06x01 - The Case of the Bogus Books

[bunniefuu]

[opening theme playing]

Miss Carter, these I'm taking.

Three ¢s, one ¢,
and two $ ones.

Even Einstein would have to admit
that's $ . .

- Agreed?
- Yes.

I'll call Mr. Kraft.

So big a deal as this--

you can't handle it alone, Miss Carter?

Or you think perhaps I have
a Shakespeare First Folio here?

[laughs]

No, but you know how Mr. Kraft is.

He's very suspicious
of rival bookstore owners.

Joseph Kraft is welcome
to buy books in my store.

Why should I not be welcome
to buy in his?

I guess it's all right, Mr. Gilfain.
May I wrap these for you?

From Joseph Kraft, for $ . ,

I don't expect to get
even a-- a paper bag.

[whispering]
Kenneth, what are you doing here?

- I've got to talk to you.
- [doorbells ding]

If Mr. Kraft sees you, you're likely
to be talking to a policeman.

Besides, I told you--
no more money.

You don't understand.
They're gonna cream me if I don't pay up.

I mean really wipe me out.

You should have thought of that
a long time ago,

before you ever started
playing with professional gamblers.

Oh, nothing tonight, Professor Muntz?

How's that? Oh, no thank you.

I'm strictly a browser
after that Izaak Walton I purchased last
week.

Ruinous-- simply ruinous.

Good night.

Good night.

Okay, sis, you win.
Come visit me at the morgue.

Kenneth, wait.

It's just that I had to borrow so much
from Mr. Kraft,

and each time
I have to make up a different story.

But this is the last time, sis.

I promise.

Oh.

After this, no more gambling-- never.

Do you hear me? Do you?

Never.

All right.

It's what's left in my checking account.

Thanks, sis.

Miss Carter?
Miss Carter, I think I found it.

Found what?

The song for the Mississippi section
of my book.

Oh good.

- Would you hold the music for me?
- Sure.

Let's give a lesson here.

# This train is bound for glory #

# This train #

# This train is bound for glory #

# This train #

# This train is bound for glory... #

- [radio playing classical music]
- [singing continues]

# This train don't pull no sleepers,
this train #

# This train don't pull no sleepers... #

Will you stop that?
What do you think this is--

some kind of coffeehouse
or beatnik joint?

Now take that instrument and get out.
Get out and stay out.

Yes, sir, Mr. Kraft. Yes, sir.

- I'm sorry.
- You should be.

- Now turn off the lights and close up.
- Yes, Mr. Kraft.

[doorbells ding]

Uh...

Mr. Kraft?

You remember that money
I said I might need for my landlady's--

[Mr. Kraft]
Ellen, come here.

That Tristam Shandy on this shelf--

you sold it?

No, you said I wasn't to sell these books
without consulting you.

Then what's become of it?

I don't know.

That brother of yours--
was he here today?

Kenneth? You know you told him
never to come in here, Mr. Kraft.

But if you feel I'm responsible
for the book being gone,

I'll gladly pay the $ you had it marked.

$ ? $ , would be more like it.

$ , ?

Yes, $ , .

Either you're stupid
or you're a sneaky thief like your brother.

- I don't know which, but you're through.
- But Mr. Kraft--

Now get out! Get out.
Get out before I have you arrested,

you and your brother both.
You want that? You want that? Do you?

Miss Carter?

Oh, Mr. Norland.

I was-- I was just waiting around out here
to see if I could...

escort you home.

But I-- I couldn't help hearing
through the open door,

and I think that's a darn dirty trick.

You want me to go in there
and wrap this guitar around his fat neck?

It's a nice thought, Mr. Norland,

but I'm afraid it wouldn't do any good.

Uh, would coffee?

- Would coffee?
- Do any good.

[sighs]

Well...

yes, I think it would.

[dialing]

Pearl, Joseph Kraft.

About that Tristam Shandy,

I thought you were
supposed to pick it up tomorrow.

You didn't come by
and get it this evening?

Why no, Joseph, I've been here
in front of the fire all evening,

thinking of you.

Gone?

Are you sure?

You don't suppose the police
could have had anything to do with it, do
you?

No no, that's out of the question.

Maybe he changed his mind
and took it back.

You'll let me know
if anything happens, won't you?

I won't be able to sleep a wink.

Good night, Joseph.

[Man] Instead of a fashion artist, Pearl,
you should have been an actress.

Mmm.

Now how about unraveling the mystery?

