PERRY MASON

in

The Case of the . . .

with Raymond Burr

as Perry Mason

These pages updated on 23 April 2008. All episodes of the ninth season of "Perry Mason in The Case of the . . ." have been upgraded. The following episodes have been upgraded by comparison with the Columbia House Video tapes in their Collector's Edition; 247, 254, 262, 267 and 271. Episodes 262, 267 and 271 are on DVD in the 50th Anniversary Perry Mason issue; DVD chapter indices for this issue are in { } brackets. All other episodes of the ninth season have been compared to full-length or multiple air checks in order to construct an accurate synopsis, and are marked with an asterisk (*). Where indicated "CBS Tape/DVD," the synopsis has been upgraded by an additional comparison to the DVD format, which is also indicated by the DVD chapter indices placed in parentheses within the synopsis text. Further upgrades await the CBS-Paramount release of the complete Ninth Season in the "Raymond Burr is Perry Mason" DVD sets.

#	TITLE	SHOW DATE
242*	Laughing Lady	12 Sept 65

CHARACTER	ACTOR	CHARACTER	ACTOR
Perry Mason	Raymond Burr	Peter Stange	Bernard Fox
Della Street	Barbara Hale	Roan Daniel	John Dall
Paul Drake	William Hopper	Cho Sin	Allison Hayes
Hamilton Burger	William Talman	Lenny Linden	Mickey Manners
Lt Steve Drumm	Richard Anderson	Judge	John Gallaudet
Terrence (Terrance) Clay	Dan Tobin	Superintendent	Shirley O'Hara
Leona Devore	Constance Towers	Commentator	Michael Rye
Carla Chaney	Jean Hale	Matron	Irene Anders
Dr Darwood Tobey	John Abbott

Produced by Arthur Marks & Art Seid Directed by Jesse Hibbs Script by Orville H Hampton

Women in prison are watching a TV commentator who is announcing a society benefit opening. A blonde prisoner, Carla (Chaney), hears a laugh, recognizes the woman responsible for the crime that has put her in prison. A matron enters to quiet her shouting, turns off the TV, and almost precipitates a riot. // At the Sibyl Brand Institute for Women, the superintendent asks PerryMason if he is taking Carla's case, for the prisoner has been in trouble all her life. Mason only wants to meet her before making a decision. Then he does, and Carla rants about courts and rich people getting the good lawyers. She has seen on TV the woman who killed Gerald Havens, a murder for which she's been blamed tho for which she's not yet been brought to trial. She never gets a break. Mason gets the restraint removed. // Clay's Grille. Clay suggests that Mason is "quite a comedian" when the attorney tells him to never change the menu because "old customers would die of shock." Della Street queries Perry about his taking Carla's open-and-shut case. Who is paying Drake? Who is paying him? Drake enters with Lieutenant Steve Drumm and District Attorney Hamilton Burger, who has pumped him dry. Drake has a tape of the TV show. He describes the dead man Gerald Havens as a "cut-rate journalist" and art critic. Then he quit his job and started living it up, deserting old (girl) friends, and ends up with a knife in his chest. Hamilton Burger joins them to say that in the Chaney case he'd enjoy beating Mason's brains out. Drumm tells them four reasons for Carla's guilt; her juvenile record, she was Havens' girlfriend, her fingerprints are on the weapon and a radio car picked her up running with blood on her clothes. Mason notes that she was picked-up because of an anonymous phone tip and asks what has become of the mysterious missing witness. / In Mason's inner office, the trio watch a 7" open reel Ampex video recording of the TV show. Drake freeze frames on Leona Devore, "The Queen," of Devore Galleries in four cities including Honolulu. // Mason meets the manager of Devore Gallery (Cho Sin), who brings him to Leona Devore, who's been in the far east the past six months and arrived back just in time for the show the previous eve. Mason has admired a $5,000 Oriental cage and a Malay creese. Roan Daniel, designer of the gallery, bawls out the movers for carelessness, meets Mason. Peter Stange arrives. He's giving a benefit tomorrow at his place. Mason writes Stange a generous check. / Della gives Mason photos from Paul, gets sent to pick up some books on China, including Reminiscences of a Horse Marine by Mordecai Rappahanock Terwilliger. Which Mordecai Rappahanock Terwilliger? asks Della. "Senior," replies Mason. / Carla identifies a photo of Devore as the murderer, and Mason points out the impossibility. She went to Havens' bungalow because her landlady left her a message to see him at 9. She found him dead, pulled the creese out of his body, then saw "her." Carla is disgusted with Mason for not believing her. / Reminiscences is being read at Clay's Grille by Mason when Lenny Linden, comedian, arrives with bad jokes. Paul brings an empty martini glass to Mason and Della and puts in an olive with a toothpick,. They are a radio transmitter and microphone! / Stange's place in Vista del Pajaro. Drake is in a truck with a adio receiver. Mason gets a martini, steps aside and replaces the olive and toothpick with the radio transmitter. Cho Sin introduces Dr Darwood Tobey to Mason. A waiter picks up Mason's martini glass. Tobey talks to Della about the perfect acoustic house, in which Gerald Havens was murdered, and which was designed by Daniel. Devore arrives, laughing, with Roan. As the waiter walks away with the wired martini glass, Drake hears the raucous laughter. / Playback at Mason's inner office, but no identification. Della suggests they ask Tobey to help identify the laugh. Drake bothered by how fast Havens came up in the world. Drake produces a financial statement on Devore Galleries. It was a bad situation a few years back; Devore is now only a figurehead. A $10,000 withdrawal from aHonolulu bank, deposited back the next day, catches Mason's attention. // Court. Daniel testifies for Hamilton Burger regarding the phone call to Havens at the house he designed, assuming that it was Carla. What did the house cost? asks Mason. $60,000. Why let Havens live in it? He was a friend. Cho Sin says Havens had not seen Carla for four months, was through with her, and was afraid of her violent temper. By holding a paper which, supposedly has list of her visits to him, Mason shows that Cho Sin was close to Havens (but the paper is blank) and made many visits on many occasions, and replaced Carla in his affections. On the day of the murder, Havens signed a receipt for the $5,000 Oriental cage. Mason asks what the owner thought of this, not Devore, but Stange. Burger objects to this line of examination, and the judge concurs. Mason calls Leona Devore and asks about the $10,000, withdrawn on the day Havens was killed. Mason confronts Devore with his ability to produce the record of her flight to L A and back, 3-hour car rental. . . She admits going to see Havens to try to keep him from destroying everything she'd worked for. Mason points out she had "motive, opportunity, and excellent alibi," but look of recognition on her face stops him from further examination. Burger gets her to say she did not go in to Haven's house, for that she saw Carla through the window. She heard Carla's mad, hysterical laugh, and saw Carla holding the creese. // Devore accuses Mason of ruining her, but he counters that she did it to herself, as well as convict Carla without a fair trial. / The laughing lady tape is played in court. Dr Tobey says it is neither Devore nor Chaney. Stange says he invested to save the Devore Galleries. Roan Daniel identifies the knife, a Malay creese and, from a limited view, the Oriental cage. Mason produces a book, his authority (Reminiscences. . .), to refute Roan's identification based on a variance of the dynasty marks. A report in the book on the Boxer rebellion states that the third cage was blown up by a grenade, so the one in court must be a counterfeit. Burger says the case has become a comic opera. Stange says that the cage is not a fake, but a reproduction, intended to be sold as such. He reclaimed the cage from Havens in the late afternoon of the murder. Mason suggests that "a shrewd businessman" might have counterfeits made, have them authenticated by an expert, market them through a gallery across the country. Mason asks, did Havens discover Stange's operation and threaten blackmail? All this is speculation is the challenge, but Mason says there is a witness who can prove Stange's lies. He now removes the cover from the cage, and a Mynah bird, struck by light, laughs a raucous laugh, just as he did when Leona Devore's car lights hit the cage where it had been left outside by Stange, while he murdered Havens. // Carla wants to be fair, suggests 4 days in court $25, $75 expenses. Della presents Perry the statement of costs, $1,705.40. Mason looks up at Carla; "$100 expenses, 4 days in court at $15 a day, that's 100 and 60 dollars." She has only $10, but pays that, and assures Perry that, when she gets a job, she'll pay the rest. "You're the first one ever to help me in my life, ever, Mr Mason . . . I . . .you're okay." Mason tells Della to send the money to the Police Juvenile Fund, but not in his name. Drake suggests "Mordecai Rappahanock Terwilliger." "Senior," adds Mason.

