Ben’s alive and he’s coming to Cabot Cove.
[Jessica] Tonight on Murder, She Wrote.
Here’s to a lot of good men who died,
and to the best one of all, who didn’t.
Have you gone nuts?
How can you let someone like that represent this company?
I’m gonna forget that you’re my sister’s son
and I’m gonna hack your little umbilical with a meat axe.
Ben robbed a jewelry store.
I can’t believe that.
Oh, he’s guilty, Mrs. Fletcher, I’m gonna prove it.
I’d be very careful about
poisoning the waters around here, Mr. Jarvis
I’m gonna kill you.
[knocking on door]
Who is it?
It’s me, Seth.
You are simply not going to believe this.
For heaven’s sake, Seth, what’s wrong?
Jessica, you know me better than anyone else in the world.
If I told you I believed in miracles, what would you say?
Well, I’d say that I wasn’t talking to Seth Hazlitt.
Well, you would be talking to him
and a miracle has happened.
You remember me, my telling you about Ben Oliver,
my closest army buddy from World War II?
Of course, I do.
But you told me that he was dead.
Well, we got separated
when the Germans counter-attacked in the Ardennes
and he just vanished into the snow and the mud.
I think he was officially listed as missing.
All right, so what’s the miracle?
Ben’s alive.
That’s the miracle.
And he’s coming to Cabot Cove!
Oh, Seth, that’s wonderful.
Watch your step.
Hey, Corporal, don’t run away on my account.
How is it going, Ben?
Fine, fine. First rate.
Good to see you, Seth.
You too.
Well, let me get my bag.
I travel, travel light. This is it.
My car’s right there.
I’m only about 5 minutes away, wait till you see my house.
120 years old, and the guest room
has a great view of the ocean.
I’m not gonna be staying at your house, Seth.
Why not?
Well, I might decide to hang around for a while,
and you know what they say about house guests
and dead fish, after 3 days, they begin to stink.
So maybe you could find me a nice little motel,
something that doesn’t charge an arm and a leg.
That shouldn’t be any problem.
Could we sit for a minute?
I’d like to get rid of the bad air in my lungs
from this bus ride.
Right here is as good a place as any.
You’ve found yourself a pretty little town here, Seth,
-At least you did something right, eh? -Oh yeah.
Hard to believe, I have been practicing
medicine here for 37 years.
What happened, Ben?
Can you talk about it?
Well, when was it the Germans broke through,
around Christmas time was it?
December 16, 1944.
And they hit us with a whole Panzer Division.
You couldn’t prove it by me,
I came to in a Kraut Field hospital,
they patched me up,
but I spent the rest of the war
learning how to scrounge food in one of their prison camps.
After it was all over, I still needed fixing.
You ever want to hear horror stories
about life in an army hospital, I’m your man.
Two years, five operations.
And I guess that about sums it all up, Seth.
Rest of my life I spent just kind of moving around.
Tell me something, Ben,
why didn’t you ever try to get in touch with me?
I... I wasn’t quite right.
For a long, long time
and after that,
it just seemed like it was too late.
Mrs. Fletcher, this peach cobbler is a mortal sin.
Thank you, and please call me Jessica.
Will you have seconds?
Oh, thank you very much.
Anybody else? Help yourself.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
So where are you from, Ben?
Oh, whole bunch of different places.
I guess I’ve spent time in all about eight or nine states.
Uh, you name it, I’ve done it.
Were you ever married?
Twice, to the same woman, it didn’t work either time.
Well, I don’t know what your plans are,
but it seems to me that Cabot Cove
could use a man of many talents, like you.
The Corporal here wouldn’t like that.
I know too much dirt.
I certainly would.
As a matter of fact, if you’re interested,
I’ll bet I can get you a job within the next 24 hours.
May I propose a toast,
something I’ve been wanting to say for the last 50 years?
Here’s to a lot of good men who died,
and to the best one of all who didn’t.
Evening.
-I need a single. -For how long?
I’m not quite sure, few days, maybe a week.
I’m supposed to be meeting a friend of mine here.
I wonder if he’s checked in yet, his name is Ben Oliver.
Hmm, came in today.
