Perry Mason (1957) s06e01 Episode Script
The Case of the Bogus Books
[opening theme playing.]
Miss Carter, these l'm taking.
Three 25¢s, one 50¢, and two _1 ones.
Even Einstein would have to admit that's _3.
25.
- Agreed? - Yes.
l'll call Mr.
Kraft.
So big a deal as this-- you can't handle it alone, Miss Carter? Or you think perhaps l have a Shakespeare First Folio here? [laughs.]
No, but you know how Mr.
Kraft is.
He's very suspicious of rival bookstore owners.
Joseph Kraft is welcome to buy books in my store.
Why should l not be welcome to buy in his? l guess it's all right, Mr.
Gilfain.
May l wrap these for you? From Joseph Kraft, for _3.
25, l don't expect to get even a-- a paper bag.
[whispering.]
Kenneth, what are you doing here? - l've got to talk to you.
- [doorbells ding.]
lf Mr.
Kraft sees you, you're likely to be talking to a policeman.
Besides, l told you-- no more money.
You don't understand.
They're gonna cream me if l don't pay up.
l mean really wipe me out.
You should have thought of that a long time ago, before you ever started playing with professional gamblers.
Oh, nothing tonight, Professor Muntz? How's that? Oh, no thank you.
l'm strictly a browser after that Izaak Walton l purchased last week.
Ruinous-- simply ruinous.
Good night.
Good night.
Okay, sis, you win.
Come visit me at the morgue.
Kenneth, wait.
lt's just that l had to borrow so much from Mr.
Kraft, and each time l have to make up a dimerent story.
But this is the last time, sis.
l promise.
Oh.
After this, no more gambling-- never.
Do you hear me? Do you? Never.
Thanks, sis.
Miss Carter? Miss Carter, l think l found it.
Found what? The song for the Mississippi section of my book.
Oh good.
- Would you hold the music for me? - Sure.
Let's give a lesson here.
This train is bound for glory This train This train is bound for glory This train This train is bound for glory - [radio playing classical music.]
- [singing continues.]
This train don't pull no sleepers, this train This train don't pull no sleepers Will you stop that? What do you think this is-- some kind of comeehouse or beatnik joint? Now take that instrument and get out.
Get out and stay out.
Yes, sir, Mr.
Kraft.
Yes, sir.
- l'm sorry.
- You should be.
- Now turn om the lights and close up.
- Yes, Mr.
Kraft.
[doorbells ding.]
Uh Mr.
Kraft? You remember that money l said l might need for my landlady's-- [Mr.
Kraft.]
Ellen, come here.
That Tristam Shandy on this shelf-- you sold it? No, you said l wasn't to sell these books without consulting you.
Then what's become of it? l don't know.
That brother of yours-- was he here today? Kenneth? You know you told him never to come in here, Mr.
Kraft.
But if you feel l'm responsible for the book being gone, l'll gladly pay the _8 you had it marked.
_8? _8,OOO would be more like it.
_8,ooo? Yes, _8,OOO.
Either you're stupid or you're a sneaky thief like your brother.
- l don't know which, but you're through.
- But Mr.
Kraft-- Now get out! Get out.
Get out before l have you arrested, you and your brother both.
You want that? You want that? Do you? Miss Carter? Oh, Mr.
Norland.
l was-- l was just waiting around out here to see if l could escort you home.
But l-- l couldn't help hearing through the open door, and l think that's a darn dirty trick.
You want me to go in there and wrap this guitar around his fat neck? lt's a nice thought, Mr.
Norland, but l'm afraid it wouldn't do any good.
Uh, would comee? - Would comee? - Do any good.
[sighs.]
Well yes, l think it would.
[dialing.]
Pearl, Joseph Kraft.
About that Tristam Shandy, l thought you were supposed to pick it up tomorrow.
You didn't come by and get it this evening? Why no, Joseph, l've been here in front of the fire all evening, thinking of you.
Gone? Are you sure? You don't suppose the police could have had anything to do with it, do you? No no, that's out of the question.
Maybe he changed his mind and took it back.
You'll let me know if anything happens, won't you? l won't be able to sleep a wink.
Good night, Joseph.
[Man.]
Instead of a fashion artist, Pearl, you should have been an actress.
Mmm.
Now how about unraveling the mystery? l steal this beat-up old book for you; you got the phone call you've been waiting qo_.
So now where are we? Well, first, this beat-up old book, as you call it, happens to be worth about _8,OOO.
_8,ooo? lf l'd have known that, l'd never let you con me into taking it.
Well, that's why l didn't tell you, darling.
Besides, it's hot, so there'll be no complaints-- at least not to the police.
Oh.
The old boy Kraft, he's a book thief.
No, he's a receiver.
And he's not so old, either.
Oh? Where do you fit in with him? Not how you're thinking, sweet.
Actually l'm sort of a junior business partner.
Only l'm ambitious; l'd like to move up in the firm.
And that's where you fit in.
All right, what's the proposition? About once a month, l get a call from Kraft.
He has a first edition o_ Tristam Shandy or Vanity fair or Alice in Wonderland for me to buy.
- Buy? - The ne_ day l go to the store.
The book's marked _6.
50 or _T or _8.
The clerk checks the price with Mr.
Kraft, but there's no contact between us.
l just pay for the book and walk out.
Then what? Over here.
Specially aged inks, paper, thread, old-time pens; even special kinds of glues they used in the old days.
You change the books.
Exactly as Kraft tells me to; nothing drastic.
Just enough so that nobody will quite be able to identify any particular copy of an edition.
Then l mail them back to Kraft.
ln a couple of days, the postman hands me an envelope with five crisp _100 bills in it.
_500? You're kidding me.
You didn't think fashion sketching Iet me live like this, did you? l wondered.
How does Kraft get the books in the first place? Who steals them for him? He doesn't know.
lf he doesn't know him, how does he pay this guy? l don't know.
But l did learn one thing checking the book auctions.
Kraft's been averaging better than _6,OOO on the books l've fixed for him.
Ho! At a book a month, that's better than _TO,OOO a year.
That's right, sweet.
So don't you think this is one book club you ought to join? lt does seem a bit arbitrary, Miss Carter, dismissing you because one book is missing.
However, l'm afraid you'll have trouble collecting damages, if that's what you're thinking of.
Oh no, that's not it.
l just want to know how to go about straightening things out so l don't have to live in fear of his suddenly deciding to have me arrested.
Have you tried to see him today? No.
Well, l did.
That's where l got this.
But it took Kraft, his clerk and three customers to throw me out of the store.
You also arranged for this interview, l believe.
Yeah, that's right.
Why all this interest, Mr.
Norland, when you barely know Miss Carter? Just say it's the slice of life for the great American novel l'm gonna write and nosiness.
Nosiness? Over why Kraft would mark a book _8 and then say it was worth _8,OOO.
Temper, maybe.
Yeah, but would he get into such a temper if the book was worth only _8? He might have thought l was starting to do what Kenneth did.
My brother.
When our mother died, Mr.
Kraft asked us both to come and work for him.
We'd never met him, but we're the only relatives he has.
And the idea was that someday we might even inherit the bookstore.
But last month, Kenneth took _200 from the cash register to gamble with and couldn't pay it back.
And Mr.
Kraft fired him? Yes, even though l gave him the money.
But l owe him some more.
Look, Mr.
Mason, Kraft is just suspecting her because of the kind of guy her brother is.
But has he got the right to condemn Ellen without proof? Certainly no moral right, Mr.
Norland.
Della, didn't you tell me that volume 6 o_ Manning & Granger's Reports had somehow been lost? That was two years ago.
Don't you think it's about time l tried replacing it-- perhaps after lunch at Mr.
Kraft's bookstore? Yes l do.
No, madam, Tropic of Cancer is not a medical book-- far from it.
May l assist you, sir? Are you Joseph Kraft? No, Pickson-- Herbert Pickson, chief clerk, but if it's a particular book, l'm sure l can find it for you.
You can find Mr.
Kraft for me.
He's in his omice, but he never sees anyone without any appointment.
He'll see me.
[Mr.
Kraft.]
Who is it? My name is Gene Torg, Mr.
Kraft.
l'm calling in regard to a mutual friend by the name of Laurence Sterne.
Steel mesh on the window; Iocks on the door.
What do you keep in here, Mr.
Kraft? Gold bullion? Valuable books sometimes.
Would have been wiser if you'd have kept this Tristam Shandy in here instead of on a shelf outside.
You took it last night? Borrowed it, let's say pending an agreement on it and future stolen books.