Patricia L Kean writes her name on a blackboard, then is told (by seer Marius Stone) that she's frustrated and needs a psychiatrist more than an astrologer. Also, she'll get a promotion, soon. She's 35 and deluding herself that an apple-cheeked prince charming will come into her life, so she's turned down an older, wiser man. "First she'll wear a bride's white, then a widow's black." Danger will follow her. She and companion (Beth Fuller) leave the seer. They only "came for the laughs." Patricia is almost hit by a passing car, as Stone stares down at them. // Perry Mason and Della Street enter a hospital, overhear (Daniel) Buckley tell off Max (Armstead). Patricia, leaving the elevator, bumps into Buckley who congratulates her. For what? Nothing. Max tells Perry he can't run the department store from a sick bed. Pat enters and Perry and Della leave. Pat gives Max a whistle, to blow off steam. Max promotes Pat to merchandising manager of Armsteads (over Buckley). / In her new office, Pat chats with Beth, now her confidential secretary. Buckley comes in, quickly departs with a warning to Pat that Max doesn't know the meaning of friendship or gratitude. / New salesman (Gordon Evans) for "Sharon Ann line" shows a woman's suit to Pat, compliments her, gives her the model's scarf, tries to date her, achieves his goal. / That night, Pat and prince charming in a car. / Max gives Pat a string of matched pearls. Max explains it is four years since his wife died and he's lonely. He realizes she's a lot younger. He proposes, tells her to take the next day off and think about it. She confides in Beth that now prince charming has shown up. / Gordon Evans registers at a hotel, asks the desk clerk if Miss Kean is there, then finds Pat at the swimming pool. / Night, at Pat’s LaJolla apartment. Gordon kisses Pat. A telephone call advises Pat that Max has had a heart attack. Gordon angers her, says he needs her, cites their age differences and suggests they keep seeing each other. She throws him out. Buckley at the front desk looks for Pat, then sees her drive away. / At the hospital. Pat admits to Max that she is fond of him, but doesn't love him. Max says so what, marry me. / She does. Della catches the bouquet. Privately, Max tells Perry that his son stole from him. Max leaves him $1.00 at Mason's suggestion, so he cannot contest the will. The last time that Max heard from son Alan he was in South America. Mason suggests contact, but Max counters, "Once a bum . . ." // Pat returns from her honeymoon, is greeted by Beth. Buckley must see Pat. Gordon has sent flowers. / Over lunch Pat tells Gordon to leave her. Gordon apologizes for his behavior. The seer comes in, stares at Pat. / Max has brought Perry a letter from Buckley that claims his wife has betrayed him. Perry advises Max to speak to Pat, but he wants none of it. He is feeling awful, needs pills, won't let Perry call Dr Fisher. / Clay's Grille. Perry and Della are with Lieutenant Steve Drumm. Clay brings a phone to Perry. It is Patricia, who says Max is violent. / Perry and Steve are with Pat when Max comes out on the second story landing, accuses Pat of poisoning him, falls down the stairs, dead. / Mason asks D A Hamilton Burger to release Patricia Kean. The D A responds that he has two reliable witnesses (Drumm and Mason) who heard Armstead accuse her of poisoning him. The autopsy shows digitalis to be the cause. / At the jail, Mason informs Pat that it is the doctored capsules Max was taking that will be the basis of the D A's accusation. She tells Mason of Marius Stone. / Paul investigates Stone's apartment, finds a note (with the number 852 on it). / Paul Drake is told to seek Armstead's son in Rio. Drake shows a note to Mason. A letter about the Gordon-Pat liaison is typed on a rare stationery; customer ten of only thirteen is the Mesa Country Club where Dr Fisher and Buckley are members. / Mason sees Dr Fisher, who says Max did not confide in him. / Mason returns to his office, aware from Della's comment that he is only one who doesn't think Pat married for $5 million. Drake reports that Marius Stone has returned to his apartment after disappearing for three weeks. Della suggests "823" might be a locker number. Drake calls her a "genius." Della agrees. / Mason writes "his" name, "Paul Drake," on Stone's blackboard, below "Della Street." Stone says "Drake' has a personality split down the middle. His horoscope says one thing, his handwriting another. He knows "Drake" is Perry Mason, for the D A got to him before Mason arrived. / Drake reports that Armstead's son has been in L A , not Rio, the past year, and he has found that the number on the note is a locker 852 in a bus station near Marius Stone's place. Gordon Evans enters, identifies himself as Alan Armstead. // Court. Hamilton Burger's opening statement accuses Pat of ambition. Drumm testifies to deceased's dying proclamation, and to the medicine capsules. Dr Fisher says that the dosage inthe capsules was toxic, twice his prescription. Mason has the doctor state the symptoms of digitalis poisoning, then admit that Armstead could have been hallucinating when he accused Pat. Buckley says Pat was "ambitious, deceitful" and "playing around," but cannot name anyone but Evans. Why was Buckley in La Jolla? Trying to get Pat to help him when he has such a low opinion of her? Did he write the vilifying note to Armstead on Mesa Country Club stationery? No. Evans changed his name to make a new start. Still loves Pat. Yes, they were together often, but never after the marriage. Burger gets carried away challenging Evans. Mason passes on cross. // Stone testifies to his predictions for the defendant. Did the defendant laugh at his predictions? asks Mason. Did his prosperity return after Buckley hired him to appear at Mesa Country Club? Mason wants to know where he got the money left in the locker (852), namely, who bribed him to give the specific predictions to Pat, but he doesn't know. He got $1000 for the gag. Beth Fuller testifies to Pat's receiving flowers with note "I can't wait much longer." It was she who told Evans that Pat was in La Jolla, as well as telling Buckley. When she and Pat watched Stone's show at Mesa Country Club she was asked questions about Pat by Stone, and Dr Fisher, who asked if Pat was going to marry Armstead. Evans is confronted by Mason with the fact that the whole affair was elaborately planned, that there was only one tiny mistake. Namely, Armstead's heart attack was instead turned into murder. He and Beth Fuller planned it. Fuller wrote Evans in Rio, put up $1000 that bought Marius Stone, and doctored the capsules. Beth accuses Gordon, and vice versa. Max kept living after the marriage! // Usual trio plus Pat at dinner. A gypsy comes by to read tea leaves. Drake notes that she picked the wrong table!

At the Royal Beach Club, a man helps a couple. A light blinks in the hat check girls office. She motions to the man (Tony Earle, club manager) who enters the private gambling room of the club, where (Ed) Purvis and (Harry) Arnold are arguing. Purvis goes to Carol (Olin), asks her help. She speaks to Harry, follows him out of the building, is rebuffed. (Mark) Chester, hiding in the night dark, pulls out a gun, orders Harry into back a building (Harry's bungalow), where he demands his formula back, so that his girlfriend Claire won't find it missing from the safe. Harry disarms him, offers "Candy Queen" chocolates, calls his girl (Claire Armstrong), and demands that she meet him with cash, or he'll sell to another buyer. // Perry Mason is dictating to Della Street. She's eating Candy Queen chocolates. On the telephone, Mason asks Claire Armstrong for documents from her safe so she can terminate Purvis' contract;. He cautions that "Purvis knows the business, Mark Chester doesn't." / Arnold receives the check, says he wants cash, is shot. / Mason gets a call from Wanda Buren who claims that she is poisoned, then hangs up. Della calls homicide, then Paul Drake, who comes and takes the phone and asks Lieutenant Steve Drumm to find the address for the phone number. Della finds it in the phone book. / 20 minutes later, Paul is driving Perry in his Corvette as they and ambulances arrive at Wanda's, but she moved a few weeks before. Using his car phone, Drake learns from Della that Armstrong is not at home. A man in the crowd asks what is happening, and the crowd is shoed off. They check the driver's records, find Wanda's new home. / Lt Drumm with Sergeant Brice join Mason and Drake to get a landlady to admit them to Wanda's apartment. Wanda is found on the floor. The landlady goes to put the phone back on the hook, is stopped by Drumm. There are Candy Queen chocolates on the table. Brice tells Drumm he has a call from the Royal Beach. / Tony Earle delays a police raid of his gambling room at the Royal Beach. They ask for Harry Arnold. / In Harry's bungalow, Claire, the face on the Candy Queen box, Armstrong rubs fingerprints off a gun as she stands over the dead body of Arnold. Chester watches from the bushes as the police catch her leaving. / At Wanda's Drumm learns via phone that Arnold is dead, Claire Armstrong is in custody. This is overheard by Mason and Drake. // Claire tells Perry that she wanted Mark to take responsibility. Mason tells her that Tony Earle said Harry had her candy formula and she wanted it back. Now she says he got it from her fiance to cover his gambling loan. She found Arnold already dead, took the gun (only Mark could have had it). / Della interviews Wanda who says that she and Claire are cousins. Candy Queen formula left them by their grandmother. Purvis saw the value of the candy, turned it into a big business. Ed began to notice her when Mark caught Claire's eye. / At Candy Queen, Mason asks Purvis about how to poison someone with candy. Purvis considers Chester a chiseling phoney, expressed self to Claire. A couple of girls led him with some chain buyers to the Royal Beach Club gambling room, where he saw Carol Olin with Chester. Carol was Chester's girl before Claire. He told Claire, who fired him instead of Chester. / Drake at Carol Olin's charm school. Does she know where Mark is? She gave him money the previous night, for Harry had cleaned him out. Drake threatens her with a subpoena, leaves. She calls Purvis, warns him she'll tell all she knows if they put pressure on her. / At Clay's Grille, Drake and Terrance Clay commiserate about gambling on horses. Tony Earle arrives, gives Drake a tip about a private cabin where Chester may be. // Court. Lt Drumm identifies the murder weapon. Purvis says the Candy Queen formula is worth a fortune. Della informs Mason that Paul is on the phone, and the attorney gets an adjournment. / Drake has found Chester and is driving to the cabin. / Mason and Drake question him. He saw Claire with the gun over the body, but heard no shots when he approached the bungalow. / Earle admits he was instructed by Harry Arnold to extend credit to Chester. Earle believes extending credit is bad for business; you can't live on high rollers. Why would the owner of an illegal gambling house want a candy formula, how would he know about it, or know its value? "Somebody must have told him." Chester admits to losing money, got credit from Arnold for his "marker," namely the Candy Queen formula. Chester lies about being in or near the bungalow. Mason confronts Chester with his lies, then backs off. // Mason's office, with Della and Paul. Perry tries one of Della's Candy Queen chocolates. Della offers him a "roast beef sandwich" but he takes a piece of candy, then another. / Purvis says he made the company what it is today, his merchandising expertise, her candy. Mason contends a third party is involved. Only Purvis could have told Arnold of the formula. He wanted to buy the formula from Arnold, because he considered Candy Queen as much his as Claire's. He was going to get the formula, then show it to Claire and tell her how he got it from gutless parasite Chester. But Arnold ratted on the deal, hoping to get more from Claire. So he called the police to raid the gambling place. Mason contends that attempted murder of Wanda Buren is related to this case and calls Wanda, who thought it terrible that Claire would release Purvis. Mason produces a new box of Candy Queen, asks her to show the order in which she ate candies the night that she was poisoned. She takes out a cream. Mason suggests she could have been the Candy Queen had she, not Claire, inherited. Next, she goes for a lemon cream, but it is a chocolate mocha. Mason suggests a third; she winces when she tastes it. Mason says he put Verinol in it, yet she tasted five pieces one after another with Verinol without recognizing the bitter taste. Mason has caught her in a lie, for Harry Arnold had talked with Claire "earlier," but it was not so. Instead it was Wanda he talked with. She would have lost Purvis, and a chance at the formula she believed hers, and even her job. Her mistake was hanging up when calling from Arnold's office, because the phone in her apartment where she was found was off the hook. Wanda hates Claire, who's got it all while she loses everything. // On a cruise ship, Claire signs the extension of Purvis' contract for Perry as Della sips champagne. Paul arrives with a gift, a box of candy.

