05x25 - The Case of the Angry Astronaut

[bunniefuu]

This memo--

If it's some kind of joke, I'm not laughing.

It's no joke, Mr. Kendall.
We need at least a week's delay.

Heller, Mitchell Heller, our test pilot--

The results of our human stress runs
in the last two weeks

are completely unreliable.

- Then replace him.
- We can't.

It's either nurse Heller along
or drop him and start over with other men.

We do have two standby pilots
beginning the test series,

but orienting them
into the Moonstone program

will mean at least
a three or four week delay.

Mr. Owen, I remind you
this Human Factors Section

is six weeks behind schedule now.

Heller is only psychologically upset,
Mr. Kendall.

It's nothing serious or permanent,

a mild sort of anxiety neurosis.

Dr. Carey, you're asking me to shut down
a $ million priority defense effort

because one man's broken out
in some sort of rash?

Mr. Kendall, that is not why I--

If you'll come to my office,

I'd like to show you a test film

that may give you
the answer you're looking for.

[Owen]
This is one of our tests

to determine minimum levels for safety,

actually a test of the limits
of a man's endurance.

[Linda]
For this test, Heller, in the space suit,

was under anesthesia.

While he was still in the Air Force,

Major Heller applied for selection
as one of the Mercury Astronauts.

He was removed from consideration

by his commanding officer,
a-- a General Brand.

Major General Addison Brand?

[Linda]
Yes-- Yes, that's the name.

Heller resigned his commission,

came to Winslow Aeronautics

and became a grounded astronaut
in our stress tests.

He's overworked himself
almost to the point of exhaustion,

where there's no longer
a line between real and imagined illness,

these occasional att*cks
of what appears to be asthma.

We knew he was overextending himself,

but his work was so amazingly good,

so free of any possible criticism,

and Heller himself
was so anxious to finish his work,

that we kept on with him.

[Linda]
Then suddenly a dormant,

up-to-then unimportant, buried hatred
for some Air Force General

was pushed by his strain and exhaustion
to the surface,

affecting him and his work.

This is Heller,
taken by a hidden camera after the test.

So Heller saluted from habit.

The place is full of officers.

What's that got to do with General Brand?

When he saluted in that film,

there was nobody else in the room.

I've only been filling in
since Mr. Winslow's death.

The Board of Directors
has hired a new man to head the company.

You can take the matter
of the delay up with him.

I wish you luck.

He's a retired Air Force Major General,

and his name is Brand,
General Addison Brand.

Project Moonstone,
three basic missions--

Earth orbital flight,
circumlunar flight,

manned landing and exploration
of the moon.

Shephard and Grissom
have penetrated space and returned safely.

Colonel Glenn has successfully
orbited the earth three times.

The pressure to bring Project Moonstone
in ahead of schedule is building up.

Is the Project ahead of schedule?

On schedule?

No, this top priority space effort

is six to twelve months behind schedule.

I'm sorry I'm late.

I had to arrange a pass at the gate
for a visitor.

[Kendall]
General Brand, this is our test subject

Mr. Heller and I, unfortunately,
are already acquainted.

- Look, General--
- Would you please be seated, Mr. Heller?

The critical path lies here,

the physiological data.

All basic design is dependant on statistical
evaluation of stress tolerances,

the astronaut's stress tolerances.

Human Factors Section.

Even a superficial analysis
can pinpoint the flaw.

Mr. Kendall, as acting president of the
company since the death of Phillip Winslow,

you were aware that the project
was badly behind schedule?

Why, yes.

Mr. Owen, as chief of Project Moonstone,

you were aware that the work
of dozens of departments

was literally at a standstill

because of one man's inability
satisfactorily to perform

his assigned duties?

[Owen]
Yes, sir,

but it was a case of nursing along
the only one qualified test subject we had.

[Brand]
As the testing department's physician

and psychologist, Dr. Carey,

you were confident in your ability
to nurse this incompetent along,

that is, until, of course,
you concurred in Mr. Owen's request

for suspension?

As confident of my ability, General,
as I suspect you are of yours.

Mr. Heller, I've always had
consummate regard for your qualifications

for, as well as your dedication to,
space research.

My only reservation has been

the question of where best to use
what talent you possess.

That's why you had me taken off
of Project Mercury, isn't it--

in order to "best use" my talent?

It takes thousands of skilled specialists

to push a piece of hardware
carrying a man into space and back.

I can see you in many, many places
in that concept,

but not as the one man
riding that hardware. No.

You made that plain
when we were both in uniform.

