Subtitling made possible by Acorn Media
[suspenseful instrumental music]
♪♪
Ladies and gentlemen, the future has arrived.
No more ironing shirts on your kitchen table.
With the automatic ironing board,
convenience comes with the push of a button.
Automation is the future, my friends.
Not one, not two, but five cups of coffee
in the great coffee distillation machine.
Ladies and gentlemen, how many hours have you wasted
making you house a home?
With the paint dispenser,
you can cut your home improvement in half the time.
No need to say, "Pass the gravy."
With the tabletop waiter,
a flick of the wrist brings the gravy to you.
Ladies, after a hard day cleaning house,
there is nothing you'll enjoy more
than the vibrating chair.
Why stand up to turn on the lights?
With the wireless switch, you can turn them on or off
from the comfort of your very own chair.
It is a computer
in that it will perform mathematical calculations.
However, its architecture lends itself
to even more complex computations.
Oh, is this a miniature version
of Babbage's analytic engine?
Well, the basic idea was borrowed from Babbage, yes.
However, by using Swiss gears,
I've constructed a computer four times as powerful
in 1/40 the volume.
Oh, that must have been very time-consuming.
Yes, it was, but it's my belief that in the future,
the machine will be assembled by automatons
who are themselves operated by a device such as this.
Oh, thank you.
Mm-hmm.
This is the device for you.
Excuse me.
What is instant mail?
Oh, I'm sorry.
Ladies and gentlemen,
gather around while I demonstrate to you
what will surely be the most amazing device
that you will see all summer.
Has you child been smoking?
Has your wife been unfaithful?
Find out with the Truthizer.
Now, this gentleman has kindly volunteered to participate
in a demonstration.
Sir, do you believe your wife here
to be too fat?
Um, no.
Behold.
Clearly, that answer was less than truthful.
George.
Sir, what are you doing here?
I know what you are going to say.
Before you say it, sir, I think that your invention
simply must see the light of day.
They are not inventions, George.
They are simply reworkings of existing technology.
Well, be that as it may, sir, there are many investors here,
and some have shown some real interest.
In fact, I think the Truthizer might win the Eaton Prize.
- The Eaton Prize? - Yes, sir.
The winner has their product manufactured and sold
at all the Eaton stores.
It's very prestigious.
Nevertheless, George-.
Well, and, sir, also, there is someone here
that you are going to want to meet.
Who?
Alexander Graham Bell.
Alexander Graham Bell is here?
He is an inventor, sir.
His name wasn't on the list.
He was a last-minute addition.
Shall I show you where his booth is?
No, no, George, not now.
I'm here to meet Karl Shreyer.
He left a message at the station to meet here.
Oh, yes, Karl Shreyer.
He invented the suction cleaner.
The days of beating carpets are over.
With the suction cleaner,
dust and dirt and sucked into a special canister.
Thank you.
Excuse me.
Mr. Shreyer.
Detective Murdoch, at last we meet.
How is it you know me?
An inventor always notices the work of another.
Clearly a mind such as yours is up to the challenge
of determining who sent this.
I found it on my table this morning.
I believe it to be the work of one of my jealous competitors.
My invention is clearly going to win the Eaton Prize.
I see.
Ladies and gentlemen,
may I present Timothy Eaton?
[applause]
- Thank you. - Thank you.
It is my pleasure each year to announce the winner
of the Eaton Prize for the most
commercially promising invention.
This year, the award goes to
the suction cleaner.
That's me.
Mr. Shreyer, under the circumstances,
I would advise you not to go up on that stage.
No, I have worked for years for this moment.
I'm not going to be intimidated.
- Congratulations. - Thank you.
[silence]
Did you hear that?
That was a dog whistle.
Human ears are not capable of detecting such a pitch,
but that doesn't mean the sound isn't there.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I have long felt like the sound of that whistle,
reverberating alone in the silence of ignorance.
Now, at long last, my genius has been heard.
[crowd gasps]
Seal the exits, George.
This man has been murdered.
There was no gunshot?
None that was heard, sir.
Obviously, something penetrated his skull.
