Original subtitles

Hey, wielenski!

Wielenski!

What's the matter, chavez?

What's your fuss this time?

Nothing! Look!

Maybe we better call A priest!

Priest? For this, you call a cop!

How you doing, Lieutenant?

I cancelled A dental appointment for this.

All right, already. I'm here. What have you got?

Well, I'm not sure, Lieutenant.

On the face of it, looks like A typical syndicate scratch.

Hardly worth the paperwork.

A man Had a pair of these,

He could start A mariachi band, right?

They dug this Out of the foundation?

Standard class a Concrete embalming job.

Anything else?

Just bones, Clothing's in shreds.

Okay, curly, You said on the face of it,

It had The earmarks of a mob hit,

But only you obviously Have reason

To suspect otherwise. Give.

Well, clean entry, No exit,

The size of the aperture Indicates a small bore weapon,

Possibly a .22.

So?

So it's safe to assume

That the shot wasn't fired Point-blank,

And a .22 is Not your typical kill gun.

Execution? Looks More like dumb luck to me.

Any idea When this building went up?

Yeah, 1957 according To the foreman here.

So we got ourselves An 18-year-old d.O.A.

Let's see if We can't narrow it down.

Find out the exact date on which The foundations were poured.

Working from that, Start wading

Through The missing persons report,

Crime files, Newspaper morgues, et cetera.

18 years, lieutenant?

Do you know What you're asking?

You know, archaeologists Are still trying to solve

The mystery of the pyramids.

You don't hear them yelling, Do you, detective?

What the hell's The big mystery

About the pyramids?

They don't have johns.

Yes, beth.

There's a call on Your private line, mr. Mccallum.

The lady refuses To give her name. Should I...

No, that's all right, I'll take it.

Hello?

Keith?

Oh, monica. How nice to hear From you again.

Have you seen the papers?

Yes, of course.

And you're not concerned?

No, not in the least.

Keith!

Now, monica, Listen to me.

I have to go up to albany For a few days.

It's on business.

Now, I want you to get Out of the apartment.

Um, dedicate a tree, Go to an auction,

Have your poodle clipped,

But keep Your hours occupied.

I'll see you When I come back, all right?

Top of the mornin' to you, Me boy-ohs!

And what's the good word?

Gomez? You're on.

Uh, I'm getting, um...

Stay, stay.

Yeah, m.E. Reports

Although the teeth reveal Several gold fillings,

It'll be next to impossible To establish

The identity Through existing dental records.

You know, that concrete was Poured may 8, 1957, captain?

The trail that leads To judge crater,

It ain't a hell Of a lot colder than this one.

There is, however, A small bridge,

And there's a slim chance We might be able

To nail down the manufacturer

And, through him, get a line On the dentist who ordered it.

Dentist?

According To the autopsy findings,

The victim was 5'11",

Weighed in the neighborhood Or 175 pounds,

And was somewhere between 30, 35 years of age when snuffed.

Rizzo?

I want you to phone Doc eggenweiler.

See if he can squeeze me In this afternoon, okay?

'cause I got a tooth That's killing me. It's here.

Bicuspid.

Yeah? What race is he in? Go ahead.

There's two additional pieces Of information.

Our d.O.A.'s left leg's Been broken

And is now held together By bone grafts

And two steel pins.

M.E. States orthopedic Surgery transpired

Within three years Of decedent's demise.

Among the foreign matter Forensics recovered at the scene

Was a set of bone buttons,

Which, unlike the fabric They were attached to,

Remain intact.

We're looking into it. 10-4.

Any labels from the clothes?

No, nothing.

All I said was, "What's the good word?"

For this, I get washington's Farewell to the troops.

You know, somewhere

In this meshuguna metropolis Of ours, gomez,

There's a bed With your name on it.

Seek and ye shall find.

You think we're working The kid too hard?

It's obvious You haven't met

This little Red-headed number

That he's been running Around with lately.

Lieutenant, don't you want to Hear what ballistics had to say?

Uh...

It was a .22, Possibly a target pistol,

But its slants and its grooves Fail to match up

With anything on our files.

How does he do that. Captain?

Don't ask me. I just come here for the coffee.

Bonjour, madame.

Bonjour, rochet.

A thousand pardons.

Monsieur mccallum Just telephoned.

He implores your forgiveness,

But he has been Unavoidably detained.

Detained? For how long?

I don't know.

We traced the bridgework To a firm in yonkers,

Went out of business In 1960.

A list of all Their customers was obtained

And the dentists Were contacted.

And who ordered The smoked sturgeon?

I did.