I steal this b*at-up old book for you;

you got the phone call you've been waiting
for.
So now where are we?

Well, first, this b*at-up old book,
as you call it,

happens to be worth about $ , .

$ , ?

If I'd have known that, I'd never let you
con me into taking it.

Well, that's why I didn't tell you, darling.

Besides, it's hot, so there'll be no
complaints--
at least not to the police.

Oh. The old boy Kraft,
he's a book thief.

No, he's a receiver.
And he's not so old, either.

Oh? Where do you fit in with him?

Not how you're thinking, sweet.

Actually I'm sort of
a junior business partner.

Only I'm ambitious;
I'd like to move up in the firm.

And that's where you fit in.

All right, what's the proposition?

About once a month,
I get a call from Kraft.

He has a first edition
of Tristam Shandy

or Vanity Fair or Alice in Wonderland
for me to buy.

- Buy?
- The next day I go to the store.

The book's marked $ .
or $ or $ .

The clerk checks the price with Mr. Kraft,

but there's no contact between us.

I just pay for the book and walk out.

Then what?

Over here.

Specially aged inks, paper, thread,
old-time pens;

even special kinds of glues
they used in the old days.

You change the books.

Exactly as Kraft tells me to;
nothing drastic.

Just enough so that nobody
will quite be able to identify

any particular copy
of an edition.

Then I mail them back to Kraft.

In a couple of days,
the postman hands me an envelope

with five crisp $ bills in it.

$ ? You're kidding me.

You didn't think fashion sketching
let me live like this, did you?

I wondered.

How does Kraft get the books
in the first place? Who steals them for him?

He doesn't know.

If he doesn't know him,
how does he pay this guy?

I don't know.

But I did learn one thing
checking the book auctions.

Kraft's been averaging
better than $ ,

on the books I've fixed for him.

Ho! At a book a month,

that's better than $ , a year.

That's right, sweet.

So don't you think this is one book club
you ought to join?

It does seem a bit arbitrary, Miss Carter,

dismissing you
because one book is missing.

However, I'm afraid you'll have trouble
collecting damages,

if that's what you're thinking of.

Oh no, that's not it.

I just want to know
how to go about...

straightening things out
so I don't have to live in fear

of his suddenly deciding
to have me arrested.

Have you tried to see him today?

No.

Well, I did.

That's where I got this.

But it took Kraft, his clerk and three
customers
to throw me out of the store.

You also arranged
for this interview, I believe.

Yeah, that's right.

Why all this interest, Mr. Norland,
when you barely know Miss Carter?

Just say it's the slice of life
for the great American novel I'm gonna
write...

and nosiness.

Nosiness?

Over why Kraft would mark a book $
and then say it was worth $ , .

Temper, maybe.

Yeah, but would he get into such a temper
if the book was worth only $ ?

He might have thought
I was starting to...

do what Kenneth did.

My brother.

When our mother d*ed,

Mr. Kraft asked us both
to come and work for him.

We'd never met him,
but we're the only relatives he has.

And the idea was that someday

we might even inherit the bookstore.

But last month,

Kenneth took $ from the cash register
to gamble with

and couldn't pay it back.

And Mr. Kraft fired him?

Yes, even though I gave him the money.

But I...

owe him some more.

Look, Mr. Mason,
Kraft is just suspecting her

because of the kind of guy
her brother is.

But has he got the right
to condemn Ellen without proof?

Certainly no moral right, Mr. Norland.

Della, didn't you tell me
that volume

of Manning & Granger's Reports
had somehow been lost?

That was two years ago.

Don't you think it's about time
I tried replacing it--

perhaps after lunch
at Mr. Kraft's bookstore?

Yes I do.

No, madam,
Tropic of Cancer is not a medical book--

far from it.

May I assist you, sir?

Are you Joseph Kraft?

No, Pickson-- Herbert Pickson,
chief clerk,

but if it's a particular book,
I'm sure I can find it for you.

You can find Mr. Kraft for me.

He's in his office, but he never
sees anyone without any appointment.

He'll see me.

[Mr. Kraft]
Who is it?

My name is Gene Torg,
Mr. Kraft.

I'm calling in regard
to a mutual friend

by the name of Laurence Sterne.

Steel mesh on the window;
locks on the door.

What do you keep in here, Mr. Kraft?
Gold bullion?

Valuable books sometimes.

Would have been wiser if you'd have kept
this Tristam Shandy in here

instead of on a shelf outside.

You took it last night?

Borrowed it, let's say...

pending an agreement on it
and future stolen books.

