Perry Mason (1957) s06e09 Episode Script
The Case of the Weary Watchdog
Itheme.]
[Man.]
Of course, l realize your familiarity with Oriental burial, or grave figures.
The small sculptures, mostly of animals, entombed with dead Oriental nobility as symbolic representations of the dead men's needs for enjoyable lives in the next world.
But this one is is rather unusual.
Phil Rubin, in his book on Oriental art, comments on the more than five centuries that guarded the crypt of its dead master.
l like to think of it as not only faithful but weary.
Yes, definitely.
A most Weary Watchdog.
[Woman.]
It looks evil to me.
Perhaps l l can show you something else, Mrs.
Holmes? No.
l'll take it.
Fine.
Fine.
lf you'll just sign here.
- Trixie, l - [quietly.]
l told you not to come here.
- But l thought that - Busy, Miss Tong? Oh, we, uh we haven't got what this customer wants.
Would you see that the Kamakura Watchdog is wrapped and properly crated for Mrs.
Holmes? Right, away, Mr.
Franklin.
Della, please.
The drive-in on Vista Haven Road in ten minutes.
All right.
Mrs.
Brent.
[bells jingling.]
$25,000? You must be joking.
Where would l get $25,000 to lend you? There's almost that much in my mother's estate, but l can't touch it for at least a year.
- But, Janet, that - Della, you're my only hope.
You're my only friend.
l must have the money.
l must have it now.
l must.
No why's, no wherefores, just $25,000, like that.
Please? You'll get every penny of it back.
Look, why don't you come back to the omice? Talk to Perry.
l know he can help you.
No.
No, l can't.
l What is it, Janet? What's wrong? Della, you will never know how desperate l am at this moment.
There's only one of two things that l can use that $25,000 or a gun.
Please, Della.
Janet Janet! A gun.
Something special tonight, Della.
- Two, uh, Hong Kong dinners, please.
- Two specials.
No, no.
Two Hong Kong dinners.
But l heard you say, ''Two specials.
'' [speaking Chinese.]
Mr.
Mason, Miss Street, uh, your distinguished presence fills my establishment with honor.
High flattery and delicious food, and from the Honorable Cee Cee himself.
Merely an apology for my awkward son, uh, not so successfully learning his father's business.
Uh, may l present my son, Dean Chang.
When the head is filled with thoughts of love, uh, the ears are sometimes closed.
l'll put in the order.
Two Hong Kong dinners.
l wouldn't worry, Cee Cee.
He's young enough that he can amord a few mistakes.
There is hope then, Mr.
Mason.
Uh, for if a fool persists in his folly, he may become wise.
Enjoy your dinner.
Well, can l help? How far would you go for a friend? How long is forever? l need $25,000.
Need what? No questions asked.
Twenty-five thousand dollars, like that.
Without questions and without facts.
Mr.
Franklin asked, would you please also initial these vouchers, Mr.
Brent? Oh, yes, yes.
Fabulous man Ed Franklin.
Simply fabulous.
Couldn't begin to run the business without him.
Not at all.
[chuckles.]
Yeah.
There you are.
Signed, sealed, and ready for you to deliver, Miss Tong.
- Run along now.
- Thank you, Mr.
Brent.
Well, now, most enjoyable lunch with two charming and most enjoyable ladies.
And now you're anxious to get back to your stamp collection.
Oh, a fabulous set of first-aid covers.
Simply fabulous.
- You care to see them, Della? - Oh.
.
.
Uh, Alton, l think Della would prefer to see the new dresses that l ordered.
Well, yes, that's a very good idea, Janet.
Maybe a little later.
Of course, of course.
Did you get it? Oh, Della, thank you.
And please trust me.
You'll get every penny of it back.
- l swear it.
- l hope so.
The money isn't mine.
Just as the car you got into at the drive-in yesterday wasn't yours.
Della, l wish that l could explain.
Look, Janet, l didn't mean to pry, and it won't go any further.
l promise you.
But when you left me sitting in your car and took om in somebody else's, l Well, working for lawyers and detectives, l guess you just naturally get curious.
Della, as soon as l can, l'll explain everything to you.
To me or to your husband? [sighs.]
Are you going to ask Alton not to question you about how fabulous his store manager, Ed Franklin, really is? $25,000 exactly.
Uh, this money's yours to give, l assume, or have you added larceny to indiscretion? The forged hotel registration and the photographs you staged, please.
Make quite a story in some peephole, exposé rag.
''Wife of Pillar of L.
A.
Society in Drunken Spree.
'' What an easy mark.
A bartender with a loaded drink, a friend with a loaded camera.
l think you're actually proud of what you've done.
You poor, lonely, neglected wife.
Tell me, Janet, aside from his stamps, is blue-bood Alton really interested in anything? They're not in there.
The photo negatives and the original registration are not in there.
[mutters.]
You made a bargain.
You promised! l promised to cooperate for certain considerations.
You have the money! l know l can't bleed any more money out of you, but there are other considerations.
Your husband's company, for instance.
What? l want part of it.
Just 50 percent ownership of Brent's Oriental Imports.
A silent, half interest in a business that l already wholly and openly operate.
- How do you expect me - Oh, no false modesty.
l'm sure you can be persuasive.
If not, well, just, uh, describe to Alton what his social register friends will see if those pictures are published.
''Fabulous, Janet.
Simply fabulous.
'' [door opens, closes.]
Hello? Hello.
This is Ed.
l'm sorry, but l have some unpleasant news for you a slight increase in your overhead.
The price of my services has gone up.
From 3,000 to 6,000 a month.
And, finally, an antique Chinese headdress worn by a Manchu lady of high rank during the Chung Lung period, approximately 1T40.
The jewels are pearls, symbols of purity.
And on each side there is a butterfly, symbolic of long life.
As with the rest of the jewelry, there is a delicacy and manipulative elaboration singularly characteristic of the Chinese.
And that, l think, Mr.
Brent, ends the invitational preview of your new showing.
Thank you, Mrs.
Holmes.
And, of course, our thanks to her husband, Commodore Holmes, president of Pan World Airfreight, for making possible the delivery of these simply fabulous pieces in time for tonight's preview.
And now, eat and drink.
The prices are simply outrageous, and the proceeds go to charity.
[guests chuckling, chattering.]
You ought to wear clothes like that more often.
Look good on you.
So does the yoke on an ox.
l never complimented a lady ox before.
Nor kissed one, either.
Go wash your mouth out! How many times has he kissed you, put his filthy hands on you? Y-You don't know what you're saying.
l was so smart, sneaking in here, wearing a busboy outfit.
- It's real smart, wasn't it? - Please.
l saw you kiss him! You don't understand.
Dirty.
You make yourself dirty.
You make this dirty.
l was worried about having new things here for the showing, but Galen uh, Commodore Holmes managed to deliver them with time to spare.
You really must look at them closely, Della, when you can.
- They're priceless.
- l know.
l've looked.
l wish calories were as expensive.
Do you hear that? Calories.
[laughing.]
Oh, that's fabulous, Janet, don't you think? Fabulous.
Alton, would you please stop using that expression? - [Franklin.]
Excuse me.
- [Alton.]
Oh, Franklin.
Has Mrs.
Brent spoken to you yet, sir, about me? [Alton.]
Why, no.
l don't believe she has.
[Franklin.]
If it's all right, Mr.
Brent, a little later tonight, perhaps, the three of us can talk for a few minutes? That's strange.
[chuckles.]
You ask to talk to us, and she simply disappears.
[chuckles.]
Well, l'm sure it'll be all right.
A little later, Edward? Fine.
Thanks.
- If you'll excuse me.
- Mmm.
Oh, Franklin, one moment.
Commodore? -l meant to ask you this earlier.
My insurance man was at my house this morning.
Some question about liability coverage.
He noticed the piece that Zaneta bought at your place yesterday.
l showed it to him.
Lucky thing l did.
lt seems he's also a qualified art appraiser.
Oh, come now, Galen.
Don't tell me Edward overcharged your charming wife? She was charged $10,000 for something the appraiser said wasn't worth 50.
Just an error on the appraiser's part, Commodore.
Do you mind if l ask? This, uh This $10,000 piece worth only $50 what in the world could it be? A Watchdog, Miss Street.
A Weary Watchdog.
Well.
Killing yourself won't solve anything.
Just make the scandal that much juicier.
l didn't buy the gun for me.
