Perry Mason (1957) s01e08 Episode Script
The Case of the Crimson Kiss
Waiting for someone? Thanks for a wonderful dinner, darling.
Have a good time at your bachelor party.
- It's your last.
- I know.
My loss is my gain.
- Good night, Anita.
ANITA: Good night, Dane.
- Anita? - What? You're not unhappy, are you? I mean, about Dane and me getting married? Why should I be? Well, he used to date you before me, and you seemed so preoccupied tonight.
You're imagining things.
To me, your dream boy is just another man.
Is your Aunt Louise coming out for the big event? Mm-hm.
Probably on the morning plane.
- Well, we'll be working.
- Oh, I sent her a key.
Why don't you leave these and let me do them? - You have a date tonight, remember? - Right.
Thanks, honey.
Gee, I have a million things to do tonight.
Fix my nails and pack some things I wanna take, rinse out the stockings.
Will you be late? Yes.
- See you.
- Have fun.
You're late.
- Well, why the deep freeze? - You said we were going out.
There's lots of time.
It's only 9:15.
Don't tell me you're still burning over your roommate hooking Dane Grover.
You never had a chance with him.
At least he's not hiding behind a wife.
That's no way to talk about a man who's practically divorced.
Oh, don't be like that.
You know how I feel about you.
Either we go out tonight or I'm through.
All right.
Soon as I change, we'll drive up the coast someplace.
- Now, be nice.
- I'll wait in the car.
But I won't wait long.
MAN [ON RADIO.]
: There you are, a roundup of the week's hit tunes, brought to you by the Old Lamplighter.
The time is 9:58, and-- Oh, Anita, you frightened me.
- I'm sorry.
- You said you'd be late.
Well, I decided I was a little too tired for nightclubbing.
Look, you're wearing yourself out before your marriage.
Why don't you go fix us some hot chocolate and we'll both turn in and talk, huh? Okay, I'll make it while you take off your makeup.
Fay? Fay.
Come on, say hello to Aunt Louise.
Oh, come on.
If I can be awake at my age, Fay-- Fay? Fay.
Wake up.
Anita.
Anita.
Anita, wake up.
Anita.
[PHONE RINGS.]
AMY: Clay's Bar and Grille.
Excuse me, Mr.
Mason.
Your answering service is calling you.
No rest for the weary.
May I take it here at the counter? - Yes, sir.
- Thanks, Amy.
Uh-huh.
Hello.
Who? Louise Marlow? Well, put her on.
Louise, what are you doing in town? I can't wake either of them.
They've been drugged or something, Perry.
I've got to get a doctor for them right away.
I'll ring my doctor.
While I'm doing that, you call Hollywood 2-1799.
That's my secretary, Della Street.
Tell her I'm going to pick her up immediately.
And, Louise, don't worry.
We'll be right over.
[DOOR BUZZES.]
LOUISE: Oh, it's so good to see you.
Wonderful to see you.
Oh, this is Della Street, Louise.
- We met on the phone.
- Hello.
MASON: Dr.
Hawley get here? - Yes, he's in there with both of them.
He said they've been had an overdose of barbiturates.
- Any idea what caused this? - No.
She's getting married in three days to Dane Grover.
That's why I came on, for the wedding.
- How'd you get in downstairs? - Fay mailed me a key.
I wasn't supposed to come in until the morning plane.
HAWLEY: It's a good thing you made it earlier.
The brunette had never seen the morning.
That's your niece? - How about the other one, Bill? - An overdose too, but not too bad.
Della, would you put this in some boiling water for me? Sure.
They drank something brownish, probably chocolate.
Are they coherent? The blond's semiconscious.
The other one has a long way to go yet.
Was Fay happy about her coming marriage? Ecstatic.
He's a rich young man, a fine family.
Louise, you didn't find any sort of note or anything, did you? Something you might be hiding? Chief, could I see you a minute? Couple of unwashed cups.
It was hot chocolate.
Probably enough residue for analysis.
- Better leave them for evidence.
- Right.
Louise, why don't you see how the girls are? - Let's take a good look around here.
- For what? A note, a letter, something to explain this.
It's no accident.
Desk, clothes, everything.
- That's odd.
- What? - Two keys.
- They're both from the same building.
One's from another apartment.
Whose purse? DELLA: Fay Allison's.
Here, put that stuff back.
We're going up to 702.
- Must be a sound sleeper.
- Well, much as I hate to intrude What's going on out here, a convention? Some people like to sleep nights, you know.
It's 2:30.
Is he dead? Very dead.
- Scotch.
- What are you looking for? Lipstick on the glass.
There isn't any.
- There certainly is on his forehead.
- I know.
Someone bid him a fond but unfriendly farewell.
Been wiped clean.
- Calling the police? - Naturally.
And since we might be implicated, I want Tragg to know about this.
Then we're getting out of here.
It's too nice a night for visiting friends.
I wanna go dancing.
I thought we settled that downstairs.
Look, we can drink here or take Carver along with us.
- Big deal.
- Will you come on? Or do you wanna go back to the lobby and argue some more? You shouldn't have led a spade in the first place.
- You didn't have to raise the bid.
- You're just stupid.
[DOORBELL BUZZING.]
Well, that does it.
Open up, Carv.
Is this gonna go on all night? DON: We only knocked once, little girl.
SHIRLEY: The people that just went in there made enough racket.
I've got insomnia.
Good.
If he's got company, he doesn't need us.
Hey, wait a minute.
You're a real big evening.
You know, that couple upstairs is going to remember us.
Yeah, I better get rid of this before Tragg gets here.
Check the name on the mailbox for 702, will you? Yeah.
[DOOR RATTLES.]
Just a minute, Della.
Hello, Louise? Do what? Have the doctor get a private ambulance to come to the service entrance.
Take the girls down in the service elevator.
Tell the doctor I want them in the sanatorium as quickly as possible.
I'll explain later.
Have you got it? Yes, yes, all right.
Clicked shut on me.
The name on the mailbox is Philip Walsh.
The dead man's cufflinks were initialled C.
C.
Well, the people in the hallway referred to whoever lived there as Carv.
[SIREN WAILING.]
Come in, gentlemen, we've been expecting you.
Mr.
Mason.
You the one that called about a body in 702? Yes.
The name on the mailbox is Walsh.
Philip Walsh.
A body in 702? - Well, that's Carv's apartment.
- Isn't Philip Walsh his right name? No.
No, his name is Carver Clement.
But we weren't in the apartment.
They were.
The woman across the hall said he had company, and these two were coming from that direction.
DON: That's right, sergeant.
I think we'll all just go upstairs and wait for Lieutenant Tragg.
Shall we? So you never saw this man before, huh? - Not alive, lieutenant.
- Didn't know him? MASON: I've told you.
Maybe you know the woman whose clothing is stashed away in the closet in there? I'm afraid not, lieutenant.
TRAGG: How'd you get into the building? Rang the bell, waited for an answering buzz.
Well, you got no buzz out of him.
He's been dead since 9 or 10:00.
I rang Apartment 604.
Mrs.
Louise Marlow, an old friend of the family, just got into town.
Rang 604 and wound up in 702? Why didn't you use your key downstairs? Now, don't ask me what key, Perry.
I mean the key you used to get in here.
- Who said I had one? TRAGG: Woman across the hall.
- You searched me.
- Yeah.
We searched him too.
He didn't have one, either, and he lived here.
Lieutenant.
A clear set of prints on the glass that was here, but the one that finished him was wiped clean.
[PHONE RINGS.]
Hello.
Yes, Weiner, speaking.
Yeah? Good.
Yeah, that explains a lot.
Well, that's interesting.
I just got a report on the dry cleaning marks on the women's clothing in there.
They belong to a Fay Allison, Apartment 604.
Well, that's Louise Marlow's niece.
She and another girl, Anita Bonsal, share that apartment.
Well, let's trot down to 604 and visit them, shall we? Louise, Mrs.