[Brand]
Major Heller or Mister Heller,

these test results confirm
my considered judgment.

You show no more stability
or consistency on the ground

than I anticipated you would
in a space capsule,

stability under crisis
, miles out in space.

A control panel malfunctions.

- How do you react?
- Brand!

- How do you fix it?
- Brand, I warn you--

v*olence, Mr. Astronaut?

Would you smash your fist in the panel?

And that secretary he brought in with him,
Terry Faye.

You take it from one of the top PR men
in the racket, Mitch--

yours truly, Eddie Lewis--

I tell you there's smoke and fire
in that cozy, little wigwam.

Yes, sir, there's plenty of s--

What's the matter?

Mitch, you all right?

[strained breathing]

Anyway, she sends for me.

"Mr. Lewis"--
as if she didn't know my name--

"Mr. Lewis, our Public Relations program

must personalize the project
with extensive picture coverage."

Project, my foot.

Personalize the General--
that's what she means,

and that's what he wants.

Eddie, we have some work to do.

- Would you excuse us, please?
- [Mitch panting]

Oh, yeah, sure thing, doc.

I'll see you around, Mitch.

Mitch, if you remember, would you send me
that bio poop I asked you about?

Huh?

Linda, I'm sorry.
This work, it's all I know.

Nothing else means anything to me.

You've accomplished a great deal, Mitch.

You don't have to k*ll yourself.

You don't have to go on proving yourself
all over again.

You're like Brand.

You think I'm no good, a failure,

that I can't do those tests.

No, Mitch.

Well, he's wrong.
He's always been wrong about me.

Oh, Mitch, please--

He's got to be wrong,
and you've got to help me prove he's wrong.

Linda-- that medicine,

that special medicine
you had made up for me...

No.

The stuff's strong.

It'll stop these att*cks.

Mitch, face the truth.

Linda, you've got to help me.
Please, help me.

Take off your jacket.

Roll up your sleeve.

[wheezing]

Easy now.

Slowly.

Slowly.

Mr. Heller?

I'm Paul Drake.
You called me this morning.

When I picked up my pass at the gate,
the guard told me I'd find you here.

Oh, yes, Mr. Drake.

Linda?

We have a test scheduled in five minutes.

I suggest it might be politic to be on time.

Mr. Drake.

On the phone you told me
about some papers

that were stolen from you--
blueprints, I think you said.

Yes, a space capsule remote control valve,

a radical design I've working on
for several years, off and on.

Detailed drawings
are in an x manila envelope

with my name in the corner.

Did you keep those papers
here in the plant or at your home?

Well, I'm not quite sure
where I had them last.

Tell you the truth, I haven't worked on
or even looked at those blueprints

for several months.

You're sure they're missing?

I looked for them last night.

I sort of thought I might have to get
into a different line of work.

I couldn't find the drawings at home,

wasn't sure whether I'd had them
there last or here at the plant.

What did plant security here say
when you checked with them?

I didn't check with them.

You see, this invention of mine
hasn't been registered or patented yet.

It could be worth a great deal, now, to me.

I thought it would be better handled
by a reputable detective agency.

I can't exactly go snooping
around a defense--

I have to leave now, Mr. Drake.

Why don't you start with my apartment.

You can check with my landlady,
and we'll go on from there.

And this is important to me,

very important.

- Mr. Heller--
- I'll check with you later.

## [classical]

[knocks]

## [louder]

Mitch.

Why are you so surprised, Bonnie?

We did have a date tonight, didn't we?

- But my maid--
- Oh, she called me, all right,

to tell me that Mrs. Winslow
was sick in bed.

I brought you these.
I was worried about you.

Went to your apartment,
but you weren't there.

How did you happen to, uh...

Find out you that you were
at Winslow lodge?

We came here often enough
with Phil before he d*ed, didn't we?

I just thought that--

Well, I guess you're not so sick after all.

Mitch, please.

Good friends.

Isn't that what
you were pleased to call us, Bonnie?

Good, good friends,

no need to make fools of each another,

to blatantly lie to each another?

- [Bonnie sighs]
- Mr. Heller.

It's all right, Addison.

It's only a misunderstanding.

Mr. Heller's made a mistake.

I couldn't possibly have had
an appointment with him

when I had already made arrangements
to show the lodge to a new tenant.

Then I suggest you leave now, Mr. Heller.

I see that your "tenant" is carrying
two copies of the lease.

I'm sure that you'll be
a very accommodating landlady,

Mrs. Winslow.

- [door slams]
- [sighs]

Your copy of the lease, Mrs. Winslow.