Kill me, then run? Still haven't solved anything.
l don't intend to kill, only to force you to give me the registration and the pictures and the money.
Then run.
They're in my desk, at the store.
We'll drive there.
Pick up the bags.
We'll go out the back way.
Look, Janet baby! [siren wailing.]
There's been an all-points bulletin on this car for the past hour.
Sorry, Mrs.
Brent.
You're wanted on a charge of murder.
May l have your driver's license? Better get out.
l'm afraid you've made a mistake.
My name isn't Mrs.
Brent.
It's Street.
Della Street.
Well, here she is, Perry.
And you can have her.
Hmph! After involuntarily spending several hours in these, uh, inelegant surroundings, l expected you to be gracious, if not apologetic.
Della, would you like it better if l booked you and kept you here for aiding a fugitive to escape? You'd first have to prove that Della knew that a felony had been committed, that she was aware that Mrs.
Brent had committed said felony, and that she aided her with the intent that Mrs.
Brent avoid arrest, trial and conviction for the commission of said felony.
And how could we possibly prove that? After all, Miss Street got into the car by mistake, thinking it was her own.
Mrs.
Brent's luggage just happened to be in the back of the car and her key in the ignition.
Sounds reasonable to me.
Especially since your own car's at the garage for repairs, and you took a cab to the Brent house.
Mmm.
Oh, l have a message for you for both of you from the district attorney.
He says if and when Janet Brent is caught and convicted, you, Miss Street, will be tried as an accessory to murder.
Well, what have you to say to that? l'm hungry.
That's feminine logic.
Cafeteria upstairs? lt's just a little after midnight.
Couldn't we go to the Honorable Cee Cee's Mandarin House? Thank you.
And we'll just have some tea, please.
We'll order later.
You don't really think l'm hungry, do you? No, Della.
l assume that you've made a date to meet Janet Brent someplace, and l assume that that someplace is here.
- Perry, this girl is really in trouble - l know that, Della.
Just let me say this: lf l see her if you introduce me' to her All right.
l'll talk with her, but then l have to turn her over to the police.
l'm an omicer of the court, and she's a fugitive.
l just have no choice.
So think it over carefully.
- Mr.
Mason.
Mr.
Mason.
- What is it, Dean? My father.
He's been arrested.
He's in jail.
Cee Cee's in jail? l've been looking for you all over.
He asked me to come and get you and take you to the jail right away.
Please, Mr.
Mason, now.
All right, Dean.
l'll be right with you.
Perry, what l'll meet you back at the omice after you've decided about Mrs.
Brent.
You know, Perry, maybe we should set up an omice for you down here.
- You all right? - Only a weed blooms well in prison air.
This so-contrite sunflower greets you with infinite relief, Mr.
Mason.
Andy, l understood the charge against Mr.
Chang had to do with grand theft.
Why is he mixed up with the homicide department? Fair question, Counselor.
He isn't involved in the Franklin murder, is he? Oh, no, no.
The most Honorable Cee Cee wasn't even near the Brent house at the time of the murder.
He was busy running through two red lights, speeding, and driving recklessly all to avoid pursuit by a tramic omicer.
After Tramic picked him up driving around about a half an hour later they made a routine check of his car.
And found? Something reported earlier this evening as having been stolen from the home of a Commodore Galen Holmes.
Of course, Mr.
Chang denied any knowledge of the stolen item? On the contrary, Counselor.
He freely admitted stealing it.
Don't ask me why he sent for you.
lt'll take miracle, not a lawyer, to get him out of this.
Cee Cee? Legend say when Moses throw wand into Red Sea no miracle.
Waters not divide to leave dry ground.
But when first man believe in miracle and jump into Red Sea, then miracle happens.
Waters open to make dry passage.
You talking about this writ releasing you from custody? - Is that your miracle? - See? Miracle.
That writ is returnable, and so are you.
lf you stay free, it'll only be on bail pending trial for grand theft.
Andy, just what is he specifically charged with stealing? Well, the answer to that is also the answer to my interest in him.
That, Mr.
Mason, is an exact mate to the so-called Weary Watchdog Janet Brent used to kill Edward Franklin.
[footsteps approaching.]
Listen.
Della, get hold of Paul, tell him we're back.
Sit down, Mr.
Chang, Dean.
Hello, Paul? Yes, we're back.
Right.
He's waiting for one more call.
He should be down in about five minutes.
All right.
Stick around, Della, take notes.
Now, Mr.
Chang, you admitted to the police to being a burglar.
Would you mind telling me why you broke into the Holmes' residence to steal the statuette of the Watchdog? Like the Watchdog, separated from its rightful home, l am in all things Chinese.
But if l am unworthy expatriate, not so the Watchdog.
Statue belongs to China to people of China, to history of China.
What were you going to do with the Weary Watchdog? Return it to Taiwan.
l suspect they'd have more need of financial aid then historic artifacts.
Well, he who give penny to poor man receive one blessing.
He who give heart to poor man receive five blessings.
All you're likely to receive is five years in the state penitentiary.
- No.
Mr.
Mason - No.
[knock on door.]
Mr.
Paul Drake, Mr.
Chang and his son Dean.
Hi.
l asked Mr.
Drake to do a little investigating for me.
All right, Paul.
Uh, Cee Cee Chang.
''Two tramic citations in 25 years both for driving too slowly.
'' Dean Chang.
''License revoked for multiple citations.
''Now on court probation for speeding and reckless driving.
lf caught operating a vehicle, would undoubtedly go to jail.
'' Admit it, Mr.
Chang.
lt was your son who ran those red lights, not you.
l have already admitted to police l am guilty.
lt is my wish to plead guilty at trial.
There's more than a tramic citation involved.
There's a charge of grand theft.
Even a guilty man needs good counsel.
Not so, Mr.
Mason? lf that's your decision, that's how your attorney will have to represent you.
My attorney? Not you, Mr.
Mason? - Not me, Mr.
Chang.
- But why? - Just because he confessed? - No.
My secretary, Miss Street, is in serious trouble.
That statuette in your car is tied in with a murder case, and with someone l may be forced to represent.
A charge of conflict of interest might jeopardize that potential client, and through her, my secretary.
Oh, l'm sure you'll have no trouble in retaining good counsel.
Come.
Thank you.
Two comee cups, Della? Where is she? The law library.
Page 2T of the penal code, section 189 murder of the first to second degree.
- Mr.
Mason.
- Yes, Mrs.
Brent.
There's also Section 32 accessories, which covers, legally, the position into which you put Della Street.
- But, Perry - And Section 33 punishment of accessories.
Would you care to refresh your memory? Now, if there's something you'd like to say to me, Mrs.
Brent, l suggest you do it before we call the police.
l think this belongs to you, Mr.
Mason.
$25,000.
l thought you gave the money to [Paul.]
Did Edward Franklin have the money on him, Mrs.
Brent? No.
l stole it from his desk at the store, along with the blackmail evidence, which l burned.
Mrs.
Brent, it seems that there are two figures of the Weary Watchdog.
Now, the one in your room from where did it come? Well, l liked the original when it came into the store, and Alton had a copy made for me.
When you asked Della to help you, did you tell her that you'd used that figure to strike Edward Franklin? l l simply asked her to drive me to the store and drop me om.
Oh, she knew that l'd been in some kind of trouble.
l told her that l needed time, and she agreed to drive around for a few hours and meet me at the restaurant.
Knowing that you'd killed a man, you deliberately involved your best friend.
That isn't so.
l didn't know that he was dead until l heard it on the radio in the restaurant.
What did you expect? You clouted him three times on the head with that tired little mutt.
- Did you say, ''Three times''? - Yeah.
lt was three times, wasn't it? Why, no.
No.
It was once.
Just once.
Mr.
Mason, do you think that it's possible that l Possible? Yes.
Likely? l'm afraid not.
Mrs.
Brent, you're under arrest for murder.
Della, we thought she'd come looking for you.
Mr.
Burger sent another message along.
This is omicial.
Don't leave town, Miss Street.
[Commodore.]
As my wife and l approached, l clearly overheard Mr.
Franklin say, ''Later tonight, perhaps the three of us can talk for a few minutes.
'' Then Mr.
Franklin turned to Mrs.
Brent and asked her ''You don't mind, Mrs.
Brent?'' And what happened then, Commodore? Well, there was a moment of, uh, rather tense silence.
And then Mrs.