A student sneaks in to the "engineering" building of a college, makes a copy of a paper. Outside a guard notes the light inside, investigates, misses the intruder. He finds instead Dr (Stuart) Logan who has just entered. The guard hears the intruder running away, but Logan insists he do nothing for "next Monday he'll leave his calling card." // At the Chi Beta Sigma house, Perry Mason, (Tanner) college's best-known graduate, is discussing fund raising with the college's business head (Jim Hyatt). Bob (Hyatt) brings in a file. Mason notes that in engineering, Bob's major, there is no bluffing. Bob leaves and Mason cautions Jim that, sooner or later, he must let Bob go out on his own. / Engineering student Bob is being tutored by Van (Fowler) when Myra (Finlay) comes in with a review of "Logan's" book. Logan had promised Fowler joint credit. She threatens to speak to Hyatt, but Van notes that Logan is chairman of his PhD committee. She doesn't want Logan to squeeze Van dry. He promises to see Logan on his return. Bob returns to the room. Joe is sleeping. Joe has gotten Logan's exam (he is the office intruder). They argue over cribbing, for Joe has to "'cause he doesn't have a job waiting for him if he gets bounced out." / Logan returns home and to his wife, who says that the chancellor is retiring. Logan says he'll throw a party before other candidates. Shirley says this is a bad idea, because the place needs fixing up. If men don't notice, wives do. She wants him to notice her, but to him she's a nagger. She'll give the party the following Sunday, but he is out of town weekends. / The test, proctored by Fowler, ends. Bob asks Fowler the formula for sheer force vector, on which his mind went blank. Logan enters, tells students of the theft and his later reordering of the questions so that the key won't fit, but will identify who is to be expelled. Fowler follows Logan, suggests there is more than one way to cheat, shows him the book notice. While Joe, unnoticed, listens, Fowler accuses Logan of stealing consulting fees and the book. Logan points out that he has control over Fowler's oral exam, tells him to return at 8:30 to discuss the student exams. Fowler is fingering a paper spike, which Logan perceives as a threat. On the way out of his office, Logan denies Joe's protest. Bob tells Joe that he must see Dr Logan, and Joe realizes the tests will be corrected by that evening. / At night, in his office, Logan phones "211" as students call for his dismissal. In the hall, Bob drops the papers. Logan investigates, finds nothing. Joe appears in the hall, notes that Bob was returning the exams to Dr Logan. Joe grabs the papers, runs. Fowler, approaching, hears this, but is distracted by a woman in the hall. "Myra?" he calls. Outside, the protest continues. Inside Van finds Logan's door open. Shirley Logan confronts the students who came to "drive their convertibles." In the crowd is a lady with dark shoulder-length hair, observing. Students charge into Logan's office, find him dead with Fowler over him. Shirley calls Fowler a murderer. // Myra bursts in on Della Street's birthday party at the home of James and Mrs Hyatt, with Mason and Paul Drake as additional guests, to announce that Logan is dead and Van has been arrested. Bob arrives, demands to see Mason, is led aside by his father. Dad worries about what his son may have done, instructs him to say nothing, not even to Mason or anyone else, for good people don't get involved. / Jail. Fowler tells Mason and Drake about the confrontation, and admits that he went into Logan's room when the students entered the building. He notes how Logan indicted a whole class for cheating. He realizes how his fingerprints got on the paper spike. / At lunch, Paul, Della and Perry are with Myra who tells them of Logan's buying an expensive negligee "for his wife." Drake reports that Logan had consulting fees, but none in the last three months. Where was he on weekends? Mason asks Myra to get the unclaimed negligee. / Shirley Logan tells Mason that she telephoned her husband to come home. She phoned again, circa 8:30, was told that he'd be home in ten minutes, Jim Hyatt hasn't come by yet, and he has to take care of Fowler. When he didn't come, she went over to the engineering building. She admits she was a nag. She touches the negligee that Mason delivered. During this, Drake has been searching Logan's car. He's found a note "call Jim Hyatt about book." / The trio confer. The car was driven 190 miles over the weekend which, round trip, could have taken Logan to Los Angeles. Mason draws a circle on a map. / Bob meets Joe outside Hyatt Publishing. Joe's not slept all night. Bob says this must stop now. They each accuse the other of murder. / Mason and Drake find (Evelyn) Wilcox in a beach cottage (she is the lady we could not then identify in the crowd that was asking for Logan's dismissal). Drake lights her cigarette. She says she illustrated Dr Logan's book, finished two months ago, hasn't seen him since. Drake and Mason point out that neighbors have seen him there since. Mason confronts her with the sordidness of her weekend affair with Logan. She believed the cheater that, when he got his promotion, he'd leave his wife. She threatens to tell everything she knows about Van Fowler. When Drake and Mason leave, she uncovers a sculpture of her beloved. // Court. The medical examiner shows the D A how the murder weapon would have been used. Wilcox testifies to animosity between Fowler and Logan, particularly over Logan's use of "I" in the book. Bob Hyatt testifies to finding Logan with Fowler over him. And to the arrival of Myra with the book review. He overheard Myra say that if Van did nothing, she would. Myra testifies that Logan's book and Fowler's book are Fowler's. The credit was to be shared. Van did the research while Logan got the fees and, yes, Fowler did go to Logan and demand his rights or he'd . . . Joe testifies to what he overheard, including Logan's threat to prevent Fowler from getting his PhD. Mrs Logan testifies to the phone calls. So far, Mason has not cross examined anyone. Bob tries to speak to Mason, says he doesn't want to be a fink, but is hurried away by his father. Mason asks Della what is meant by "fink." // Bob finds Mason in his school room. He apologies for his generation which got a lousy deal. Bob has heard about truth, beauty, honor, but Mason says that he has none. Mason challenges him with "don't blame your father and don't blame your friend, blame yourself." / Court. Bob testifies to Logan's calling "211," but getting no answer, about 8:15. Ten minutes later the crowd assembled outside. He saw Fowler, heard him call "Myra." As to test papers . . . Joe admits he took them. Bob diagrams where he, Joe, Fowler, and a woman with clicking heels came from and went. The woman could have been in the office before Fowler arrived. Mason recalls Wilcox. Mason produces a telegram, "meet me in my office 8 tonight, vital, signed Stu." So she was in his office, to celebrate his probably becoming chancellor, so they could be together, openly, after his divorce. Mrs Logan cries out "It's a lie . . . " / Shirley Logan says she knew of the affair. She asserts that, when Stuart told Evelyn he was through with her, Evelyn killed him. Mason points out that no one in the hall ever heard a phone ring. Further, her husband called "211," Evelyn's extension. Would he call her if he expected her in his office? No, Mrs Logan sent the telegram, and killed the husband who was going to leave her, trying to blame it on Wilcox. // Graduation ceremonies. The trio, Perry, Paul and Della, observe, as do Mrs and Jim Hyatt and Van Fowler. Bob gets his degree, but not Joe.

CHARACTER ACTOR Perry Mason Raymond Burr Della Street Barbara Hale Paul Drake William Hopper Hamilton Burger William Talman Lt Steve Drumm Richard Anderson Henry Simmons Stuart Erwin Diana Carter Bonnie Jones Helga Dolwig Hanna Landy Bill Vincent Don Dubbins Henning Dolwig Jeff Cooper Mike Carson Frank Marth Addison Powell Richard Webb Harvey Blake James McCallion Judge Brawley Byron Morrow Dr Lund Michael Fox

Sgt Brice Lee Miller Officer Clay Tanner Matron Helen Gerald Trainer Rand Brooks

CHARACTER ACTOR Shelter Man Wally West Terrance Clay Dan Tobin (Dr Morton uncredited)

