- 2 months ago
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00:00Archie!
00:20Two o'clock.
00:27You're a wolf?
00:29Whoever you are, you may come to regret the fact that you did not dial a wrong number.
00:35This is Lieutenant Gray, 64th Precinct, Brooklyn. Homicide.
00:38I want you down here, Mr. Wolf, as quick as you can make it.
00:41You waste my time with impossibilities. Good night, sir.
00:44Wait a second. You can't refuse.
00:46But I do. And I have four excellent reasons, sir.
00:50One, you woke me up. Two, I never leave the house.
00:53Three, if I were to leave the house, it would not be in the middle of the night.
00:56And four, if I were to leave the house in the middle of the night, it would certainly not be to go to Brooklyn.
01:02Well, you better get down here right away, and I'll give you reason number five.
01:06I want you to identify the body of your associate, Archie Goodwin.
01:11You could find the body of your associate being together.
01:14I think the king thought that you would have to do as a selection easy to do and go to be.
01:19How about you, wife?
01:21How about you,ouncrow, Peru?
03:28No ID on him, no papers at all.
03:30Running a fingerprint check.
03:32Doc says there's no real damage, just a bad knock.
03:36He'll have headaches for a couple of days.
03:37That's him.
03:38That's as I thought.
03:54Archie, are you all right?
03:59Yeah.
04:00Good.
04:01I must say you look hardly more healthy than the men in the morgue.
04:07What are we in for?
04:09Pull yourself together, Archie.
04:10We're going home.
04:11Brooklyn is beginning to lose its charm.
04:14Are you telling me that this is Goodwin?
04:16Lieutenant, you shanghaied me from a deep sleep so that I could make an identification.
04:20I have now done so.
04:22Then who's the guy in the slab?
04:23If I were to give that a moment's thought, which I do not intend to do, I would say that was your problem.
04:28Now hold it a minute.
04:32Maybe Goodwin killed him.
04:34Have you killed anyone lately, Archie?
04:36Not in Brooklyn.
04:37Hmm.
04:38Unless you release him at once, Lieutenant, you will find yourself at the receiving end of the biggest false arrests you'd ever brought against your department.
04:45And if you do know my reputation, as you so boasted a moment ago, you must also know that I do not make idle threats.
04:52Mr. Goodwin will come back first thing in the morning to answer any questions.
04:55You will excuse me, sir.
04:56I'm coming along, Archie.
04:58Good morning, Archie.
05:16I assume you saw Lieutenant Gray?
05:19I identified the corpse.
05:20That's about all I could do.
05:23If the lieutenant did not swear you to secrecy, Archie, just who was the dead man?
05:29You remember an ex-nightclub bouncer turned private detective, Ron Delaplane?
05:34Ron Delaplane?
05:35Oh, yes, yes.
05:36And just what took you to the wilds of Flatbush last night to meet this Delaplane?
05:41He said he stumbled onto something big, something he couldn't handle alone.
05:45He said millions were involved.
05:47Hmm.
05:48And didn't that strike you as rather fanciful from a man to whom a $10 bill was a stranger?
05:53I felt sorry for him.
05:56I mean, Delaplane wasn't a bad sort.
05:59But not exactly Nobel Prize material.
06:02Go on.
06:04Before he could tell me a story, somebody hid me from behind.
06:08I guess that same somebody put a bullet in Delaplane.
06:11Swipe my ID.
06:12Your ID?
06:16But Delaplane's identification certified that he was also Archie Goodwin.
06:21You have two sets of IDs?
06:24Two Archie Goodwins?
06:26Two Archie Good...
06:27Heaven for fed.
06:28The thought boggles the mind.
06:30But why was Delaplane impersonating you?
06:36He never minded being himself before, though heaven knows he had sufficient reason to.
06:43Well, I suppose we'll never know.
06:47He said it was worth millions.
06:54I mean, you can't give up.
06:57Delaplane said this case could be worth millions.
07:00Hmm.
07:02Well, point them out, Archie.
07:04I mean, point the millions in my direction, and I might just reconsider.
07:08Besides, if anyone else believes Ron Delaplane is Archie Goodwin,
07:13I don't think we'll have to go looking for the case.
07:17The case will come looking for us.
07:19Yes, sir, I'd like to see Nero Wolfe.
07:33Your name, sir?
