PERRY MASON

in The Case of the . . .

with Raymond Burr

as Perry Mason

All 26 episodes of the third season of "Perry Mason in The Case of the . . ." have been upgraded as of 7 July 2009. Episodes 71, 74, 76, 78, 80, 81, 82, 84, 88, 89, 90, 93 and 94 appear for the first time in other than broadcast format with the release of the CBS-Paramount edition, from which they have been upgraded. Episode 85 is on DVD in the 50th Anniversary Perry Mason issue; DVD chapter indices for this issue are in { } brackets. Further, all episodes of less than 1400 words have been upgraded from the CBS-Paramount release. Where indicated "CBS Tape/DVD," the synopsis shows the DVD chapter indices placed in parentheses within the synopsis text. All episodes have been marked with their CBS-Paramount "Raymond Burr is Perry Mason Season 3" chapter markings in italics and squared [parentheses]. The coding and other information for the CBS-Paramount release takes precedence over previous tape and DVD releases.

#	TITLE	SHOW DATE	BOOK DATE-ORDER	CBS TAPE
70	Spurious Sister	30 Oct 59	ESG '61-64	26314

CHARACTER ACTOR Perry Mason Raymond Burr Della Street Barbara Hale Paul Drake William Hopper Hamilton Burger William Talman Lt Tragg Ray Collins Bruce Chapman Karl Weber Grace Norwood Mary LaRoche Ginny Hobart Marion Marshall Helen Sprague Marianne Stewart Marie Chapman Peggy Knudsen Ralph Hibberly James Seay Greg Evans Charles Cooper Walter Sprague Robert Osterloh Judge John Launer Hotel Clerk Charles Davis

Autopsy Surgeon Michael Fox Switchboard Operator Nancy Evans Cashier Sam Edwards

CHARACTER ACTOR Court Clerk George E Stone [Sgt Brice Lee Miller]

Produced by Herbert Hirschman Directed by Arthur Marks Teleplay by Maurice Zimm

[2-6/1/10 Title credits] [2-10] Bruce Chapman is dictating to his secretary (Grace) Norwood. His wife (Marie) admits that she will not see him off on his trip to the Orient, for she has “a bad headache.” Grace is sent away. In private Bruce informs Marie that he's closed their joint account, will have his office pay the bills and she's to have $50 for incidentals. He won't support her gambling. She threatens divorce, community property or settlement of at least $25,000. As he leaves with Grace, Marie follows and begs for $2000. He refuses. She then telephones her “darling” to say she's not got the money but, “whatever (she) has to do, (she’ll) get the money.” // [3-10] Marie drives her Edsel to the bungalow of Ginny Hobart, whom she asks for $2000, which Ginny does not have. Marie phones Walter who “owes (her) a lot more than $2000,” gets Helen Sprague from whom she demands $2000 that night (for which she’ll cancel the remaining debt), delivered to the cabin in Whitmer Canyon. Walter enters, asks Helen "Marie who?" and Helen lies about a giveway program if she knew who said “Let them eat cake.” Walter chides her with “Marie Antoinette.” He goes back to the office to work overtime. / Night. A man (Greg Evans) on a horse, sees a light in a cabin go out, investigates, catches Marie. They find a note from Helen directing Marie to get a $2000 check to the Caravan Hotel in Las Vegas. She shows Greg the check, leaves. // [4-10] Bruce Chapman, back from the Orient, phones Miss Norwood at the Chapman Import Company, but she's not in says the switchboard operator. He opens a divorce complaint from his wife, filed in Nevada. He tries to phone her. / Chapman, in light suit and dark tie, is with Perry Mason in the attorney’s office. He won't contest the divorce and needs a new will. Della Street has Gertie call Ralph Hibberly in Las Vegas. / Hibberley demands of Mason an immediate payment, or Marie’s offer of a $25,000 settlement will be withdrawn and $150,000 demanded. Chapman agrees and Mason asks Della to get a Paul Drake operative to take the check to Las Vegas. / Chapman is tossing and turning in bed. 5:18. He gets up. / Chapman, in a dark suit, unbuttoned collar, arrives at the cabin. He parks his car, looks over the hill to find that his wife's car is in a ravine but no one in it. Lieutenant Tragg arrives accompanied by Sergeant Brice. He takes Chapman to the morgue tho the husband thinks his wife is in Las Vegas. / Chapman identifies Marie, is booked for first-degree murder by Lt Tragg, who knows he’s contacted Mason. // [5-10] Jail. Chapman admits that on the way to the airport he thought things over, decided there must be another man. He found Marie, strangled, at the cabin, about 8:50. He knew he couldn't catch the plane. He put Marie's body in her car, pushed it into the ravine, caught a later plane, came back not six weeks, but ten days, later. When he got back and saw the divorce papers, he thought she had survived. So who impersonated Marie in Las Vegas? Perhaps Marie's former “sister act” partner Ginny of Ginny & Marie, dance stylists. / Paul Drake reports on Ginny Hobart; “scintillating songstress and sensational stepper,” to open in Barney’s Bistro. Della reports on her failed efforts to reach Grace Norwood who didn’t show up for work. Mason orders Drake to Las Vegas to find Ginny, and adds Grace Norwood to his duties. / Backstage in Santa Monica (about 12:30 we will later learn), Ginny Hobart reads the Los Angeles Chronicle which is headlined IMPORTER BOOKED FOR WIFE’S MURDER. Mason questions Ginny. She reveals that Marie had an earlier husband, Walter Sprague, unknown to Bruce. The last time she saw her, Marie asked for $2000 but didn't get it. So she phoned Walter, who owed her that much, but spoke only to his wife. Ginny says she's never been to the Chapman cabin. / Las Vegas. A hotel clerk thinks he recognizes Marie Chapman’s photo which is shown him by Paul Drake. The cashier admits he gave her $25,000 cash. Her lawyer had identified her. / Divorce Lawyer Ralph Hibberly says his woman looked generally like the real Mrs Chapman. He offers that he saw her earlier that day getting on a plane to L A. / Mason at the cabin meets Evans, who informs him of meeting Helen Sprague on the night of the murder, circa 9:20, identifying her by a note from Marie. / Walter Sprague, with his wife, is confronted by Mason. Walter explains the property settlement for which he'd have promised, even done, almost anything while Helen admits that she hated Marie enough to have done it. / Drake reports that the impersonator arrived 1:20 LAX. Mason was speaking to Ginny at 12:30. Helen Sprague had 11:30 dental appointment and kept it, says Drake. That leaves only Grace Norwood. Would Della like to get a divorce, queries Mason. One is usually married first, she notes. Della calls Hibberly, says he'll have to come to L A, gives name and address of Grace Norwood and sets 9:30 for meeting. / Norwood admits to overhearing an argument between Bruce and Marie, as well as the $25,000 settlement offer, and she despised Marie. She refuses to say where she was in the desert. Hibberly arrives, does not recognize Norwood, even behind sunglasses, nor she him. “No one left,” comments Della. // [6-10] Court. Dr Hoxie explains the date and cause of death to D A Hamilton Burger. Hoxie admits that a woman of average strength could have strangled the victim. After the judge allows Burger to treat her as a hostile witness, Norwood testifies, reluctantly, to the argument, and that the original plan was for her to pick up Chapman's car at the airport and bring it back to his home, but it was not there. Mason asks an “incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial” question, but Grace blurts out that she “wouldn’t have killed Marie Chapman for ten times $25,000.” The judge has the court clerk strike the Answer and the Question. Mason then asks if she would kill to free Bruce to marry her. Burger explodes, but Mason cuts off any answer. Sprague says he met Bruce Chapman the day before the murder, and was asked many questions about Marie. The final question brought forth the answer that Marie “wasn’t capable of loving anybody but herself.” Mason takes note that two chairs in the courtroom are empty. Sprague has no alibi at the time of the murder. He was to pay Marie $50 a month until $7500 was reached, or she died. Ginny Hobart is called. Paul smiles at her as he opens the gate for her, then frowns as he leaves the courtroom. She admits that she knew that Chapman would give a $25,000 settlement. She and Marie were a "sister act" and could pass as sisters. Lt Tragg explains how the defendant changed his flight plans. Meanwhile, the defendant takes a furtive look at the room and sees Grace, who smiles at him. The only full prints on the back of the car were those of the defendant. Evans, whose fingerprints were also on the car, says that he discovered the car when a boy heard a ping from a rock hitting it. He saw Chapman coasting downgrade from the cabin about 9 p m the night of the murder with the lights and motor off. The judge calls the noon recess. Drake reports that Helen Sprague's home was broken into the previous night (thus, the two empty chairs in court). // [7-10] Perry and Della ask Helen Sprague what was stolen; nothing. / Court. Evans says that the road to the Chapman cabin is one way, but someone could have come up and gone down the other side from his place. He knew Bruce well, also Marie, apparently very well; “She was quite a woman.” Hibberly admits to Hamilton Burger that a woman could file for divorce without proving identity. He is unable to identify the impersonator in the courtroom. He would have said Marie Chapman had to be alive on the day of the divorce court appearance. Mason asks if her husband would have used the divorce ruse to confuse the time of the murder, and he says no, “fraught with peril.” Mason recalls Hobart, because Paul has brought new information. She says that she was "stony broke" when Marie came to her the afternoon of the murder. Later she canceled an engagement at Barney’s Bistro; whence comes her sudden shift in fortune? A day later she uncanceled. The man who asked her to marry him then unasked her. Mason shows her a photo with Greg Evans and the Chapman cabin in the background, so she lied about being there. Mason accuses her of cashing $25,000 check as well as $2000 check, retired, then, after losing it all at gambling tables, un-retired. Yes, and she got to the cabin just in time to see Bruce push the car into the ravine; “He killed her, didn’t he?” she shouts. “No, Miss Hobart, he did not,” responds the defendant’s attorney. Ralph Hibberly, recalled, now identifies Ginny Hobart as the impersonator. Della Street brings in Helen Sprague, who says they've found what the thief was after. Mason asks Hibberly if he ever knew Marie Chapman; no. When did he arrive in L A; “this morning.” “Not last night?” No. Mason produces a divorce decree of Marie Sprague from Walter Sprague. The attorney was Hibberly, who now admits he had to try to get it, for if Mason saw it, he'd know that he would not have been fooled by an impersonator. It was not Marie, but he, who was the compulsive gambler. Marie came to Vegas to see him, not the gambling table. He killed her. // [8-10] Paul Drake narrates; “Marie met Hibberly at the cabin that night” and he found out about the $25,000 settlement offer, “urged her to go through with the divorce,” yet she refused. They argued and he strangled her. He heard Chapman's car, hid outside, saw the car go into the ravine, then hatched the plan to get $25,000 with Ginny's help. Grace has been visiting an incurable invalid in Phoenix. He died. She’s sent Bruce a note, “The office needs him.” “Sounds exactly like a secretary” comments Perry Mason. [9-10 end credits] [52.43] (52:32).

[3-6/1-11 Title credits] [2-11] The Lorna Thomas Lake Club, members only. A man (Fred Bushmiller) walks up the hill to the main building which is closed for alterations. He looks inside, sees walls covered with publicity photos. He hears a commotion in the nearby lake. A woman (Lorna Thomas) and a man (Dennis Briggs) fight in a boat, and he goes overboard. Thomas speeds off. Bushmiller rows out, helps Briggs, comments “it’s just not your day to be murdered.” // [3-11] Inside the house, Bushmiller notices photos of Lorna Thomas, comments on her upcoming come back with Tony Raeburn. The club used to be Lorna’s lake home. Bushmiller has brought a report to Briggs, claiming that Betty Clark is the daughter of Thomas, tho adopted long ago by someone else. Briggs specifically asks Bushmiller to forget what he saw, for he says he fell into the lake. Briggs offers a bonus for “services to date.” / A porticoed mansion with a swimming pool in the back. Fred Bushmiller is looking around when maid Harriet (Snow) brings actress (Lorna) Thomas to him. He saw what happened to (Dennis) Briggs, and now wants a job. Doesn’t Briggs work for her? He’s a “sneaky, lying thief” she counters. She says Briggs tried to pull her into the water, and she can't swim. He then mentions the daughter she gave up to adoption, “February 13, 1935.” No one could ever prove anyone is her daughter, but he seems determined to blackmail her. He argues he doesn’t “even have a car to get around in yet, or a place to stay.” She offers him a job. // [4-11] Bushmiller, sporting a new jacket, leaves in his 2-passenger Thunderbird convertible. At the entry gate, George Clark stops Bushmiller and challenges him about his wife, Betty Clark. Bushmiller thinks only that Clark is greedy, yet Clark is worried only about his “wife’s peace of mind.” / George Clark consults Perry Mason for a friend regarding adoption. Mason explains the rules pertaining in California. Betty, now 24, was raised in a state orphanage when her foster parents died when she was twelve. Mason gets Clark to admit that Betty is his wife, advises him that “it’s best to leave certain questions unanswered,” and that she may have no legal rights if properly adopted. Clark tells Mason that Lorna Thomas, the actress, is the mother of Betty, his wife. Mason glances at Della Street, who indicates interest. The attorney offers to help and Clark leaves. Della points out Clark’s “understanding of his wife’s feelings.” Mason asks her to get Paul Drake, also some fan magazines. “Gertie has quite a few under her desk” she offers. “From 1935?” / At a motel George tells Betty she must see Thomas. All she’s ever said is “mother, mother, mother, I wonder who she is.” She’s afraid. / Lorna is berated by her film producer, Tony Raeburn, for not producing her share of the money; it is 10 p m. By 10 a m someone must produce $100,000. Lorna insists she doesn’t have to make any picture she doesn’t want to. Betty is introduced by Harriet, who dismisses Raeburn, then rejects Betty, calling her a little impostor. If she ever sees her face again, she’ll “tell the police you’re trespassing.“ Lorna gets told off by Harriet for being so cruel, her affection would fill a thimble! Harriet leaves, after telling her that Bushmiller will be right back from the liquor store. She departs with a frosty “goodnight, ma’am.” / 10:30. Perry and Della Street arrive at Thomas's for a “friendly visit.” Lorna is dead. // [5-11] Lieutenant Tragg takes Dennis Briggs out of the room, then Mason tries to interview Bushmiller, but Lt Tragg takes him away, then tells Mason that Thomas was strangled. / Mason's office. Betty Clark is waiting when Mason arrives. She and George left Thomas's about 10 p m. She was angry, shouting. George dropped her at a the motel while he went to get gas. She went into a café to wait. He never returned. Paul Drake enters, informs the threesome that George Clark has been grilled since being picked up at 2 a m. He’s been booked for first degree murder. / Jail. George admits to Mason that he went back to the house to tell Thomas off, handled a number of household items including a jade statue and a jewelry box before he found her dead, about 10:15. He ran as fast as he could. Police found a broken bracelet in his car, stuffed in to the cushions. He, who had asked for help for his wife, now asks Mason’s help for himself, and gets it. / At the lake, Mason asks Raeburn about the bracelet, but gets no recognition. He admits to a fight with Lorna, says he is quite broke, even rents. He admits that Lorna may have had a child by Rafael O’Connor, a South American revolutionary who was executed. He expected to be the one charged with the murder. // [6-11] Mason reads a long list of jewelry missing from Thomas's, provided by Drake. “I don’t think anyone really knew Lorna,” says Dennis Briggs who asks Mason to take a $5000 check to help defend George Clark. For George’s wife’s sake, he wants to “see justice is done. “It was he who hired an investigator to find Betty. He suggests Lorna may have loaned her jewelry or put it away. Mason returns the check. Briggs leaves after claiming “I only wanted to help.” Della suggests that Briggs “seems to have devoted his whole life to Lorna Thomas's greatness.” Mason tells Della to have Paul get a full rundown on Thomas’s estate. / Bushmiller stops his car on a dirt track, opens the trunk, takes out a redi-mixed cement bag, and puts jewelry into the mix. He then throws the bag into a lake. // [7-11] Court. D A Hamilton Burger is prosecuting. Harriet Snow testifies to seeing George Clark run from the house just before she saw dead Thomas. Mason takes up cross-examination. Did she see or hear anything or anybody else? No. Did she see the jewelry in Thomas’s room? No. Was there time in which someone could have left before she saw Clark? Yes. If she wanted to kill Thomas, she could have picked anytime she wanted! Raeburn identifies the bracelet for Burger. He says Betty Clark came before 10. He overheard something about “Lorna Thomas’s daughter,” which Lorna denied. He had an argument; Thomas reneged on a business deal, potentially bankrupting him. He came by boat over the lake. Lt Tragg found the bracelet in Clark's car. The judge is curious as to the line of questioning, but Mason gets Tragg to admit that the bracelet is costume, “paste, practically worthless.” But Burger is not done, and pursues the issue. Of the jewelry, “what happened to it?“ “It was stolen.“ “Where was it found?“ “In the defendant’s car.“ Briggs testifies that he was the business manager for Thomas for more than 25 years. He hired a private detective in Portland, Oregon, to trace Thomas's daughter. The estate, he says, is in good condition. Bushmiller testifies to finding the daughter, Betty Clark, as well as his encounter with Clark at Thomas's, but puts his words in Clark's mouth, then lies about Clark’s motive. Mason is about to cross-examine when Drake enters and gives a signal. Mason gets the judge to order the noon recess. Drake tells Mason “it isn’t much, but I got him.” // [8-11] Mason's office. Drake has brought Mr Smith, who can identify the jewelry, but apparently not faces. Thomas's jewelry was all paste. But he is not certain he can identify the man. “I can identify the ice … but faces is to me like cock-a-roaches.” Mason suggests to Drake that then “we’ll just have to work it the other way around.” / Court. Mason asks Bushmiller about the jewelry. Drake brings Smith in, points to Bushmiller, and Mason renews his questioning, but Bushmiller denies seeing or showing the jewelry to anyone. Burger objects. The judge allows Mason “great latitude on cross-examination.” Pressured by Mason, he states that no one alive saw him leave for the liquor store, and Thomas was dead. Now he admits he took the jewelry, and put the bracelet in Clark's car, and went to Smith to sell them. When he discovered he had junk, he threw it in the lake. Now he states he saw Thomas try to murder Briggs in a boat. Briggs asserts that Thomas was his “dearest friend.” Why did he let the insurance on the jewelry lapse five years ago? Because thru the years the real jewelry had been sold off, replaced with paste. “She didn't even own her big house anymore.” He'd protected her for five years without taking any salary. In the boat returning from Raeburn's, she accused him of stealing. He “couldn’t stand it anymore.” He tripped and she lashed out. Raeburn, recalled, says that Briggs “told Lorna she'd have to get rid of old Harriet” to meet her obligation, “but even later that night at the house he still thought she had the money.” When Thomas sent him away, did he leave? Yes. Mason has the court “reporter” (stenographer) read earlier testimony in which Raeburn clearly heard a conversation between Thomas and Betty Clark, meaning he did not leave. Since a motion picture company carries insurance against anything happening to a star, only he stood to gain a single penny by Thomas's death. Raeburn says he faced starvation, and he “never knew anyone so cruel, so selfish,” as Thomas. // [9-11] By the lake, Drake says he'd have chosen Briggs over Raeburn, and Mason says he did. Raeburn's confession shows he was so angry with Thomas that he went into her study planning to take anything that would convert to cash. She came in, showed him the jewelry was costume and worthless. Enraged, he strangled her. On the lake, lovebirds, Betty and George. Mason comments, “At least we know the world keeps turning.” [10-11 end credits] [51:28]

[4-6/1-11 Title credits](1-1) [2-11](1-2) Inside a (Malibu) beachfront house, Doris (Shackley) pours out a drink, takes it to (Mike) Granger, who is playing poker with ( Johnny) Clay, (Ben) Wallace, Earnshaw (who leaves), and (Larry) Benton (who, holding 3 queens, draws two, discarding an Ace and the 7 of diamonds). Dealer Granger then shows four 7s, is promptly called a cheat by Benton. Granger draws a gun, Wallace leaves. After a fight, Granger is shot dead by Benton. Clay and Shackley see it all. Benton has problems they don't know about. Clay suggests they bury Granger in the sand, as he has no family. // [3-11](1-3) Larry Benton searches the newspapers for any note of Granger's death, then is presented a calling card, a 7 of diamonds, by his manservant, Mickey Fong. It is Wallace, who says he “likes to stay clear of the cops. How ‘bout you?” He saw Johnny bury Mike behind the beach house. Johnny and Doris can't afford to have the police looking in to their lives, so will hardly back Larry. He tries to blackmail Benton for $5,000, given the high-class surroundings, but Larry is only living in his brother's place. / At the beach house, Doris tells Johnny that she's scared. Johnny takes a call from Wallace about Larry giving in, then phones Granger, who is alive and hiding. Granger says “nobody will ever find where he’s holed up.” / Steve Benton confronts kid brother Larry with forged checks. Larry says his only fault was being Steve's brother. Steve slaps him. Larry says he's sick of being the ungrateful kid brother always compared to Steve. His elder brother has had Paul Drake check on Larry, who is in trouble with Johnny Clay. / Steve Benton asks Perry Mason to help his brother who, he has a hunch, is being blackmailed for he has paid $20,000 on a two-dollar limit poker game. After Steve leaves, Della Street says that she likes him, trusts his instincts. / Johnny and Doris are playing gin. Wallace joins them, says Granger is getting restless, having to live in a flea-bag, then announces that Larry gets his money by forgery. Doris thinks they should cut out. Johnny thinks this is a career, do it his way! / Paul Drake finds Nora Bradley in an apartment, living on the edge of poverty. He shows her a photo taken that morning by a Drake operative of Johnny Clay. It is her husband, John Bradley, who deserted her two years earlier. / Drake reports to Mason in the attorney’s office that Clay is really Bradley, who has done time. He has found nothing on Wallace. Granger has been missing since the last poker game, right after Larry began writing $5,000 checks. They plot a plan to get information from Doris, Clay’s girlfriend. / Paul and Perry drop in on Doris, who is coming in from a swim in the Pacific, and inform her of Johnny's desertion of his wife Nora. She insists they are lying. They inform her of where Nora is living. / Steve tells Mickey to get dinner as Larry arrives. Larry presents a briefcase filled with $20,000, and "John Clay" embossed in leather to his brother. / Benton returns the briefcase, starts cleaning up, finds Clay, dead. Wallace walks in, pulls out a gun when he sees Benton holding a poker, picks up the phone, calls the police. // [4-11](1-4) Jail. Benton says he's told all. "Did you tell me why you went first to see Clay?" asks Mason, who then points out that he “destroyed any chance the police might have for finding the real killer?” Steve won't allow Mason to bring Larry into this, then capitulates. "You do what he thinks best." As Mason leaves, Lieutenant Tragg stops him, tells him Steve Benton's fingerprints are all over the bathroom. / Fong is arranging flowers when Perry and Della arrive to confront Larry. “He asked me to say he wasn’t home.” “But where is he?” “In the study.” Clay was not home when he took the money around 7 o'clock, asserts Larry. He got the key from Doris Shackley told him it would be, after she told him of the shakedown plot by Clay. He knew Granger was alive. / Mason’s office. The attorney tells Drake that he must find Granger. Nora Bradley is introduced by Paul to Perry. Drake gets her coffee, which she refuses, so he drinks it. She still loves Johnny, always wanted him back. Mason gives her the third-degree, suggesting she has talked with Shackley. She refuses expense money, leaves. Perry tells Pau that she filed for her husband’s insurance money within 24 hours of his murder. // [5-11](1-5) Paul and Perry confront Doris at the beach house. Didn't she follow up on Nora Bradley? She couldn’t be bothered. Where is Granger? Drake finds Wallace in an adjacent room (his car was parked nearby). Wallace pulls a gun, but Paul knocks it to the floor. Mason asks, “weren’t you ever taught not to point these things?“ Paul then suggests Wallace put ice on his wrist. Paul and Perry leave, with the gun. Wallace orders Doris to get him ice. / Lt Tragg informs Perry about the penal code regarding intimidating a witness for the state, namely Wallace, who has a witness to the event, namely Shackley. Mason hands over Wallace's gun. // [6-11] The Los Angeles County Courthouse. Doctor Victor is responding to a question from D A Hamilton Burger when Lt Tragg enters with the poker. The doctor identifies the murder weapon and the time as 7-8:30. Tragg identifies the weapon, and a blood-stained handkerchief, then admits to Mason that lack of blood on the defendant's hands was unusual. On redirect, Hamilton Burger gets Tragg to note that there were defendant fingerprints on the wash bowl in the bathroom. On re-cross; isn't it impossible to determine when fingerprints were left? Yes. Did he ask Benton if he'd been there before? No. Larry Benton refuses to identify John Clay's briefcase, and Mason points out to the judge that the witness cannot identify the particular money. Larry admits he was foolish not to listen to his brother. As Mason rises for cross examination, Steve restrains him with a hand on the attorney's arm. "No questions." // [7-11](1-6) Doris Shackley states that Steve Benton threatened Johnny Clay, showing him the four $5000 checks made out to cash. They had an altercation, she tells Mason, and “there was blood all over the place.” She cannot remember where Benton washed up. She denies calling Nora Bradley. Then why did she call Larry Benton regarding the shakedown? "I was only kidding." Wallace says that the defendant was wiping fingerprints off the murder weapon when he arrived. After some argument, Mason corners Wallace regarding blackmail, thus gets him to admit that he saw Larry Benton murder Granger, and Johnny Clay bury him. Mason challenges him to show where the body is buried. Burger asks for, and gets, a recess. / At the beach, the police find a body under the cottage. “Nice family you represent” says Tragg to Wallace. // [8-11](1-7) Back in court. Mason argues against introduction of the earlier murder of Granger, but Burger argues to the judge that it provides a motive for the second murder. The judge states the principle involved and lets Burger proceed. / Tragg identifies Granger's coat. The cleaner's mark is shown by Tragg under ultraviolet light. The coat was cleaned three days after he was "murdered." Wallace is accused of willful perjury by Mason, as well as two murders. Burger, saying he wants justice, not just a conviction, tells the judge he wants to hear Mason out. Wallace's motive was $20,000. He thought Clay was double-crossing him when he couldn't produce the money, “because Larry Benton had it removed.” Tragg says he can compare in 15 minutes the fatal bullet to one from the gun Mason took from Wallace. Wallace is silent. The judge orders Wallace into custody. // [9-11](1-8) Paul, Perry, Della in Mason's office. Mason was led to Wallace because he was always on the scene, and Granger must have been dead or he'd have gotten his cut of the blackmail. Mason gives Paul his fee and he smiles. As the clock begins to strike the hour, Della wishes, “just once do you suppose we could get out of here before midnight?” Mason ushers "Cinderella" out quickly, followed by Drake. The clock continues to strike. Della returns to shut the glass door to the office balcony, leaves. Mason returns to turn off the lights. He shuts the door. In darkness, the clock strikes its final, twelfth, tone. [10-11 end credits](1-9) [52:40](52:22)