He’s in Cottage Number One, but he’s out at the moment.
And you want me to tell him you’re here, Mr. Jarvis?
No, no, please don’t do that. I’d like it to be a surprise.
[man] Number 50. Private foursome is up.
50 is up, 51 to follow.
Hey, Doc.
Oh, hi, Doc.
Don’t tell me you came all the way out here
just to hound me about that physical.
If I’m correct, you’re about a year overdue.
Well.
Oh, thank you for being so conscientious, Doctor,
I can’t even get him to take vitamins.
Well, all right, look.
How about this?
I’ll have my secretary call you in your office
first thing tomorrow morning
and we’ll set up an appointment.
If that happens, I’ll be amazed.
Why don’t you tell him to take up tennis, Doc,
instead of riding around in a golf cart?
Oh, don’t be so sanctimonious, Neal,
there are a lot of things better for your heart than tennis.
Besides, I’m not here as your doctor.
I need a favor.
An old army buddy of mine is in town
and he needs work.
Now I thought he might fit in at your boat yard just fine.
He’s a carpenter and a first rate mechanic.
Well, I tell you, Doc, today must be your lucky day
because my mechanic just quit.
I was looking for somebody.
So if your man wants a job, he could start this afternoon.
Done and done.
I’ve been meaning to ask you about Ben.
How’s he doing in the new job?
So far so good.
Mason Porter likes him a lot.
He saved my life, you know.
Weren’t for Ben Oliver,
I wouldn’t be sitting here today.
No kidding.
How’d that happen?
My platoon was moving toward
a beautiful little French farmhouse.
We thought the damn place was empty.
And there were three of them heavy machine guns.
I got pinned down on a spot
as flat as the top of this table.
Bullets were coming so close, you could smell the cordite.
And Ben was with you?
He was about six or seven yards behind,
he crawled forward with his bazooka,
but in order to get a clear shot,
he had stand up as straight as a statue.
Which that crazy fool proceeded to do
and in the midst of that godawful hell.
I never saw anything like it before or since.
Oh, well, that was long time ago.
-Morning, Ms. Fletcher. -Hello, Andy.
-Hey. -What’s up, Andy?
Know the guy we spotted hanging around?
The guy with the Michigan plates?
Yeah. He’s down at the harbor right now.
I don’t know what it is,
but something about him just doesn’t seem right.
Oh, you’re just the man I need, Officer,
passing through on my way north,
I was just trying to figure out
if Route 182 is the best way to go, you know.
Would you mind stepping out of your vehicle, Sir?
And please keep your hands where I can see them.
With your permission,
I’m gonna reach in my right hand coat pocket,
get you a little ID, all right?
Do it slowly.
You’re a private investigator?
That’s right, Sheriff. I’m surveilling a criminal.
I followed him all the way from Detroit.
Just what criminal are we talking about?
That one.
Ben Oliver.
[knocking on door]
Who is it?
It’s me Seth.
What, Seth.
What’s wrong?
You remember that fellow
that was supposedly hanging around town?
Turns out he’s a fellow by the name of Jarvis,
private investigator from Detroit, Michigan.
He’s here in town claiming that
Ben robbed a jewelry store.
I can’t believe that.
Jarvis owns the agency
that the jewelry store hired for protection.
Ben worked for him as a security guard.
He was on duty at the time of the robbery.
Seth, I think you should sit down.
Oh, Jess, this is just terrible.
Jarvis claims that Ben took an unauthorized coffee break,
just before the robbery.
Then, a man roughly Ben’s size and weight
came into the store wearing a ski mask
and carrying a gun, a .45 automatic.
He got away with over half-a-million dollars
worth of merchandise.
But if he was wearing a ski mask,
how did they know that it was Ben?
Mort checked with the Detroit Police Department.
They said they questioned Ben
and let him go for lack of evidence,
but not Jarvis.
He is the one that thinks Ben’s guilty.
He’s the one that followed him all the way from Detroit,
can’t wait for him to make a mistake.
Swears that he’ll get him if it takes the rest of his life.
But surely you don’t believe all that.
50 years ago, I would have kicked the tar out of anybody
who talked about Ben like that,
but well, we’re strangers now.