Marlow, this is Police Lieutenant Tragg.
- How do you do, lieutenant? - I understand you're visiting here.
Yes, I came on for my niece's wedding.
Oh, I'd like to congratulate her.
Where is she? Well, she isn't here.
What, at 3:00 in the morning? Is she in the habit of staying out all night? Well, she and her roommate went someplace.
TRAGG: Not where she usually goes, I'm sure.
There's a dead man in Apartment 702, Mrs.
Marlow.
His name is, or was, Carver Clement.
And the place is loaded with clothing belonging to your niece.
You're mistaken.
Fay is being married Saturday.
- To Dane Grover.
- Is she? Oh, if this gets into the newspapers It will.
But if you wanna keep it to a minimum, you'd better tell me where she is.
Fay and Anita are both at the Crestview Sanatorium.
- Why? - An overdose of barbiturates.
They can't be interrogated until tomorrow.
Well, that's a funny thing for the prospective bride, isn't it? She must have been real happy about something.
- I'll see you there in the morning.
- Yes, I thought you would.
Are you calling to have them moved? I'm calling Paul Drake, my private investigator.
Dr.
Hawley saved your niece's life.
We may have to save it again, Louise, along with her reputation.
And when I woke up, I was here.
I just don't understand what happened.
I mean, I've never taken a sleeping pill in my life.
Did Miss Allison? Well, yes, she-- She's sort of the nervous type, you know? Kind of high-strung.
What were you girls doing last night? Well, I was gonna go to a movie.
TRAGG: Did you? No.
I'd seen everything at the local houses, so I came back home.
Miss Allison seem glad to see you? Well, yes, I guess so.
She never likes to be alone.
Why is he asking me all this? I think you'd better tell her, lieutenant.
And help her conceal evidence? So that she can properly phrase her honest answers without you reading your own interpretations into them.
We're not in court now, Perry.
This is a routine police investigation.
Which is meant to collect facts, not fix guilt.
In the interest of my client, I-- [PHONE RINGS.]
Hello.
Yes.
It's for you.
Lieutenant Tragg.
Uh-huh.
I see.
Good.
Thanks.
Now, if-- We won't need the prints now, Harlan.
You can get back to the lab.
HARLAN: Okay.
I'll see you later.
You were gonna fingerprint me.
Why? Miss Bonsal, did you know Carver Clement or ever hear Miss Allison mention his name? No.
TRAGG: He leased Apartment But he used the name Philip Walsh, because he already has a wife and family elsewhere.
He was given a fatal dose of cyanide last night.
Well, what has that got to do with Fay and me? That's what I want to know.
Who made the chocolate last night? - Fay did.
- Thank you.
Thank you, Miss Bonsal.
Well, are you ready to meet your client now, counsellor? But I didn't put anything in the chocolate.
Why would I do that? If I'd wanted a sleeping pill, I'd have taken it.
Tragg, why do you keep assuming that she doctored that chocolate? Have you have a better explanation? The doctor suggested that we keep this short.
All right, just one more question.
How well do you know Carver Clement? - Carver--? - Clement.
I never heard of him.
Short enough, Perry? Anything you want to ask? Not right now, thanks.
No, I didn't think you would.
Not in my presence.
Well, goodbye for now, Miss Allison.
May I ask you something, Tragg? I was waiting for you to ask.
You wanna know why I brought Harlan out here to fingerprint the girls, and didn't.
- Touché.
- That phone call I got from the lab.
Both girls work at a guided-missile plant.
Their prints are on file.
You want more? - You know I do.
- Fay Allison's prints match the ones on the glass in 702.
DELLA: Morning, chief.
- Morning, Della.
- How'd it go at the sanatorium? - For Tragg, fine.
For us, rotten.
No interruptions till I finish with Paul unless it's Dane Grover.
PAUL: Hi.
- Hi, Paul.
Scene-of-the-crime photos.
I had a friend smuggle duplicates out of the police lab.
Well, they matched Fay Allison's prints with those on the extra glass in 702.
Also the brand of toothpaste in the bathroom along with the clothes.
- You know what I think? - What? You ought to check out.
Paul, I happen to think Fay Allison is innocent.
What you think won't mean a thing to the DA.
She was having an affair with Clement.
He wouldn't let her off the hook to marry Grover, so, cyanide cocktail.
To be charged with murder and lose the man anyhow? No.
Not if she removed evidence that could connect her with the apartment.
That's what she's preparing to do when her roommate came home unexpectedly.
- There's a hole in it.
- Show me.
She could have put Anita to sleep and then gone after those clothes.
- People do get rattled, you know.
- There's another thing.
There were no prints on the murder glass.
She wiped it clean after Clement shoved off.
I see.
Why do that and leave her own prints on the other one? Exactly.
Yeah, that's something to wonder about, all right.
What did you get on that couple who were going to see Clement as Della and I were coming out? Uh Vera Payson and Don Ralston.
Ralston handled Clement's taxes.
Vera is a party girl.
Their time's accounted for.
Dinner and a few nightclubs before they ran into you.
Yeah.
In the upstairs corridor with the street door locked.
How did they get up there? Clement was in no shape to press any buzzer.
You think they knew someone else in the building? Well, that's for you to find out.
Check every lease, every tenant.
All right.
You know, the way they spoke, they'd had an argument in the lobby before they came up.
How long were you in 702? Oh, a minute.
A minute and a half, maybe.
If they argued at any length, then took the elevator up-- Somebody else might have pressed the buzzer in Clement's apartment and then scrammed before you got there.
And Clement had no key on him.
No key to his own apartment.
Then there's this.
- So she kissed him goodbye.
- No, suppose a man did that.
A man might have smeared on some lipstick and planted that.
Yeah, it'd be pretty shrewd at that.
What man? Dane Grover? Suppose he'd heard about the affair.
You know what that can do to some men.
Suppose Clement had told him.
Just to wreck the wedding.
Clement was just the type who might.
He was ruthless.
He'd do anything to hold on to what he wanted.
Or get rid of what he didn't want.
[INTERCOM BUZZES.]
- Yes, Della? DELLA: Mr.
Grover is here, Mr.
Mason.
Tell him I'll see him in a minute.
Use the private door.
And work on that tenant list.
PAUL: All right, Perry.
[INTERCOM BUZZES.]
- Yes, Mr.
Mason? - Tell Mr.
Grover to come in now.
- Mr.
Mason? - Yes.
It's good of you to come.
What choice did I have? They don't make it sound very pretty, do they? You believe in her, don't you? Well, it doesn't matter what I believe, I'm in love with her.
- How about your family? - I'd rather not discuss that.
I know it'll cost money to help her.
I have money.
If it takes more, let me know.
The best thing you can do for her, Mr.
Grover, involves more than money.
It involves loyalty.
- I'll stand by her.
- No matter how bad it gets? Your family isn't the type that likes to see its name in print anywhere outside of the society page.
If you're not gonna stand by her, make the break now.
- Don't wait till she goes to trial.
- I don't like being pushed, Mr.
Mason, - by you or my family.
- I'm asking only for your help.
Now, did you know Clement? - No.
- I'm not sure your fiancée did, either.
I'm not even sure Clement was killed by a woman.
Might have been a man.
There's something you should know in case the police find out.
I had Fay out to the house on Sunday for the first time.
I was showing her around after lunch.
The gardener was working on some gopher holes.
We've had some trouble with them lately and Barney was - spreading poison.
- What sort of poison? A preparation of cyanide.
I'm going to go over this-- [PHONE RINGS.]
Hello.
Just a minute, I'll see if he's in.
It's our eminent district attorney.
Burger? I'll take it.
Hello, Hamilton.
How are you? No, no, I was just going.
I'd be glad to join you.
Right.
Bye.
"Let's have lunch"? I could feel him grinning right over the wire.
Get Paul.
Tell him to call me at Clay's Grille about 2:00.
