then takes pictures of it?

Maybe that don't seem too unusual where you come from, but this is a small town.

So the flashbulb was the key.

Sharp, too, you city folks.

Crackpots come in to confess, we'd spot them as phonies right off.

They didn't know about that flashbulb.

But you knew, Mr. Orwell.

And that gives me a burning curiosity.

Yeah, well, I wasn't describing the Jennings case.

You mean there's another one?

Yeah, just the same right there in the old big city.

But they match.

The M.O.s are identical.

You know what that means?

That means there's a connection.

That's sharp.

That means there's a psycho killer on the loose.

Lieutenant Trench.

I am surrendering my client, Buster Hodges, as previously agreed to.

What are you doing?

What's he doing?

Trying some ethics.

We agreed no later than six o'clock.

Now, don't be technical.

He had to come all the way from Ojai.

Now, that may have been a mistake.

Two.

Three.

I beg your pardon?

The Ojai police may have a prior claim on your client.

Didn't Orwell tell you?

Orwell?

Yeah, I was up there. They had a similar case last year.

You talked to the Ojai police?

Oh, yeah. Captain Svensson.

Why?

No! Strike that question.

Listen, they don't want Lester.

Lieutenant, I would like a few minutes to confer with Mr. Orwell in private.

Out!

Thank you very much.

Lester, stay here.

Harry.

Out!

Harry.

Harry, have I done something to you?

Have I been unkind, or have I done something to offend you?

No.

Now, if I have, I want you to tell me.

Because, I mean, just strike back, Harry.

Hit me. I can take it.

But that boy back there, he's a fragile spirit.

And he needs to be protected.

Yeah, maybe from himself.

No, I'll tell you what you did, Harry.

You found a dead body in an empty house.

And then you established that she was taken there in our client's car.

You see that, don't you, Harry?

Yeah, I see.

Now, what's happened in Ojai?

Well, I found this previous murder with the identical M.O.

So you rushed immediately to the police with more damaging evidence.

Wait a minute. I don't make up evidence. I find it.

If it's good, it's good. If it's bad, it's bad. That's all I can do.

Harry, don't find any more.

Don't help the police to build a case against our client.

It's not your thing, Harry.

But our client just might be guilty of those sex murders.

Harry, there's just no way of getting that cop out of you somehow.

Harry, our only concern is to provide the best possible counseling...

for Lester Hodges that money can buy.

Well, his father's rich, you know.

Harry, you're my troublemaker.

All right.

If we kept having you help Lester this way, why...

he'd spend the rest of his life in prison. So don't help.

Well, you're trying to tell me something.

Go away. Send in your bill. You'll get a check by return mail.

Mr. Orwell.

Where are you going?

He fired me.

Well, that's okay. I'll hire you.

Mr. Orwell.

Orwell.

If you're worried about getting paid, don't be.

Because I have money of my own. Enough, anyway.

Yeah, no. You're kidding me.

No, I really want you to stay on the case.

What is this, a game? A match you're playing? A contest?

I have the highest respect for your ability as a private investigator.

Now, don't do that, Lester.

What?

You smile in the wrong places.

Well, don't you see? I could learn so much from just observing the witnesses.

Now, I don't know whether you're insane or innocent.

It doesn't seem to matter. You might be both.

Hodges, don't make a move.

Well, what is it?

What's the matter?

Get your cuffs on.

What for?

Attempted escape.

You mean you just walked out?

Come on, let's go. Let's get him inside.

Lester, you...

Come on.

Lester, I'll take the case.

Thank you.

My car had just barely made it to the garage.

I told Vance I expected him to have it running again by morning.

He didn't applaud my optimism.

And now that Lester had hired me, I had to

think of him as innocent until proven guilty.

But if Lester wasn't a sex murderer, then someone else was.

Somebody common to both places.

Ojai and the campus.

Who's there?

Carrying on well?

Lester isn't here.

You Judy?

Yes.

Well, you're the one I'm looking for.

How did you know I'd be here?

Well, I didn't. I was going to ask Randy what your address is.