The bone buttons

Turns out To be a specialty item,

And the entire consignment was Bought by a korngold and sons,

A local manufacturer Of quality men's suits,

And they carried The line in three stores.

An egg salad on a kaiser roll, Hold the lettuce?

Here you go, tracy?

We managed to come up With a fairly comprehensive list

Of all the regular customers During the crucial time period.

Ham and chicken liver?

Simultaneously, And with the cooperation

Of the local medical society,

All the available orthopedic Surgeons were canvassed

And pertinent information Elicited wherever possible.

Pastrami on rye, Russian dressing?

Huh? It's your party.

You never had it So good, huh?

Here.

So? So?

So, then we checked Our information

Against those men Who were reported missing

During calendar year 1957,

Who generally matched

The victim's physical Description.

Well, don't stop there. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!

I'm giving you bubkes! We came up dry, nothing.

Get me the m.E.

Right, lieutenant.

Yeah, let Me talk to moskowitz.

This is saperstein.

Since when did we start A catering service

For homicide suspects?

Captain, who do you think

Picked up the tab For all of this?

Oh. So he killed his wife.

Well, nobody's perfect, Right?

Lieutenant? The m.E.'s on the line.

- moskowitz. - yeah?

Yeah, based on the buttons,

Let's assume For the sake of argument

That the doa Wasn't a blue-collar worker,

Which means that, Uh, it isn't too likely

He busted that leg In the performance of his job.

How else? Auto accident?

No, no, That's the only break.

There's not another fracture, Not even hairline.

Hey. Hey, what about sports?

A professional athlete Does a vanishing act,

Are you kidding? It's gotta get some press.

Well, amateur sports then. Skiing, for example.

Now, this is exactly the kind Of break that's typical of a...

All right, put together A list of ski resorts--

Upstate new york, maine, Vermont,

New hampshire, like that.

Start contacting doctors In their general vicinities.

Well, what happens If we still come up with zilch?

Then, fatso, like the Ever-popular lewis and clark,

You start working Your way gradually westward.

Yeah, only lewis and clark Had an indian scout.

So did general custer.

Theo, you've been On this nearly a week.

Will you pack it in already?

Bacon and tomato On white bread, right?

Easy on the mayo, Is that the way you like it?

18 years after the fact, It still can't be done.

And tomatoes give you hives, Didn't you tell me that?

With combined resources Of the fbi,

Army intelligence, interpol And les suretes francais,

It still can't be done.

Here, have a cupcake.

Maybe for some reason The deceased

Was never reported missing, And thanks for listening.

All right, saperstein, 86 the missing man.

All I'm looking for now is A common denominator,

Any common denominator.

If a name, just one name,

Surfaces in more than One category, all right?

Eh!

Monica, remind me To lecture you

On the salutary properties Of the shirley temple.

Bartender, put Mrs. Gibney's tab on my bill.

Can you walk?

A lot you care.

By all means, monica, Let's have a scene,

But not here. In the dining room

Where we have a better class Of audience.

All right, What was that name again?

Spell it, saperstein.

B-r-a-d e-n.

All right, thank you.

Demosthenes?

Yes, sir?

Dear chap, atlas, Your pal hercules

Is about to lift the world From your sagging shoulders.

Do you see this name? Gary braden.

Now I want you to wing it On its way

To all those ski resorts We talked about.

That's what you want, huh?

That's what I want,

Because, you see, this here name Was just laid on me

By the indefatigable saperstein. You know him.

Not only was the gentleman A customer

Of one Of the clothing stores

Handling the suits with The distinctive bone buttons,

He was also a patient of one Of the dentists on the lists.

So get cracking, ace.

Let's see if we can't make it Three out of three.

Move!

Where's gomez?

You sent him home, Lieutenant, remember?

That was yesterday.

I told him To get some shut-eye,

Not knock off For the winter.

You call his pad, shorty.

Tell him to get it over here,

Or I'm sending a vice squad After his girlfriend

With orders to book her As a public health hazard.

I love that suit.

Brooks? Givenchy?

Saint laurent?

You always did have Marvelous taste.

And isn't it super that you have The wherewithal to indulge it?

Keith!

Smile, monica.

Keith, If you don't talk to me,

I think I'm gonna scream.

I believe you would.

Gary...The late, Unlamented mr. Braden.

Bones, monica.

A bag full Of disinterred bones.

You swore to me that They would never find him, ever.

Urban renewal, monica.

There was a time when a building Could last a half a century

Before anybody tore it down.

Now the foundation hardly Has a chance to settle.

That's progress. And I shouldn't complain.

It's made me a millionaire.

A lot of good It's going to do you.

All right, they've Uncovered the remains,

But the remains Of what, monica?