[Bonnie chuckles]

[over intercom]
Grip each control firmly.

You'll have to compensate
for the input bias on both dials

by nulling the X-Y signal fed in on tape.

[Owen]
Cameras ready, Bruce?

Ready, Mr. Owen.

Start the cameras.
Tape on.

[humming]

Increase vibration.
Raise noise level.

Stage one, mark.

[humming louder]

[rattling]

[Owen]
More vibration, more noise.

[Attendant]
Stage two, mark.

[humming louder]

[Owen]
More vibration, more noise.

[Attendant]
Stage three, mark.

[pitch rising]

What are you testing for?

Performance decrement--

how much physical and mental t*rture

an astronaut can take
before he cracks up and loses control.

Increase noise and vibration.

[Attendant]
Stage four, mark.

Mr. Young,

I called and arranged for you to be
at the General's quarters last night

to take some photographs.
You didn't show up.

I'm sorry, Ma'am.

The Public Relations Director,
my boss, asked me to do something else.

[Terry]
Mr. Lewis?

Yes, Ma'am.

He said there were some night "hot sh*t"
tunnel pictures that couldn't wait,

might be weeks before we could get to them.

Miss Faye, give Mr. Lewis two weeks' notice.
He's fired.

General, please, don't touch that.

Look at this data compilation.

I've permitted you to continue
these tests for days.

Look at these results.
Well? No comment?

[Owen]
Sir, they're a little erratic.

[Brand]
Erratic?

That's a masterly understatement,
Mr. Owen.

[strikes paper with stick]
This indicates either gross

and utter incompetence
on the part of the test subject

or mental and physical deterioration
so marked and obvious

as to render his work worse than useless.

We can afford neither time nor money
wasted on unreliable testing.

Miss Faye, inform the Legal Department

that Mr. Heller's services
as testing astronaut

will no longer be needed

by Winslow Aeronautics, as of today.

- [ringing louder]
- [no audible dialogue]

## [classical]

[Brand]
Heller?

Come in.
Come in.

Door's open.

[siren wailing]

[horn honks]

[tires screech]

Lieutenant Anderson, police.

Mind telling me who you are
and where you're coming from?

Heller, Mitchell Heller.

I've just been at the Winslow lodge.

[Anderson]
Just? Five, maybe ten minutes ago?

I suppose so.

Spoke to a man named General Brand.
You can check with him.

What's this all about?

When you spoke to this General Brand,
he was all right?

Everything, so far as you could see,
was normal at this Winslow lodge?

Of course.
Look, what is this?

[Anderson]
I think you'd better leave your car here

and come with us.

Now, wait a minute.

I'm afraid we'll have to insist, Mr. Heller.

## [continues]

Now would somebody please tell me
what this is all about?

Mr. Young?

I was here at : .

The place was a shambles,
like there'd been a fight,

and General Brand was dead.

What?

The phone was ripped out,

so I had to drive all the way down
into town to call the police.

I came out here to take pictures.

I took them at : .

Now, what is this, Bruce?

You know that isn't the truth

because I was here after that,

and there isn't one single stick
of furniture out of place inside that lodge,

and as for General Brand,
what do you mean he's dead?

I spoke to him not or minutes ago,
at : , right inside there.

Suppose we go inside and see.

## [Beethoven Symphony No. theme]

Paul, you're sure that medicine vial
was labeled "Distilled Water?"

Yep, I'm sure.

No antihistaminic,
no medicine of any sort.

Just plain old distilled water.

One sh*t in the arm,

and he bounced back
from that asthma att*ck like a yo-yo.

He couldn't really have been sick.

What about those drawings
he hired you to recover?

That's another thing.

Believe me, Perry, I checked,

and I'm convinced that one--

no drawings were ever stolen from him,

and two--
there probably never were any drawings.

You picked yourself a dilly of a client.

I'm glad he's yours and not ours.

Not yet, but Paul
has that generous look in his eyes.

All right, Mr. Sherlock Holmes,

all that expensive sleuthing
must have turned up something.

Before he d*ed of a heart att*ck
six months ago,

Phillip Winslow, even though he
was president of Winslow Aeronautics,

was running this space project thing himself,

so he and my client Mitch Heller
became pretty friendly.

- Well--
- Don't tell me.

Let me guess.

Old friend Mitch picked up
the pieces with Winslow's widow.

Along came big-sh*t general,
with whom Mitch is not so friendly.

Easily consolable widow meets general--

And my client's up on a m*rder rap.

I gather, then, there is a Winslow widow?

Pretty, easily consolable,
and an old hand at playing the field.