07:34I'm Arthur Hunt from the law firm Ferguson Hunt & McClellan.
07:38How may I help you, Mr. Hunt?
07:39You can return a green lacquer box that was stolen from my office yesterday.
07:45Are you suggesting that I stole it, sir?
07:48Not you personally.
07:50Your assistant, Archie Goodwin.
07:52This Archie Goodwin?
08:01Just what kind of game are you playing, Mr. Wolfe?
08:05Archie Goodwin is a big, beefy man.
08:07And ugly.
08:10That lets me out.
08:11Mr. Hunt, you were deceived by a man who was posing as Mr. Goodwin to gain entrance to your office.
08:17He claimed you were working for one of our clients, Mr. Patrick Pendleton.
08:21I left my office for a moment.
08:24When I returned, he was gone.
08:26He'd broken into a file cabinet and stolen Mr. Pendleton's property.
08:29A green lacquer box?
08:31Yes.
08:31Intaining what?
08:32This pretense has got to come to an end, Mr. Wolfe.
08:35You know what was in the box.
08:37You had it stolen.
08:38By Archie Goodwin.
08:39Nonsense.
08:40You have been the victim of a charade.
08:43I spoke to you myself, and as soon as you opened your mouth, I recognized your voice.
08:50Archie.
08:53Show Mr. Hunt out.
08:57All right.
08:58I'm offering $2,000 for a return of the green lacquer box.
09:02No questions asked.
09:04Mr. Hunt, if I were a Bowery vagrant who had gone without wine for a week, your office still would not tempt me, sir.
09:13Good day.
09:15Mr. Hunt.
09:16Mr. Hunt.
09:16Uh, it's two o'clock.
09:43I'm sorry, Miss Eden.
09:44You just missed him.
09:44He's upstairs in the plant room, uh, commuting with his Phalaenopsis.
09:50That's his orchids.
09:51Yes, yes, I know.
09:52I remember.
09:53That's what Archie Goodwin told me last time I was here.
09:55I tried to hurry.
09:57Uh, Archie Goodwin told you about the orchids?
09:59Yes, why?
10:01I think you better sit down.
10:03I'll stand, thank you.
10:06Now, you spoke to Archie Goodwin in this room?
10:08No.
10:09He met me on the stoop out front.
10:10What difference does it make?
10:11Uh, I don't know how to tell you this, but, uh, I'm Archie Goodwin.
10:18Oh.
10:20That's very amusing.
10:22The honest engine.
10:23I have a mother in Ohio who could pick me out of a lineup just like that.
10:27I gave Mr. Goodwin $5,000 to have Mr. Wolf retrieve something that was stolen five years ago from a friend of mine.
10:33A green lacquer box.
10:36How did you know that?
10:38I told you.
10:39I'm Archie Goodwin.
10:42I could send for Mom.
10:45Of course.
10:47You have identification.
10:49Absolutely.
10:50Yes, absolutely.
10:52Absolutely right.
10:53I should report you to the police.
10:55Now, look.
10:55Call Inspector Kramer.
10:57Klondike 5-4144.
10:59If I'm not Archie Goodwin, he'll have the cuss on me in five minutes.
11:02Yes.
11:04You really are Archie Goodwin?
11:07From the day I was born.
11:10I don't understand.
11:12I know it's complicated, but I can explain.
11:14I really have to see Mr. Wolf.
11:18Okay.
11:19Tonight after dinner, 8 o'clock?
11:21Fine.
11:22Sorry.
11:22I'm concerned about her, Theodore.
11:29She's one of my favorites, and she looks ill.
11:32It occurs to me that you've been giving her too much melathion.
11:35If I'd been giving her too much melathion, she'd be dead.
11:39Yes, Archie.
11:42What is it?
11:42We have a visitor tonight at 8, Janet Eaton.
11:45It's about the green lacquer box.
11:46Yes.
11:48It's obvious that I have to involve myself in the affair, if only to repair the damage
11:52to my reputation.
11:54Well, what about my reputation?
11:57Yours has survived far worse than impersonation.
12:00But that someone should impersonate me is a matter of the greatest importance.
12:04The world is not ready for more than one Nero Wolf.
12:07Amen.
12:10You will be kind enough to confine yourself to the fertilizer, Theodore.
12:14Yes, sir.