Brent turned and walked away without a word.
l think that'll be all, sir.
Thank you.
Mr.
Mason.
Commodore Holmes, after Mrs.
Brent left, did you speak to the decedent? Yes.
l mentioned to Mr.
Franklin that my insurance man had, quite by happenstance, examined the art object which Franklin had sold to my wife for $10,000, and he appraised its value at no more than $50.
Mr.
Franklin assured me that the appraiser was in error, and that he would properly authenticate the true value of the art object.
And what was this art object? The original, Mr.
Mason.
The Kamakura burial statuette, which l believe is called the Weary Watchdog.
Mrs.
Brent came down out of her bedroom on the second floor.
She seemed agitated.
Well, the fact that she was still wearing an evening gown and carrying two suitcases puzzled me.
lt made me curious.
Her bedroom door was open.
I l looked in, saw Mr.
Franklin on the floor and ran to help him.
- He was dead.
- [Alvin.]
Mrs.
Holmes, you testified that the defendant seemed agitated.
Did you reach that conclusion alone? No.
Another guest and l were leaving the upstairs powder room at the time.
This other guest ran to Mrs.
Brent, all but supported her when Mrs.
Brent appeared ready to collapse.
They went down the back stairs together.
- [Alvin.]
And who was this other guest? - [Zaneta.]
Miss Della Street.
When Janet Brent returned the $25,000 that she had previously borrowed from you, Miss Street, did she say where she got the money? Your Honor l object to the question on the ground that it calls for disclosure of a privileged communication.
Privilege? What privilege, Mr.
Mason? The relationship between attorney and client.
Mr.
Mason, the evidence clearly proves that at the time of this particular communication, Janet Brent was not your client.
Furthermore, the privilege you refer to does not extend to a third party if that third party is acting not as an attorney's secretary but as a friend to a fugitive from justice.
Objection overruled.
Proceed, Mr.
Burger.
Miss Street, did Janet Brent tell you where she got that money? Yes.
She said she repossessed it from Ed Franklin's desk at the store.
She also repossessed some incriminating photos and a hotel register which she burned.
- Is that correct? - Yes.
Miss Street, did Janet Brent admit to you that she struck Edward Franklin? Well, not right first, but later on, yes.
[Alvin.]
Now, the defendant left her home and was arrested at Perry Mason's omice Iater that night.
- Is that correct? - Yes.
Meanwhile, you were apprehended by the police driving Janet Brent's car and with Janet Brent's bags in that car.
Yes.
Were you driving the defendant's car at the request of the defendant? - Your Honor, l object.
- Well, it's obvious, Your Honor that Della Street's drive that night was simply a ruse to help Janet Brent escape.
Conduct itself is an implied admission of guilt when a person not only flees from the scene of the crime, but then attempts to avoid arrest and custody.
And that conduct was precisely the conduct of the defendant, Janet Brent.
Ed Franklin deliberately drugged me, and then forged the hotel registration and staged those compromising pictures so that he could blackmail me and my husband.
But you had gone out with him alone? Yes, Mr.
Mason, l had.
Now, on the night of the charity party, Mrs.
Brent, the night Edward Franklin was killed, would you please tell this jury what really happened that night? [Janet.]
When Ed Franklin asked to speak to my husband and me, well, it was the end of the road.
lt was the end of everything that mattered to me.
l ran upstairs.
l took the gun out of the drawer the gun that l had bought.
When he came in, l l pointed the gun at him, and he picked up the bags.
And then, suddenly, he turned and hit me with one of the bags.
l turned and and grabbed the Watchdog statuette, and then l l turned Edward Franklin was struck three times one blow on the forehead and two on the back of the skull.
The first blow stunned him.
The last two killed him.
How many times did you strike Edward Franklin? Once, Mr.
Mason.
l Swear it.
Just once.
l hit Ed Franklin only once.
Brought us some sandwiches and comee.
Well, if this is a private wake, l'm sorry l interrupted.
You know, we haven't lost the case yet.
The jury's still out.
You sound like you expect a guilty verdict.
l'm afraid it's very possible.
Janet didn't kill that man.
She didn't.
Of course she didn't.
She, uh, wasn't there, she had no motive, and she didn't hit him.
All right.
So she hit him.
Any decent girl would have reacted exactly the same way she did.
Trixie Tong didn't.
[Della.]
Trixie? The girl who works at the store? [Paul.]
Yep.
Paul, was there something between Franklin and Miss Tong? Well, l'm not sure.
But l heard Trixie and young Chang arguing on the way out of court earlier.
She said something about Chang's having no business getting angry when he saw Franklin make a pass at her that night at the Brent house.
The Brent house? You sure that's what she said? Sure l'm sure.
l was right behind them.
- What is it, Perry? - Mr.
James Wong.
l asked you to find out if he still kept his apartment here in Chinatown.
Do you think maybe that Jury coming in, Andy? No, not yet.
Maybe l'm talking out of school.
Uh, l don't imagine it makes much dimerence.
l'm sorry.
Mr.
Burger's pretty sure about that verdict.
He's asked to have a warrant issued for the arrest of Della Street as an accessory to murder.
Thank you.
l'm deeply upset about Mr.
Chang's trial in the morning, Mr.
Mason, particularly so since you're not representing him.
He's a wonderful man.
Generous, good to a fault.
You've know the Changs for a long time, haven't you, Mr.
Wong? Yes.
Since the older Chang married his late wife.
Dean is his stepson, you know.
Her boy by an earlier marriage.
Dean and his father somehow never gotten along.
Dean's been interested in a girl a Miss Tong.
Do you know her? Not directly.
l never met her.
Young Dean spoke to me about her, oh, uh, two years ago, l think, just before l left town on an extended trip.
Seems the girl and her mother were turning heaven and earth to bring her father to this country from China.
Dean knew l was stopping om in Washington, asked me to see what l could find out, do for the girl.
lt turned out, from my inquiries, that the father had been dead for some time.
l remember wondering how to break the unfortunate news to Dean, when l ran into Cee Cee himself in Washington.
The older Chang promised he would tell his son when he returned to Los Angeles.
l don't think l've seen either of them since.
Mr.
Wong, you said that Mr.
Chang and his stepson have never gotten along.
A particular problem? Basically, l'd say the chief trouble is the fact that the two of them are about a century apart.
The boy has been badly confused.
As for Mr.
Chang, well, l think there's nothing he wouldn't do for that boy.
- Including going to jail, Mr.
Wong? - Will he? ln a few hours now, in Superior Court, Cee Cee Chang will stand with his attorney, face the judge, and plead guilty to a charge of grand theft.
Yes, Mr.
Mason.
A good many years ago, Trixie and l came to this country, and my husband was unable to join us then but hoped to shortly.
He He never has.
Not yet.
Let me understand this, Mrs.
Tong.
Your husband hasn't come to this country because because he doesn't now want to? No, Mr.
Mason.
Because he's he's behind the Bamboo Curtain.
''Behind''! A human ox yoked to a plow.
l'm sorry, Mrs.
Tong.
l know.
You didn't know.
Nobody does.
Except the people like us with fathers, husbands, mothers, brothers, and sisters all of them like human cattle.
All of them tortured, barely kept alive as long as they can bleed us.
Bleed you? Extortion, Mr.
Mason.
A private extortion racket carried on in this country by someone in league with an omicial from one of the provinces of China.
Blood money.
Yes, every week.
Every week, we pay to keep them alive.
Oh, they make sure we pay.
They show us pictures.
Would you like to see a picture of my husband with his yoke? With his bleeding back, pulling a plow? No, Mother, no.
This extortion are you paying it now? No.
Not for weeks now.
Not since the collector died.
But there'll be somebody new to collect.
To whom were you paying the money? We were paying it to Edward Franklin.
Perry, l don't understand it.
Amicus curiae.
How can you possibly be a friend of the court at the same time you're representing a client? Can't.
You've got the wrong courtroom, Paul.
Well, then, what's this amicus curiae brief for? Cee Cee Chang's case.
Perry, the Brent jury could be coming in at any minute.
How can you possibly be in two places at once? We can try anything, Paul, once.
Mr.
Chang, you have received a true copy of the information filed against you.
- How do you plead to the charge? - Excuse this interruption, Your Honor, but it's vitally important that l be heard.
l request permission of the court to appear as amicus curiae in the matter now pending, limiting my appearance strictly to the present proceeding before the court.