As to how...
Must have been someone who used one of those mufflers
that silences the gunshot.
How could someone use such a weapon without being seen?
Could the shooter have escaped?
The exits were sealed immediately.
The killer is still in the building.
We need to interview everyone, where they were,
who they were standing with.
Yes, George is doing that now.
Sir, is your tooth sore again?
A little bit.
Perhaps you should see a dentist.
One of those medieval torturers?
I'd rather face the Inquisition.
Carry on, Murdoch.
Do you have anything for me yet, Doctor?
Well, this is strictly preliminary, of course,
but I would hazard a guess that the victim died
of a gunshot to the head.
Anything beyond the obvious?
The bullet didn't exit,
suggesting low muzzle velocity.
His eyes appear jaundiced.
I'm not sure why.
I suppose it's premature to speculate
on the angle of entry.
The wound seems perfectly circular,
suggesting perpendicular entry.
Which means the shot would have come from above.
I think you would have noticed
someone hanging from the rafters.
True.
With your permission, Detective,
I'd like to remove the body from the scene.
Yes, of course.
Thank you, Doctor.
Terrible thing that's happened.
Alexander Graham Bell.
Mm, yes.
Detective Murdoch, I presume.
Yes.
Yes, I recognize you from your photograph at your booth.
Please.
Actually, it's not my booth.
My constable took some liberties with...
I was particularly impressed with your apparatus
for using sound reflection
to visualize subsurface marine environments.
It's fascinating.
- Really? - Mm-hmm.
I'd like to talk with you more about it at some point.
Oh, after you've completed your investigation, of course.
Of course.
Well, yes, certainly.
And the whistle that you have in your hand,
confiscate it if you must,
but I would like it back when you are finished with it.
What's so special about a dog whistle?
Oh, it has a pitching screw that enables one
to adjust the frequency, very useful for some experiments
I was hoping to conduct with Karl.
I see.
Were you and Mr. Shreyer friends?
Oh, not friends, no.
I don't think Karl was capable
of genuine friendship with anyone.
But we certainly weren't adversaries,
which makes me something of a rarity in this crowd.
Well, who were his adversaries, then?
I hated him.
I admit it freely.
Why is that, Mr. Nellis?
He ridiculed my tabletop waiter.
He told me that it was an invention
worthy of a five-year-old.
But I wasn't the only one who hated him.
I saw him have a fistfight with Harding.
It wasn't exactly a fistfight.
Then how would you describe it, Mr. Harding?
Mm, a lot of arms flailing about.
Neither of us were exactly pugilists.
It was all rather pathetic, actually.
So why the dustup?
Shreyer changed the setting of one of my gears.
It threw off all my calculations.
It took me six hours to find which gear had been compromised.
Why would he do something like that?
Well, he was very competitive.
He once sabotaged Barton's automatic ironing board
so that it wouldn't open,
and Jeremy was showing it to investors at the time.
Disconnected the internal switch.
He all but admitted it.
I would never raise a hand to hurt anyone, even Shreyer,
but if wishes could Kill,
he would have been dead a long time ago.
You hated him that much?
Oh, we all did.
Sabotage was the least of it.
He was also a spy.
His prize-winning invention?
He stole the concept from O'Brian.
At last year's convention in New York,
I suggested that a fan placed behind a strip of gauze
could create a vacuum strong enough
to lift the dirt out of a rug.
It's a million-dollar idea.
Did you tell Karl Shreyer about it?
No, but I did send imail about it
to some of the other inventors, who sent back improvements.
Imail?
- Instant mail. - It's Myrtle Raylin's invention.
We use it to communicate back and forth
between conventions.
And it's your belief that Karl Shreyer
got a hold of these communications?
It got so bad, we had to start imailing each other in code.
The typeface of this imail
matches that of the death threat.
So you think the death threat was printed
on one of the imail machines.
- I do. - Hmm.
Thank you for agreeing to do this.
Oh...
I hope you don't think me presumptuous,
but as both the son and husband of deaf women,
you're the only person I know who reads sign language.
Hmm.
I do it with reluctance, I'm afraid.