12:16Now, Archie, the man we're looking for, who now has the green lacquer box, is most likely
12:21to be the man who was Ron Della Blaine's partner.
12:24Except we don't know who he is or what he looks like.
12:26But we do know what he sounds like.
12:28Me.
12:30So how do you track down a voice in the wilderness?
12:34Perhaps by starting with the man from whom the box was stolen.
12:39Patrick Pendleton.
12:41I'll tell you who stole the box.
12:43Janet Eaton.
12:47Why would she do that, Mr. Pendleton?
12:49Why don't you ask her?
12:52She says it didn't belong to you.
12:55She's a liar.
12:57It's a family heirloom.
13:01Eighteenth century.
13:04That box has been handed down from generation to generation.
13:09What's it look like?
13:11Small.
13:13About.
13:14So big.
13:16What's inside?
13:18Things important only to me.
13:21Personal items I gave my attorney for safekeeping.
13:23Look, if Janet Eaton did hire somebody to steal it, she certainly would have gone on.
13:28She did.
13:28I know she did.
13:30That lawyer character, Arthur Hunt, gave me the name of someone called Della Blaine.
13:38I'm willing to pay $10,000 if the box is returned to me unopened.
13:44I will give him the message.
13:52Well, thank you.
13:53You should kill that thing.
14:02It tried to eat me.
14:04What happened here?
14:09Somebody took this place apart early this morning.
14:12Probably right after Della Blaine was killed.
14:15Any idea what they were after?
14:18Maybe the art, huh?
14:20The In-Spot Club.
14:22That's where he was a bouncer, right?
14:24Until they bounced him.
14:26And then he entered an even less respectable profession.
14:29Private detective.
14:30Now, why are you and Wolf interested?
14:32We don't like private eyes getting knocked off.
14:35It's bad for our image.
14:42Kramer.
14:42Is Archie there, Mr. Kramer?
14:44Oh, yeah?
14:44Sure.
14:45He's right here, Mr. Wolf.
14:46Sniffing around like a basset hound.
14:49Archie.
14:50Your boss.
14:58Hi.
15:03Archie.
15:04Why in blazes are you still there?
15:06I just got here.
15:07Come home at once.
15:08I need assistance with a certain green lacquer box that just came into my possession.
15:13No kidding.
15:15What are you serving?
15:16Missouri Boone County ham?
15:19Baked with vinegar, molasses and Worcestershire?
15:22Sweet cider and herbs?
15:25Nothing could keep me away.
15:28Mexican sausage must be added to chicken and curdled egg sauce the way makeup is applied
15:41to the cheeks of a beautiful woman, Fritz.
15:44The correct amount highlights her face.
15:47Too much only masks her beauty.
15:50I am still using a half pound.
15:54A mistake, Fritz.
15:57We'll see.
15:58Definitely.
15:59Well, I didn't expect you back so soon.
16:01Well, where is it?
16:03Where is what?
16:04The green box.
16:05I believe that is what I sent you out to find.
16:08You don't have it?
16:10Archie, if I had it, would I have sent you after it?
16:13You didn't just phone me Adela Plain's apartment and tell me you had it?
16:16Certainly not.
16:17I have been advising Fritz about dinner.
16:20No wonder our legal eagle, Arthur Hunt, was confused.
16:26Our imposter grows increasingly annoying.
16:30Whoever he is, he has the green lacquer box, not I.
16:33What have you learned?
16:36Well, for one thing, the price of the green box has jumped to $10,000.
16:39Not a million yet, but climbing.
16:41And I have a feeling you, Miss Eaton, is going to raise the bid tonight.
16:47Uh, now that you've thought about it, Fritz, a half pound is really too much, huh?
17:01You see, I'm an executive vice president of the Ultimax Group.
17:24I needed help on a personal matter, so I hired Nero Wolf.
17:27I thought through Archie Goodwin.
17:30I paid $5,000.
17:33That, I know.
17:34Miss Eaton, who led you to believe that given a large enough fee, I would resort to thievery?
17:40Archie Goodwin.
17:41I mean the other one.
17:44The man you tell me was murdered.
17:46And what is your interest in this matter?
17:49I wanted to help a friend.
17:51You told my Mr. Goodwin the box was stolen five years ago.
17:55Yes, by Patrick Pendleton.
17:57From whom?
18:00I can't tell you that.
18:02How did you know the box was at Ferguson Hunt and McClellan's?