Please come foM/ard, Mr.
Mason.
You are, of course, familiar to the court.
Now, uh, may l ask what purpose you hope to serve by participating in this case as amicus curiae? With Your Honor's permission, it is my intent to present a motion to dismiss proceedings against the defendant.
- Now, wait a minute! Wait a minute! - Just a second, Mr.
Alvin.
Dismissed on what grounds, Counselor? Corpus Juris Scundum.
''A motion to dismiss may be made by an amicus curiae for want of jurisdiction.
'' Flinn vs.
Krotz, Texas Civil Appeals, 2930, South Western Reporter, 625.
Your Honor Mr.
Mason, prior to this matter, acted as attorney for the accused in civil matters.
He refused to represent the defendant in this action, but now he appears as amicus curiae.
l appear as a friend of the court in the interest ofjustice and not as an attorney for either the People on the one hand or the defendant on the other.
The defendant is charged with grand theft in that he stole an art object allegedly valued at $10,000.
As this brief in support of my motion indicates, Your Honor the owner of the art object in question, at a trial in another court, testified under oath that the object had been appraised the day of its theft for no more than $50.
Now, that's ridiculous.
We recovered the Weary Watchdog from his car.
We know what it's worth.
He's charged with grand theft, Mr.
Alvin, under Title 8, Chapter 5, Section 48T of the Penal Code.
The property stolen must have a value exceeding $200.
Your Honor, the same appraiser that valued that Watchdog at $50 subsequently admitted that it was most likely in error.
And his appraisal of the Watchdog recovered from defendant's car which defendant, in pre-trial deposition, admitted he stole that appraisal places the value at $10,000.
Mr.
Mason? With the court's permission, Your Honor l think we can prove the value of the Watchdog and the validity of the information against the defendant without the testimony of the appraiser.
This would require the calling of witnesses before the court rules on my motion.
Your Honor, l object.
l strenuously object to One moment, Mr.
Alvin.
Now, what objection or complaint can there be if the court grants a hearing to an amicus curiae when no action on the part of the amicus curiae can possibly amect the legal rights of either party to the action? [sighs.]
Well, none, of course.
Your Honor, the prosecution in no way questions the judgment of the court, nor are we anything but confident that the utter irrelevancy of the evidence to be adduced will render completely absurd Mr.
Mason's motion for dismissal.
We withdraw the objection, Your Honor.
Very well.
Oh, you may call your first witness, Mr.
Mason.
May l request that Alton Brent be summoned here to testify? He who does not bellow the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers.
Yes, uh, there were two Weary Watchdogs: the Kamakura, of course a most fabulous work of art and an inexpensive copy that l had made.
- My wife kept the copy in her room.
- You're sure, Mr.
Brent, that the copy wasn't somehow inadvertently, of course, sold and delivered to Mrs.
Holmes? [Alton.]
Positive.
It's child's play for an expert to tell the dimerence between the real and the copy.
l personally put the real Weary Watchdog in the store vault and it was from the vault that Mr.
Franklin took it to show to Mrs.
Holmes.
l consider myself an expert on Oriental art, yes, Mr.
Mason.
l am presently serving as consultant in that capacity to the Greater Metropolitan Museum.
And despite the appraiser's claim to your husband at your house, you testify that the authentic Watchdog was purchased by you and then delivered to you? [Zaneta.]
Beyond the faintest shadow of a doubt, Mr.
Mason.
Mrs.
Holmes, who is Madame Tzu Sen? Who is Madame Tzu Sen? l-l don' don't know.
l don't know! Mrs.
Holmes, you've always been proud of your Chinese ancestry.
l, too, would be proud if it were mine.
Even if the dignity and the wisdom that is the real China were only partly mine, l would deem it a distinction.
Madame Tzu Sen, your mother she's still alive in China? - Yes.
- Alive but a prisoner.
lsn't that why you were afraid to acknowledge her? Yes.
And to keep her alive, for years, you allowed the late Edward Franklin to extort money from you as he had from so many others? Yes.
Yes! How, Mrs.
Holmes? By selling your relatively worthless art objects for large sums of money such as the Watchdog? Was that part of the continuing extortion? Or was the Watchdog that was stolen from your house the authentic one? No.
No, it was the copy.
Thank you, Mrs.
Holmes.
With the court's permission, l would like to recall Alton Brent to the stand.
Mr.
Brent, l believe you said it would be child's play to tell the authentic Watchdog from a copy.
Now, as proprietor of a highly successful Oriental import business, which should make you an expert, the answer to what l'm about to ask you should be the same child's play.
Look at these two carvings, Mr.
Brent.
Fabulous.
Most fabulous.
Both are Chinese.
One is from the Chou Dynasty.
The other, from the Han Dynasty, was carved 1 ,300 hundred years after the Chou figure.
Both beautiful, both distinctive, both easily identified by a Chinese art expert.
Now, Mr.
Brent, which is which? Well, l th l don't know.
As a matter of fact, you know next to nothing about your own business, isn't that so? Franklin ran it for me.
Were you associated with Franklin in his extortion? No, no.
l swear it.
But you did know your business was a front for other activities? [Alton.]
Yes, l knew.
[Mason.]
It wasn't Franklin, but you did have an accomplice an accomplice who took care of those other activities? That's right.
Even before it was mentioned the night of the charity party at your home, you knew of the appraisal on the copy of the Watchdog.
Now, how did you know? My accomplice called me earlier.
He told me not to worry.
He said that, uh, Zaneta had called Franklin, and Franklin told him.
But he wasn't upset.
He said he'd take care of it.
Your accomplice did take care of it, didn't he? He stole the copy of the Watchdog, brought it to your house, and exchanged it for the authentic one in your wife's bedroom.
- Isn't that what happened? - Yes, yes, yes.
Now, who did the actual exchanging? Was it you? Were you almost caught in the act? Was it you who heard the fight between your wife and Franklin? You who then picked up the Watchdog she had dropped, and used it to murder Franklin, who was unconscious on the floor? No, no! Not me! No, Mr.
Brent, it wasn't you.
lt was your accomplice, Cee Cee Chang.
But how could that have been? At the very moment of the murder, the Honorable Chang was running through two red lights, pursued by the police.
At least so he has confessed.
lf Mr.
Chang is your accomplice, then he is also the extortionist, the man in league with a crooked Chinese omicial.
Dean, is it possible that the man who knew Trixie Tong's father was dead knew two years ago that he was dead? ls it possible that he could be the same man who broke her heart and bled her of every cent she earned? No! No! He wasn't driving the car.
l was.
- l ran those red lights.
- [door opens.]
Will you excuse this intrusion, Your Honor? This is a matter of some urgency.
Mr.
Mason, if you don't mind, the jury has returned, and the court is waiting for you, sir.
And this court is waiting for you, Mr.
Chang.
What superior man seeks is in himself.
What the small man seeks in others.
Yes, Franklin work for me.
Become greedy, too ambitious.
Try to take my place, my money.
l kill him gladly.
Yes, you're right, Mr.
Mason.
Weary Watchdog l take from Commodore's house only copy.
The amicus curiae motion is granted.
Case dismissed.
Bailim, arrest Mr.
Chang on a charge of murder.
You said they were waiting? Let's go, Hamilton.
Well, Della, young Dean was afraid he'd go to jail if he admitted he'd driven his father's car that night.
And when Chang came home from Brent's with the real Weary Watchdog after he killed Franklin, he used his own car for the first time that night to take the statue back to the Commodore's place, then was arrested by a tramic omicer for what Dean had done.
And l always thought he was such a nice man, protecting his son.
His stepson.
There was never any feeling between them.
Chang wasn't concerned in protecting Dean, only in giving himself an alibi.
Perry, they told me l'd find you here.
- Thanks for rushing that dismissal through.
- It's perfectly all right.
Della, the court has released Mrs.
Grant.
You can pick her up on the way out.
Thanks again, Hamilton.
We appreciate it.
- l thought you might appreciate this.
- What is it? After the jury had been dismissed, the foreman gave me that.
lt's the verdict they never had a chance to deliver.
There are some things l'd just as soon not know.
[chuckles.]
Perry, one thing l want to know: what in the world made you suspect Chang to begin with? The Weary Watchdog.
He told me he took it to protect China's historical art resources.
Well, what's wrong with that? Well, the Kamakura Weary Watchdog grave figure isn't Chinese, Andy.
lt comes from Japan.