Oh, well, Randy's out.

Can I come in?

Sure.

What's that for?

You just can't be too careful.

Lester's in jail.

But Lester didn't kill the girl.

Yeah, which girl? Lynn Northrup or Claudia Jennings?

How did you know about Claudia?

That's what I went up to Ojai.

Well, that still doesn't prove anything.

I mean, any number of people could have killed Claudia.

Unfortunately, the same person killed both girls.

Doesn't mean that Lester killed her.

At least a half a dozen kids here from Ojai.

I was hoping you might give me a list of their names.

Well, there's me and Kim Eshmod and Amanda.

Yeah, just the boys.

Lester.

Randy.

Randy White.

Pierce Albright.

Is he a roommate too?

No, he lives on the other side of the campus.

I think I have his telephone number.

Why don't you call him and get his address?

Should I tell him that you're going to come over?

Wouldn't hurt.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

I wish I could reach the far side of the campus.

But that would be longer and lonelier and very dark.

Or I could go through the tunnel in less than 10 seconds if I ran all the way.

If I had the guts to try it.

If I made it at all.

Hi.

Lester, damn it, don't do that.

Put on tap shoes or something, will you?

I could have shot you.

Do you carry a gun, Mr. Orwell?

No.

I still must have a lot to learn because I just

don't understand the logic of what you're saying.

What are you doing here?

Well, Valentine got bailed, sir.

Must have been high.

Well, the old man put it up, so here I am.

What are you doing here?

Well, I just missed you at the dorm.

Judy said you were on your way over to question Pierce Albright.

And I think that is very clever.

That makes me happy, Lester.

I mean, definitely on the right track.

The way I see it, it's got to be either Pierce or Randy Waite.

Or you.

Or me.

Don't do that.

Lester, you're doing it.

You're doing it again, Lester.

Don't do it.

Don't do it, Lester.

You don't mind answering a few questions, do you?

You're not a cop, are you, sir?

No, I'm not a cop.

Then I don't have to talk to you at all.

What's the matter, Pierce?

What are you afraid of?

Lester.

Okay.

A girl you knew was murdered.

Don't you want to help?

I never even heard of Lynn Northrup before.

I'm not talking about Lynn Northrup.

I'm talking about Claudia Jennings.

How did... I don't see any connection.

But there is a connection.

Both girls were murdered by the same man.

Oh, yeah.

I'm beginning to understand.

He's somebody from Ojai.

Yeah, that's right.

Were you questioned by the police?

Everybody was.

Lester, Randy Wade, everybody who'd ever dated her.

You never took her out.

So I wasn't a suspect.

You tried, but she wouldn't go out with you.

How do you know?

Claudia told me.

When? On a date?

I don't know what it is about you, Pierce.

Girls just don't want to go out with you.

Well, they go out with you, but they don't come back.

Lester, would you let me handle it?

Sure.

All right.

Ask him why he got his hair cut.

His hair?

And when.

What do you mean, when?

Why?

Claudia yanked out some of her murderer's hair.

It was long and light, like Pierce's used to be.

How do you know that?

I read it in the newspaper.

I never saw it.

You're making things worse.

I'm sure it was in the paper.

I mean, it's easy enough to check.

I've got all the clippings in my file.

We'll take a look at it.

No, we'll do it right now.

Thank you for your help.

Thank Lester.

She'll be in here someplace.

I interviewed most of the investigating officers, including Captain Spence.

It's possible one of them mentioned the hair.

It wasn't in the papers.

Well, I haven't had a chance to really go through it yet.

Well, these are private files.

I've never really liked anybody prying into my personal affairs.

Two people have been murdered.

This is no longer a personal affair.

All right.

Take it.

Oh, well.

All right.

That's fine.

I've got something to say to you, too.

Where's Hodges?

Knock on the door.

Go away.

Get him out of there.

Hodges, police.

I just got a more complete report from Ojai.

It seems they found a bit of evidence you forgot to mention.

Oh, yeah.

The flash bomb.

That's right.

Now, I found another one in the Larrabee mansion.