18:05They worked on a case for us about a month ago.
18:08I happened to be in Arthur Hunt's law office one day, and I saw a file drawer with Patrick Pendleton's name on it.
18:13So I just assumed...
18:14Pendleton says the green lacquered box is his.
18:17A family heirloom.
18:18He's lying.
18:19He stole it, and he put it in that law office for safekeeping.
18:24And you hired Ron Delaplane to steal it back?
18:27For your friend, of course.
18:29You don't believe me.
18:36How did you meet Delaplane?
18:38He came to us several weeks ago, calling himself Archie Goodwin and looking for some work.
18:43I'd heard of you, of course, Mr. Wolfe, so...
18:45And do you still think I have the box?
18:48No.
18:49But you're the one to find it.
18:50And if you'll try, I'm willing to pay you $20,000.
18:55For its return?
18:57Unopened.
18:59And naturally, you can't tell us what's inside.
19:02As I said, I'm...
19:04I'm only helping someone.
19:07Who shall remain nameless, hmm?
19:12I've told you the truth.
19:14Will you help me?
19:16Not under these conditions, Miss Heaton.
19:18A man has been killed.
19:20And I intend to find the green like a box and examine its contents.
19:27I see.
19:30Well, thank you for your time.
19:32Archie.
19:38Good night.
19:50I've made a very generous offer.
19:56Perhaps you could change his mind.
19:58I wouldn't bet on it.
19:59You turned down $20,000.
20:11A mere pittance, Archie.
20:14The Ultimax Group is a conglomerate owned by one of the richest women in the world.
20:19Rebecca Rhodes.
20:20R.J., check with Lon at the Daily Gazette.
20:26The wedding of the 1971 season.
20:32Rebecca Claiborne marries Frederick Allen Rhodes, chairman of the Ultimax Group.
20:37Love at first sight, they said.
20:39She didn't start eating the bottle till after the honeymoon.
20:41Bridesmaid Janet Eaton.
20:46Night of Terror.
20:48Financier Frederick Allen Rhodes shot by armed intruder.
20:52There were marks where a prowler climbed over the wall.
20:54No robbery, apparently.
20:56May have been an attempted kidnapping.
20:58Who discovered the body?
20:59Stephen Halstead.
21:01Rhodes' right-hand man at Ultimax.
21:03He also found Rebecca in the bedroom past Todd.
21:06Do you know trace of the weapon or the murder?
21:08Not a sign.
21:09Right after it happened, she went to a clinic in Switzerland for emotional dry cleaning.
21:13For the past four years, she's been hopping all over the world.
21:16But no public appearances, no interviews.
21:19The paparazzi treat her like she was Greta or Jackie.
21:23Here's another batch.
21:24We've got a whole file of them.
21:28Mom, can I get copies of these?
21:31Anything for a pound.
21:32And you'll see the story lands on my desk first, right?
21:35You got it.
21:36I'll tell Wolf I'd better.
21:45Here he comes.
21:49Archie Goodwin.
21:50Uh, the votes aren't in yet.
21:52We've got an apartment.
21:53We'll take you.
21:54Sorry, gentlemen.
21:55Uh, the dance card's all full.
21:57Look, uh, Mr. Halstead wants to talk with you.
22:01I don't make any trouble.
22:02Stephen Halstead?
22:03Of the Ultimax group?
22:05That's right.
22:07Why didn't you say so?
22:08What are we waiting for?
22:11So, you do see, Mr. Goodwin.
22:14Without my knowledge, Miss Eaton took it upon herself to retrieve something of personal value to Rebecca Rose.
22:23Her intentions were the best, but unfortunately aroused the interest of Nero Wolf in Rebecca's private affairs.
22:32Well, aren't you forgetting one small matter, Mr. Halstead?
22:35A man's been killed.
22:38Ron Delaplane's death was an unhappy coincidence.
22:42It had nothing to do with the green lacquer box.
22:44You sound as though you really believe that.
22:46It's true.
22:47We don't know who killed Mr. Delaplane.
22:49I have a proposition for Mr. Wolf.
22:53You want us to find the box, unopened, return it to you, but you can't tell us what's in it?
23:00Not at all.
23:02I'll pay Nero Wolf $50,000 to drop the case.
23:06What, you don't want the box?
23:08Yes.
23:09Yes, we do.