Right.
- Dessert, gentlemen? - No, thank you.
No, thanks.
Well, now that we've had the lunch, which isn't why we're here, why are we here? You have an insidious mind, Perry.
Tell him, lieutenant.
Oh, well, let's just say that we've discovered that your client, Fay Allison, as recently as last Sunday, was very interested in the potentialities of cyanide.
- Cigarette? - Oh, no.
No, thanks.
No, he's worked that on me before.
Yes, I know.
Pass them out, light them up, - meanwhile he has time to think.
TRAGG: Yeah.
You're acquiring wisdom, Hamilton.
Lots of people are interested in cyanide.
- It kills rodents.
- And humans.
Only lots of people don't go leaving their clothes and their fingerprints around dead men's apartments.
One set of fingerprints on a glass.
It'll do nicely.
- Phone call, Mr.
Mason.
- Thank you.
Hello? Oh, yes, Drake, I did.
I want you to do something for me.
See if all the apartments at the Mandrake Arms are completely furnished.
Yes, I know that.
I said completely.
Identical dishes and glassware, for instance.
Right.
You're pretty cute, aren't you? A girl washes a glass, her fingerprints are on it.
Somebody swirls a little scotch in a glass and it puts it someplace else.
It won't do, Perry.
You're gonna need more than speculation.
I've got her nailed and you know it.
You're not sure, Hamilton, or we wouldn't be here.
I asked you here to give you a break.
I know.
You'll accept a reduction in charge from murder to manslaughter if I plead Fay Allison guilty.
- She is guilty.
- I don't think so.
You're gonna let her stand trial for first-degree murder? - You're risking her life.
- I'd rather risk it than ruin it.
Thanks for the lunch.
I'll see you in court.
PAUL: Hi.
- I thought you'd still be here.
MASON: What did you find? Not a thing.
I checked and rechecked every tenant on lease or sublease.
I couldn't link a single one of them with Carver Clement.
Perry, why don't you get some sleep? You're gonna need everything you got tomorrow.
This Burger's out for blood.
And he's got a hundred sharp knives.
All I want is one broken blade.
Well, I hope you come up with a miracle, or Fay Allison's gonna be sitting in the gas chamber just as sure as Burger wants to be governor.
I know.
All rise, please.
This court is now in session.
Judge Randolph presiding.
Be seated.
The State v.
Fay Allison.
- Ready for the defence.
- Ready for the prosecution.
Mr.
Ralston, would you look toward the defence table, please? Do you see anyone there that you recognise? RON: Well, yes, sir.
Counsel for the defence and his secretary.
Where did you first see them? In the hallway of the Mandrake Arms on the 7th Floor, coming from the direction of Apartment 702.
Apartment 704 is in that same direction.
Now, do you know for sure which apartment they were coming from? - Well, yes, 702.
- And how do you know that? Because when we came down to the lobby, police were arriving.
They had been called by Mr.
Mason to investigate the murder.
Mr.
Mason admitted that.
BURGER: Cross-examine.
Mr.
Ralston, when you and Miss Payson arrived at the Mandrake Arms, the street door was locked, was it not? Yes.
And did you have a key to admit yourself? No, we rang the bell to Carver's apartment.
Was that ring answered.
Yes, the buzzer clicked and the door opened.
Did you and Miss Payson go up to 702 immediately? No, we didn't.
We stayed in the lobby, talking.
About what? Well, Vera didn't wanna go up to Carver's apartment.
She wanted to go to another club.
We'd been to several.
About how long did that discussion take? Oh, I don't know.
A few minutes, maybe.
Was the elevator on the ground floor at that time? Yes, it was when we first came in.
Then the door closed and it went up.
Then you had to ring for it? - Well, that's right.
- Was it occupied when it came down? RON: No.
- I object, Your Honour.
This line of questioning is irrelevant.
I move to strike it.
It is entirely relevant, Your Honour.
Whoever rang for that elevator used it to move from one floor to another within the building.
And then Miss Street and I used it when we left Apartment 604 to go to 7th Floor.
What point are you trying to establish, Mr.
Mason? That Mr.
Ralston and Miss Payson were already in the building when Miss Street and I went to the Clement's apartment.
And since Clement could not have answered their ring, it must have been answered by a person or persons unknown.
Your Honour.
The counsel for the defence is making a very broad assumption.
There are 48 apartments in the Mandrake Arms.
Any tenant visiting any other could have used that elevator within the building.
Objection sustained.
No further questions.
Miss Shirley Tanner to the stand.
- Hey, you did good up there.
- Well, I told him the truth.
- Can we go now? - Shh.
Order.
Order, please.
Well, I'd been having difficulty sleeping, so naturally, the commotion in the hallway disturbed me.
I got up to see what it was.
And when you opened the door to the hall, what did you see? I saw him going into 702.
- Mr.
Mason? SHIRLEY: Yes.
He was taking the key out of the lock.
BURGER: Your witness, Mr.
Mason.
You live at the Mandrake Arms in Apartment 704, - don't you, Miss Tanner? - Yes.
Yes, I do.
This is a photostatic copy of the lease for that apartment.
It is a one-year lease signed last August by a Mr.
Jerome Hill.
- Is he a friend of yours? - No, no.
I took the apartment on a sublease.
I see.
How long was that before Carver Clement's death? I think it was a week, thereabouts.
Did Jerome Hill know Carver Clement? SHIRLEY: Well, how do I know? The apartment was right across the hall.
Did Jerome Hill say he was subleasing because of trouble with somebody in the building? Objection, Your Honour.
This is hearsay.
Objection sustained.
SHIRLEY: Well, he never even mentioned a neighbour.
He said he was subletting because he had a job out of town.
The witness is cautioned against answering questions that have been objected to until the court permits them to be answered.
- Any further questions, Mr.
Mason? - No, Your Honour.
Now, Lieutenant Tragg, you have stated that the defence counsel, Mr.
Perry Mason, said he was admitted to the Mandrake Arms by Mrs.
Louise Marlow after ringing the downstairs bell to Apartment 604.
- Yes.
- That apartment is leased by Fay Allison, is it not? TRAGG: Yes, and Anita Bonsal.
Now, if Mr.
Mason had been in possession of the key to Apartment 702 when he arrived at the Mandrake Arms, it would not have been necessary for him to ring a downstairs bell, would it? No.
All keys open the street door.
Thank you, lieutenant.
Your witness, Mr.
Mason.
- No questions, Mr.
Burger.
RANDOLPH: Call the next witness.
Your Honour, the prosecution would like Miss Della Street to take the stand.
She's not privileged with Mr.
Mason's immunity.
You have admitted being with Mr.
Mason when he entered Apartment 702.
- Yes.
- Were you also with him when he obtained possession to the key to that apartment? Yes.
And didn't he get that key in Apartment 604? You're under oath, Miss Street.
- Yes.
- Just exactly where did you find it? - We found it in a purse.
- Whose purse? DELLA: Fay Allison's.
- Mr.
Mason, what is she--? Your witness, Mr.
Mason.
No questions, Mr.
Burger.
Now, then.
You have made positive identification of this robe as being the property of the defendant, Fay Allison? Yes, by the cleaning marks.
And the fingerprints on the second highball glass in Mr.
Clement's apartment are those of Fay Allison? - Yes, that is correct.
- Thank you.
Your witness, Mr.
Mason.
Mr.
Harlan, you have been a police laboratory technician for how long? Almost 20 years.
You have no doubt about the fingerprints on that glass, Sate Exhibit C, as being those of Fay Allison? None whatsoever.
Did you find any trace of lipstick on the rim of that glass? Objection, Your Honour.
Mr.
Mason is trying to circumvent the evidence.
The fingerprints speak for themselves all too eloquently.
Your Honour, either Fay Allison did not drink from that glass, or she was not wearing lipstick.
And since Carver Clement was kissed on the forehead by someone who was wearing lipstick, the question is most pertinent.