[5-6/1-8 Title credits](6-1)(2-1) [2-8](2-2) A bullet-nosed Ford convertible comes to a stop at a beach-front cottage. The driver, Toma (Sakai), is greeted by Mitsuo (Kamuri) who shows him Thelma Nichols' pearls which are worth a quarter of a million and which she found when she took her brushes to paint. Grove (Nichol)’s family would think that she stole them. She has no idea how they got there. Toma agrees to return the pearls. As she cries on his shoulder, a flash catches them as a photographer (Edgar Beals) makes a photo for (Hudson) Nichols, who is with him. Beals then phones the police. // [3-8] At the Seaside Beach municipal court. The judge advises Mitsuo she has a right to an attorney, but she knows none. One can be appointed. Mitsuo is committed to jail by the municipal judge unless she posts $5000 bail. Toma wants to call uncle Ito, but Mitsuo does not want him to know. Hudson Nichols posts the bail. As she leaves the court with Toma Nichols asks her to give up son Grove so that he can marry (non-Oriental) Alice Carson. She “will only call it quits if Grove desires it that way.” / Grove drives up to the family home in a new white Buick. On the back veranda Hudson Nichols tells his wife (Thelma) that he doesn't want a pound of flesh. Grove joins them and Thelma leaves. Grove wants to know why his father framed Mitsuo. Detective (Edgar Beals) told him how the frame was done. Hudson shows Grove a set of rosé pearls made to match the stolen ones. “It’s always been for your own good, Grove,” mimicks the son, who is tired of being groomed for dad's position, always being told what to do, algebra instead of art, business administration instead of architecture, Alice instead of Mitsuo. So he'll marry Mitsuo if she’ll have him. To prove he did not frame Mitsuo, dad offers to hire Perry Mason to defend her. / On a busy downtown Los Angeles street, Mason and Della Street arrive at Kamuri's Oriental Imports. Mason suggests his secretary, looking for an anniversary gift for an aunt, get pearls. “On a secretary’s salary?” she snaps. They are met by Mitsuo, but Ito Kamuri (the only one who pronounces the Japanese surname correctly; KA mur eee) offers to show better pearls than those in the showcase and takes him to an inner room. There Kamuri introduces Mr Nogata (Mason mispronounces his name, just as he did Kamuri’s, placing the accent on the middle rather than first syllable, as will every one else in the cast). Kamuri identifies several kinds of pearls to Mason; “iridescent ones from Samow, and these with the faint yellow cast are from the Sula See, and from the Gulf of Mexico, black pearls.” He admits that "blushing (rosé) pearls" are the rarest. In the show room Della purchases a $35 string. Mitsuo asks Della to help her approach Mr Mason. / (6-2) Over Japanese dinner they discuss Mitsuo’s situation. She met Grove in an art class. Does she love Grove? Her heart has not yet spoken. She worries that the disgrace this could cause might kill her uncle Ito like a proud samuri. Mason asks about the matching rosé cultured pearls. Then Mason accepts a 5 yen piece (about 2¢) as retainer. Mason admits Nichols phoned on her behalf but the attorney wanted “Mitsuo to have the chance to make up her own mind.” / (6-3) Drake reports that “the only place in the city that a matching set of rosé pearls could have been made was at Ito Kamuri's. The case where the real pearls were kept had Mitsuo’s fingerprints. Grove enters wanting to know if Mason is being paid by his father. No, though he offered a $5000 retainer. “Then Mitsuo must have . . .” Mason cuts him off with “must have stolen the pearls?” / Grove speaks to Ito Kamuri and Toma regarding the duplicate pearls. He leaves thinking that they were made for Mitsuo. / Mitsuo admits to once touching the pearls and that Alice Carson, Nichols choice, came by then. Grove enters with the photo made by Beals of Toma and Mitsuo hugging. He storms back out. Mitsuo is devastated, but will speak to her uncle. / Late at night Mitsuo meets a night watchman (Connors), (6-4) then enters Kamuri's where she finds uncle Ito dead. // [4-8](6-5)(2-3) Mason enters his office and Della hands him the newspaper that reveals the hara kiri. He is informed by Della that she has failed to find Mitsuo and that Lieutenant Tragg had also come by looking for Mitsuo. / Toma says Grove was misinformed. Ito admitted that a matching set of pearls were made, but for whom? Mason searches the back room. Where is the red rug? Toma says there was none. The watchman saw Mitsuo. Mason asks for the books to see about the string of rosé pearls, but two separate pages are torn out, one from a week ago, the other from two months before. / Mason speaks to Connors, who spoke to Mitsuo "a couple of minutes before twelve." Outside, Edgar Beals offers information, but Mason won't buy, instead he could get it out of him in court./ Della and Paul speak to Mitsuo’s landlady who shows them a painting given her by Mitsuo. She says that Mitsuo came by in the morning about two and left at dawn. / Alice Carson dives into the swimming pool. Thelma Nichols calls to her. Lt Tragg joins them and she tells Tragg that she did not see Mitsuo steal pearls, only saw her taking them out of the case. Why, she tried on the pearls herself. Mason is announced by the maid, Mary. Tragg, on the way out, asks Mason to have Mitsuo get in touch with him so questions about the suicide can be answered. Mason is told off by Thelma who thinks the suicide links Ito and Mitsuo in the theft. The lawyer then tells Grove he’s worse than a heel. Thelma reports that Hudson went to San Francisco, where he has an office and a small apartment, the night before. Mason suggests that Grove should be trying to find Mitsuo. / Della with Paul finds Mitsuo at an oceanside cliff. Della is worried Mitsuo might be planning to commit suicide. / (6-6) Mitsuo is of the samurai class, yet her proud uncle wore no ceremonial robe in his hara kiri and there was no red rug. Tragg enters to announce that the suicide is now a murder, for Beals has told Tragg that Mitsuo also entered the store earlier at eleven o'clock. He even heard her argue with her uncle. She admits it. / [5-8](6-7)(2-4)At the county jail Mason warns Mitsuo how the prosecution will proceed against her, and that her uncle left everything to her and Toma. She accused her uncle of lying about her in their eleven o'clock meeting and went back to apologize at midnight and beg forgiveness. She thought that “she was to blame for his suicide.” / In court Lt Tragg testifies for Hamilton Burger about hara kiri and why this instance was murder. Mrs Nichols testifies that the cultured pearls in her case were substituted for her rosé pearls. When she discovered the loss, she told her husband. Husband Hudson testifies to finding the real pearls in Miss Kamuri's hand. Did he hire Beals to watch Mitsuo? Mason suggests it was to plant the pearls. He is forced to admit that he did not hire Beals, his wife did. Toma says Ito did not deny Grove's insinuation of making a duplicate set of pearls. He offered to return the pearls for Mitsuo because he loves her. Sgt Taylor (a technician) testifies regarding fingerprints and identifies the natural rosé pearls. When Burger offers them in evidence, one as cultured, the other natural, Mason challenges his claiming to be an expert on pearls! Mason demands proper authentication of the pearls. // [6-8](6-8)(2-5) Itsubi Nogata admits the eye is not sufficient, only X-ray . . . and explains why. The technician brings the X-rays which show both strings of pearls to be cultured, neither natural! Both Burger and Mason are surprised. / Drake returns from his trip via the office back door. 2 torn pages suggested two sets of pearls being made. "He who plays with fire sometimes throws light on situation" is Mason's old saying as he notes only a Japanese could have read the torn pages. Would the two like to help the attorney commit a little arson? / (6-9) The three go hunting. Della rings Nogata's bell and is admitted. Outside, Mason with Drake lights a fire. When Nogata sees the fire, he grabs the real blushing pearls from his dresser. Mason is waiting for him outside. / (6-10) Nogata admits to the theft. He made two strings, one recently, one two months ago. He identifies Alice Carson as being in the store when one string was made. / On the stand, Alice admits that she ordered a matching set for $5000 and had Beals find what she thought was the original set. She knows that Hudson Nichols was in San Francisco because he called Thelma just past eleven. Mason shows Hudson a photostat of letter from the bank threatening foreclosure on his San Francisco plant for an overdue $200,000 note. Ito Kamuri paid him $180,000 for the blushing pearls. He had a matching set made to keep his wife from discovering the ruse. Mason asserts that he made the phone call not from San Francisco but from the Kamuri store. The phone call "from San Francisco" was made by Nichols' secretary, Miss Carmody. When she is brought in to the courtroom, Nichols confesses; Kamuri didn’t want just money, but for him ‘to make a clean breast of the whole thing. I had to kill him.” // [7-8] At a Japanese restaurant Mitsuo, accompanied by Tomo, says that her civilization is older and gentler than American and suggests that "the quiet enjoyments are very important." Then Della gives Perry something from Hamilton. Perry tells the group it is “a citation for burning trash without a permit.” [8-8 end credits](6-11)(2-6) [51:17](51:05)

[2-5/1-10 Title credits] [2-10] In Las Vegas’s Little Church of the West, the minister, a witness and Mrs Brant with her white-haired husband come out, he in wheelchair. A photographer takes a flash photo The Reverend and witness lift her husband into the car. She chases a photographer (Charley Cass?) away. She gets into the driver’s seat, drives away. Inside the car, the husband removes his wig, eyebrows and mustache. She pays him $1000. He asks how he’s to get in touch with her, “a very attractive woman,” but she’s already said “you don’t.” She orders him out of the car. // [3-10] At a trotting track at Gold West Farms, a couple (Terry Blanchard and Clara Hammon) time a racer. The race goes on, and Jo Ann (Blanchard) pulls ahead on the outside with "Spindrift," beating the horse driven by the real John Brant. Brant and his trotter follow her to the stable, and he is lifted into his wheel chair by Peter White and Terry. Brant demands Jo Ann give him Spindrift, or he'll take everything she inherited, due to his conditional contract of sale with her father. Brant orders his secretary, book keeper, "but not my wife" Clara (the Vegas "Mrs Brant") to take him into town. Peter White, John's ward, is ordered to help him. / Perry Mason's office. Mason walks in, and Jo Ann Blanchard is announced by Della Street. She says she has a colt “under two minutes for the mile six times,” but Terry Blanchard, part time actor, salesman …,” has spent all her funds. She explains the contract of conditional sale to Mason, but he discovers that the colt was a gift before that, so is hers. / White is looking in a desk when Clara returns. He's discovered checks signed "Clara Brant." Is she embezzling? Clara produces the marriage certificate. She gives White invoices and he leaves with a parting, “Clara, congratulations.” Clara anxiously phones Terry. / At a bar. Terry complains of checks Clara has been writing, but to her they are proof of the man and wife relationship. Clara coaxes Terry to give Brant a nudge to his death. Does he want her to do it? “No, that would be even worse.“ Tomorrow “may be too late.” He’ll see what he can dream up. “Do more than dream, Terry” she advises. Terry leaves. As Clara starts out she is accosted at the bar by her Vegas husband (Earl Maudlin). He’s noticed Terry, “good looking boy, but no actor.“ He’s impressed with the luxurious ranch. She rejects his blackmail until he drops his price from $10,000 to $3,500 so that he can be actor-manager of a summer stock company in Carmel. She pays with checks from two banks. / In a late forties Ford Country Squire woody, Perry and Jo Ann arrive at the Blanchard Stock Farm. They are greeted by ranch hand ("Pop" Abbott) with word that two men and Brant have taken Spindrift. / White demands of Brant that he give the horse back or he'll leave. He’s repaid Brant “five times over.“ Mason and Blanchard, with Clara, enter, and the attorney asks for the horse, pointing out that it belongs to Jo Ann. [4-10] Clara tells Terry she thinks they should go and get Spindrift. He responds angrily, tells her he doesn’t want her around Brant’s ranch that night. Each argues over who will “take care of it,” and Terry storms out. / Night under a full moon. Jo Ann arrives at the stable pulling a horse wagon, finds Brant dead, runs away. // [5-10] White holds Spindrift as Lieutenant Tragg and Sergeant Brice arrive. They surmise the wheelchair scared the horse. Clara Brant comes forth. Lt Tragg wonders how Brant got to the stable around midnight when he was killed. “It was his dream to win the Hamiltonian with Spindrift.” Clara wants the horse killed, asserting “He’ll kill again.” At the stable, Tragg wonders how a cripple could reach the outside bolt from the inside “and lock himself in.” / Mason hears from Charley Cass that Peter White discovered the body, and that Brant was secretly married to his secretary. Jo Ann bursts in about disposing of her horse. Mason tells Della to contact Judge Praeger and get Paul Drake. Jo Ann stumbles into admitting she saw Spindrift and dead Brant just after twelve. She told brother Terry. Mason says he’ll try to get a court order restraining Mrs Brant. Drake enters, informs them that homicide is on the case. / Clara is confronted by Terry over disposal of the horse. She says better this than the police not finding a trace of blood on his hooves. / A veterinarian is about to kill Spindrift when a process server brings a court order stopping him. Tragg arrives, arrests Jo Ann for murder. // [6-10] Mason points out to his secretary how Spindrift provides a motive for the murder. Drake reports on Clara Hammon Brant, showing similarity of her first and second marriages, and noting her familiarity with Terry Blanchard. On the day of Brant's death, one Earl Mauldin cashed two checks, one on the account of Clara Hammon, the other Clara Brant, for a total of $3500, which neither account could cover alone. Mauldin is a broken down actor in Carmel. Paul is ordered to check on the Las Vegas marriage / Court. The coroner tells D A Hamilton Burger that the decedent was not killed by the horse. The D A introduces an iron bar, a jack handle, as the weapon, and Mason objects, but Burger says he’ll connect it. The fingerprint man found fingerprints of Peter White and Jo Ann Blanchard on the stable bolt. Tragg shows a cast of a car tire, left front wheel of Blanchard's woody. He also found the weapon, with blood on it, wedged under the seat (Jo Ann whispers to Mason that she doesn't know where that came from). The court clerk takes it from Burger for identification. Blood on the jack handle was same type as decedent. Terry Blanchard is asked if he wasn't asked by his sister to go to the Brant ranch to bring back the horse? He is prodded by a signed affidavit from Mrs Brant, to which Mason objects. Burger asserts he is “only trying to refresh the witness’s memory.“ After a nod from Clara, he says yes. He refused. Mason gets him to admit he said he'd handle it in his own way. Clara heard Miss Blanchard's car and saw Miss Blanchard drive away after midnight. She tells Mason there was a full moon, so she could identify the defendant at 200 feet distance. Burger offers Mason an almanac. "Pop" Abbott stands up, claims that he killed Brant. Burger calls for an immediate adjournment and the judge grants the request. The D A tells Mason that he is outraged at the stunt, is sure he’s “got the guilty one.” / At his office, Mason paces as he awaits Drake's return. The only unusual aspect of Clara's marriage is the refusal to buy the wedding photos that were taken. Mason compares Brant's real signature with that on the license; they are different significantly. Photo shows un-gloved hand is not that of an old man, but someone adept at the art of makeup. / The Seaside Playhouse in Carmel. An actress and Earl Mauldin are rehearsing a scene from “Macbeth.” Mauldin compliments his actress then, in his dressing room, is confronted by Mason with receiving $3500 for the fraudulent marriage, and therefore accessory to murder. Mauldin knocks Mason’s folder to the floor and, as the attorney reaches down to pick it up, the actor pulls a photo down from his mirror. Mason notices the photos on the mirror, of Mauldin’s roles. Then he discovers the actor's vanity, namely, a photo of John Brant used by Mauldin to make himself up as Brant. // [7-10] Court. Hamilton Burger says they reject Abbott’s confession but are continuing the investigation. As Clara Brant is recalled, Mason sends Della out. Clara is asked about her affair with Terry Blanchard. She’s married and an affair would be foolish. Mason says the marriage was fake. Della brings in Earl Mauldin, dressed in his John Brant makeup and in a wheelchair. “He promised to stay away,” she cries. Not as an accessory to murder is Mason’s rejoinder. / Mauldin, now his self, admits to taking $1000 to be Brant, another $3500 to keep quiet. Burger makes snide remarks at Mason over the performance, and is then admonished by the Trial Judge who was in on the act. Mason then shows how Mauldin stood to gain by Brant's death, using the goose that laid the golden egg as example, only here, the goose had to die. For then he could demand even more from Clara Hammon. Since he didn't fly back to Carmel until after the murder, what did he do the night of the murder? Mason notes that, when he checked his car in at the airport at 3:55 am, a jack handle was missing. Mason asks him to take the murder weapon from him. Mauldin breaks down, confesses. // [8-10] Mason gives Jo Ann Blanchard a present, then from Peter White (who inherits all of Brant's estate) her mortgage marked "paid in full." Terry will have to serve time. Jo Ann gives Mason the title to the first foal of Spindrift, as payment for his services, plus three box seats at the race for him, Drake and Street, from Spindrift. [9-10 end credits] [52:40]

[3-5/1-9 Title credits](1-1) [2-9](1-2) Joe Marsden and Donna Kress are listening to her demo record for Star Recordings. Frank Thatcher joins them, quickly ushers her out. / Thatcher enters and apartment building with Donna and is greeted by the desk clerk (Anders). Thacher takes Donna to an apartment he’s set up for her, gives her a key. He points out that the apartment is soundproofed and has a stereo. She asks for a drink. She sees that the towels have Mr, and Mrs embroidered on them. She knows he won't get a divorce. He won’t give up his business opportunities with the Dameron family, into which he’s married. She throws the drink in his face after noting he won’t be “divorcing fifteen million dollars.” She confronts him and he responds that she can’t conceive how ridiculous it would be for him to give up his business opportunities. / Driving home at night, Marsden hits a man, kills him. // [3-9] Tad Dameron tells Charles Dameron of the death via quote of Shakespeare’s gravedigger from Hamlet as Henry Dameron and son-in-law Thatcher look on. Tad gets a drink. Alexander Colin of the steam fitters union is the dead man. Frank says he wanted to go to the police but whiskey had been spilled on him at the club and he had the Dameron position to uphold. Charles points out 200 foot skid marks, blood on the car. Henry stops him, says Frank was chosen to marry Judith because one son is a bookworm, other a bottle worm. Neither could run a lemonade stand! Tad is to take care of Frank’s car. Charile raises the issue of the dead man’s family. It is agreed to send $25,000 to the Colin family, anonymously. Henry tells Frank that he must take care of it. Judith meets Frank on his way out, warns him she knows of his liaison. Henry breaks up their quarrel. / Paul Drake is in his office (a far cry from the cubbyhole of the novels) when Margo, his secretary, asks to go out to lunch. Frank Thatcher comes in, calls himself Frank Danco. He wants Drake to deliver the money for a Canadian friend. / Mrs Colin is spun a story of an overweight Canadian friend, also a member of the steam fitters, who struck it rich in uranium, by Drake. She tells Drake her husband was hit, killed, and not overweight as the gift-giving friend claimed. He was 165, but his driver’s license said 195, so someone looked at that. She breaks down crying, for she misses the noises he made around the house. / Perry Mason returns to his office from Santa Barbara. Della Street tells him that Drake is upset according to Margot. / Drake investigates Danco's apartment building where he is accosted by desk clerk Anders. Danco arrives, takes him to the room, asks for a receipt. Drake tells him he cannot hide behind lies, confronts him. Thatcher says he’ll send him a $10,000 check, which Drake refuses. They fight. Drake is knocked out with a heavy object. / [4-9](1-4) The desk clerk is knocking on the door. Drake is on the floor. He wakes to the tune of “I need a man I can own” on the stereo. The clerk enters with two police, one called Harry. Thatcher is dead on the floor. / Mason and Della are returning to the office when they get a call from Paul. / Lieutenant Tragg shows Mason an envelope with $25,000 found in Drake’s desk. D A Hamilton Burger apologizes to Mason. He’s a public servant and has to get an indictment. They both seem upset at this turn of events. / Drake's gun shot Thatcher, twice. He’d figured things out. Executive vice-president of the Dameron Company, headed by Henry, represented power and influence. Instead of phoning, he went to Danco/Thatcher. He arrived at 7:10, was hit at 7:15. 7:30 came to. / Mason goes to the Thatcher residence where Judith greets him, coolly, as the lawyer of the man who widowed her. He catches her in knowledge of the Donna Kress relationship with her husband. Henry Dameron confronts Mason who quickly asks about the family member who was involved in hit-and-run. Dameron tries to bribe Mason with lucrative contracts for the attorney and Drake. He then suggests he could testify to his son-in-law having a nasty temper, so that Drake could plead manslaughter, having been provoked. Mason responds with a no. Henry contacts son Tad on the intercom. Tad suggests that Drake was blackmailing Frank over hit-and-run. / At the recording studio Donna is listening to a new demo of “I need a man” when Mason and Street enter. She discusses her relationship with Frank, nine years, and they were to be married before the "Damerons" came along. She is bitter. Mason asks Marsden if he, too, knew Thatcher. The police report shows that he called the apartment. To speak to Donna, he says. But she got a rehearsal call at the night club and was out. Frank was worried about Drake calling the apartment. No, Drake never threatened, he was just doing a job for Frank, who believed he could make Drake come around to his way of thinking. Tad even tried to prevent Frank from leasing the apartment. Mason needs her statement but, urged by Marsden, she puts it off until she finishes recording. Mason and Della leave. Charles Dameron then interrupts Miss Kress. His father has just bought the Star Recordings company. / Mason gets a call from Donna who, with Charles standing behind her, says that now she won't help. / [5-9](1-5) In the Los Angeles County Courthouse, the ballistics expert testifies for Hamilton Burger about the guns. Mason objects to a paraffin test, quoting from a Colorado court decision saying it is unreliable, and is sustained. Officer Wilson testifies for the prosecution to finding both Drake and a record with a blank label of a lady singing. Miss Kress testifies regarding Frank's expecting Drake to contact him. She has no alibi. Tad notes that the blood on Frank's car dried. Mason and Burger stipulate regarding hit-and-run. Tad lies about knowing about hit-and-run until after the murder. Burger is bothered by Tad’s statement that Frank was using Drake to cover for himself. Mason shows that Tad had time to stop by the apartment near 7 p m. He asserts that he didn’t know about the apartment until after the murder. Charles Dameron testifies that Frank had him get $25,000 the day before death. Mrs Colin testifies that Drake had discussed money, but did not deliver it. / Hotel clerk Anders testifies about finding Drake behind his desk, and that no one entered or exited while he was on duty. Mason asks what Anders did with the magazines he bought. Did he not read them? Not at that time. Anders prides himself on getting along with everybody, yet has had four wives. Mr Wiltzy, who services the apartment, states he put a pad lock on the back door when he left the apartment at 4 p m. After the judge adjourns court for the night, Mason hints to Paul that he has already solved the case. / Outside the apartment building, Mason sends a private detective to keep Anders, who has just bought a newspaper from a boy hawking the headline private eye on trial, busy, while Della sneaks into the building and the apartment's locker room. From there, Della dials the switchboard. Anders answers, but sees Mason heading up the stairs in his rear view mirror. He misses Della coming down. / [6-9](1-6) Back in court, Tragg testifies about his report, but is cross-examined about the demo record. Mason plays the demo as he pursues the question of no one being able to enter the apartment other than Drake. Burger, after objecting and then hearing Mason’s reason, agrees to this line of thought being pursued. Miss Kress is asked how a demonstration copy of the record could get into the apartment. She has no answer. Frank and she had keys. Mason suggests that she was in the room but, when he sees her reaction to his suggestion that she made the call from the locker room, he recognizes that it was Marsden who made the call that allowed him to slip out when the police arrived and Anders was not at his desk. She breaks down, calls to Joe to deny it. Marsden accepts the blame so Donna, whose beautiful voice he’s nurtured, won’t be silenced. He’s not sorry for what he did. // [7-9](1-7) Henry Dameron gives Mason a large check, is sending Drake a larger. Mason tears up his check, with the comment that Dameron is “so far removed from humanity that he believed every one of his children capable of murder.” [8-9 end credits](1-8) [52:40](52.27)