Oh?
Yes, you see, it's my belief that deaf people
should learn to articulate audible speech.
I've tried to get Myrtle to learn,
but she's very stubborn.
Does she read lips?
Oh, yes, more than she lets on.
Instant mail is a process of sending letters instantly
anywhere in the world.
How does it work?
A letter is typed.
The information is recorded onto a wire cylinder.
At the push of the "send" key,
a message is sent over the telephone lines
to the intended recipient.
Oh.
Um...
I believe that this message was printed
using one of your machines.
Who has these machines?
She sent units to each of the inventors
she was closest to.
I don't think Karl ever received one.
Why was that?
She disliked him.
Oh, she detested him.
Why?
He once declared his amorous intentions
rather inappropriately.
When she rejected his advances, he became vile and abusive.
He insulted her femininity and mocked her deafness
and said that instant mail wasn't really an invention
at all but merely a reworking of Edison's stock ticker.
Stock ticker.
That was good, Myrtle.
You should speak more.
So that message could have been printed
on any one of the machines you distributed?
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Would there be a record of the last message sent
on the machine that sent that message?
Oh, yes.
Each machine can retain up to 20 messages, depending,
of course, on the length.
Oh, that's good.
Mm-hmm.
That's very good.
The bullet struck the left, upper portion
of the frontal bone
roughly perpendicular to the curvature of the skull.
It then traveled in a downward trajectory
and lodged inside the right temporal lobe.
So the bullet did come from above.
That would seem to be the case.
I also managed to extract the bullet.
You recognize this?
It's a ball bearing.
Yes, the same kind you use in your Tabletop Waiter.
Indeed, it is, nickel-plated, high-quality,
imported especially from Bern, Switzerland.
You may have noticed the rotational smoothness.
Why do you ask?
It was the projectile used to kill Karl Shreyer.
How do you explain that, Mr. Nellis?
Well, obviously, someone is trying to cast suspicion on me.
I mean, why would someone use a ball bearing
when a regular bullet would do?
Mr. Nellis, where were you when the shot was fired?
I was watching the speech.
Who were you standing with?
Your constable already asked me this.
I don't remember.
You think he might have been set up?
It's possible.
His point is well-taken.
Why use a ball bearing if not to implicate him in the murder?
Well, I read the statements.
All the inventors seem to hate this Shreyer fellow.
Question is, which one do you think did this?
The death threat was sent using one of Miss Raylin's
instant mailing machines.
George and Henry are reading the imails now.
- Imails? - Instant mailings.
Sir, is that cocaine?
Mm, this bloody tooth.
Helps to numb the pain.
Are you sure that's wise?
Don't you start on me, Murdoch.
Sir, I have nothing against
the use of cocaine as a topical analgesic,
but given your history with the drug...
There you are, Thomas.
Oh, bloody hell.
I'll speak to you later, Sir.
Where were you at 2:00 this afternoon?
Hello, dear.
You were supposed to be at the dentist.
I had duties to attend to, Margaret.
Thomas, don't be a baby about this.
We're trying to solve a murder here.
I can't be spending half my day gallivanting off to the dentist.
Well, I've made another appointment after work,
and I'll be back here to escort you to it.
I can hold your hand if need be.
I'm not a child, Margaret.
After work.
Higgins.
Sir, we've printed off the imails.
They're gibberish mostly.
Yes, apparently, they were encrypted
to keep Karl Shreyer from reading them.
The only exception was the death threat.
Which machine was this one printed on?
Mr. Bell's, sir.
Alexander Graham Bell.
I'm sorry, sir.
I know he's something of an idol.
Bring him in, George.
That message was written on your instant mail machine.
That may very well be,
but if you're looking for the author of that note,
I'm afraid it isn't me.
Then how did it come to be written on your machine?
Well, someone must have gone into my booth
when I wasn't there.
It would have been easy.
Where were you at the time of the shooting?
I was recording the speech.
Recording?
- Mm. - Why?
Well, Karl had asked me to...
provided he'd won, of course.
[laughs]
You mean you have a recording of the speech
and the moment he was shot?