What do you think it means?

Well, by itself, not too much.

But put them together, you've got someone

who does things to girls and photographs it.

And the pictures might be right here.

Well, who'd be foolish enough to leave incriminating evidence around?

Well, you never know.

I've got a search warrant.

Break it down.

What?

Break it down!

Robert, put out an APB on him.

You know where he might go?

Oh, well, I suggest you tell me before he kills another girl.

Beep, beep.

Beep, beep.

Come in.

Have you heard from him?

No.

He's taken to you, Orwell, God knows why.

I, uh, I was certain he'd, uh, contact you.

No.

Well, you know, Lester, but you don't know what he's going to do.

Now, I don't want some nervous cop gunning him down.

Well, the answer's still no.

I mean, there's still a lot I can do for him if I can get him to surrender.

I thought that was Suzy's dog.

Suzy and me have an arrangement.

Dog hates you, Orwell.

Hello.

Hey, Lester, where are you?

Let me talk to him.

I went to a movie to think, you know, and all of a sudden it came to me.

What came to you?

No semen.

What are you talking about?

Let me talk to him.

Claudia Jennings.

They said she was raped, but Captain Spence told me they didn't find any semen.

Give me that phone, Orwell.

You're not alone, are you?

Lester.

I'd better call you back later.

When I picked my car up at the garage first thing in the morning,

Clance told me he'd make it well again.

He said with any luck, it would last as long as I did.

I wasn't sure whether to applaud his optimism or not.

Hi.

That's pretty good.

I know.

Lester has an all points bulletin out on it.

The police already questioned me.

Did you tell them where he is?

How could I do that?

I don't know where he is.

He phoned me, but he hung up before he told me where he is,

so I thought maybe he might have phoned you and told you.

No.

You're wrong.

The last time he got into trouble, you called his father.

You panicked.

He's in bigger trouble now.

I know.

Well, you're very composed.

I don't believe that Lester's guilty.

I don't either, but the law is going to have to decide that.

So now you've turned against him too, huh?

I just want him to get the best deal he can.

I think if he gets arrested, he'll be lucky.

Lucky?

Yeah, this way he might get killed.

You're trying to frighten me, aren't you?

No, I'm a little frightened myself.

That's why I want to know where he is.

He's in the Larrabee mansion.

We didn't think that the police would think to look there.

And from the tower, you can see if anybody's coming.

Let's go.

Let's talk, Judy.

How did you know I was here?

I thought you might be.

I don't believe you.

There's a lot of little things that put them together.

Tell me.

When Lester looked at his files and saw those pictures,

he had a funny look on his face.

I thought, well, he'd seen them before, but then I thought, no, no.

Somebody put them there.

I didn't think anybody would find them.

Not even Lester.

I do all of his files.

Well, that started me thinking.

What about Randy and Pierce?

Yeah, that threw me off for a while because they're

boys and you're a girl, but you're a strong girl.

You work with that clay, make those pots, strong hands.

And then the hair, but that, that didn't bother me

because boys today have long hair just like girls.

It was a sex murder.

No, the girl was raped.

Claudia Jennings didn't need to be raped.

She went after every man in town.

I, I told her to stay away from Lester.

But she wouldn't listen to me.

I couldn't tell her I...

You what?

Lester and I were married.

You and Lester?

It's a secret.

Nobody knows, not even his parents.

When were you married?

Three years ago.

In a summer house.

No one was around.

And you have been faithful ever since.

Let's talk about Lynn.

Lynn. I warned her to stay away from Lester.

Something bad would happen to her.

But, but she didn't listen to me.

She was going to tell Lester.

I was there when she called him.

But why did you have to kill her?

Why didn't you talk to her? Why didn't you talk to Lester?

Talk to Lester? Talk to Lester?

You know how he is. Anybody can use him.

I mean, everybody uses his car.

Well, you used it at least once.

I had to do something with her body.

Nobody should have found it for weeks.

No one comes here except me.

I don't want to be alone.

You're sort of a prude, aren't you, Judy?

What?