[chuckling.]
[Man.]
Of course, l realize your familiarity with Oriental burial, or grave figures.
The small sculptures, mostly of animals, entombed with dead Oriental nobility as symbolic representations of the dead men's needs for enjoyable lives in the next world.
But this one is is rather unusual.
Phil Rubin, in his book on Oriental art, comments on the more than five centuries that guarded the crypt of its dead master.
l like to think of it as not only faithful but weary.
Yes, definitely.
A most Weary Watchdog.
[Woman.]
It looks evil to me.
Perhaps l l can show you something else, Mrs.
Holmes? No.
l'll take it.
Fine.
Fine.
lf you'll just sign here.
- Trixie, l - [quietly.]
l told you not to come here.
- But l thought that - Busy, Miss Tong? Oh, we, uh we haven't got what this customer wants.
Would you see that the Kamakura Watchdog is wrapped and properly crated for Mrs.
Holmes? Right, away, Mr.
Franklin.
Della, please.
The drive-in on Vista Haven Road in ten minutes.
All right.
Mrs.
Brent.
[bells jingling.]
$25,000? You must be joking.
Where would l get $25,000 to lend you? There's almost that much in my mother's estate, but l can't touch it for at least a year.
- But, Janet, that - Della, you're my only hope.
You're my only friend.
l must have the money.
l must have it now.
l must.
No why's, no wherefores, just $25,000, like that.
Please? You'll get every penny of it back.
Look, why don't you come back to the omice? Talk to Perry.
l know he can help you.
No.
No, l can't.
l What is it, Janet? What's wrong? Della, you will never know how desperate l am at this moment.
There's only one of two things that l can use that $25,000 or a gun.
Please, Della.
Janet Janet! A gun.
Something special tonight, Della.
- Two, uh, Hong Kong dinners, please.
- Two specials.
No, no.
Two Hong Kong dinners.
But l heard you say, ''Two specials.
'' [speaking Chinese.]
Mr.
Mason, Miss Street, uh, your distinguished presence fills my establishment with honor.
High flattery and delicious food, and from the Honorable Cee Cee himself.
Merely an apology for my awkward son, uh, not so successfully learning his father's business.
Uh, may l present my son, Dean Chang.
When the head is filled with thoughts of love, uh, the ears are sometimes closed.
l'll put in the order.
Two Hong Kong dinners.
l wouldn't worry, Cee Cee.
He's young enough that he can amord a few mistakes.
There is hope then, Mr.
Mason.
Uh, for if a fool persists in his folly, he may become wise.
Enjoy your dinner.
Well, can l help? How far would you go for a friend? How long is forever? l need $25,000.
Need what? No questions asked.
Twenty-five thousand dollars, like that.
Without questions and without facts.
Mr.
Franklin asked, would you please also initial these vouchers, Mr.
Brent? Oh, yes, yes.
Fabulous man Ed Franklin.
Simply fabulous.
Couldn't begin to run the business without him.
Not at all.
[chuckles.]
Yeah.
There you are.
Signed, sealed, and ready for you to deliver, Miss Tong.
- Run along now.
- Thank you, Mr.
Brent.
Well, now, most enjoyable lunch with two charming and most enjoyable ladies.
And now you're anxious to get back to your stamp collection.
Oh, a fabulous set of first-aid covers.
Simply fabulous.
- You care to see them, Della? - Oh.
.
.
Uh, Alton, l think Della would prefer to see the new dresses that l ordered.
Well, yes, that's a very good idea, Janet.
Maybe a little later.
Of course, of course.
Did you get it? Oh, Della, thank you.
And please trust me.
You'll get every penny of it back.
- l swear it.
- l hope so.
The money isn't mine.
Just as the car you got into at the drive-in yesterday wasn't yours.
Della, l wish that l could explain.
Look, Janet, l didn't mean to pry, and it won't go any further.
l promise you.
But when you left me sitting in your car and took om in somebody else's, l Well, working for lawyers and detectives, l guess you just naturally get curious.
Della, as soon as l can, l'll explain everything to you.
To me or to your husband? [sighs.]
Are you going to ask Alton not to question you about how fabulous his store manager, Ed Franklin, really is? $25,000 exactly.
Uh, this money's yours to give, l assume, or have you added larceny to indiscretion? The forged hotel registration and the photographs you staged, please.
Make quite a story in some peephole, exposé rag.
''Wife of Pillar of L.
A.
Society in Drunken Spree.
'' What an easy mark.
A bartender with a loaded drink, a friend with a loaded camera.
l think you're actually proud of what you've done.
You poor, lonely, neglected wife.
Tell me, Janet, aside from his stamps, is blue-bood Alton really interested in anything? They're not in there.
The photo negatives and the original registration are not in there.
[mutters.]
You made a bargain.
You promised! l promised to cooperate for certain considerations.
You have the money! l know l can't bleed any more money out of you, but there are other considerations.
Your husband's company, for instance.
What? l want part of it.
Just 50 percent ownership of Brent's Oriental Imports.
A silent, half interest in a business that l already wholly and openly operate.
- How do you expect me - Oh, no false modesty.
l'm sure you can be persuasive.
If not, well, just, uh, describe to Alton what his social register friends will see if those pictures are published.
''Fabulous, Janet.
Simply fabulous.
'' [door opens, closes.]
Hello? Hello.
This is Ed.
l'm sorry, but l have some unpleasant news for you a slight increase in your overhead.
The price of my services has gone up.
From 3,000 to 6,000 a month.
And, finally, an antique Chinese headdress worn by a Manchu lady of high rank during the Chung Lung period, approximately 1T40.
The jewels are pearls, symbols of purity.
And on each side there is a butterfly, symbolic of long life.
As with the rest of the jewelry, there is a delicacy and manipulative elaboration singularly characteristic of the Chinese.
And that, l think, Mr.
Brent, ends the invitational preview of your new showing.
Thank you, Mrs.
Holmes.
And, of course, our thanks to her husband, Commodore Holmes, president of Pan World Airfreight, for making possible the delivery of these simply fabulous pieces in time for tonight's preview.
And now, eat and drink.
The prices are simply outrageous, and the proceeds go to charity.
[guests chuckling, chattering.]
You ought to wear clothes like that more often.
Look good on you.
So does the yoke on an ox.
l never complimented a lady ox before.
Nor kissed one, either.
Go wash your mouth out! How many times has he kissed you, put his filthy hands on you? Y-You don't know what you're saying.
l was so smart, sneaking in here, wearing a busboy outfit.
- It's real smart, wasn't it? - Please.
l saw you kiss him! You don't understand.
Dirty.
You make yourself dirty.
You make this dirty.
l was worried about having new things here for the showing, but Galen uh, Commodore Holmes managed to deliver them with time to spare.
You really must look at them closely, Della, when you can.
- They're priceless.
- l know.
l've looked.
l wish calories were as expensive.
Do you hear that? Calories.
[laughing.]
Oh, that's fabulous, Janet, don't you think? Fabulous.
Alton, would you please stop using that expression? - [Franklin.]
Excuse me.
- [Alton.]
Oh, Franklin.
Has Mrs.
Brent spoken to you yet, sir, about me? [Alton.]
Why, no.
l don't believe she has.
[Franklin.]
If it's all right, Mr.
Brent, a little later tonight, perhaps, the three of us can talk for a few minutes? That's strange.
[chuckles.]
You ask to talk to us, and she simply disappears.
[chuckles.]
Well, l'm sure it'll be all right.
A little later, Edward? Fine.
Thanks.
- If you'll excuse me.
- Mmm.
Oh, Franklin, one moment.
Commodore? -l meant to ask you this earlier.
My insurance man was at my house this morning.
Some question about liability coverage.
He noticed the piece that Zaneta bought at your place yesterday.
l showed it to him.
Lucky thing l did.
lt seems he's also a qualified art appraiser.
Oh, come now, Galen.
Don't tell me Edward overcharged your charming wife? She was charged $10,000 for something the appraiser said wasn't worth 50.
Just an error on the appraiser's part, Commodore.
Do you mind if l ask? This, uh This $10,000 piece worth only $50 what in the world could it be? A Watchdog, Miss Street.
A Weary Watchdog.
Well.
Killing yourself won't solve anything.
Just make the scandal that much juicier.
l didn't buy the gun for me.