Mm.
Would you like to hear it?
Karl wanted a permanent record of the moment
when he bested the competition.
He was vainglorious.
As much as he was detested by others,
he had a very high opinion of himself.
If he was so disagreeable, why agree to make the recording?
Well, he agreed to blow the dog whistle,
and I wanted to test the frequency limits
of my recorder.
Why not simply conduct a controlled experiment?
Well, he refused to relinquish possession.
But I thought it was your whistle.
Yes, I had one just like it, and I lost it
about the same time he came into possession of his.
You think he stole it.
You're the detective, Detective.
I find it hard to believe that someone could be that petty.
Oh, I think I understand.
You know how some men are born with natural charm?
You just can't help but like them.
Of course.
Well, Karl had negative charm.
No matter what he did, people didn't like him.
Rejection can make a man bitter,
which in turn makes him even more disliked.
A vicious circle.
Mm, yes.
Let's have a listen.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I have long felt like the sound of that whistle,
reverberating alone in the silence of ignorance.
Now, at long last, my genius has been heard.
[light clicking noise]
[crowd gasps]
I can't make out anything definitive.
I only hear the sound of the crowd.
You know, Detective, to paraphrase Karl,
just because we can't hear a sound
doesn't mean it's not there.
Allow me to introduce you to my latest invention.
I call it an audiograph.
I developed it to help deaf people
visualize the sounds that they were making.
You see, it converts sound into a signal
and then traces the wave on paper
much like your graphizer.
Well, yes, but the difference is,
you've isolated certain frequencies.
Oh, well, yes.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I have long felt like the sound of that whistle,
reverberating alone in the silence of ignorance.
Now, at long last, my genius has been heard.
[light clicking noise]
[crowd gasps]
So his speech lasted 18 seconds.
And here is where the noise of the crowd rises sharply
in reaction to his death about two seconds later.
So the bullet would have been fired between here and here.
- Mm-hmm. - Well, this is interesting.
Look how the amplitude of the highest frequency spikes
at the precise moment that he was shot.
Yes, it raises sharply and then falls off.
Like a bell ringing,
as if the bullet hit something metallic.
Well, if it did and that's what I think it is,
it would explain why we saw nothing in the rafters.
Both: The bullet was deflected.
A bit higher, Constable.
Higher.
There.
So the metal surface that we directed the projectile
was that steel beam.
It has to be.
Now all we have to do is match the angle of incidence
to the angle of reflection.
Sir, have you noticed anything different
about the inspector of late?
He has a toothache?
Well, yes, I know about the tooth,
but it's more his behavior I'm worried about.
One minute, he's edgy, cantankerous,
and then the next minute,
he's full of backslapping bon ami.
It's almost like-do you remember a couple of years back
he was taking that gold cure?
Yes, it turned out to be cocaine.
Well, now he's rubbing cocaine on his gums
as an analgesic for his tooth.
I'm afraid that he's gonna have...
what do they call it?
A relapse.
I share your concern, George, but he's seeing a dentist today.
Hopefully the situation will be rectified.
Hmm.
Oh, that's odd.
The shooter would have had to have been standing
much further back.
But, sir, if he was standing farther back,
this sign would have been in his way.
Indeed.
Unless, of course, the shooter was standing
in front of the sign... if he was tall...
extremely tall.
I suppose we would have noticed a giant with a weapon
in the back of the room.
There's another possibility, George.
I'm going to need a wrench.
Do what you have to do, Doc.
Let's get this over with.
Oh, good for you, Thomas.
[knock at door]
My apologies for interrupting.
It's Detective Murdoch, sir. He needs you right away.
Bloody hell.
Can't this wait?
He was quite insistent, Sir.
Oh, sorry, Doc.
We'll have to do this another time.
Margaret, schedule another appointment.
What's the panic this time, Higgins?
So how was that, sir?
Perfect, bloody perfect.
Cracking fine job, Higgins.
- Thank you, sir. - Can I treat you to a pint?
Yes, sir.
George Crabtree?
- Yes. - What can I do for you?
I want that Truthizer you've invented.