What's the idea of that? So you won't leave, Mr.
Torg, while l'm calling the police.
Are you out of your head? How are you going to explain this to them? l'll leave that to you.
Apparently you came into my store last night, took a copy of Tristam Shandy om the shelf, and now for some mysterious reason, you're attempting to use it to threaten me.
You've got the nerve of a riverboat gambler.
Only l happen to have the hole card that'll call your blum-- the Queen of Hearts, Pearl Chute.
She's in this with you? - [knock at door.]
- [Pickson.]
Mr.
Kraft? Can you spare a minute for a Mr.
Mason-- Mr.
Perry Mason? He says it's important.
Mason? Come in.
Come in, sir.
Mr.
Torg here was just leaving.
Mr.
Torg.
Haven't we met before? No, l don't think so.
Our deal-- l'll be back tonight to iron out the details.
Good day, sir.
Well, what can l do for you, Mr.
Mason? l'm here on behalf of Ellen Carter.
Oh.
You're a lawyer, aren't you? She came to you? E_remely disturbed over a threat you allegedly made when you discharged her, namely that you would have her arrested for theft.
Mr.
Mason, l have a hair-trigger temper and l very often do things that l regret later on.
l'm ashamed of threatening Ellen and l'm ashamed of discharging her.
And all the result of a misunderstanding over a mislaid book which l found this morning.
This book--Tristam Shandy? As a matter of fact, yes.
How is it you'd keep a book as valuable as this on an open shelf? Valuable? Oh, l see.
You mean my telling Ellen that it was worth _8,OOO? Temper again, Mr.
Mason.
Actually it's worth about _8, as you can see.
It's marked.
So it is.
Now as to your misunderstanding with Miss Carter do you plan to rectify it? Oh, l've been trying to reach her all morning to apologize and give her her job back.
That seems fair enough.
This is quite a handsome volume.
Since l've always enjoyed Sterne, l'll take it.
Oh, no no, that books been sold.
l'm sorry, Mr.
Mason.
May l ask if the buyer was Mr.
Torg? Odd that he didn't take it with him.
Well, it's part of a deal that we're concluding.
You, uh you won't forget to phone Miss Carter? Oh, l'll do that right away-- right away, sir.
Good.
Good day, sir.
Pearl? Oh, l see.
Do you know where Miss Chute is? No no, l'll call back later.
Excuse me.
You're Professor Muntz, aren't you? You're Mr.
Mason.
l haven't seen you since that regrettable hazing amair at the university five-- or was it six-- years ago.
Six, Professor.
As l recall, you were specializing in 1Tth- and 18th-century English literature.
l still am.
Then perhaps you can tell me what distinguishing marks to look for in a first-edition Tristam Shandy to be sure it's genuine.
First-edition Tristam Shandys are a little rich for my blood, Mr.
Mason, but, well, let me think.
Could one of the libraries help me? The Cosgrove maybe? ln San Marino, yes.
Yes, l guess the Cosgrove might be worth trying.
You see, Mr.
Drake, first editions have their own unique fingerprints, so to speak, just as people do.
Now take the King James Bible-- the important fingerprint there is in the Book of Ruth-- ''He measured five measures of barley and he went into the city.
'' Subsequent issues read: ''and she went into the city.
'' And that makes a dimerence? Of about _200,OOO in regard to the King James Bible, Mr.
Drake.
[whistles.]
Yes, but you were asking me about some Tristam Shandy fingerprints.
Now suppose we start with volume 1 , published in 1T60.
Now this particular copy is rather valuable.
lt was one of several presentation copies given by Sterne to David Garrick, the actor.
And there's his inscription-- ''To David Garrick from his constant admirer L.
Sterne.
'' Now the answer here comes from certain missing fingerprints.
Oddly, the first-edition title page bore no printer's, no publisher's name, no place of publication and not even ''By L.
Sterne.
'' - By L.
Sterne? - What's wrong? The first-edition title page was also without the author's name.
This book is a substitution, and even the inscription must be a forgery.
But that's impossible.
That's impossible.
[Beethoven's fi Fth playing.]
EIIen_.
The Indoor Barbeque Cookbook marked _1 .
50.
[Man.]
Here you are.
- Would you like me to wrap it? - No thanks, l'll eat it here.
- Eat it? - Barbequed Cookbook.
Eat! Well, you can't win 'em all.
Mr.
Mason, l tried to reach you this afternoon to thank you.
Where's Mr.
Kraft, Ellen? ln his omice.
You sure he's in there, Ellen? Yes, Mr.
Mason, l heard him turn the radio on an hour or so ago.
Perry, l smell gas.
Mr.
Kraft? Mr.
Kraft.
Mr.
Kraft? [coughing.]
When the radio came on? Well, l'd just come back from dinner, so it couldn't have been much after T:OO.
Mr.
Pickson was still here.
- Pickson? - Terrible-- a terrible thing.
l-- l couldn't believe it when the police phoned me.
The radio, Pickson? Oh yes.
When Mr.
Kraft turned it on, it was a moment or two after T:OO, which is when l always leave for the night.
And it was around 9:OO when you broke in here, Paul? That's right.
So knockom time must have been between T:OO and 9:OO.
Well, thank you very very much, Mr.
Norland.
l might never have figured that out.
And now if you don't mind, you two-- you and you-- wait outside.
Uh, anything there, Andy? Hasn't been tampered with as far as l can make out.
All right, Iet's see what we've got so far, preliminary to the autopsy, of course.
A little before 6:OO, according to half a dozen witnesses, Kraft comes back from supper to hole up in here the way he did almost every night.
At T:OO, he turns on the radio; maybe the heater and the lamp too then.
Anyway, he goes back to the couch - and falls asleep.
- What makes you say that? Well, if he'd been awake, he'd have smelled the escaping gas.
He turned the valve like so, not noticing that the pilot light was out.
And they do go out.
l know because l've got one in my basement l have to light about once every month.
An accident then? Of course, suicide's a possibility too, but the pilot light would probably have been actually turned om in that case, and there'd most likely be a note.
Doesn't it seem to you that he fell asleep rather quickly? Gas escaping like that would certainly be noticed in three or four minutes.
You should see me fall asleep.
Perry, Homicide has to double check these things.
Don't you try to make a murder out of it.
Why not? Well, it's the granddaddy of all the locked-room puzzles that l've ever heard o_.
And how.
No other way into the room except through this door, and that locked from the inside until you smashed it, and these windows, also locked from the inside and protected by steel mesh.
Anyway, nobody'd get through 'em but a midget, and none did or else these dead flies and this dust would be disturbed.
Well, Perry? You have the locked room, Lieutenant.
l'll grant you that.
But l'd still like to know what happened to that copy of Tristam Shandy l told you about.
[knock at door.]
- Who is it? - It's me, Pearl-- Gene.
Open up.
Coming.
What's the matter? Kraft.
He's dead.
Dead? But l saw him not-- - When did he die? - How should l know? The desk clerk at my apartment just said there was a lot of excitement down by his store-- police cars, ambulance.
When did you see Kraft? l didn't mean ''see him.
'' l meant when l talked to him on the phone.
Phone? That how you got this from him? By phone? - [knock at door.]
- Paul: Miss Chute? Yes, what is it? l'd like to speak to Mr.
Torg a minute if you don't mind.
- Who are you? - My name is Paul, Miss Chute.
l'm a collector of old books and Mr.
Torg has one l'm very interested in.
You see, l arrived at his apartment just as he was leaving, so l Come in, come in.
You know who this is, Pearl? The pet private eye of that lawyer, Perry Mason.
Name's Paul, all right-- Paul Drake.
l'll lay odds the only books you ever collected in your life were bound copies o_ The Police Gazette.
Could be, Torg.
But right now l am interested in a first edition of Tristam Shandy.
You mean Mason is.
Well, you can tell him for me the last time l saw the book was when he did, on Kraft's desk today around noon.
- Then this couldn't be it over here.
- Drake! Get out.
Just as you say.
Good night, Miss Chute.
Well, big shot, you've done it.
lt's my fault.
l shouldn't have let him in.
How did that book get here, Pearl? How? l got it from Kraft.
He called after you'd been there.
So you went over there and made you own deal with him, huh? But l didn't; l made our deal-- half of whatever he cleared on the books with you to collect the money.
And then he agreed to that without a fuss? Yes.
lt couldn't be, could it, that he didn't agree? And in the argument you shoved him a little too hard or something? Kraft said you were supposed to come by his place tonight.