Use your head, my love.

After all this time, how can They possibly trace it to us?

They could trace a snowflake In a blizzard first.

Ah, the artichoke.

You're gonna love it, boss!

Yeah, well, I'll have To love it on the run,

Because of I don't get Outta here tout de suite,

I'll blow another--

What can I tell you.

I'll blow Another dental appointment.

No! The name you gave me, Gary braden,

It took three days, But lake placid

Finally clinched it for us.

The subject had A skiing accident

In the winter of '55 And broke his left leg!

Stavros, what can I tell you? You're...

You want it with Or without the novocain?

Oh, I got a feeling I--

Excuse me, lieutenant, Captain.

I got a feeling I don't want it at all.

I got this bell in my head, Won't stop ringing.

"Braden," I said, "Now, where Have I heard that name before?"

So I call my good friend Charlie weinstein

On the metropolitan desk Over at the times.

Now, he doesn't even have To check the files.

That's the kind Of a memory charlie has.

Gary braden, Fugitive embezzler,

Died may 12, 1957, in the crash Of an airliner bound for rio.

May 12th?

But, lieutenant, that concrete Was poured on may the 8th.

Huh. I got a hunch

I just blew Another solid gold filling.

I'm sure you're mistaken, Lieutenant.

I mean, Do you have positive proof

That the skeletal remains belong To gary braden?

Well, positive, no, But I'm a skeptic

If there are Too many coincidences.

You know, Braden's disappearance?

I read the newspaper account. What's your version?

Well, as you know,

I was the president of The empire state mutual funds,

And gary Was the comptroller.

The first inkling we had That something was amiss

Was when the airliner Went down at sea

And gary's name appeared Upon the passenger list.

Of course, there being no reason Why he should not notify us

When he left the country,

We ordered an immediate audit,

And discovered Nearly $3 million missing.

Now, of course, The company went bankrupt

And many small investors Lost their life savings.

It was a very tragic calamity, Lieutenant.

Uh, would You like a highball?

Can I offer you Some refreshment?

No, thank you.

Would you happen To recall off-hand

Whether braden reported For work after may 8th?

Well, I don't remember An exact date,

But he did call one day, And he said he had the flu,

And he'd be missing A day or two.

You spoke To him personally?

No, he called My secretary.

Oh, then I'd like To interview that lady.

Well, that's A trifle impossible.

She's been dead Six or seven years.

Well, anyhow, lieutenant,

I'm sure you're mistaken About braden.

Why would anyone want to kill Him and then hide the corpse?

I can come up With something.

Just suppose braden Wasn't an embezzler.

Suppose he Discovered the shortage,

Suppose he confronted The perpetrator or perpetrators

And had been wasted For his trouble,

The books then doctored To frame him,

And the, quote, "Guilty flight" To brazil, set up?

Really, lieutenant.

I like a good whodunit As much as the next man,

But why would Your hypothetical killer

Go to such Complicated lengths?

To end the search for braden And for the missing bread.

It's not bad. Embezzler flees to rio,

A city already up To its armpits in fugitives,

Happily exploring the fact That brazil

Has no extradition treaty With the u. S. Of a.

Well, say that your conjecture Had some basis in reality.

The man who was supposed To impersonate braden

Perished at sea.

Convenient, isn't it?

Lieutenant, I hate to blow A gaping hole in your scenario,

But before boarding The plane,

The man would have had To present gary's passport.

Now, four days elapsed between The burial of the corpse

And the departure Of the brazilian flight.

Now, tell me this, Lieutenant.

How could someone come up With a passable double

On such short notice?

Hmm. You know something?

That's a very, very Good question, mr. Mccallum.

And it's, uh... It's questions like that

That keep us awake nights In the cop business.

The collapse of empire state Mutual funds,

It didn't hurt you Too bad, did it?

Well, lieutenant, Ever since infancy,

I've always had The uncanny ability

To always land on my feet.

Hmm.

What can I tell you? Ciao, baby.

Hello?

Monica, it's keith.

Yes.

Not to worry, but there's A distinct possibility

You're liable To get a visit

From an inquisitive detective, A lieutenant kojak.

They think it's gary, Don't they?

They think it might be, But there's no hard proof.

Then, uh, You're not sweating it?

I? Not in the least.

- beth? - yes?

Contact guy burgess With the trojan security.

Tell him I'd like to see him, This afternoon, if possible.

Right away, sir.

How's it going, harry?

Fine. Can I help you?

A pretzel? Yes, sir.

Thank you, sir.

I want a pretzel, Not a weapon.

Take another one. I'm sorry about that.