I look at him and I see someone I hardly recognize,
can’t even hold a conversation with.
You seemed to be doing just fine at the dinner party?
Oh.
Sifting through old memories.
And when they ran out,
there really wasn’t much of anything else to go on.
And the damnedest part of it is,
that if tell Ben what I know,
he’ll leave Cabot Cove and probably never come back.
And if don’t tell him,
I’m betraying the man who saved my life.
Neal. How are you doing?
Well, I’ve made up mind. Have you?
I’ve decided to buy her.
Ah, good. See, I knew you would,
I knew you wanted this beauty so bad you could taste it.
Well, blame it on my wife, not me.
Well, I’m sure you had to twist Robin’s arm real hard.
There is one condition, however.
Yeah?
It’s a cash transaction.
Paperwork doesn’t go through my bank or my corporation.
Neal, I can’t, I don’t know. Come on.
I mean, that’s not the way I usually do business.
Well, that’s the only way I’m buying the boat, my friend.
And the issue isn’t open for debate.
What it boils down to is you either take it or you leave it.
-My friend, you’ve got yourself a deal. -All right.
Look, it’s gonna take me a couple of days,
you know, do a little creative paperwork,
but I’m gonna have this boat in the water
and floating for you by Saturday noon.
Well, thank you.
I better get back to the office and start earning some money.
Okay, see you Saturday.
Look, and you made a great buy here today,
this is a great boat. You’re gonna love it.
Hey, Ben,
could you come down a minute?
I’d like to talk to you in the office.
[knocking on door] Yeah, come in.
You wanted to see me?
Yeah, Ben, come on in.
Have a seat.
You want some coffee?
No, thanks.
You know, I’ve been watching you very closely
ever since you started working here, Ben.
And well, I have to tell you I like very much what I see.
You’re a good mechanic.
Your work habits are excellent.
But, you know, frankly I think you’re overqualified
for the work you’re doing.
Well, this is a first,
I’ve never been fired for being overqualified before.
Come on, who said anything about firing you?
I’m talking about a promotion here.
Listen, we need to take on another sales person.
And if you’re interested, the job is yours.
Sure, I’m interested.
Mr. Porter, this is fantastic.
Look, would you send Dave in here please?
[woman] Yes, Sir.
You wanted me?
Ah, yeah.
I’ve decided to take Ben on as salesman,
so as soon as we can find another maintenance man,
you’ll start training him.
Can I talk to you for a moment?
I better get back, I got some work to do.
Have you gone nuts?
How can you let someone like that represent this company?
He won’t sell boats. He’ll drive people off the lot.
Yeah, unless you’ve forgotten,
most of the people that can afford what we sell are over 50.
Well, I’ll be damned if I’m gonna train him,
unless you get him fumigated
and teach him to count from one to ten.
Now listen to me, boy,
that old man has more brains in his kneecaps
than you have in your entire body.
And if you ever question my authority again,
I’m gonna forget that you’re my sister’s son
and I’m gonna hack your little umbilical with a meat axe.
Now you got that, nephew?
Mrs. Fletcher,
I’m Lawrence Jarvis, I’m a private investigator.
Yes, so I’ve heard.
I wanted to talk to you about Dr. Hazlitt.
I’ve been concerned because he seems
to be a very close friend to a wanted felon
I’ve been tracking.
If you mean Ben Oliver,
according to the Detroit Police,
he’s not a wanted, nor a felon.
Oh, he’s guilty, Mrs. Fletcher, I’m gonna prove it.
Any way you can.
It’s a matter of principle.
I think there’s more to it than that.
You see, I just spent three hours right here,
going through newspaper articles
about the Detroit jewelry robbery
and one in particular caught my attention.
It reported that your security business was poorly managed
and your officers received less training than,
I think the quote was, "a grade school crossing guard."
Well, never believe everything you read, right?
I don’t. But what’s interesting is,
this particular article was in the business section.
It said that as a result of the robbery,
your client list had all but vanished
and you were filing for bankruptcy.
So knowing human nature as I do,
I might speculate that you’re blaming
the wrong person for your own failure.
Mrs. Fletcher, I was gonna ask for your help,
but I can see the futility of that, all right.