What's the idea of that?

So you won't leave, Mr. Torg,
while I'm calling the police.

Are you out of your head?
How are you going to explain this to them?

I'll leave that to you.

Apparently you came into my store last night,
took a copy of Tristam Shandy off the shelf,

and now for some mysterious reason,
you're attempting to use it to thr*aten me.

You've got the nerve
of a riverboat gambler.

Only I happen to have the hole card
that'll call your bluff--

the Queen of Hearts,
Pearl Chute.

She's in this with you?

- [knock at door]
- [Pickson] Mr. Kraft?

Can you spare a minute
for a Mr. Mason--

Mr. Perry Mason?
He says it's important.

Mason?

Come in. Come in, sir.

Mr. Torg here was just leaving.

Mr. Torg.
Haven't we met before?

No, I don't think so.

Our deal-- I'll be back tonight
to iron out the details.

Good day, sir.

Well, what can I do for you, Mr. Mason?

I'm here on behalf of Ellen Carter.

Oh. You're a lawyer, aren't you?
She came to you?

Extremely disturbed over a thr*at
you allegedly made when you discharged her,

namely that you would
have her arrested for theft.

Mr. Mason,
I have a hair-trigger temper

and I very often do things
that I regret later on.

I'm ashamed of threatening Ellen
and I'm ashamed of discharging her.

And all the result of a misunderstanding
over a mislaid book

which I found this morning.

This book--Tristam Shandy?

As a matter of fact, yes.

How is it you'd keep a book
as valuable as this on an open shelf?

Valuable? Oh, I see.

You mean my telling Ellen
that it was worth $ , ?

Temper again, Mr. Mason.

Actually it's worth about $ ,
as you can see. It's marked.

So it is.

Now as to your misunderstanding
with Miss Carter,

do you plan to rectify it?

Oh, I've been trying to reach her all morning
to apologize and give her her job back.

That seems fair enough.

This is quite a handsome volume.

Since I've always enjoyed Sterne,
I'll take it.

Oh, no no,
that books been sold.

I'm sorry, Mr. Mason.

May I ask if the buyer was Mr. Torg?

Odd that he didn't take it with him.

Well, it's part of a deal
that we're concluding.

You, uh...

you won't forget to phone Miss Carter?

Oh, I'll do that right away--
right away, sir.

Good.

Good day, sir.

Pearl?

Oh, I see.

Do you know where Miss Chute is?

No no, I'll call back later.

Excuse me.
You're Professor Muntz, aren't you?

You're Mr. Mason. I haven't seen you
since that regrettable hazing affair

at the university five--
or was it six-- years ago.

Six, Professor.

As I recall, you were specializing
in th- and th-century English literature.

I still am.

Then perhaps you can tell me
what distinguishing marks

to look for in a first-edition
Tristam Shandy

to be sure it's genuine.

First-edition Tristam Shandys
are a little rich for my blood, Mr. Mason,

but, well, let me think.

Could one of the libraries help me?

The Cosgrove maybe?

In San Marino, yes.

Yes, I guess the Cosgrove
might be worth trying.

You see, Mr. Drake, first editions
have their own unique fingerprints,

so to speak,
just as people do.

Now take the King James Bible--

the important fingerprint there
is in the Book of Ruth--

"He measured five measures
of barley...

and he went into the city."

Subsequent issues read:
"...and she went into the city."

And that makes a difference?

Of about $ , in regard
to the King James Bible, Mr. Drake.

[whistles]

Yes, but you were asking me

about some Tristam Shandy fingerprints.

Now suppose we start with volume ,
published in .

Now this particular copy
is rather valuable.

It was one of several
presentation copies

given by Sterne to David Garrick,
the actor.

And there's his inscription--

"To David Garrick
from his constant admirer,

L. Sterne."

Now the answer here comes
from certain missing fingerprints.

Oddly, the first-edition title page

bore no printer's, no publisher's name,

no place of publication
and not even...

"By L. Sterne."

- By L. Sterne?
- What's wrong?

The first-edition title page
was also without the author's name.

This book is a substitution,
and even the inscription must be a forgery.

But that's impossible.

That's impossible.

[Beethoven's Fifth playing]

Ellen: The Indoor Barbeque Cookbook
marked $ . .

[Man]
Here you are.

- Would you like me to wrap it?
- No thanks, I'll eat it here.

- Eat it?
- Barbequed Cookbook. Eat!

Well, you can't win 'em all.