You killed two girls. You ripped their clothes off.

You made it look like a psycho.

And then you covered them up.

It looked indecent.

That's how murdered people look, Judy.

Well, you can't kill them all.

There'll be others.

No, there won't be others.

That's right, because you fixed him.

Yes, I fixed him.

You fixed him by framing Lester.

By what?

By framing Lester. It was his car that ran over Lynn Northrup.

The pictures were in his files.

You really fixed him, didn't you?

Terrible, horrible thing to say. No, I didn't.

You can't have him. Nobody can have him.

He's my husband.

That's a fantasy land.

A loss of virginity is not a marriage.

I don't hear you. I don't want to hear you.

All right, hold it right there.

Robert.

Judy, I've got it.

Here, you take this.

I'm awful sorry, Judy.

There's no reason to be.

We can talk about our secret.

Get her out of here.

What secret?

Get her out of here.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Orwell?

Is that you?

Is that you?

That's me.

It's locked.

Obviously.

How'd you get in?

Almost got yourself killed, didn't you?

Well, it was close, but how'd you get here?

Houses.

I talked to Judy last night, and she told me to come here and hide.

She said you were the only danger, but she was going to take care of it.

Well, I didn't know what she was talking about.

So I just kind of wandered around all night.

But it began to gel.

The pictures in my files, the long hair, no semen.

And this morning you wandered into the station and told us the whole story.

Yeah, Judy killed both girls.

She almost killed you, too.

What I want to know is, Orwell,

how could an ex-cop be dumb enough to get himself into a situation like this?

I had a plan.

You see, I knew it was a set-up.

So I figured if I told her I was coming here, she'd follow me.

And then when she thought I was in her power,

then she'd be secure enough to tell me what happened.

Well, that part's brilliant.

What were you going to do then? Gnaw your way out?

No.

No, I was just going to open the door.

I have a key.

You had a key all the time?

Unhappily, Hodges, that is criminology.

Drink this, Harry.

What is it?

Never mind, it'll settle your stomach.

I don't like the way it smells.

Drink it.

It must have been a terrifying experience.

Well, yes.

I didn't realize it was a circular room when I went in.

No corners to hide in.

Oh, it gives me the shivers.

You know, I've never been in a room like this before.

Dog barks.

Why is he doing that?

I gave him four extra cans of dog food, I gave him the leftovers.

Why does he do that?

Somebody's coming.

Hello?

Hi, Mr. Orwell.

Orwell.

That's a big dog.

What are you doing here?

Well, we got everything all wrapped up down at headquarters.

Looks like they're going to have to put

poor Judy away where she can't hurt anybody.

They released me.

Why are you dressed like that, and what are you doing here?

Well, I just wanted to show my appreciation, Mr. Orwell.

I think I found a way.

The car's not very dependable, is it?

Yeah, well, Clarence would not...

Clarence would not applaud...

Would you get him out of here?

Well, there you are.

But I am very dependable, and we could use my car, and I could be your chauffeur.

We? What's a we?

Well, every case you go on, I could be right there beside you.

No, no.

And that way, you'd always be sure of having

a ride, and I could get field experience.

I think it's a fine idea, don't you?

I think it's a bad idea. I gotta get some fresh air.

Good, I think I'll join you.

No, no, why don't you?

A little walk down the beach will do us both good.

That's all I need, an assistant with two left feet who smiles in the wrong place.

Well, we could be just like Watson and Holmes.

Or Spade and Archer.

Or Batman and Robin.

Can't you just see it, though?

Hodges and Orwell.

Orwell and Hodges...

I think it would be terrific.

You know, we could go on cases together.

Solving crimes.

Holmes and Watson, Spade and Archer, Batman and Robin, Orwell and Hodges...

He left out Cato and the Green Hornet.

Somehow, I would have to convince Lester it wasn't such a fine idea.

But not today, because he meant well.

People like Lester always mean well.

Trouble was, I liked him.

Even with his weird smiles and all the other strange things, I liked him.

That's the kind you have to watch out for, you know.

THE END