Let me just suggest though,
that while you’re doing your microfilm dirty work,
you look up Ben Oliver’s army medical records
because you’re gonna find
that after he was discharged in 1945,
he spent a few years in a VA mental health facility.
Since that time he hasn’t been able to hold on to a steady job,
he hasn’t been able to stay out of trouble.
And I know for a fact that he would steal anything
that isn’t nailed down with a railroad spike.
I’d be very careful about
poisoning the waters around here, Mr. Jarvis.
The people in this town
don’t have much tolerance for that sort of thing.
Lawrence Jarvis is in town.
He told the sheriff what happened in Detroit.
And the sheriff told me.
He’s insane.
Well, the Detroit Police aren’t saying
whether he’s right or wrong,
only that they have no specific evidence,
and that the case is still open.
That bastard hasn’t let me alone for one minute.
Every time I turn around, he’s right there like an animal,
with the smell of blood in his nose,
just waiting for half an excuse to rip at my throat.
Well, I tell you something, Corporal,
if he keeps it up, I might just decide to rip at his first.
Here’s to the best looking boat owner in town.
May you have smooth sailing.
I’m assuming you’ll be giving me private lessons,
I’m a little weak in celestial navigation.
Well, I’m your man.
Hey, there’s somebody out there.
Hey, hey, Ben.
What the hell are you doing here?
I forgot my jacket.
I was afraid it would get stolen.
Yeah, and why are you looking in the window?
I wasn’t, somebody else was hanging around.
When I got here, they took off and ran away.
Where’s your jacket now?
I couldn’t find it.
Must’ve left it in the restaurant
when I had lunch with Seth Hazlitt.
I’m giving you a great opportunity here, Ben,
don’t blow it.
Nice way to start the day, isn’t it?
What happened?
He was hit in the head with a heavy object,
bludgeoned to death,
best estimate sometime between ten and midnight.
Appears the motive was robbery.
A whole bunch of cash missing from the safe.
$60,000.
Neal Dishman bought a boat yesterday.
Paid cash for it.
I think his wallet was also missing.
Beats me why. He never carried much more than lunch money.
Well, what about credit cards?
A lot of those, made him look important.
But isn’t it rather unusual to pay
for an expensive boat with cash?
Not if the customer wants to hide the money from uncle Sam.
See, all you have to do is find someone like my uncle
who’s gonna look the other way.
Ethics didn’t mean much.
All Mason cared about was selling boats.
Something else I think you ought to know, Sheriff.
Our maintenance man was right in this room
when Mason counted that money and locked it in the safe.
Ben? Ben Oliver?
Eyeing that money like it was his ticket to paradise.
What was he doing in the office?
[Dave] Getting his tail chewed.
So the guy loves collecting his paycheck
as long as he doesn’t have to work for it,
and Mason was gonna fire him.
Now that is a lot of baloney.
I had lunch with Ben yesterday.
Mason told him he’s gonna make him a salesman.
[Dave] In his dreams, Doctor.
The man lives in a fantasy world,
half the things he says come right out of the Twilight Zone.
[sheriff] Did he show up for work today?
Yeah, an hour and forty five minutes late.
He’s down on the dock getting a suntan.
Right down there, Sheriff.
And I’ll bet you a year’s pay he’s your man.
Oh, you’ll have to excuse me,
like it or not, I’ve got a business to run.
I don’t think I should be any part of this,
I’ll be at my office.
Please call me.
Morning, Ben. Morning.
Ben, I’m trying to find out as much as I can
about what happened last night.
Hope you don’t mind if I ask you a few questions.
What’s the matter with Seth, he got cold feet?
Uh, he had to go back to his office.
Look, Ben, this is just routine,
but can you tell me what did you last night?
I was at the motel.
[sheriff] You never left the whole evening?
Only when I looked for my jacket,
I thought I’d left it here.
You came here?
Yes, but I didn’t find my jacket.
Wasn’t here.
About what time?
I don’t know, maybe ten.
And then what happened?
I drove up and I saw somebody hanging around.
Could you see who it was?
No, it was too dark, just some mysterious figure.
Why mysterious?
Because when he saw me, he took off like a jackrabbit.