Mr. Mason, I tried to reach you
this afternoon to thank you.

Where's Mr. Kraft, Ellen?

In his office.

You sure he's in there, Ellen?

Yes, Mr. Mason, I heard him
turn the radio on an hour or so ago.

Perry, I smell gas.

Mr. Kraft? Mr. Kraft.

Mr. Kraft?

[coughing]

When the radio came on?

Well, I'd just come back from dinner,

so it couldn't have been
much after : .

Mr. Pickson was still here.

- Pickson?
- Terrible--

a terrible thing.

I-- I couldn't believe it
when the police phoned me.

The radio, Pickson?

Oh yes.

When Mr. Kraft turned it on,
it was a moment or two after : ,

which is when I always leave
for the night.

And it was around :
when you broke in here, Paul?

That's right. So knockoff time must have been
between : and : .

Well, thank you very very much,
Mr. Norland.

I might never have figured that out.

And now if you don't mind,
you two-- you and you--

wait outside.

Uh, anything there, Andy?

Hasn't been tampered with
as far as I can make out.

All right,
let's see what we've got so far,

preliminary to the autopsy, of course.

A little before : ,
according to half a dozen witnesses,

Kraft comes back from supper
to hole up in here

the way he did almost every night.

At : , he turns on the radio;

maybe the heater
and the lamp too then.

Anyway, he goes back
to the couch

- and falls asleep.
- What makes you say that?

Well, if he'd been awake,
he'd have smelled the escaping gas.

He turned the valve like so,

not noticing that the pilot light was out.

And they do go out.

I know because I've got one in my basement
I have to light about once every month.

An accident then?

Of course, su1c1de's a possibility too,

but the pilot light would probably have been
actually turned off in that case,

and there'd most likely be a note.

Doesn't it seem to you
that he fell asleep rather quickly?

Gas escaping like that would certainly
be noticed in three or four minutes.

You should see me fall asleep.

Perry, Homicide has to double check
these things.

Don't you try to make a m*rder out of it.

Why not?

Well, it's the granddaddy of all
the locked-room puzzles that I've ever heard
of.

And how.
No other way into the room

except through this door,

and that locked from the inside
until you smashed it,

and these windows,
also locked from the inside

and protected by steel mesh.

Anyway, nobody'd get through 'em
but a midget,

and none did or else these dead flies
and this dust would be disturbed.

Well, Perry?

You have the locked room, Lieutenant.
I'll grant you that.

But I'd still like to know what happened

to that copy of Tristam Shandy
I told you about.

[knock at door]

- Who is it?
- It's me, Pearl-- Gene. Open up.

Coming.

What's the matter?

Kraft. He's dead.

Dead?

But I saw him not--

- When did he die?
- How should I know?

The desk clerk at my apartment

just said there was a lot of excitement
down by his store--

police cars, ambulance.

When did you see Kraft?

I didn't mean "see him."
I meant when I talked to him on the phone.

Phone?

That how you got this from him?
By phone?

- [knock at door]
- Paul: Miss Chute?

Yes, what is it?

I'd like to speak to Mr. Torg a minute
if you don't mind.

- Who are you?
- My name is Paul, Miss Chute.

I'm a collector of old books and Mr. Torg
has one I'm very interested in.

You see, I arrived at his apartment
just as he was leaving,

so I...

Come in, come in.

You know who this is, Pearl?

The pet private eye
of that lawyer, Perry Mason.

Name's Paul, all right--
Paul Drake.

I'll lay odds the only books
you ever collected in your life

were bound copies
of The Police Gazette.

Could be, Torg.

But right now I am interested
in a first edition of Tristam Shandy.

You mean Mason is.

Well, you can tell him for me the last time
I saw the book was when he did,

on Kraft's desk
today around noon.

- Then this couldn't be it over here.
- Drake!

Get out.

Just as you say.

Good night, Miss Chute.

Well, big sh*t, you've done it.

It's my fault.
I shouldn't have let him in.

How did that book get here, Pearl?
How?

I got it from Kraft.
He called after you'd been there.

So you went over there
and made you own deal with him, huh?

But I didn't; I made our deal--

half of whatever he cleared on the books
with you to collect the money.

And then he agreed to that
without a fuss?

Yes.

It couldn't be, could it,
that he didn't agree?

And in the argument you shoved him
a little too hard or something?

Kraft said you were
supposed to come by his place tonight.

Now it couldn't be that you shoved him
a little too hard or something?

Volume of our Tristam Shandy,
I believe you said, sir?