Name's Bonnie.

Paul, you are asking me to help
Mitchell Heller, aren't you?

I think Mitch Heller is off his rocker.

I also think he's guilty as sin,

but I've seen his w*r record
as a pilot in Korea.

I know what decorations he won
and how he won them, and I know him.

I like him.

Perry, he deserves the best.

Yes, Perry, I promised I'd ask you
to help him.

I know it sounds crazy,
like some sort of hallucination,

but I swear to you, Mr. Mason,

there wasn't a sign of a struggle
in that room when I spoke to Brand.

You couldn't be mistaken about the time?

No, the clock on the mantle
and my wristwatch both said : .

It had to be : .

Did you see him?

No, he was upstairs dressing,

said he had somebody coming up
and couldn't see me at the moment.

Did he tell you who that somebody was?

No. I agreed to meet him at a restaurant
down the road in half an hour.

The police stopped me
on my way to the restaurant.

Feeling as you did about Brand,
why did you go to the lodge to see him?

He sent for me.

After f*ring you?

He told me, on the phone,
he didn't like me any more than I liked him,

but he did want me to stay on at Winslow,

as Director of Testing
in the Human Factors Section.

He asked me to come
to the lodge at : to discuss it.

When did he call you?

Oh, let's see,
it was about : in the afternoon.

I was in the locker room, alone.

It was after the noise-and-vibration test.

He called me from his office.

Well, Perry Mason.
What do you know?

Hamilton.

Mr. Heller, you've already met
Lieutenant Tragg.

This is Hamilton Burger,
the District Attorney.

You representing Heller, Perry?

Yes, I am.

Fine. I'm glad you're here.

I'd like permission from both of you

to have Mr. Heller examined
by a competent psychiatrist,

just in case we find ourselves arguing
a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Not guilty of what?

m*rder, in the first degree.

We found the m*rder w*apon,
a . service a*t*matic.

Perry, it belongs to your client,
Mitchell Heller.

You say Mitch Heller said

that he received a call
from General Brand yesterday afternoon?

Yes, at about : .

It would have been impossible

for the General to have called Heller

at : or at any time yesterday afternoon.

[Mason]
Impossible?

[Terry]
Yes.

From the moment the test
was over at : ,

until : , we left for the evening,

General Brand was dictating
confidential reports to me in his office.

Neither one of us left that office
at any time,

and there were no phone calls in or out.

Now, Mr. Mason, if there's nothing more,

may I please be excused?

Yes, of course.

Thank you.

Mr. Lewis, did Mitch Heller keep
a . service a*t*matic here at the plant?

Yes, in his locker.

He let me use it any time I wanted to.

Security has a range right here on the plant.

I understand you were discharged yesterday?

I was fired yesterday, Mr. Mason,
re-hired today.

Mr. Kendall took care of it.

The Chairman of the Board
called me this morning,

told me I'd be named to head the project,
possibly, within a few months,

take over the duties of the late
Mr. Winslow as company president.

This may or may not be related
to Brand and the m*rder,

but can you tell me anything
about the Board of Directors

and the difficulty it's having
with Mrs. Winslow?

The trouble began when Winslow started
divorce proceedings against his wife.

Phillip Winslow agreed to a cash settlement.

He was getting out of the company entirely.

The Board had prepared a resolution

agreeing to redeem his personal stock

and retire it as company treasury stock.

There was even a contract drawn up,

covering the company's buying his stock.

You mean there was
an actual Redemption Agreement prepared

between the company and the Winslows?

Yes, drawn up by the company lawyers.

After Phillip d*ed,

that Redemption Agreement
was never found,

at least, not the original.

They found the carbons,
unsigned, in his desk.

Signed, or unsigned,
there was no trace of the original.

Mr. Kendall,

the noise-and-vibration test Heller
did so badly on--

may we have someone make the same test?

Certainly. I'll call and have it set up.

Eddie, would you take them
down to the test lab?

[test capsule whirring]

[rattling, whining]

Mr. Owen, Heller was an engineer
as well as a test pilot.

Did he like to tinker?

Did he like to make things
with his own hands?

Mitch?

Not particularly, that is, not more
than what he had to do as part of his work.

I guess Paul has had enough
of outer space for now.

Shut it down.

Would you help Mr. Drake out, please?

Let's check the recordings.

Not bad at all.

Considering Mr. Drake's total inexperience,

the results are not unusual,

but certainly better than average.

How did Paul compare

with Mitchell Heller's results
on the same test?

Well--

We'd already asked
for a suspension of the tests

because of Mitch's erratic results.