Kill me, then run? Still haven't solved anything.
l don't intend to kill, only to force you to give me the registration and the pictures and the money.
Then run.
They're in my desk, at the store.
We'll drive there.
Pick up the bags.
We'll go out the back way.
Look, Janet baby! [siren wailing.]
There's been an all-points bulletin on this car for the past hour.
Sorry, Mrs.
Brent.
You're wanted on a charge of murder.
May l have your driver's license? Better get out.
l'm afraid you've made a mistake.
My name isn't Mrs.
Brent.
It's Street.
Della Street.
Well, here she is, Perry.
And you can have her.
Hmph! After involuntarily spending several hours in these, uh, inelegant surroundings, l expected you to be gracious, if not apologetic.
Della, would you like it better if l booked you and kept you here for aiding a fugitive to escape? You'd first have to prove that Della knew that a felony had been committed, that she was aware that Mrs.
Brent had committed said felony, and that she aided her with the intent that Mrs.
Brent avoid arrest, trial and conviction for the commission of said felony.
And how could we possibly prove that? After all, Miss Street got into the car by mistake, thinking it was her own.
Mrs.
Brent's luggage just happened to be in the back of the car and her key in the ignition.
Sounds reasonable to me.
Especially since your own car's at the garage for repairs, and you took a cab to the Brent house.
Mmm.
Oh, l have a message for you for both of you from the district attorney.
He says if and when Janet Brent is caught and convicted, you, Miss Street, will be tried as an accessory to murder.
Well, what have you to say to that? l'm hungry.
That's feminine logic.
Cafeteria upstairs? lt's just a little after midnight.
Couldn't we go to the Honorable Cee Cee's Mandarin House? Thank you.
And we'll just have some tea, please.
We'll order later.
You don't really think l'm hungry, do you? No, Della.
l assume that you've made a date to meet Janet Brent someplace, and l assume that that someplace is here.
- Perry, this girl is really in trouble - l know that, Della.
Just let me say this: lf l see her if you introduce me' to her All right.
l'll talk with her, but then l have to turn her over to the police.
l'm an omicer of the court, and she's a fugitive.
l just have no choice.
So think it over carefully.
- Mr.
Mason.
Mr.
Mason.
- What is it, Dean? My father.
He's been arrested.
He's in jail.
Cee Cee's in jail? l've been looking for you all over.
He asked me to come and get you and take you to the jail right away.
Please, Mr.
Mason, now.
All right, Dean.
l'll be right with you.
Perry, what l'll meet you back at the omice after you've decided about Mrs.
Brent.
You know, Perry, maybe we should set up an omice for you down here.
- You all right? - Only a weed blooms well in prison air.
This so-contrite sunflower greets you with infinite relief, Mr.
Mason.
Andy, l understood the charge against Mr.
Chang had to do with grand theft.
Why is he mixed up with the homicide department? Fair question, Counselor.
He isn't involved in the Franklin murder, is he? Oh, no, no.
The most Honorable Cee Cee wasn't even near the Brent house at the time of the murder.
He was busy running through two red lights, speeding, and driving recklessly all to avoid pursuit by a tramic omicer.
After Tramic picked him up driving around about a half an hour later they made a routine check of his car.
And found? Something reported earlier this evening as having been stolen from the home of a Commodore Galen Holmes.
Of course, Mr.
Chang denied any knowledge of the stolen item? On the contrary, Counselor.
He freely admitted stealing it.
Don't ask me why he sent for you.
lt'll take miracle, not a lawyer, to get him out of this.
Cee Cee? Legend say when Moses throw wand into Red Sea no miracle.
Waters not divide to leave dry ground.
But when first man believe in miracle and jump into Red Sea, then miracle happens.
Waters open to make dry passage.
You talking about this writ releasing you from custody? - Is that your miracle? - See? Miracle.
That writ is returnable, and so are you.
lf you stay free, it'll only be on bail pending trial for grand theft.
Andy, just what is he specifically charged with stealing? Well, the answer to that is also the answer to my interest in him.
That, Mr.
Mason, is an exact mate to the so-called Weary Watchdog Janet Brent used to kill Edward Franklin.
[footsteps approaching.]
Listen.
Della, get hold of Paul, tell him we're back.
Sit down, Mr.
Chang, Dean.
Hello, Paul? Yes, we're back.
Right.
He's waiting for one more call.
He should be down in about five minutes.
All right.
Stick around, Della, take notes.
Now, Mr.
Chang, you admitted to the police to being a burglar.
Would you mind telling me why you broke into the Holmes' residence to steal the statuette of the Watchdog? Like the Watchdog, separated from its rightful home, l am in all things Chinese.
But if l am unworthy expatriate, not so the Watchdog.
Statue belongs to China to people of China, to history of China.
What were you going to do with the Weary Watchdog? Return it to Taiwan.
l suspect they'd have more need of financial aid then historic artifacts.
Well, he who give penny to poor man receive one blessing.
He who give heart to poor man receive five blessings.
All you're likely to receive is five years in the state penitentiary.
- No.
Mr.
Mason - No.
[knock on door.]
Mr.
Paul Drake, Mr.
Chang and his son Dean.
Hi.
l asked Mr.
Drake to do a little investigating for me.
All right, Paul.
Uh, Cee Cee Chang.
''Two tramic citations in 25 years both for driving too slowly.
'' Dean Chang.
''License revoked for multiple citations.
''Now on court probation for speeding and reckless driving.
lf caught operating a vehicle, would undoubtedly go to jail.
'' Admit it, Mr.
Chang.
lt was your son who ran those red lights, not you.
l have already admitted to police l am guilty.
lt is my wish to plead guilty at trial.
There's more than a tramic citation involved.
There's a charge of grand theft.
Even a guilty man needs good counsel.
Not so, Mr.
Mason? lf that's your decision, that's how your attorney will have to represent you.
My attorney? Not you, Mr.
Mason? - Not me, Mr.
Chang.
- But why? - Just because he confessed? - No.
My secretary, Miss Street, is in serious trouble.
That statuette in your car is tied in with a murder case, and with someone l may be forced to represent.
A charge of conflict of interest might jeopardize that potential client, and through her, my secretary.
Oh, l'm sure you'll have no trouble in retaining good counsel.
Come.
Thank you.
Two comee cups, Della? Where is she? The law library.
Page 2T of the penal code, section 189 murder of the first to second degree.
- Mr.
Mason.
- Yes, Mrs.
Brent.
There's also Section 32 accessories, which covers, legally, the position into which you put Della Street.
- But, Perry - And Section 33 punishment of accessories.
Would you care to refresh your memory? Now, if there's something you'd like to say to me, Mrs.
Brent, l suggest you do it before we call the police.
l think this belongs to you, Mr.
Mason.
$25,000.
l thought you gave the money to [Paul.]
Did Edward Franklin have the money on him, Mrs.
Brent? No.
l stole it from his desk at the store, along with the blackmail evidence, which l burned.
Mrs.
Brent, it seems that there are two figures of the Weary Watchdog.
Now, the one in your room from where did it come? Well, l liked the original when it came into the store, and Alton had a copy made for me.
When you asked Della to help you, did you tell her that you'd used that figure to strike Edward Franklin? l l simply asked her to drive me to the store and drop me om.
Oh, she knew that l'd been in some kind of trouble.
l told her that l needed time, and she agreed to drive around for a few hours and meet me at the restaurant.
Knowing that you'd killed a man, you deliberately involved your best friend.
That isn't so.
l didn't know that he was dead until l heard it on the radio in the restaurant.
What did you expect? You clouted him three times on the head with that tired little mutt.
- Did you say, ''Three times''? - Yeah.
lt was three times, wasn't it? Why, no.
No.
It was once.
Just once.
Mr.
Mason, do you think that it's possible that l Possible? Yes.
Likely? l'm afraid not.
Mrs.
Brent, you're under arrest for murder.
Della, we thought she'd come looking for you.
Mr.
Burger sent another message along.
This is omicial.
Don't leave town, Miss Street.
[Commodore.]
As my wife and l approached, l clearly overheard Mr.
Franklin say, ''Later tonight, perhaps the three of us can talk for a few minutes.
'' Then Mr.
Franklin turned to Mrs.
Brent and asked her ''You don't mind, Mrs.
Brent?'' And what happened then, Commodore? Well, there was a moment of, uh, rather tense silence.
And then Mrs.
Brent turned and walked away without a word.
l think that'll be all, sir.