23:10Frankly, Mr. Goodwin, it would be much simpler for us to buy the box from whoever has it.
23:15Rebecca's name in the headlines would serve no good purpose.
23:18She suffered enough.
23:20And now Janet's caught up in it.
23:22I wish we'd never heard of those letters.
23:26Letters?
23:28I've already said too much.
23:31Stephen, he's not going to listen to us unless we're more open with him.
23:35It would be a pleasant change.
23:40Rebecca's marriage was a travesty.
23:42Frederick treated her very badly, so she turned to drink.
23:46And to another man.
23:48A diplomat in one of our European embassies.
23:52He happened to be married as well.
23:55And they wrote letters.
23:58Quite indiscreet.
23:59So can you understand now how many more people could be hurt in this?
24:03I was just trying to help, and it looks like I've done more harm than good.
24:08I'll see what I can do.
24:09Oh, thank you.
24:23Nero Wolf's office.
24:30Yes, he is.
24:33It's for you.
24:35Oh, it is.
24:35You.
24:49You, sir, are playing a most dangerous game.
24:52It has, I admit, become more dangerous than I intended, sir.
24:57My life seems to be in deadly peril.
25:00I want to hire you to protect me.
25:02In return, I'll give you the green lacquer box.
25:06I accept.
25:08On what condition?
25:09Which is?
25:10You bring the box to my home.
25:13I'll call you back.
25:14Undoubtedly, a professional impressionist.
25:27Why would the late Ron Delaplane have met such a person?
25:30Probably at the nightclub where he was a bouncer.
25:33You saw posters on the walls of his apartment.
25:35Perhaps there's a lead there.
25:36We must find our impressionist.
25:43You were the killers.
25:44The police took Mr. Delaplane's things away.
26:03Poor man.
26:04Guess you read about it.
26:05Oh, afraid not.
26:06I've been away.
26:07Rent's only $400 a month.
26:09It's nice for that, isn't it?
26:10Well, I can have that junk taken down.
26:15$400's a real bargain.
26:17The furniture's nice, too.
26:18There's not anything in this block that's any better than that.
26:22Oh, well, the trouble is I'm only going to be in Philadelphia two weeks.
26:26Philadelphia?
26:27This ain't Philadelphia.
26:29It's not?
26:30This is New York.
26:34This is really wild.
26:36I must have got on the wrong plane.
26:38I'm really sorry about this.
26:40Very sorry.
26:46Philadelphia.
26:48Name, Johnny Allen.
26:50He's got a pad in Soho.
26:51I talked to his agent.
26:53Johnny's between engagements has been for a year.
26:56His agent says these aren't happy days for impressionists.
27:00At this point, I'm less than passionately interested in Mr. Allen's career.
27:04I want him in this room with a green lacquer box.
27:07Well, I got Saul Panzer staked outside Johnny's pad with orders to bring him here in one piece soon as he shows.
27:14Satisfactory.
27:15You, in the meantime, will pay a call on the American Insider.
27:20That supermarket gossip sheet?
27:22Yes.
27:23An odious tabloid, I agree.
27:25But every one of these photographs published within the past five years, Archie, every one of them,
27:29either originated in the Insider or was used with their permission.
27:32Come around here.
27:33I want you to see something.
27:34Come around.
27:34Come around.
27:34Come around.
27:34Come around.
27:34Come around.
27:35Come around.
27:36Come around.
27:37Observe.
27:39These three.
27:39Rebecca Rhodes and her teens, at college, and her wedding pictures.
27:44Pretty.
27:45All right.
27:47Now, here, here, here.
27:50The allusive Mrs. Rhodes caught always from a distance by the paparazzi, huh?
27:54At an airport, the beach, and the ski lodge.
27:58Okay.
27:59So she travels.
28:00She can afford it.
28:01That's not the point, Archie.
28:02Look at the ears.
28:03The ears.
28:08No earlobes.
28:09Exactly.
28:09Exactly.
28:10Because the rest of those are not Rebecca Rhodes.
28:13Well, where's the real Rebecca Rhodes?
28:15Dead?
28:16A possibility that must be explored.
28:19By a talk with a photographer who prefers to remain anonymous.
28:22It may be difficult to get his name from the insider, but get it.
28:26Promise them anything.
28:27I saw the editor at the American Insider.
28:38I had to promise him the moon, but he filled me in about you, Pendleton.