That's right.

Please return it to me when you finish.

I think you'll agree that this is one way
it could have been done.

Notebooks?
It never occurred to us

that books could be hidden in them.

How many substitutions
have been discovered so far?

Six if you include the volume
of Tristam Shandy--

one Fielding, two Brontës,
one George Eliot,

and an exceptionally fine copy
of Swift's Gulliver's Travels.

And their total value?

$ to $ , ,

provided they could
be sold somewhere, of course.

I don't think the Shandy's been sold yet,
but the others probably have.

Have you received any replies
from the other libraries?

UCLA has found two substitutions;

Huntington and Oldbury,
one each.

Then the losses could run
into hundreds of thousands.

Quite easily.

You see, the substitute books
are so close to the originals

that only an expert
would notice the difference

and then only if his suspicions
had been aroused.

So this may have been going on
for a long time.

A fiendishly clever man,
this Joseph Kraft.

Clever, but not very lucky.

We'll keep in touch.

I would appreciate that.

Uh, Mr. Mason?

Aren't you forgetting something?

Joseph Kraft substituted
second or third editions

for valuable first editions.

Pearl Chute altered the stolen
first editions.

Then Kraft sold them as finds
he'd come on to someplace.

But where did Gene Torg fit in?

Wherever he could get his foot in the door.
That's why Perry had me go after him.

We'd met Torg once before
in a con-game case.

Did the police question him?

This morning.
He denied everything and so did Pearl.

And it looks like
they're gonna make it stick.

Your people are still watching them,
aren't they, Paul?

Also the boy from the robbery detail,
so it's gotten a little crowded.

[phone buzzes]

Yes, Gertie?

Peter Norland?

Send him in.

Mr. Norland.

For an hour I've been pacing up and down
in front of your building, Mr. Mason,

like a picket without a signboard.

But I can't decide whether coming here
makes me a double crosser

or a knight on a white mustang.

Sit down.

It sounds as though
you have a very serious problem.

I have-- Miss Carter
and a small snowstorm

- of brand-new $ bills...
- $ bills?

...that floated out of her purse
when I accidentally knocked it off a table

in the bookstore this afternoon.

How many $ bills?

She collected them so fast,
I couldn't count.

About $ , , I'd say.

I feel like a heel reporting this thing,
but Pickson saw the money too

and he'll probably tell the police.

Pickson-- he's the chief clerk.

How did the bookstore
happen to be open?

It isn't. He and Ellen
are taking inventory,

along with Professor Muntz, who the police
called in to check the rare books.

I don't like the sound of this at all.

The inventory?

The snowstorm of $ bills.

Do you think somebody could be trying
to frame Ellen Carter for the book theft?

I think somebody is trying
to frame Ellen Carter for m*rder.

Mr. Mason, I can't explain the money.

I-- not sensibly--

I found it in my handbag,

folded in a little zipper pocket
I hardly ever use.

That's just about what we thought, Ellen.

You mean you believe me?

Yes.

But the question is
will the police believe you?

What have the police got to do with it?

I'll try to show you.

Now let's go back
to : last night.

Mr. Kraft had been in here since : ,
reading, napping--

whatever he did after supper.

This still the locked-room deal
the police were talking about, Mr. Mason?

That's right-- door bolted on the inside,
windows tightly secured,

no other way in.

At : , it being dark outside,

let us say Mr. Kraft rolled over

and switched on the reading light...

also the radio

and the heater.

And then he sank back on the couch
intending to read for a while.

And then he dozed off again.

Paul?

Now watch the heater.

Now listen. Listen closely.

( gas hissing )

It's gas.

All right, Paul, that'll do.

( classical music continues )

Just as the m*rder*r
must have done last night,

Paul turned off the gas at the meter,

thus extinguishing both the heater
and the pilot light.

Then he turned the gas on again.

And goodbye, Kraft.

How'd the k*ller know
where the gas meter was?

I called the gas company.

I knew where it was. Anyone who ever used
the little washroom at the back did.

'Evening, folks.

Well, that's a very interesting
experiment there, eh?

And closely duplicating one
that we performed earlier today.

And thank you for saying that you knew
where the gas meter was.

It helps.

Helps, Lieutenant?
In what way?

In justifying this first-degree-m*rder
warrant
I have here

for Miss Carter.

The prosecution's going to have
a lot to work with, Ellen--

your telling the police that you were alone
in the store at the time of death;

then the money found
in your purse;

not to mention the fact that
you are going to inherit the bookstore.