Perry Mason, in a boat, sees a woman leave (Addison Powell's) house by way of a window. A German shepherd dog chases her. She jumps into the water and the dog follows. Mason helps her on board his boat. She's Diana Carter, and has bottle with a paper inside. Some men on shore fire their guns. // Mason opens the bottle. Diana thinks Addison Powell killed her aunt, Elvira Simmons Powell, but Mason says that the police cleared him. She says his motive was control of the estate. She reads her aunt's note which says Powell was murdering her. Mason thinks the note to be unauthentic. Mason has read some of her manuscripts while she was out, thinks she shouldn't act out her scripts. / Mason joins Della Street at a cafe. She has heard on the radio that the Addison house was robbed of $50,000 of jewels. Mason says he was the "accomplice," and that she had no jewels. / Mason in his inner office. Henry Simmons bursts in. His niece is in jail. He tells Mason his story, including the salvage operation for the boat on which Elvira died and on which was found a note. Mike Carson attempted to salvage the boat, found the bottle, took it to Addison. Simmons "hires" Mason to defend his niece with a cavalier wave of his arm. / In jail Mason interviews Miss Carter. Police arrived, ignored the bottle, which she thinks Addison Powell now has back. / Court. Mason demands Addison Powell must testify about "$50,000 jewels" being stolen, or $50,000 bail should not be set. Assistant D A Bill Vincent tries the case. Mason confronts Powell with an insurance policy that includes a jewelry rider, cross-examines him on specific items. Powell cannot explain what remains, or what was taken. Defendant is accordingly released on her own recognizance. Powell challenges Henry Simmons, "What do you want from me, when will you stop hounding me?" "Never." / Diana asks Harvey (Blake) if there is mail. Henry Simmons tells Diana to take the situation more seriously and stay in her apartment. / The Assistant D A, Mason and D A Hamilton Burger are together at Clay's Grille with Terrance Clay. Burger lectures his assistant / Diana is typing the next chapter. Addison comes to her room. The note, he says, was a forgery he kept only to find out who wrote it. She denies blackmail. He soft soaps her, offers her a legal guarantee of her share if she'll come to his house that evening. // Outside Powell's, a policeman tells a passer-by that Addison Powell has been murdered. Paul Drake speaks to him. A body is brought out, Simmons following. He brushes off Drake, then a passer-by (Henning Dolwig). Dolwig offers Drake a way by police and into the estate via a row boat for $25, to which Drake quips, that's a round trip to San Francisco. A man in a cap (Mike Carson) observes. / Drake gets out of the row boat rowed by Dolwig at Addison's dock. Inside Addison's, Lieutenant Drumm with Sergeant Brice has decided that a hole in the window indicates that a bullet must have gone outside. Human society brings a growling, vicious dog out of the closet. Drumm has Drake escorted out of the house by Sgt Brice./ In Clay's Grille. Terrance Clay compliments Della, then goes to Dr Morton and asks if his drink is okay. "Excellent as usual, Clay." Paul joins Della and Perry, reports that the police are looking for Diana, a .32 caliber gun was found under the victim, that there is a hole in the window and a vicious dog. There were contusions on Powell's right wrist. Della gives Drake the ad he place seeking Helga Dolwig. / Diana insists to Mason that she did not leave her apartment. Lt Drumm arrests her on suspicion of murder. / Mason complains to District Attorney Hamilton Burger that he is being denied access to the scene of the crime. Burger denies Mason any help. As Mason leaves, he meets Simmons with a lady. Did the police find a bottle with a note? No. The lady is introduced as Helga. Simmons takes her to Vincent. Drake reports on Mike Carson, who runs the salvage operation raising the boat on which Elvira died. He's found Helga Dolwig, who runs a rundown fishhouse on the coast. // The trio, Drake, Street, Mason, with Helga who is complaining about her son who is a good-for-nothing thinking only of girls. Drake recognizes him as the guy who rowed him to Addison's. / At Carson Salvage Drake serves Carson with subpoena. Carson gave different stories to two parties, is now salvaging the boat by night. Drake shows a photostat of a check from Powell to Carson, to change his opinion about salvaging the yacht when he reported to Simmons. Drake is then overheard on the phone telling Mason that he scared Carson, but not enough to keep him from the boat. Mason asks him to check if Helga's boy is with Carson. / Court. Assistant D A Vincent is trying the case. Dr Lund admits that he identified the bullet wound as made by .32 from a police suggestion of the murder weapon. Drumm found green paint from the pier and deceased's blood on a skirt, thus connecting the murder victim with the accused. Harvey Blake saw Diana Carter leaving the apartment after a visit by Powell, circa 7:30. He identifies the skirt. Simmons found Powell on the floor, with the dog barking in the closet. Powell talks about a phone call earlier in the eve, from the deceased, in which he was told he'd lose nothing by his administration of his sister's estate. He tried to reach his niece, but the telephone was not answered up to 9 p m, when he left his house. But, notes Mason, he found the body at 10:28. He cannot remember where he was in the 1 hour 28 minutes. Mason accuses Vincent of concealing evidence. Burger interrupts, takes over the case, grants Mason access to the murder scene. Mason has caught Diana in lie, intimates he cannot trust her. // Drumm, Mason and Drake are at the Powell house. Mason stages the shooting with Paul, finds the bullet in the ceiling. // Court. The discovered bullet was fired from Addison Powell's gun which was found under his body. A second .38 was found on the defendant's boat, registered to Simmons, which could have fired the fatal, but not located, bullet. Burger asks Diana be bound over for trial. Mason first puts on a defense. Helga talked to no one about the note in the bottle? Mason gets her to admit she wrote the note. Henning Dolwig, a scuba diver, admits his mother had him take the bottle down to the boat, thinking that the police would find it. Carson found it in the yacht wreck. Simmons was already paying him, so he took it to Powell, for the $1500 check. Mason says Helga's intentions were to bring someone she thought a murderer to justice. He plans a demonstration. / The "vicious" dog is brought in to court and, one by one, witnesses stand before Simmons as he raises a gun towards them; Henning Dolwig, Michael Carson, Helga Dolwig. The dog attacks Simmon's arm, Helga calls the dog to stay, he does, proving she was the murderer. She was one of three heirs to the estate. Addison accused her of blackmail, raised his gun, the dog attacked his right arm, she killed him with her gun, then put the dog back in the closet. Only she could have done this last item. She is unrepentant at killing a murderer. // Diana arrives at Clay's with her first book. Clay reads the opening, which describes Paul Drake. Mason gave her the idea for The Amorous Adventures of Paul Lake, private eye.

(3-1 Title credits) (3-2) Boxing in the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Spectator Jack (David) is shouting everything but obscenities at a “bum” in the ring. He has a coronary. Dr (Raul) Caudere, in the audience, takes care of him as his wife (Marilyn David) watches. Jack is put on a stretcher as an ambulance siren is heard. // (3-3) Perry Mason drives up to the Los Angeles Safeline Insurance Company in a white Cadillac convertible. In the company’s offices he is asked by the company president (Reve Watson) to study a 500 percent increase in coronary attacks. Neither corporate attorney (Wallis) Lanphier nor actuary Dennison Groody can explain such an increase. Privately, Lanphier protests to Watson of the hiring of Mason, who “has no experience in our business.” In the front office, Mason is introduced to Doreen (Wilde). When ordered to prepare a kitchen-sink long laundry list of items for Mason, she calmly asks, “anything else?” To which the quick-witted attorney jests, “what else is there?” / Mason is in his office with Groody. Della Street asks if they are “making any progress.” “We’ve been at it long enough to have taken the square root of minus one and made mathematical history” is Groody’s response. notes that instead of 10% coronary deaths, less than 1.8% die under this company's policies, so the company is held to expensive continuing disability payments. Electro-cardiograms are made and regularly repeated of all insured patients. Mason asks for an independent examination. Groody leaves as Paul Drake enters. Mason tells him to look into the situation. All they know is that the insureds “rarely die.” / Drake together with a film cameraman, tape recorder and parabolic microphone, looks into why the insured rarely die, client by client by client. He finally finds one, Jack David, who easily jumps rope and hits a boxing bag. Drake shows Mason his film of this. Mason asks Della to have Dr Chauncey Hartlund bring the "great fighter" in for a re-examination. / Clay's Grille. Terrance Clay proclaims the good health of himself and his County Cork “Corker” ancestors. Lanphier tells Mason that he advised Hartlund not to provide Mason with cardiograms. As to Jack David, Hartlund says he is one of the worst cases he’s ever seen. Further, Jack David has hired an attorney, Arthur Wendell who specializes in personal injury cases. Mason responds that he won’t have his hands tied. / Mason gets a late evening call from a scared Jack David. / 10:03 a m. Mason is at Dr Hartlund's office when David arrives, debilitated. The former boxer falls and dies. Marilyn David accuses Mason of murder. David's attorney Arthur Wendell threatens Mason with a felony manslaughter charge. // (3-4) The film of David is reviewed by Mason and Drake with District Attorney Hamilton Burger. Mason explains the apparent insurance scam. Burger notes Wendel is pushing him to punish Mason, and he cannot move on an imaginary crime. Hamilton is not sure there is a shred of evidence that a crime has been committed. Mason asserts it is murder. Burger says he’ll back him up if he proves it, but it is the attorney’s problem. / The Hall of Justice. Court. Dr Hartlund tells Mason that Lanphier has advised to settle. A court trial might push the company into bankruptcy due to notoriety. During the inquest, Dr Raul Caudere testifies that he uses special physical techniques and esoteric drugs, and that David was on the edge. The slightest exertion could cause his death. “Only complete rest could have saved his life.” The inquest officer requires an autopsy, because Dr Hartlund cannot certify the reason for death, Wendell tells Mrs David that he'll get Mason disbarred, or behind bars. / Mason tells Della to get herself an appointment for a medical checkup with Dr Caudere, a cardiopist, tomorrow. / Lanphier has called a meeting for Watson with Mason, Hartlund and Wendell. Mason will not settle. Wendell walks out threatening a suit. “We are going to play rough. We are going to collect, gentlemen, every cent the law allows.” Lanphier accuses Mason of all possible faults. Mason says that whatever Watson, Lanphier or Hartlund decide, he will continue to fight. // (3-5) Della is at the Medical Center. Dr Caudere is telling her “if only one half of my patiens were in such bloom as you, I would have to close my doors.” He offers Della, who is in perfect health, his health drink Cardsyn. He explains the drink’s “radiation” absorption properties. She drinks a glassful. / Mason visits Mrs David, says someone murdered her husband. He tells her of the film of her husband’s jumping rope. David threw a fight and was disbarred. Jerry, she says, was a “natural born loser.” She is a practical nurse, thought she was getting a husband but ended up with another invalid patient. She called Jerry (Ormond) the morning he died to help settle him down. Mason notices, sniffs, Cardsyn, and pockets the bottle. Marilyn brings Perry her insurance policy, the only good thing her husband did for her. “You should have heard him scream every time he had to pay a premium.” / Della says Caudere's office was papered with degrees, in French. Her heart started racing after she drank Cardsyn. Mason asks Drake to look for fingerprints on Della’s appointment card, then advises him he has disability insurance, backdated three years. / At a construction site. Paul Drake, who has signed on as "Steele," goes to Jerry, mentions he has Safeline disability insurance but never gets hurt. Ormond sends him to Nappy Tyler's for tacos. Nappy, in a wheelchair, arranges for Drake to get disability. / Paul phones Della from a street-side phone booth, but has to take an arranged cab before he can explain more than uttering the name of Nappy. / Doreen tells Lanphier that the "Rod Steele" file was not there yesterday, but he takes charge. / The cab delivers Paul to a YMCA. Drake takes Cardsyn after reading a hand-written note so instructing him that he finds in his locker. He burns the note, as instructed, plays volleyball as instructed, has an attack, asks for Dr Hartlund, saying “poison.” / Court. News and TV reporters are questioning D A Hamilton Burger about prosecuting Mason. Until there is evidence of a crime, he says he’ll take no action. Then they question Mason to no effect. As the reporters try to put words into his mouth, Mason counters with “I didn’t say that.” Wendell enters the courtroom in a wheel chair. The presiding Coroner (tho he has several lines of dialogue, he seems to be not credited, unless he is the “Deputy”) opens the hearing noting that this is to determine if there is criminal cause. Dr Sholby testifies that no "known" drug could have caused the death. Wendell insists an inquest doesn’t allow cross examination, but Mason gets to ask some clarifying questions. Aren’t there drugs that could cause symptoms of a heart attack. Yes, but known ones are tested for. But of ones with similar properties, probably not. Della enters to tell Perry that Paul has had a heart attack, “He’s dying.” // (3-6) Drake is in an oxygen tent. Mason sadly recounts how healthy Paul was and all Paul has done for him over the years, the risks he’s taken, “now this happens, a heart attack.” Dr Hartlund tells Mason that it was not a heart attack, because Paul called "poison" as he fell, so his stomach was pumped and he was not treated for a coronary, or he would be dead. Perry reassures Della, who will not leave Paul. / Mason returns to the inquest. Lanphier is not there. / Lanphier is questioning Della at the hospital, for he's found that there is no "Rod Steele," in 328, only a Paul Drake. / Della returns to the inquest. Drake is okay. She brings Mason the Steele/Drake admission form. Lanphier now wants Mason to handle the Steele/Drake situation. / Dr Caudere testifies that he cautioned David against meeting with Mason. Then Mason speaks to Dr Caudere in French. Caudere quotes a number of cures discovered by non-doctors. Mason identifies the true name of the Dr (Connelly Dunaway) and his fraudulent practice. Mason notes several ways that Dunaway has done patients harm including Jack David’s death. The doctor counters with the fact that no dose of Cardsyn could hurt a patient. Mason notes Steele/Drake is at point of death after drinking Cardsyn. Ormond enters. Mason accuses Miss Wilde of passing on names of heart attack patients to Nappy Tyler and Jerry Ormond. Wendell stands up to assert that Mason has violated Doreen Wilde’s rights by accusing her of murder and suggests she say nothing more. Mason apologizes. Burger seals the room until the inquest is completed. Mason starts his examination with Ormond, low man on the totem pole. He claims he merely signed forms for good buddy Ron Steele and Jack David. Only he was alone with David before the required office visit, as David never went into Caudere’s office, so was the only one who could have poisoned him, notes Mason. Also, he had to get a call from Doreen to know that Drake was a plant and overdose him. Mason shows that Ormond was the ring leader. It is proven by the admission form. Paul Drake was admitted to room 328 and Ormond could not have known that he was "Rod Steele" in 328 unless he got a call from Doreen Wilde. // (3-7) Dr Hartlund says he can't help Paul any more. He’s given up. Paul is surrounded by beautiful nurses. “You’ve never had it so good” asserts Della. Perry chimes in with “No Oriental potentate ever had it so good.” “Just look at me. I’m a very sick man” states Paul with a straight face, then smiles as a nurse starts massaging his shoulders. (3-8 end credits) (51:34)