Mr. Owen, how do the tests compare?

Mr. Drake was comparatively
better than Heller.

You mean an experienced subject,
like Heller, didn't do as well as Drake?

Mr. Mason, these figures don't lie.

Dr. Carey, to do so badly,
Mitchell Heller must be really sick.

No. No, he--

He is not sick.

[gasps]

There's a gentleman in blue
guarding the front door.

Would you like to try to explain to him
what you're doing here

and what you're looking for?

I've been following you for two hours,

and, lady, you've led me
a merry little chase.

Who are you, and what do you want?

I'm a private detective,
and I don't want anything,

but the man I work for, Perry Mason,
would like to talk to you.

Well, I don't want to talk--

Ah-ah-ah-ah--
The Law, remember?

I consider Mr. Drake's behavior
inexcusably high-handed,

little short of criminal.

Mrs. Winslow, I thoroughly agree with you.

Report him to the police,

or better still,
contact the District Attorney directly.

Well, as long as I'm here,
I suppose I may as well talk to you.

There are a lot of questions
I'd like to ask you

concerning your relationship
to Heller and General Brand,

but before we get to that,

I'm curious as to why you were at the lodge.

- What were you looking for?
- Looking for?

Could it have been
the Redemption Agreement

Winslow Aeronautics prepared

for signature by you and your late husband?

I don't know what you're talking about.

[Drake]
Mrs. Winslow, for three years now,

another company has been trying
to buy into and take over

Winslow Aeronautics,

and for that single outstanding
and controlling block of stock

your husband owned,
they'd pay double the market value.

[Mason]
If you and your husband

signed the still-missing original
of that Redemption Agreement,

and that signed agreement now exists,

it is valid and binding on his estate.

Winslow Aeronautics would pay,
through his estate,

the market value of that stock-- $ million.

And if you had the agreement,

it would be to your advantage to destroy it,

then wait for the estate to leave probate,

and sell the stock to this other company
for $ million.

[Mason]
If the agreement hasn't been destroyed,

if somebody else has it,

then that somebody else

is in a perfect spot to hold you up,

to make you the perfect target for extortion.

Now, who has the agreement?

Wha--

[Tragg]
We do, Perry.

I was telling Andy it pays
to make visits to your office...

unannounced.

You know, he's-- he's right.

We don't actually have the agreement,
only a photostat.

The District Attorney has the original,

which didn't quite burn up
in the lodge fireplace,

where somebody tossed it
the night of General Brand's m*rder.

We expected that someone
might come back to the lodge.

That seemingly indifferent policeman
at the door was just a decoy.

You saw us there?

And heard you

and followed you and Mrs. Winslow.

By the way, Paul,

Mitch Heller hired you to find
some stolen papers,

drawings, I think, didn't he?

Tragg, forget those drawings.

If the original
of that Redemption Agreement--

The extortion agreement,

a million dollars' worth of extortion,
I think you said.

What about that, Perry?

Well, if it was thrown into the fireplace,
why didn't it burn?

It was protected inside a heavy
manila Winslow Aeronautics envelope.

With Mitchell Heller's name,
in his own writing,

over the company name in the corner.

Dr. Carey, you heard the testimony of the
psychiatrist appointed by this Court,

in which Mitchell Heller, the defendant,

was found sane now,
sane at the time of the m*rder,

and competent at that time,

to differentiate between right and wrong.

I ask you both as a doctor
and as Board-Certified Psychologist

if you agree with that opinion?

Yes.

[Burger]
We have offered this medical testimony,

Your Honor,

not to anticipate
a plea of insanity from the defense,

but as a means of proving that,
as the psychiatrist also testified,

Mitchell Heller, the defendant,
was at the time of the crime

not only sane, but emotionally disturbed.

Do you agree, Doctor,

that the defendant felt he had been
a victim of great injustice

at the hands of General Brand?

Yes, but--

Would you say that defendant

harbored unreasonable hatred
against General Brand?

Well, not exactly.
You see--

Excuse me.

I ask you, as a trained psychologist,

fully aware of the meaning
of the word "hate,"

did Mitchell Heller hate
General Addison Brand?

Yes.

If anything,
Mitch Heller hated the General

even more than he had in the Air Force.

Yes, but Miss Faye,

you were in love with General Brand.

Don't you think it's possible
that your involvement with the decedent

could color your memory about the man
who here stands charged with his m*rder?

Why, certainly not.

Everybody knew that Heller hated
the General.