I am? Still?

His lawyer said that Kraft
disinherited your brother,

but not you.

Now do you still maintain
that you have no idea

how those $ bills
got into your purse?

[sighs]

All right, Ellen.

But you're not going to be able
to go on protecting your brother

if you're in prison.

Now with regard
to this analysis that you performed

on the victim's blood, Dr. Hocksey,

what did this analysis reveal?

It confirmed what I initially suspected
when I visually examined the body,

that gas was the cause of death.

As Coroner's Physician, with long experience
in this type of fatality,

when would you say the death occurred?

About two and half hours before
I saw the body, which was at : .

[Hamilton Burger] Then in other words,
Joseph Kraft d*ed at about : ?

Give or take a half hour, Mr. Burger.

Thank you, Dr. Hocksey.
Mr. Mason?

Doctor, you said
"give or take a half hour."

That means then that Joseph Kraft
could have d*ed as late as :

or as early as : .

Why yes, he could have.

I realize you've already testified
as to these times, Mr. Pickson,

but I'd like to double check them
if you don't mind.

First the time that Ellen Carter
returned to the store

- after dinner that night.
- A minute or two before : .

And the time you say you heard Mr. Kraft
turn his radio on?

A minute or two after : .

And the time you say
you left the store?

Right after that.

Now when you say these things,
Mr. Pickson--

I don't just say these things, Mr. Mason.
They happened.

Miss Carter heard Mr. Kraft
in that room too, you know.

I'm not questioning that, Mr. Pickson.

But the prosecution
claims it will prove

that Miss Carter
was then alone in the store

for a considerable length of time.

You know the store.
You also know Miss Carter's habits.

Couldn't you have left the store
and then sneaked right back in

past the counters to the washroom
and there have turned on the fatal gas valve?

No, I couldn't have done that
without Miss Carter seeing me.

And besides, I was met outside
by a friend,

Mr. Gilfain of the Argus bookstore.

Yes, I saw the bills fall out of her purse;
knocked them out myself, in fact.

Mr. Norland,
what were the denominations of those bills?

$ each.

Lieutenant Anderson,
can you identify this envelope

and its contents for me, please?

Yes, the brand-new $ bills
I found in the defendant's purse

after Lieutenant Tragg
turned her over to me.

And what about this second envelope?

This is a second group
of $ bills

I found in the defendant's apartment

when I searched it after her arrest.

On the day before Mr. Kraft d*ed,
he came into our bank

and drew out $ ,
in $ bills.

And then the next day
he did the same thing--

drew out $ , in $ bills.

How do you happen to recall this?

On the second day I had to open
a new bundle of bills to give him.

Now those $ bills
were brand new,

fresh from the Mint,

just like the ones they found
in Miss Carter's purse there.

I tell you, my sister
didn't steal those bills from old man Kraft.

How do you know that, Mr. Carter?

Because, well,
I put them in her purse myself.

I knew the police had questioned her

and I was afraid they'd find them
when they questioned me.

- And where did you get the bills?
- I found them in the store in a book.

Once before when
I was working there in the store

I found some other bills in a book
in the same section,

but they had disappeared
before I had a chance to take them.

But after that I kept looking.

[chuckles]
And the money that was found hidden

in the apartment you share with your sister--
did you find that in a book too?

I don't know anything about that.

I submit you do, Mr. Carter.

I submit you and your sister
obtained all that money from Mr. Kraft

either by theft or by blackmail.
Now which was it?

Neither! Besides, what can you
blackmail out of old man Kraft?

Second-hand books?

Perhaps not $ million, Mr. Burger,

but Joseph Kraft's "substitution racket,"
as you called it,

certainly netted him
many many thousands of dollars.

My latest check with the library
shows first editions missing.

And other substitutions will be found,
I'm sure.

Since the defense will not doubt claim
that there is a connection

between the death of Joseph Kraft
and this racket that he was engaged in,

how in your opinion, Professor,

was Kraft able to engineer
all these book substitutions?

I hate to say this,
but I think he must have had help.

You gotta believe me--
I wasn't in the racket at all.

Maybe thinking about getting in, you know,
but, well, not in.

Now the appointment I heard you make
to see Mr. Kraft on the day of his death--

you kept that appointment,
did you not?

No. Well, I-- I started to,

but when I saw a police car out front,
I ducked out, went home.

Well, then the copy of Tristam Shandy
you and Mr. Kraft were examining,

what became of that?