Gomez?

- yeah, lieutenant? - yeah, try to stay awake.

This is important. Where's my change, harry?

Oh, yeah, lieutenant, I almost forgot.

Uh-huh, sure.

I want you to draw up a list Of those male caucasians

Fitting Or closely resembling

Gary braden's General description

Who were reported missing on

Or immediately subsequent To may 12, 1957.

Yeah, I don't get it, Lieutenant.

What are we looking for?

We're looking for a ringer, Gomez. A dead ringer.

Burgess, I want you to locate A man for me, an anton machek.

Mmm.

Machek, karl...

Reported missing june 25th,

Nearly six weeks After the airline crash.

Yeah, Not too promising, huh?

It says here a wilmer dietz Filed the report.

What's a wilmer dietz?

Machek's landlord. We're trying to locate him now.

All right, do that.

And I'd also like A photo of karl machek.

He was a tv repairman. Maybe there's an angle there.

- angle? What kind of angle? - how should I know?

Go on, get out of here. This case is giving me a rash.

How's the tooth, lieutenant?

Lousy. Oh, and, Uh, how's the broad?

Hey, all right. She's not too crazy

About the work schedule, Though.

Why don't you ship her To the catskills.

She'd make a terrific Boys' camp counselor.

Oh, that's funny, Lieutenant. Funny.

How you doing, captain?

Theo, surprise, surprise.

I'm catching a lot of flak From upstairs

Over the amount of time, Money, manpower

That you're pouring Into this case.

The phone bill alone...

Frank, if my scenario's On target,

There's a better Than even chance

That plane crash Was no accident.

You know What you're saying?

I'm saying whoever perpetuated The initial homicide

May be responsible for over 80 additional deaths as well.

There's logic to it, frank.

The disappearance Of that airliner

Disposed of both the alleged Embezzler and the missing loot.

Now, even if the odds Were a thousand to one,

Would the commissioner Really wish me

To drop the investigation?

No, but I think we're going To have to bring in

The federal aviation boys Into the picture.

Understand, it's still Just a bundle of hunches,

But pushed to the wall, I have to admit

We don't have a positive I.D. On the skeleton.

Circumstantial evidence, sure,

But nothing we could go To the grand jury with.

Braden's dentist? Deceased.

Son took Over the practice,

Examines the fillings,

Claims it looks Like papa's work,

But it's not something he could Swear to on the witness stand.

What about The orthopedic surgeon

Up at lake placid, I thought...

Retired from practice Six years ago.

Threw away all his x-rays

When he moved from his offices, Huh? Beautiful.

But you'd shown him The photos of the bone graft,

The steel pins.

And he thinks He did the job.

Thinks, frank.

After nearly 20 years,

Listening to a man Well into his 70s,

Would a jury be persuaded? Huh? Would you?

Uh, boss? We found braden's widow.

Damn.

What's the matter? What did I do now?

Oh, no. Not you, dummy.

This cockamamie pizza? Just yanked my tooth.

Gibney?

Uh, that's your maiden name?

Yes, I, uh, reverted back To it because of the scandal.

I see. You've, uh, Never remarried then?

No. No, my husband's Life insurance

Left me well provided for, Lieutenant.

Ah. Had you any forewarning,

Any inkling of what Mr. Braden was involved in?

Gary and I were separated At the time.

Under the circumstances,

I hardly think He would have confided in me.

And when was the last time You saw him?

Uh, about a month before The disappearance, I think.

I'm not sure about that.

Did you hear from him at all During that period?

No, only by mail.

My allowance checks Would come once a week.

They always arrived On a monday.

On monday, hmm? I see.

Did you receive a check On monday, may 11th,

The day before the crash?

No. I remember distinctly

Because I was so annoyed At the time.

I contemplated calling gary.

But then I decided To wait a day,

Allowing for some mix-up At the post office.

Sure enough, on tuesday morning, The check arrived.

I noted the postmark. It was, uh, sunday afternoon.

You have a phenomenal memory, Mrs. Braden.

Not really, lieutenant.

It's simply there are Some things one never forgets.

And now if, uh...If you've No further questions,

I'm sure you Can appreciate

That this subject hardly revives Nostalgic memories.

I don't know.

You don't seem To have suffered too much.

My husband had no relatives, Lieutenant.

I was his sole beneficiary.

You won't find me Pretending to grieve.

I believe the lord helps Those who help themselves.

Oh, he do indeed.

Uh, but had your husband Merely vanished,

Which would have been the case If those bones were his,

You'd have to wait Seven years

For him to be declared Legally dead.