Objection overruled.
Proceed, Mr.
Mason.
Mr.
Harlan.
Can you identify this photograph? I believe it's a copy of State Exhibit G, which I just identified for Mr.
Burger.
You're right, it is.
Now, what made you believe it was a copy of State Exhibit G? The lip lines and wrinkles.
They're quite distinctive marks.
As distinctive as fingerprints? - Yes.
Distinctive enough for a positive identification? - Yes, sir.
BURGER: I object, Your Honour.
RANDOLPH: Overruled.
I think Mr.
Mason's line of questioning is entirely proper.
- Proceed.
MASON: Thank you, Your Honour.
And, Mr.
Harlan, did you attempt to match this lip imprint with one of the defendant, Fay Allison? - No.
No, I did not.
- Why not? Your Honour, I must take exception to this.
The state is proving beyond a doubt that Fay Allison murdered Carver Clement.
It certainly is not necessary to prove also that she kissed him on the forehead.
Perhaps the state is not anxious for it to be proven that some person other than Fay Allison may have been with Carver Clement when he died.
Your Honour, I would like to submit the lip imprint of Fay Allison as Defence Exhibit A, and ask that Mr.
Harlan be instructed to examine it.
BURGER: I object, Your Honour.
- On what grounds? Do you doubt the authenticity of this imprint? Or do you intend to impeach your own witness' reliability as an expert? On the grounds that it's irrelevant.
May I proceed, Your Honour? Yes, objection overruled.
You may proceed.
Mr.
Harlan, would you compare this with the imprint in the photograph? - Are they identical? - No, they are not.
MASON: Then the lip prints on the forehead of Carver Clement were not those of Fay Allison? According to my comparison, I would have to say no.
No further questions.
You did a good job in that last round.
Yeah, but I need a Sunday punch, and I haven't got one.
- Couldn't reach Drake, huh? - I left a message for him.
I got it.
I located Jerome Hill.
The name's legitimate.
Did he leave town after subletting to Shirley Tanner? Not after or since.
He's right here.
- Give you enough? - Maybe.
If I can run one bluff.
I'll need some of my charge slips.
Department store, jeweller, furriers.
- Where do you keep them? - The personal file.
Want me to--? No, I'll get them.
Eat for me.
I'll see you in court.
And you swear that you never saw the defendant, - Fay Allison, wearing this robe? - That's right.
Even though you heard the testimony that it bears her cleaning mark? Yes.
She knows it's my robe, Mr.
Mason.
She doesn't have to lie for me.
- I know.
BURGER: Now, Miss Bonsal, on the evenings that Miss Allison wasn't seeing her fiancé, Dane Grover, did she ever leave the apartment on other dates? Well, no.
Not on dates.
She might go to a movie or something.
Or something.
Your witness.
Miss Bonsal, you and Fay Allison not only share the same apartment, you work together, is that not right? Yes.
The same type of work? The same salary? - Yes.
- What salary? Seventy-five a week.
MASON: Barely enough to make ends meet by sharing expenses? ANITA: Just about.
Did Miss Allison buy a new trousseau for her coming marriage to Dane Grover? - No.
- Do you know why not? Because she couldn't afford it, I guess.
Objection, Your Honour.
The defendant's financial condition has no bearing on the matter before this court.
Sustained.
MASON: Very well, Your Honour.
I will show the pertinence in a different way.
Now, Miss Bonsal, you have stated that you did not know Carver Clement.
Is that not right? - That's right.
- Then you wouldn't be familiar - with his signature? - Of course not.
Not even his signature on these charge accounts? A mink stole with the initials A.
B.
on the lining? A platinum cigarette case with the same initials, a diamond wristwatch? - Do you own such items? - Well, I bought them myself.
MASON: With an income of $75 per week? Miss Bonsal, is it not a fact that you had been romantically involved with Carver Clement? That after his death, you put barbiturates in Fay Allison's cup of hot chocolate, then substituted her clothing for your own in Clement's apartment, and then returned to your own suite and took a mild dose of barbiturates yourself? And is it not a fact that your reason for these actions was that you also wanted Dane Grover? No! I didn't kill Carver! I didn't! [PEOPLE MURMURING.]
Don't touch me! If anybody comes near me, I'll jump.
It's true.
I did go back to his room, but he was dead when I got there.
I didn't kill him.
I didn't.
[PEOPLE CHATTERING.]
RANDOLPH: Order.
Order.
- Your Honour, I move a mistrial.
MASON: There needn't be a mistrial, Your Honour.
Fay Allison can be cleared right here and now.
And so can Anita Bonsal, unless the state wishes to try her for the attempted murder of Miss Allison.
RANDOLPH: On what grounds are you asking for a mistrial, counsellor? BURGER: On the grounds that this-- This piece of melodrama that we've just witnessed is solely for the purpose of confusing the issues and is entirely the invention of the counsel for defence.
RANDOLPH: Mr.
Mason? My actions, Your Honour, have been entirely in the interest of justice.
Now, the court has heard testimony that Mr.
Ralston and Miss Payson were admitted to the Mandrake Arms by buzzer after ringing the bell to Carver Clement's apartment.
I have tried to establish that the person who answered their ring must have done so shortly before my secretary and I entered the Clement apartment with a key.
Now, at that time, both Fay Allison and Anita Bonsal were in a drugged sleep.
Now, someone in the Clement apartment pressed that buzzer.
An innocent person pressing that buzzer would have waited for whoever rang to appear.
Only a guilty person would have left so hurriedly.
Well, why would a guilty person have answered the ring at all? It would only mean bringing the crime to light that much sooner.
Clement had been dead for hours.
Why would the killer hang around? The killer didn't hang around.
Are you trying to tell this court that the killer came back? - Why? - Sheer panic.
The fear that some evidence might have been left behind.
All right, let's hear the rest of it.
Your Honour, may I question one of the witnesses informally? - If it's not for the record.
- It needn't be.
Miss Tanner, you sublet your apartment from a Jerome Hill? SHIRLEY: Yes.
He was leaving town.
Would you look around this courtroom and see if he's present? [GASPS.]
Give me that! Now, calm down.
Hold on to her, Tragg.
Order.
Order.
Mr.
Mason.
I must warn you against any further irregularities of this nature.
I'm sorry, Your Honour.
But the need was dictated by the circumstance.
I ask only that Mr.
George Harlan, the police laboratory technician, compare this lip prints of Miss Shirley Tanner with those found upon the forehead of Carver Clement.
Don't bother.
If there's anything you wanna know, just ask me.
Why did you kill him? I loved him.
He promised to get a divorce and marry me.
But he got tired of me and walked out.
I'd found that he had moved to the Mandrake Arms, and was using the same name that he used at my place.
Philip Walsh.
I sublet the apartment across the hall so I could watch him.
And then I found out about her.
Anita Bonsal? I made up my mind to kill him.
When she left, I rang the bell.
He was sitting there having a drink.
When he put the glass down to go get his jacket, I fixed that drink, but good.
He came back, he gave me a nasty grin, and then finished the drink.
And you ran? I was frightened.
His key was on the end table so I took it.
I was gonna come back later to make sure that there wasn't any letters or anything of mine.
And it was you who answered Ralston's ring from the lobby? Yes.
When I found out what Anita Bonsal had done, I thought I was safe.
That completes my case, Your Honour.
The charge against Fay Allison is dismissed.
The court orders that Shirley Tanner and Anita Bonsal be taken into custody, and proper complaints be lodged against each.
Court is adjourned.
- Mr.
Mason.
I don't know how-- - Don't try.
One thing I still don't get, Mr.
Mason.
How did you know about the Tanner woman? She paid Jerome Hill a $500 bonus to sublet Apartment 704 when other apartments in the building were available at the normal rate.
Now, get going, you two.
LOUISE: Yes, get on or you'll miss your plane.
Goodbye, dear.
- Goodbye.