A minute later, Mason came out,
asked me what I was doing.
I told him about my jacket and I left.
Well, at least I hope you found your jacket?
I get the feeling I’m a suspect, sheriff?
I never said that.
It’s all that bunk Lawrence Jarvis fed you,
you got it into your head that I’m a criminal.
You’ve already jumped to the conclusion
that I killed Mr. Porter and stole his money.
Look, Ben, this is just standard procedure.
If I didn’t talk to every one of Mason’s employees,
I wouldn’t be doing my job.
[man] Let us pray.
In this sure and certain hope
of the resurrection to eternal life,
we commend to almighty god our brother Mason Porter,
and we commit his body to the ground.
Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
The Lord bless him and keep him.
The Lord make his face shine on him and be gracious to him.
The Lord look upon him with favor
and give him eternal peace,
Amen.
[all] Amen.
Dorothy, I’m so, so sorry.
Thank you, Neal.
If there’s anything I can ever do.
Of course.
Robin, I have something
I’d like to say to you in private.
Excuse me.
I can’t believe you’d have the nerve
to show your face here.
Well, we did have one thing in common, didn’t we?
Yes, and I’m wondering just how soon
I should tell your husband about it.
What was that all about?
Girl talk.
She just asked me how soon
I thought it would be acceptable for her to date.
You don’t look too good, babe,
how about a ride home?
We came in separate cars, remember?
And I’ll be damned if I’m leaving mine here, babe.
How is Ben doing?
He worries me, Jessica.
Short tempered, on edge all the time,
like something is ready to explode inside.
He keeps saying how he’s already been judged
and found guilty.
I never told him that.
No, not in so many words.
[car honking]
What’s the matter with some people?
That was Robin Dishman.
One of these days I’m gonna have the supreme joy
of taking that lady’s driver’s license away from her.
Sheriff!
We found Mason Porter’s wallet.
-Where? -On the pier near the boatyard.
Couple of kids spotted it while they were fishing.
What about money and credit cards?
As far as I could see, everything was there,
50 bucks cash and a whole bunch of plastic.
Well, maybe we’ll catch a break
when we get the fingerprint report back from the lab.
Oh, we already did that.
The only prints found were the victim’s
and the kids who found it.
Hey, Ben.
I thought maybe I’d find you down here.
Just taking a last look.
See, I’m unemployed.
Dave Sanders came back from his uncle’s funeral
and he fired me. See, he’s the boss around here now.
We’ll have to find you something else.
Ah, you’d be wasting your time, corporal,
if people in this town think
that I am a thief and a murderer.
-Oh, that’s not true. -Isn’t it?
Well, you seem to represent most of the people around here,
I don’t recall hearing you say that I’m innocent.
I didn’t figure there was any reason to.
You found out the real reason
that I was in the VA hospital, didn’t you?
Doc, come on, don’t lie to me, Seth.
You wouldn’t be the first person Jarvis told.
All right.
Why didn’t you tell me yourself?
I tried the first day I was here,
right after I got off the bus.
No.
What you said was that after the war,
you hadn’t been quite right for a long, long time.
Now that could’ve meant a lot of things.
Oh.
So now that I’m a murder suspect,
you’d like a little clarification, is that it?
Only because you are my friend.
Okay, then I’ll give to you in one quick swallow.
You see, corporal,
when a mortar round hits close enough,
it not only explodes,
it implodes at the very same time.
This causes a vacuum, a force that sucks
part of your being right out through the top of your skull.
For lack of a better word, let’s call it your soul.
And what most people don’t know is,
souls are a hell of lot more fragile than human flesh.
Sometimes they just never seem to heal.
Sheriff, I’m open to all suggestions.
Not to mine, you’re not.
You want to talk about that CPA, right?
I want you out of my life.
If I’m not mistaken, old man,
you’re in my room, I’m not in yours.
Framing me for Detroit wasn’t enough.
You had to kill Mason Porter
and try to frame me for that, too.
Well, I might have killed him for the money.
But to frame you, I wouldn’t waste the effort.
I don’t have to do anything to you. You’re gonna do it to yourself.
You’re gonna self-destruct, and I’m gonna have the sheer pleasure
of just sitting here and watching you.