Well, now, I didn't exactly invent it.
So you don't hold the patent?
It's pending.
Well, what would it take to buy it from you, then?
I suppose I would have to speak with my partner.
Well, why don't you let me talk to him?
No, no, no, no, it's best if you speak with me.
I'm the people person.
He's-he's a temperamental sort.
My offer to come to terms with you
is only available for 24 hours.
Only 24 hours?
I don't sit around waiting
for money to come to me, Mr. Crabtree.
I go after it.
Uh, sir, good news.
We have an investor interested in the Truthizer.
George, all the Truthizer does
is measure an increase in heart rate.
It's only value is in telling the liar
that we know they're lying.
Which is exactly what makes it such an essential tool
for law enforcement.
George-.
Sir, why should we be the only station
to have such an instrument?
I believe it is our responsibility
to put it out into the world.
Criminals everywhere will be quaking in their boots
if they know we could look into their guilty minds,
not to mention what a profit we could make
from such a venture.
Fine, George.
I authorize you to speak to an investor on our behalf.
Oh, excellent, sir.
I am very excited.
Mm.
What is it?
I have no idea.
This is a battery.
There are wires leading to a switch of some sort,
but then this appears to be a switch as well.
I'm going to bypass these switches
to see if I can figure out...
[mechanical clicking]
[gunshot]
I believe we've found our murder weapon, George.
So this thing fired a ball,
which was then redirected by a chunk of metal
towards Shreyer's head.
Hence the need for a projectile
with complete angular uniformity.
A ball bearing.
Yes.
Well, just say that then.
Why do you always dress up simple concepts in $5 words?
Did the doctor yank your tooth?
No, he couldn't.
An emergency intervened.
No worries.
It will clear itself up eventually.
So this ball bearing fellow Nellis, is he our man then?
It's possible.
Sir, have a look at this.
Note the similarities between the device and this invention.
Who built that then?
Jeremy Barton.
Well, bring him him.
Well, not so fast, sir.
This is O'Brian's wireless switch.
A similar switch is used inside the device
to trigger it remotely, I suspect.
- Bloody hell. - So O'Brian built it.
Ah.
Sir, you see these gears?
They are the same as the gears used
in Harding's miniature analytic engine.
Let me guess.
He didn't build it either.
Sir, I suspect that this is a collaborative effort
using the expertise of five different inventors.
You've only mentioned four so far.
Oh, I suspect Myrtle Raylin is also involved.
The deaf woman who invented the-.
What do you call it?
Both: Imails.
Yes, sir.
A project like this would require extensive coordination
and communication over great distances.
Coded imails would fit the bill.
Myrtle Raylin wrote all of the codes.
There's only one thing that troubles me.
What's that?
O'Brian's wireless switch.
It doesn't actually activate the device.
[clicking]
Even though his switch is inside.
Well, yes, sir.
There's another primary switch.
A switch that turns on a switch?
What the hell for?
I have no idea,
but I suspect there's yet another inventor involved.
Maybe it's your pal Alexander Graham Bell.
I have no reason to suspect him.
Not yet.
Your ball bearing wasn't used to frame you, Mr. Nellis.
It wasn't?
It was used as a component in a plot to kill Karl Shreyer.
Plot?
Oh, ridiculous.
Then how do you explain the use of your invention
as a component in the device that killed him?
Someone else must have put it there.
It wouldn't be difficult.
It's just a switch.
You must admit, it bears a strong resemblance
to what you invented.
Well, whoever built this obviously copied my design,
but this is so much more complex.
Are those Harding's gears?
Mr. Harding?
Yes, they are.
And it seems that in this device,
they act more of a delay mechanism.
However, they do still serve as the central control.
It's just in a machine like this,
it doesn't require a logical complexity.
Of course, your invention doesn't suggest
an aptitude for complexity.
Now, see here.
- Pardon me? - Oh.
Could you have built this device yourself?
No.
Perhaps if I applied myself.
No.
Of course I could have.
Well, I didn't, but I could have.
It is my belief that each one of you
contributed to the design and construction of this device.