28:45Taking a vacation?
28:48Italy, I thought.
28:50That's where the action is.
28:52The editor of the Insider said you're pretty good with a camera.
28:55Especially a telephoto lens.
28:58I'm terribly busy, so if you don't mind.
29:01How long has Rebecca Rhodes been dead?
29:05Dead?
29:08You're crazy.
29:09You've been photographing her double for five years.
29:12Why if she's not dead?
29:15Now that would leave Janet Eaton and Stephen Halstead in control of the Ultimax group.
29:19And the Rhodes millions.
29:23Crazy, play crazy.
29:25Yeah, no wonder the price of the green lacquered box keeps going up.
29:28Inside must be proof that Rebecca's passed on.
29:31I tell you she's alive.
29:34She's at the estate on Long Island.
29:37All right.
29:39Sure.
29:40They hired me to photograph her double.
29:43So what?
29:45Who hired you?
29:47Janet Eaton and Stephen Halstead.
29:50Why?
29:52Mrs. Rhodes likes her privacy.
29:55Did she tell you that herself?
29:56No.
29:58I, uh...
30:00I never met her.
30:03Well, then who told you?
30:04Janet Eaton.
30:06Ask her.
30:08She has proof Rebecca's alive.
30:11If that's true, then what is inside the box?
30:14It's like I told you before.
30:16Personal things.
30:18Like letters?
30:20Letters?
30:22Who told you that?
30:24If not letters, then what?
30:26What?
30:28I can't tell you that.
30:31Why?
30:33If I did...
30:34The police are up there now.
30:39If St. Pendleton told you Rebecca Rhodes was alive, did you believe him, Archie?
31:07Yeah, he was pretty convincing.
31:09Find out for yourself.
31:11Go out to the estate.
31:13Soon as I hang up.
31:14The police are up there.
31:17The police are up there now.
31:19The police are up there now.
31:20The police are up there now.
31:20The police are up there now.
31:21The police are up there now.
31:21The police are up there now.
31:22The police are up there now.
31:22The police are up there now.
31:23The police are up there now.
31:24The police are up there now.
31:25The police are up there now.
31:26The police are up there now.
31:27The police are up there now.
31:27The police are up there now.
31:28The police are up there now.
31:29The police are up there now.
31:30The police are up there now.
31:31The police are up there now.
31:32The police are up there now.
31:33The police are up there now.
31:34The police are up there now.
31:35The police are up there now.
31:36The police are up there now.
33:09The nights I've lain awake, waiting for someone to tell the truth to, wondering if I'd have the strength.
33:20The truth?
33:20About my husband.
33:26I killed him, you know.
33:27How did you get here?
33:38What do you think you're doing?
33:40She's coming with me.
33:42Tell your guards it's all right.
33:43Guards?
33:45This isn't a prison.
33:46I told him, Stephen.
33:48I had to.
33:49I had to tell someone sooner or later.
33:52Goodwin, I'll double my previous offer.
33:55$100,000.
33:56If Nero Wolf will just leave us alone.
33:59No, Stephen.
34:00I know you mean well, but I want it this way.
34:03Rebecca, if you leave, you'll be throwing your life away.
34:06I did that five years ago, when I shot Frederick.
34:12Let her breathe, Halstead.
34:15She's suffocating.
34:18All right.
34:19Maybe it's better this way.
34:38Rebecca, no.
34:39Janet, don't try to stop me.
34:40You can't do this to her.
34:42It's over, Janet.
34:43She wants it this way.
34:46I'm so sorry.
34:49I suppose the next stop is the police.
34:54Time enough for that.
34:57Next stop is Nero Wolf.
35:04You brought Rebecca Rose with you?
35:06And the rest of our group is in the front room,
35:09including our worried attorney, Arthur Hunt.
35:12Satisfactory.
35:13Oh, I think you better know.
35:15Janet Eaton showed up at the Rhodes estate,
35:17driving a green car with a dent in the fender.
35:19The car you saw after Patrick Pendleton was shot.
35:22The same.
35:24Is Miss Eaton carrying a purse?
35:27She is.
35:28Keep an eye on it, Archie.
35:30Ah, Fritz let us in the back.
35:38Well, here he is.
35:39Johnny Allen, impressionist extraordinaire.
35:42Nice work, Sol.