Now it couldn't be that you shoved him a little too hard or something? Volume 2 of our Tristam Shandy, l believe you said, sir? That's right.
Please return it to me when you finish.
l think you'll agree that this is one way it could have been done.
Notebooks? It never occurred to us that books could be hidden in them.
How many substitutions have been discovered so far? Six if you include the volume 1 o_ Tristam Shandy-- one Fielding, two Brontës, one George Eliot, and an exceptionally fine copy o_ Swih!s Gulliver's Travels.
And their total value? _30 to _40,OOO, provided they could be sold somewhere, of course.
l don't think the Shandy's been sold yet, but the others probably have.
Have you received any replies from the other libraries? UCLA has found two substitutions; Huntington and Oldbury, one each.
Then the losses could run into hundreds of thousands.
Quite easily.
You see, the substitute books are so close to the originals that only an expert would notice the dimerence and then only if his suspicions had been aroused.
So this may have been going on for a long time.
A fiendishly clever man, this Joseph Kraft.
Clever, but not very lucky.
We'll keep in touch.
l would appreciate that.
Uh, Mr.
Mason? Aren't you forgetting something? Joseph Kraft substituted second or third editions for valuable first editions.
Pearl Chute altered the stolen first editions.
Then Kraft sold them as finds he'd come on to someplace.
But where did Gene Torg fit in? Wherever he could get his foot in the door.
That's why Perry had me go after him.
We'd met Torg once before in a con-game case.
Did the police question him? This morning.
He denied everything and so did Pearl.
And it looks like they're gonna make it stick.
Your people are still watching them, aren't they, Paul? Also the boy from the robbery detail, so it's gotten a little crowded.
[phone buzzes.]
Yes, Gertie? Peter Norland? Send him in.
Mr.
Norland.
For an hour l've been pacing up and down in front of your building, Mr.
Mason, like a picket without a signboard.
But l can't decide whether coming here makes me a double crosser or a knight on a white mustang.
Sit down.
lt sounds as though you have a very serious problem.
l have-- Miss Carter and a small snowstorm - of brand-new _100 bills - _100 bills? that floated out of her purse when l accidentally knocked it om a table in the bookstore this afternoon.
How many _100 bills? She collected them so fast, l couldn't count.
About _2,OOO, l'd say.
l feel like a heel reporting this thing, but Pickson saw the money too and he'll probably tell the police.
Pickson-- he's the chief clerk.
How did the bookstore happen to be open? lt isn't.
He and Ellen are taking inventory, along with Professor Muntz, who the police called in to check the rare books.
l don't like the sound of this at all.
The inventory? The snowstorm of _100 bills.
Do you think somebody could be trying to frame Ellen Carter for the book theft? l think somebody is trying to frame Ellen Carter for murder.
Mr.
Mason, l can't explain the money.
l-- not sensibly-- l found it in my handbag, folded in a little zipper pocket l hardly ever use.
That's just about what we thought, Ellen.
You mean you believe me? Yes.
But the question is will the police believe you? What have the police got to do with it? l'll try to show you.
Now let's go back to T:OO last night.
Mr.
Kraft had been in here since 6:OO, reading, napping-- whatever he did after supper.
This still the locked-room deal the police were talking about, Mr.
Mason? That's right-- door bolted on the inside, windows tightly secured, no other way in.
At T:OO, it being dark outside, let us say Mr.
Kraft rolled over and switched on the reading light also the radio and the heater.
And then he sank back on the couch intending to read for a while.
And then he dozed om again.
Paul? Now watch the heater.
Now listen.
Listen closely.
( gas hissing ) lt's gas.
All right, Paul, that'll do.
( classical music continues ) Just as the murderer must have done last night, Paul turned om the gas at the meter, thus e_inguishing both the heater and the pilot light.
Then he turned the gas on again.
And goodbye, Kraft.
How'd the killer know where the gas meter was? l called the gas company.
l knew where it was.
Anyone who ever used the little washroom at the back did.
'Evening, folks.
Well, that's a very interesting experiment there, eh? And closely duplicating one that we pe_ormed earlier today.
And thank you for saying that you knew where the gas meter was.
lt helps.
Helps, Lieutenant? In what way? ln justifying this first-degree-murder warrant l have here for Miss Carter.
The prosecution's going to have a lot to work with, Ellen-- your telling the police that you were alone in the store at the time of death; then the money found in your purse; not to mention the fact that you are going to inherit the bookstore.
l am? Still? His lawyer said that Kraft disinherited your brother, but not you.
Now do you still maintain that you have no idea how those _1 OO bills got into your purse? [sighs.]
All right, Ellen.
But you're not going to be able to go on protecting your brother if you're in prison.
Now with regard to this analysis that you pe_ormed on the victim's blood, Dr.
Hocksey, what did this analysis reveal? lt confirmed what l initially suspected when l visually examined the body, that gas was the cause of death.
As Coroner's Physician, with long experience in this type of fatality, when would you say the death occurred? About two and half hours before l saw the body, which was at 9:45.
[Hamilton Burger.]
Then in other words, Joseph Kraft died at about T:15? Give or take a half hour, Mr.
Burger.
Thank you, Dr.
Hocksey.
Mr.
Mason? Doctor, you said ''give or take a half hour.
'' That means then that Joseph Kraft could have died as late as T:45 or as early as 6:45.
Why yes, he could have.
l realize you've already testified as to these times, Mr.
Pickson, but l'd like to double check them if you don't mind.
First the time that Ellen Carter returned to the store - after dinner that night.
- A minute or two before T:OO.
And the time you say you heard Mr.
Kraft turn his radio on? A minute or two after T:OO.
And the time you say you left the store? Right after that.
Now when you say these things, Mr.
Pickson-- l don't just say these things, Mr.
Mason.
They happened.
Miss Carter heard Mr.
Kraft in that room too, you know.
l'm not questioning that, Mr.
Pickson.
But the prosecution claims it will prove that Miss Carter was then alone in the store for a considerable length of time.
You know the store.
You also know Miss Carter's habits.
Couldn't you have left the store and then sneaked right back in past the counters to the washroom and there have turned on the fatal gas valve? No, l couldn't have done that without Miss Carter seeing me.
And besides, l was met outside by a friend, Mr.
Gilfain of the Argus bookstore.
Yes, l saw the bills fall out of her purse; knocked them out myself, in fact.
Mr.
Norland, what were the denominations of those bills? _100 each.
Lieutenant Anderson, can you identify this envelope and its contents for me, please? Yes, the 20 brand-new _1 OO bills l found in the defendant's purse after Lieutenant Tragg turned her over to me.
And what about this second envelope? This is a second group of 20 _1 OO bills l found in the defendant's apartment when l searched it after her arrest.
On the day before Mr.
Kraft died, he came into our bank and drew out _2,OOO in _100 bills.
And then the ne_ day he did the same thing-- drew out _2,OOO in _100 bills.
How do you happen to recall this? On the second day l had to open a new bundle of bills to give him.
Now those 20 _1 OO bills were brand new, fresh from the Mint, just like the ones they found in Miss Carter's purse there.
l tell you, my sister didn't steal those bills from old man Kraft.
How do you know that, Mr.
Carter? Because, well l put them in her pursè myself.
l knew the police had questioned her and l was afraid they'd find them when they questioned me.
- And where did you get the bills? - l found them in the store in a book.
Once before when l was working there in the store l found some other bills in a book in the same section, but they had disappeared before l had a chance to take them.
But after that l kept looking.
[chuckles.]
And the money that was found hidden in the apartment you share with your sister-- did you find that in a book too? l don't know anything about that.
l submit you do, Mr.
Carter.
l submit you and your sister obtained all that money from Mr.
Kraft either by theft or by blackmail.
Now which was it? Neither! Besides, what can you blackmail out of old man Kraft? Second-hand books? Perhaps not _1 million, Mr.
Burger, but Joseph Kraft's ''substitution racket,'' as you called it, certainly netted him many many thousands of dollars.
My latest check with the library shows 21 first editions missing.
And other substitutions will be found, l'm sure.
Since the defense will not doubt claim that there is a connection between the death of Joseph Kraft and this racket that he was engaged in, how in your opinion, Professor, was Kraft able to engineer all these book substitutions? l hate to say this, but l think he must have had help.
You gotta believe me-- l wasn't in the racket at all.
Maybe thinking about getting in, you know, but, well, not in.
Now the appointment l heard you make to see Mr.
Kraft on the day of his death-- you kept that appointment, did you not? No.
Well, l-- l started to, but when l saw a police car out front, l ducked out, went home.