[4-5/1-9 Title credits] [2-9] (Sylvia) Welles, holding a Siamese kitten, admits (Rip) Conners so that he may bug the house. It is a joke that she wants to play on a friend, a tenth wedding anniversary. Afterwards he’ll come back and cut and splice the tape. “Make it sound like they’re secret lovers.” He bugs, shows her how to work the machine, leaves. She picks up the Siamese. // [3-9] In 43 years, notes Richard Vanaman to his wife (Frances), (Henry) Noble has presented only eight coins. He has one, Fred Petrie has one, and vice-presidency lies between the two. Welles phones Richard, says she must see him before investing $250,000. She’s leaving town this evening. Frances is upset over her husband's working nights with Miss Welles. / Richard presents the prospectus to Welles. She gets him to make a variety of statements; “just for you … more than a personal eye, a constant and devoted eye … a labor of love.” then the Siamese cat finds the bug, and so does Vanaman. He is outraged, but she counters with her “jealous husband." He threatens her if this is a badger game, extortion. He leaves. She stops the recorder and phones Conners. / Vanaman waits at home for his wife. She returns from a walk. He lost his "quarter noble" at Sylvia's. Frances notes his use of her first name. He rushes out to get the coin. / Mr (Eliot) Hale gets the newspapers from the Delivery Man in the lobby. / Vanaman finds Sylvia dead. Hale knocks on the door, enters, sees Vanaman slip out, finds the body. // [4-9] MURDER OF BEAUTY BAFFLES POLICE reads the Los Angeles Chronicle headline handed by Vanaman to Perry Mason. In the article there is a note about an old English gold coin being found in a parking meter. Vanaman acmits to being in the apartment, says that Henry Noble, head of the company, hates publicity, so he cannot claim the coin. He lies, agreeing Sylvia was alive when he left the apartment. / Paul Drake arrives at the police station to pick up the coin, gets the attention of the property officer, just as a blonde with a photographer arrives and describes the quarter noble perfectly, as well as the location of the parking meter she put it in. Flash; the photographer catches her posing. She is Bunny Lee. / Bunny returns to her apartment. Drake has followed in his Thunderbird, with Vanaman, who goes to Lee when Drake leaves him to phone Mason. Bunny welcomes him to her apartment. // The night clerk (Eliot Hale) confronts Vanaman, who offers to pay his blackmail to get the coin. Lieutenant Tragg and Sergeant Brice have been waiting behind a curtain, and appear at this critical moment. / Mason interviews Vanaman at Tragg's office. Richard admits to returning to Welles's apartment a second time. He just wanted to get the coin, but Hale interrupted him. The room was wiretapped. He met Welles recently at Fred Petrie's. Mason asks why she didn't have Petrie invest her quarter million. Vanaman used his one phone call to reach Henry Noble. / Mason is told by Noble that Vanaman is no longer employed. Mason wonders why Noble would be so narrow-minded about an innocent man. The company has been in business 43 years. “I wonder how,“ asks Mason, “it could have survived under such righteousness?“ Petrie enters, declares his complete support of Vanaman. Is Sylvia Welles an acquaintance? No? Perhaps she crashed his party? Or been invited by his wife, suggests Mason. / Doris Petrie receives a telephone call from Conners, who offers a spool of tape, cut and edited, for $1000. / Detective Drake reports on Fred Petrie to attorney Mason and secretary Della Street. Wife Doris was formerly a secretary to Henry Noble. She was busy, saw Hale, went to the bank, bought gardenias. Drake leaves as Hale arrives. Mason is told by Hale that he promised himself that he’d bring the murderer to justice if he could. He got a phone call from a woman asking if any recording tapes had been found in the apartment. She left a phone number; (Doris Petrie). He wants the truth. “Welles was a lady, a gentle woman, an angel almost.” After he leaves, Della comments that he is in love with Welles. Mason phones Doris, and she refuses to help, even while her husband overhears her. She tells him she's going to buy a tape recording between Vanaman and the murdered woman. She is paying $1000 for the vice-presidency of Noble & Co. He wants none of it, but she doesn't care how he gets the VP. He stops her. / Della, at the Hi-Fi Rondelay Shop, poses as Mrs Petrie, but Lt Tragg shows up just as Connors starts the tape. Mason joins them, Tragg confiscates the tape. / D A Hamilton Burger examines Conners after hearing the tape. He picked up the equipment and gave tape to Welles at 9:30. Then how did he get the tape back? Burger points out the seriousness in charging a respected man with murder. The D A is outraged at the fake Conners has produced. He didn't use demagnetized shears, so pops are heard at every splice. Connors then says that there is more, for he used two mikes, and Vanaman threatened Welles, and it is on the tape. // [5-9] Court. The autopsy surgeon tells D A Burger that death occurred from asphyxia. Hale says that when he took newspapers to the apartment, he found Welles's apartment open, the cat yowling. He found Welles and saw Vanaman running out. He found “an old English coin known as a quarter noble” in the room, then set up the parking meter plan to get the man who dropped it. Burger asks that the coin be entered into evidence and the court clerk takes it. Hale had seen the defendant several times before, as well as on the night of the murder. Mason gets Hale to admit that he does not see everyone who goes in or out of the apartment building. Delivering the newspaper to Miss Welles was special. Lt Tragg identifies fingerprints and explains how the defendant tried to reclaim the coin from Bunny Lee. Connors identifies his tape. The tape is loaded. The unedited part of the tape is played. Connors says he came for his equipment just before nine, edited the tape, then left. He was not paid. How did he know Mrs Petrie wanted to buy the tape? Does she “consider $1000 a few bucks"? Mason consults Vanaman, who says he left the apartment at 8:45, took ten minutes to get home. Conners left at 9:30. So time between 9:30 and 10:05 is clear; but Frances says, no, she wasn't there when Richard arrived home. / Mason's office. Frances admits she took a cab to Welles's apartment house. She got there at 9:20. The desk clerk did not see her. She saw someone listening at Welles's door. ”He was in shadow.” She panicked and ran. So she cannot give Richard an alibi. Neither can he give her one, points out the attorney. // [6-9] Court. Doris Petrie went to school with Sylvia in Iowa. She says Sylvia told her she'd fallen in love with Vanaman. She told Sylvia that Vanaman’s wife was rather drab, but had lots of money. Sylvia didn't have a dime to her name! To Mason; she was at home between 9:30 and 10:10, with her husband. Mason elicits information about the rivalry between Vanaman and her husband for the vice-presidency. What one reason could Welles have for taping Vanaman? Why did she, Doris, have a thousand? He traps her into showing she knows the precise amount of money Welles wanted Vanaman to invest. Didn't she have Sylvia entice Vanaman? But her scheme didn't work. Didn’t she order the cutting and splicing of the tape to give it a different meaning? Judge Hood raises a question about the tape, and Mason reiterates the difference between the edited and unedited parts. If she were going to turn the tape over to the police, why did she insist on hearing it first? Might not it have incriminated her? Hale, recalled, remembers Mrs Petrie asking about tapes and a technician, from Welles's room. Was he the man standing outside Welles's door that Mrs Petrie saw? “No, Mr Mason. How could I be listening to something out in the hallway? Those doors are solid!” “What about the peephole … you could hear splendidly.” The edited part of the tape is played. This is what was overheard by Hale, who thought it “was a real scene.” His “angel was being defiled.” The woman he loved “had revealed feet of clay,” so he killed her. His mother was the same, an angel. Hale confesses. // [7-9] Noble presents Mason a quarter noble. Vanaman and Petrie will compete, again, for the vice-presidency, a solution better than Solomon's. [8-9 end credits] [51:26]

[5-5/1-8 Title credits](3-1) [2-8](3-2) A woman (Madge Wainwright) is walking a small terrier. She sees a coat in a store display window, goes inside, rips it off the dummy. / At Dunbar, Inc., Madge vents her rage at a $27.50 copy of her $200 Dunbar original. Owner Wally Dunbar introduces Rick (Stassi), the designer, who thinks nothing of it. She closes her arrangement with Dunbar. It is the third cancellation in the week and Dunbar worries that any more could cause bankruptcy, but Stassi says "bathing suits" are the key. Dunbar tears up drawings of the spring line, says they'll do another in secret. They’ll have security that’ll make Fort Knox look like a parade ground.” // [3-8](3-3) Lisa (Ferrand) fits model (Kitty Wynne) in a bathing suit. Model Kitty is going to have to stay late for a photo shoot. Kitty is sympathetic with Lisa’s who is being worked so hard by Wally, who Lisa knows Kitty is soft on. Stassi looks at the changes. In private, Kitty asserts there is nothing between them, yet he makes a pass. Kitty shouts "I hate you, I could kill you," rushes out as Stassi laughs at her. Dunbar likes the new swim suit, says “now is where the security starts.” / Dunbar consults with Perry Mason about security. They are at the “pilot model stage.” He wants an eye kept on certain buyers, workers, and Simol Atley. Mason quotes Judge Learned Hand, to whit, “When it comes to fashion and changing styles, others may imitate at their pleasure.” Once his fashions are out, he doesn’t care who copies. / At Dunbar’s competitor Atley Wear, Madge tells Simon Atley of the whole new spring line of bathing suits. He makes it clear that he wouldn’t pay her one cent and doesn’t want to hear about them. / Lisa, desperately, makes a pass at Rick who doesn’t “even dare to take a pencil out of the building.” She is rebuffed when he suggests that she go out with her photographer “husband, for a change.” / Paul Drake arrives outside Bud Ferrand’s photo studio, is briefed by his operative Charlie. He’s told to worry about the studio, its equipment and such, not Kitty. / Inside the studio Kitty Wynne is posing. “Bartender just asked how old your are” brings out a smile. She wants to get the job done. Only one more suit of the three to be shot. When the phone rings, Kitty pleads with Bud to tell Wally she’s already gone home. But the call is to nearly-drunk Bud from Lisa; she's not coming home. “Out with that Stassi character?” he queries. He hangs up, smashes a whiskey bottle on the phone. / A watchman (Mr Miller) punches his time card. A white Lincoln drives out of the fenced Dunbar parking lot as Drake watches the watchman calling goodnight to Stassi. The detective then asks the watchman about the place and the people who work there, “how things are locked up.” / Drake arrives at Rick’s in his ragtop T-bird, investigates Kitty's duo-tone Ford Fairlane convertible parked in Rick’s driveway. He finds drawings of bathing suits, concealed in a brief case. He returns to his car. Kitty comes running out of the house, drives away. / Drake reports to Mason and Dunbar his finding the drawings. Dunbar is upset that Drake snooped on his girlfriend. Della Street brings in a newspaper which has an ad by Atley Wear advertising designs identical to Dunbar's. Della phones Stassi, gets Lieutenant Tragg of homicide, who tells her that Stassi’s here “in body if not spirit.” // [4-8](3-4) Sergeant Macready greets Mason and Dunbar, who sees Lisa and goes to her. She was driving drunk about 3 a m. A milkman found Stassi, dead. Lt Tragg shows Dunbar a gun, one that Dunbar gave Stassi, a target pistol. He has several, related to security issues. Tragg releases Lisa and asks Dunbar to accompany him downtown. Mason cautions Wally on what he should reveal to Tragg. / Drake’s code knock, “shave and a hair-cut,” gets its “five cents” when he turns the handle on the door before entering. He reports that the police are demanding his records of surveillance. Della says Dunbar has called. Kitty is being booked for the murder. / Jail. Mason asserts that client and attorney have to have faith in each other. Kitty admits that she arrived at Stassi's about 11 and no one was there. She didn’t know what he might have told Wally. She dated Rick and posed for him, but nothing more. She found drawings and notes, took them with her and burned them in her fireplace. She doesn't know how the work sketches of bathing suits were found in her suitcase. Does Mason have faith in her? she asks. Yes. / After handing Mason her terrier, Madge triumphantly shows Simon his ad in the newspaper. He had it arranged all the time, she asserts. Atley tells Mason that Madge was once fired, for theft, by Dunbar’s father. Mason asks Atley about fashion sketches, reminds him that this is theft of private property (not a patent or copyright issue) since he's been protecting same for Dunbar. Atley denies he or employees saw any sketches or suits. Then Kitty Wynne was not responsible for the suits in the ad? “How can I answer a question like that?” Since final work sketches have details different from Atley's, Lisa Ferrand's touches, then did not Atley get the designs from Stassi? Atley paid Stassi $25,000, in 100 dollar bills, to draw for him the new designs. / Perry tells Della that Stassi probably put the drawings in the suitcase. Drake reports that he’s been subpoenaed, then the finding of ashes in the fireplace and crumpled $100 bill at Ferrand apartment. // [5-8](3-5) In court the doctor is telling D A Hamilton Burger that death occurred at least eight hours before he investigated, which makes it before 11:30. Police technician Ellis identifies the gun and bullets. Linen threads were caught in the gun breech. Madge Wainwright about 9:30 recognized Stassi's voice and Lisa Ferrand's on the phone, and their "relationship." She “posed in the near nude” for him. Ferrand bursts out "that's not true." Mason asks Madge if there were other attractive women at Dunbar's. “Yes, all of them were.” He gave them attention (“until they passed 22” she had noted earlier). How about herself, and for how long? Silence. Yvonne Lacoste testifies to overhearing Kitty's death threat. Bud Ferrand says Kitty left his studio about 10:45. Mason asks, did he not also go out at 10:45? Yes. Didn't see his wife all night? Lisa testifies to her last talk with Stassi. She says she's a seamstress in the design department, and often makes additions. She makes $150 a week, Rick made $20,000 a year and deserved it. Watchman testifies to Stassi leaving at 10:30. Is he sure it was Stassi? Yes. He saw his car. Tragg says there were intermittent showers that eve. Stassi's, Drake's, and defendant's tires identified at the murder site. He identifies a linen handkerchief, monogrammed with KW for Kitty Wynne, with gun oil stains, matching the gun. The judge adjourns court. Mason and Street ask Kitty about the handkerchief, the purse, and the jacket she was wearing. Mason instructs Della to find the beige jacket. // [6-8](3-6) Della is asleep on the couch in a beige jacket as Mason enters the outer office. She has found Kitty's jacket, with pockets that open into the inside from the outside. Mason speculates that someone could have wiped the gun with Kitty's handkerchief, put it and $100 bills in the pocket of the jacket which Kitty had left in the living room. Kitty came running in, grabbed her jacket and bills and the handkerchief fell out. Drake brings in some documents, and Della notes they will work into the night. / Back in court Drake testifies that Wynne ran out of house just after 11:10. Burger is effusive in his praise of Drake for not making him treat the detective as an hostile witness. Testifying for Mason, Drake says that he arrived as the Stassi car drove out from the Dunbar building. He could not tell if Stassi were driving, or if anyone was with him. The watchman admits that he really didn't see Stassi, only a driver and no one else. Mason asks him about other cars in the area. He identifies 1959 pink Thunderbird that was on a side street; Wainwright's. Burger objects, but withdraws when Madge Wainwright admits the car is hers, and her 9:30 phone call to Stassi was in regards to Simon Atley who paid Stassi $25,000. She drove to Dunbar's, left the car “and walked home, straight home.” Simon did not want to use his own car, because it would be easily identified. Rick wanted more money from Atley, and they were to meet to straighten things out. The gates were closed and Atley was trapped. Atley protests, is taken into custody. Instead, Mason suggests, isn't all this what happened to her? She was trapped inside. So she drove Stassi's car out; he couldn’t drive for she’d already killed him! // [7-8](3-7) At a showing of bathing suits, Mason explains to Dunbar that it was not premeditated murder. Wainwright had been Stassi's accomplice, and just wanted her share of the money when Rick cut her out. Drake, looking at the bathing beauties, notes that “sometimes this business is fun.” [8-8 End credits](3-8) [51:22](51:06)

[2-5/1-9 Title credits] [2-9] From the Hotel Knickerbocker in New York City, a woman (Sarette Winslow) phones Los Angeles, person-to-person. Allen (Sheridan) picks up the telephone and hears his aunt Sarette complain that he hasn’t sent a check in three months. He says he’s had to help out a Ralph Curtis in New York City. She’s never heard of him. Has he thrown away money gambling! He then promises to send money over the weekend. He promised his father, and it is in his will. She’s outraged, looks up Ralph Curtis in the phone book, phones him. Curtis says he hasn’t heard from Allen for six months, has doctor’s bills, is all alone, too. Winslow hangs up, then phones information for the number of American Airlines. // [3-9] Allen drives to the Hollywood Bar where he tells his girl, Joyce (Fulton), that he owes Lou Caporale, a gambler who is at the bar, $5,000. He has to get away. “Just you, Allen, alone?“ He has a ticket, one. Lou comes over, demands payment this night He is caught making a threat by Joyce, but he counters it, leaves with “my door is always open to you.” Allen gives Joyce money to pick up his plane ticket. She thinks he may be running out on her. The ticket is under the name of William Wyatt. // Sheridan asks Victor (Latimore) for $5,000, a loan. Doris is asked to bring in his account. He admits he owes a gambler. Doris brings in the account, and it shows $14. Sheridan says 10 p m or he'll be killed, and Latimore laughs. Fulton comes in, followed by Caporale. Latimore speaks to Caporale and gets short shrift. He then helps Sheridan and Fulton out the back door. / Sheridan at the bar with Caporale. They are scamming Latimore together. “It was a great performance, Lou.” “Early George Raft and a touch of beatnik.” Caporale gets only $500. Sheridan considers Latimore a leech for taking $5000 to handle his finances. Curtis, Winslow, Fulton are all looking for a cut, and tomorrow he gets $162,000 from a trust fund. They agree to meet at 10 pm. / Night. Sarette Winslow enters Allen Sheridan's apartment where she find him dead, on the balcony. She sees a man approaching, tries to get off balcony deck, and her heel breaks off. The man is Caporale. She drives away. / Della Street brings Winslow coffee. Sheridan's father left a trust fund, she informs the attorney, and a $2,000/month allowance to his son until he reaches 30 (today), so she got nothing when he died. She was to be taken care of, but it was up to Allen how much. She is only "next" heir. She still lives in the family house, but has her own bills to pay. Della Street dials Allen's number, and Mason speaks to the maid; Allen is not there. Winslow breaks down; "he's not there, he's not dead." Nudged by Mason, she starts her story at the beginning. / The cleaning woman finds Winslow's heel. She goes down under the balcony to get it out of the boards, where she finds blood. // [4-9] Mason goes to Latimore about Winslow and Sheridan. Latimore says he lent $5000, for Lou Caporale. Mason mentions the trust, but Latimore was told that the 30th birthday was a year away. He delivered the money at Caporale’s apartment. Phone; Lieutenant Tragg of homicide looking for Sheridan. / Sheridan's. Lieutenant Tragg, Sergeant Brice and several policemen are investigating. Tragg shows Mason the heel. Why is the murderer a woman, Mason asks, suggesting she could not move the body. Tragg points out that it is all downhill, even to where a rental car might have been parked. He has a witness to the rental car, and wants to see Sarette Winslow. “We want her.” “I’m sure you can always get her … with a warrant” rejoins Mason. / Mason's private office. The usual threesome. Mason gives Paul Drake his orders. Has Sheridan been murdered, queries Della. Possibly a case of his artful dodging, replies Perry, who then has Della call Joyce Fulton. / The Maitre De shows Mason to Fulton's table, and the two discuss Sheridan. She last saw him at 9 p m. When she hears that Caporale was paid off by Latimore, she reveals that Sheridan went to Mexico City. He loaned his convertible to someone else. / Mason phones Drake to check on Sheridan’s flight and the convertible. / Caporale drives up to the (Globe) movie studio in Sheridan's Buick convertible, is stopped by the gate officer. Here Mason takes over; ‘today you’re an actor, last night you were a gambler.” He forces Caporale to open the trunk, which is empty. Telephone call from Drake; William Wyatt flew to Mexico City, seemed wounded or hurt, and fit the general description of Sheridan. Lt Tragg and Sgt Brice arrive in a black Buick, join Mason and Caporale. / Caporale identifies Sheridan's body. Tragg gives Mason a warrant for Winslow. // [5-9] Mason and Street wonder who William Wyatt, who moved in on Sheridan, is as Drake arrives. He reports that the $162,000 trust was transferred to Mexico City and is already cashed. / Court. Burger is saying that Winslow cold-bloodedly out of greed murdered Sheridan. Dr Hoxie (autopsy surgeon) testifies for D A Hamilton Burger how Sheridan was wounded, and identifies the possible weapon, a glass ash-tray. Fulton identifies the ash-tray/weapon and the blanket on which Sheridan took sun baths. To Mason she admits to the relationship, but one that was unclear. Lt Tragg found the body in the sun bath blanket. The ash tray and porch were wiped free of fingerprints and blood. The heel of the shoe had deceased's type blood, as well as fingerprints of the defendant and the cleaning woman. Winslow signed out a rental car at the airport, and she was witnessed driving away by Caporale. Now Caporale testifies to seeing Winslow leave the scene of the crime. Later, 11 p m, there was no body. He bluffs about the $5000, saying he hid it in the back of the car, then turned it over to Lt Tragg. Latimore explains the arrangement by Sheridan for supporting Winslow, and how he often failed to pay the $300/month allowance. She knew he'd get money this year, but now it goes to Winslow. Court takes its noon recess, and Mason is informed by Drake that Wyatt can't be found. Mason suggests that Wyatt and Ralph Curtis, the New York end of the trust, are one and the same person. // [6-9] Mason on cross with Latimore. He took 25% fee from Sheridan; normal is 3 to 5%. Allen “needed special services.” He did have power of attorney. They played poker, and Ralph Curtis was in the game. Was Curtis a “special service?” Were he and Curtis blackmailing Sheridan? Objection, sustained. Ralph Curtis is called to the stand by the D A, surprising Mason. He is wounded, bent over. He testifies to an earlier incident with Sheridan where he was injured at Allen’s home in Manhattan. Sheridan offered to pay half his $2,000 allowance for life. Recently he received a call from the defendant, wondering if he'd received a large sum of money, because Allen had said that was why she wasn't receiving anything. Curtis claims Winslow threatened Sheridan; “She was going to settle things with Allen once and for all.” He adds that Latimore was the only witness to the accident, and he told Curtis that it was not Sheridan's fault. 25% was Latimore's payoff for lying. Authorities found Curtis in Los Angeles. He arrived in L A at 5 a m, the day after the murder. Mason now relates Wyatt schedule, bit by bit, each time asking if Curtis was that man. Curtis eventually admits to being Wyatt. How did he know of Sheridan's plan, when he was in New York? He heard about it by phone. Who” Someone who knew about the plane ticket? Joyce Fulton stands up, says to Ralph, "I told you not to come back out here." She confesses and explains it by, "look what he did to you." // [7-9] At a restaurant, Della explains that Joyce came to L A to make Sheridan pay for what he had done to the man she loved. Paul Drake continues. When she demanded that he pay Curtis, he laughed, and she picked up the ash tray, hit him. It broke. She hit him again and slashed his artery. She concocted the plan with Curtis while Winslow was in Allen’s apartment. “As soon as we were able to figure out who was posing as William Wyatt,” comments Mason, “it was comparatively simple.” The four raise their glasses in a simple toast after Sarette declares how grateful she is. [8-9 end credits] [52:41]

CHARACTER ACTOR Perry Mason Raymond Burr Della Street Barbara Hale Paul Drake William Hopper Hamilton Burger William Talman Lt Tragg Ray Collins J R Bradbury John Archer Marjorie Cluny Lisabeth Hush Thelma Hill(/Bell) Jeanne Cooper Bob Doray Michael Miller Mrs (Laura) Fields Doreen Lang Frank Patton Douglas Evans Judge John Launer Dr James Latham Pitt Herbert George Sanborne Ray Kellogg Night Clerk Sid Tomack

Emcee Rennie McEvoy Policeman Leo Needham Art Store Clerk Arthur Marshall

CHARACTER ACTOR Court Clerk Pat Moran [Sgt Brice Lee Miller]