If the Redemption Agreement
were turned over to the Board of Directors,

Mrs. Winslow would receive,
through the probated estate,

approximately $ million
for her late husband's stock,

but if that agreement were--
were not found,

the stock itself would revert
to Mrs. Winslow.

Another company was prepared to pay her
$ million for the stock.

In other words,
whoever had that Redemption Agreement

had a piece of paper worth
a million dollars to Bonnie Winslow.

Phillip Winslow
d*ed of a heart att*ck in his office

within hours after getting
his wife's signature on that agreement,

and yet the signed agreement

was not found in his office

when it was searched the following day.

Who found Phillip Winslow dead?

Who waited with him in Winslow's own office

until the doctor arrived?

The defendant, Mitchell Heller.

The afternoon of the m*rder,
I received an unsigned note,

typed on company stationery,

saying that the writer
had the missing agreement

and offered to turn it over to me

for half a million dollars.

[Burger]
What did you do, Mrs. Winslow?

I told General Brand about the note.

He thought he knew
who the extortionist was.

He said he'd call me later.

[Burger]
And did he call you?

[Bonnie]
Yes, he said he had contacted
the extortionist--

he didn't tell me who he was---

but that the extortionist
was coming over, later, to the lodge.

He promised to get back the agreement
and-- and destroy it.

[Burger]
Cross-examine.

"Destroy"?

Did you say General Brand promised
to destroy that agreement?

Yes. You see, by then the General and I

had begun to see, well, eye-to-eye
on certain matters.

[Mason]
Mrs. Winslow,

when the General called back,
a few hours before his death,

are you sure he said nothing at all
to indicate the identity of the extortionist?

[Bonnie]
As a matter of fact, he did, yes.

He said he thought he knew
who the man was

because he knew him from the Air Force.

[Mason]
No further questions.

"The fireplace,
in addition to log and kindling ash,

contained residue of cigarette butts,

one burnt button,

one folded-over scorched aluminum strip,
/ x / inches,

a partially burnt
/ x inch manila envelope,

and the scorched and smoke-smudged paper
inside that envelope.

The paper was
the signed Redemption Agreement.

The envelope containing it
was from Winslow Aeronautics,

with a handwritten signature
in the upper left-hand corner--

the signature of the defendant,
Mitchell Heller.

[Burger]
Mr. Young, picture "A"

is the one taken by you.

Picture "B" was taken by the police later.

In his statement to the police,

the defendant claims that the lodge
was in perfect order

when he talked with the decedent,
General Brand, at : .

Mitch Heller couldn't talk
to the General at : .

The General was dead.

[Burger]
As standard procedure in stress tests,

a complete tape recording
is made of everything said,

including what the test subject himself says.

During the test that you conducted
on the day of the m*rder,

it was possible for the defendant,
Mitchell Heller, inside the chamber,

to hear every single word
that was uttered by General Brand.

That day's tapes, authenticated
by yourself and by your assistants,

also included what the defendant said
at that time.

Would you read for us, please,

the marked passage
from this transcript of your tape recording.

"General Brand's voice--

'Miss Faye, notify the legal department

'Mr. Heller's services
as a test astronaut

'are no longer needed
at Winslow Aeronautics, as of today.'

"Mitchell Heller's voice-- 'I--"'

[Burger]
Go on, Mr. Owen--

read us what Mitchell Heller said.

"Mitchell Heller's voice--

'I'll k*ll you.
So help me, Brand...

I'll k*ll you."'

- I'll have no part of it!
- Why, you in--

I warned you.
Don't try to force me!

- Force you?
- I'll have no part of it!

[door slams]

Frightened by the thr*at of exposure

in his attempt to extort
half a million dollars

from Mrs. Bonnie Winslow,

the defendant, Mitchell Heller,
kept his appointment at the lodge.

When General Brand took from him

the envelope containing
the Redemption Agreement

and threw it in the fire,
the two men struggled,

and during that struggle,

the defendant, Mitchell Heller
sh*t and k*lled General Addison Brand.

Your Honor,

I move that the defendant
be bound over for trial at Superior Court

on a charge of m*rder in the first degree.

Before I rule on the motion
by the prosecution,

is it your intention
to present a defense, Mr. Mason?

[door opens]

Yes, Your Honor,
we shall present a defense.

We waive opening statement.

As my first witness,
I call Lieutenant Arthur Tragg.

What?

Lieutenant Tragg,

did we have an appointment
during the noon recess,

to discuss some evidence in this case?

Yes, we were supposed to meet
in the Interview Room,

at the end of the hall.

When I got there,
you were in the washroom.