I’m gonna kill you!
Break it up.
Ben, break it up, come on.
Come on.
Take it easy, Ben.
Take it easy.
Well, thank God you’re here, sheriff.
Now maybe you’ll start believing me.
Look what we found, sheriff.
This was under his mattress.
We found this money in the top drawer of his dresser.
You’re sure it’s all right for me to look at Mason’s wallet?
Oh, help yourself.
Lab people are finished with it, what’s the harm?
This is outrageous.
This is a disgrace.
Yes, ma’am.
Says you were going 70 in a 25 mile zone.
I’m talking about the officer that issued it,
he ought to be suspended.
You were exceeding the speed limit by 45 miles an hour.
I was coming from a funeral.
I was so depressed, I didn’t know where I was,
let alone how fast I was going.
I’m sorry you lost your orientation, ma’am,
but the fine’s $80.
In case you don’t know, officer,
my husband happens to be Neal Dishman.
He owns the largest
construction company in the county.
And this isn’t gonna make him happy at all.
How fast was she going this time?
45 over, broke her own record.
Have someone run this over to the lab.
I want the serial number, history, forensics.
I want the whole package and I want it fast.
390, 490, 590, 690, 790, 890, 990, 10,000.
There’s $10,000 here.
I told you it was a plant, that was planted by Jarvis.
All the gun is, is an old war souvenir.
It hasn’t been fired for 50 years.
Sheriff, I’d been wondering
what prompted you to search the motel?
We got an anonymous tip.
From a man or woman?
Oh, I took it, Ms. Fletcher.
It was a male voice.
I see.
Ben, did Lawrence Jarvis follow you to the boatyard
the night that Mason Porter was killed?
It’s possible, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Could he have been the mysterious figure
that you told us about?
The person who ran off when you got there?
I don’t think so.
Jarvis would’ve had to be behind me.
Well, I could use a cup of coffee.
Ben, is there anything at all that you haven’t told us,
about what you might have seen or done that night?
Well, yes, there was one thing.
I didn’t think it was important.
I guess I was a little embarrassed.
When I got there, I noticed a light in the office.
I peeked through one of the windows
and Mr. Porter was drinking champagne with his wife
and they were kissing.
She was there? His wife?
Yes, the lady that just wants to throw me
out of here like a banshee.
Well, that wasn’t his wife.
That was Robin Dishman.
Yes, sheriff, so it was.
If I’m not mistaken,
this makes things a whole lot clearer.
Well, anything else I can do for you nice people?
Got a sweet little gaff-rigged ketch on sale.
No, thanks, Mr. Sanders,
we won’t be needing you at least for a while.
Now right down on that trash pile,
that’s where the kids found Mason’s wallet.
Ah, yes.
Ah, yes what?
Mrs. F, would you mind telling me what we’re doing here?
We’re closing in.
On whom?
Well, I’m not sure yet, but this much is clear.
The motive for stealing Mason’s wallet
wasn’t money or credit cards.
What the killer needed was a coded plastic card
allowing escape through the back gate
and along this pier.
I mean, once past the gate,
there was no longer any need for the wallet,
so it was thrown away.
Anything else?
Yes, since the only fingerprints on the wallet
were the victim’s and the children’s who found it,
that leads me to believe that the killer wore gloves,
which is a clear indication of premeditated murder.
Mr. Wiggins, hello.
What can I do for you, Ms. Fletcher?
I thought you might be able to give the sheriff a hand.
He was wondering if you were open
the night that Mason Porter was killed?
If sheriff ever took up fishing,
he’d know I was open seven days a week.
Did you happen to notice anyone pass here,
going that way?
I mean, between ten and midnight?
Yeah, come to think of it, I did.
Must be a little past ten.
I was closing up, somebody walked by,
and a couple of seconds later I heard glass breaking.
Could you see who it was?
No. No, it was pretty dark.
Besides, I wasn’t paying much attention anyways.
Terrific.
Just one more question.
Could you tell if the person was a man or a woman?
Oh, it was a man, that much I bet my life on.
Mr. Wiggins, thank you very, very much.
Well, what’s the big deal?