A man in a 10-gallon hat enters a bank, puts a gun and a large roll of bills into a safe-deposit box, checks out a ring. As he comes out of the bank to his Caddy convertible, he is watched by a young male who gets into a much older car. The man drives into a used car lot, buys a $225 Chevy for a $100 bill, drives it to a farm. A lady inside, Millie (Barton), primps, then goes out and meets the man, Luke Tolliver. He has brought her a bouquet of flowers. // Luke and Millie get to know each other as farm hands watch. They met through computer matching. / Farm hand (Roy) Hutch(inson) discusses eggs with Luke, then answers the phone. Luke finds "felt" labeled "repent or perish" on it. Luke suggests he sell such items. Hutch is upset that Luke is money-mad. He shows Luke his latest felt; "The idols of the heathen are silver and gold." Millie calls Luke to dinner./ In a records office, a young man compares a photo in the newspaper with Luke's face. Luke finds that Mrs Jack Barton's land has no encumbrances. / Lucas compliments Millie's cooking, eventually gets around to saying that he has nothing to offer her, and she is well off. / From a recommendation by Terrance Clay, Tolliver has come to Perry Mason to draw up a will for his (soon to be) wife and self. He is introduced to Della Street, insists that she should prepare wills for him and his wife. As he leaves, we see that the young man has been watching. // Lucas gives Millie a ring. Millie's handyman Roy greets (Alice) Munford, says "to forgive is the best revenge." Why has Tolliver contacted a lawyer? / At the Happy Future Association offices Alice pulls a card from the computer sorter. Husband Guy comes in, is surprised to see her down from San Francisco. She asks if he's ever looked at Tolliver's form. He's been busy. Haven't they made a mistake in putting him in touch with Millicent Barton? They must stop Tolliver, who has thought only of how much the farm produces, and has seen a lawyer. / Alice Munford tells Mason they should never have brought Tolliver and Barton together. She thinks Tolliver means to sue them. Alice keeps cutting off her husband. They want the marriage stopped. Mason gives no comfort. / Tolliver carries his new bride across the threshold as the farmhands watch. / Terrance Clay tells Mason he'd not seen Tolliver since war, and he sent him to Mason. Drake suggests Tolliver is not the rube he acts as. / Lucas invites Perry to come to his wedding celebration the next night. The will has been sent special delivery. Mason instructs Drake to have his Tulsa operative research Tolliver. / Hoedown at Millie and Lucas' ranch. The young man is there, as are Munfords and Hutch, who has a gimpy leg. Luke drops a glass of punch, goes to the punch bowl where he meets the young man, Larry Dunlap, to whom he is stepfather via Cora (Dunlap). This is overheard by Alice Munford. Larry doesn't like Luke's taking everything of his mother's. He's cutting himself back in. / Drake reports Tolliver owns oil wells from a marriage to Cora Dunlap, who died six months after the marriage from eating wild greens. // Millie asks Alice, "what have you done to me," rushes to Guy as a record turns, a glass of lemonade is removed and another placed, and says she knows about Lucas, that he's a murderer. Lucas makes Millie dance; Clay observes. Lucas picks up the lemonade glass, gives it to Millie as Clay stands by. Millie collapses. / Millie is moved into an ambulance. Clay tells Mason that Millie got overheated dancing, drank lemonade from her husband, fainted and, as he looks in the ambulance, is dying. / In the jail, Mason tells Tolliver he can't defend a man that he can't trust. Tolliver says that he didn't want to be married for his money, nor did he know that he had a stepson. Millie has died of mercuric chloride poison in the lemonade. Lucas asserts his innocence. Mason agrees to represent him. / Court. D A Carl Snell is in charge. Clay testifies as to how Millie got the lemonade, from Tolliver, who picked it up from next the record player. Guy Munford testifies that Tolliver required an attractive and well-to-do woman. His wife discovered that their punch cards were not compatible. Why did they stand by when Millie signed the will leaving everything to Lucas? Larry Dunlap says that at the party he told Millicent of his mother's death. Mason asks if he was not disinherited by his mother for his criminal activity, and that was suspended only when he went into the army, from which he has been separated "for the good of the service." Sergeant Woodward investigated Tulsa as well as Springfield, Missouri, where Tolliver married his first wife, who was killed in a car accident, two years before Tulsa. He acquired $60,000 worth of property and $10,000 insurance from this. / Mason chews out Lucas for his many lies. Lucas responds that he tells the truth, sometimes. He takes a home remedy, calomel, to calm his liver. There are no more wives, Lucas assures Mason. / Hutchinson says that Tolliver was only interested in finances. He has a chemical process involving mercuric chloride for making fine felt which interested Lucas. / The medical examiner identifies the chemical as mercuric chloride. Calomel is harmless mercurous chloride, which can become poisonous mercuric chloride in an acid solution, such as lemonade. Alice Munford came down at the request of Roy Hutchinson, who works for the Munfords, who rented the ranch to Millicent. She did not know that her husband had sold the property to Millie for $1.00. Guy is questioned about his knowledge of Tolliver's liver condition. Drake whispers to Clay, here's the bait. Snell tells the judge that Mason has confused him and he needs an explanation. Drake whispers that he's taken the bait. Mason asserts that Tolliver was the intended murder victim, Millicent Barton was hunting his fortune! Munford tells the court that Millicent came to him saying that she was married to a wife murderer. He admits he loved Millicent, therefore wouldn't murder her. Tolliver was the intended victim, and it would look like his calomel had accidentally been turned into mercuric chloride. Guy confesses. // Tolliver thanks Clay for introducing him to Mason over dinner at Clay's. Tolliver has deeded his ranch to Alice Munford. He thinks maybe he should stop by and give her some comfort.