Well, then the copy of Tristam Shandy you and Mr.
Kraft were examining, what became of that? Ask her.
She knows the answer to that.
She got rid of the book, not me.
l know it was wrong.
But when that detective, Mr.
Drake, came nosing around, l was frightened.
So l burnt the book and threw the ashes in the trash.
[Burger.]
Well, that was an expensive fire, wasn't it, Miss Chute? Didn't you say you were paid _500 apiece to alter those first editions that Kraft sent you? Yes.
How much did he pay the mysterious person - that he told you actually did the stealing? - He never said.
Couldn't this mysterious person have been your friend Gene Torg? Gene? He couldn't get into a library disguised as William Shakespeare.
Now Miss Chute, about the defendant, did Mr.
Kraft say anything to you about her during any of the days immediately preceding his death? He did just the day before.
He told me he knew she'd been lying to him to get money out of him.
He said that she'd been using her brother as an excuse and that he was going to get rid of her before she tried anything worse.
Cross examine.
On the day Joseph Kraft died, you went to see him in response to his phone call about Gene Torg.
What time was that? About 5:45, l think.
He'd just come back from the corner restaurant.
[Mason.]
What time did you leave the bookstore? Not later than 6:OO, l'd say.
Mr.
Kraft was never good for more than ten or 15 minutes of staying awake after supper.
You seem quite familiar with Mr.
Kraft's habits, Miss Chute.
Well, l've known him for a number of years.
ln fact, you were once quite close to Mr.
Kraft, isn't that right? So close you even spoke to your hairdresser about the possibility of a marriage to ''a rich old goat''? Oh, yes, l knew he was rich all right.
Over _100,OOO he'd saved.
But he wasn't about to share it with anyone else who was in on the book racket.
Because l heard him telling the defendant once how much money he had in the bank, and that if she minded her Ps and Qs, they'd just keep it in the family; she'd get every bit.
The rule is much the same in every big library, Mr.
Mason-- anyone using the rare-book collection either must be known to us or have the proper credentials.
And either known or with the proper credentials, - they still must sign this register? - Here at least they must.
Wouldn't the proper credentials be rather easy to forge? But then the autograph also would have to be forged.
You and the police both went over this, Mr.
Drake.
But l didn't.
And there's something in these back pages l want to look for, Paul.
Wait a minute, wait a minute-- there's a page missing.
torn out.
lt must have been done recently, because a man from the District Attorney's omice was here only yesterday looking at it.
Perry, the 8th-- that was just the day before Mr.
Kraft died.
l want to see today's entries.
Ashcraft, Jorgensen, Ba_er, Freilinghurst, Lawrence, Weigel, Norland.
Peter Norland.
Doesn't this come under the general heading of breaking and entering? Mmm, Ellen gave me her key.
Besides, we have Lieutenant Tragg's permission.
That was ten days ago.
He didn't set any time limit.
[doorknob turns.]
[classical music playing.]
[light switch clicks.]
Thanks.
He got away, but at least l got in one punch.
- You all right? - Yeah.
- Did you see who it was.
- No.
All right, Paul, you watch the omice while l go into the washroom.
- Watch the omice? - Watch the omice.
- [switch clicks.]
- [classical music playing.]
Well, that proves the flies were right all along.
The flies were right? l want a couple dozen in the morning.
A couple of dozen flies? All right, Mr.
Mason, the witnesses have been excluded from the courtroom as you requested.
You may proceed.
Your Honor.
With Lieutenant Tragg to check me should l go wrong, let us assume that this is the omice of Joseph Kraft on the evening of the murder.
We know that Mr.
Kraft Iocked himself in at about 6:OO.
At T:OO, according to what we've heard, he woke from a nap.
lt was cold and dark.
So he turned on his reading light, the heater and the radio.
Shortly thereafter followed the trick with the gas meter, putting out the pilot light, thus allowing the gas to escape, killing Kraft and the only other living thing present, some ordinary house flies.
[Tragg.]
But there were no dead flies on the floor; only on the sills of the two windows.
[Mason.]
Which proves there must have been enough daylight to attract the flies to the windows.
Now according to the Weather Bureau, twilight e_ended only to 6:40 that particular evening, so the gas had to have been released prior to that time.
ln other words, Joseph Kraft was killed before T:OO.
Mr.
Mason, how do you suggest that a dead man inside a locked room could have turned on his lamp and his radio after T:OO? Also in the washroom, Mr.
Burger, is the fuse box for the bookstore.
The killer pulled the fuse to the omice, then turned on the lamp and the radio in that omice before Mr.
Kraft had even entered it, perhaps while he was out having supper.
Then at T:OO, with Kraft either unconscious or dead, the killer simply replaced the fuse.
And on came the lamp and the radio.
Your Honor, at this time may we call the witnesses - back to the courtroom? - Bailim? First l would like to call the state's expert Professor Muntz to the stand.
All right, yes yes, l was in the store last night.
l realized sooner or later they'd discover that l was the one who'd been stealing the books, so l was afraid they'd charge me with Kraft's murder.
l knew Miss Carter must be innocent, so l set about trying to find out what really happened, and l ended up with this.
Let me see if l understand how this substitution racket of yours worked, Professor Muntz.
That's some expert witness.
Who recommended him? Who recommended him? Perry Mason.
[Muntz.]
leave the stolen volume in a shelf in the store A man named Perry Mason.
[Mason.]
no longer be identified.
- [Muntz.]
Well, l had no part in that.
- Perry Mason.
How did Mr.
Kraft pay your _2,OOO fee for having stolen the book? By placing the money in an agreed-upon volume in the English Literature section of the store.
Did you get the _2,OOO _or the Tristam Shandy? No.
When l looked, it wasn't there.
l telephoned Kraft.
He said someone must have taken it-- someone he thought he knew.
Did he agree to leave another _2,OOO there for you? Yes.
And when l looked, that wasn't there either.
Now Professor where were you between Oddly enough, l was giving a talk on rare books of the 18th century before the Librarians' Club.
And you still maintain you know nothing about the _2,OOO found in the apartment? - That's the truth, Mr.
Mason.
- All right.
Where were you between 6:OO and T:OO on the day Mr.
Kraft was killed? ln a poker game.
l was there all day.
l stopped to have my hair done on the way home from seeing Mr.
Kraft.
l know it sounds like l'm kidding, but l was getting a haircut, shave, shampoo, manicure-- the works-- at that same time.
Yes, l was in the bookstore that evening from 6:OO to T:OO.
l've never denied that.
And part of this time you were alone in the store? l suppose.
Business is generally slack then.
Now when you and Miss Carter heard Kraft turn his radio on, where were you? Just returning from the washroom, perhaps? Well, l suppose, if Miss Carter claims.
No supposing, Mr.
Pickson, you were there.
You started the radio going by replacing the fuse to Kraft's omice.
By the time the radio warmed up, you had joined Miss Carter.
But he wasn't dead then.
lf he wasn't dead, Mr.
Pickson, he certainly was well on his way to being dead-- dead through your manipulation of the gas line-- No.
No! --turned om and then on again after you had sneaked out into the alley and peered through a window to make sure he was asleep.
No! No one saw me.
l'd hated him for years.
But do you know what the final straw was? [chuckles.]
He called me a thief.
He was going to dismiss me for finding that _2,OOO in the book and refusing to give it to him.
l felt that, under the circumstances, it was finder's keepers.
l didn't know it was his money.
l didn't know anything about that.
l'd been plotting the old pirate's murder for a long time as a sort of enjoyable mental exercise.
Only it wasn't quite so enjoyable after all.
Here you are, Mr.
Mason.
What you originally started out to get-- the missing volume 6 o_ Manning & Granger's Reports.
- And with it, my lifelong thanks.
- That's very nice, Ellen.
l'm going to have a lifelong question in my head, Perry, if you don't tell me.
Who put the _2,OOO in Ellen's apartment? l can answer that one-- Pickson to implicate her.
He says it's the only thing he's really sorry for.
But Perry, how did you get on to the fact that Professor Muntz was in on that book thing? When l discovered the Cosgrove library had a very famous collection of Sterne, it bothered me that our expert hadn't quite seemed to know about it.
Then when l saw his signature several times in their register All we noticed was Peter Norland's name.
l guess Peter thought we weren't solving things quite fast enough.
He figured he might be able to identify the thief through his handwriting.
Oh, of all the silly things to do.
Why? Let's ask him why.
Peter, what's the real reason you're hanging around and inte_ering so much? Well, now if you'd really like to know, l've been trying to get up enough nerve to ask Miss Carter to marry me.