And that makes you all equally guilty of murder
in the eyes of the law.
Now, the first one of you to admit their complicity
in this scheme will be spared the noose.
Everyone else, however, I guarantee you will be hanged
by the neck until they are dead.
So I ask you once again,
were you or were you not part of a conspiracy
to kill Karl Shreyer?
No.
Of course not.
No.
Mr. Harding.
Huh?
Oh, no.
May I stay and study this?
Could any one of them have built this by themselves?
Harding, possibly, but he admitted it so freely.
Would a guilty person be so guileless?
Only if his guilelessness was an act.
Sir, are you all right?
Oh, I'm fine.
The heroin has knocked me back a bit.
Heroin?
The cocaine wasn't quite doing the job.
This new drug works wonders, Murdoch.
Oh, yes, I'm sure heroin is very effective, sir,
but it's new.
It could prove to be just as addictive as cocaine.
It's only till the toothache goes away, Murdoch.
Now, if you don't mind,
I think I'm gonna have a bit of a nap.
[snoring]
Sir, we've been deciphering the imails
we got from Miss Raylin with her code wheel.
Oh.
How does it work?
The number of letters in the sender's first name
added to the number of letters in the day the message was sent
gives you the offset.
Offset?
Yes, say Myrtle sends a message on Thursday.
Six letters in "Myrtle," eight letters in "Thursday."
Eight plus six gives you...
- 14. - 14.
So the offset is then 14.
Ah, so "A" becomes "N" and so on.
That way, the code changes every day with every sender.
That's very clever.
Mm, now, it didn't work for all of them.
This one particular imail was different.
Who sent this one?
Miss Raylin, we were unable to decipher
one of the imails that you wrote to the other inventors.
It was sent on Tuesday.
[machine clacking]
"This does not conform to the code."
That's right.
Can you tell me why that is?
Uh...
This was only written four days ago
shortly after the invention convention began.
Do you remember what you wrote?
[machine clacking]
I think this is a specially coded message
written to the other inventors
outlining the plot to kill Karl Shreyer.
[sighs]
[machine clacking]
This isn't one of our ciphers.
How do you know?
Oh, I've learned to see letters as numbers.
"A" is "1 MM.
"B" is "2."
Then in a standard cipher, the letters shift,
but the numerical relationship between them stays the same.
And you're able to recognize these patterns?
Oh, yes.
Yeah, it's easy.
I always look for the word "the."
"T" is always 11 letters from "H."
"H" is always four letters from "E."
But I think you'll find that there's no such sequence
in this message.
Therefore, whoever wrote it was using a more complex cipher.
You think it would be possible to use your mechanical analyzer
to break this cipher?
Well,
I supposed I'd have to...
It's a straightforward, logical looping.
And I'd have to assign each letter to a number.
Well, if it's too difficult-.
No, no, no, no.
It's absolutely possible.
When can we begin?
The machine's instructions are punched in cardboard.
Like Jacquard's loom.
Exactly.
I'm telling the machine to execute a repeatable calculation
that will shift forward with every loop,
and that should test every possible sequence.
How long will that take?
Oh, no more than a couple of hours.
[machine clacking]
[sighs]
I just don't understand it.
I've tried every linear combination.
I mean, I could try a more complex routine,
but I just doubt that anyone would go to the trouble
of deciphering such a code, unless...
Unless what?
Unless it's a random code.
- Random? - Random.
There is no numerical relationship.
Each letter is just randomly assigned to another letter.
Can you crack such a code?
Well, yes, but the possible combinations are...
I-this is an N factorial calculation, Detective.
26 times 25 times 24-.
- Is it possible? - In theory.
But the possible permutations are in the trillions,
in the quadrillions.
So you can't do it.
No.
I can't do it.
- So could it be this... - what do you call it?
Random cipher.
I don't know.
It would require the sender and the receiver
to memorize a 26-letter code.
Mm, that wouldn't be easy.
No, you're right, sir, too prone to error.
Must be something else, something more simple.
[exhales]
Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out, Murdoch.
[sighs]
But I always look for the word "the."