Seven years, yes,

And not only would you Not have collected

On the double indemnity clause,

It's possible The insurance company

Might have refused To pay anything at all.

Except for gary braden's name On that passenger list,

You could be standing Behind a ribbon counter

At the, uh... At the dime store.

Not a dime store, lieutenant.

Please give me A little more credit than that.

Oh, I do.

- yeah? - saperstein?

I want you to determine If either monica gibney braden

Or her husband Ever filed for divorce.

Well, what's That supposed to buy us?

18 years ago, Divorce laws in this state

Were a lot tougher Than they are now.

There were Only three primary grounds--

Insanity, abandonment, And adultery.

And to prove the latter you Had to name a co-respondent.

You get my drift, Saperstein?

I got it now, boss.

Terrific.

Yes, ma'am. Can I help you?

Young man, I'm emily pembroke.

You see I wish to see

Detective second-grade Demosthenes stavros.

Is he expecting you?

Well, we spoke On the phone.

He offered to come To my apartment,

But I told him I'd rather come here.

You see, I've never been Inside a police station before,

And at my age, I doubt I'll get a second chance.

Oh, oh.

Are you a gumshoe?

Yes, ma'am.

Uh, good.

But it's About poor mr. Braden.

You see, I was his secretary.

Would you like To step right in here?

Thank you.

Right this way.

This way, yes.

Stavros, old buddy?

This is miss emily pembroke, Mr. Braden's private secretary.

Oh. Miss pembroke. Please, sit down.

That's ms. Pembroke. I've been liberated.

Now about mr. Braden...

Of course. You see, Personally I liked him,

Though he was by nature Rather thin-skinned.

Like everyone else, I was terribly shocked

By the embezzlement.

But he had been acting Somewhat peculiarly, you know,

And he left That last thursday

Immediately after receiving An outside phone call.

What about his marriage?

Oh, mr. Braden was A very private person.

They'd been separated Over a month

Before I learned of it,

And then only by accident.

You see, I was working late One night

Catching up On some overdue reports,

And I phoned the braden home To get some information.

That's when His wife notified me

That he No longer lived there.

Do you suppose I might Have a cup of coffee?

Rizzo!

What about other women?

If my boss was A secret swinger,

It was the neatest trick Since jekyll and hyde.

Yeah?

A cup o' joe for our guest.

Uh, how do you take it?

Black.

Okay.

What about when braden Phoned in sick, may the 8th,

Did you have occasion to speak To him after that?

I was specifically instructed

By mr. Mccallum Not to disturb him.

And anyway, it was friday,

And I took it for granted That the weekend

Would bring Mr. Braden around.

He never was one To coddle himself.

Thank you.

Mmm.

When monday came and I still didn't hear from him,

I began to worry.

Ignoring Mr. Mccallum's orders,

I was told the phone Was off the hook.

Ah.

Please, You won't say anything?

I wouldn't want To hurt his feelings.

Feelings? Whose feelings?

You see, I'm sure he tries, The sweet thing,

But truly, I've been drinking coffee

For nearly a half a century,

And this has got to be

Absolutely the vilest concoction I've ever tasted.

Well, it'll... It'll remain our little secret.

Oh, good. And now I'll let you In on another secret.

When I learned that the phone Was off the hook,

I slipped over to mr. Braden's On my lunch break,

And I persuaded the super To let me in with his passkey.

Mr. Stavros, The apartment was empty.

Finding anton machek Is a stickier number

Than we had figured, Mr. Mccallum.

I mean, this Dude, wherever he is,

He's got to be a born loser.

No roots, no ambition,

Drifts from one job To the next.

Now, look, hash slinger, Pearl diver,

Grease monkey, Warehouse jock, you name it.

It don't make No never mind to him.

Well, it does to me.

I don't want any excuses, Burgess.

I want him found.

No matter How much money it takes,

I want anton machek found.

Okay.

I've been in touch With both aero brasilia

And the federal aviation Investigators on the crash.

Here's what they come up with.

"While it was Never admitted publicly,

The possibility of a bomb Was strongly suspected,

But no trace of the wreckage Was ever found,"

So they hadn't a shred Of evidence to back it up.

A bomb, Constructed by anybody.

Well, to coin a phrase,

Where' there's a will, There's a way,

And 3 million balloons can Generate a lot of willpower.

Today with all those Sophisticated detection devices,

It couldn't be smuggled On board,

But 18 years ago...

Yeah, how the hell You gonna trace

Maybe a few sticks Of dynamite, wire,

A drugstore alarm clock After 18 years?

Yeah?

Yeah, gomez, hold it.

Yeah, gomez?

Yeah, I'm out in bensonhurst, Lieutenant.