Ask her.

She knows the answer to that.
She got rid of the book, not me.

I know it was wrong.

But when that detective, Mr. Drake,
came nosing around, I was frightened.

So I burnt the book
and threw the ashes in the trash.

[Burger] Well, that was an expensive fire,
wasn't it, Miss Chute?

Didn't you say you were paid
$ apiece

to alter those first editions
that Kraft sent you?

Yes.

How much did he pay
the mysterious person

- that he told you actually did the stealing?
- He never said.

Couldn't this mysterious person
have been your friend Gene Torg?

Gene? He couldn't get into a library
disguised as William Shakespeare.

Now Miss Chute, about the defendant,

did Mr. Kraft
say anything to you about her

during any of the days
immediately preceding his death?

He did just the day before.

He told me he knew she'd been lying to him
to get money out of him.

He said that she'd been
using her brother as an excuse

and that he was going to get rid of her
before she tried anything worse.

Cross examine.

On the day Joseph Kraft d*ed,

you went to see him
in response to his phone call

about Gene Torg.
What time was that?

About : , I think.

He'd just come back
from the corner restaurant.

[Mason]
What time did you leave the bookstore?

Not later than : , I'd say.

Mr. Kraft was never good
for more than ten or minutes

of staying awake after supper.

You seem quite familiar
with Mr. Kraft's habits, Miss Chute.

Well, I've known him
for a number of years.

In fact, you were once
quite close to Mr. Kraft, isn't that right?

So close you even spoke
to your hairdresser about the possibility

of a marriage to "a rich old goat"?

Oh, yes, I knew he was rich all right.
Over $ , he'd saved.

But he wasn't about to share it
with anyone else

who was in on the book racket.

Because I heard him
telling the defendant once

how much money he had in the bank,

and that if she minded her Ps and Qs,
they'd just keep it in the family;

she'd get every bit.

The rule is much the same
in every big library, Mr. Mason--

anyone using the rare-book collection
either must be known to us

or have the proper credentials.

And either known
or with the proper credentials,

- they still must sign this register?
- Here at least they must.

Wouldn't the proper credentials
be rather easy to forge?

But then the autograph also
would have to be forged.

You and the police
both went over this, Mr. Drake.

But I didn't.
And there's something in these back pages

I want to look for, Paul.

Wait a minute, wait a minute--
there's a page missing.

th, th-- the th is gone,

torn out.

It must have been done recently,

because a man from the District Attorney's
office was here only yesterday looking at it.

Perry, the th-- that was just
the day before Mr. Kraft d*ed.

I want to see today's entries.

Ashcraft, Jorgensen, Baxter,

Freilinghurst, Lawrence,
Weigel, Norland.

Peter Norland.

Doesn't this come under the general heading
of breaking and entering?

Mmm, Ellen gave me her key.

Besides, we have
Lieutenant Tragg's permission.

That was ten days ago.

He didn't set any time limit.

[doorknob turns]

[classical music playing]

[light switch clicks]

Thanks. He got away,
but at least I got in one punch.

- You all right?
- Yeah.

- Did you see who it was.
- No.

All right, Paul, you watch the office
while I go into the washroom.

- Watch the office?
- Watch the office.

- [switch clicks]
- [classical music playing]

Well, that proves the flies
were right all along.

The flies were right?

I want a couple dozen in the morning.

A couple of dozen flies?

All right, Mr. Mason,

the witnesses have been excluded
from the courtroom as you requested.

You may proceed.

Your Honor.

With Lieutenant Tragg
to check me should I go wrong,

let us assume that this is the office
of Joseph Kraft on the evening of the m*rder.

We know that Mr. Kraft
locked himself in at about : .

At : ,
according to what we've heard,

he woke from a nap.

It was cold and dark.

So he turned on his reading light,
the heater and the radio.

Shortly thereafter followed
the trick with the gas meter,

putting out the pilot light,

thus allowing the gas to escape,

k*lling Kraft
and the only other living thing present,

some ordinary house flies.

[Tragg]
But there were no dead flies on the floor;

only on the sills of the two windows.

[Mason] Which proves
there must have been enough daylight

to attract the flies to the windows.

Now according to the Weather Bureau,

twilight extended only to :
that particular evening,

so the gas had to have been released
prior to that time.

In other words,
Joseph Kraft was k*lled before : .

Mr. Mason, how do you suggest
that a dead man

inside a locked room

could have turned on his lamp
and his radio after : ?