Areoccurring grouping of three letters.
Three letters.
George.
George, I've cracked the code.
Have a look.
Arrest them.
Arrest them all.
"We have precisely 20 seconds
"between when the device is triggered
"and when the shot is fired.
"Should the machine be discovered,
"it is imperative that we stick to the plan.
We must hang together, or we all hang separately."
Well, that proves it.
But, sir, they're all sticking to their story.
Sir, this is the perfect opportunity
to demonstrate our Truthizer to our investor.
Your investor, George.
Perhaps he's got a point.
If they know that we know that they are lying.
One of them just might... just might crack.
[snoring]
Your arm, please.
Now, watch it in action, Miss Dickinson.
We know for certain that they're guilty.
Now, as they engage in their prevarications,
their guilty mind will cause the blue fluid
to rise in the tube.
I, of course,
know how the apparatus works, Mr. Crabtree.
Otherwise, I would not be here.
Yes, right, of course.
So how does this work, then?
Did you receive this imail?
No.
Oh, I see.
It responds to a change in the heart rate.
Very clever.
Did you or did you not send this imail?
I did not.
And then the resulting change in pressure
drives liquid up the tube.
Fantastic.
Please, just answer the question.
I did not.
May I buy this from you?
I ask you again,
did you or did you not send this imail to your coconspirators?
[typewriter keys clacking]
- [sighs] - That's it.
I'm out.
Wait, you should let me show you a pair
of Detective Murdoch's night vision goggles.
They're-.
Good-bye, Mr. Crabtree.
So now you think they're all innocent.
I don't know what else to think, sir.
We know at least one other inventor was involved,
the man who designed the primary switch.
The switch that turns on the switch.
Yes, I've seen nothing like it in any invention, sir.
I only know it's a switch because of the way
it's wired to the device.
You think this person built the device,
then constructed an elaborate code to frame everyone else.
It's a possibility.
Now I just have to figure out how to activate the switch.
Time to go, Thomas.
Ah, right, right.
Higgins.
Good luck, sir.
[knock at door]
Some mail, sir?
Precisely 20 seconds, George.
What's that?
20 seconds from the time the device was activated
to the time it fired the shot.
What happened 20 seconds prior
to the shot being fired?
Well, Shreyer was giving his speech, sir.
His speech was 18 seconds.
What happened 2 seconds before he started to speak?
Well, he blew his dog whistle.
[silence]
[clicking and whirring]
[gunshot]
Well, he agreed to blow the dog whistle,
and I wanted to test the frequency limits
of my recorder.
George, arrest Alexander Graham Bell.
[horse whinnying]
Higgins.
What are you doing here?
I don't think I'm supposed to say.
Does this have anything to do with the inspector?
When he taps twice on the window,
I'm gonna go in and say there's been an emergency
and that he's needed.
- Avoiding the dentist, is he? - Mm.
Higgins, Detective Murdoch has asked that you arrest
Alexander Graham Bell at his hotel.
I can't.
I'll take care of your duties here.
Well, why can't you arrest him?
Oh, Higgins, I'm not a mind reader.
I can't read the detective's mind.
He said, "George, find Henry.
"Have him arrest Alexander Graham Bell.
He's at the Queens Hotel."
Right away.
Why are you always knocking on windows?
That's just my way of saying, "Let's get on with this."
Do your worst, Doc.
Sir...
Crabtree.
I just wanted to update you on the status of the case.
- Oh, well, I'd better come. - That's not necessary, sir,
but you should know that we printed the imails.
Oh, well, I should take a look.
Again, that's not necessary, sir.
The only damning one came from Alexander Graham Bell's machine.
Oh, well, we'd better arrest him.
And that's what we're doing, Sir.
I've sent Higgins.
Higgins?
He seemed the right man for the job, sir.
Best of luck with the tooth.
[screams]
What is this?
A sonic switch.
More accurately, a harmonic switch,
which is activated at the precise frequency
of 18,000 cycles per second,
conveniently the same frequency as your dog whistle.
It was an ingenious plan:
Build a sonic switch into a device
and have Karl Shreyer trigger it himself.