[3-5/1-10 Title credits](2-1) [2-10](2-2) A man in a hotel room in Cloverdale, Utah, is watching a TV that has 3 pairs of legs. Cloverdale's own Marjorie Cluny, #3, wins. He rushes out of his room. / Cut to the studio as the Emcee introduces Frank Patton, who presents Cluny her motion picture contract with Stellar Studios. She thanks “all those who voted for (her).” Bob Doray (the man in the hotel) enters, challenges Patton over his rip-off scheme, and threatens him. If he doesn’t treat Margy right in Hollywood, he says, “She is not expendable. You might be.” // [3-10](2-3) (The same stock shot of the L A Freeway, with decade-old cars, in downtown Los Angeles that is used to precede the interior of Perry Mason's office.) J R Bradbury wants Mason to find Cluny, whose career lasted two days, and Patton put behind bars.. District Attorney Hamilton Burger has told him that he must prove criminal intent. Bradbury gives Mason some newspaper clippings. As Della Street is about to phone Paul Drake, the phone rings and she is called out by Gertie. Cluny was his secretary, could have been his wife. When Della returns, she motions to Mason that someone is outside. Bradbury is shown the back way out.* Della Street admits Bob Doray. He's incensed that Bradbury has come to Mason expecting him to find Cluny. When he doesn't ask Mason to find her, Mason asks him where she is. / Later that night Paul Drake reports on Patton's Lucky Legs scam. Thelma Bell, an earlier winner, wants to help. Mail fraud might be Patton's weak point. / Mason and Della go to Patton's Holliday Arms apartment building, bump into a blonde (Cluny) running out. In the apartment they find Patton, stabbed with a wood-carving knife. The window to the fire escape is open. Mason finds a note indicating Margy was phoning to see him. As they are leaving a policeman arrives with the lady (Mrs Fields) in the apartment below Patton's. Della now confirms the number on the note is Thelma Bell’s. / Outside, Mason sends Della home. He goes back inside to phone Bradbury and tell him that Patton was murdered and a woman who could be Cluny was seen leaving. In the background, Lieutenant Tragg and Sergeant Brice are seen entering the building. // [4-10](2-4) Mason enters Thelma Bell's apartment, calls Marjorie out of the shower. She recognizes Mason as the one she bumped into coming out of the apartment building. Cluny admits to finding Patton. She tried to pull the knife out. Mason points out that she “left a rather broad trail.” Doray barges in and tries to take charge of Cluny, but she doesn’t like him ordering her around. He thinks Bradbury will "get the credit," but Mason points out that if Margorie is convicted of murder, who'll get the blame. Doray leaves. Mason searches the apartment. Thelma catches him. Her alibi is dinner with George Sanborne, whom Mason telephones . . . Sanborne answers and Mason tricks him into supporting Thelma's alibi . . . When Margy goes to get her things, so she can hide out under Mason's instruction, she returns with a wood carving that she made. / Mason goes to Sanborne, a prize fighter with 19 KOs, asks about his engagement with Thelma and what they had; they each had the same drinks, bourbon on the rocks, rare steak sandwiches, and so on. Mason tells him he has no imagination. // [5-10] Fields phones Doray, leaves a message in Della Street's name with the night clerk suggesting travel. / Della tells Mason that Bradbury has said he should represent Doray if necessary. Doray's car with Utah plates was seen near Patton's apartment the night of the murder. Lt Tragg phones. / Lt Tragg and Sgt Brice interview the night clerk over the message. Mason (outside of camera frame until the message is read) asks if he really believes Della sent the note. Doray’s skipped. A bit of banter with Tragg suggesting Mason should notify him of whereabouts of wanted persons, and Mason suggesting Tragg should notify him when he wants to see a client. Tragg says that Thelma Bell volunteered information about Cluny. / Back at his private office, Mason is told by Drake that Mrs Fields worked for the same studio represented by Patton. The knife was bought by someone who looks like Cluny. Bradbury made many calls to courier services, one to Thelma Bell and one to Mexico. Mason suspects a Mexican marriage, for which there is no waiting period. Drake's operative Harry reports over the phone that Bradbury and Cluny were picked up just this side of the border, in San Diego. // [6-10](2-5) Court. Dr James Latham reports for D A Hamilton Burger on how the deceased died. There were two wounds (the knife was found in the second, which was not the cause of death). Tragg identifies fingerprints on the murder weapon as Cluny's. Tragg reads a note he found on the deceased from Cluny saying that she "won't be put off any longer with empty promises." The note is marked by the court clerk (not the usual one). Mason gets Tragg to admit that fingerprints were put on the knife after it had been wiped clean. Fields says she heard the body fall at 8:20. She phoned upstairs, and got no answer. She went up the fire escape, saw a woman in the room with white shoes stained with something dark. She then saw the defendant in the hallway. Mason produces a copy of Fields's earlier marriage to Patton. Mason gets her to admit that there was enough time before she looked into the room “for the real killer to have escaped” and Cluny to have entered. Her shoes were stained, but not her stockings. An art store clerk testifies to having sold Cluny the murder weapon. Mason asks how he remembers the purchaser, and he replies that it isn't often that a pretty girl asks for a wood-cutting tool without knowing what it is for (Mason quickly recognizes the import of this). Bell is another Lucky Legs winner, and she met Cluny at the Stellar Studios. She recognizes the murder weapon, which she says Margy bought for a friend. On the afternoon of the murder, the knife was there at 5 when she went out, not there at 6:30 when she came back, and the defendant returned about 9, and she seemed scared. She helped Margy wash the stains off her white shoes. Della exits the courtroom. Mason asks Thelma about the silk stockings and Bell says that they had to be washed free of the blood stains. Della returns with a small packet for Perry. Of all the women in court, only Bell is wearing silk stockings. Fields didn’t see stains on the stockings. She denies an allergy to nylon, but Mason forces her to wrap a nylon stocking around her wrist. She becomes fidgety, rips off the nylon, then admits silk stockings were hers and that she did go to the apartment. She was in the bathroom when Patton was murdered. She heard a heavy thud, then the telephone ring, inflicted the second wound, wiped the knife clean. Mason moves for dismissal since Cluny's fingerprints were put on the weapon after the murder. Burger wants to argue the point, but it will take time. Court adjourns. / Jail. Mason asks why she would marry Bradbury. He’s “rich, kind, generous.” But you don’t love him, notes the attorney. Why is Bob Doray hiding? Mason leaves doubt in Cluny's mind as to whether or not she'll be freed. On the way out, Drake meets Mason and tells him that Doray is the wood carver. Tragg joins them and Mason tells him that Drake knows where Doray is. // [7-10](2-6) Back in the L A County Courthouse, Burger calls Doray, gets permission to treat him as an hostile witness. Doray admits to seeing the murder weapon at Cluny/Bell's apartment about 5:30. He left the knife there. Margy whispers “I thought he did.“ Mason recalls Bell. George Sanborne was her alibi, but he left her about 7:15. He asks her about Patton, and if Sanborne is not jealous. Yes, she did receive a phone call that afternoon and gave her address, but no delivery was made. She also denies to finding an envelope pushed under the door when she returned at 6:30. Mason says delivery service took a message from Patton and left it under Bell's door at 5:50. During this, Bradbury has passed a message to Burger, so he is called to the stand. He says Mason called him at 8:42 and knew then that Patton was dead. Burger points out to the judge that it was at that time the police reported the death. How did Mason know? Mason notes he has a right to cross examine the witness before answering. He asks where Bradbury got Bell’s phone number and how he knew where Margy was staying. What was in the envelope, that Patton must have told him about? Wasn't Patton blackmailing him, because he had asked Patton to help him get Cluny to marry him by making her penniless? How did he get in Thelma's bungalow? If he didn't, his fingerprints wouldn't be around the table where the knife was lying. Using Doray's knife he killed Patton, thus ending the blackmail and putting blame on Doray, thus getting rid of a rival. Yes, but Patton "needed killing, anyway, didn't he?" // [8-10](2-7) Margy and Bob present "her" carving to Perry, as Della and Paul look on. Bell's phoned message was paid for by Bradbury. Mason says that the package has to be something Bradbury didn’t want Margy to see, they had to guess what was in the envelope. Margy calls this a "logical deduction." Della sees a great career for Margy, as a diplomat. [9-10 end credits](2-8) [51:18](51:06)

*Herein lies The Case of the Errant Hallway. Bradbury exits out to the right. When Paul Drake comes in or exits it is from/to the left, or straight. So where does the hall go? In three or four steps, Bradbury would be at the outside wall of the building. Further, The Case of the Dubious Bridgroom has another office directly behind the hall/office wall! Attempts to do a plan of Mason’s office and the building it is in all fail due to this problem. See also The Case of the Fan Dancer’s Horse in Season One for another configuration. Further, early in the series, there are two outer offices to Mason’s private office, the middle one for Della, the main receptionist’s office, for Gertie Lade and others of a large (but mostly unseen) staff (cf. Season 1, Episode 1, The Case of the Restless Redhead). By this third season it seems the receptionist’s office has shrunk to fit Gertie and Della, but in one scene (Season 3, Episode 77, The Case of the Bartered Bikini) Mason enters to find Della asleep just inside the Law Office door, and a few steps later he is in his private office. The middle office has disappeared. Go figure?

[4-5/1-9 Title credits] [2-9] A bus pulls to a stop in Fawnskin, angler’s capitol of the Sierras, population 2,106. A man gets out into the snow-covered surroundings. He starts walking uphill, stops to adjust his jacket and smooth his hair before a house. He enters an open door. Kathi (Beecher) is surprised to see Phil (Beecher). She didn’t come to meet him at the bus. He asserts that Aggie Norris meant nothing to him, not after they were married, but she says the town thinks he got off easy. His car skidded. He’s waited the past ten months, yet she refuses to forgive him, answers the telephone. Ward Lewis tells her to tell Phil “to get out of town. ”You can’t stay here. They all hate you.” Reluctantly, Phil goes out the door. // [3-9] Perry Mason arrives in town, enters the Fawn Lodge. Phil Beecher has just registered. Ward Lewis comes in, slugs Beecher, but Charlotte Norris, sister to the dead girl, intervenes. “He paid for what he did.” She orders Lewis, then all others out. “Hating you won’t bring my sister back,“ and she wishes Phil well. She tells the clerk that she'll be working late at the mill. Mason meets the clerk. It is the first time Mason has seen Charlotte. “She’s been back East.” The clerk retells the story of the accident. “Sometimes”, Mason suggests, “there’s a scar you can’t see.” / Charlotte enters the Fawnskin Mill, tells her boyfriend, Norman Thurston, how she “wanted to see Ward smash his face in.” Then, “$40,000, Charlotte. We’ve waited a long time for this.” They kiss. She calls Phil, tells him the company owes him $225 for a suggestion of his that they used, and he should pick it up that evening about 9, and the side door will be open. / Judith Thurston calls the mill, is annoyed to find that Norman is working with Charlotte, tells him to pick up tissues and nose drops. Charlotte and Norman are in agreement. “We get the $40,000, and Beecher will get the blame.” / Mason and Sheriff (Eu)gene Norris enter the hotel at 9:20, discussing their early morning rise to go hunting. Norman Thurston enters, tells Sheriff Norris that Beecher is seeing Charlotte. He phones, hears a gunshot. / Police converge on the mill. Charlotte is found dead. “I’ve outlived my children” laments the Sheriff. The safe is open. Sheriff Norris orders everyone, including Ward, to stay in the office. / Mason is awakened on the phone by Kathi Beecher’s “my husband didn’t kill Charlotte Norris.” who asks him to help her husband. / At a hideaway, Phil Beecher protests to Kathi and Perry that it was a setup. As he was leaving the mill, he got shot in the arm. He jumped at her when she pointed the gun again, knocked her over, blacked out. When he finally left, she was unconscious at a bit after nine. After Kathi pleads with him, he agrees to be turned in, placing his life in Mason’s hands. // [4-9] Mason meets with Sheriff Norris at the mill. When Mason mentions the employee’s suggestion box money, Thurston lies about Phil Beecher's meeting. Norris is convinced that Beecher committed the murder for the $43,267 payroll, relates angrily how it happened while he was on the phone; “He killed both of my children, Perry. He’s a mad dog.” Ward Lewis is the only protection for Beecher at the jail. / Ward asks Kathi to leave, but she won’t. He asks where the money is, offering to let Phil escape, and unlocks the jail cell door with “Becher, you’re not going to get away with murder twice.” Phil calls him back, to lock the door. He won’t give the deputy the opportunity to shoot him in the back escaping, and accuses the deputy of the murder and theft. / At the general store, (Robert) Tepper relates what Mrs Beecher bought with the $20 payroll bill. Also, he sleeps in the back and the store is open 34 hours. Mrs Thurston enters, asks for tissues and nose drops, which her husband forgot to get last night. She tells Mason that he won't get Phil Beecher off. Mason muses to Tepper that Thurston must have forgotten to pick up the items at just about the time Charlotte Norris was killed, or maybe he did stop by, but Tepper was not there. / The hotel lobby, where Della Street is on the phone, wondering what is going on. The hotel clerk refuses to remember whether Phil called Charlotte, or vice versa. Sheriff Norris is introduced to Everett Ransome, who is to try the case. Ransome, the appointed special prosecutor, arrogantly warns Mason that “tricks, gags, courtroom dramatics” won’t work here. “Beecher is guilty.” Townspeople stare stonily at Mason who declares he’s “looking forward to some of that courtroom neutrality” to which Ransome has alluded. // [5-9] Kathi discusses the townspeople with Perry; Thurston “is a staunch pillar of society . . . Ward Lewis was in love with Aggie,” clashed with Phil. Robert Tepper has lots of money, but doesn't trust banks, dabbles in real estate. / In the Fawnskin Court, Sheriff Lewis tells of Phil’s fingerprints being most everywhere. He’d made a call to Charlotte because Thurston told him Beecher was going to see her. He identifies the murder weapon, breaks down over the murder of his daughter. Mason suggests another could testify in his stead. Deputy Lewis identifies the murder weapon, then a bullet. The blood on the floor matches Beecher's rare type AB. A bank money wrapper had the defendant's fingerprints, but none, he notes to Mason, were on the open safe. Mason pursues a "third bullet" that is not accounted for. Ransome doesn’t understand all this. Mason asks that an expert be allowed to examine the bullets. There were tissues and a few other items in the waste basket. Mason asks Lewis about his treatment of the defendant, trying to show bias and prejudice, and making him look foolish. Thurston left the mill about 9 p m, lies about the phone call to Phil Beecher from Charlotte Norris. He identifies listings of $20 note serial numbers. The pages are handed to the judge, who gives them to Mason, who passes them on to the court clerk for identification. Mason asks how long it took Thurston to walk from the mill to the lodge; about ten minutes. But he arrived at 9:20. Prosecutor Ransome angrily objects; “incompetent, immaterial, and improper . . . he’s seeking to cross-examine the man on the possibility of his own guilt!” The judge explains his order to overrule. Did he stop at Tepper's Market? Yes, but he couldn't wake him up. Mason writes a check for $1000, asks Kathi to cash it and get the largest possible bill. Tepper, having been sworn in as Mason was signing his check, says Kathi came in about 9:45, paid for the goods with a $20 bill, whose serial number matches one on the bank list. Mason asks where he was at 9:10, 9:15, and again Ransome objects rather obnoxiously. Sustained / Mason wants an option on a parcel of land owned by Tepper. He pays with a $1000 bill with four weeks to pay the $5,000 total. / Tepper carries out trash, goes to a woodpile, opens a safe underneath, puts the bill in a tin can. Sheriff Norris and Mason take the can. // [6-9] A court reporter reads the number of the bill. It is the fifth that matches the payroll list. Tepper cannot explain where he got them. Ransom complains of Mason’s shenanigans when Thurston is recalled. Thurston admits that he planned to steal the payroll and substituted "initialed" interior pages from an earlier list into the bank serial numbers list. He admits to conspiring with Charlotte, who called the defendant and offered him bonus money. He was to be in the hotel when Charlotte would call, “accuse Beecher overpowering her and stealing the payroll money.” He was in the hotel when Sheriff Norris heard the shot over the phone. Ransome sheepishly admits he didn’t foresee this turn of events, so he’ll have to present evidence he hoped to save for the jury trial. He calls Judith Thurston. She drove to the mill to save Norman a tiring walk, arriving about 9:25. She heard one shot, saw Phil Beecher running out, found Charlotte dead. Mason asks her how the man got out when the door had a safety catch. If he had both hands free, it would be possible, but then money would have had to be stuffed into his pockets. The bulk of forty thousand dollars in silver change, dollar bills, five dollar bills . . . Judith is flustered. How long was she there? She ran right out. No, Mason says, two cleaning tissues were found in the waste basket. Mason suggests that what concerned her was, not the long walk, but her husband's working long hours at night with Charlotte. Wasn’t it she who fired the third shot heard over the telephone. She relents; Charlotte was dead when she arrived 9:15. Mason notes that she was alive at 9:05. So Deputy Lewis, Tepper, or her husband could have killed her in that ten minutes. “Were you in love with her, Norman?“ asks his wife. “Yes . . . she so hated Beecher … twisted, bitterness, hate.” She just used him. He shot her. // [7-9] Sheriff Norris, Mason and the Beechers. Even hate is not black and white, says Mason. Sheriff Norris has a message from Ransome; “he has one more objection to make, to the Attorney General, the next time he is appointed to run up against” Mason. [8-9 end credits] [51:20]

[5-5/1-9 Title credits] [2-9] A hand, lit by a flashlight, turns the dial of a safe. “Left, once, 31. Right, twice, 5. Left, 10.“ The safe comes open. The lights come on. This was a practice only. It is a woman (Janice Atkins), watched by a man (Howard Walters). The watchman comes by every hour, takes twelve minutes. They discuss a robbery of $130,000. He reminds her to wait until the watchman starts his midnight rounds before leaving. She'll meet him at the cabin in the Sierras. / A downtown street. Taylor Maid Markets Business Offices. Mr (Wade) Taylor goes to Howard Walters, asks if he is flying on this trip. Taylor discusses his disappointed hopes for his son (Andy) who should have been able to take some of the load off Howard’s shoulders. “How long do you stay young and impetuous” asks Wade. Carol Taylor comes in, chides Wade, who says she rushed Andy into marriage too early. She came to invite her father-in-law to dinner. Howard has left the Fresno account for Andy. / As she drives him to the airport, Ruth complains to Howard that they have hardly any time together. She wishes he wouldn’t fly himself; “It’s not safe.” “I prefer it” he says, and adds a note about the insurance she’d collect. / At the airport, he frostily leaves Ruth. Inside, Howard phones Janice, confirms their plans. “Monday, 4 o’clock at the mountain cabin. A new life, Janice. Love me?” “You know I do.” Listening, at Janice's, is her accomplice (we will learn that this is Roger Porter), who intends to meet and murder Howard. She takes hold of his tie, pulls him into a kiss. // [3-9] Howard, in his plane, calls May Day to the Merced airport, says he's on fire, about to crash, then bails out. The plane crashes, explodes. Howard injures his leg on landing. / Porter waits at the cabin for Howard's arrival, takes a gun out of a car's glove compartment. / It is snowing. Howard is crawling uphill. / Zack Davis enters his cabin, finds Howard asleep, whispering "Janice." He's been there two days with a busted leg, now in a spling. Zack informs Howard there are no roads, they are isolated. Zack was out with Daisy, his burro, prospecting. They'll be there until Spring. // [4-9] (Seven weeks later, March 16) Carol is telling Perry Mason and Della Street that Andy is missing. $130,000 was stolen from the office safe. Twice before Andy went away, but came back. / Perry Mason goes to Wade Taylor for Carol. No one has heard from Andy, and Wade is certain he took $130,000 from the safe, to which only he, Andy and Howard have the combination. Walter was out of town at the time of the robbery. Wade has absorbed the loss, which is his son, for whom he once had hopes. Roger Porter (Carol's cousin) reports that the plane has been found with charred body remains. Apparently Howard never bailed out. Wade asserts Andy will come back when the money runs out. / Back at his office, Mason instructs Paul Drake to check everything over the past seven weeks. Paul reports on the crash and discover of the plane and a body. Mason wants to have Lieutenant Tragg require an autopsy. / Outside her apartment, Janice is being told by Roger that he cannot understand why Howard didn’t bail out of the plane. They have the money, and cannot get careless now. / Janice enters her apartment, is greeted by Howard! // [5-9] Janice tells Howard everything went off as planned. He says that they’ll get the money and leave, only seven weeks late. She quickly states that he can't stay, for her office girl friend will return. He's checked in at the Valley Vista Motel in North Hollywood as Henry Myerson. Did he really surprise her? She thought the recovered body was Howard's. She queries, “who was in the plane?” He only shakes his head. / Lt Tragg tells Mason and Della Street that the body was Andy Taylor's, killed by a .32 caliber bullet thru his heart. / Carol Taylor gets an anonymous phone call from Janice Atkins. With Roger Porter looking on, she learns that she can get proof her husband didn't steal the $130,000 if she'll go to the Valley Vista Motel. Roger takes $15,000, and goes out. / Ruth Walters gets an anonymous phone (Janice’s voice) call telling her that her husband is at the Valley Vista Motel. Door chimes sound. It is Mason and Street, who want to know if she's heard from her husband. Ruth is incensed when Perry suggests that her husband may have stolen the safe money. She gets testy, defends Howard. Perry and Della leave, but wait in his Ford Fairlane convertible to follow Ruth, who drives in a black Thunderbird (the prop used also by Paul Drake) to the Valley Vista Motel She sees police cars, and drives on. Mason drives in, is met by (uncredited) Officer Casey. Lt Tragg informs Mason that they have the killer of Howard Walters, for she came back for her gun. It is Carol Taylor. She comes out of the motel room, followed by Sergeant Brice. (In the crowd observing is Zack Davis.) // Zack confronts Janice with holding $130,000 for Howard, and he wants his share from her and Roger, who was at the Valley View Motel with her just before the cops came. Roger joins them. They tell Zack he’s in the wrong place, and he counters he’ll go to the right place, the police station. He asks for only $500. / Jail. Mason tells Carol that the police found $15,000 in her home. She was in Walters's bungalow because she got a telephone call from a woman. The police case is logical and if he doesn't want to represent her . . . Mason comforts her, says “it will be a privilege to represent you.” // [6-9] Court. The autopsy surgeon identifies the bullet. He performed the autopsy, and found evidence of a broken leg. A drawing of the Valley Vista Motel. The motel manager explains to D A Hamilton Burger how he saw a woman running from the bungalow, but couldn't recognize her. Mason passes a note to Della, and she leaves before his cross-examination. The manager admits he could not have seen everyone who entered unit 1, but he could hear everything. Porter testifies to Andy Taylor being in Fresno at 11 the day of the plane crash. Walters also called from Fresno that day. He identifies Taylor Maid Markets money wrapper. Mason ends his cross after reading a note from the returning Street. Ward Taylor testifies about the theft, including the three who knew the combination. Mason gets him to admit that any of the three could have told a fourth. Mason suggests Walters could have told someone else who allowed him to establish his alibi. Burger, gleefully, asks, “couldn’t that fourth party have been the defendant?” “I thought of it, yes” admits Taylor. Lt Tragg testifies about getting an anonymous phone call at about 8:45, then of finding Carol Taylor saying "that's my gun," over and over again, which is the murder weapon. He found three packages of money, $5,000 each in Taylor Maid wrappers, at Carol Taylor's house. A prowl car got to the Valley Vista before he did, catching Mrs Taylor leaving by the window unit 1 “again.” Again” “Just a figure of speech!” Tragg admits that Walters was with Zack Davis, who is missing. Bullet that earlier killed Andy Taylor matches the one that killed Walters. Mason reconstructs; Walters shot Taylor, causing plane to crash, then brought the gun back to Los Angeles where he was killed with it. Tragg says, “yes, it could have been like that” Mrs Walters says she got a phone call from a woman about 8:20. Mason suggests she drove away from the motel when she saw police cars, rather than see her husband, because she had either killed him or knew of his death. “No!” Court takes an early afternoon recess. Drake reports to Mason that a "Milton Smith" checked in to unit 9 the same night. // [7-9] Perry, Paul and Della find Smith/Davis at the Valley Vista Motel. He denies knowing about the money, but Tragg and Brice arrive. Mason has to coax Tragg into looking for the money, the suit case. / Court. Davis says Walters identified Carol Taylor as his accomplice. He followed Walters to Los Angeles figuring this was a claim he couldn't lose. He saw Taylor bring the suit case to unit 1, later went there, found Walters dead, and took the suit case. Mason confronts Davis with a detective's report. Didn’t he substitute the name of Carol Taylor for Janice Adkins? He saw Janice Adkins, 35 minutes later left with a valise. While there, he was joined by Roger Porter. Davis denies all. Mason points out he could be an accomplice. Burger protests, but Mason gives the report to the judge, who then orders Adkins to the stand. The court clerk (in a rare speaking appearance) swears Adkins in. Under the judge's examination, Adkins also says she does not know Davis. Mason takes over, suggests that she made an anonymous phone call and planted the money in the defendant's home. As her apartment will be searched for the missing $15,000, Mason warns her, as he warned Davis, that her perjury might make her an accessory. Now she admits to taking the $130,000, and that she planted the $15,000 in the defendant's house. She names Roger Porter as the murderer. Davis now admits he blackmailed Porter and Adkins. Mason notes that when the motel manager knocked on his door, at the time of the shot, Davis was not there, so his testimony that he heard the shot from his room is false. "Murder is usually very simple. It's the getting away with it that's real complicated and tricky" says Mason, picking up on Davis's confession. // [8-9] As usual, Mason's office for the round-up. Wade Taylor apologizes for his “obstinate stupidity, then gives Mason a blank check, leaves with Carol. Paul likes the idea, asks Mason to sign his blank check; Mason does. [9-9 end credits] [52:45]

[2-6/1-10 Title credits] [2-10] A man (Arthur Poe) walks out of the Veterans Administration Hospital on a cane. In town he sees a best seller book, Ordeal. He buys a copy, leaves without his change. Poe goes to a news stand, tells Harry (Scott Wilson), who is watching a horse race, that he, not Ben Sutton, wrote the book. Ben took his diary, published it under his own name. Now he's found Harry, and he'll find Ben // [3-10] Ben Sutton says he heard the shot, saw him, Arthur, fall. He offers $10,000. Arthur will "take that ten thousand on account." Sylvia Sutton is introduced. Art leaves, setting tomorrow evening at 8 pm for his return. Ben asks Sylvia for the $10,000, then says he'll get it from her brother, Gil(bert Ames), when she refuses. / Ben goes to Harry for the $10,000, but is rebuffed. / Ben next goes to Gil, with Sylvia and Marian Ames looking on. Ben promises to bring the world crashing down on them all, leaves. Sylvia breaks down, tells Gil she cannot go on this way. // [4-10] Sylvia goes to Perry Mason, explains that her brother Gil was involved in an accident, hitting a woman pedestrian, and not reporting it to the police. They paid all the victim's hospital bills. Her husband has used this to get $14,000 from her, now wants $10,000 more. Mason advises her to refuse payment and go to the police first. She leaves. Della Street tells her boss that she read Sylvia's husband's book, liked it because it was filled with humanity and warmth. She wonders how it does not fit Sylvia's description of her husband. Mason asks for a copy. / Just as Sylvia checks in to a Palm Springs hotel, she gets a call from Marian (Ames) saying that Gil just hit Ben with a fireplace poker. Sylvia tells Marian to tell Gil to say nothing to anybody. Then she crosses to the cleaning woman's service room, picks up some clothes. She rushes out to her car. / In town, dressed as a maid, Sylvia puts on heavy makeup using her car mirror, then calls for a cab. / The cab drops her at a house;. She enters, finds the living room in chaos and her husband dead. She rushes back to the cab, bumps into Poe, is driven away. / Sylvia returns to her hotel, falls asleep without changing, and is wakened by a knock on the door. Sergeant Townley and another officer arrest her. // [5-10] Jail. Perry reports to Sylvia that a cleaning lady saw her take the clothes, and her sister-in-law said that her brother Gilbert killed Ben, who actually died at about the time she was there. Sylvia identifies Poe as the man she bumped into, and the accident victim as Mrs Kirby. / Perry tells Paul Drake to look into both Kirby and Poe. Della then admits Poe to Mason's office. Poe says that the book is his, from his diary, and proves it by describing his, Sutton and Wilson's attempted escape from communist Korean prison. Poe returned to Sutton house about 10 o'clock. He wants Mason to help prove his authorship by getting his diary from Sylvia. He agrees to relinquish pecuniary claims just to get the authorship. / Mason goes to Wilson, who says he last saw Sutton two years earlier. He offers that, if there's something in it for him, he'll support Poe. / Mason asks Marian Ames, who is working on an oil painting, about her husband's phone call about a fireplace poker. She forgets details, and also forgets what she phoned to Sylvia in Palm Springs. She hates Ben Sutton. Mason, before leaving, suggests that her husband is in hiding because he is trying to protect her, not Sylvia. Anguished, she slashes her painting with a knife. / Paul Drake reports that Ben Sutton earned $225,000 in the past two years; so why did he need $10,000? Mrs Kirby was permanently paralyzed from the waist down, but still gets $500 monthly. Alan Kirby no longer wants the money, because it was for the operation, and there will be no more. Also, it was not Gilbert Ames, but Sylvia Sutton who struck Mrs Kirby. So Gil was protecting Sylvia who was being blackmailed by Ben Sutton. Drake answers the phone; Gilbert Ames has been found . . . by Lieutenant Tragg. // [6-10] Court. 9:30 to 10:30 pm Wednesday October 14 is time of death, caused by shattered crystal decanter, says autopsy surgeon to D A Hamilton Burger. Skin was also broken, possibly by fireplace poker, two or three hours prior to death. Miss Croft, the cleaning woman, saw the defendant make off with her dress and scarf. Poe says that he arrived at Sutton's as the defendant ran out, found Sutton, dead, about 10:15. He was there to see how Sutton would handle the delicate question that Ordeal was written by him. The room was a shambles, as if someone was searching for something. Lt Tragg identifies a blood stain on the cleaning woman's outfit as the same as deceased. No fingerprints were found on the decanter handle. There was an unfired gun on the floor. Also, evidence shows that the decanter was filled with liquor, yet none was found on the defendant's outfit. Alan Kirby begins his testimony, but Mason objects, saying it is not the best evidence. Since Mrs Kirby is paralyzed from the waist down, Mason allows an affidavit to be read by the court clerk. In it she identifies Sylvia Sutton as the one who hit her with her car. // The judge determines that Gilbert Ames is a hostile witness. Didn't Sutton threaten to reveal sister's hit-and-run accident if she asked him for a divorce? Yes. At 7:30 didn't he phone his wife and say that Sutton was dead? Yes. Mason has Marian Ames removed before his cross of Gilbert, who then says he might have been incoherent on the phone, so his wife might have misunderstood him. He had a key to his sister's house. He wanted to talk to Ben who was threatening him and his wife with exposure. There was no evidence of a search. Who could have been there, to search, between 7:30 and 10? Burger's objection is sustained. // [7-10] Marian Ames called Sylvia in Palm Springs, and relates details. She was not in Sutton home that evening. She deliberately lied to defendant when she phoned Palm Springs. Why, asks Mason, did her husband think she struck Sutton with the fireplace poker? Because she had been to the house, earlier, 5 o'clock. She heard voices, so left. What was she going to talk to Sutton about? "Must I?" she pleads, and Mason allows, "No." Burger asks on redirect, what was the conversation about? "Royalties, and plays, and he wouldn't have to put up with Sylvia anymore." It was Ben Sutton, and (she points) Harry Scott Wilson. Wilson says the discussion was about Sutton's wife who had an independent income from a trust and wanted to be rid of him, but he wouldn't let her go. Sutton was pressuring everyone, deserved what he got. Drake enters, gives Mason a folder. Mason asks Wilson what was the purpose of his visit to Sutton? Wasn't Sutton making an offer of a play and royalties that would make him independent? He wanted Wilson to back him as the author of Ordeal. Mason, holding the folder, claims that Wilson's losses on playing the horses was in excess of $100,000. Wilson claims that he won at gambling. Mason says Sutton had a large income, over $200,000, but was being bled by someone; was it Wilson? Didn't he go back to Sutton's between 8 and 10, find the diary? Of three who knew of the diary, only Wilson was looking for it (Sutton had it, Poe asked Mason to find it). Didn't he, the morning after the murder, ask Poe for a third of his future income, and a $25,000 advance? Stiff terms, unless he had the diary to back them. Okay, he saw Ben dead about 9 or 9:30, took the diary and the money. Burger says he wants to look into this. Wilson shouts over and over that he didn't kill him. // [8-10] Poe at the Vet's hospital, admits to Mason that he lost his temper, hit Sutton with the fireplace poker. He went back, because he wasn't sure he was dead, and he couldn't leave him there dying, as Sutton had left him in Korea. He saw that Sutton was recovering and taking a gun out of a drawer, but he knocked it out of his hand with his cane. As Sutton lunged for the gun, Poe threw the decanter at him. He heard Sylvia's taxi, so went out back, circled around to the front, and met her coming out.. He never would have let her be convicted. He has only maybe six months to live, and only wants recognition for the book, not monetary gain. As Mason leaves, he tells the approaching Tragg, "It WAS self defense." Tragg thinks it over, then shuts the door as he leaves. / Poe is handwriting a statement as the camera pulls back and up. [9-10 end credits] [52:40]