Mount hebron home For the elderly.

I didn't think You were that old.

No, I'm not signing myself in. Nah.

Look, I just located A wilmer dietz,

Uh, the guy who filed That missing persons report

On karl machek?

Uh-huh. Hold tight.

Adios, amigo.

Lieutenant? Your hunch paid off.

On may 7, 1957, Mrs. Monica braden

Filed for divorce,

Naming rosemary hawkins As co-respondent.

So?

So that's it.

Why are you standing there?

Go find rosemary hawkins.

You got it.

Karl machek. Who could forget him?

Always behind on his rent, He was,

But go holler on such A good-hearted schmegegge.

He disappeared, You know?

Yeah, that's, Uh, why we're...

One day he came home, So happy, he was.

There was this big business Proposition he'd fallen into,

Guaranteed to make him Wealthy for life.

Wouldn't be you Smoke cigars, officer?

No, but I can offer you One of these.

No, don't, don't, don't, Don't offer.

It's not allowed.

But, uh, if you want To light one up,

Maybe could be I could sneak

A little drag From time to time?

Uh, what kind of business Proposition, mr. Dietz?

Did machek say?

No, he was Sworn to secrecy.

All I know is he had To leave town

For a couple of weeks,

And he asked bernice and me

Would we take care Of his little boy.

And since he insisted on Paying us $200 for our trouble,

How could I refuse?

That was the last we saw Of karl machek.

Ahh...

Nothing personal, But a corona corona that's not.

Well, what happened To the boy?

We carried him As long as we could.

We had three of our own, You know,

And times were hard then.

But when...

Six weeks went by

And we didn't get so much As a postal card,

We reported him as missing.

The juvenile authorities took Charge of little anton.

Little. Let's see, He'd be 24 now.

But where he is,

Even if he's alive or dead Is anyone's guess.

Can you recall anything At all, mr. Dietz?

I mean, anything before machek's Disappearance

That would be significant To us?

No, I'm sorry.

Except karl Was a very happy man.

Such happiness I never saw In all my life.

You might ask Little anton, though,

If you can find him. He saw the man.

What man?

That man who made

That sensational business Proposition to anton's daddy.

Anton came home Just as the man was leaving.

- gomez? - yeah?

A box of cigars For mr. Dietz.

Uh, no, thank you.

Say you do track down Machek's kid.

Now, you're pinning A lot of hopes

On the recollections Of something glimpsed briefly

By a six year-old boy.

No, it's Not just that, frank,

It's everything.

Everything we've turned up So far supports our theory.

Gary braden, karl machek.

Hey, without a scorecard,

Their own mama couldn't Tell them apart.

Granted. Granted, too, That machek was last seen

On the very day the brazilian Flight left laguardia.

That still doesn't explain How in a city this size

The perpetrator managed To come up with braden's twin

Just when he needed him?

All right, glom this.

Wonder boy Keith mccallum, on his duff

Following the collapse Of empire state mutual funds,

Makes a meteoric comeback In 1958

Thanks To the generous financing--

Are you ready?

A newly organized Delaware corporation,

Whose board of directors

Consists of four Unidentified john does,

And guess who's A major stockholder

In mccallum enterprises?

Braden's widow, Monica gibney.

It stinks, frank.

Come on, give me that much.

Okay, so It's all circumstantial,

But if the grand jury's waiting For a smoking gun,

Somebody had better clue them That they're 18 years too late.

Rosemary hawkins, The alleged co-respondent

Of the braden divorce Complaint?

Well, her name's Not rosemary hawkins anymore.

It's mrs. Vilapiano,

And saperstein Found her in queens.

Where?

He's bussing dishes At a midtown cafeteria.

He sacks out At a roach farm on the bowery.

It's all here in my report, Mr. Mccallum.

What time does he Get off work?

Mmm, 8:30, that's p.M.

All right, burgess, Thank you.

I'll take it from here.

Well, I was a hat check girl At a restaurant

Where gary used to lunch.

It wasn't anything serious.

I mean, He was unhappy and lonely,

And so was I.

I had just moved here From nebraska.

I was a divorcee with A small daughter to support,

And there had been An ugly custody battle.

That's why I moved east, To get away from my ex-husband.

Gary was gentle, understanding, And good to sandy.

Did you know he was married, Mrs. Vilapiano?

Yes, but I didn't ask Any questions,

And gary didn't volunteer Any answers.

Then one day, Out of the blue,

I was named as co-respondent In mrs. Braden's divorce action.

I called gary at the office.

He was just served himself.

We met at my apartment To discuss the situation.

Well, I was half Out of my mind.