35:45Well, say something.
35:48Well, say something.
35:49It's amazing.
35:50It's amazing.
35:53On the phone, he even sounded fat.
35:57He was getting ready to do a bunk.
35:59I had to change his mind.
36:02Mr. Allen, you telephoned me and asked me to help you.
36:05It returned for a certain green lacquer box.
36:09Why a moment later did you hang up?
36:12Well, I suddenly remembered.
36:14Ron Delaplane called Goodwin here,
36:17and the next thing you know, he was in the morgue.
36:19So, uh, I thought I'd light out on my own.
36:22How did the box come into your possession?
36:25Delaplane said it would be safe with me.
36:27Because I was using your voice,
36:28everybody would be coming here instead.
36:31And so they did, Mr. Allen.
36:32So they did.
36:33Look, Mr. Wolfe.
36:35I didn't know what Ron Delaplane was up to.
36:38Okay?
36:39I swear.
36:41Yes.
36:43And did you bring the box with you?
36:45Oh, I sure did.
36:47And good riddance.
36:52So, take Mr. Allen to the kitchen.
36:55Fritz will fix you both some buttermilk pancakes.
36:57Thanks.
36:59Pleasure doing business with you.
37:07Archie, bring in the other guests.
37:10Aren't you going to look inside?
37:12It's unnecessary.
37:13I know what it contains.
37:24It's that time, ladies and gentlemen.
37:27Your ordeal, Mrs. Rhodes, will shortly be at an end.
37:34Would you please sit here by me?
37:38Mr. Halstead, there on the settee.
37:42Mr. Hunt, up here, please.
37:46And Miss Eaton, if you will, here.
37:48Mr. Hunt, you are here on behalf of your late client, Mr. Patrick Pendleton.
38:05Is this the box he brought you for safekeeping?
38:08Yes.
38:12That looks like the box.
38:13What instructions did he give you regarding it?
38:16I'm afraid I can't default to that.
38:17Oh, come now, Mr. Hunt.
38:18Shall I tell you?
38:20On the event of his death, you were to open it and take appropriate action regarding its contents.
38:25How could you possibly know that?
38:27It was Mr. Pendleton's insurance policy.
38:30For five years, it served him well.
38:31Well, the time has come, Mrs. Rhodes, for you to tell your story.
38:41It's an all-too-common story, Mr. Wolfe.
38:44I married Frederick before I really knew him.
38:50It wasn't long before I realized he was an arrogant, domineering, brutal man.
39:00I started drinking.
39:02I helped at first.
39:06But the alcohol only numbed my body, not my brain.
39:09I began to hate him.
39:18Divorce was out of the question.
39:20Frederick wouldn't hear of it.
39:23So one day,
39:25I knew I had to kill him.
39:33Rebecca.
39:35Forgive me for interrupting, Mrs. Rhodes.
39:37It has been suggested that you were having an affair with a diplomat, I believe.
39:47Alcohol was my only weakness, Mr. Wolfe.
39:50I don't know where you heard it, but there was no other man.
39:56Perhaps there should have been.
40:01Please go on.
40:01The night Frederick died, I'd been drinking.
40:07I fell asleep.
40:10I woke up about ten o'clock.
40:15Frederick kept a gun in his desk.
40:22It was in my hand.
40:23I don't know how I could have fired it, but I looked outside and Frederick was in the pool.
40:38Dead.
40:44Mr. Halstead.
40:45I went out to Long Island with some contracts I wanted Frederick to sign.
40:56I found him floating in the pool.
40:59Rebecca was upstairs.
41:01She was still holding the gun.
41:04What did you do with it?
41:09I called Janet.
41:10I gave it to her.
41:11And what was in the green lacquer box?
41:13Patrick Pendleton had been creeping around the estate for weeks.
41:17Trying to sneak shots of Rebecca and Frederick for his sleazy newspaper.
41:23That night he got more than he bargained for.
41:25Pictures of Rebecca shooting her husband?
41:28Yes.
41:29And he's been blackmailing us ever since.
41:31He was also helpful in creating another Rebecca Rhodes for the world.
41:36One who had recovered from that night.
41:38Who was living her own life again.
41:40I'm glad it's out in the open.
41:45I feel better now than I have for years now that...
41:49You know the truth.
41:52On the contrary, Mrs. Rhodes.
41:54Now I know the lie.