[theme music playing.]
Miss Carter, these l'm taking.
Three 25¢s, one 50¢, and two _1 ones.
Even Einstein would have to admit that's _3.
25.
- Agreed? - Yes.
l'll call Mr.
Kraft.
So big a deal as this-- you can't handle it alone, Miss Carter? Or you think perhaps l have a Shakespeare First Folio here? [laughs.]
No, but you know how Mr.
Kraft is.
He's very suspicious of rival bookstore owners.
Joseph Kraft is welcome to buy books in my store.
Why should l not be welcome to buy in his? l guess it's all right, Mr.
Gilfain.
May l wrap these for you? From Joseph Kraft, for _3.
25, l don't expect to get even a-- a paper bag.
[whispering.]
Kenneth, what are you doing here? - l've got to talk to you.
- [doorbells ding.]
lf Mr.
Kraft sees you, you're likely to be talking to a policeman.
Besides, l told you-- no more money.
You don't understand.
They're gonna cream me if l don't pay up.
l mean really wipe me out.
You should have thought of that a long time ago, before you ever started playing with professional gamblers.
Oh, nothing tonight, Professor Muntz? How's that? Oh, no thank you.
l'm strictly a browser after that Izaak Walton l purchased last week.
Ruinous-- simply ruinous.
Good night.
Good night.
Okay, sis, you win.
Come visit me at the morgue.
Kenneth, wait.
lt's just that l had to borrow so much from Mr.
Kraft, and each time l have to make up a dimerent story.
But this is the last time, sis.
l promise.
Oh.
After this, no more gambling-- never.
Do you hear me? Do you? Never.
Thanks, sis.
Miss Carter? Miss Carter, l think l found it.
Found what? The song for the Mississippi section of my book.
Oh good.
- Would you hold the music for me? - Sure.
Let's give a lesson here.
This train is bound for glory This train This train is bound for glory This train This train is bound for glory - [radio playing classical music.]
- [singing continues.]
This train don't pull no sleepers, this train This train don't pull no sleepers Will you stop that? What do you think this is-- some kind of comeehouse or beatnik joint? Now take that instrument and get out.
Get out and stay out.
Yes, sir, Mr.
Kraft.
Yes, sir.
- l'm sorry.
- You should be.
- Now turn om the lights and close up.
- Yes, Mr.
Kraft.
[doorbells ding.]
Uh Mr.
Kraft? You remember that money l said l might need for my landlady's-- [Mr.
Kraft.]
Ellen, come here.
That Tristam Shandy on this shelf-- you sold it? No, you said l wasn't to sell these books without consulting you.
Then what's become of it? l don't know.
That brother of yours-- was he here today? Kenneth? You know you told him never to come in here, Mr.
Kraft.
But if you feel l'm responsible for the book being gone, l'll gladly pay the _8 you had it marked.
_8? _8,OOO would be more like it.
_8,ooo? Yes, _8,OOO.
Either you're stupid or you're a sneaky thief like your brother.
- l don't know which, but you're through.
- But Mr.
Kraft-- Now get out! Get out.
Get out before l have you arrested, you and your brother both.
You want that? You want that? Do you? Miss Carter? Oh, Mr.
Norland.
l was-- l was just waiting around out here to see if l could escort you home.
But l-- l couldn't help hearing through the open door, and l think that's a darn dirty trick.
You want me to go in there and wrap this guitar around his fat neck? lt's a nice thought, Mr.
Norland, but l'm afraid it wouldn't do any good.
Uh, would comee? - Would comee? - Do any good.
[sighs.]
Well yes, l think it would.
[dialing.]
Pearl, Joseph Kraft.
About that Tristam Shandy, l thought you were supposed to pick it up tomorrow.
You didn't come by and get it this evening? Why no, Joseph, l've been here in front of the fire all evening, thinking of you.
Gone? Are you sure? You don't suppose the police could have had anything to do with it, do you? No no, that's out of the question.
Maybe he changed his mind and took it back.
You'll let me know if anything happens, won't you? l won't be able to sleep a wink.
Good night, Joseph.
[Man.]
Instead of a fashion artist, Pearl, you should have been an actress.
Mmm.
Now how about unraveling the mystery? l steal this beat-up old book for you; you got the phone call you've been waiting qo_.
So now where are we? Well, first, this beat-up old book, as you call it, happens to be worth about _8,OOO.
_8,ooo? lf l'd have known that, l'd never let you con me into taking it.
Well, that's why l didn't tell you, darling.
Besides, it's hot, so there'll be no complaints-- at least not to the police.
Oh.
The old boy Kraft, he's a book thief.
No, he's a receiver.
And he's not so old, either.
Oh? Where do you fit in with him? Not how you're thinking, sweet.
Actually l'm sort of a junior business partner.
Only l'm ambitious; l'd like to move up in the firm.
And that's where you fit in.
All right, what's the proposition? About once a month, l get a call from Kraft.
He has a first edition o_ Tristam Shandy or Vanity fair or Alice in Wonderland for me to buy.
- Buy? - The ne_ day l go to the store.
The book's marked _6.
50 or _T or _8.
The clerk checks the price with Mr.
Kraft, but there's no contact between us.
l just pay for the book and walk out.
Then what? Over here.
Specially aged inks, paper, thread, old-time pens; even special kinds of glues they used in the old days.
You change the books.
Exactly as Kraft tells me to; nothing drastic.
Just enough so that nobody will quite be able to identify any particular copy of an edition.
Then l mail them back to Kraft.
ln a couple of days, the postman hands me an envelope with five crisp _100 bills in it.
_500? You're kidding me.
You didn't think fashion sketching Iet me live like this, did you? l wondered.
How does Kraft get the books in the first place? Who steals them for him? He doesn't know.
lf he doesn't know him, how does he pay this guy? l don't know.
But l did learn one thing checking the book auctions.
Kraft's been averaging better than _6,OOO on the books l've fixed for him.
Ho! At a book a month, that's better than _TO,OOO a year.
That's right, sweet.
So don't you think this is one book club you ought to join? lt does seem a bit arbitrary, Miss Carter, dismissing you because one book is missing.
However, l'm afraid you'll have trouble collecting damages, if that's what you're thinking of.
Oh no, that's not it.
l just want to know how to go about straightening things out so l don't have to live in fear of his suddenly deciding to have me arrested.
Have you tried to see him today? No.
Well, l did.
That's where l got this.
But it took Kraft, his clerk and three customers to throw me out of the store.
You also arranged for this interview, l believe.
Yeah, that's right.
Why all this interest, Mr.
Norland, when you barely know Miss Carter? Just say it's the slice of life for the great American novel l'm gonna write and nosiness.
Nosiness? Over why Kraft would mark a book _8 and then say it was worth _8,OOO.
Temper, maybe.
Yeah, but would he get into such a temper if the book was worth only _8? He might have thought l was starting to do what Kenneth did.
My brother.
When our mother died, Mr.
Kraft asked us both to come and work for him.
We'd never met him, but we're the only relatives he has.
And the idea was that someday we might even inherit the bookstore.
But last month, Kenneth took _200 from the cash register to gamble with and couldn't pay it back.
And Mr.
Kraft fired him? Yes, even though l gave him the money.
But l owe him some more.
Look, Mr.
Mason, Kraft is just suspecting her because of the kind of guy her brother is.
But has he got the right to condemn Ellen without proof? Certainly no moral right, Mr.
Norland.
Della, didn't you tell me that volume 6 o_ Manning & Granger's Reports had somehow been lost? That was two years ago.
Don't you think it's about time l tried replacing it-- perhaps after lunch at Mr.
Kraft's bookstore? Yes l do.
No, madam, Tropic of Cancer is not a medical book-- far from it.
May l assist you, sir? Are you Joseph Kraft? No, Pickson-- Herbert Pickson, chief clerk, but if it's a particular book, l'm sure l can find it for you.
You can find Mr.
Kraft for me.
He's in his omice, but he never sees anyone without any appointment.
He'll see me.
[Mr.
Kraft.]
Who is it? My name is Gene Torg, Mr.
Kraft.
l'm calling in regard to a mutual friend by the name of Laurence Sterne.
Steel mesh on the window; Iocks on the door.
What do you keep in here, Mr.
Kraft? Gold bullion? Valuable books sometimes.
Would have been wiser if you'd have kept this Tristam Shandy in here instead of on a shelf outside.
You took it last night? Borrowed it, let's say pending an agreement on it and future stolen books.
What's the idea of that? So you won't leave, Mr.