At night a train comes into (Salinas) station, the "Wildcat Special," heading down the coast from San Francisco to Paso Robles and on to Los Angeles via Oxnard and Glendale. (Burt) Payne calls to Ellen Payne as she leaves, and she responds with an emphatic "no." Payne argues with Unk (Hazekian). The conductor calls out "San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura . . ." As an unidentified man (Judson Warner) leaves a phone booth, he tips his hat in recognition to Ellen. Unk and Ellen have to run to catch the train, as Perry Mason comes on the phone and queries, "Ellen?" // Jud Warner and Burt at the train bar, as well as Unk and other team members. Burt berates the Wildcats. Coach (Casey Banks) tells Burt off. Ellen gets pills from the team doctor. Casey expresses his strong feelings for Ellen. Andy (Grant) joins them. Burt sings the school song (to tune of "Far above Cayuga's waters" but the school is the blue and grey) to Ski, who accompanies on the harmonica. Andy tells Ellen that Burt is going to fire him, and she says "I know what I got to do and I'll do it." Burt passes out. Ellen gives pills to Casey to give to Burt. Ellen learns from Jud that Harvey Skeen wants Burt's 10% of her team, and he has money, cash, on him. The train rolls on; San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Glendale. A chemical fire breaks out on the train. // Mason and Della Street learn from Lieutenant Steve Drumm that Burt Payne is dead. Jud Warner is missing. Sergeant Brice tells Lt Drumm they are about done inside, so Drumm shows Mason the aftermath of the fire, including Burt's jewelry with a belt buckle with "P" on it, all they have to work with. / Two weeks ago, Ellen says, she never heard of Jud Warner, but he told her Burt was in some difficulty that could harm the team. Burt had received a down payment. She rationalizes herself into being responsible. She comments that Mason cannot know what life was like before Burt became a rich woman's husband. Her workman enters, then shows Mason out. She makes a phone call to someone with whom she wants to be alone. / Mason finds Drumm one step ahead, as he tries to see Warner. The receptionist calls instead Harvey Skeen. Mason looks at photo-covered walls, then is admitted to Skeen's presence. Skeen says Payne needed money to pay big gambling debts, gave him $200,000. Burt agreed to deliver his wife's consent if Jud would deliver additional $100,000 "last night." Skeen says he has a contract, signed and notarized. Mason notes that this is not a good bargain if the police can't find Warner, leaves, Skeen phones Andy Grant. / Paul Drake reports on Skeen and Warner. The former is clean. The latter earns $40,000, spends $50,000, and is loved by ladies. Unk rushes in, says police have taken Ellen from the practice field and told him that she killed Burt. / D A Hamilton Burger is trumpeting his third narcotics conviction to reporters, gives a "no comment' regarding the Payne case, finds Mason in his office. The attorney asks the D A to release Ellen Payne. Burger explains why, if Warner is part of the crime, he had to have an accomplice on the train after he left it at Glendale. Also, Warner and Mrs Payne were alone together in a motel a few days before the murder. / Mason asks Ellen why he learns more from the police than her, why she was in a rush to get to practice field after he left her. She needed to talk to Casey Banks . Mason asks, to agree on "an alibi?" She met Warner two days before the murder because he threatened to create a scandal. // At Clay's, Drake says that the fire was caused by a peroxide catalyst with no odor, readily available in small quantities. Sergeant Brice commiserates with Della. Drake says Warner made a oom reservation at the motel where the others of the group also stayed, their reservations being made by a Stuart James. Coach Casey Banks who is loved by everybody, loves Ellen, hated Burt. / Coach Banks says he'd say he and Ellen stayed up all night if it would help her. He tells Mason Burt was betting against the Wildcats. / Vegas. Drake calling Street; having trouble finding Jud Warner’s bookmaker. Name of Stuart James has popped up again, so notes Drake to Mason who has just returned. / Court. The judge admonishes against personal exchanges. Skeen says Warner phoned from Salinas. Mrs Frye says that the defendant went straight to the room of Warner at her motel and, when she left a half hour later, he called her "partner." A bartender says that the defendant told Casey Banks to have her husband take the pills. The team doctor says the bottle was nearly full. Mason gets him to admit that it was his decision to give Mrs Payne a full bottle. Andy Grant is forced by Burger, who is accordingly chided by the judge for his tactics, to admit that Ellen told Casey "I know what I got to do and I'll do it." Mason challenges Grant's friendship with Payne. Was it helping him to introduce him to gamblers? Had Grant been told by Burt that he was going to fire him? Yes. Banks identifies the bag of chemicals as similar to the one in the drawing room where the fire occurred. Banks used it to preserve butterflies. Mason has him show that this was common with Helen, picking up the chemical in San Francisco. Drumm testifies that the train left Glendale at 7:05, the fire began about 7:15, and at 7:25 two cars were under surveillance and at 7:30 they were sealed. Jud Warner had to leave before the train left Glendale. Della tells Mason of Glendale car rental by Stuart James. / Unk Hazekian admits receiving chemical bag addressed to Mrs Payne, who whispers to Perry that she didn't order it. In Glendale, he was away from Ellen for maybe ten minutes. This was because the lights went out and he went to look for the conductor. The train left the station, the conductor pushed the circuit breaker and, "poof," lights came on. // Drumm testifies that a match would start a chemical fire. How about a spark? The court reporter reads back Unk Hazekian's testimony about the lights. Mason sprinkles peroxide catalyst around keys and on asbestos. A switch is thrown, "poof" and fire. Drumm admits Mason's scenario is possible. Mason requests a continuance. The judge, annoyed at Burger's tactics, allows it. / The Wildcats' game. Mason and Drake have set a payoff trap. The Wildcats score a touchdown on an intercepted pass, winning the game. As the crowd leaves, Drumm tails Perry, but loses him. Drake watches a payoff, chases the gambler out of the Coliseum. Mason comes out of the trees, the man is forced back into the arms of Drake. Della pull up next Mason's car. The man is herded into Mason's car. He drives away. Drumm and Hamilton Burger order the police to close in on Mason. Della, however, slips away in a separate car. / Burger and Drumm are giving Mason the third degree. Where is Judson Warner? / Court. Mason explains that the crime was committed by one man alone, in desperation. He asks for Ellen to be released, as she committed no murder. Burt Payne is brought in to the courtroom by Drumm. // At a celebration party, Mason toasts "to those things for which there are no substitutes, good friends, happy days, and victory." Mason is toasted as the "twelfth wildcat." [Neither the chase nor the crime are explained. First, the man was hustled into Mason's car and directly out the opposite door and into Della's car. The burned remains with which Burt Payne's jewelry was found was that of Jud Warner.]

The Deputy D A sums up his case regarding murder on a boat by Louise Selff of husband Jamison. Reporter Ted Harberson goes to the phone for rewrite. Back in court, the (first) judge frees Louise of the charge and she is not to be bound over. They leave the court, and Willa Saint Sutton, mystic and clairvoyant, tells Louise that she can get in touch with her husband, again. A flash bulb upsets Louise, as Perry Mason joins her in a car, and comforts her. SELFF HEARING TODAY is the Los Angeles Chronicle headline which is accompanied by photos, Louise's captioned HUSBAND SLAYER. // CLAIRVOYANT IN TOUCH WITH HUSBAND screams Los Angeles Chronicle headline being read by a man-wearing-glasses in a car parked in front of Louise's Tudor mansion. Louise returns with Rosemary (Welch), owner of a heavily mortgaged hotel closed for the season, to find Ralph Balfour sitting in her husband's library, looking to Louise much like her dead husband. Louise tells him that dead Jamison could go weeks without talking to her. She reads some hate mail. / She's still on trial, she tells Mason. Her husband was charming to everyone else, notes Rosemary. It is pouring rain, so Rosemary goes to the closet to get a raincoat for Della Street. Jamison's raincoat is gone. Mason and Street leave. Louise goes into the library where the wind blows thru open French doors. She goes into a small room, retrieves a box from the safe. The door slams shut behind her, and she gets hysterical until Rosemary opens the door. As the French doors are shut, we see the man-wearing-glasses outside, hiding. Louise opens the cuff links box she retrieved. The box is empty. / Ralph and Rosemary tell Mason that Louise is paranoiac and that the newspaper reporter Harberson's story on the mystic's offer is part of the problem. Louise enters, says she's going to see the mystic, who was easy to talk to. Rosemary offers her hotel as a retreat, but that is where Louise met Jamison. Balfour is vicious in condemning Louise for considering seeing the mystic. // Drake and Mason enter Clay's Grille, Perry complaining that Harberson's editor was no help. Drake reports that Harberson never hit it big until he lucked into this story. Clay brings a note from Della, who is at Louise's. Louise has left for Saint Sutton's. / Harberson, Street, Welch and a photographer watch as Louise is admitted to the mystic's private room, Harberson complaining he was to be with them.. The man-wearing-glasses comes to the door, asks to use the phone, goes into a back room, the kitchen. Mason, with Drake, arrives, is challenged by Harberson, whom Mason says has the integrity of a jackal. Saint Sutton comes out to quiet the bystanders. Louise screams. We see a man's image. Louise says she saw, then heard, Jamison. Mason removes a curtain, reveals a dummy, and water on the floor. Saint Simon says this leads to the kitchen, but no one's been there, as the man-wearing-glasses stands in the outside hallway. / Back at the mansion, we catch a glimpse of the man-wearing-glasses outside in the rain. Inside, Louise says her husband told her to look in a drawer, she will find something to pay back the misery he's caused her. Mason finds an envelope, with a letter in Jamison's handwriting. Drake wonders if Jamison is not alive. Mason says either that, or someone wants Louise to think so. / Balfour explains the deal with Arcott Laboratories, a (laser) process, for which Louise has to pay $300,000 for half ownership. Balfour says Jamison treated Louise badly in life, now also in death. / Drake queries (Glen) Arcott about his laser process and gets a demonstration. / Arcott and Balfour argue. Mason points out that any process has risks, and Louise decides that she cannot risk a long wait for return. As the men walk out, the phone rings. Then Louise cries out "Jamison," faints as she drops the phone. // Paul and Perry arrive at Balfour's for a nightcap. He answers, "housebreaker." A letter in Jamison's desk, which he kept, is gone. / Louise is sleeping. Someone covered in black sneaks in, tells her to give Arcott the money. She wakes, screams. Rosemary enters, finds Jamison's raincoat on the bed. / A doctor tells Mason that Louise has had a great shock and should be kept sedated. Rosemary promises to take good care of her. / Night. Rosemary, searching in a drawer, asks Louise "where's the gun." Louise is keeping it to protect herself from Jamison. After Rosemary leaves, Louise pulls a gun out from under a pillow. Rosemary answers a phone call from Arcott, who is anxious. / Louise wakes, sees a man's shadow at the French doors to the balcony, takes a gun to find him. Paul and Perry arrive. A man rushes by them, gunshots are heard, and Jamison Selff falls from the balcony. / Mason sees Louise at L A women's institution. Louise's memory is of Rosemary holding her head in her lap. Mason says she told him that she did not fire the gun before fainting and encourages her to fight back. / Court. Lieutenant Drumm testifies that the bullet was fired at close range. Balfour says he recommended against Selff's taking out a $400,000 insurance policy because of his precarious financial situation. He bought the policy with money given him by Louise from her personal savings. / Clay's Grille. Drake has found Ed Allison, the man-wearing-glasses, who ran away as he and Mason arrived at Selff's. Harberson is joined by a woman, "Just coffee" is the order given Clay. Then Drumm joins Harberson. / Court. An investigator for Interwealth Insurance, (Ed) Allison, thinks the two Selff's were collaborating. Allison has been on the job a bit more than two months, has no real evidence of any attempt to defraud his company. Nor does he know of anything that would show Mrs Selff knew her husband was alive. Mrs STalman, the woman who joined Harberson at Clay's, identifies Selff from a photo, says he stayed at her place five weeks. She recounts overhearing him telephone Louise in a soft voice. He never gave his last name, said he had amnesia. Willa Saint Sutton testifies that on Louise's first visit she helped her find lost pearls that her husband had used as security on a loan without telling her. Jamison burst into her place once, slapped Louise and called her a "childish idiot." Rosemary Welch says Louise woke and saw her husband. She tries to explain away the strange occurrences. // In the judge's chambers District Attorney Hamilton Burger offers to accept an insanity plea rather than continue to torture the accused, but Mason says he rejects all of Burger's assumptions. / Balfour regarded the Arcott deal too speculative. Yet, with insurance money, Jamison could exercise the option, then he could come back to life claiming amnesia. Only Glen Arcott would gain by Selff's not exercising the option. Arcott says that, at the time he took option, he was grateful, but now that he is nearing production, it is not so good, for he's had a better offer from another company. After Selff's death, only his legal widow could exercise the option, and he told no one of his progress. Balfour is recalled, admits he was informed by Arcott via Selff of the progress of the laser process. Balfour did not tell Louise. Mason asserts that Balfour was the collaborator with Selff, but double-crossed him. He is caught, claiming to have shot the intruder in the dark, but Mason saw the lights on. When Selff could not convince Balfour to carry through with plot, he had no choice but to try to convince Louise "from beyond the grave." Balfour set up the dummy corporation that made the higher offer to Arcott. // Clay's Grille. Della's been shopping with Louise and Rosemary, and Clay is holding their collections of half-price bargains. Della calls Clay a misogynist when he says he can understand seances but not women. Della declares Clay a woman hater, and Paul is the opposite, but Perry, he was so nice to Louise. Mason responds with what else could he do for a client who's husband has died twice?