[3-6/1-9 Title credits](2-1) [2-9](2-2) Some men emerge from the Saddle Peak steak house listening to a joke while ushering (Jefferson) Pike to the street. (Denver) Leonard joins them. They want him to finish his joke, but he notes they should be nice to Pike as he runs a fancy gun club, for he might find them a mallard. He and Pike argue while the others go back into the steak house. Pike grabs Leonards arm and they argue. Pike is brushed off by Leonard, walks to a truck. There he sees Leonard's registration on a neighboring car. He puts on gloves, gets a gun from a holster in Leonard's car, shoots himself in the leg, then puts the gun back in Leonard's car and limps off. Leonard comes out of the steak house and drives away as Pike watches. // [3-9](2-2) Another man, Hal (Kirkwood), comes out of the steak house, finds wounded Jefferson Pike, who claims to have been shot. Hal notes that Pike’s son works for Leonard whose wife owns the ranch, not he. Leonard told Pike “don’t pester me, I’m warning you for the last time. then ‘Wham!’.” Pike suggests that the sheriff should find the bullet. Hal says an assault with deadly weapon could put a man in prison. / Pike, with Kirkwood, returns to his gun club, finds District Attorney Hamilton Burger and others there. They bagged seven canvasbacks. Burger mentions that Pike is father of an Olympic skater, then sees blood. Jeff has to chase Hal away before he can say to Burger that it is a barbed wire cut. They discuss Fred. / Fred Pike watches a film of his former career as an ice skater, when Denver Leonard bursts in. The ice show, backed by Leonard (actually, by his wife Joan), was busted before the accident to skater Pike. Fred is concerned about reviving the show with skater Vita Culver, no matter how rich Asa Culver, her husband, may be. They argue, and Leonard reminds Pike about a forged check. Joan Leonard enters, discusses how important it is to impress the Culvers to which Leonard says, “they’re plain, ordinary people.” / Asa Culver writes a $50,000 check to Leonard. Vita Culver enters, then Joan who takes Asa to see films of Lake Placid. “$50,000” muses Vita. “The suckers there are in this world” laughs Leonard, and he and Vita kiss. / 1:15. Jefferson Pike is crawling in the gravel where he shot himself. Fred drives up, drunk. Dad asks about the airline tickets to Cuba, and Fred says he’s “not going to hold the sack any more.” He swings at his dad, falls unconscious. / Burger receives a call from Jeff for help for Fred. The D A asks if he needs a criminal lawyer. Yes. He calls Perry Mason. / Mason arrives, is greeted by Fred, who says Denver Leonard has been killed. // [4-9](2-4) Fred and Mason drive up to Leonard’s where they are met by Joan. She explains he’s been dead since 1 or 2 o’clock, hit over the head and they are not sure of what was used as a weapon. The Culvers have returned to town. Fred doesn’t remember much about the previous night. Jeff tries to confess to Lieutenant Tragg and Sergeant Brice as first Mason joins them, then Burger, who is glad Mason is there, which baffles Tragg. / Why would Pike murder Leonard at 1:30, then phone Burger at 2? Was he protecting his son? Burger relates how Jefferson Pike saved his life twelve years earlier by carrying him three miles in icy water, losing two toes. Burger is hesitant to ask any favor of Mason, but the attorney saves him the question by saying, “I’ll defend him, even if he did save your life.” / Della Street and Perry discuss Vita’s ice dancing with her. After a party, circa 12:45, Leonard escorted her to the guest cottage (her husband was already there). She denies anything personal between herself and Leonard. / Asa Culver hears Mason’s explanation that, tho she owns the ranch, Joan owes more than she owns. Her husband wasted Joan’s money on the first ice show. Why would a businessman give a check for $50,000 completely unsecured to Leonard? He admits that he loves Vita, who is much younger than he, and knows she can’t skate. He hoped financing her in the show would get the idea of a skating career out of her system. / Jail. Jeff explains to Mason how Denver Leonard had a hold over son Fred, namely the bad check. On the night of the murder, when he saw Leonard on the floor at about 1:30, he was still breathing. He called Hamilton Burger because he thought his son was in trouble. Lt Tragg takes Mason to Kirkwood in the hallway where the man says he showed the police where the bullet was from Leonard's gun. Leonard was killed, however, by being hit with a twelve-gauge shotgun on which were Jeff's fingerprints. Mason returns to Pike and mimics him with "dad blame it, let's have the whole truth." // [5-9](2-5) The trial begins. Hamilton Burger has disqualified himself, and the new prosecutor is Daryl Teshman. The autopsy surgeon testifies to a match of the weapon with fractures. Death blows on top of the head could have been struck when the victim had fallen, and by a woman. Tragg says that only the deceased and the defendant's fingerprints were on the murder weapon. Evidence shows that the gun was in Leonard's room. Mason shows how the defendant could have tripped and grabbed it accidentally in the dark. The prosecutor objects to the demonstration and the judge sustains. Joan Leonard testifies to the evening’s events, and the bad feeling between her husband and Jefferson Pike. Mason ask Culver when he left the party. About 11, Fred about 12:30. Vita states Leonard went directly to his cottage after saying good night and that he was going hunting in the morning. Witness Pedro Guitterez heard Pike's truck drive away. A duck hunter testifies to Pike's threats to Leonard. Kirkwood testifies about Leonard's bullet. He showed the police where it was, and it took but a couple of minutes to find it. But, Mason notes, Pike looked for an hour without finding it. Did Kirkwood “drop that bullet there for the police to find?” He now admits to taking the bullet, then putting it back. He reveals his own hatred of Leonard which leads to a violent outburst about how the man could ruin a ranch. The court adjourns for the weekend. Mason admits to Della that, tho there is certainly more physical evidence, enough has been presented for a hearing. // [6-9](2-6) Della in the murder cottage makes a noises with Pedro, dropping a pail of metal tools and so forth, for Perry, who is in the guest house. Joan joins him, suggests tea. Della holds a jacket; it was not on Leonard when he was found. Della shows Mason a handkerchief with lipstick, puts her own on another for comparison. / Back in court. Asa Culver testifies that he woke at 5:30. The court reporter reads the time scale; 11 when he left the house, Culver did not hear his wife return at 12:45. When Culver is asked several questions and dodges them, Mason asks if he is trying to avoid perjuring himself. The prosecutor objects and is overruled. Does he sleep with the windows shut? No, open. His wife heard nothing, why didn't he? Was he there when she returned home at 12:45? He refuses to answer. Was his “wife's only interest in being at the Leonard’s was in ice skating?” Mason brings up his wife's series of inoculations (she was planning to go with Leonard to Cuba). The prosecutor objects. Burger in a back row of the courtroom mutters “do sit down and be quiet” and, when the judge overrules, “good.” Mason informs Culver that lipstick of a special color, used by his wife, was found on Leonard's pocket handkerchief. Vita shouts that her husband wasn't in the room, he knew about her affair. Asa Culver now says he wants to explain that he went for a walk, saw Pike's truck leave, then found his wife asleep. The judge orders Vita to the stand and now she admits that she was afraid of what her husband might have seen when she returned to the guest house. She pretended to be asleep when her husband returned. Mason asks rhetorically if the murderer wouldn’t have had to see Pike leave his fingerprints on the shotgun murder weapon. Kirkwood now jumps up, confesses proudly at having “killed the big gasbag.” // [7-9](2-7) Pike, Burger and Mason celebrate victory, all the time wonder about Vita’s relationship with Leonard. Kirkwood’s mistake was in trying to sell the bullet to Leonard but, of course, Leonard didn't know what he was talking about. Fred drives up, calls to his dad; he is ready to shape up his life and pay off his debt on his own. [8-9 end credits](2-8) [51:23] (51:06)

[4-6/1-9 Title credits] [2-9] George Livingston writes his left-handed signature at the new accounts desk. The teller suggest a special account. The man tells the banker that by the second day of February his account will exceed $100,000. It is January 4. / It is now February 2 as Livingston withdraws $112,000, which the banker okays. //. [3-9] Sylvia Nelson tells her husband Edward that, since he won't give her the divorce she wants, at the stockholders' meeting she is going to give her proxy to Frank Avery. He asserts that this could give Avery control and he’d ruin the company. He caves in.She has the divorce papers. He calls Arthur Siddens in to witness his signature. Who is the other man, he asks. / Nelson confronts Avery with the proxies, suggests he quit gracefully. Avery declines and, after Nelson leaves, orders (Robert) Doniger to go over the January month's books. / Norma (Williams) finds Doniger in his office early in the morning. He chides her on her addition. She is in a flurry over rumors that Avery and Nelson are in a fight. Has he seen Mrs Nelson with another man? He tells her Nelson won’t let anything happen. He exits with the accounts. / In the morning Doniger returns with the accounts. He goes to Nelson to tell him that $112,000 is missing on five checks, signed by Nelson and written to a George Livingston. / Perry Mason's inner office. Nelson says it is Avery’s doing, asks for Mason's help. When he says that he thought of putting his own money back, the attorney suggests that this would amount to admission of guilt. / Doniger goes to Mrs Nelson, asks her to release her husband’s money. She shows him out curtly. / Doniger arrives home to find Patricia (Martin) awaiting him. Then Norma (Williams) arrives, confronts him about $56,000, half of the money he stole. She produces papers from his waste basket, covered with "George Livingston" signatures made with the left hand. She wants her half. It will be their secret; she leaves. Patricia has overheard and is shocked. He wanted to give her things she didn't have, such as a trip around the world. But he must give the money back, because Nelson's wife has his money tied up. She says she loves him for wanting this for her, and twice as much for not giving it back. / Della Street and Perry arrive at Doniger's. A note on the door says "do not disturb." The door is ajar, and Mason finds him dead, and a black glove with a new perfume. Nelson, who is hiding in the kitchen, comes out. Avery shows up, suggests that Mason call the police. // [4-9] Paul Drake’s report indicates almost anybody could have put the money in the bank account. Drake says that Lieutenant Tragg has a witness confirming Doniger was Livingston. Nelson is still being questioned by the police. Mason notes that Doniger confessed to Nelson. The attorney orders his detective to continue his investigation of the firm and to include Sylvia Nelson. He has Della phone Tragg regarding release of Nelson. / At the company office, Mason is greeted by Norman Williams. She sends him to Siddens, who says he left the office about 5 (Doniger was killed between 5 and 5:45), returned about 5:45. A message that he left for Nelson had been taken, and he does not know if Avery was in the office. He had gone to Doniger's regarding the theft. Again, Avery appears behind Mason. Siddens clearly does not like Avery, is soliciting proxies. Mason leaves. Siddons then instructs Norma to get out the letter he has written explaining Nelson's position regarding the theft. / Mason speaks to a saleswoman about the perfume on the black glove. Is it expansive? “We carry only the very best.” Robert Doniger has made several purchases, she says, and sent one to Patricia Martin. / Martin admits to Doniger's theft for her benefit, when she overheard him talking to Norman Williams. Then he admitted it to her directly. He called the office about 4:30, then Avery, whom he told that he'd confess. He had the money in his brief case. She told the police and would do anything to help catch Robert’s murderer. / Della tells Perry that Paul Drake said Doniger had a way with women. Sylvia Nelson enters, informs Mason that she will withdraw her divorce action. Mason suggests her husband might misinterpret her action as a means to get the whole, rather than half of the, estate. She is insulted at the insinuation. She is wearing a perfume that Mason recognizes. Nelson comes in from the law library, but has been followed by Lieutenant Tragg, who has found the money in the trunk of Nelson’s car. Lt Tragg also says that Doniger stole Nelson's wife. // [5-9] Court. Norma Williams tells D A Hamilton Burger that she put two and two together, went to Doniger to plead with him to return the money at about 4:15. She denies trying to blackmail him. She has no alibi. Patricia Martin says Williams did try to blackmail Doniger. She saw Doniger place a brief case in a drawer in the buffet, and left the apartment shortly before 5. Arthur Siddens received a phone call from Doniger at 4:30 and at 5. The judge admonishes the witness and asks about access to his office. Doniger did not say he had stolen the money. Judith (Ford), whose mother runs Doniger's apartment building, saw about 5:30 a woman leaving who was called Sylvia by a man, the defendant, who asked “have you been seeing Robert Doniger,” then went up in the elevator. She then left with her “Wednesday steady.“ Tragg identifies the murder weapon, Doniger's gun. A black glove and a perfume bottle are identified, and a pair of identically sized white gloves belonging to Sylvia Nelson. He also identifies the brief case with $112,000 cash in it. Hamilton Burger offers exhibits A thru F for identification by the court clerk. Tragg searched Nelson’s apartment, but found the money in the car. / At Nelson's, Sylvia tells Mason that she went to Doniger's on business regarding the divorce. She did not enter, due to a note on the door. Mason points out that her husband may have returned to the apartment to retrieve her glove and help her, will she not reciprocate? Of course! She says she'll deny any relationship with Doniger other than business. // [6-9] Court. Drake reports that Siddens is loyal to Nelson, and Avery gets control of companies by worming his way in, then taking proxies. Avery says he told the defendant that he was worried (what with the divorce and money being tied up). Doniger told him of the cancelled checks. He believed Nelson signed the checks knowingly. Avery arrived at the apartment at 5:45. He left the Nelson Building at 4:30, after Donigen’s call, went to see Charles Evans, a private investigator. He cannot prove where he was at the time of the murder. And he had a motive. Hadn't he been seeing Sylvia Nelson socially and about her proxies? Only he, Mrs Nelson, Miss Williams, Miss Martin and Mr Siddens knew Doniger had the money. The murderer had to be willing to sacrifice $112,000. Avery says he wouldn’t get involved in the murder. Siddens says Doniger did not tell him that he'd stolen the money in either phone call. But, Mason notes, he did tell Avery. Mason brings up Siddens' letter to the stockholders, calls it “a militant expose of Avery's business ethics.” It also states Doniger took the money, yet the letter was written when he came back from dinner. How did he know about the confession? Now he says Doniger did tell him he stole the money; why then did he not include that information in his note to Nelson? He is caught. He'd sacrifice $112,000 because if Nelson were convicted, the money would come back to the company, and he'd get it by marrying Sylvia, who put the brief case in the trunk of her and her husband's car. // [7-9] Mason's office with the trio and Nelson. Sylvia’s affair with Doniger was only business. She wasn’t in on the murder, except after the fact, when she tried to involve her husband, while he was protecting her. Nelson thanks Mason with a generous check. As the trio leave for dinner, the phone rings and, after hesitating, Mason answers, gets another case. [8-9 end credits] [52:38]

[5-6/1-8 Title credits]{3-10/1-9} [2-8]{2-9} A black Oldsmobile drives around a curving roadway. Below a “NO HUNTING by order of Santa Rosa Fish and Game Commission” sign, a man hunts . . . with a camera. He focuses his telescopic sight on a many-pointed buck. On a hill above, a woman falls on a car horn. A man adjusts her position, pushes the car over a cliff, as the cameraman records it, changing lenses as needed (the car that falls is pre-war, the car that the woman is in is a late model, possibly Oldsmobile 88 [bad continuity]). // [3-8]{3-9} Stock establishing shot of L A freeway. In a Los Angeles hotel room, killer (Charles) Houston is looking at photos made by (Roger) Byrd, who has taken $25,000 and wants $20,000 more. Houston pulls a gun, saying “there’s got to be an end somewhere,” but Byrd says he has a duplicate set ready for the District Attorney should he die. So he was going to be double-crossed anyway, challenges Houston. “No, the successful blackmailer likes to give his victims hope.“ Houston offers 20% of his oil well, is refused. Hasn’t 200, 300% already been promised? Houston leaves. / And goes to Madelyn (Terry) for money. They kiss. She says she’s been seeing Lucky Sterling just for laughs. She denies Charles $20,000 for new drilling equipment. Where are the stock certificates? She has 10% this would make it 30% he says. She suggests he ask Lucky Sterling, who is interested in some of the same things he’s interested in, she says oozing her sex appeal. / At Lucky Sterling's Colonial Inn, Houston asks Sterling for a loan, with drilling of the well as security. Field manager and partner Floyd Gordon says it is a sure thing. Yes, Sterling knows this, as he’s visited the site. Lucky tells Houston to keep his hands off Madelyn, wants 50% of the well as a partner for the $20.000. / Charlie brings the money to Byrd at a coffee shop. Byrd counts the money, assures Houston these are the only prints and negatives. “That’s all there is, there isn’t any more,” says Byrd. Houston tears up the prints. / Byrd offers (Paula) Wallace a set of prints for $10,000. They are proof her sister was murdered. She hasn’t the money. He threatens to destroy the evidence if she speaks to anyone about it. She will get the money “from Charles Houston!” This sets Byrd to thinking. / Wallace, sister-in-law to Houston, goes to Perry Mason, with Della Street taking notes. She and her murdered sister invested $50,000 for 50% in an oil well, but got no stock due to some “corporation securities act.” She’s been unable to reach Charles. / At the drilling site, Floyd Gordon tells Sterling and Houston of progress and that he's sure of the Fair Chance well. When Sterling says “partners,” Gordon privately asks Houston why he's been getting calls from Terry, Wallace, a Paul Drake and a lawyer named Mason. The well blows. A blow out. Drake and Paula Wallace arrive in Paul’s Thunderbird. Gordon is calling for a valve as Sterling smiles. Houston avoids them, drives away. Paul notes that Houston seemed as if he didn’t want the well to come in. // [4-8]{4-9} Paul reports to Perry and Della, who has been trying, unsuccessfully, to reach Paula Wallace. / Wallace goes to Byrd’s hotel room, finds the door open and a brief case with "CH" on it. She calls out, “Charles, are you here?” then finds Byrd, dead on the floor. She finds that she is locked in. The lights go out, so goes out by the fire escape as sirens are heard approaching. She meets the police, tells them what she found. They go up to the room. The door is now open, the lights on, and the man is still dead. “Why did you kill him, miss?” asks the officer. / Jail. Wallace tells Mason that she got to the room about 10. She got a call from Byrd saying Houston wanted to see her in his room. She remembers phone and Charles’s brief case. Drake reports that the call to the police to come to the hotel was made at 9:52. The room had been thoroughly searched. The gun is registered to Evelyn Wallace Houston. Mason asks Drake to check everything in Santa Rosa, including the connection between Byrd and Houston. Lieutenant Tragg joins them, cheerily offering “anything I can do to help?” When Mason replies in the affirmative, Tragg’s smile turns sour. / Sergeant Brice shows how the door handle can be half turned from the outside so that it cannot be opened inside. Byrd tells Mason that he never phoned Wallace, and he owns 10% of the Fair Chance. Byrd denies any other connection. / Gordon tells Drake that $50,000 was the original investment, of which half was taken out in cash. He and Houston had a 50/50 deal, but Paula Wallace owns 50%, and might have sold more than 100% of the well. / Terry tells Mason that, when she saw Houston, he looked empty, drained out, and wanted money. Sterling says he wants his share of the well, $20,000 worth, leaves. Mason muses to Della on Houston going to Byrd’s room “where a search was made.” // [5-8]{5-9} Court. The defense table is to the left of the judge, prosecution to the right, the reverse of most court scenes. Lt Tragg identifies the murder weapon for D A Hamilton Burger. He tells Mason that the room was searched, but nothing was found missing. Gordon identifies a letter from Paula Wallace, but Mason objects to its introduction as no foundation has been laid; it is typed, but not identified as to typist or typewriter. Gordon testifies to Mason that he has retained a lawyer, who says he'll get something out of the well, “no matter how little.” Byrd says he heard someone in his room so locked the door from the outside and called the police (at 9:52). He says he heard a revolver shot. Mason gets him to admit he took out a fuse at the end of the hall, made the call but didn't tell police who he was. He unlocked the door when he heard someone go out the window and down the fire escape. When did he call Wallace? He denies it. He’s a freelance photographer. Mason notes he made a deposit of $10,000 on January 21, $7,500 on March 10, and on April 16 another $7,500, "all from photography." Charles Houston withdrew these exact sums of money the day before each deposit, and on the day of the murder, $20,000. He now says it was Wallace who came to him wanting his photos that proved Houston murdered her sister. He admits to blackmail. Paula breaks down in tears. / In jail Wallace admits she lied to Mason because Byrd threatened to destroy the film and deny all he’s told her. She says Byrd was lying about the shot. Mason’s smile reassures her. / Mason asks Terry about her relationship with Houston. “Was she in love with him?” “No!” Didn't she put up $10,000 for his oil well? Sterling joins them, wants an answer to Mason's first question. He wants to know where she was after Houston left and she responds by noting how late he was out. They provide flimsy alibis. // [6-8]{6-9} The judge enters and notes that where they left off Mason was cross-examining Byrd. The witness, still under oath, says that he left his room for dinner about 7:30, returned about 10. Didn't he also stop on the way back at the travel service to change the date of the flight to Rio, and buy $55,000 worth of travel checks, $45,000 from his bank account plus $10,000 from where? Mason gets no positive answers from Byrd. Mason browbeats Byrd. Hamilton Burger interjects that he’s going to prosecute Byrd for blackmail. The D A calls an expert to the stand in order to get the letter into evidence. Mason leaves him snookered by withdrawing his objection to the letters entry, so the D A has Gordon read a letter supposedly from the defendant. In it she says she'll stop at nothing to get what is rightfully hers. Mason asks Gordon if it wasn't he to whom Byrd tried to sell his share in the well, and didn't he go to Byrd's room about 9:30 to try to buy the share before Byrd knew the well had come in? Yes. Didn't he see Houston there? No. Didn’t he give him $10,000 cash? No. Byrd returns to the stand. Mason gives Burger a paper, then asks Byrd where did he get the extra $10,000? Is he trying to shield someone? Is that why he lied about the shot? Under pressure Byrd admits that he phoned Wallace after Houston was murdered. Who did he see coming out of the room after the shot, the one who would have had access to $10,000 at that time of night? Lucky Sterling. Sterling confesses, “yeah, me, ‘Lucky’ Sterling.” He was jealous over Madelyn, “that kind of woman.” // [7-8]{7-9} Mason's inner office at night. Byrd implicated Paula thinking that in Sterling he'd found another source of blackmail. Houston sold 180% of the well, but everyone will get something. The gusher was a disaster to Houston, who tried to collect all the cash he could, then disappear. Drakes asks Perry what he thinks of Gordon, with whom he might like to invest. “Well, well, Mr Paul Drake, oil baron!” chimes Della. Mason suggests he and Della invest . . . in a big steak. [8-8 end credits]{8-9} [52:37]{52:43}(52:29)

CHARACTER ACTOR Perry Mason Raymond Burr Della Street Barbara Hale Paul Drake William Hopper Hamilton Burger William Talman Lt Tragg Ray Collins Mauvis Meade Beverly Garland Gregory Dunkirk Lawrence Dobkin Gladys Doyle Louise Fletcher Richard Gilman Lew Gallo Mrs Manley Joan Banks Caspar Pedley Norman Fell Dukes Lawton John Reach Judge Nelson Leigh Morrison Findlay Bill Erwin
(Pete) Kelton Bill Boyett Miss Carlisle Frances Morris Parking Lot Attendant Paul Lees	CHARACTER ACTOR Headwaiter Ralph Brooks Court Clerk George E Stone