Thank you.
Mr.
Mason.
Commodore Holmes, after Mrs.
Brent left, did you speak to the decedent? Yes.
l mentioned to Mr.
Franklin that my insurance man had, quite by happenstance, examined the art object which Franklin had sold to my wife for $10,000, and he appraised its value at no more than $50.
Mr.
Franklin assured me that the appraiser was in error, and that he would properly authenticate the true value of the art object.
And what was this art object? The original, Mr.
Mason.
The Kamakura burial statuette, which l believe is called the Weary Watchdog.
Mrs.
Brent came down out of her bedroom on the second floor.
She seemed agitated.
Well, the fact that she was still wearing an evening gown and carrying two suitcases puzzled me.
lt made me curious.
Her bedroom door was open.
I l looked in, saw Mr.
Franklin on the floor and ran to help him.
- He was dead.
- [Alvin.]
Mrs.
Holmes, you testified that the defendant seemed agitated.
Did you reach that conclusion alone? No.
Another guest and l were leaving the upstairs powder room at the time.
This other guest ran to Mrs.
Brent, all but supported her when Mrs.
Brent appeared ready to collapse.
They went down the back stairs together.
- [Alvin.]
And who was this other guest? - [Zaneta.]
Miss Della Street.
When Janet Brent returned the $25,000 that she had previously borrowed from you, Miss Street, did she say where she got the money? Your Honor l object to the question on the ground that it calls for disclosure of a privileged communication.
Privilege? What privilege, Mr.
Mason? The relationship between attorney and client.
Mr.
Mason, the evidence clearly proves that at the time of this particular communication, Janet Brent was not your client.
Furthermore, the privilege you refer to does not extend to a third party if that third party is acting not as an attorney's secretary but as a friend to a fugitive from justice.
Objection overruled.
Proceed, Mr.
Burger.
Miss Street, did Janet Brent tell you where she got that money? Yes.
She said she repossessed it from Ed Franklin's desk at the store.
She also repossessed some incriminating photos and a hotel register which she burned.
- Is that correct? - Yes.
Miss Street, did Janet Brent admit to you that she struck Edward Franklin? Well, not right first, but later on, yes.
[Alvin.]
Now, the defendant left her home and was arrested at Perry Mason's omice Iater that night.
- Is that correct? - Yes.
Meanwhile, you were apprehended by the police driving Janet Brent's car and with Janet Brent's bags in that car.
Yes.
Were you driving the defendant's car at the request of the defendant? - Your Honor, l object.
- Well, it's obvious, Your Honor that Della Street's drive that night was simply a ruse to help Janet Brent escape.
Conduct itself is an implied admission of guilt when a person not only flees from the scene of the crime, but then attempts to avoid arrest and custody.
And that conduct was precisely the conduct of the defendant, Janet Brent.
Ed Franklin deliberately drugged me, and then forged the hotel registration and staged those compromising pictures so that he could blackmail me and my husband.
But you had gone out with him alone? Yes, Mr.
Mason, l had.
Now, on the night of the charity party, Mrs.
Brent, the night Edward Franklin was killed, would you please tell this jury what really happened that night? [Janet.]
When Ed Franklin asked to speak to my husband and me, well, it was the end of the road.
lt was the end of everything that mattered to me.
l ran upstairs.
l took the gun out of the drawer the gun that l had bought.
When he came in, l l pointed the gun at him, and he picked up the bags.
And then, suddenly, he turned and hit me with one of the bags.
l turned and and grabbed the Watchdog statuette, and then l l turned Edward Franklin was struck three times one blow on the forehead and two on the back of the skull.
The first blow stunned him.
The last two killed him.
How many times did you strike Edward Franklin? Once, Mr.
Mason.
l Swear it.
Just once.
l hit Ed Franklin only once.
Brought us some sandwiches and comee.
Well, if this is a private wake, l'm sorry l interrupted.
You know, we haven't lost the case yet.
The jury's still out.
You sound like you expect a guilty verdict.
l'm afraid it's very possible.
Janet didn't kill that man.
She didn't.
Of course she didn't.
She, uh, wasn't there, she had no motive, and she didn't hit him.
All right.
So she hit him.
Any decent girl would have reacted exactly the same way she did.
Trixie Tong didn't.
[Della.]
Trixie? The girl who works at the store? [Paul.]
Yep.
Paul, was there something between Franklin and Miss Tong? Well, l'm not sure.
But l heard Trixie and young Chang arguing on the way out of court earlier.
She said something about Chang's having no business getting angry when he saw Franklin make a pass at her that night at the Brent house.
The Brent house? You sure that's what she said? Sure l'm sure.
l was right behind them.
- What is it, Perry? - Mr.
James Wong.
l asked you to find out if he still kept his apartment here in Chinatown.
Do you think maybe that Jury coming in, Andy? No, not yet.
Maybe l'm talking out of school.
Uh, l don't imagine it makes much dimerence.
l'm sorry.
Mr.
Burger's pretty sure about that verdict.
He's asked to have a warrant issued for the arrest of Della Street as an accessory to murder.
Thank you.
l'm deeply upset about Mr.
Chang's trial in the morning, Mr.
Mason, particularly so since you're not representing him.
He's a wonderful man.
Generous, good to a fault.
You've know the Changs for a long time, haven't you, Mr.
Wong? Yes.
Since the older Chang married his late wife.
Dean is his stepson, you know.
Her boy by an earlier marriage.
Dean and his father somehow never gotten along.
Dean's been interested in a girl a Miss Tong.
Do you know her? Not directly.
l never met her.
Young Dean spoke to me about her, oh, uh, two years ago, l think, just before l left town on an extended trip.
Seems the girl and her mother were turning heaven and earth to bring her father to this country from China.
Dean knew l was stopping om in Washington, asked me to see what l could find out, do for the girl.
lt turned out, from my inquiries, that the father had been dead for some time.
l remember wondering how to break the unfortunate news to Dean, when l ran into Cee Cee himself in Washington.
The older Chang promised he would tell his son when he returned to Los Angeles.
l don't think l've seen either of them since.
Mr.
Wong, you said that Mr.
Chang and his stepson have never gotten along.
A particular problem? Basically, l'd say the chief trouble is the fact that the two of them are about a century apart.
The boy has been badly confused.
As for Mr.
Chang, well, l think there's nothing he wouldn't do for that boy.
- Including going to jail, Mr.
Wong? - Will he? ln a few hours now, in Superior Court, Cee Cee Chang will stand with his attorney, face the judge, and plead guilty to a charge of grand theft.
Yes, Mr.
Mason.
A good many years ago, Trixie and l came to this country, and my husband was unable to join us then but hoped to shortly.
He He never has.
Not yet.
Let me understand this, Mrs.
Tong.
Your husband hasn't come to this country because because he doesn't now want to? No, Mr.
Mason.
Because he's he's behind the Bamboo Curtain.
''Behind''! A human ox yoked to a plow.
l'm sorry, Mrs.
Tong.
l know.
You didn't know.
Nobody does.
Except the people like us with fathers, husbands, mothers, brothers, and sisters all of them like human cattle.
All of them tortured, barely kept alive as long as they can bleed us.
Bleed you? Extortion, Mr.
Mason.
A private extortion racket carried on in this country by someone in league with an omicial from one of the provinces of China.
Blood money.
Yes, every week.
Every week, we pay to keep them alive.
Oh, they make sure we pay.
They show us pictures.
Would you like to see a picture of my husband with his yoke? With his bleeding back, pulling a plow? No, Mother, no.
This extortion are you paying it now? No.
Not for weeks now.
Not since the collector died.
But there'll be somebody new to collect.
To whom were you paying the money? We were paying it to Edward Franklin.
Perry, l don't understand it.
Amicus curiae.
How can you possibly be a friend of the court at the same time you're representing a client? Can't.
You've got the wrong courtroom, Paul.
Well, then, what's this amicus curiae brief for? Cee Cee Chang's case.
Perry, the Brent jury could be coming in at any minute.
How can you possibly be in two places at once? We can try anything, Paul, once.
Mr.
Chang, you have received a true copy of the information filed against you.
- How do you plead to the charge? - Excuse this interruption, Your Honor, but it's vitally important that l be heard.
l request permission of the court to appear as amicus curiae in the matter now pending, limiting my appearance strictly to the present proceeding before the court.
Please come foM/ard, Mr.