You said you'd changed your mind
and would see me in court.

What time was this?

: .

Would you look
at this early afternoon paper?

There was an altercation
in the Interview Room.

The reporters escorted me
to the Court Clerk's office,

where I checked the hearing transcript,

and stayed there with me
from : to : .

That's impossible.

I spoke to you myself,
in that Interview Room at : .

Impossible?

You could have mistaken my voice.

Let's check it.

I'm going to the far end of the courtroom
and speak to you.

Close your eyes, Lieutenant Tragg,
and listen.

I've changed my mind.
Sorry, Tragg.

I'll see you in court later.

That was your voice

and the exact words you used

when you spoke to me from the washroom.

Listen again.

[Mason's voice]
I've changed my mind.

Sorry, Tragg.
I'll see you in court later.

The whole incident
was staged for your benefit, Tragg.

You never heard me say those words,

not now, not a few moments ago,

and not at : in the Interview Room.

You were listening to Jamison Sewall,

an actor and impersonator.

[Mason]
With the Court's permission,

we are going to demonstrate
what the defense contends

was the actual sequence of events
on the night of the m*rder.

Now, Mr. Young,

how would you characterize
the scene at the lodge,

in terms of what happened
prior to your arrival?

I'd say there had been a real lulu
of a knock-down, drag-out fight there.

I have here the two pictures-- "A" and "B".

Now, please look at them.

If there had been, as you say,

a "lulu of a knock-down, drag-out fight,"

why isn't there one piece of furniture
in that room broken?

Not the glass lamp bases,
not the light bulbs,

not the ceramic ashtrays.

Now, there is an answer.

The actual m*rder*r

was concerned with more
than the death of General Brand.

He was concerned with involving
Mitchell Heller as the apparent m*rder*r.

Mr. Sewall will portray the m*rder*r,
who parked out of sight,

then entered the lodge
and confronted General Brand.

The m*rder*r had used Heller's g*n,
stolen from his locker at the plant, to k*ll.

Now, he wanted Heller to have
an hallucination,

a delusion, to see something
that didn't exist.

Step two-- the m*rder*r sets the stage.

As we shall see,

it would be necessary to have
an exact record of how the stage was set.

That camera takes, and develops,

its own photographs in a matter of seconds.

To prove an hallucination,
you need a witness to reality.

At : , the witness, you, Mr. Young,

keeps his appointment,
an appointment made by the m*rder*r.

You see the room carefully arranged
to suggest a fight,

you see the corpse, you leave.

But the m*rder*r had made
a second appointment--

one for : .

Now, he must work fast.

Step three--

remove all evidence
of a struggle or a k*lling.

: , Mitchell Heller,

on time for the appointment made
by the m*rder*r over the phone,

shows up, knocks.

[Brand's voice]
Heller? Come in, come in.

The door's open.

Mind telling me what time it is?

The time is : .

[Sewall, as Brand]
I tried to reach you, but you'd already left.

I'm expecting someone here.
I'd like to see him alone, if you don't mind.

There's a fine restaurant,
a place called "The Falcon," down the road.

I'll meet you there, in half an hour.

[Mason]
Heller left the lodge,

driving straight toward the oncoming police.

You, Mr. Young, had seen a corpse.

Step four--

using the picture he had taken earlier,

the m*rder*r recreated the exact evidence
of a struggle that never took place.

Now, you, Mr. Young,

returned with the police and with Heller--

a Heller swearing he had just seen
something that obviously wasn't so

and had talked to someone
who was already dead.

This is the negative tab
on the special film this camera uses.

What is it made of, Mr. Young?

Why, it's laminated paper.
That's all.

Paper that should completely burn.

Please strip it apart, Mr. Young.

Now, that is a metal pod,
containing developing chemicals.

Now, this is part of the transcript
of Lieutenant Anderson's testimony.

Please read the underlined portion.

"The fireplace,
in addition to log and kindling ash,

contained residue of cigarette butts,
one burnt button,

one folded-over scorched aluminum strip,
/ x / inches."

Mr. Young,

this is the counterpart
of what you took from the negative tab,

what the m*rder*r mistakenly threw
into the fire, not aware it wouldn't burn.

Would you describe it, please?

Why, it's a folded-over,
scorched aluminum strip--

/ x / inches.

[Mason]
From an examination

of the physical facts in the case,

suppose we return now
to the area of motive.

Whoever had stolen
the Redemption Agreement

made no use of it for months,

until the afternoon of the m*rder,
when the extortion note was delivered,

the afternoon, I believe, Mr. Lewis,
you were fired.