LOUISE: Bye-bye, take care.
You're a little smeared, Mr.
Mason.
Have a good time at your bachelor party.
- It's your last.
- I know.
My loss is my gain.
- Good night, Anita.
ANITA: Good night, Dane.
- Anita? - What? You're not unhappy, are you? I mean, about Dane and me getting married? Why should I be? Well, he used to date you before me, and you seemed so preoccupied tonight.
You're imagining things.
To me, your dream boy is just another man.
Is your Aunt Louise coming out for the big event? Mm-hm.
Probably on the morning plane.
- Well, we'll be working.
- Oh, I sent her a key.
Why don't you leave these and let me do them? - You have a date tonight, remember? - Right.
Thanks, honey.
Gee, I have a million things to do tonight.
Fix my nails and pack some things I wanna take, rinse out the stockings.
Will you be late? Yes.
- See you.
- Have fun.
You're late.
- Well, why the deep freeze? - You said we were going out.
There's lots of time.
It's only 9:15.
Don't tell me you're still burning over your roommate hooking Dane Grover.
You never had a chance with him.
At least he's not hiding behind a wife.
That's no way to talk about a man who's practically divorced.
Oh, don't be like that.
You know how I feel about you.
Either we go out tonight or I'm through.
All right.
Soon as I change, we'll drive up the coast someplace.
- Now, be nice.
- I'll wait in the car.
But I won't wait long.
MAN [ON RADIO.]
: There you are, a roundup of the week's hit tunes, brought to you by the Old Lamplighter.
The time is 9:58, and-- Oh, Anita, you frightened me.
- I'm sorry.
- You said you'd be late.
Well, I decided I was a little too tired for nightclubbing.
Look, you're wearing yourself out before your marriage.
Why don't you go fix us some hot chocolate and we'll both turn in and talk, huh? Okay, I'll make it while you take off your makeup.
Fay? Fay.
Come on, say hello to Aunt Louise.
Oh, come on.
If I can be awake at my age, Fay-- Fay? Fay.
Wake up.
Anita.
Anita.
Anita, wake up.
Anita.
[PHONE RINGS.]
AMY: Clay's Bar and Grille.
Excuse me, Mr.
Mason.
Your answering service is calling you.
No rest for the weary.
May I take it here at the counter? - Yes, sir.
- Thanks, Amy.
Uh-huh.
Hello.
Who? Louise Marlow? Well, put her on.
Louise, what are you doing in town? I can't wake either of them.
They've been drugged or something, Perry.
I've got to get a doctor for them right away.
I'll ring my doctor.
While I'm doing that, you call Hollywood 2-1799.
That's my secretary, Della Street.
Tell her I'm going to pick her up immediately.
And, Louise, don't worry.
We'll be right over.
[DOOR BUZZES.]
LOUISE: Oh, it's so good to see you.
Wonderful to see you.
Oh, this is Della Street, Louise.
- We met on the phone.
- Hello.
MASON: Dr.
Hawley get here? - Yes, he's in there with both of them.
He said they've been had an overdose of barbiturates.
- Any idea what caused this? - No.
She's getting married in three days to Dane Grover.
That's why I came on, for the wedding.
- How'd you get in downstairs? - Fay mailed me a key.
I wasn't supposed to come in until the morning plane.
HAWLEY: It's a good thing you made it earlier.
The brunette had never seen the morning.
That's your niece? - How about the other one, Bill? - An overdose too, but not too bad.
Della, would you put this in some boiling water for me? Sure.
They drank something brownish, probably chocolate.
Are they coherent? The blond's semiconscious.
The other one has a long way to go yet.
Was Fay happy about her coming marriage? Ecstatic.
He's a rich young man, a fine family.
Louise, you didn't find any sort of note or anything, did you? Something you might be hiding? Chief, could I see you a minute? Couple of unwashed cups.
It was hot chocolate.
Probably enough residue for analysis.
- Better leave them for evidence.
- Right.
Louise, why don't you see how the girls are? - Let's take a good look around here.
- For what? A note, a letter, something to explain this.
It's no accident.
Desk, clothes, everything.
- That's odd.
- What? - Two keys.
- They're both from the same building.
One's from another apartment.
Whose purse? DELLA: Fay Allison's.
Here, put that stuff back.
We're going up to 702.
- Must be a sound sleeper.
- Well, much as I hate to intrude What's going on out here, a convention? Some people like to sleep nights, you know.
It's 2:30.
Is he dead? Very dead.
- Scotch.
- What are you looking for? Lipstick on the glass.
There isn't any.
- There certainly is on his forehead.
- I know.
Someone bid him a fond but unfriendly farewell.
Been wiped clean.
- Calling the police? - Naturally.
And since we might be implicated, I want Tragg to know about this.
Then we're getting out of here.
It's too nice a night for visiting friends.
I wanna go dancing.
I thought we settled that downstairs.
Look, we can drink here or take Carver along with us.
- Big deal.
- Will you come on? Or do you wanna go back to the lobby and argue some more? You shouldn't have led a spade in the first place.
- You didn't have to raise the bid.
- You're just stupid.
[DOORBELL BUZZING.]
Well, that does it.
Open up, Carv.
Is this gonna go on all night? DON: We only knocked once, little girl.
SHIRLEY: The people that just went in there made enough racket.
I've got insomnia.
Good.
If he's got company, he doesn't need us.
Hey, wait a minute.
You're a real big evening.
You know, that couple upstairs is going to remember us.
Yeah, I better get rid of this before Tragg gets here.
Check the name on the mailbox for 702, will you? Yeah.
[DOOR RATTLES.]
Just a minute, Della.
Hello, Louise? Do what? Have the doctor get a private ambulance to come to the service entrance.
Take the girls down in the service elevator.
Tell the doctor I want them in the sanatorium as quickly as possible.
I'll explain later.
Have you got it? Yes, yes, all right.
Clicked shut on me.
The name on the mailbox is Philip Walsh.
The dead man's cufflinks were initialled C.
C.
Well, the people in the hallway referred to whoever lived there as Carv.
[SIREN WAILING.]
Come in, gentlemen, we've been expecting you.
Mr.
Mason.
You the one that called about a body in 702? Yes.
The name on the mailbox is Walsh.
Philip Walsh.
A body in 702? - Well, that's Carv's apartment.
- Isn't Philip Walsh his right name? No.
No, his name is Carver Clement.
But we weren't in the apartment.
They were.
The woman across the hall said he had company, and these two were coming from that direction.
DON: That's right, sergeant.
I think we'll all just go upstairs and wait for Lieutenant Tragg.
Shall we? So you never saw this man before, huh? - Not alive, lieutenant.
- Didn't know him? MASON: I've told you.
Maybe you know the woman whose clothing is stashed away in the closet in there? I'm afraid not, lieutenant.
TRAGG: How'd you get into the building? Rang the bell, waited for an answering buzz.
Well, you got no buzz out of him.
He's been dead since 9 or 10:00.
I rang Apartment 604.
Mrs.
Louise Marlow, an old friend of the family, just got into town.
Rang 604 and wound up in 702? Why didn't you use your key downstairs? Now, don't ask me what key, Perry.
I mean the key you used to get in here.
- Who said I had one? TRAGG: Woman across the hall.
- You searched me.
- Yeah.
We searched him too.
He didn't have one, either, and he lived here.
Lieutenant.
A clear set of prints on the glass that was here, but the one that finished him was wiped clean.
[PHONE RINGS.]
Hello.
Yes, Weiner, speaking.
Yeah? Good.
Yeah, that explains a lot.
Well, that's interesting.
I just got a report on the dry cleaning marks on the women's clothing in there.
They belong to a Fay Allison, Apartment 604.
Well, that's Louise Marlow's niece.
She and another girl, Anita Bonsal, share that apartment.
Well, let's trot down to 604 and visit them, shall we? Louise, Mrs.
Marlow, this is Police Lieutenant Tragg.