[2-5/1-9 Title credits](2-1) [2-9](2-2) A woman (Gladys Doyle, secretary to Mauvis Meade) arrives at a cabin during a downpour. A man answers her knock, but cannot help her as he has no telephone. She has to pick up a package, yet it is three in the morning. He suggests that she take off as much of her (wet) clothes as she thinks useful. With her out of the room, he pulls out a gun, goes out into the rain. Gladys brings out her wet clothes to dry, hears a window flapping, enters another room where she finds a dead man. // [3-9](2-3) 7:57 at the apartment of Mauvis Meade, author of Chop the Man Down. Her place has been ransacked. She goes behind her painting of Venice's Bridge of Sighs , opens her safe to find it emptied. Gregory Dunkirk, her attorney, finds Mauvis at the safe, says everything she uses as "insurance" is gone. She's disappointed with fame. He asks for "the package," and she says she didn't go to the cabin. Dunkirk hides when a buzzer sounds. Gladys is admitted, says she found a dead man, dark, in his forties, handsome. Dunkirk overhears this and calls Dukes Lawton. Gladys leaves and Dunkirk reenters, says the description of the dead man fits Joseph Manley. She is worried about the package. / Lieutenant Tragg is on the phone with Perry Mason, who is giving him directions to the cabin. In Mason's office Gladys has explained to Perry and Della Street her predicament, which the attorney explains to Paul Drake as he joins them. She went to the Summit Inn to interview Edgar Carlisle. After midnight she went to pick up a package, found a dead man instead. Drake notes that the plot of Meade's book involves real underworld people about whom Dunkirk supplied the information. / Mason, Street and Doyle go to visit Edgar Carlisle, but Edgar's sister informs them that he died two months previous. Doyle insists that the man to whom she talked identified himself as Edgar Carlisle. / Meade denies a man (Caspar Pedley) $1000. She doesn't want his information, throws her book at him as he leaves. He meets Mason on the way out and comments about Meade's terrible temper. He overhears Mason introduce himself to Meade. She tells Mason she doesn't believe Gladys' story. He wants to know about "the package." She denies knowledge of any package, admits she never met Carlisle and sent Doyle to cover for her. She denies knowledge of any cabin. While she gets the map, he lights a cigarette. Her map shows nothing useful. // [4-9](2-4) Della reports to Perry that she couldn't find Gladys. Lt Tragg informs Mason that he's found the cabin and the dead man, and Doyle, and that Gladys will be booked for murder. Drake phones in the identity of the murdered man, a gambler with the Whispering Sands in Las Vegas. / Della, finishing a carry-out dinner late in Mason's inner office, opens Paul's hallway entry to answer a knock (not his usual), is held by an unidentified man (the man in the cabin). He leaves a package belonging, he says, to Mauvis Meade, then exits. Della picks up a map identical to Meade's, except it shows the cabin with shortcut now marked. She phones the Whispering Sands. / Drake and Mason meet Mrs Manley, a casino card dealer, and ask about her husband as if they were insurance investigators. Did he witness an accident near the Summit Inn? No. He's in Arizona. Pedley, her brother, breezes in and informs Manley of her husband's murder "by some woman." She confronts Mason, who admits that he represents Gladys Doyle, which takes her aback, though she denies knowing her. / The trio, in Mason's Lincoln convertible, join Pete Kelton, Drake's operative. He informs them that Carlisle was a regular weekend visitor, but that the cabin was owned by (Morrison) Findlay. Mason, following Doyle's instructions, finds a coffee can. In it is a scarf around .32 caliber bullets. The scarf has monkeys on it, the same as Mauvis Meade was photographed for her book jacket. / Mauvis tells Mason she gave the scarf to Gladys. Mason asks about an envelope to be opened in case of her death. When mason goes to the safe behind the painting, Dunkirk and her body guard (Duke Lawton) stop the questioning. Mason notes that the presence of these two suggests that she is in rather deep, and he'll hold his questioning until she is in court and under oath. // [5-9](2-5) In court the .32 caliber revolver is identified for D A Hamilton Burger by Lt Tragg as the murder weapon. Tragg identifies personal effects from the cabin as being Doyle's, but she whispers to Mason that she didn't leave them there. The lieutenant identifies a letter, apparently from Joe Manley. Findlay testifies that a Gladys Doyle rented the cabin, but he could not now recognize her voice. Mason asks Mrs Manley if she, her husband Joe, or brother Caspar, knew Doyle or Meade. She says no to all. Burger starts to question Mauvis, but this is interrupted by the appearance of Kelton. With the judges permission, Hamilton Burger puts Kelton on the stand to reveal Mason's finding of the scarf with the .32 calibre bullets, which the D A claims is suppression of evidence. Mason, however, gets Kelton to admit that no one ever suggested at the time of the finding that the bullets or scarf were evidence. Tragg testifies that when he searched the cabin, before Mason, he found the coffee can, but it was empty. So neither the scarf nor the bullets were evidence of the murder. Burger demands their entry as evidence but the judge allows their admission by the defense, after lunch. He adjourns until two. // [6-9](2-6) The duo are enjoying lunch when Drake brings a Summit Inn photo of Doyle and Pedley, the latter acting as Carlisle. The headwaiter brings Mason a telephone, and the caller tells him to ask Meade about the $100 bills with which she paid the rent on the cabin. Since no one knew where they were eating, they rush out to find the caller, and the parking lot attendant identifies the man's car, a Buick convertible. Richard Gilman's name is on the registration. Mason is reading the registration when Gilman, the man in the cabin, returns, only to be given a subpoena by the attorney. / In the judge's chambers, Gilman turns out to be a federal undercover agent investigating income tax fraud involving gambling. He cannot answer certain key questions, but states that the cabin was a way station out of the country for money to be transferred to avoid taxes. He won't state how Manley or Meade might be involved. All agree to avoid questioning Gilman in court if it can be avoided / Back in court, Meade denies that the map shows the cabin. Mason shows Meade the monkey scarf. Mason spins a tale of her fear of the gambling people. Didn't she hide certain documents in an envelope to be opened upon her death, which envelope was taken when her room was ransacked? Learning of the real Carlisle's death, didn't she then send Doyle in her place? Duke Lawton, Mason says, is not her bodyguard, but an enforcer. Dunkirk intervenes for Mauvis, but she says he is the one who is threatening her. She admits to getting involved in the money laundering with Manley via Dunkirk. The judge suggests that they should continue in chambers, but allows Mason to ask a few "discrete questions" directly related to the murder. Mauvis denies killing Manley, but did tell him of the documents that she had, about which he must have told his employers. She was having an affair with Manley, which is how he got her scarf. Pedley admits to posing as Carlisle with Gladys, to get Mauvis out of her apartment for Joe. He points the murder finger at Manley's wife, explaining about the scarf and bullets. She tries to leave, is stopped, then confesses, saying that it was jealousy. She should have killed Mauvis, not Joe. // [7-9](2-7) The usual trio, Mason, Street and Drake, are in Mason's private office. Della thinks that the planting of love letter and personal things to make it look as if Doyle and Manley were having an affair was awful. Mason counters that Dunkirk and Meade had to act quickly, for someone else was planting the monkey scarf and bullets to incriminate Meade! Mason has a handsome fee, including Meade's autograph, on a check. [8-9 end credits](2-8) [51:21](51:05)

CHARACTER ACTOR Perry Mason Raymond Burr Della Street Barbara Hale Paul Drake William Hopper Hamilton Burger William Talman Lt Tragg Ray Collins Betty Roberts Joan O'Brien George Anclitas Henry Lascoe Sadie Bradford Allison Hayes Wilton (Slim)[Joseph] Marcus H M Wynant Vivian Ennis Jeanne Moody William Gowrie Fredd Wayne Manning Ennis Chris Warfield Police Captain Robert B Williams Judge Richard Gaines

Frederick Halstead Stafford Repp Thomas [George]Ranger Byron Morrow Frank Wilton John Harmon Autopsy Surgeon Michael Fox

CHARACTER ACTOR Detective Harry Fleer Parking Lot Attendant Ken Walken Court Clerk George E Stone

[3-5/1-9 Title credits](1-1) [2-9](1-2) (George) Anclitas is welcomed to the Big Barn Poker Palace in Rowena by the parking lot attendant, then the hat check girl Sadie (Bradford), whose mother’s hospital care has been paid for by him. “Here happiness is legal,” he proclaims. At a private table, (Slim) Marcus beats Manning Ennis with two kings as Betty Roberts, a cigarette girl, watches. Anclitas arrives, takes Ennis's $60,000 check. He’s to get “the courtesy of the house, for a thousand years.” Betty wants to be a singer, is Sadie's friend, and Anclitas has to advise her that the club has a $5,000 limit. Why was she in the room, to help Slim? He slaps her when she rebuffs him. // [3-9](1-3) Betty leaves the private room and Sadie notices her distress. Anclitas exits, is greeted by the police captain. Betty is accosted by Marcus who wants to know what happened with Anclitas and she says she admitted nothing. She goes to Manning and asks why he bet so much. He tells her that it is all over, he is free at last so drop the issue. Anclitas asks Slim about going over the $5,000 limit. Slim worries about the girl. Anclitas says that if everything -the check - is okay tomorrow, Slim won’t have to worry about himself. / Vivian Ennis asks Manning how he could lose $60,000 and he asks who told her that, Gowrie? He says it is all gone and that she started it all. He doesn’t care anymore. She vows to get it all back. / Betty gets a call from Vivian, wanting to know how they took Manning. “There’s nothing to tell. Nothing, nothing, nothing!” / Perry Mason's inner office. Mason notes to Betty that in this part of L A, Rowena Township, it is legal to gamble over poker, but if it was not on the up and up, the loser could legally reclaim his money. Betty cannot understand why Ennis seemed happy to lose. He touched her, slapped her, backed her up against the door, says that a year before they chased another girl out of the state by planting marijuana on her. This morning she found the cash register gun planted in her hat box (thus leaving her fingerprints). Della Street brings Mason two law books. On the phone, William Gowrie informs Mason that he and Vivian Ennis intend to get all their money back. Mason gives him a specific California legal citation regarding the fact that no one can gamble with community property. Mason gets Betty’s assurance the gun hasn’t been used in a crime, takes the Colt .38 Super into the next room, has Della get a similar firearm from the safe, and exchanges the guns. Della suggest he is tampering with evidence. “Evidence? Of what?” He then tells Betty to move into a motel. / Mason gives Betty's gun to Paul Drake and asks him to search her apartment under the pretext of getting her things. / He does, rifling drawers, finding and smelling some cigarettes. Meanwhile, Sadie exits an adjacent room, returns when a policeman enters the building, and follows the policeman to Betty's apartment and tells him that she's gone out of town. Lieutenant Tragg follows. Drake escapes, apparently after finding marijuana and some bills, via the fire escape./ Drake goes to a phone booth. Then we see a Los Angeles Chronicle sub-headline that reads VIVIAN ENNIS, SOCIALITE, FOUND MURDERED. // [4-9](1-4) Mason visits Betty to get her signature on a document which will bring suit against the Big Barn. She admits to going out for breakfast and lunch. Lt Tragg arrives, takes a thumb print of Betty. Then the gun is discovered in the hat box. Mason warns Tragg “that praticular gun has little or no significance.” Tragg accuses Betty of the murder since her fingerprints are all over both Ennis's house and the car in which Vivian was driven over a cliff. Mason reassures Betty. / Mason drives away but is forced to the side of the road by Anclitas and Marcus. They banter over Gowrie’s attempts to reclaim the loss. “Gowrie would pursue dragons . . .” Mason asks if Anclitas knows who planted the marijuana cigarettes in Roberts’s apartment. As Mason drives away, Marcus denies to Anclitas any planting of the marijuana. / Ennis tells Mason that Vivian said she was going to get the money back, then left about 2 a m. But the money was his inheritance, not community property, and Gowrie knew it. He was at the boat in Newport about 5 p m when his wife, whom he really hated, died. He brought Betty to the house, in his wife's car, a few nights before. / Mason enters his inner office where Paul and Della are waiting. Drake gets a call sent over from his office advising that the murder weapon is the one Mason put in the hat box! // [5-9](1-5) In court the autopsy surgeon testifies for the prosecution to the matter of death by bullets, not a car crash. Mason gets the autopsy surgeon that either of the two bullets could have been the cause of death, but which one it is impossible to know. (Joseph) Marcus says Betty went out of her way to be with Ennis. Mason objects to the leading of the witness and the judge sustains. Marcus saw Ennis and Roberts kissing in the parking lot. Mason asks how often he was with Vivian Ennis. What was his manner of greeting her? Gowrie says Vivian Ennis phoned about 2:20 a m, wanted her money back. To Mason, he admits to gambling at the Big Barn with Vivian, but never took money from Anclitas. Sadie Bradford says that the morning after the murder Betty told her that “something awful had happened,” then she took a taxi to see a lawyer. Later she said she was going into hiding. Anclitas, his jovial self, says he only wishes he'd lost the $60,000. Tragg enters with Mr Wilton. D A Hamilton Burger then asks to bring Mr Wilton to the stand to clarify his earlier testimony. Wilton says that the two bullets were from different guns, both Colt .38 Supers. The court clerk receives the second of two guns. The judge is somewhat confused. (Frederick) Halstead testifies to getting the second gun, which fired the other bullet, from Paul Drake. George Ranger identifies the second gun as registered to himself, and which he gave Perry Mason six months before. Burger calls Perry Mason to the stand, but the defense attorney forces the court to take its noon recess when Burger accuses him of handling both murder weapons. / In jail Betty explains about the last two hands of poker, four cards up (e.g., stud poker) when Paul arrives with news that either bullet could have been fired after Vivian Ennis was dead for several hours. Mason notes that the California penal code regarding card gambling outlawed stud poker, even in Rowena. // [6-9](1-6) Court. Burger tries to nail Mason as an accessory to murder for having advised his client to fire the second bullet, but the judge upholds the attorney's right to first cross-examine Anclitas. The first gun belonged to the Big Barn, along with four others. When the gun was missing, was there money missing? Yes, $355. Did he ask the Rowena police to search for it? They found it in Betty's apartment, with some marijuana. Mason raises the issue of illegal stud poker, which Anclitas denies. Mason raises the issue of his earlier dismissal of a female employee on whom he'd planted marijuana, money and a stolen gun, but Burger's objection is sustained. Mason continues the point, and Sadie Bradford jumps up, says Anclitas lies, that she planted the items and that he made her do it. Under oath she admits that he also paid her mother's hospital bills. She planted the gun in the hat box early the next morning. Gowrie is recalled and admits that he knew the money was not community property. Wasn’t the seeing Vivian socially? He proposed to Vivian, in the event of her divorce, but she refused. Mason asks him to name the man she turned to in order to get the money when he didn't, the one who would have known where the gun was and such. Anclitas realizes it is Marcus, accuses him of ruining his business over the $60,000. As Marcus breaks free of Anclitas' choke hold, he admits to the murder. // [7-9](1-7) Della, Perry, Betty discuss the case in Mason’s office. Marcus and Vivian had expected to split the $60,000 pot, but Anclitas walked in and took the whole pot, leaving them with nothing. Later, Vivian threatened to expose Marcus, so he killed her with the cash register gun. Sadie then planted that gun in her hat box. Marcus, checking, found the wrong serial number, figured Sadie had planted the wrong one, gilded the lily with the second shot. Ennis walks in, having been sent for by Mason, who comments, “I like everybody to be happy.” [8-9 end credits](1-8) [51:18](51:03)

[4-5/1-9 Title credits] [2-9] (Sally) Norton is at the yard water pump as (Ken) Bascombe rides up on his palomino. “We’ve nothing to talk about” she says. He picks up her water pail. When he propositions her, Sally notes that he has a wife. “Arrangements still could be made” he says then, after another attempt to get her interest, he walks over to the mine to see her husband, Gerald. He apologizes for losing his temper, makes his final offer of $7,500 for the property, which has no gold; “nobody can make this mine pay” he claims. All he wants from the property is the water. / Dinner around the open fire, “chicken, biscuits, peas.” Gunshots are fired at their cooking grub, and the sound of "get out" is heard. // [3-9] Amos (Catledge) and burro Sheba arrive at Norton's. He notes the damaged pot at the fire. Sally greets him with coffee and “cream for you, a lump of sugar for Sheba.” He tells Sally and Jerry he saw Bascombe's prize palomino ride away after the gunshots towards Bascombe’s ranch. Jerry goes off to Bascombe’s, leaving his rifle with Sally. Amos tells Sally he'd kill Bascombe if he thought he “could get away with it.” / Jerry drives his jeep to Bascombe’s and is greeted by (Hazel) Bascombe, whom he met once some months before. It is “Frontier Week” and Ken is at the Golden Nugget buying everyone drinks. He asks if Ken was there at 7 p m which is when the shots were fired. She chases him away for talking to her behind Ken’s back. Foreman Roy (Dowson) comes in, and they embrace. He says he'll clear out when Ken finds out, and she is upset. / Town (Placer City). Gun shots and general revelry. Perry Mason drives up in his white Lincoln convertible and is immediately accosted by a button salesgirl; buy a button or wear a beard, or get put in jail. Only $1. He buys one. The girls are fascinated with his car. Mason tries the door marked “Assayer, Crawford Wright.” No answer, and the button girl tells him Wright would be at the Golden Nugget. There Bascombe, in a massive beard, points him to Wright. Wright says he's not seen Catledge nor Sheba in a while. Mason suggests he should take a deposition form Sheba, then says Catledge was the only one around when the original survey of a property was made for which records are lost and whose border is being contested. The Nortons are introduced to Mason. (Jerry sports neither beard nor button.) Jerry then accuses Bascombe of the shooting. Bascomb rips off his beard and states “I didn’t shoot up anything last night.” He knocks Jerry to the floor. In front of Mason, Jerry threatens to kill Bascombe if there is any more trouble at the mine. Bascombe offers a round of drinks for everyone. / The Nortons tell Mason that they got the mine from uncle Ezra. They promised to keep it open until the grub stake money, $1836, ran out. Wright explains that water from the property could open up a thousand or so acres to cattle grazing, then shows forty years of reports on the mine which show traces of gold only. Sally asks what to do about Bascombe’s harassing. Jerry’s answer is “I can shoot a rifle, too.” Mason suggests that they should get a lawyer. / Back at the mine, Amos doesn't answer Jerry's call. He's hiding in the mine. / Mason, with the Norton's, invites them to dinner as he doesn’t like to eat alone. / When they return, they hear the same "git out." Sally is scared and can’t see her husband getting killed “for a scrap of paper or a handful of dirt.” Jerry goes after the shooter. Two more shots and “git out.” Yet another two shots. Jerry finds the palomino and Bascombe with two bullet holes in his back. // [4-9] Sally bursts in on Mason. Jerry’s been arrested. Della Street, who is waiting on the phone line, says she’ll get Paul Drake on the job. / A deputy tries to keep Mason from Jerry. Mason shouts his message, that Jerry should say nothing unless with his lawyer. The deputy is nonplussed at Mason’s trick. / At the murder site, Sheriff Keller is ordering a photographer around clearly indicating he believes Norton did it. Then he tells Drake and Mason that there were no expended shells, so Jerry’s claim he was being shot at doesn’t fit. Drake discovers burro tracks with traces of blood. / Sally says it couldn't have been Jerry's rifle because Bascombe was dead when Jerry found him. She admits Bascombe made advances, which Jerry sensed. She hasn’t seen Catledge, but he must be around as his burro is still there. / Catledge asks Hazel Bascombe for “grub stake money, a thousand dollars or so.” He knows of Roy and her and he saw Roy ride away after Ken was shot. He hides as Paul Drake knocks. Hazel says only that her husband went for a ride and that Ken was not out the previous eve after 6. She slams the door on Drake, then gives $2,000 to Amos to go “plum outta sight.” / Roy is drinking with the button salesgirl when he's sent to Hazel. She tells him of Amos and that she found the expended rifle shells in his jacket. She threatens him with exposure. / Crawford Wright asks Mason why he’s staying on. Mason admits that the events would make a good book. As Crawford leaves, Drake and the Norton’s arrive. They are wondering why the burro, but not Catledge, is at the mine. The sheriff arrests Jerry for first degree murder. // [5-9] Drake reports to Mason that Roy and Hazel were seen together after the murder. Mason gives Drake a list of items to purchase; “shredded wheat . . . lump sugar, also a geiger counter, and a silver-plated horseshoe.” / District Attorney Williams questions the coroner's physician, who explains how the victim was shot in the back. The DA acknowledges the “distinguished visitor from Los Angeles” and Mason quips that “our local district attorney is rarely so generous.” Wright testifies to a fight between Norton and Bascombe in which Jerry said “he was man enough to kill” Bascombe. Hazel admits to Mason that there was a battery-powered bullhorn at the ranch. She breaks down crying, strides over to and accuses Jerry of the murder. Dowson says he'd cleaned Bascombe's rifle two days before the murder. A ballistics expert says that the bullets were fired from Norton's gun. The sheriff testifies that he found the Norton rifle had been recently fired. / At the assay office, Mason has Della go with Wright for lunch. He then pries open Wright’s desk. Wright is a state’s witness and Mason doesn’t want the D A knowing what he’s doing. Mason has Drake check the latest sample from the mine with a geiger counter. Weak signal. / Perry, Paul and Sally drive out to the mine. In the mine, Mason takes a sample from the area left off by Norton. They also find a bale of hay. // [6-9] Sheriff Keller states that he found that the Norton rifle had been recently fired. Mason asks him about the burro tracks, then produces plaster casts of the burro at the murder scene and from Sheba which match. All this is irrelevant, claims the District Attorney, since Amos Catledge cannot be called as a witness, but the burro Sheba can be called. The judge says that “if it takes a sideshow” to reach the truth, so be it. Sheba is called as a witness, and immediately identifies Amos in the crowd. He explains how he shaved and cut his hair so that no one would recognize him, but he couldn’t bear to leave Sheba. Mason asks, while he and the Nortons were away eating dinner, didn't he take the rifle and shoot Bascombe? No. She paid him, so he’ll have to ask her why. Hazel admits finding the expended rifle shells, but she lied about his riding out the night of the shooting since she loved him, to get his loyalty. The empty shells were from an earlier night, says Dowson. He did follow Bascombe, but stopped when he saw someone waiting for him on the ridge. Bascombe told him that he wanted the mine, not the property. Wright testifies to finding only faint traces of gold. Didn't he go into partnership with Bascombe, and meet him on the ridge? Didn’t he get Norton’s rifle and kill Bascombe with it, then shoot at the Nortons with his own rifle when they came back? Mason brings forth a Geiger counter, finds high radioactivity in the sample he took from the mine and has put in the bag which Wright is now holding. It has uranium! Wright confesses; Bascombe was trying to freeze him out. // [7-9] The trio, Mason, Street, Drake, are at dinner in the Golden Nugget with a player piano rattling away in the background. The silver-plated horseshoe is puzzling Drake. Mason says that his list of items for the detective to get during the trial had the silver-plated horseshoe for good luck, while the other items were related to the mine and the burro. [8-9 end credits] [51:18].