A scandal like that Was all the grounds

My ex needed To take sandy from me.

And braden was pretty upset, I suppose?

He was furious.

I'd never seen him In such a state.

He swore that I'd never lose Sandy because of him.

He was Going to talk to monica

And force her To withdraw her action.

He went storming out,

After telling me Not to worry.

I never heard From him again.

Well, you must have tried To contact him?

I had no idea Where he lived,

Except that he'd moved Into a bachelor apartment

Somewhere on the east side, And his phone was unlisted.

I called the office The next day,

And they told me He was out sick.

What did you think when you Didn't hear from mr. Braden?

Well, what could I think?

Gary knew Where to reach me.

He could have made the effort If he cared enough.

So he didn't. He just grabbed The money and ran.

Anyway, I still made out.

Gary's death halted The divorce proceedings.

I kept sandy, and in time, I met mr. Vilapiano.

Mrs. Vilapiano, It may be that you've, uh,

Well, misjudged braden.

It's quite possible the reason You never heard from him

Is because he died That same night.

Well how's that possible?

Well, we believe that the man That boarded that plane

The following tuesday Might have been an imposter.

Yeah, it could have been.

You know, gary had a sort Of commonplace kind of face.

He was often mistaken For somebody else.

Once--it was a few weeks Before he disappeared--

Gary was helping me Hang new curtains

When he mentioned that He'd had the oddest experience

In his apartment building.

A handyman of some sort, Who was an exact double for him.

Could it Have been a tv repairman?

Yeah, come to think of it, That's exactly what he was.

Would you know if he told Anyone else about the incident?

Oh, he must have, A story like that?

Knowing gary, he'd have Blabbed it all over the office.

Mm-hmm.

This lady drags her kid in, Says he's got this gun,

It's the first She knows of it.

Claims he found it While playing

In the debris Of a construction site.

It's a .22 target pistol, Right?

Yeah, the kid's Apparently had it for days.

Mama found it while She was cleaning up his room.

I tagged the piece And sent it down to ballistics

For a comparison firing

To see if it's the same gun That wasted our john doe.

I doubt if They can fire it though,

Because the thing's all rotten And corroded and all.

Oh. Well, while you're At it, dimples,

Did you also tell them To see if it's possible

To determine who the gun was Originally registered to?

Lieutenant, who was the one Who put this investigation

On the right track In the first place?

This is my vintage year.

Oh. Coochie-coo.

All right, So what have we got here now?

We know now how the killer

Managed to come up with A double for braden, right?

I love these moves.

It's just like the movies, You know?

You play watson. I'll be sherlock holmes.

And we've recovered

What we'll presume to be The murder weapon.

Yeah, well.

You know something?

I really feel Like sherlock holmes.

You're close, theo, But still no cigar.

Now, obviously, watson,

Braden's widow will Have to be quizzed again.

He split rosemary's pad

To have a showdown With his missus,

And that was the night Of may 7th.

Next day, He's dipped in cement.

It's the hours Between the time

He said adieu To miss nebraska

And the pouring Of the concrete

That haven't been accounted For, right?

And I don't look for much In the way

Of constructive help, watson,

From monica gibney On that subject.

Oh, my dear watson,

If we could only find That machek kid.

Lieutenant? Stavros is on the phone.

He just located Anton machek.

I can't understand it.

He came in About 15 minutes ago,

Collected his key, And he went upstairs.

Didn't go out again, Not through the lobby,

Leastwise that I'll swear to

On a stack of gideons.

You don't suppose it was Some of them foreign agents,

Kidnapped him, huh?

Going to torture anton

For information About his old man, huh?

You want To run that by me again?

Oh, his pappy. That's All anton ever talked about.

You couldn't shut him up.

Everybody figured He was just blowing smoke.

Now kind of looks Like maybe he was leveling, huh?

Just what did machek Say concerning his father?

Oh, he...

Claimed he was A real spook with the cia,

A real heavyweight Super brain.

Said he'd been sent Behind the iron curtain

When anton was just a kid,

And the reason he couldn't stay In touch with anton

Was on account It would blow his cover.

But he was gonna come back One day soon, anton said,

And the two of them Would be together again

Just like it used to be.

I thought He was pulling my chain.

Well, don't get Too torn up about it.

You know, we'll check The russian secret service,

We'll check the cia, We'll throw in the fbi,

Whatever makes you happy.

That window Usually left open?

No. Only in the summertime.

I see.

All right, get a forensic team Over here right away.

I want them to check The window ledge,

That fence down there.

I also want the kid's Personal effects inventoried

And on my desk The first thing in the morning.

Yes, sir.

What are we stopping Here for?