- How do you do, lieutenant? - I understand you're visiting here.
Yes, I came on for my niece's wedding.
Oh, I'd like to congratulate her.
Where is she? Well, she isn't here.
What, at 3:00 in the morning? Is she in the habit of staying out all night? Well, she and her roommate went someplace.
TRAGG: Not where she usually goes, I'm sure.
There's a dead man in Apartment 702, Mrs.
Marlow.
His name is, or was, Carver Clement.
And the place is loaded with clothing belonging to your niece.
You're mistaken.
Fay is being married Saturday.
- To Dane Grover.
- Is she? Oh, if this gets into the newspapers It will.
But if you wanna keep it to a minimum, you'd better tell me where she is.
Fay and Anita are both at the Crestview Sanatorium.
- Why? - An overdose of barbiturates.
They can't be interrogated until tomorrow.
Well, that's a funny thing for the prospective bride, isn't it? She must have been real happy about something.
- I'll see you there in the morning.
- Yes, I thought you would.
Are you calling to have them moved? I'm calling Paul Drake, my private investigator.
Dr.
Hawley saved your niece's life.
We may have to save it again, Louise, along with her reputation.
And when I woke up, I was here.
I just don't understand what happened.
I mean, I've never taken a sleeping pill in my life.
Did Miss Allison? Well, yes, she-- She's sort of the nervous type, you know? Kind of high-strung.
What were you girls doing last night? Well, I was gonna go to a movie.
TRAGG: Did you? No.
I'd seen everything at the local houses, so I came back home.
Miss Allison seem glad to see you? Well, yes, I guess so.
She never likes to be alone.
Why is he asking me all this? I think you'd better tell her, lieutenant.
And help her conceal evidence? So that she can properly phrase her honest answers without you reading your own interpretations into them.
We're not in court now, Perry.
This is a routine police investigation.
Which is meant to collect facts, not fix guilt.
In the interest of my client, I-- [PHONE RINGS.]
Hello.
Yes.
It's for you.
Lieutenant Tragg.
Uh-huh.
I see.
Good.
Thanks.
Now, if-- We won't need the prints now, Harlan.
You can get back to the lab.
HARLAN: Okay.
I'll see you later.
You were gonna fingerprint me.
Why? Miss Bonsal, did you know Carver Clement or ever hear Miss Allison mention his name? No.
TRAGG: He leased Apartment But he used the name Philip Walsh, because he already has a wife and family elsewhere.
He was given a fatal dose of cyanide last night.
Well, what has that got to do with Fay and me? That's what I want to know.
Who made the chocolate last night? - Fay did.
- Thank you.
Thank you, Miss Bonsal.
Well, are you ready to meet your client now, counsellor? But I didn't put anything in the chocolate.
Why would I do that? If I'd wanted a sleeping pill, I'd have taken it.
Tragg, why do you keep assuming that she doctored that chocolate? Have you have a better explanation? The doctor suggested that we keep this short.
All right, just one more question.
How well do you know Carver Clement? - Carver--? - Clement.
I never heard of him.
Short enough, Perry? Anything you want to ask? Not right now, thanks.
No, I didn't think you would.
Not in my presence.
Well, goodbye for now, Miss Allison.
May I ask you something, Tragg? I was waiting for you to ask.
You wanna know why I brought Harlan out here to fingerprint the girls, and didn't.
- Touché.
- That phone call I got from the lab.
Both girls work at a guided-missile plant.
Their prints are on file.
You want more? - You know I do.
- Fay Allison's prints match the ones on the glass in 702.
DELLA: Morning, chief.
- Morning, Della.
- How'd it go at the sanatorium? - For Tragg, fine.
For us, rotten.
No interruptions till I finish with Paul unless it's Dane Grover.
PAUL: Hi.
- Hi, Paul.
Scene-of-the-crime photos.
I had a friend smuggle duplicates out of the police lab.
Well, they matched Fay Allison's prints with those on the extra glass in 702.
Also the brand of toothpaste in the bathroom along with the clothes.
- You know what I think? - What? You ought to check out.
Paul, I happen to think Fay Allison is innocent.
What you think won't mean a thing to the DA.
She was having an affair with Clement.
He wouldn't let her off the hook to marry Grover, so, cyanide cocktail.
To be charged with murder and lose the man anyhow? No.
Not if she removed evidence that could connect her with the apartment.
That's what she's preparing to do when her roommate came home unexpectedly.
- There's a hole in it.
- Show me.
She could have put Anita to sleep and then gone after those clothes.
- People do get rattled, you know.
- There's another thing.
There were no prints on the murder glass.
She wiped it clean after Clement shoved off.
I see.
Why do that and leave her own prints on the other one? Exactly.
Yeah, that's something to wonder about, all right.
What did you get on that couple who were going to see Clement as Della and I were coming out? Uh Vera Payson and Don Ralston.
Ralston handled Clement's taxes.
Vera is a party girl.
Their time's accounted for.
Dinner and a few nightclubs before they ran into you.
Yeah.
In the upstairs corridor with the street door locked.
How did they get up there? Clement was in no shape to press any buzzer.
You think they knew someone else in the building? Well, that's for you to find out.
Check every lease, every tenant.
All right.
You know, the way they spoke, they'd had an argument in the lobby before they came up.
How long were you in 702? Oh, a minute.
A minute and a half, maybe.
If they argued at any length, then took the elevator up-- Somebody else might have pressed the buzzer in Clement's apartment and then scrammed before you got there.
And Clement had no key on him.
No key to his own apartment.
Then there's this.
- So she kissed him goodbye.
- No, suppose a man did that.
A man might have smeared on some lipstick and planted that.
Yeah, it'd be pretty shrewd at that.
What man? Dane Grover? Suppose he'd heard about the affair.
You know what that can do to some men.
Suppose Clement had told him.
Just to wreck the wedding.
Clement was just the type who might.
He was ruthless.
He'd do anything to hold on to what he wanted.
Or get rid of what he didn't want.
[INTERCOM BUZZES.]
- Yes, Della? DELLA: Mr.
Grover is here, Mr.
Mason.
Tell him I'll see him in a minute.
Use the private door.
And work on that tenant list.
PAUL: All right, Perry.
[INTERCOM BUZZES.]
- Yes, Mr.
Mason? - Tell Mr.
Grover to come in now.
- Mr.
Mason? - Yes.
It's good of you to come.
What choice did I have? They don't make it sound very pretty, do they? You believe in her, don't you? Well, it doesn't matter what I believe, I'm in love with her.
- How about your family? - I'd rather not discuss that.
I know it'll cost money to help her.
I have money.
If it takes more, let me know.
The best thing you can do for her, Mr.
Grover, involves more than money.
It involves loyalty.
- I'll stand by her.
- No matter how bad it gets? Your family isn't the type that likes to see its name in print anywhere outside of the society page.
If you're not gonna stand by her, make the break now.
- Don't wait till she goes to trial.
- I don't like being pushed, Mr.
Mason, - by you or my family.
- I'm asking only for your help.
Now, did you know Clement? - No.
- I'm not sure your fiancée did, either.
I'm not even sure Clement was killed by a woman.
Might have been a man.
There's something you should know in case the police find out.
I had Fay out to the house on Sunday for the first time.
I was showing her around after lunch.
The gardener was working on some gopher holes.
We've had some trouble with them lately and Barney was - spreading poison.
- What sort of poison? A preparation of cyanide.
I'm going to go over this-- [PHONE RINGS.]
Hello.
Just a minute, I'll see if he's in.
It's our eminent district attorney.
Burger? I'll take it.
Hello, Hamilton.
How are you? No, no, I was just going.
I'd be glad to join you.
Right.
Bye.
"Let's have lunch"? I could feel him grinning right over the wire.
Get Paul.
Tell him to call me at Clay's Grille about 2:00.
Right.
- Dessert, gentlemen? - No, thank you.
No, thanks.