Yes, the same afternoon
Mitch Heller was fired.

Mitch Heller,

who fitted the General's
only description of the extortionist

because he had served
with him in the Air Force.

Now, I have a full report
as to why you left your last job

as public relations man at the Air Base
commanded by General Brand.

All right, so I was caught peddling

advance copies of news releases

to the magazines and fired me.

That doesn't make me a m*rder*r.

Does it make you an extortionist,
Mr. Lewis?

Mitchell Heller sent you
some biographical background material

you had asked for.

How did it come to your office,
in what kind of container, Mr. Lewis?

Well, it was a company envelope with--

A company envelope
with his signature on it?

Was that the envelope in which you
inadvertently, or deliberately,

carried the Redemption Agreement

when you kept your appointment
with General Brand.

But that appointment was for : .

I was out of the lodge by : .

Brand grabbed the envelope away from me
and through it into the fire,

but I swear to you, I didn't k*ll him!

[Mason]
The k*ller had to be someone

who knew in advance that General Brand

was coming to take over the company.

Now, who knew that, Mr. Lewis?

Gordon Kendall, he knew,
and Mrs. Winslow.

- And you?
- No! No, I didn't know.

Yes, Eddie Lewis did know in advance
General Brand had been employed.

He told me about it.

That's a lie.
He's lying.

- Silence, silence--
- I didn't know. I tell you, he's lying.

- Bailiff, silence that man.
- Yes, he's ly--

He is lying.

[Mason]
May I suggest, Mr. Owen,

that your memory may be at fault,

that it wasn't Eddie Lewis who told you
the General had been hired,

but rather the Chairman of the Board
at Winslow Aeronautics?

I have this deposition.

Now, would you tell me,

or shall I read to the court,

what else the Chairman of the Board
told you?

Well, he said he wasn't satisfied
with my work as Project Chief.

And that you-- you, Mr. Owen,

were responsible
for the delay in Project Moonstone?

That's ridiculous.

Every department was delayed

because of the test results.

The truth is that the entire project
was badly mismanaged

before those test results became unreliable.

You knew it,
you knew it was your fault,

and you tried to protect yourself.

It wasn't Heller's performance,

but your deliberate tampering
with the equipment,

that produced faulty results,
isn't that true, Mr. Owen,

little or no prospects of another job
after being fired?

It was then, wasn't it, Mr. Owen,

you decided to steal

the radically new
electronic remote control valve

Mitchell Heller had invented?

I had to have it, Mr. Mason.

Those tampered-with tests,

hopefully made to protect your job,

could serve an alternate function.

They could prove Heller
mentally incompetent,

poor Mitchell Heller,
saluting nobody in an empty room.

That room wasn't empty.

You framed that episode,

as you framed the other episodes,
to discredit him.

Suddenly, with General Brand's arrival,

your entire plan threatened
to explode in your face.

Mitchell Heller wasn't the only one
who knew of that invention, now, was he?

[Owen]
No.

No.

Brand knew.

In the Army,
Heller had requested Brand's permission

to have a model built and tested.

Part of the bad feeling

was due to Brand's having turned down
that request.

Well, if Brand was dead

and a psychotic Heller
was convicted of his m*rder,

why, then, no one would know
there was an invention

or that it had been stolen.

The entire m*rder plan, the time schedule,

the created illusions--

all designed to fit the hallucinatory
psychotic image of Heller you had built,

designed to convict another man
of the m*rder you committed.

I had nothing against General Brand,
believe me.

I hardly knew the man,

but I had to k*ll him

and put the blame on Mitch.

I had to k*ll him.

Don't you see, Mr. Mason?

Don't you see?

[machine whirring]

Acceleration G's and holding.

Interior temperature degrees.
Mark.

All right, you can shut it down now.

I think you like it,
being on this end of the tests.

Chief of the Human Factors Section.

Poor Owen, he was prophetic

when he enticed me out to the lodge
to talk over the job.

Mr. Mason,

that actor, Sewall, you used in court,
was fantastically good,

but how did Matt Owen fool Mitch
and Bruce Young on the phone?

He had me fooled at the lodge, too.

I could've sworn
that was the General's voice.

It's amazing what hidden talents
people have.

He just happen to possess the wrong ones.

You ought to know what hidden talents are,
Mr. Astronaut.

Hey, I didn't do too badly
on that test, did I?

Well, now,

if you like it so much--

I'm sure it could be arranged.

Give you another and different ride.

What do you say, Paul?

[gibbers, squeals]

Well, if I'm not back in time for the test,

just start without me.