Also in the washroom, Mr. Burger,
is the fuse box for the bookstore.

The k*ller pulled the fuse to the office,

then turned on the lamp
and the radio in that office

before Mr. Kraft had even entered it,

perhaps while he was out
having supper.

Then at : , with Kraft
either unconscious or dead,

the k*ller simply replaced the fuse.

And on came
the lamp and the radio.

Your Honor, at this time may we call
the witnesses

- back to the courtroom?
- Bailiff?

First I would like to call
the state's expert...

Professor Muntz to the stand.

All right, yes yes,
I was in the store last night.

I realized sooner or later
they'd discover

that I was the one
who'd been stealing the books,

so I was afraid
they'd charge me with Kraft's m*rder.

I knew Miss Carter must be innocent,

so I set about trying to find out
what really happened, and I ended up with
this.

Let me see if I understand

how this substitution racket of yours
worked, Professor Muntz.

That's some expert witness.
Who recommended him?

Who recommended him?

Perry Mason.

[Muntz] ...leave the stolen volume
in a shelf in the store...

A man named Perry Mason.

[Mason]
...no longer be identified.

- [Muntz] Well, I had no part in that.
- Perry Mason.

How did Mr. Kraft pay your $ , fee
for having stolen the book?

By placing the money
in an agreed-upon volume

in the English Literature
section of the store.

Did you get the $ ,
for the Tristam Shandy?

No. When I looked, it wasn't there.
I telephoned Kraft.

He said someone must have taken it--
someone he thought he knew.

Did he agree to leave
another $ , there for you?

Yes. And when I looked,
that wasn't there either.

Now Professor,

where were you between
: and : on the evening of the m*rder?

Oddly enough, I was giving a talk

on rare books
of the th century

before the Librarians' Club.

And you still maintain you know nothing
about the $ , found in the apartment?

- That's the truth, Mr. Mason.
- All right.

Where were you between : and :
on the day Mr. Kraft was k*lled?

In a poker game. I was there all day.

: to : ? That's easy.

I stopped to have my hair done
on the way home from seeing Mr. Kraft.

I know it sounds like I'm kidding,

but I was getting a haircut, shave, shampoo,
manicure-- the works-- at that same time.

Yes, I was in the bookstore
that evening from : to : .

I've never denied that.

And part of this time
you were alone in the store?

I suppose.
Business is generally slack then.

Now when you and Miss Carter

heard Kraft turn his radio on,

where were you?

Just returning
from the washroom, perhaps?

Well, I suppose,
if Miss Carter claims.

No supposing, Mr. Pickson,
you were there.

You started the radio going
by replacing the fuse to Kraft's office.

By the time the radio warmed up,
you had joined Miss Carter.

But he wasn't dead then.

If he wasn't dead, Mr. Pickson, he certainly
was well on his way to being dead--

dead through your manipulation
of the gas line--

No. No!

--turned off and then on again

after you had sneaked out into the alley
and peered through a window

to make sure he was asleep.

No! No one saw me.

I'd hated him for years.

But do you know
what the final straw was?

[chuckles]

He called me a thief.

He was going to dismiss me

for finding that $ , in the book

and refusing to give it to him.

I felt that,
under the circumstances,

it was finder's keepers.

I didn't know it was his money.
I didn't know anything about that.

I'd been plotting the old pirate's m*rder
for a long time

as a sort of enjoyable mental exercise.

Only it wasn't quite so...

enjoyable after all.

Here you are, Mr. Mason.

What you originally started out to get--

the missing volume
of Manning & Granger's Reports.

- And with it, my lifelong thanks.
- That's very nice, Ellen.

I'm going to have a lifelong question
in my head, Perry,

if you don't tell me.

Who put the $ , in Ellen's apartment?

I can answer that one--
Pickson to implicate her.

He says it's the only thing
he's really sorry for.

But Perry, how did you get on
to the fact

that Professor Muntz
was in on that book thing?

When I discovered the Cosgrove library
had a very famous collection of Sterne,

it bothered me that our expert
hadn't quite seemed to know about it.

Then when I saw his signature
several times in their register...

All we noticed was Peter Norland's name.

I guess Peter thought
we weren't solving things quite fast enough.

He figured he might be able to identify
the thief through his handwriting.

Oh, of all the silly things to do. Why?

Let's ask him why.

Peter, what's the real reason

you're hanging around
and interfering so much?

Well, now if you'd really like to know,

I've been trying
to get up enough nerve

to ask Miss Carter to marry me.

[theme music playing]