42:01I don't understand.
42:03Mrs. Rhodes, for five years you have lived with the belief that you killed your husband.
42:09Someone has allowed you to believe that lie which almost destroyed you.
42:13That's ridiculous.
42:15Two more people have been killed since then with the same gun.
42:18I still don't see...
42:19Miss Eton, when Mr. Halstead gave the gun to you, what did you do with it?
42:25I took it home.
42:26You didn't dispose of it?
42:28No.
42:29It was Frederick's.
42:30And if it had been found, people may have guessed about Rebecca.
42:32Where is the gun now?
42:35I don't know.
42:36I don't understand what you're getting at.
42:38How did your car get those dents in the right fender?
42:41My car?
42:42The car you drove up in today.
42:44You mean the green one?
42:45That's a company car.
42:46Where did you get it?
42:47From the motor pool.
42:48When?
42:49Well, right before I went out to see Rebecca.
42:53Archie, will you be good enough to look in Miss Eton's purse, please?
42:58No.
42:58No.
43:02Will you please explain, Miss Eton, why you are carrying a gun that ballistics will prove killed three people?
43:13Stephen.
43:18Janet, why?
43:19I was only trying to protect Rebecca, I swear.
43:22As God is my judge, I did not kill anybody.
43:24I don't recall accusing you of murder.
43:27What's going on here, Mr. Wolfe?
43:29What's the object of all these theatrics?
43:31They are not theatrics, sir.
43:32Are you implying that I'm involved in these murders?
43:35Is that why you summoned me here?
43:36No, Mr. Hunt, that is not the reason.
43:38Will you please sit down?
43:39Now, Miss Eton, how did the gun get into your purse?
43:48I had been keeping it at my office, locked away.
43:51And Stephen called me today and asked me to bring the gun with me when I went out to see Rebecca.
43:57He said there was no point in hiding it any longer.
43:59And a quick check at the motor pool should establish that Mr. Halstead arranged which car you would drive.
44:07Yes, you've been walking a tightrope for a long time, Mr. Halstead.
44:11But only now have you begun to lose your balance.
44:16Are you saying I'm guilty of something?
44:19Murder, Mr. Halstead.
44:22I don't know why you killed Frederick Rhodes, but the reason you killed Ron Dellaplaine and Patrick Pendleton is here in front of us.
44:30These photographs show you shooting Frederick Allen Rhodes.
44:35Pendleton was blackmailing you.
44:37You made Janet Eaton believe the photographs showed Rebecca Rhodes killing her husband.
44:42So she became your ally.
44:45The Ultimax Group is my life!
44:47I built it!
44:53My sweat, my brains!
44:57Rhodes, he...
44:58He only provided the money. It didn't matter to him.
45:03He was going to fire me!
45:09The company would have been bankrupt in six months with him running it.
45:15All those years I gave it,
45:17Gone.
45:19All gone!
45:30I'll take those photographs.
45:35Archie,
45:36you did remove the bullets from Mr. Halstead's gun, did you not?
45:41Absolutely.
45:42It's not safe having a loaded gun in the house.
45:45And over here, we have the Guafio Padova.
46:04Oh, they're beautiful.
46:06But I think my favorite is still the first one.
46:08Oh, really?
46:09Would you like it, Mrs. Rhodes?
46:10Oh, I couldn't.
46:15It's, uh, one of Mr. Wolfe's favorites.
46:19I'm sure he'd love you to have it, wouldn't you, sir?
46:23Yes, of course.
46:25Of course.
46:26Thank you, Theodore.
46:29Thank you, Mr. Wolfe.
46:31Well, I should thank you.
46:32Your check was more than generous.
46:35Forgive me, sir.
46:36Mr. Wolfe.
46:37Yes.
46:38There is someone to see you.
46:40You know I never see anyone when I'm up here.
46:42Yes, sir.
46:43But he says he has an appointment.
46:46There are two photographers with him.
46:48And just who is he?
46:50Uh, Mr. Hines.
46:52From the American Insider.
46:55He's here, he says, for the lowdown
46:57on your favorite foods,
47:01your orchids,
47:02and, uh,
47:04forgive me, sir,
47:05your women.
47:12Archie,
47:13you said you promise him anything.
47:22Yes, I did, did I not?
47:35I did, did I not?
47:45Yes, I did, did I not?
47:45You
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