[5-5/1-8 Title credits] [2-8] The gallery at the Harkens Museum of Art. A woman (artist) wearing glasses walks to an easel with her paint pallet, sits down. A guide (June Sinclair) leading a small group is boasting about their latest acquisition, “their prize Matisse, and example of the master’s middle period. Notice how he handles light by his use of pure tones” she boasts. Sylvester Robey asks the guide (June Sinclair) to see (Richard) Harkens. The woman artist in glasses, copying the painting, looks on. / Robey tells Richard Harkens that the Matisse is false. It is insured for $100,000, because he has increased the amount to reflect the purchase price of one million francs. He frets regarding Amelia Harkens; “she’ll kill me.” // [3-8] Amelia Harkens, Richard’s mother, enters the gallery, asks (Thomas) Clark where the Matisse is. / In Richard’s office, Richard is explaining to June the problem of going to the police. Amanda joins them and Richard tells her Robey wanted to see the painting. Amelia calls Robey a “charlatan and a scoundrel.” She says no, he wanted to see why they were displaying a copy. Where is the original? She looks at the night watchman’s report. June and David Lambert were in late the previous night. Amelia says David - “Chicago Art Institute, Ecole des beaux arts, Paris, and penniless. Are you engaged to this man?” “He’s married!” “He paid his way thru school in Paris by copying old masters in the Louvre.” She’ll have the both of them arrested if the painting isn’t back by the evening. / Liza (Carson Lambert, David’s wife) and David Lambert argue. She filed for divorce hoping to force him to make something of himself. He should paint more cherubs, she suggests, like the ones she’s done. He discards his last one. She invites him to return, not get a divorce, even if for only a month, then threatens him if he won’t. She hides when June arrives. June falls into his arms, then smells Liza’s perfume. She warns David that Amelia will have them arrested if the painting is not returned by that evening. He doesn’t take her seriously. Liza overhears this. / Perry Mason is busy. Della Street informs him that a couple wants to see him, urgently. “She’s quite pretty” teases Della. “I don’t suppose you noticed what the young man looked like” he responds. David and June come to Mason, who bought a painting from David awhile ago. / David, June and Perry emerge from an elevator. June and Perry go on into the gallery. Then Liza emerges from the elevator, teases David about “stealing pictures.” Richard Harkens is introduced to Mason, says Amelia treats him like “a vegetable that somehow has learned how to talk.” / Liza offers Amelia the painting for a price, then leaves as Mason enters with Sinclair and Richard, warns Amelia to desist regarding slander. / Sinclair is looking at the discarded cherub painting when Harkens arrives. He tells her that Liza promised to return the painting for $25,000 together with a promise to not prosecute. Liza was sure that David was going back to her. He has the $25,000. / June goes to Liza’s, finds David’s car parked outside. Liza takes a gun out of a drawer. June then she confronts Liza. They argue over who stole the Matisse. Maybe, suggests Liza, she didn’t steal it, she’d only looking for “pocket money.” In a scuffle, a gold clip falls to the floor. Liza pulls out her gun, forcing June to leave. Outside, she hears “what are you doing here? Stop it! Stop it!” then two gun shots, returns to find Liza dead. // [4-8] Mason gets an urgent call from June. / Mason finds a dead Liza, a note from Sylvester Robey saying that he had received four smiling cherubs for auction, but no June. Mason finds but one Cherub painting and a partially finished Matisse copy. Two policemen arrive and order Mason to put his hands up. / Sergeant Brice finds the gold clip with "J S" on it. Lieutenant Tragg asks why Mason was looking at a "Matisse." Lambert is brought in by the police. He says that his car was stolen. He then sees the dead Liza. “So somebody finally caught up with her.” Lambert almost admits the "Matisse" is his copy. / Harkens tells his mother that he gave Liza the money. He tears up the receipt on her order. / Paul Drake asks museum guard Thomas Clark about the hours that the paintings are watched. He notes that the murdered woman would copy Matisses much like the particular woman artist in glasses then copying the Matisse. / Robey identifies the cherubs to both Harkens, the last ones painted by Lisa. Amelia asks Sylvester where the Matisse is, offers him $25,000 for its return, when she sees Paul Drake in the gallery. / Richard goes to Mason. The attorney is curious as to why Harkens’ mother is so sure June and David took the Matisse. He knows June is in love with David and offers to say he stole it if it will help. Mason refuses. “Perhaps he hears a different music,” offers Mason, when Harkens wonders how a person gets out of step with the world around them. / Mason, at David's studio, advises June to surrender. David returns. Mason explains June's involvement, being in Carson’s studio at the time of the murder. She moved his car after finding Liza dead. Lt Tragg arrives and arrests June. // [5-8] Court. Deputy D A Hanson calls it a case of a “mistress of a married man (who) rids him and herself of a wife by means of a murder,” then says that the State has not accused anyone of the theft of the Matisse, but will “delve deeply” into it as part of his case. Mason tells the judge that the prosecutor is a recognized art expert, so can delve as he likes. Witness Mrs Forbes testifies to not hearing clearly the shots, but seeing Sinclair run out from, and Mason go in to, Liza's apartment. The judge notes that Lambert is a reluctant witness, yet must answer the prosecutor’s questions. Lambert admits to his love for June, testifies to his evening's activities including an attempt to visit his wife, but he has no alibi. (During this examination, the camera reveals the woman artist with the classes in the visitor section of the court next Robey).) He identifies the gold pin as his gift to June. Lt Tragg identifies strands caught in the pin as from Sinclair's coat. Also on the coat was face powder used by the deceased. Robey says he informed Harkens as soon as he discovered that the Matisse was false. Shown the half-finished Matisse, he suggests it is by Lambert, then "discovers" that the fake must also be by Lambert. He has four Liza Carson cherubs which he bought, at her insistence. She, too, could have painted the fake. Thomas Clark says he was on duty the night of the theft, didn’t see anyone remove the Matisse. Harkens tells the prosecutor that he gave Liza $25,000 to get the real Matisse, and only June Sinclair besides his mother knew this. He does not know why the money was not found. The receipt, torn but reassembled, is shown. Amelia Harkens says she authorized no payment but that it did come from her personal account. Why did she approach the problem this way instead of reporting to the police? She refuses to answer and the judge says he’ll hold her in contempt, then adjourns for the night. / Drake brings Mason a catalog of the auction, and Liza's handwriting samples. Drake notes that one of the four cherubs is crying, not smiling. / The cherubs at the auction. The first goes for $600 to Mrs Vandercord. It is the second that is crying. The bidding starts. Mrs Vandercord bids $500. Someone offfers $700. $850 from the woman artist in glasses. Lambert overbids, but Mason jumps him again and again. Mason gets it for $26,000, which is beyond Harkens' $25,000 limit. // [6-8] Mason recalls Robey over the embarased objection of the Deputy D A. Robey refuses “to perform a small chore” for Mason. The attorney takes a fluid, removes water-based cover paint, revealing the real Matisse. The auction catalog didn't list a crying cherub. Robey admits paying Carson $5,000 for the real Matisse and the copy, and $1000 to bribe the guard, Thomas Clark, to allow the exchange. Letting it go at auction was his way of absolving himself of stealing it. Why did he point out that the museum painting was not real? Because Amelia Harken had made a fool of him over the years by buying up pictures he wanted, calling him a fool and charlatan, and this was payback time. Amelia Harkens says she did not report the loss due to pride. Its “loss would make (her) the laughing stock of every museum head in the world” Clark testifies to being picked up at a bar and offered $1000. A woman artist pretended to paint a copy while the paintings were exchanged. The copy was on the back of the half-finished copy that she was painting. Didn't he think the split of $200,000 inequitable? He did follow her, found $5000 (Robey's payment). The police found several unidentified fingerprints. Clark now admits that he took the "toy pistol" from Liza and shot her. // [7-8] Mason explains to Drake and Street that Richard never paid the $25,000 to Liza, and forged Liza's receipt. He hated the museum. Drake figures he wanted the cash to leave and make a fresh start. Mason says Amelia has given her son a million dollars, and a nice wedding present for June and David. She paid Mason's fee, but he says the real fee was paid by Lambert, an abstract likeness of Perry Mason. The trio argue as to its orientation! [8-8 end credits] [51:18]

[2-4/1-10 Title credits] [2-10] A framed portrait painting is turned to reveal a safe. A flashlight shows a hand twisting a safe dial. 20-80-80. A camera hidden in a window clicks. Adam Thompson looks pensive. A technician removes a film plate from a camera and develops it. The film shows a close-up of Adam Thompson, who is then advised by the technician on the use of the camera which makes an infrared image and is foolproof. Adam wants to catch either of his two nephews. // [3-10] His father will give Harry (Thompson) his inheritance when he reaches 25, nine months from now. But Harry needs $10,000 now, yet his uncle and trustee denies him. Elliott (Carter) asks about the development, and his uncle says that by noon tomorrow he'll have purchased the land. Secretary Ellen Foster puts the map of the property in the safe. Lydia (Logan), Harry’s fiance, charms Adam. Adam sends Ellen home, leaves. The three look at the portrait that hides the safe. / At night a man enters the room, opens the safe. It is Harry. Elliott, who knows his uncle has been watching him, catches him and warns him. // [4-10] Thompson comes out of the dark room with a blank negative, as he tells Ellen that he's pleased that no one went into the safe to learn the location of the property. Nobody knows where his 309 acres are located. / Two men, one named Durston, the other a banker, discuss the sale of Adam's 309 acre property. Durston wants to complete the transaction so that he can get the plane back to Philadelphia. / Perry Mason's inner office. Adam Thompson tells Perry Mason that he is certain that the map was not removed from the safe. General manager Frank Jarrett (who is Durston) confirms that no one could have known what Adam was buying, since Adam didn’t know until the previous afternoon. Adam tells Mason "Norman Durston" bought $37,000 pig in a poke, for he had no intent of buying the property. He has the Philadelphia address of Durston. Adam wants to know who of his two boys got into the safe and told the mysterious Durston. / Jarrett demands $100,000 from Victor Logan. But the banks are closed, notes Logan. Jarrett points out that Logan owns the building, has a home, two cars, a daughter with jewelry. Lydia enters as Frank leaves, asks Victor about $10,000. Jarrett could take away his architect's license, using irregularities in his college records. “Jarrett is making demands on me” he tells her. / Mason, in a Ford Fairlane convertible, and Paul Drake, in his black Thunderbird, pull up to the Los Angeles business address of Durston’s Philadelphia construction company, J & L. They find a car running in the garage, Jarrett dead inside. Drake notices head bruises. // [5-10] The police are all over the car. Lieutenant Tragg and Mason confer. For a while they play cat and mouse as Tragg tries to discover what really is going on. Mason represents Adam Thomson, but not Harry, whose wallet has been found in the house. / Adam Thompson enters Jarrett's office, answers the phone but no one speaks. Harry, who look as if he’s been in a fight, is in the room, which he has rifled, but won't say why. He denies working with Jarrett. “It has nothing to do with company’s business.” Lt Tragg and Mason arrive, and Tragg takes Harry away. Adam asks Mason to represent Harry. Mason says, then Harry will be his principle concern. Adam understands what this means. Mason wants to know what Harry was looking for, first. / Harry, in jail, says only that he was searching for something personal, and he was at Jarrett's house about 4:50, got into a fight and dropped his wallet. He didn’t find what he was looking for, and thought he might be in Jarrett’s office, so went there quickly. Did he know about his uncle's infrared camera? Yes, but not last night. Mason discovers that Harry might be covering for his girl. / Drake has told Della Street, who tells Perry, that the safe could not be opened without a picture being taken. Lydia Logan, engaged to Harry, comes to tell Mason about Jarrett's blackmailing of her father regarding the architect’s license, and she told Harry, who went looking for the correspondence Jarrett had against her father. She says Harry or Elliott had to do it, and Harry didn’t. / When confronted by Adam and Ellen before Mason, Elliott finally admits he knows the safe combination. He followed Harry and stopped him from opening the safe. // [6-10] Court. The autopsy surgeon testifies for Deputy D A Claude Drumm to death by carbon monoxide, not by blows to the head. There is no way to determine which of two blows caused unconsciousness. Foster testifies to an earlier parcel of land going up in price just before Adam tried to buy it, bought by Durston of J & L Construction. She relates the incident of the map being put in the safe. Further, she answered the phone when Harry was called by Lydia, and he threatened; “I can take care of Jarrett another way. Look, Honey, don’t worry,” about 4:30. Mason cross-examines. She was in the office from about 9 a m to nearly 5 p m. Adam never discussed properties with her. She didn't know about the camera. Adam told her that no one could have taken the map out of the safe. The banker identifies a photo of Frank Jarrett as Durston. Elliott testifies to finding Harry at the safe. A realtor testifies to getting a deposit of $75,000, checks of $10,000, to Harry Thompson from Jarrett, and $37,000. Lydia Logan admits that she told Harry her father was being blackmailed by Jarrett and that he threatened him as previously testified by Ellen Foster; “I can take care of Jarrett another way. Look, honey, don’t worry.” Tragg testifies to the status of the murdered man and the house, and finding Harry's wallet as well as fingerprints in the car. Later he found Adam and Harry in Jarrett's office, where he found the $10,000 check together with a note implicating Harry with Frank Jarrett. Mason is dismayed with Harry for not telling him the whole truth. // [7-10] The trio in Mason’s private office. Mason says Harry wanted the $10,000 to help Victor Logan. Harry searched the car for the letters. / Adam tells Drake and Mason that he worked on the map of the property on his desk. The map was put in the safe by Ellen, who has worked for him for 13 years. He developed the film at about 8:30 and found that it was blank. All Mason now has is “a hope.” / Tragg tells Mason that they couldn't find the incriminating correspondence. But wouldn't the correspondence be a non-sequitur once the blackmailer was dead? Victor Logan admits Jarrett had damaging correspondence. Drake arrives with the information Mason wanted on Durston-Jarrett. Lydia, Victor says, heard everything, told Harry. Jarrett's demands were blackmail, asserts Mason. What of Harry's $10,000, which he gave him? Also blackmail. But, Mason notes, there were no irregularities in Logan’s application for his architect’s license. Just a fiction by him to account for blackmail, so no correspondence. J&L Construction Company is also being investigated. Did he ask the defendant for $10,000 a month before the murder. Yes. Wasn't this to implicate Harry with Jarrett? The blackmail was not over his architect’s license, but J & L, which is Jarrett & Logan. Didn't Jarrett blackmail Logan? Ellen Foster is recalled by Mason. Since the map was not gotten out of the safe, it was never put in! At 8:40 a lady across street took in a pint of milk for her Siamese cats. She saw Foster leave, get into her car, and read. She was then seen looking into a side window. Why did she not remain in the house? The map reappeared at 9:15 when Adam opened the safe. Adam was already in the darkroom. The safe was vulnerable for a half hour, says Adam. She gave the map information to Frank Jarrett, then killed him because he was going to leave her. In the garage he turned his back to her, and she hit him with the wrench, put him in the car and turned on the motor. // [8-10] Mason and Street are with Thompson. Adam knew of no relationship between Ellen and Frank. This time, when Harry asked for money, he gave it to him, for a honeymoon. [9-10 end credits] [51:26]

[3-4/1-9 Title credits] [2-9] “It was Emerson who said, ‘if a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap . . .” A television narrator takes viewers via a remote setup to the studio of Flavia (Pierce), who shows some drawings of designs to be previewed the coming Friday. “We’re celebrating our fifth anniversary,” not only wedding but birthday. She then introduces Charles, her husband, who effusively announces an agreement with Henry De Garmo of Ariel Fashions on the live broadcast. She tries to interrupt more than once, finally is able to tell him that she didn't sign the contract. But he handles the contracts. She won't sell her name. As the broadcast camera follows her, we see instead the distress in Charles's face. // [3-9] Henry De Garmo is watching Flavia on TV. He calls George Halliday, Flavia's brother, to enforce the contract which gives him the right to use Flavia’s name for five years, with an option for five more. George tells Henry he’s “a minute and forty seconds late.” He then calls Hope Sutherland who is also watching Flavia on TV, forces her to meet him for lunch. / In Perry Mason's inner office Charles Pierce tells Mason and Della Street that he was completely surprised by Flavia's deliberate announcement, it was “like a nightmare.” The deal is worth $200,000 plus 10% of sales under the Flavia name. Flavia and Leona Durant brought him designs five years ago. He was in sportswear, and things took off when Flavia arrived. Mason points out that Flavia was (despite her own earlier denial) a good businesswoman. Their pre-nuptial means she owns the name of the company, Flavia of California. Pierce owns controlling interest, but De Garmo bought the name. Pierce leaves. Mason asks Della “what would make a scheming, successful business woman throw $200,000 out the window?” Her answer; “another woman.” / Hope and George, Flavia’s brother, are drinking champagne. He He warns her that his sister “has an unholy love for a buck, and wouldn’t throw a hundred thousand of them overboard unless she figured collecting them would cost her even more.” Charles is in love with her and he tells her to give him up. / Charles is working late. He gets out a decanter of liquor, then goes to the water cooler for paper cups. Hope enters, gives Charles a bottle of champagne in a bag, announces her resignation, offering that this is one of those things you “just don’t talk your way out of.” Leona enters. Hope follows her. Charles takes the champagne bottle out of the bag, sees the note; “Happy Anniversary, Hope.” / Leona Durant fits a dress to Hope, giving her a brooch to put on it. De Garmo berates Flavia, who says she’s busy until Saturday, he can sulk until then. He has the brooch, which he gives to Flavia, who then busies herself with the design for Harriet. De Garmo gives up. She has Hope remove the brooch, then sends everyone out to dinner. Charles is on the phone with Mason to arrange a three-way conference with De Garmo. He gets the champagne, pours Flavia a cup. She takes it with a pill. She shows Charles the Hope sketch, and he asks her to leave Hope out of it. She goes into the next room to try on Hope’s cloak and look in the mirror. He brings up the deal and she responds “I had no intention . . .” Charles finds her on the floor, poisoned. He frantically tries to decide what to do, finally re-corks the champagne bottle, puts it into his brief case. Leona comes in, finds Flavia who, before dying, says “Charles gave me poison.” // [4-9] The medical examiner is dictating his report while inside Pierce’s office, Lieutenant Tragg asks Pierce questions, and Leona mentions Hope Sutherland as the reason for the murder. The medical examiner says it was a fast-acting poison. Pierce denies giving her a drink, but Sergeant Brice has found the champagne bottle. / Jail. Pierce claims he bought the champagne months before. By threatening to withdraw as Pierce’s lawyer, Mason forces Pierce to admit that Hope Sutherland gave him the champagne as an anniversary present. He refuses to talk about their relationship.. / Mason asks Hope about the champagne. It never left her. She loves Charles and respects him and his wife. She had decided to leave since the relationship “was hopeless, that’s all.” On the phone Della reports on the police investigation. It was possibly suicide is Mason’s conclusion. / Mason argues with Deputy D A Linn that prussic acid, the cause of the death, “cannot be concealed in a glass of champagne.” Lt Tragg sarcastically explains how this leads to suicide, but Mason notes that Flavia was irrational and that this is just the kind of thing she’d do. She pulled the rug out from under her husband in front of twenty million people. The Deputy D A filed the complaint, he now says, “two hours ago.” / Leona is certain it wasn't suicide. A man might not understand how Flavia felt about her husband and his leaving her. Flavia was the only friend she had. Mason inspects the brooch on Hope's costume. Flavia hired Hope at brother George's insistence. He found her when she was a hostess in a mining country where he was mining gold. “She plucked Pierce like an overripe apple.” Mason phones Paul Drake with a rush job. / Drake reports that George has been in several businesses. Flavia turned him down for a loan. Della says Hope's design doesn't fit the other 41, for Flavia is inconsistent; #42. “You mean she’s a normal woman!” quips the attorney. George might have been involved with De Garmo. Della brings Mason the Los Angeles Chronicle. The headline reads SECOND ARREST IN FLAVIA MURDER and is accompanied by a photo of Leona. / Lt Tragg shows Leona four pills that were found in her purse. She says she forgot to take it with her the previous eve, her mind being upset about the preview. In the adjacent office, Deputy D A Linn is agreeing with Mason to release Pierce when Hope walks in. She wants Leona released, admit she put the pills in the purse thinking it was Flavia’s and he’d think she killed herself. // [5-9] Court. The medical examiner tells Deputy D A Stewart Linn that prussic acid poison was very powerful and violent, two to five minutes to death. Of a dozen or more prussic acid deaths, all were suicide. Lt Tragg testifies regarding Flavia's tranquilizer prescription; the container was empty, so there was only one pill when she last opened it. There were no traces of prussic acid or cyanide in the pill box. Leona says Flavia started on tranquilizers last fall and she disapproved of it. “and told her so.” She thought that she had stopped, but they were being kept in her husband's desk. She'd take one about 5 o'clock. Leona testifies for Mason that Flavia was “an excitable woman,” “but not prone to suicide” continues Mason. She reacts quickly about the brochure. She designed it, and Leona didn't see it until it was finished. De Garmo is sworn in by the court clerk. He admits that he threatened Charles for loses and $1 million or more damages. / Hope admits she loves Pierce. She got the pills from a mining supply. It was Halliday who persuaded Hope to leave Charles. Halliday says he retired from the scene when he discovered that Hope loved Charles. He worried about Flavia whom he loved deeply, and Charles. He says Charles asked about the ore reduction process involving sodium cyanide. At the mine he found sodium cyanide was missing. Charles, having whispered to Mason, now shouts that it is a lie. George shouts back, “you know you killed her.” The judge admonishes the defendant who has defiled the dignity of the court. Charles tells Mason “He’s lying.” // [6-9] Mason's inner office. He's looking at a show catalog, “Blueprint for Spring.” He cogitates the problem, decides that it is murder, but what is the method? Call Paul, “he’s got a job to do.” / The clerk calls the court to order. The judge is surprised when Mason doesn't cross-examine Halliday, who gave such damaging testimony. Mason suggests that depends on your point of view. Dr McBride is recalled. Cyanide becomes prussic acid in an acid base. He describes the violent reaction if someone took even a small amount, a pinhead, of cyanide on the tongue. Result would be quick death. When Mason asks to recall two more witnesses, Linn does not object. Drake has brought gown #42. Mason recalls Hope Sutherland. She explains that it was difficult to hook at the neck. Linn, subdued, lets Mason proceed. Leona Durant, recalled, says the cloak is different from the others because she designed it. She also produced the catalog, with a blueprint cover, a process involving cyanide! She was devoted to Flavia, blind devotion, “the kind that can move a person to murder” asserts Mason. Why the difficult fastening at the neck? Mason says the cloak was a weapon for murder, and asks Hope to put it on. He points out that to put on the cloak, one has to use two hands. Where to put the pin, but in the mouth. He asserts that a test of the pin will show traces of cyanide. Leona breaks down. // [7-9] The key, Mason explains to Charles and Della, is that it took him a while to realize that the murder was intended for Hope, not Flavia. The dress kept haunting him, but it haunted Della first! [8-9 end credits] [52:36](52:34)

Produced by Herbert Hirschman Directed by Arthur Marks Teleplay by Sam(uel) Newman

[4-4/1-8 Title credits](2-1) [2-8](2-2) A boat approaches the shore. On shore, a cargo marked Alpha Electronics is being moved. Commander Jerome Burke boards the submarine Moray, is greeted by Commander James Page. They discuss a cafe entertainer murder linked to a navy man of the crew. The girl was killed by nylon stocking strangulation, and implicated by broken sun glasses. Page offers alternate possibilities to Burke's theory. / (Robert) Chapman is introduced by Chief Barry Scott to (Johnny) Larkin, who finds a photo of the murdered girl, Dolores under Chapman's bunk. Page admits he was close friend of Dolores. Scott, anguished, crumples the photo. // [3-8](2-3) Page drives up to Alpha Electronics. Inside Alpha Electronics (Lou) Hansford says Page can smell inferior equipment without setting a foot in the plant. Gordon Russell says he intends to get the contract. Hansford says their equipment cannot stand the temperature change. He and Page can barely tolerate each other since he married Vivian. Cmdr Page enters and, after Hansford leaves, is asked about the "gadget." Russell says that he must know what the competition, DevCo, is doing, so he knows about tests. He tries to bribe Page and warns him to speak to his wife. / Vivian Page, in the presence of her father Anthony Beldon, says she didn't mention Alpha Electronics, Russell's company, one of Beldon's recent acquisitions, so he wouldn't be influenced. Page says that the test will go on scheduled, but he will request an investigation. / Della Street is organizing Perry Mason's office when the attorney enters. Beldon then enters and asks Perry to take legal action against the U S Navy. His attitude, that $5000 buys Mason's services, is off-putting to the attorney. Beldon says that the tests of a missile on submarine U S S Moray will not be fairly judged, wants Cmdr Page removed. As Beldon leaves, Paul Drake enters, only to be told that Mason will pick him up at 6:30 in the morning. / The sub heads to port. Cmdr Page is joined by Chief (Barry Scott) who has cut his hand. He is holding Chapman's shoes, which have slivers of glass in them. Lou Hansford enters, challenges Page over his stealing Vivian from him. / Lieutenant Commander Matt Stewart suggests Page get some shuteye, for the test is an hour away. 6:30. / The submarine submerges. / Page doesn't respond to Chief Scott's attempts to waken him. He has a screw driver in his chest. // [4-8](2-4) A sailor takes a package out of a station wagon, heads to the submarine. On board, Beldon claims that the Navy has no jurisdiction over him. His lack of cooperation is noted. Officers ask about Page's letter calling for an investigation. An order is given by Cmdr Burke that there will be no leave until Chapman is questioned. Drake informs Mason about the earlier murder and they are informed by Cmdr Burke that Page is dead. Chapman is escorted off the submarine. / Mason returns the check to Beldon at Page's. He points out that Page had accused Vivian of revealing certain information to Mr Russell. Della, on the phone, tells Mason that someone calling from San Pedro wants to see him. Mason notes that Beldon was on the ship at the time of the murder. Mason and Drake leave, then find an envelope and $5000 in Mason's Ford convertible, and a note asking him to represent Chapman./ Jail. Chapman admits to having been married to Delores and says that he will be tried by a Navy court martial, but Mason notes that he can have his own individual counsel. Mason reveals the $5,000 that will pay for his services. The marriage lasted 6 months. He had gotten her to agree to go to Kansas, but $5000 changed her mind. On the night of her murder, he had to knock, as he'd thrown his key away. / (Ernest) Pritchard, who found Dolores's body, wonders how Chapman's shoes could have had glass on them if he didn't enter the house. The door mat is smaller than the original. Pritchard says that the neighbor's mat is the correct one. Mason empties it of its contents, dirt and glass! Why is Mason interested. The theory is that both crimes were by the same person. / Mason meets Drake at the Aloha Cafe, owned by Julio Remarto Delores's uncle. The $5000 for Chapman's defense was withdrawn by Alpha Electronics 3 weeks before. Dolores also had $5000 the day she was murdered, 3 weeks ago. And that was the same time Alpha Electronics tried to get DevCo's test results. Hansford is chief Alpha engineer and former boyfriend of Vivian. Beldon bought into Alpha only when he couldn't buy into DevCo. Mason gives him glass found in the mat. / Mason meets with Beldon, Russell and Hansford. He asks about the $5000, gets no useful answer. / Paul Drake reports that the glass is not plain. Cmdr Reynolds phones that a general court martial is set for Chapman. Della tries to defend Chapman; maybe there are some facts the Navy doesn't know. Paul quips that "the only think the navy might not know is what the Army is doing!" Della takes a call from an unidentified man. He hangs up when Mason tries to find out who he is. Hawaiian music is in the background, identifying the Aloha Cafe, a place the Moray crew met. When the money was put in the car, the crew was restricted, all except Chief Scott. So Della returns the call, asks for Chief Barry Scott, who is identified as the caller by Della. / Scott admits putting the money in Mason's car. The $5000 was a down payment for half interest in Aloha, and Dolores gave it to him shortly before she was killed. // [5-8](2-5) The prosecutor reads the charges, then calls Cmdr Burke. Chapman was arrested for possession of shoes with glass in them, his own shoes. The screw driver is identified as the murder weapon, from a set of Chapman's. The lens was sun glass, not prescription. Burke agrees that tools were widely shared. Two thefts were made, one of a letter, which referred to Alpha Electronics. The court asks if the letter will be introduced. No. The charge of shoe theft has been dropped. / Russell says that the accused was apart from him on the sub for half an hour before the test. He thinks that the screw driver is the same as that used by Chapman to assemble the gadget. Who was in the room then? Chapman, Chief Scott, Beldon, Hansford. Was the screw Driver there, accessible to anyone. Who else left the control room about time of the test? He doesn't know, only the departure of the accused. Then Chief Scott points out that Chapman's screw driver was different from the general issue. / Beldon saw Chapman discard junk which could have included shoes. Mason asks, could he have discarded anything himself, such as a letter, without being seen. Yes. Hansford saw Chapman over Page, saw Chapman leave, saw Page "sleeping." Chapman whispers to Mason that Page was already dead. Hansford didn't use the intercom, but went to him, and he hated Page. He, Beldon and Russell, because of $5000 given Dolores, are in the middle of two murders, asserts Mason. // [6-8](2-6) Mason joins Drake at the Aloha. He notes the absence of Laura’s picture. It went with Julio. The DevCo engineer, from whom Dolores got her information, was picked up the previous night. So Julio has left town, because he made the connection between DevCo and Dolores. Drake also reports on the glass; the prescription and for glare in one lens, with other lens non-prescription. / Back at the court martial hearing, Gordon Russell is asked about his visit, with Beldon and Hansford, to Dolores' house. Prosecutor objects that the witness is not on trial. Mason justifies to the curt his line of questioning stating a conspiracy between Belden and the witness to gain certain information led to two murders. Remarto, Dolores's uncle, told him that she threatened to expose him. Mason asks if he didn't return to Dolores's the night of the murder. Wasn't the accident that put him in the hospital due to his not having his glasses? Mason shows pictures on a screen, asks him to identify the objects. First, his office desk, which he describes correctly. The second is of a car crash. Russell describes the living room he's told the photo is of. The third is the same crash, but he is told it is Cmdr Page's compartment. Russell pulls out the dark single glass, sees the picture, realizes his mistake. Non-prescription lens inside Dolores's house was decorative, for his blind eye. Mason produces the prescription of Russell's lenses. Corrective lens was found broken in the mat at the house. He had to kill Cmdr Page to prevent the finding of the shoes. // [7-8](2-7) Subs head to sea. The trio has come from a sendoff party, as Cmdr Burke explains that the crew would gladly change "Moray" to "Mason." Mason explains to Drake, Street and Burke the complexities that led him to seek a civilian as the murderer. Paul thinks he'd like a long sea voyage. Cmdr Burke suggests, "Join the Navy and see the world." [8-8 end credits](2-8) [52:42](52:18)