Why wasn't machek whacked In his hotel room?

Why go to the trouble To put the snatch up?

And having done so, Is our killer

Going to pack him all the way To the jersey pine barrens?

No way. Not with a friendly Neighborhood dumping grounds

Just down the block. Hey, frank,

Think we better Get some men down here, huh?

Lieutenant? Captain? Over here.

This time we got here Ahead of the cement mixers.

Same m.O., But for a different reason.

Anton machek murdered.

It could raise A lot of questions.

But anton machek vanished?

Just another Deadbeat bowery skip.

Well, let's face it, gang, We've been outflanked.

Okay, bye.

Boss?

That .22 target pistol We recovered?

It was purchased by gary braden In november of 1956.

Burned by his own piece?

Doesn't fit, captain,

I mean, not into the scenario We've been running with.

So we'll rewrite it.

Begin with the proposition That braden's not the embezzler.

Add to it the fact that He had left rosemary hawkins

On the night of may 7th To see his wife.

Now, it's highly unlikely That he was packing the gun,

Since he'd gone to rosemary's Directly from his office.

Maybe he stopped By his apartment

On the way to monica's.

That's possible, But highly improbable.

He was trying to prevent A scandal, not to start one.

So unless he was walking Into a preconceived ambush,

Also highly unlikely,

How did the killer Come up with the victim's gun?

The killer already Had the gun.

Braden moved out On the missus, right?

Probably just packed Some clothes,

Toilet articles, Toothbrush, whatever,

And he took off. All right?

The pistol was left behind.

And on the night Of may 7th,

In the midst Of a knockdown argument,

Monica grabbed the gun And shot him.

Then panicked. She phoned keith mccallum,

Spilling her guts to him.

He hurried over, Took charge of the situation,

Disposing of gary's corpse, And instructing the widow,

"Hey, keep cool."

As of this moment, Though, in time,

There's no embezzlement, right? That came after.

And mccallum knew Just how to pull it off,

Thanks to braden's Casual mention

Of his encounter With karl machek.

First, though, Mccallum needed to buy some time

So he could Set things up, right?

Which he did by explaining Gary's absence from the office

With the story That he'd called in sick.

It was easy enough to lay His hands on braden's passport.

Probably left behind At monica's, like the pistol.

And karl machek, once Mccallum tracked had him down,

Couldn't have Been more accommodating.

You know, We'll probably never know

What kind of number He did on machek's head,

But it's a safe guess That this poor slob,

He climbed aboard that plane Carrying a bomb in his luggage.

Well, I'll buy that, The whole package,

But the d.A. Won't.

Neither will the grand jury.

What a break.

Anton machek, The only known witness

Who could link up mccallum With his father,

Might have tied a ribbon On this, but he's dead.

And this is his estate.

24 fun-filled years On this glorious planet,

And you can pack His entire life in a shoebox.

Some snapshots of his daddy,

A couple of christmas cards, Birth certificate.

What we got here?

High school diploma, courtesy Of saint andrew's orphanage.

Huh?

Phi beta kappa key?

"K.M. 6-12-51."

You know those stories The kid laid on lafferty?

We know that jazz About his daddy

Being a secret agent Is just hogwash,

So I figure it's All from the same weed.

But phi beta kappa?

I mean, those things Don't come in cereal boxes.

Devoted to his kid, Teetotaler, no known vices.

All those credentials,

And he still couldn't land A decent job.

What are you looking for, Lieutenant?

That rundown on karl machek.

Yeah, here it is.

Dropped out of high school In the tenth grade.

But how'd he get the...

K.M.

There's another man With the same initials.

Keith mccallum.

And around a thing like this, Not even his daddy's,

Anton machek Had built a dream.

Pursuant to our conversation Friday last

And having consulted The current price index

And allowing For the 6% override--

Yes, beth?

Lieutenant kojak To see you, mr. Mccallum.

Send him in.

One day, For no reason at all,

I discovered it was missing.

For the life of me,

I couldn't remember Where I dropped it.

Haven't thought about it In years,

It's been so long.

That's how it goes Sometimes.

Mccallum.

Phi beta kappa.

Scholastic merit,

Or phei beta kappa--

Phei for fat, Beta for beautiful,

And kappa for cops.

And between us two, We've compiled maybe

30 years' experience On the force.

You being a prudent man, If I was you,

I wouldn't let Those 83 killings go to my head.

This is the big time, baby.

82, lieutenant. 82.

One belongs to monica.

Credit where credit is due.

And I thought the age Of chivalry was dead.

Stavros.

You ready for The biggest laugh of all?

Don't forget to read The punk his rights.