Torg, while l'm calling the police.
Are you out of your head? How are you going to explain this to them? l'll leave that to you.
Apparently you came into my store last night, took a copy of Tristam Shandy om the shelf, and now for some mysterious reason, you're attempting to use it to threaten me.
You've got the nerve of a riverboat gambler.
Only l happen to have the hole card that'll call your blum-- the Queen of Hearts, Pearl Chute.
She's in this with you? - [knock at door.]
- [Pickson.]
Mr.
Kraft? Can you spare a minute for a Mr.
Mason-- Mr.
Perry Mason? He says it's important.
Mason? Come in.
Come in, sir.
Mr.
Torg here was just leaving.
Mr.
Torg.
Haven't we met before? No, l don't think so.
Our deal-- l'll be back tonight to iron out the details.
Good day, sir.
Well, what can l do for you, Mr.
Mason? l'm here on behalf of Ellen Carter.
Oh.
You're a lawyer, aren't you? She came to you? E_remely disturbed over a threat you allegedly made when you discharged her, namely that you would have her arrested for theft.
Mr.
Mason, l have a hair-trigger temper and l very often do things that l regret later on.
l'm ashamed of threatening Ellen and l'm ashamed of discharging her.
And all the result of a misunderstanding over a mislaid book which l found this morning.
This book--Tristam Shandy? As a matter of fact, yes.
How is it you'd keep a book as valuable as this on an open shelf? Valuable? Oh, l see.
You mean my telling Ellen that it was worth _8,OOO? Temper again, Mr.
Mason.
Actually it's worth about _8, as you can see.
It's marked.
So it is.
Now as to your misunderstanding with Miss Carter do you plan to rectify it? Oh, l've been trying to reach her all morning to apologize and give her her job back.
That seems fair enough.
This is quite a handsome volume.
Since l've always enjoyed Sterne, l'll take it.
Oh, no no, that books been sold.
l'm sorry, Mr.
Mason.
May l ask if the buyer was Mr.
Torg? Odd that he didn't take it with him.
Well, it's part of a deal that we're concluding.
You, uh you won't forget to phone Miss Carter? Oh, l'll do that right away-- right away, sir.
Good.
Good day, sir.
Pearl? Oh, l see.
Do you know where Miss Chute is? No no, l'll call back later.
Excuse me.
You're Professor Muntz, aren't you? You're Mr.
Mason.
l haven't seen you since that regrettable hazing amair at the university five-- or was it six-- years ago.
Six, Professor.
As l recall, you were specializing in 1Tth- and 18th-century English literature.
l still am.
Then perhaps you can tell me what distinguishing marks to look for in a first-edition Tristam Shandy to be sure it's genuine.
First-edition Tristam Shandys are a little rich for my blood, Mr.
Mason, but, well, let me think.
Could one of the libraries help me? The Cosgrove maybe? ln San Marino, yes.
Yes, l guess the Cosgrove might be worth trying.
You see, Mr.
Drake, first editions have their own unique fingerprints, so to speak, just as people do.
Now take the King James Bible-- the important fingerprint there is in the Book of Ruth-- ''He measured five measures of barley and he went into the city.
'' Subsequent issues read: ''and she went into the city.
'' And that makes a dimerence? Of about _200,OOO in regard to the King James Bible, Mr.
Drake.
[whistles.]
Yes, but you were asking me about some Tristam Shandy fingerprints.
Now suppose we start with volume 1 , published in 1T60.
Now this particular copy is rather valuable.
lt was one of several presentation copies given by Sterne to David Garrick, the actor.
And there's his inscription-- ''To David Garrick from his constant admirer L.
Sterne.
'' Now the answer here comes from certain missing fingerprints.
Oddly, the first-edition title page bore no printer's, no publisher's name, no place of publication and not even ''By L.
Sterne.
'' - By L.
Sterne? - What's wrong? The first-edition title page was also without the author's name.
This book is a substitution, and even the inscription must be a forgery.
But that's impossible.
That's impossible.
[Beethoven's fi Fth playing.]
EIIen_.
The Indoor Barbeque Cookbook marked _1 .
50.
[Man.]
Here you are.
- Would you like me to wrap it? - No thanks, l'll eat it here.
- Eat it? - Barbequed Cookbook.
Eat! Well, you can't win 'em all.
Mr.
Mason, l tried to reach you this afternoon to thank you.
Where's Mr.
Kraft, Ellen? ln his omice.
You sure he's in there, Ellen? Yes, Mr.
Mason, l heard him turn the radio on an hour or so ago.
Perry, l smell gas.
Mr.
Kraft? Mr.
Kraft.
Mr.
Kraft? [coughing.]
When the radio came on? Well, l'd just come back from dinner, so it couldn't have been much after T:OO.
Mr.
Pickson was still here.
- Pickson? - Terrible-- a terrible thing.
l-- l couldn't believe it when the police phoned me.
The radio, Pickson? Oh yes.
When Mr.
Kraft turned it on, it was a moment or two after T:OO, which is when l always leave for the night.
And it was around 9:OO when you broke in here, Paul? That's right.
So knockom time must have been between T:OO and 9:OO.
Well, thank you very very much, Mr.
Norland.
l might never have figured that out.
And now if you don't mind, you two-- you and you-- wait outside.
Uh, anything there, Andy? Hasn't been tampered with as far as l can make out.
All right, Iet's see what we've got so far, preliminary to the autopsy, of course.
A little before 6:OO, according to half a dozen witnesses, Kraft comes back from supper to hole up in here the way he did almost every night.
At T:OO, he turns on the radio; maybe the heater and the lamp too then.
Anyway, he goes back to the couch - and falls asleep.
- What makes you say that? Well, if he'd been awake, he'd have smelled the escaping gas.
He turned the valve like so, not noticing that the pilot light was out.
And they do go out.
l know because l've got one in my basement l have to light about once every month.
An accident then? Of course, suicide's a possibility too, but the pilot light would probably have been actually turned om in that case, and there'd most likely be a note.
Doesn't it seem to you that he fell asleep rather quickly? Gas escaping like that would certainly be noticed in three or four minutes.
You should see me fall asleep.
Perry, Homicide has to double check these things.
Don't you try to make a murder out of it.
Why not? Well, it's the granddaddy of all the locked-room puzzles that l've ever heard o_.
And how.
No other way into the room except through this door, and that locked from the inside until you smashed it, and these windows, also locked from the inside and protected by steel mesh.
Anyway, nobody'd get through 'em but a midget, and none did or else these dead flies and this dust would be disturbed.
Well, Perry? You have the locked room, Lieutenant.
l'll grant you that.
But l'd still like to know what happened to that copy of Tristam Shandy l told you about.
[knock at door.]
- Who is it? - It's me, Pearl-- Gene.
Open up.
Coming.
What's the matter? Kraft.
He's dead.
Dead? But l saw him not-- - When did he die? - How should l know? The desk clerk at my apartment just said there was a lot of excitement down by his store-- police cars, ambulance.
When did you see Kraft? l didn't mean ''see him.
'' l meant when l talked to him on the phone.
Phone? That how you got this from him? By phone? - [knock at door.]
- Paul: Miss Chute? Yes, what is it? l'd like to speak to Mr.
Torg a minute if you don't mind.
- Who are you? - My name is Paul, Miss Chute.
l'm a collector of old books and Mr.
Torg has one l'm very interested in.
You see, l arrived at his apartment just as he was leaving, so l Come in, come in.
You know who this is, Pearl? The pet private eye of that lawyer, Perry Mason.
Name's Paul, all right-- Paul Drake.
l'll lay odds the only books you ever collected in your life were bound copies o_ The Police Gazette.
Could be, Torg.
But right now l am interested in a first edition of Tristam Shandy.
You mean Mason is.
Well, you can tell him for me the last time l saw the book was when he did, on Kraft's desk today around noon.
- Then this couldn't be it over here.
- Drake! Get out.
Just as you say.
Good night, Miss Chute.
Well, big shot, you've done it.
lt's my fault.
l shouldn't have let him in.
How did that book get here, Pearl? How? l got it from Kraft.
He called after you'd been there.
So you went over there and made you own deal with him, huh? But l didn't; l made our deal-- half of whatever he cleared on the books with you to collect the money.
And then he agreed to that without a fuss? Yes.
lt couldn't be, could it, that he didn't agree? And in the argument you shoved him a little too hard or something? Kraft said you were supposed to come by his place tonight.
Now it couldn't be that you shoved him a little too hard or something? Volume 2 of our Tristam Shandy, l believe you said, sir? That's right.