[2-4/1-9 Title credits] [2-9] A bearded man drives past a parked “Outcast Herald” truck. He parks in front of the Outcast Hotel, asks the barber (Jeff Douglas) to keep his place open. When the barber turns around and sees him, he offers, “Come in. I’ll cut the grass.“ The man has been spending his vacation at Rainbow Ranch. He states that he’s never been in California before. The barber leaves a “beaver” beard, suggests that it is striking. The man checks in at the hotel, where three people think they recognize him. The clerk (Amy) also seems to recognize him. Douglas enters, introduces him to Amy (Douglas) as Bob Lansing, a stranger. “We’re all full up,” she states. ”There’s no room in my hotel.” // [3-9] As he leaves J J Flaherty greets him. Flaherty suggests that he scared Amy with his beard. Bob is looking up a guy. Flaherty suggests that he join him at the new motel which has air conditioning. / At the motel, Lansing shaves. Bob wonders why Flaherty left the Rainbow Ranch after only one day. He is looking for someone named Bell for a friend. Bell was headmaster of an orphanage that he grew up in. Flaherty takes out a newspaper photo of a bearded Lansing. Underneath, in his wallet, is a P.I. badge. / Lansing goes to Frederick Bell's office, but the man he meets is not his father, uncle or other relative. This had been suggested to him by Dr Kennedy in Salt Lake City, for several gifts came from Bell. Vivian Bell enters, likes handsome Bob, is told by Frederick there are other Fred Bells and an “outcast” in Nevada. Vivian contradicts him and he orders her away. She goes into his office and the barber comes out. Vivian reveals that the whole town is bubbling over with a ghost, the return of the son of a murderer. / Perry Mason's inner office. Mason shows Bob Lansing the news report of the robbery and the death of the gunman, Lin Aberdeen. Aberdeen's photo matches Lansing, who is an orphan. Aberdeen show down in cold blood two deputy sheriffs, so he is the “son of a murderer.” “Every time somebody gives you a funny look, you say, maybe that’s a relative of mine.” Why did Bell send money to the orphanage? Mason cautions him to leave things to Dr Kennedy and himself. Bob wonders why everyone in town acted strange. Mason points out nearly $100,000 was never found. Mason suggests that he handle things when Bob threatens to find out the truth on his own. “How can I? You don’t know how I feel.” / Flaherty, is working on an insurance claim, points out to (Tom) Quincy that the boy has returned from L A. Also, Fred Bell, who manages his trucking firm, was in the bank as a clerk when the robbery occurred. “”I’m not just scratching fleas,” J J asserts. Bell has been sending gifts, more than $40,000 in cash, to the orphanage where Bob grew up. He offers a share of the reward. “Rewards accrue interest. Indeed they do.” Vivian enters after Flaherty leaves, says that she learned of gifts only in the afternoon. Vivian suggests where her husband is, watching TV. / Bell is on the steps of his house with his hands covering his ears as his phone rings. / Lansing looks at a gravestone. He picks a flower from a nearby grave, places it at the gravestone. / Lansing arrives at Bell’s at 11. They struggle inside the house and Lansing is knocked out. / Lansing wakes up , trips over the dead Bell, just as Jeff Douglas arrives. // [4-9] Mason, with Della Street, drives into town, registers with Amy Douglas at the hotel. Amy asserts Bob “Aberdeen” is guilty. Twenty years earlier she saw Bob’s father kill her brother. “We’ll give his son the gas chamber, alright.” / Mason visits Lansing in the Outcast jail. Bob admits that he wanted to stir things up. He believes that Bell found the money and was maybe involved in the robbery. He was unconscious for awhile, so doesn't know what happened. He has a large three-stiches wound on his head. Mason reports that Dr Kennedy said Bob was left in a bus station and “that they could never locate the Mexican woman who he’d been traveling with from California” two weeks after Lin Aberdeen committed the robbery. / Vivian Bell tells Mason she was with Quincy until after 10. Flaherty had made Quincy angry. The last time she saw her husband was 8 p m. Her husband did not discuss his finances. Mason suggests that she had an unusual marriage. She replies, “There are only unusual people.” Her husband did not believe in divorce, so she couldn't marry Quincy. / Paul Drake is getting phoned instructions from Della to investigate Flaherty, Quincy . . . check newspapers for possible accomplice. Della is constantly interrupted by Amy Douglas who is making up the room. / Quincy says that he was a friend of Bell's since youth, but knows little about Lin Aberdeen other than that he came to work only a few months before the robbery, was fired as a janitor. He explains his wealth by missing the wartime draft. The $100,000 is motive for murder, notes Mason, for almost everyone in town. / Flaherty admits to Mason to being a bounty hunter. Mason notes no evidence of an accomplice, man or woman. They see the offices of the Outcast Herald, owned by Tom Quincy; burned early this morning, all records lost. // [5-9] Court. Jeff Douglas says he saw Lansing trying to escape about 11:15, admits he was following Lansing from bar to bar. “I’m not the only one. Half the town was out that night.“ (laughter) The autopsy surgeon testifies to Bell's dying from massive intra-cerebral hemorrhage caused by blows from a blunt instrument, such as the bookend which is introduced. As Mason inspects it, Della Street, Paul Drake and Bob Lansing look at his ad for copies of the Outcast Herald from 1939 at $25 per weekly issue. A doctor admits that blows could have been struck by a woman. Mason tries to get the doctor to admit that Lansing's wound could have been struck while he was on the floor, stunned, and prosecutor (James) Blackburn's objection is sustained. Bob’s wound could have been from a fall. Flaherty says Bob left the motel room about 7:40. Vivian Bell saw Lansing only in the afternoon at her husband's office. Her husband's last words were that the boy was "Bob Aberdeen." She admits to Mason that she may have met Lin Aberdeen. In 1939 she had not graduated. She never graduated, left high school three years before the robbery (1936). When Mason asks her specifically what her husband said, she blurts out a string of invective against Lansing. The judge offers to strike her invective, but Mason counters that her entire testimony was perjured, let it stand. The bartender says Lansing asked where the graveyard was, and where Bell's house was. Bell told her “there were people in Salt Lake who talked too much,” says Amy Douglas, who saw Bell on his front porch while she was out looking for her husband. Bell told her "Bob Aberdeen's here and now he'll get me." / Perry and Della are looking at papers when Paul, giving his traditional “shave-and-a-haircut” (but without the concluding “five cents”) knock, brings in more. Della discovers the bankruptcy of Tom Quincy's trucking company just before the robbery. // [6-9] Court. Mason declines cross of Amy Douglas. Tom Quincy is called by Blackburn. He didn't learn about Lansing or gifts except from Flaherty until the evening. He explains how Bell accumulated funds in an account, then sent them to Salt Lake City. Mason concedes that stolen money may be the motive. Mason asks, could money have come from robbery? Quincy couldn't prove it. Could it have come from blackmail? Did he burn his newspaper office? Blackburn objects, Quincy answers no, and the judge strikes the question and answer. In 1939 Quincy filed for bankruptcy, then didn't follow thru. But in late ‘41 or '42 he went to San Francisco and made good money, on wartime efforts. Mason notes this could have been done only from a cash basis. Might not he have altered Bell’s records? What did he do after Mrs Bell left him at 10:40? Went to bed. Did he go to bed before or after Mr Douglas visited? Douglas says he looked for Mr Bell several places. Was Quincy's car in the drive when he was there? No. Now Mason cross-examines Amy Douglas, about a conversation by Bell over figures and such, then Flaherty's telling at 10:30 this information relating to gift to Salt Lake City to Quincy. No one else had that information, yet a half hour later it had reached Bell. Who told him? Quincy admits he was there, and that Bell was already dead. Aberdeen gave him the money. He was hurt and knew that he was about to die. So he, Quincy, took on the responsibility of the boy. Now, the only other one who could have told Bell confesses; Flaherty, J J. // [7-9] Mason tells Lansing and Street that Flaherty followed Lansing to Bell's, where he got the golden opportunity. He knew that Quincy had turned $100,000 into $2,000,000, and he got greedy. With Bell dead, he could take over the blackmailing of Quincy. Flaherty set fire to keep others from finding the same article that Mason found. Bob says his father was still what he was, but Perry suggests that Bob is what he is. [8-9 end credits] [51:57]

[3-4/1-9 Title credits] [2-9] Thelma (Frazer), in a heavy fur coat, drives her top-down convertible up to home with two penguin statues in the front yard. She finds husband James (Frazer) in his workshop and in a confrontational mood. He accuses her of having an affair, says he is leaving her. Someone has gotten into the secure workshop and taken papers which are about his anti-collision device. He grabs his suitcase, sees her car blocking the driveway. “You won’t get rid of me so easily” she warns. // [3-9] Thelma and Lois Langley at the Bureau of Missing Persons tell Sergeant M Quimby that it has been three months since she has seen her husband and all he can tell her is “no report and no trace, yet.” Quimby suggests “abandonment,” but Lois says “that’s rather unlikely. James Frazer is in love with his wife.” Thelma’s determined. To her “a man doesn’t just disappear off the face of the earth, does he?” the sergeant replies, “sometimes ma’am, and sometimes under it! We aren’t giving up looking for him.” / Thelma drives to Hayden Electronics with Lois Langley, who has told her she’d “spend the day” with her. Thelma goes in by herself, enters Calvin Boone's office, kisses him passionately at the window as Lois watches. He worries should anyone learn of them. / Robert Hayden puts his hands near an anti-collision device and it whirls. Thelma enters Hayden's office with a registered letter, which is about Jim's contract with Robert and brother Arthur, who joins them. Jim owns 40% of the company. Thelma wants to know what is the penalty if Jim doesn't show by tomorrow, as the letter requires. No answer. “What if he's dead?” No answer, so she leaves. Robert suggests that the invention be considered Boone's, who only gets $1,200 a month, while Frazer would get 40% of millions, from the anti-collision device. “Imagine eliminating aircraft collisions!” He again puts his hand near the device and it whirls. / Thelma drives Lois downtown. / Perry Mason's inner office. Mason informs Thelma Frazer that the Hayden's can buy out James Frazer's interest for $40,000. The company is worth millions, she asserts. She tells Mason their marriage was close and wonderful and that he wasn’t working on anything in particular. Missing persons has “accomplished exactly nothing.” Mason tells Della Street to put Paul Drake on the job, saying “Sometimes the mills of the police department grind exceedingly slow.” / Thelma and Louise return to Frazer’s. Thelma asks Langley where Jim is, confronting here with their seeing each other, tells her to produce him by that night. / Night. Jim’s workshop is on fire. Jim runs up calling "Thelma," opens the door with a special electronic key, sees Thelma on the floor, and is stopped from entering by Lois. “You can’t do anything. You’ll only kill yourself,” she shouts. // [4-9] The Los Angeles Chronicle headline reads INVENTOR ARRESTED FOR WIFE’S MURDER. Mason consults with James Frazer over wife's meeting. Frazer himself has to get to the Heydens before five, but cannot because he is in jail and charged with murder. Mason tells him to have his lawyer contact him. He asks Mason to represent him. He came back because of the contract clause and to get some papers from his workshop. The wonderful marriage lasted the first day of the honeymoon, three years ago. He left three months ago because his wife was seeing at least one other man. Mason has Frazer sign a power of attorney so he can “clip some wings.” The attorney now asks for the full story, and Frazer begins . . . / Mason instructs Paul Drake. Frazer stayed at the Wayfarer Motel an hour’s drive up Sepulveda to work on an invention under the name of Freeman. Paul and Della do a dance at the doorway as they pass. Della buys Frazer's part of the company, for $1.00. / Mason joins Lieutenant Tragg and Lois Langley at the workshop, where he shows Tragg how to use the electronic key to get inside. He doesn’t know how the key works, but he does know how to work the key! Thelma, he learns, was killed before the fire. Only Frazer, says Tragg, had a foolproof key. / Mason lights a cigarette as Robert Hayden demonstrates the anti-collision device and identifies Calvin Boone as the inventor. Boone is out of the office, Mason is told, after he brings up the technicality of Frazer’s being in jail. Robert, joined by Arthur, refuses Mason's offer to buy James Frazer's interest for $300,000. Mason’s courtroom tactics can’t break a contract, they point out. Mason warms them to “read the partnership agreement carefully.” / Paul reports that the manager, Mrs Nicholas, let him into Frazer's room, and he has a wrapped package. Frazer's gun killed Thelma. Drake receives a phone call telling him that Boone is in Langley's house. / Boone and Langley celebrate. She’s interested in the invention and solving its final problem which seems to be taking him a long time. Lois knows of his affair with Thelma. She challenges him that Frazer, not he, is the inventor. Did he get the notes from Frazer's workshop about twenty-minutes before the fire, with Thelma having a duplicate key? They spar. She orders him to get procure the last part of the invention. Otherwise, she could tell the police that she saw him at the workshop “just before the fire.” / Mason demonstrates the anti-collision device to the two Haydens; Frazer's works at six feet, Hayden's at four inches. Arthur admits it must have been Boone who stole from Frazer. Robert offers Mason a certified check for $40,000 and Mason refuses. They were “so preoccupied with the involuntary sales provision you overlooked the voluntary sales provision.” Frazer sold his share, to Della. Mason shows the Heydens how the partner keeps the rights to his invention. Where where each of them the time of the murder, asks Mason. They demure. // [5-9] Court. Lt Tragg identifies the murder weapon, special electronic key, and green gasoline-soaked defendant’s shoes for District Attorney Hamilton Burger. Tragg admits to Mason that the key could be duplicated. Sorrell identifies the book of matches and connects them to the fire. Mrs Nicholas saw James Freeman/Frazer come from the Emerald Gas Station that sold green gasoline. The matchbox is one of hers. She saw Langley at her motel with Freeman/Frazer. Gasoline could have been used, she admits, for cleaning tools relative his invention. Langley testifies that the defendant asked her to keep an eye on his wife. On the day of her death, Thelma accused her of having an affair with her husband. She saw him “coming out of his workshop when it was burning.” The judge adjourns overnight. Mason tells Frazer that Burger is building a nice case. Is there anything between him and Langley? “No, she was telling the truth.” The attorney asks Frazer if anyone could have duplicated his key. Only Thelma. Paul tells Perry that Boone denied stealing. / That night, Boone enters, from the left side of the balcony (which, at this point in the series, could be the end of the hall from which Drake enters Mason’s room via the back door), Mason's inner office, where he is trapped by Mason and Drake. Boone wanted to know how it worked, that's all. But it only works stationary. Mason asks why he can't stand on his own feet, having been second in his class at Cal Tech. He admits a lack of self-confidence. He got Frazer's notes through Thelma. He admits, sheepishly, to the “sordid mess.” // [6-9] Court. Lois Langley denies having an affair. She reported to James that Thelma was seeing Calvin Boone and keep Robert Hayden; Thelma liked men. Burger objects but Mason points out that it goes to the bias of the witness. She denies ever seeing the electronic key. Didn't she threaten Boone with exposure for being at the workshop if he didn't procure the last part of the invention? No, she says. She’s not a partner. She saw Robert Hayden at the Frazer residence twenty minutes before the fire. She doesn't recognize Arthur Hayden. Mason spars re Calvin Boone, gets nowhere. Then he asks what happened inside the Frazer house, and finally asks her to name the clubs or restaurants at which she saw Robert Hayden. She gropes for two answers. Mason suggests it was she who was with Arthur Hayden herself at these clubs, and now she admits she knows him very well. Mason comes back to his earlier question; why did she phone James Frazer to return, which would cause the loss of a greater share in the company? Wasn't it because she wanted to involve him in the murder? She had access to the matches and the gasoline on her visits. Mason has trapped her. She says that it wasn’t murder, “a person has a right . . .” (to protect herself). Mason bores in and she refuses “to answer on the grounds it may incriminate her.” // [7-9] Mason's inner office. Robert Hayden agrees to let the contract revert to the original form. Drake points out that Thelma was desperate to get Jim back in town, says that Langley's killing of Thelma Frazer was accidental. Della says it is not all over; she has 40% of the company. She'll give it up for “just what she paid,” $1, to “give up the idea of being rich.” [8-9 end credits] [52:42]

[4-4/1-8 Title credits] [2-8] Outside a funeral parlor where Louise Holbrook is the deceased, a lady in black and a veil, crying, exits on the arm of another, enters a Caddie limo, and is driven away. A group, mostly of men, particularly Jay Holbrook #1, watch. / At a large California house a limo driver calls for Miss Trudy (Holbrook). After the limo drives away, Trudy comes out to confront the man that she's seen three times, including at the funeral. He announces that he's her father (Jay Holbrook). // [3-8] Two men (Donald J Evanson and Wally Harper) argue about the returned father as chauffeur David reports on Holbrook. Trudy never knew her father. Evanson pays David, calls for his lawyers. Harper calls Evanson, who has only his salary to live on. “Shylock.” What is Jay Holbrook like, muses Harper. “How would I know . . . I’ve never even met the man.” She continues, noting that her mother always saw “two sides to everything.” / Trudy tells Jay that things have changed and that he may hardly know anyone. The housekeeper says that Evanson and Harper are on the telephone, but she says she won't talk to them. Jay says he ran away because there were “too many acres, I guess, too many gardens.” Mother never had Jay declared legally dead. Trudy invites Jay to move out of the hotel and into her house. Cousin Lawrence King is announced, and is greeted by Trudy. Always call him “sir,” he asserts. He's the only one who could remember him but, apparently unknown to Jay, he's been blind for the past five years. / Perry Mason's inner office. Trudy has come to Mason because she cannot trust her family attorneys. “My father doesn’t want anything. He only came back to see me.” Mason counters "you're just a girl who never had a father." / $10 million. King consults Peter Sample, private eye, to check on Holbrook. King admits the mistake of trying to erase Holbrook from the family album. He wants the truth. / The chauffeur reports to Evanson and Harper on Trudy and Jay's goings on. / Wally tries to bribe Jay to leave with an offer of $50,000. (Wally calls Trudy “Judy.”) Trudy overhears and sends Wally away. / Sample reports to King from San Francisco, Holbrook's last digs. He hangs up as Holbrook #2 enters, and identifies him by newspaper clippings on Trudy. #2 agrees that photo does look a bit like him. He didn’t want any trouble, but $10 million makes it necessary he admit that he’s Jay Holbrook. / Los Angeles Chronicle headline screams WHO IS TRUDY'S FATHER? Della Street cannot reach Trudy, and Perry answers Paul Drake's code knock. Drake says that the headline is currently only in the street edition. Mason has Della call King. / 10:40 p m. The housekeeper rushes to the phone, sees King dead on the floor. / David greets Trudy as she returns from just driving around. He informs her that Mason’s office has been calling. He throws down the newspaper with the damning pair of photos and headline so that Trudy cannot avoid it. She sees it, and breaks down. // [4-8] Mason and Drake, then Evanson, arrive at Livingston's, Evanson is met by Lieutenant Tragg who says there was a struggle. Mason and Drake join them. Evanson pleads that he's been at his office all day, and Tragg should go after Holbrook. Tragg thanks Mason for reporting the case, says death was 9:30 to 10. Drake finds a grease sticker and odometer in Evanson's car showing 42 miles driven this day; Evanson now admits he did visit Lawrence earlier in the day, 9:30 or 9:45. He saw Trudy leaving. / Trudy says she telephoned cousin Lawrence as soon as she saw the paper, then went over there. He admitted to hiring a detective (she knew it, because David, whom she pays for information, told her) and bringing Holbrook #2 to town. She stayed maybe a quarter hour after 9:30. Mason accuses her of being told that one or the other was the real father. Crying, she says he only told her that her father had stolen money years ago. She got angry, he grabbed her, she hit him, broke away and ran. “The police won’t believe me, won’t they?” “I don’t know Trudy. All we can do is wait and see.” / Holbrook #1 awaits Mason’s arrival in Mason's inner office. Holbrook #1 says he remained hidden all night until he could see Mason. The attorney shows him the paper. #1 was outraged when he saw it. Sample is a reliable agency, says Mason. Jay admits he and his wife were terribly unhappy. He drank too much. Then he “woke up one day in a Mexican hotel and found I’d got there with money from one of the company tills, $5,000.” That’s when he started to face matters. He wrote to say "good-bye," and he's been gone ever since. He sent the money back. Mason advises him to turn himself in. Della shows him out the private hallway door, admits Holbrook #2 from the outer office. He doesn’‘t think he can help. Holbrook #2 apologizes to Mason, but cannot produce an original thumb print; reckless driving denied him a license. He says this got his wife to hire a chauffeur. Mason mentions the theft, and Holbrook responds mentioning "only a question of $5,000." He wants Trudy to get away from "that family” as soon as she can. Drake calls Mason out of the office, tells him and Della that Tragg has found the murder weapon and it has Trudy written all over it. She’s 18. “They can ask the death penalty,” notes Mason. // [5-8] Court. D A Hamilton Burger hears from the autopsy surgeon, then examines Holbrook 2 who, with Sample, went to King's after dinner, around 8 p m. “Mr King took a lot of money from a wall safe,” asked Sample to take a $1000 bill for himself. He stayed on until about 8:30. Mason asked how many names he's used since he became "Robert Smith" three years earlier and if he can prove he is Jay Holbrook. Burger objects that this would prolong the hearing. Mason restates; who could prove who is Jay Holbrook? Only the deceased. / Wally testifies that Trudy in a tennis match flew out of control, producing the scar on his forehead. For Mason, Trudy should be worth about $10 million. Who, after Trudy and King, would inherit? Wally bursts out that D J Evanson is just as close a cousin as he is. David testifies that Trudy was already in third gear at the end of the driveway on the way to King's. The chauffeur then went back to the study. He remembered her saying "newspaper" and then "cousin Lawrence." He remembers the newspaper because he often read to blind Lawrence, who paid him, but this was one with pictures of two men, and Trudy angrily threw it to the floor. Burger smiles happily at this testimony. Lt Tragg identifies the poker with the defendant's fingerprints. It was hidden under the seat of the defendant's sports car. Mason demonstrates, with a set of fire tools similar to the defendant's, that sound could have told the blind deceased man that Trudy had a poker to protect herself. A man enters the courtroom, causes mild disturbance as he finds a seat. Tragg says that the police started watching Trudy's house, for Holbrook (#1), about 11:45. Thus there was time for someone to place the incriminating weapon in Trudy's car before the police got there. On redirect, Tragg says he found a paper in the study with the phone number of a rural constable, Gus Nickels. This is the man who entered during Tragg’s testimony. Nickels says that in March 1943 a Jay Holbrook, without a driver's license, was in an accident. King came looking for him the next day. The fingerprint that he took in '43 matches Holbrook #2. Trudy screams out "No." // [6-8] Evanson says he followed the defendant's car for about ten minutes, but couldn't catch her. To Mason he says that twenty years ago King hated Holbrook because he wanted to control the family. He didn't prosecute because Holbrook left. Wouldn't he keep a record of other escapades? “I suppose so?” “Where is that record?” The court reporter is asked to read back the contents of King’s wall safe. There is nothing of additional records. Mason asks if Evanson might know where they might look. He says no one in the family wanted any remembrance of Holbrook. Yet King must have had some records, or he'd not sent someone to San Francisco to locate a second Jay Holbrook. Mason tells the judge that only Jay Holbrook can clarify the issue. #2 rises, then #1 challenges him, is sworn in by the court clerk. Mason asks about the $5,000; Holbrook knew it was company because of bands around it. Was he ever arrested about a car accident? No. On that night, he was with his wife and sick Trudy. Did it ever occur to him that cousin Lawrence might be creating escapades he could not disprove to get rid of him? No. That he might have found an impostor? No. That maybe when Lawrence called upon him again, the imposter struck back. #2 stands up, admits he's an impostor, but the notes were still there when he left. The judge says that a search should be made for the notes, and Mason says that one other person needs to be retained. The one other person who knew where everything was. He produces the records. // [7-8] Mason tells Trudy and Jay (#1) that David had followed her over to King's. Della notes that he watched everything. He was there outside when Trudy argued. He tried to open the safe after she left, was discovered by King. They fought and David killed King, took the papers, and raced home before Trudy got there. “She’ll make something out of me yet.” “Of course, a father! Anyway, everyone can’t be perfect, like Mr Mason is.” She kisses Mason and leaves with her father. “Perfect, hmmm,” muses Della. “That’s what I keep telling you.” [8-8 end credits] [52:38](52:23)