We always figured it was a man, didn’t we?
You maybe, but not me.
Oh, I wouldn’t try to figure her out, sheriff,
I never have.
Yeah.
Call the fire department.
[siren wailing]
I should think you’d have some glowing things
to say about the man who saved your life, Mr. Jarvis.
You’re only the second person in this room
who owes his life to Ben Oliver.
I’m alive and so are you.
A little gratitude might be appropriate.
I don’t know what happened,
I must have dropped a match into the wastebasket.
Next thing I knew, the whole place was going up.
Mr. Jarvis, please.
You were knocked unconscious by the same person
who murdered Mason Porter.
He was the one who started the fire.
That’s the man who tried to kill you
and did kill Mason.
How do you know that?
Well, very early in the case,
it became clear to me
that the motive of the murder was revenge,
not the theft of $60,000.
At the crime scene, I noticed an open champagne bottle,
but only one glass.
Now people usually don’t drink champagne
by themselves late at night.
And when I saw a moisture ring
from a second glass on the table, I knew I was right.
I reasoned that our killer removed the second glass
to prevent the discovery of fingerprints
or perhaps a lipstick smear.
At Mason’s funeral,
I saw his wife take Robin Dishman aside,
for to say the very least, a very peculiar conversation.
Now both of them seem to be trying to cover
strong feelings of animosity.
The sight of them interacting like that
helped solidify my belief
that we were dealing with a crime of passion.
But unfortunately, I had nothing to substantiate that until...
Until Ben told us he saw Mason Porter kissing his wife
the night of the murder.
Only the woman he was really talking about
was your wife, Neal.
That revelation gave us three people with motives.
Dorothy Porter who probably knew about the affair,
Robin Dishman who may have had reasons for wanting Mason dead,
and you, Neal,
you must have hated him with a passion.
So we were left with three suspects,
two women and one man.
Actually, it was Mr. Wiggins who gave us the final answer.
He said that he saw someone pass his bait stand
around the time of the murder.
Said he couldn’t identify the person,
but he was sure it was a man.
You planned the murder very carefully, Neal,
in order to make the motive look like robbery.
You bought and expensive boat and paid cash.
On the fatal night, you confronted Mason
and struck him with a heavy object.
You then stole your own money from the safe.
Not wanting to risk being seen from the street,
you took Mason’s wallet,
knowing that he carried a card for the rear gate.
The last thing you did
before you left was confiscate your wife’s champagne glass.
Mr. Wiggins heard glass breaking shortly
after you passed by his stand.
Obviously, you were destroying the evidence.
You have anything to say about this?
Not without benefit of attorney.
Andy.
Take Mr. Dishman down to the station.
Read him his rights.
And then book him for first degree murder.
What I can’t figure out
is how he figures into all of this.
I believe the operative word is blackmail.
And my guess is that
he’s just about ready to tell us all about it himself.
After he left the boatyard,
I saw a woman come out of the office and drive away.
Couple of seconds later,
Dishman comes out of hiding and he goes inside.
I figured something juicy was about to happen
so I looked through the window,
I saw the whole damn thing.
So you ended up trying to blackmail Neal?
Lot of good that did me. Hit me with a piece of pipe.
But before Neal did,
Jarvis was careful enough to try and frame Ben.
He planted money in his room,
then made an anonymous call to the sheriff’s office.
For a while, I was disappointed
that Ben didn’t let you roast.
But now it sounds
as if you’re gonna spend quite a long time in prison.
Every night, just before I go to sleep,
I’m gonna remember that and smile.
So please call us when you have your new address in Detroit.
To tell you the truth, Jessica,
I don’t know how long I’ll be there.
I’m addicted to what’s on the other side
of the next mountain.
New places, new people, new things.
Okay folks. All aboard.
Jessica.
I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done.
Ben, it was a special pleasure meeting you.
I hope you’ll come back.
Well, it’s so long, Seth.
I’m sure glad I was around in ’44
to keep you out of harm’s way and looking back,
it just might be the best thing I’ve ever done.
I will miss you, old friend.
You know, i’ve got two absolutely
beautiful game hens in the refrigerator.
Wouldn’t want them to go to waste, would you?