Please return it to me when you finish.
l think you'll agree that this is one way it could have been done.
Notebooks? It never occurred to us that books could be hidden in them.
How many substitutions have been discovered so far? Six if you include the volume 1 o_ Tristam Shandy-- one Fielding, two Brontës, one George Eliot, and an exceptionally fine copy o_ Swih!s Gulliver's Travels.
And their total value? _30 to _40,OOO, provided they could be sold somewhere, of course.
l don't think the Shandy's been sold yet, but the others probably have.
Have you received any replies from the other libraries? UCLA has found two substitutions; Huntington and Oldbury, one each.
Then the losses could run into hundreds of thousands.
Quite easily.
You see, the substitute books are so close to the originals that only an expert would notice the dimerence and then only if his suspicions had been aroused.
So this may have been going on for a long time.
A fiendishly clever man, this Joseph Kraft.
Clever, but not very lucky.
We'll keep in touch.
l would appreciate that.
Uh, Mr.
Mason? Aren't you forgetting something? Joseph Kraft substituted second or third editions for valuable first editions.
Pearl Chute altered the stolen first editions.
Then Kraft sold them as finds he'd come on to someplace.
But where did Gene Torg fit in? Wherever he could get his foot in the door.
That's why Perry had me go after him.
We'd met Torg once before in a con-game case.
Did the police question him? This morning.
He denied everything and so did Pearl.
And it looks like they're gonna make it stick.
Your people are still watching them, aren't they, Paul? Also the boy from the robbery detail, so it's gotten a little crowded.
[phone buzzes.]
Yes, Gertie? Peter Norland? Send him in.
Mr.
Norland.
For an hour l've been pacing up and down in front of your building, Mr.
Mason, like a picket without a signboard.
But l can't decide whether coming here makes me a double crosser or a knight on a white mustang.
Sit down.
lt sounds as though you have a very serious problem.
l have-- Miss Carter and a small snowstorm - of brand-new _100 bills - _100 bills? that floated out of her purse when l accidentally knocked it om a table in the bookstore this afternoon.
How many _100 bills? She collected them so fast, l couldn't count.
About _2,OOO, l'd say.
l feel like a heel reporting this thing, but Pickson saw the money too and he'll probably tell the police.
Pickson-- he's the chief clerk.
How did the bookstore happen to be open? lt isn't.
He and Ellen are taking inventory, along with Professor Muntz, who the police called in to check the rare books.
l don't like the sound of this at all.
The inventory? The snowstorm of _100 bills.
Do you think somebody could be trying to frame Ellen Carter for the book theft? l think somebody is trying to frame Ellen Carter for murder.
Mr.
Mason, l can't explain the money.
l-- not sensibly-- l found it in my handbag, folded in a little zipper pocket l hardly ever use.
That's just about what we thought, Ellen.
You mean you believe me? Yes.
But the question is will the police believe you? What have the police got to do with it? l'll try to show you.
Now let's go back to T:OO last night.
Mr.
Kraft had been in here since 6:OO, reading, napping-- whatever he did after supper.
This still the locked-room deal the police were talking about, Mr.
Mason? That's right-- door bolted on the inside, windows tightly secured, no other way in.
At T:OO, it being dark outside, let us say Mr.
Kraft rolled over and switched on the reading light also the radio and the heater.
And then he sank back on the couch intending to read for a while.
And then he dozed om again.
Paul? Now watch the heater.
Now listen.
Listen closely.
( gas hissing ) lt's gas.
All right, Paul, that'll do.
( classical music continues ) Just as the murderer must have done last night, Paul turned om the gas at the meter, thus e_inguishing both the heater and the pilot light.
Then he turned the gas on again.
And goodbye, Kraft.
How'd the killer know where the gas meter was? l called the gas company.
l knew where it was.
Anyone who ever used the little washroom at the back did.
'Evening, folks.
Well, that's a very interesting experiment there, eh? And closely duplicating one that we pe_ormed earlier today.
And thank you for saying that you knew where the gas meter was.
lt helps.
Helps, Lieutenant? In what way? ln justifying this first-degree-murder warrant l have here for Miss Carter.
The prosecution's going to have a lot to work with, Ellen-- your telling the police that you were alone in the store at the time of death; then the money found in your purse; not to mention the fact that you are going to inherit the bookstore.
l am? Still? His lawyer said that Kraft disinherited your brother, but not you.
Now do you still maintain that you have no idea how those _1 OO bills got into your purse? [sighs.]
All right, Ellen.
But you're not going to be able to go on protecting your brother if you're in prison.
Now with regard to this analysis that you pe_ormed on the victim's blood, Dr.
Hocksey, what did this analysis reveal? lt confirmed what l initially suspected when l visually examined the body, that gas was the cause of death.
As Coroner's Physician, with long experience in this type of fatality, when would you say the death occurred? About two and half hours before l saw the body, which was at 9:45.
[Hamilton Burger.]
Then in other words, Joseph Kraft died at about T:15? Give or take a half hour, Mr.
Burger.
Thank you, Dr.
Hocksey.
Mr.
Mason? Doctor, you said ''give or take a half hour.
'' That means then that Joseph Kraft could have died as late as T:45 or as early as 6:45.
Why yes, he could have.
l realize you've already testified as to these times, Mr.
Pickson, but l'd like to double check them if you don't mind.
First the time that Ellen Carter returned to the store - after dinner that night.
- A minute or two before T:OO.
And the time you say you heard Mr.
Kraft turn his radio on? A minute or two after T:OO.
And the time you say you left the store? Right after that.
Now when you say these things, Mr.
Pickson-- l don't just say these things, Mr.
Mason.
They happened.
Miss Carter heard Mr.
Kraft in that room too, you know.
l'm not questioning that, Mr.
Pickson.
But the prosecution claims it will prove that Miss Carter was then alone in the store for a considerable length of time.
You know the store.
You also know Miss Carter's habits.
Couldn't you have left the store and then sneaked right back in past the counters to the washroom and there have turned on the fatal gas valve? No, l couldn't have done that without Miss Carter seeing me.
And besides, l was met outside by a friend, Mr.
Gilfain of the Argus bookstore.
Yes, l saw the bills fall out of her purse; knocked them out myself, in fact.
Mr.
Norland, what were the denominations of those bills? _100 each.
Lieutenant Anderson, can you identify this envelope and its contents for me, please? Yes, the 20 brand-new _1 OO bills l found in the defendant's purse after Lieutenant Tragg turned her over to me.
And what about this second envelope? This is a second group of 20 _1 OO bills l found in the defendant's apartment when l searched it after her arrest.
On the day before Mr.
Kraft died, he came into our bank and drew out _2,OOO in _100 bills.
And then the ne_ day he did the same thing-- drew out _2,OOO in _100 bills.
How do you happen to recall this? On the second day l had to open a new bundle of bills to give him.
Now those 20 _1 OO bills were brand new, fresh from the Mint, just like the ones they found in Miss Carter's purse there.
l tell you, my sister didn't steal those bills from old man Kraft.
How do you know that, Mr.
Carter? Because, well l put them in her pursè myself.
l knew the police had questioned her and l was afraid they'd find them when they questioned me.
- And where did you get the bills? - l found them in the store in a book.
Once before when l was working there in the store l found some other bills in a book in the same section, but they had disappeared before l had a chance to take them.
But after that l kept looking.
[chuckles.]
And the money that was found hidden in the apartment you share with your sister-- did you find that in a book too? l don't know anything about that.
l submit you do, Mr.
Carter.
l submit you and your sister obtained all that money from Mr.
Kraft either by theft or by blackmail.
Now which was it? Neither! Besides, what can you blackmail out of old man Kraft? Second-hand books? Perhaps not _1 million, Mr.
Burger, but Joseph Kraft's ''substitution racket,'' as you called it, certainly netted him many many thousands of dollars.
My latest check with the library shows 21 first editions missing.
And other substitutions will be found, l'm sure.
Since the defense will not doubt claim that there is a connection between the death of Joseph Kraft and this racket that he was engaged in, how in your opinion, Professor, was Kraft able to engineer all these book substitutions? l hate to say this, but l think he must have had help.
You gotta believe me-- l wasn't in the racket at all.
Maybe thinking about getting in, you know, but, well, not in.
Now the appointment l heard you make to see Mr.
Kraft on the day of his death-- you kept that appointment, did you not? No.
Well, l-- l started to, but when l saw a police car out front, l ducked out, went home.
Well, then the copy of Tristam Shandy you and Mr.