Mason.
You are, of course, familiar to the court.
Now, uh, may l ask what purpose you hope to serve by participating in this case as amicus curiae? With Your Honor's permission, it is my intent to present a motion to dismiss proceedings against the defendant.
- Now, wait a minute! Wait a minute! - Just a second, Mr.
Alvin.
Dismissed on what grounds, Counselor? Corpus Juris Scundum.
''A motion to dismiss may be made by an amicus curiae for want of jurisdiction.
'' Flinn vs.
Krotz, Texas Civil Appeals, 2930, South Western Reporter, 625.
Your Honor Mr.
Mason, prior to this matter, acted as attorney for the accused in civil matters.
He refused to represent the defendant in this action, but now he appears as amicus curiae.
l appear as a friend of the court in the interest ofjustice and not as an attorney for either the People on the one hand or the defendant on the other.
The defendant is charged with grand theft in that he stole an art object allegedly valued at $10,000.
As this brief in support of my motion indicates, Your Honor the owner of the art object in question, at a trial in another court, testified under oath that the object had been appraised the day of its theft for no more than $50.
Now, that's ridiculous.
We recovered the Weary Watchdog from his car.
We know what it's worth.
He's charged with grand theft, Mr.
Alvin, under Title 8, Chapter 5, Section 48T of the Penal Code.
The property stolen must have a value exceeding $200.
Your Honor, the same appraiser that valued that Watchdog at $50 subsequently admitted that it was most likely in error.
And his appraisal of the Watchdog recovered from defendant's car which defendant, in pre-trial deposition, admitted he stole that appraisal places the value at $10,000.
Mr.
Mason? With the court's permission, Your Honor l think we can prove the value of the Watchdog and the validity of the information against the defendant without the testimony of the appraiser.
This would require the calling of witnesses before the court rules on my motion.
Your Honor, l object.
l strenuously object to One moment, Mr.
Alvin.
Now, what objection or complaint can there be if the court grants a hearing to an amicus curiae when no action on the part of the amicus curiae can possibly amect the legal rights of either party to the action? [sighs.]
Well, none, of course.
Your Honor, the prosecution in no way questions the judgment of the court, nor are we anything but confident that the utter irrelevancy of the evidence to be adduced will render completely absurd Mr.
Mason's motion for dismissal.
We withdraw the objection, Your Honor.
Very well.
Oh, you may call your first witness, Mr.
Mason.
May l request that Alton Brent be summoned here to testify? He who does not bellow the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers.
Yes, uh, there were two Weary Watchdogs: the Kamakura, of course a most fabulous work of art and an inexpensive copy that l had made.
- My wife kept the copy in her room.
- You're sure, Mr.
Brent, that the copy wasn't somehow inadvertently, of course, sold and delivered to Mrs.
Holmes? [Alton.]
Positive.
It's child's play for an expert to tell the dimerence between the real and the copy.
l personally put the real Weary Watchdog in the store vault and it was from the vault that Mr.
Franklin took it to show to Mrs.
Holmes.
l consider myself an expert on Oriental art, yes, Mr.
Mason.
l am presently serving as consultant in that capacity to the Greater Metropolitan Museum.
And despite the appraiser's claim to your husband at your house, you testify that the authentic Watchdog was purchased by you and then delivered to you? [Zaneta.]
Beyond the faintest shadow of a doubt, Mr.
Mason.
Mrs.
Holmes, who is Madame Tzu Sen? Who is Madame Tzu Sen? l-l don' don't know.
l don't know! Mrs.
Holmes, you've always been proud of your Chinese ancestry.
l, too, would be proud if it were mine.
Even if the dignity and the wisdom that is the real China were only partly mine, l would deem it a distinction.
Madame Tzu Sen, your mother she's still alive in China? - Yes.
- Alive but a prisoner.
lsn't that why you were afraid to acknowledge her? Yes.
And to keep her alive, for years, you allowed the late Edward Franklin to extort money from you as he had from so many others? Yes.
Yes! How, Mrs.
Holmes? By selling your relatively worthless art objects for large sums of money such as the Watchdog? Was that part of the continuing extortion? Or was the Watchdog that was stolen from your house the authentic one? No.
No, it was the copy.
Thank you, Mrs.
Holmes.
With the court's permission, l would like to recall Alton Brent to the stand.
Mr.
Brent, l believe you said it would be child's play to tell the authentic Watchdog from a copy.
Now, as proprietor of a highly successful Oriental import business, which should make you an expert, the answer to what l'm about to ask you should be the same child's play.
Look at these two carvings, Mr.
Brent.
Fabulous.
Most fabulous.
Both are Chinese.
One is from the Chou Dynasty.
The other, from the Han Dynasty, was carved 1 ,300 hundred years after the Chou figure.
Both beautiful, both distinctive, both easily identified by a Chinese art expert.
Now, Mr.
Brent, which is which? Well, l th l don't know.
As a matter of fact, you know next to nothing about your own business, isn't that so? Franklin ran it for me.
Were you associated with Franklin in his extortion? No, no.
l swear it.
But you did know your business was a front for other activities? [Alton.]
Yes, l knew.
[Mason.]
It wasn't Franklin, but you did have an accomplice an accomplice who took care of those other activities? That's right.
Even before it was mentioned the night of the charity party at your home, you knew of the appraisal on the copy of the Watchdog.
Now, how did you know? My accomplice called me earlier.
He told me not to worry.
He said that, uh, Zaneta had called Franklin, and Franklin told him.
But he wasn't upset.
He said he'd take care of it.
Your accomplice did take care of it, didn't he? He stole the copy of the Watchdog, brought it to your house, and exchanged it for the authentic one in your wife's bedroom.
- Isn't that what happened? - Yes, yes, yes.
Now, who did the actual exchanging? Was it you? Were you almost caught in the act? Was it you who heard the fight between your wife and Franklin? You who then picked up the Watchdog she had dropped, and used it to murder Franklin, who was unconscious on the floor? No, no! Not me! No, Mr.
Brent, it wasn't you.
lt was your accomplice, Cee Cee Chang.
But how could that have been? At the very moment of the murder, the Honorable Chang was running through two red lights, pursued by the police.
At least so he has confessed.
lf Mr.
Chang is your accomplice, then he is also the extortionist, the man in league with a crooked Chinese omicial.
Dean, is it possible that the man who knew Trixie Tong's father was dead knew two years ago that he was dead? ls it possible that he could be the same man who broke her heart and bled her of every cent she earned? No! No! He wasn't driving the car.
l was.
- l ran those red lights.
- [door opens.]
Will you excuse this intrusion, Your Honor? This is a matter of some urgency.
Mr.
Mason, if you don't mind, the jury has returned, and the court is waiting for you, sir.
And this court is waiting for you, Mr.
Chang.
What superior man seeks is in himself.
What the small man seeks in others.
Yes, Franklin work for me.
Become greedy, too ambitious.
Try to take my place, my money.
l kill him gladly.
Yes, you're right, Mr.
Mason.
Weary Watchdog l take from Commodore's house only copy.
The amicus curiae motion is granted.
Case dismissed.
Bailim, arrest Mr.
Chang on a charge of murder.
You said they were waiting? Let's go, Hamilton.
Well, Della, young Dean was afraid he'd go to jail if he admitted he'd driven his father's car that night.
And when Chang came home from Brent's with the real Weary Watchdog after he killed Franklin, he used his own car for the first time that night to take the statue back to the Commodore's place, then was arrested by a tramic omicer for what Dean had done.
And l always thought he was such a nice man, protecting his son.
His stepson.
There was never any feeling between them.
Chang wasn't concerned in protecting Dean, only in giving himself an alibi.
Perry, they told me l'd find you here.
- Thanks for rushing that dismissal through.
- It's perfectly all right.
Della, the court has released Mrs.
Grant.
You can pick her up on the way out.
Thanks again, Hamilton.
We appreciate it.
- l thought you might appreciate this.
- What is it? After the jury had been dismissed, the foreman gave me that.
lt's the verdict they never had a chance to deliver.
There are some things l'd just as soon not know.
[chuckles.]
Perry, one thing l want to know: what in the world made you suspect Chang to begin with? The Weary Watchdog.
He told me he took it to protect China's historical art resources.
Well, what's wrong with that? Well, the Kamakura Weary Watchdog grave figure isn't Chinese, Andy.
lt comes from Japan.
[chuckling.]