Perry Mason arrives at the Riverdale Raceway where he is introduced to Marge Leonard by Pete (Griston) . He reminds Pete that he should have shown him the partnership agreement before signing it. The agreement makes Pete liable for loses, not just a sharer in the profits. Pappy (Ryan) argues with two others (Rettig and Stone) about his radical design. One, (Harvey) Rettig, built the new gear system which has been declared unsafe. Pete arrives and is, with Rettig, accused of forcing his car off the track on technical grounds so that theirs can win. Pappy accuses the other, the inspector, (Oliver) Stone of selling out. Pete gets into Pappy's car, drives it off to prove how good it is, crashes it, causing the car driven by Blake Leonard to crash and burn. Pappy shouts that Pete will go to jail. // At the hospital, Pete tries to explain to Marge that the car was doing 110 and running smooth as butter, then it just stopped. "Marge, Blake and Pete, that's the way it's always been and it's always going to be" asserts Pete. / Pete tells reporter (Dan) Platte of "Car Racing" magazine that his car was sabotaged by Harvey Rettig, but the reporter won't get involved in libel or slander. Platte leaves. Pete arrives and says that the car lost power. Pappy shows him the bad gear part, which was poorly manufactured, and again accuses Rettig. / Rettig talks to Stone about the D A's interest in the accident, on Pappy's formal complaint. / Mason has a call from D A Hamilton Burger about the warrant on Pete Griston. Paul Drake reports that Ryan shouts even when he says "good morning." Stone is worried sick, says that it was an accident. Della Street reports that she cannot locate Griston. Drake shows photos of the stripped gear which Ryan claims was weakened. Stone says it was bad design. The D A believes it was sabotage. / Pete arrives at the track, tells a bald man (we learn later that this is Marty Webb) that he's not driving the next race. He goes into the shop where the Rettig Special is being worked on by two mechanics, Mitch and Joe. Pete goes into Rettig's office. The other two hear a noise, find Pete stunned, Rettig dead. // Pete tells Perry that as soon as he entered the office he got hit on the head. Lieutenant Steve Drumm asks Griston how Rettig's body got in front of the other body, given the position of the two. Drumm argues how the murder occurred, with Griston as the murderer, faking a head wound by removing the plaster from the earlier accident. As Pete is led off, Platte confronts Mason, and is put down by the attorney. / Mason questions Ryan, who takes him in a race car around the track. Ryan says, yes, Rettig was alive when he left and the mechanics know so because Rettig was calling the telegraph company at the time. / Marge Leonard in her husband's hospital room is questioned by Mason regarding when Platte left the night before, and where was she around 7 p m. Outside the room Drake says that Ryan left about 6:40. The telegram from Rettig saying the deal is off w as logged in at 6:51. An earlier cable from Italy to Rettig stated that the gear principle was sensational! / They visit Stone. Drake comments "money, lots of money," but Mason suggests otherwise. They question Stone about Enzo Pinieri, the signer of the telegram to Rettig. A phone call comes to Drake from Della Street, who says that the gambler and bookmaker Marty Webb loaned Rettig $50,000; but the note bears Pete Griston's signature. // In jail Griston says he didn't know about the note, he signed so many things. He adds that he saw Webb at Rettig's and told him that he wasn't going to drive next race. Webb blew up and said he'd break Griston and Rettig if he didn't drive and win (this last part is absent from the early meeting, where Pete walked away from Webb right after telling him he wasn't going to race). / Mason and Drake meet Webb at his bar. Webb loaned 50 Gs interest free because he was guaranteed a win and he had good odds on his bets. 50 Gs were for Rettig to cover a couple of guys. Who? Webb refuses to answer. Mason and Drake suggest that the D A will come at him with a fraud case. Webb is unimpressed, but another hook has been baited. / Due to Paul's capabilities as a con man, Stone, Ryan, Platte and Webb all have reason to believe that something in Rettig's office will incriminate them individually, so Perry tells Della as they and Paul arrive at Rettig Motors. Inside Della and Perry wait for the fish to bite. Outside, a drunk gets to the phone booth before Paul can signal Perry by phone, as someone is entering the office using a nail file. It is Marge. She has Rettig's personal files, and a gun. Paul arrives, disarms her. How did she get the file? The same way she got it on the night of the murder, by entering the back door. She says everyone knew how to open that door with a nail file, it was a running joke. The three look through the file. Perry finds proof of Rettig's piracy of Ryan's design. Lt Drumm arrives with his police stakeout, and Perry gives him the file. // At his restaurant, Terrance Clay suggests the clam chowder as Perry Mason joins Lt Drumm and Hamilton Burger. The D A explains the evidence, but Mason has different conclusions. / The inquest at the track, with Stone presiding. Webb arrives, having gotten a note that Stone knows nothing about. Mason asks Platte, as an outsider, what he knew, especially about the equipment in Italy. Platte denies any knowledge. Mason accuses him of being a phony. Why didn't he write about the gearbox? Because Rettig paid him off not to write about it? Webb refuses to answer Burger, so the District Attorney says he can bring his lawyer to court. Webb identifies Stone as in on the deal. Mason notes how much Webb would lose on bets, unless the whole race were called off. Stone says his reputation denies complicity. Stone says he needed money from Rettig to keep his home and to keep sponsoring the race. He only knew that the gear was unsafe, which has proven true. Ryan challenges Stone, then says Rettig sent a cable to Italy to call the deal off. How did he know what was in the cable? It was Ryan who sent the cable because he was in the office when the first cable came. The telegraph operator said that the same voice received the cable sent the cable (as we also learned earlier) and left after killing Rettig, then returned by the back door to send the cable. Burger asks why Ryan canceled the agreement with the later cable. Ryan says "he had no right." Mason responds, "you had no right, to kill." // Blake, Marge, Della, Perry, and Paul at the raceway. Paul goes out in a race car with Pete, after Mason says that no payment for his fee is immediately due. The new Griston-Leonard Combine must be solvent first.