Kraft were examining, what became of that? Ask her.
She knows the answer to that.
She got rid of the book, not me.
l know it was wrong.
But when that detective, Mr.
Drake, came nosing around, l was frightened.
So l burnt the book and threw the ashes in the trash.
[Burger.]
Well, that was an expensive fire, wasn't it, Miss Chute? Didn't you say you were paid _500 apiece to alter those first editions that Kraft sent you? Yes.
How much did he pay the mysterious person - that he told you actually did the stealing? - He never said.
Couldn't this mysterious person have been your friend Gene Torg? Gene? He couldn't get into a library disguised as William Shakespeare.
Now Miss Chute, about the defendant, did Mr.
Kraft say anything to you about her during any of the days immediately preceding his death? He did just the day before.
He told me he knew she'd been lying to him to get money out of him.
He said that she'd been using her brother as an excuse and that he was going to get rid of her before she tried anything worse.
Cross examine.
On the day Joseph Kraft died, you went to see him in response to his phone call about Gene Torg.
What time was that? About 5:45, l think.
He'd just come back from the corner restaurant.
[Mason.]
What time did you leave the bookstore? Not later than 6:OO, l'd say.
Mr.
Kraft was never good for more than ten or 15 minutes of staying awake after supper.
You seem quite familiar with Mr.
Kraft's habits, Miss Chute.
Well, l've known him for a number of years.
ln fact, you were once quite close to Mr.
Kraft, isn't that right? So close you even spoke to your hairdresser about the possibility of a marriage to ''a rich old goat''? Oh, yes, l knew he was rich all right.
Over _100,OOO he'd saved.
But he wasn't about to share it with anyone else who was in on the book racket.
Because l heard him telling the defendant once how much money he had in the bank, and that if she minded her Ps and Qs, they'd just keep it in the family; she'd get every bit.
The rule is much the same in every big library, Mr.
Mason-- anyone using the rare-book collection either must be known to us or have the proper credentials.
And either known or with the proper credentials, - they still must sign this register? - Here at least they must.
Wouldn't the proper credentials be rather easy to forge? But then the autograph also would have to be forged.
You and the police both went over this, Mr.
Drake.
But l didn't.
And there's something in these back pages l want to look for, Paul.
Wait a minute, wait a minute-- there's a page missing.
torn out.
lt must have been done recently, because a man from the District Attorney's omice was here only yesterday looking at it.
Perry, the 8th-- that was just the day before Mr.
Kraft died.
l want to see today's entries.
Ashcraft, Jorgensen, Ba_er, Freilinghurst, Lawrence, Weigel, Norland.
Peter Norland.
Doesn't this come under the general heading of breaking and entering? Mmm, Ellen gave me her key.
Besides, we have Lieutenant Tragg's permission.
That was ten days ago.
He didn't set any time limit.
[doorknob turns.]
[classical music playing.]
[light switch clicks.]
Thanks.
He got away, but at least l got in one punch.
- You all right? - Yeah.
- Did you see who it was.
- No.
All right, Paul, you watch the omice while l go into the washroom.
- Watch the omice? - Watch the omice.
- [switch clicks.]
- [classical music playing.]
Well, that proves the flies were right all along.
The flies were right? l want a couple dozen in the morning.
A couple of dozen flies? All right, Mr.
Mason, the witnesses have been excluded from the courtroom as you requested.
You may proceed.
Your Honor.
With Lieutenant Tragg to check me should l go wrong, let us assume that this is the omice of Joseph Kraft on the evening of the murder.
We know that Mr.
Kraft Iocked himself in at about 6:OO.
At T:OO, according to what we've heard, he woke from a nap.
lt was cold and dark.
So he turned on his reading light, the heater and the radio.
Shortly thereafter followed the trick with the gas meter, putting out the pilot light, thus allowing the gas to escape, killing Kraft and the only other living thing present, some ordinary house flies.
[Tragg.]
But there were no dead flies on the floor; only on the sills of the two windows.
[Mason.]
Which proves there must have been enough daylight to attract the flies to the windows.
Now according to the Weather Bureau, twilight e_ended only to 6:40 that particular evening, so the gas had to have been released prior to that time.
ln other words, Joseph Kraft was killed before T:OO.
Mr.
Mason, how do you suggest that a dead man inside a locked room could have turned on his lamp and his radio after T:OO? Also in the washroom, Mr.
Burger, is the fuse box for the bookstore.
The killer pulled the fuse to the omice, then turned on the lamp and the radio in that omice before Mr.
Kraft had even entered it, perhaps while he was out having supper.
Then at T:OO, with Kraft either unconscious or dead, the killer simply replaced the fuse.
And on came the lamp and the radio.
Your Honor, at this time may we call the witnesses - back to the courtroom? - Bailim? First l would like to call the state's expert Professor Muntz to the stand.
All right, yes yes, l was in the store last night.
l realized sooner or later they'd discover that l was the one who'd been stealing the books, so l was afraid they'd charge me with Kraft's murder.
l knew Miss Carter must be innocent, so l set about trying to find out what really happened, and l ended up with this.
Let me see if l understand how this substitution racket of yours worked, Professor Muntz.
That's some expert witness.
Who recommended him? Who recommended him? Perry Mason.
[Muntz.]
leave the stolen volume in a shelf in the store A man named Perry Mason.
[Mason.]
no longer be identified.
- [Muntz.]
Well, l had no part in that.
- Perry Mason.
How did Mr.
Kraft pay your _2,OOO fee for having stolen the book? By placing the money in an agreed-upon volume in the English Literature section of the store.
Did you get the _2,OOO _or the Tristam Shandy? No.
When l looked, it wasn't there.
l telephoned Kraft.
He said someone must have taken it-- someone he thought he knew.
Did he agree to leave another _2,OOO there for you? Yes.
And when l looked, that wasn't there either.
Now Professor where were you between Oddly enough, l was giving a talk on rare books of the 18th century before the Librarians' Club.
And you still maintain you know nothing about the _2,OOO found in the apartment? - That's the truth, Mr.
Mason.
- All right.
Where were you between 6:OO and T:OO on the day Mr.
Kraft was killed? ln a poker game.
l was there all day.
l stopped to have my hair done on the way home from seeing Mr.
Kraft.
l know it sounds like l'm kidding, but l was getting a haircut, shave, shampoo, manicure-- the works-- at that same time.
Yes, l was in the bookstore that evening from 6:OO to T:OO.
l've never denied that.
And part of this time you were alone in the store? l suppose.
Business is generally slack then.
Now when you and Miss Carter heard Kraft turn his radio on, where were you? Just returning from the washroom, perhaps? Well, l suppose, if Miss Carter claims.
No supposing, Mr.
Pickson, you were there.
You started the radio going by replacing the fuse to Kraft's omice.
By the time the radio warmed up, you had joined Miss Carter.
But he wasn't dead then.
lf he wasn't dead, Mr.
Pickson, he certainly was well on his way to being dead-- dead through your manipulation of the gas line-- No.
No! --turned om and then on again after you had sneaked out into the alley and peered through a window to make sure he was asleep.
No! No one saw me.
l'd hated him for years.
But do you know what the final straw was? [chuckles.]
He called me a thief.
He was going to dismiss me for finding that _2,OOO in the book and refusing to give it to him.
l felt that, under the circumstances, it was finder's keepers.
l didn't know it was his money.
l didn't know anything about that.
l'd been plotting the old pirate's murder for a long time as a sort of enjoyable mental exercise.
Only it wasn't quite so enjoyable after all.
Here you are, Mr.
Mason.
What you originally started out to get-- the missing volume 6 o_ Manning & Granger's Reports.
- And with it, my lifelong thanks.
- That's very nice, Ellen.
l'm going to have a lifelong question in my head, Perry, if you don't tell me.
Who put the _2,OOO in Ellen's apartment? l can answer that one-- Pickson to implicate her.
He says it's the only thing he's really sorry for.
But Perry, how did you get on to the fact that Professor Muntz was in on that book thing? When l discovered the Cosgrove library had a very famous collection of Sterne, it bothered me that our expert hadn't quite seemed to know about it.
Then when l saw his signature several times in their register All we noticed was Peter Norland's name.
l guess Peter thought we weren't solving things quite fast enough.
He figured he might be able to identify the thief through his handwriting.
Oh, of all the silly things to do.
Why? Let's ask him why.
Peter, what's the real reason you're hanging around and inte_ering so much? Well, now if you'd really like to know, l've been trying to get up enough nerve to ask Miss Carter to marry me.
[theme music playing.]