Well, now that we've had the lunch, which isn't why we're here, why are we here? You have an insidious mind, Perry.
Tell him, lieutenant.
Oh, well, let's just say that we've discovered that your client, Fay Allison, as recently as last Sunday, was very interested in the potentialities of cyanide.
- Cigarette? - Oh, no.
No, thanks.
No, he's worked that on me before.
Yes, I know.
Pass them out, light them up, - meanwhile he has time to think.
TRAGG: Yeah.
You're acquiring wisdom, Hamilton.
Lots of people are interested in cyanide.
- It kills rodents.
- And humans.
Only lots of people don't go leaving their clothes and their fingerprints around dead men's apartments.
One set of fingerprints on a glass.
It'll do nicely.
- Phone call, Mr.
Mason.
- Thank you.
Hello? Oh, yes, Drake, I did.
I want you to do something for me.
See if all the apartments at the Mandrake Arms are completely furnished.
Yes, I know that.
I said completely.
Identical dishes and glassware, for instance.
Right.
You're pretty cute, aren't you? A girl washes a glass, her fingerprints are on it.
Somebody swirls a little scotch in a glass and it puts it someplace else.
It won't do, Perry.
You're gonna need more than speculation.
I've got her nailed and you know it.
You're not sure, Hamilton, or we wouldn't be here.
I asked you here to give you a break.
I know.
You'll accept a reduction in charge from murder to manslaughter if I plead Fay Allison guilty.
- She is guilty.
- I don't think so.
You're gonna let her stand trial for first-degree murder? - You're risking her life.
- I'd rather risk it than ruin it.
Thanks for the lunch.
I'll see you in court.
PAUL: Hi.
- I thought you'd still be here.
MASON: What did you find? Not a thing.
I checked and rechecked every tenant on lease or sublease.
I couldn't link a single one of them with Carver Clement.
Perry, why don't you get some sleep? You're gonna need everything you got tomorrow.
This Burger's out for blood.
And he's got a hundred sharp knives.
All I want is one broken blade.
Well, I hope you come up with a miracle, or Fay Allison's gonna be sitting in the gas chamber just as sure as Burger wants to be governor.
I know.
All rise, please.
This court is now in session.
Judge Randolph presiding.
Be seated.
The State v.
Fay Allison.
- Ready for the defence.
- Ready for the prosecution.
Mr.
Ralston, would you look toward the defence table, please? Do you see anyone there that you recognise? RON: Well, yes, sir.
Counsel for the defence and his secretary.
Where did you first see them? In the hallway of the Mandrake Arms on the 7th Floor, coming from the direction of Apartment 702.
Apartment 704 is in that same direction.
Now, do you know for sure which apartment they were coming from? - Well, yes, 702.
- And how do you know that? Because when we came down to the lobby, police were arriving.
They had been called by Mr.
Mason to investigate the murder.
Mr.
Mason admitted that.
BURGER: Cross-examine.
Mr.
Ralston, when you and Miss Payson arrived at the Mandrake Arms, the street door was locked, was it not? Yes.
And did you have a key to admit yourself? No, we rang the bell to Carver's apartment.
Was that ring answered.
Yes, the buzzer clicked and the door opened.
Did you and Miss Payson go up to 702 immediately? No, we didn't.
We stayed in the lobby, talking.
About what? Well, Vera didn't wanna go up to Carver's apartment.
She wanted to go to another club.
We'd been to several.
About how long did that discussion take? Oh, I don't know.
A few minutes, maybe.
Was the elevator on the ground floor at that time? Yes, it was when we first came in.
Then the door closed and it went up.
Then you had to ring for it? - Well, that's right.
- Was it occupied when it came down? RON: No.
- I object, Your Honour.
This line of questioning is irrelevant.
I move to strike it.
It is entirely relevant, Your Honour.
Whoever rang for that elevator used it to move from one floor to another within the building.
And then Miss Street and I used it when we left Apartment 604 to go to 7th Floor.
What point are you trying to establish, Mr.
Mason? That Mr.
Ralston and Miss Payson were already in the building when Miss Street and I went to the Clement's apartment.
And since Clement could not have answered their ring, it must have been answered by a person or persons unknown.
Your Honour.
The counsel for the defence is making a very broad assumption.
There are 48 apartments in the Mandrake Arms.
Any tenant visiting any other could have used that elevator within the building.
Objection sustained.
No further questions.
Miss Shirley Tanner to the stand.
- Hey, you did good up there.
- Well, I told him the truth.
- Can we go now? - Shh.
Order.
Order, please.
Well, I'd been having difficulty sleeping, so naturally, the commotion in the hallway disturbed me.
I got up to see what it was.
And when you opened the door to the hall, what did you see? I saw him going into 702.
- Mr.
Mason? SHIRLEY: Yes.
He was taking the key out of the lock.
BURGER: Your witness, Mr.
Mason.
You live at the Mandrake Arms in Apartment 704, - don't you, Miss Tanner? - Yes.
Yes, I do.
This is a photostatic copy of the lease for that apartment.
It is a one-year lease signed last August by a Mr.
Jerome Hill.
- Is he a friend of yours? - No, no.
I took the apartment on a sublease.
I see.
How long was that before Carver Clement's death? I think it was a week, thereabouts.
Did Jerome Hill know Carver Clement? SHIRLEY: Well, how do I know? The apartment was right across the hall.
Did Jerome Hill say he was subleasing because of trouble with somebody in the building? Objection, Your Honour.
This is hearsay.
Objection sustained.
SHIRLEY: Well, he never even mentioned a neighbour.
He said he was subletting because he had a job out of town.
The witness is cautioned against answering questions that have been objected to until the court permits them to be answered.
- Any further questions, Mr.
Mason? - No, Your Honour.
Now, Lieutenant Tragg, you have stated that the defence counsel, Mr.
Perry Mason, said he was admitted to the Mandrake Arms by Mrs.
Louise Marlow after ringing the downstairs bell to Apartment 604.
- Yes.
- That apartment is leased by Fay Allison, is it not? TRAGG: Yes, and Anita Bonsal.
Now, if Mr.
Mason had been in possession of the key to Apartment 702 when he arrived at the Mandrake Arms, it would not have been necessary for him to ring a downstairs bell, would it? No.
All keys open the street door.
Thank you, lieutenant.
Your witness, Mr.
Mason.
- No questions, Mr.
Burger.
RANDOLPH: Call the next witness.
Your Honour, the prosecution would like Miss Della Street to take the stand.
She's not privileged with Mr.
Mason's immunity.
You have admitted being with Mr.
Mason when he entered Apartment 702.
- Yes.
- Were you also with him when he obtained possession to the key to that apartment? Yes.
And didn't he get that key in Apartment 604? You're under oath, Miss Street.
- Yes.
- Just exactly where did you find it? - We found it in a purse.
- Whose purse? DELLA: Fay Allison's.
- Mr.
Mason, what is she--? Your witness, Mr.
Mason.
No questions, Mr.
Burger.
Now, then.
You have made positive identification of this robe as being the property of the defendant, Fay Allison? Yes, by the cleaning marks.
And the fingerprints on the second highball glass in Mr.
Clement's apartment are those of Fay Allison? - Yes, that is correct.
- Thank you.
Your witness, Mr.
Mason.
Mr.
Harlan, you have been a police laboratory technician for how long? Almost 20 years.
You have no doubt about the fingerprints on that glass, Sate Exhibit C, as being those of Fay Allison? None whatsoever.
Did you find any trace of lipstick on the rim of that glass? Objection, Your Honour.
Mr.
Mason is trying to circumvent the evidence.
The fingerprints speak for themselves all too eloquently.
Your Honour, either Fay Allison did not drink from that glass, or she was not wearing lipstick.
And since Carver Clement was kissed on the forehead by someone who was wearing lipstick, the question is most pertinent.
Objection overruled.
Proceed, Mr.
Mason.