Brilliant.
Wh-Why would I kill Karl?
I was the only one that didn't hate him.
So you made sure to tell me
and then proceeded to insinuate yourself
into my investigation.
You invited me.
Oh, did I?
As I recall, it was you who approached me
and then told me about Karl Shreyer's many enemies.
It was you who told me about the audio recording
and volunteered your audiograph to help me analyze it.
So I helped you, and that makes me guilty?
You manipulated me so that I wouldn't come to the conclusion
that I now have.
And what is that?
That you built it using parts from many different inventors
so that it would appear that many different inventors
conspired to kill Karl, but it was you all along.
By myself?
You were the only inventor at that convention
capable of building such a device.
You were certainly the only inventor capable of building
a sonic switch.
But, Detective, why would I do this?
Why would I kill Karl?
Why would I go to so much trouble
to frame my fellow inventors,
people whom I respect and admire?
Then how do you explain the fact that the device
was trigged by a whistle you asked Karl Shreyer to blow?
Detective, I didn't ask Karl to blow the whistle.
He suggested it as part of his speech.
Why would he do that?
Unless...
Dr. Grace, have you completed your postmortem?
I have.
Did you find anything unusual?
As a matter of fact, I did.
I determined the cause of death to be a gunshot to the head,
and normally I would have concluded my postmortem
at that point.
But as you might remember,
I noticed that his eyes were jaundiced.
Yes.
Which is caused by an excess of bilirubin.
In newborns, it's quite normal, but in adults-.
Doctor, if you could get to the point.
Yes, yes.
I dissected the liver, and that's where I found it.
Found what?
The tumor was as large as my fist.
So Karl Shreyer was dying.
He had a month or two at most.
He would have been in quite some pain.
I don't know if any of this is relevant.
[clicking and whirring]
[gunshot]
Actually, Doctor, you've helped to confirm my theory.
Thank you.
Are you telling us that Karl made this?
And then used it to kill himself?
Is it patented?
I believe he built the device himself
using knowledge he gleaned from his spy...
So that's what he was doing all this time.
And then sent coded imails to make it appear
you were all conspiring to kill him.
Bastard.
He sent us to hang?
- So it would appear. - And wait a minute.
All of this is contingent on you finding the device
and deciphering the code.
How would he know that you would succeed?
Well, I imagine he knew Detective Murdoch by reputation.
I mean, he did ask specifically for you, did he not?
He did, yes.
But then why would he assume you wouldn't figure it out,
as you so clearly have done?
I suppose that was a calculated risk.
Or maybe it didn't matter.
Maybe all he wanted was to force us
to acknowledge his genius.
May I?
[silence]
[clicking and whirring]
Well, he was that,
a genius.
Which one of us could have made this?
Oh, I could have.
[gunshot]
Be careful with that, Worseley, now.
That's somebody's invention.
Crabtree.
How was the dentist, sir?
Worst pain I've ever experienced.
I'm sorry to hear that, Sir.
How does your tooth feel now?
Better.
I suppose I have you to thank for that.
Oh, sir, no thanks necessary.
You've got guts, Crabtree.
Not much in the way of brains, but you do have guts.
- Oh, thank you, Detective. - It's nice to have it back.
Thank you.
I don't think I could have solved this without your help.
Oh, I doubt that's true.
And I'm sorry for accusing you the way I did.
Oh, now, I'd have done the same in your shoes.
Good-bye, Mr. Bell.
You know, I'm staying in Toronto for a couple of weeks.
We should go for dinner.
Inventors need to talk to other inventors.
Oh, of course.
All right.
[knock at door]
George.
[sighs]
I understand your investor backed out.
She was convinced the Truthizer didn't work.
Well, ironically, it did work.
Oh, I know.
This is quite the invention, sir,
creating a sound to activate a switch.
Imagine if one day you could switch the lights on by...
I don't know- Clapping your hands.
Well, it would be brilliant for the bedridden
or the infirm or just the unusually lazy.
Well, maybe you should invent it, George, hmm?
Perhaps I will.
Subtitling made possible by Acorn Media