It is night at the Royal Gardens apartments, where someone is playing a recording of a piano concerto, while screams are heard. A blonde (Susan Wolfe) runs out of #20 calling for help. Four other apartment dwellers are distressed by the screams, but do not help. Lieutenant Drumm drives up with (Sergeant) Dave (Wolfe), who rushes up the stairs, finds Susan (Wolfe) in a state of confusion. Sgt Wolfe gets hit on the head. A man (Joe Oliver) runs into the room with a candlestick in his hand, gets shot six times, falls back over the balcony rail. The sergeant wakes up, picks up his gun, wanders a bit dazed on to the balcony. He looks over and sees Drumm who has come running (and who passed a car with a musical note on the side, which we will later see at the Hang Up Club), standing over the dead man. // Wolfe is questioned by reporters. He almost attacks one who asks a personal question about his sister. / Paul Drake asks Perry Mason about a Bakersfield case, and is put off. Mason puts off a question from Herb (Jackson). Lt Drumm explains to Mason how he's been assigned to prosecute his friend Wolfe, then asks Mason to defend the sergeant who is quoted in the paper as saying "He had it coming! Somebody just saved me the trouble!" Drumm tells Mason about Wolfe, who was overprotective of his sister, and ends with how they are trained to shoot, in threes, but Wolfe fired six times point blank without a stop, to kill. / Mason cautions Wolfe to put nine years of experience to work. Who, if not Joe Oliver, fired the shots. Joe asks why not consider the four other apartment dwellers. / At the hospital, Susan suggests that it is Hamp Fisher who is dead, then says she swore to Hamp not to tell. Drumm suggests that Dave made up the story. It was Hamp who beat Susan, but Dave found Joe there, saw red, and fired. // Mason says they have three stories, Drumm's, Susan's and Dave's. Drake adds Hamp Fisher to the list, then suggests that Susan might be telling the truth. What was Joe Oliver doing there? The witnesses? They didn't want to get involved. / At the Hang Up Club Hamp Fisher tells Mason he was with Monk Coleman all night. He's seen Susan. She was at the club not long before with a creep from the apartment building, who got angry when she danced the watusi, where nobody touches anybody, with one of the band members. Hamp surmises that Drake doesn't like him, and Drake concurs. Outside, Mason talks with Coleman, who identifies the creep as Ron (Peters). Asked if he and Hamp spent the whole night together, he says only that in court he'll tell the truth. / Paul and Perry come upon Lt Drumm and Sergeant Brice in front of the apartments. Drumm says no one left Susan's apartment after Dave entered. / Ron, who is hiding from the police to avoid further questioning, is pacing. He argues with Linda Blakely over Joe, who paid her bills, and his inability to aid Susan. / At the murder site, Paul, Steve and Sgt Brice. help Mason reconstruct the murder. Drumm tells Brice to post a guard at Peters' door. Perry goes to Flo Oliver, in her wheelchair. Paul encounters author Craig Jefferson in apartment 5 on the ground floor, and learns that Joe Oliver, the manager of the apartments, had guilt over what he did to his wife, cheating on her, and debts with five empty apartments. / Flo Oliver tells Mason that Joe put her in the wheel chair five years ago because of drunken driving. Joe had a temper, threw someone out of a party that Monk Coleman was having in his apartment. // In jail, Dave complains that Mason hasn't yet gotten him out. Mason tells him Susan's story and suggests that Oliver did not beat her. Dave wants out badly, says he's willing to take a chance with a judge. Mason says he won't get a reprimand after firing six shots. If he wants to plead to a lesser charge, he'll do it with another attorney. This quiets Dave down. Mason lays down his law. There will be no guilty plea, they will skip the preliminaries and call for an early trial. / Mason listens to a tape recording of Dave's memory of the event, including a man's voice, the shots, the sound of a gun or something heavier falling on the floor, a door slamming, the crash of Oliver hitting the rail. Drake reports that Jefferson makes book and has 3 phones, and that he learned the following from him; 1. Oliver owed him $2000. 2. Linda Blakely had a battle royal with Oliver the day before he was killed. 3. Oliver fired Ron Peters, who worked to pay part of his rent, the day he caught him in Linda's apartment. / The stage is set. Drake asks filmmaker Arch where he can find Linda. She's a bit part in a commercial, which is ruined by the meringue. Linda tells Drake that Ron is a liar and Joe was lonesome and Flo Oliver doesn't need the wheel chair. / In court, Mason's opening statement Is about the 10 minutes when Susan Wolfe called for help and no one answered. Drumm testifies to finding Wolfe with a gun in her hand. Mason asks what the lieutenant did when he heard the shots. He ran to the courtyard. Could not someone have in the same time left Susan's apartment? What were Wolfe's first words? "I didn't do it, Steve." Jefferson says Susan's phone was out of order, so she used his to call her brother. Which one? asks Mason. Burger objects. Mason continues. Jefferson admits he did demand $2000 from Joe, threatened him with his gun, but Joe took it away. He next saw the gun at the party with Hamp, Susan, Monk, Linda and a girl from Milwaukee when Joe showed up with the gun to quiet them. Then he told Ron, who'd brought him there, that he was going to change the locks. Why was Joe Oliver so angry? Because Hamp and the girl from Milwaukee were hopped up on goof balls. Ron Peters says he heard Dave say that he'd take his badge off and beat up on Joe. His apartment abutted Susan's, so he heard the screams, the breaking furniture, the shots, but he did nothing to help her. / At Clay's Della is reading the transcript of Dave's tape to Paul and Perry. Mason tells Drake to get photos of the interiors of the apartments. / Mason offers Ron a chance to redeem the murder night. // Mason asks Flo Oliver to identify the candlesticks in the photos of the apartment interiors. Two in most, three in Susan's, one in Linda's. She admits she kept Joe from knowing she could walk, because she thought he'd leave her if he knew. She first thought he was with Susan, but he was with Linda Blakely. Blakely cannot account for her missing candlestick, and admits Joe was with her. He took the candlestick with him when he heard Susan's screams. Ron saw Monk Coleman running away, getting into a station wagon under the street light and driving off. Coleman admits Hamp dropped him off on the strip for an hour or so that evening. Hamp admits giving Susan a "going over." He wanted Susan to keep quiet to her policeman brother about his being hopped up on goof balls. He roughed up Susan and knocked out Dave. Ron remembers the blue band coat, a man, possibly Hamp, running out the back door. Mason produces a photo from Ron's back window, proving Ron could not have seen the street light. A photo from the back of Susan's apartment is where he had to be to see the light, after he killed Joe Oliver. He now admits that he killed Joe, then discovered he may have killed the wrong man. He cared, other witnesses didn't. // At Clay's, Susan and Dave, on their way to Hawaii, arrive with Steve to thank Perry who is with Paul and Della. When the couple leave, Steve teases Paul about cutting it close on a traffic light. He leaves. As Della smiles, Paul asks, "What's the penalty for committing mayhem on a backseat driver? Mason responds that he shouldn't worry, "no jury would convict [him]."

In East Berlin, children are playing. The girls march back to school. One runs away to an "American" blonde (Gerta Palmer), who gets into a VW Beetle and drives away. A man (Franz Hoffer, we will learn), who was reading a newspaper at the playground, watches. The car stops at Checkpoint Charlie. An older couple (Prof Hans and Emma Ritter) watch from the American sector. Just as the car is passed by the border guards, a man (later identified as Wolfgang Stromm) approaches, checks her papers, and has the boy's cap removed to reveal a girl. // Los Angeles. The older couple are in Perry Mason's office. He, Prof Hans Ritter, says he'll go back. The Russians who want him, not his six year old grand daughter. Gerta, Prof Ritter's assistant, gets a photo of the girl, and Ritter's wife Emma says that the photo of grand child,Elke, her "kleine maus," is identical with that of a picture of her daughter as a child. Gerta was released on a promise of telling Ritter to return in exchange for Elke. Mason says this is blackmail,and no citizen can negotiate with a foreign power. Emma suggests that Mason negotiate, with the return of $50,000 Fermi prize money as the exchange. / Mason receives a call from Emma Ritter telling him Hans has left for East Berlin. Mason sends Paul Drake to intercept him. / In West Berlin Sam Carleton greets Perry, Emma and Gerta and offers to be their guide. Franz Hoffer bumps into Gerta as she follows the others to the car. / In a park where girls are playing, the matron brings Elke to Mason. He learns from the girl that her mother was taken a year ago to the krankenhaus. Sam, nearby, makes photos. Elke was called her "kleine maus." Mason gives her a gift of a doll, but the matron returns it. // At the Bristol Hotel Kempinsi, Mason reports to Emma that Elke is legitimate. Gerta reports that Franz Hoffer has been located. Carleton "knows of" Hoffer, who deals on both sides of the wall. Hoffer will take Mason to a highly-placed East German official. Drake over the phone reports that Ritter is in London. / Professor Ritter is met at Checkpoint Charlie by Mason, Emma and Drake, and is persuaded, with great difficulty, to wait a day. / Hoffer (whom we recognized as the man, Wolfgang Stromm, at Checkpoint Charlie and the one who bumped Gerta) comes to Mason and Drake, then makes a phone call that is overheard by Sam. He takes them to a small chalet, a safe house, a few hundred yards across the border. Here they meet Wolfgang Stromm, who notes that they detained Prof Ritter at the border. Aside, the matron argues with Hoffer over their agreement. Mason offers the $50,000, is told that this is demeaning to the East German government. Mason counters that they have already demeaned themselves by blackmail. The offer is rejected. // Back at the Bristol Hotel, Mason learns that Emma has left with the money, on the basis of a telephone call to Sam, thinking that the agreement has been reached. Sam says Hoffer told Emma to meet Mason and Drake at the safe house. / At night Mason and Drake head across to East Berlin. Sam, behind them, pulls out a gun. Mason and Drake find the matron, Elke and Emma at the safe house. They also find Hoffer dead with a knife in his back, just as Stromm arrives. / Prof Ritter angry over Mason's interference. / Night, at the cross point. Ritter is determined to cross, and Stromm has agreed to exchanged Elke simultaneously. Ritter leaves, and the girl crosses, but she is not Elke. / Mason confronts Stromm, says he has no honor. Was it honorable to bribe him? counters Stromm, who further berates Mason. A mind like Prof Ritter's is worth what he did to get him, for it will attract back other scientists. / The East Berlin court. Mason is given ten minutes with Ritter only after Drake brings his credentials. The court is conducted in English. Stromm is the prosecutor. The matron testifies to being present when Mason offered a $50,000 bribe, indirectly to Hoffer. Hoffer was excited, ordered the matron to bring Elke. The female magistrate denies Mason the right to offer objections. A German border guard testifies to Gerta and Emma's crossing about an hour after Mason and Drake's first visit, 5 minutes before they returned. 1:40 Mason, Drake, Hoffer. 2:41 Emma. 2:46 Gerta. 2:55 Mason and Drake. Emma says Hoffer went into his inner room to make arrangements for her and Elke to cross back. Stromm notes that a search of the body and the room found no cashier's check which Emma claims she gave Hoffer. She reasserts that she did not kill Hoffer. Prof Ritter goes delirious on the stand. // Back at the hotel, Paul, Perry and Gerta are joined by Sam. He offers to help and, alone with Gerta, says it is hard to believe that Dr Ritter had a breakdown. Gerta queries, how did he know? In an adjacent room, Paul and Perry find Sam's photos in his valise. Paul returns the case, is lied to about the contents. Back with Perry, they discuss loudly publishing their event, so that it will be overheard in the adjacent room. They will take their story to the editor, so that no scientist, knowing how East Germany treated one of the most eminent ones, will come over to their cause. It will be published by the morning. Sam offers to take Gerta to Prof Ritter. The trap is baited. Sam sends Gerta on to the car, makes a phone call to "Julius." Beer hall. Drake reports to Mason that no response has been received, but then a note is delivered. / Stromm is outraged, offers to return Prof Ritter, only. Mason points out that Ritter is perfect proof that no one should give up freedom to return to East Germany. Dogs are heard barking. Stromm says that Mason may discuss the matter with his superior, who is just arriving. Gerta and Sam join them. Mason notes that Gerta told him she crossed the border after they did, but told Mason that she crossed nine minutes before. Gerta admits the she killed Hoffer because he was going to sell out. He would give up the girl for money, when she had worked so hard to get Prof Ritter back. She is taken away, by the police, screaming hysterically. Sam is instructed to call "his" editor, Julius, on the agreement with Stromm. // At Checkpoint Charlie, Sam is given his first interview with Prof Ritter, who returns, lucid, with Emma and Elke. Mason had whispered to Hans what to do in the anteroom of the court during the ten minutes, and Prof Ritter fooled everyone.