Mr.
Harlan.
Can you identify this photograph? I believe it's a copy of State Exhibit G, which I just identified for Mr.
Burger.
You're right, it is.
Now, what made you believe it was a copy of State Exhibit G? The lip lines and wrinkles.
They're quite distinctive marks.
As distinctive as fingerprints? - Yes.
Distinctive enough for a positive identification? - Yes, sir.
BURGER: I object, Your Honour.
RANDOLPH: Overruled.
I think Mr.
Mason's line of questioning is entirely proper.
- Proceed.
MASON: Thank you, Your Honour.
And, Mr.
Harlan, did you attempt to match this lip imprint with one of the defendant, Fay Allison? - No.
No, I did not.
- Why not? Your Honour, I must take exception to this.
The state is proving beyond a doubt that Fay Allison murdered Carver Clement.
It certainly is not necessary to prove also that she kissed him on the forehead.
Perhaps the state is not anxious for it to be proven that some person other than Fay Allison may have been with Carver Clement when he died.
Your Honour, I would like to submit the lip imprint of Fay Allison as Defence Exhibit A, and ask that Mr.
Harlan be instructed to examine it.
BURGER: I object, Your Honour.
- On what grounds? Do you doubt the authenticity of this imprint? Or do you intend to impeach your own witness' reliability as an expert? On the grounds that it's irrelevant.
May I proceed, Your Honour? Yes, objection overruled.
You may proceed.
Mr.
Harlan, would you compare this with the imprint in the photograph? - Are they identical? - No, they are not.
MASON: Then the lip prints on the forehead of Carver Clement were not those of Fay Allison? According to my comparison, I would have to say no.
No further questions.
You did a good job in that last round.
Yeah, but I need a Sunday punch, and I haven't got one.
- Couldn't reach Drake, huh? - I left a message for him.
I got it.
I located Jerome Hill.
The name's legitimate.
Did he leave town after subletting to Shirley Tanner? Not after or since.
He's right here.
- Give you enough? - Maybe.
If I can run one bluff.
I'll need some of my charge slips.
Department store, jeweller, furriers.
- Where do you keep them? - The personal file.
Want me to--? No, I'll get them.
Eat for me.
I'll see you in court.
And you swear that you never saw the defendant, - Fay Allison, wearing this robe? - That's right.
Even though you heard the testimony that it bears her cleaning mark? Yes.
She knows it's my robe, Mr.
Mason.
She doesn't have to lie for me.
- I know.
BURGER: Now, Miss Bonsal, on the evenings that Miss Allison wasn't seeing her fiancé, Dane Grover, did she ever leave the apartment on other dates? Well, no.
Not on dates.
She might go to a movie or something.
Or something.
Your witness.
Miss Bonsal, you and Fay Allison not only share the same apartment, you work together, is that not right? Yes.
The same type of work? The same salary? - Yes.
- What salary? Seventy-five a week.
MASON: Barely enough to make ends meet by sharing expenses? ANITA: Just about.
Did Miss Allison buy a new trousseau for her coming marriage to Dane Grover? - No.
- Do you know why not? Because she couldn't afford it, I guess.
Objection, Your Honour.
The defendant's financial condition has no bearing on the matter before this court.
Sustained.
MASON: Very well, Your Honour.
I will show the pertinence in a different way.
Now, Miss Bonsal, you have stated that you did not know Carver Clement.
Is that not right? - That's right.
- Then you wouldn't be familiar - with his signature? - Of course not.
Not even his signature on these charge accounts? A mink stole with the initials A.
B.
on the lining? A platinum cigarette case with the same initials, a diamond wristwatch? - Do you own such items? - Well, I bought them myself.
MASON: With an income of $75 per week? Miss Bonsal, is it not a fact that you had been romantically involved with Carver Clement? That after his death, you put barbiturates in Fay Allison's cup of hot chocolate, then substituted her clothing for your own in Clement's apartment, and then returned to your own suite and took a mild dose of barbiturates yourself? And is it not a fact that your reason for these actions was that you also wanted Dane Grover? No! I didn't kill Carver! I didn't! [PEOPLE MURMURING.]
Don't touch me! If anybody comes near me, I'll jump.
It's true.
I did go back to his room, but he was dead when I got there.
I didn't kill him.
I didn't.
[PEOPLE CHATTERING.]
RANDOLPH: Order.
Order.
- Your Honour, I move a mistrial.
MASON: There needn't be a mistrial, Your Honour.
Fay Allison can be cleared right here and now.
And so can Anita Bonsal, unless the state wishes to try her for the attempted murder of Miss Allison.
RANDOLPH: On what grounds are you asking for a mistrial, counsellor? BURGER: On the grounds that this-- This piece of melodrama that we've just witnessed is solely for the purpose of confusing the issues and is entirely the invention of the counsel for defence.
RANDOLPH: Mr.
Mason? My actions, Your Honour, have been entirely in the interest of justice.
Now, the court has heard testimony that Mr.
Ralston and Miss Payson were admitted to the Mandrake Arms by buzzer after ringing the bell to Carver Clement's apartment.
I have tried to establish that the person who answered their ring must have done so shortly before my secretary and I entered the Clement apartment with a key.
Now, at that time, both Fay Allison and Anita Bonsal were in a drugged sleep.
Now, someone in the Clement apartment pressed that buzzer.
An innocent person pressing that buzzer would have waited for whoever rang to appear.
Only a guilty person would have left so hurriedly.
Well, why would a guilty person have answered the ring at all? It would only mean bringing the crime to light that much sooner.
Clement had been dead for hours.
Why would the killer hang around? The killer didn't hang around.
Are you trying to tell this court that the killer came back? - Why? - Sheer panic.
The fear that some evidence might have been left behind.
All right, let's hear the rest of it.
Your Honour, may I question one of the witnesses informally? - If it's not for the record.
- It needn't be.
Miss Tanner, you sublet your apartment from a Jerome Hill? SHIRLEY: Yes.
He was leaving town.
Would you look around this courtroom and see if he's present? [GASPS.]
Give me that! Now, calm down.
Hold on to her, Tragg.
Order.
Order.
Mr.
Mason.
I must warn you against any further irregularities of this nature.
I'm sorry, Your Honour.
But the need was dictated by the circumstance.
I ask only that Mr.
George Harlan, the police laboratory technician, compare this lip prints of Miss Shirley Tanner with those found upon the forehead of Carver Clement.
Don't bother.
If there's anything you wanna know, just ask me.
Why did you kill him? I loved him.
He promised to get a divorce and marry me.
But he got tired of me and walked out.
I'd found that he had moved to the Mandrake Arms, and was using the same name that he used at my place.
Philip Walsh.
I sublet the apartment across the hall so I could watch him.
And then I found out about her.
Anita Bonsal? I made up my mind to kill him.
When she left, I rang the bell.
He was sitting there having a drink.
When he put the glass down to go get his jacket, I fixed that drink, but good.
He came back, he gave me a nasty grin, and then finished the drink.
And you ran? I was frightened.
His key was on the end table so I took it.
I was gonna come back later to make sure that there wasn't any letters or anything of mine.
And it was you who answered Ralston's ring from the lobby? Yes.
When I found out what Anita Bonsal had done, I thought I was safe.
That completes my case, Your Honour.
The charge against Fay Allison is dismissed.
The court orders that Shirley Tanner and Anita Bonsal be taken into custody, and proper complaints be lodged against each.
Court is adjourned.
- Mr.
Mason.
I don't know how-- - Don't try.
One thing I still don't get, Mr.
Mason.
How did you know about the Tanner woman? She paid Jerome Hill a $500 bonus to sublet Apartment 704 when other apartments in the building were available at the normal rate.
Now, get going, you two.
LOUISE: Yes, get on or you'll miss your plane.
Goodbye, dear.
- Goodbye.
LOUISE: Bye-bye, take care.
You're a little smeared, Mr.
Mason.