The Rockford Files (1974) s01e04 Episode Script

1
I know where I was.
I hired you to find Prentiss.
I found him. Murdered.
Suicide!
The gun was underneath the drapes
at least 15 feet from the body.
That gun was in the right hand
of the deceased.
I made you
a couple of promises.
There's nothing I'd hold you to.
Would you mind? I bruise easy.
I was thinking of having an affair
with him. I changed my mind.
But I want
you down at the station
tomorrow morning at 10:00.
And bring along that good lawyer of yours.
You're gonna need him.
Her.
This is Jim Rockford,
At the tone, leave your name
and message.
I'll get back to you.
It's Morey,
Got a call from Davis at the IRS.
You were right.
They bounced your return, Call me.
Bungalow 14. His car is there.
There's alight on in the room.
I knocked on the door,
with no answer.
Maybe he doesn't wanna answer.
Maybe he's got company.
Sergeant, would he tell his wife
where he is if he's got company?
I think something's wrong
and you ought to check it out.
I can't go in that room.
It'd be breaking and entering.
We can't go in, either.
We don't have any authority.
You can get it.
Look, Sergeant, the man's wife
is really worried.
He was supposed to call her at
10:00 tonight and he didn't.
She rang his room for
an hour straight. No answer.
Where's she live?
Pasadena.
Pasadena. That's just 45
minutes on the freeway, tops.
If she's so worried,
why didn't she come here herself?
She has the flu.
Sergeant, she talked
to her husband this afternoon.
He seemed very disturbed
about something.
You know, we don't get very
many private investigators
here in Bay City.
Couple of bucks for a piece paper,
that don't buy you nothing here.
It's $275
and $50 the last day of May
of every even numbered year.
Now will you check the motel?
You're gonna have to do it sooner or later.
If I've to call up Mrs. Carr,
as upset as she is,
she's gonna be on the phone to
everybody from your Chief on down.
If that doesn't work--
I don't like being threatened.
I don't blame you.
That kind of thing ticks me off, too.
But that's Mrs. Carr for you.
You should've seen the number
she pulled in Santa Monica.
That was just over
a traffic ticket.
Ran in a superior court judge.
If you could--
All right, you made your point.
We'll take a look.
Just how much money you getting
paid for us doing your job for you?
Well, the rates are
pretty much standardized.
How much?
It's $200 a day, plus expenses.
But that's not day in
and day out.
I mean, there's actually days, weeks,
I'm standing in the Unemployment line.
Hey, it'd save a lot of time
if I go along with you.
You ride around much
with the cops in L.A.?
It depends on
the circumstances.
Yeah. You're not riding
with us neither.
Hey, you, Rockford.
Lieutenant wants to see you.
Jim. That means James.
James Rockford, Private Investigator.
Office in LA.
What are you doing
in Bay City?
I explained all that to the
Sergeant-- Explain it to me.
Now, what's your connection
with this Prentiss Carr?
There's no connection.
I met him a couple of years ago.
I'm a friend of Mrs. Carr's.
Good friend?
Yeah. A good friend.
Look Lieutenant--
So she hired you to check up
on her husband, right?
Yeah.
She was worried about him.
Mrs. Carr was
worried about him.
She would've come herself,
only she was sick.
If she's so sick,
why isn't she home?
She is.
No, she isn't.
We've been trying to reach her
for the last hour.
Why have you been
trying to reach her?
She was right to be worried
about her husband.
He's dead.
Dead?
Yeah.
Dead. That that's hard to believe.
What happened?
He committed suicide.
Suicide!
You got something
says it wasn't suicide?
What makes you so sure it was?
What business is it of yours?
Like I told you,
I'm a friend of the family.
Oh, yeah, I forgot.
Well, it's no secret.
The door was locked.
No sign of a forced entry.
No sign of a struggle.
That gun was in the right hand
of the deceased.
And there were powder burns
on the wound in the belly.
Wait a minute. Now who'd commit
suicide with a shot to the belly?
Prentiss Carr.
When you talked to Prentiss,
did he say who he was
meeting in Bay City?
No. He was vague about the whole thing.
And disturbed.
That's why I was so worried
when I couldn't reach him.
Why I didn't want to go
down there myself.
Did you see him?
Yeah. I saw him.
Well?
Where were you tonight, Janet?
Here.
I asked you about Prentiss.
I called here.
There was no answer.
I went to an all-night drug
store down on Orange Grove.
I didn't have
anything to read.
Get bored with
all the travel folders?
You were gone at least
two hours that I know of.
Maybe longer.
I went through the magazine racks.
I always go through the magazine racks.
You should remember that.
Look, I didn't hire you to find out
where I was. I know where I was.
I hired you to find Prentiss.
I found him.
He's dead, Janet.
Murdered.
Prentiss?
Prentiss.
How did it happen?
Who?
I don't know.
I was hoping
you could tell me.
You can't think that
I killed him.
I haven't seen you
in four years.
I don't know what's happened to you,
what's happened to your marriage.
I didn't kill Prentiss.
Now that doesn't make any sense.
I sent you there.
None of it makes any sense.
I found him, Janet.
He was shot.
The gun wasn't anywhere
near his body.
There's no question
it was murder.
I asked the police to
go check the room,
and I didn't tell them
that I'd been inside.
They came back with
a verdict of suicide.
I don't understand.
Neither do I.
Did you call them on it?
I wanted to
talk to you first.
You see, the minute that I make it
murder, two things happen.
I make my client a suspect, and I
have to admit that I was in that room.
I don't care if I'm a suspect.
I didn't kill Prentiss.
So you better tell the police
that you were in that room.
Because if you don't, I will.
Okay, I will.
In the meantime, when they contact
you, don't say anything about it.
It's gonna be bad enough
coming from me.
Jim?
Don't go.
I don't want to
be alone tonight. Please.
I can fix up the guest room.
The cops'll be dropping by
any minute.
Believe me,
they wouldn't understand.
And, Janet,
I'd get rid of those travel folders.
That's something else
they wouldn't understand.
I'll see you tomorrow.
After I've tried to explain
that false report I made.
I'm sure the Lieutenant has some
simple, reasonable explanation
for our difference of opinion.
You both know Mr. Rockford.
Yes, sir, we've met.
We heard you were back.
Mr. Rockford has brought some very
serious charges against you two.
I didn't make any charges.
I just gave you the facts.
You came to your
own conclusions.
My conclusion is this:
Mr. Rockford has accused you
of obstructing justice
and tampering with evidence
in a capital crime.
He claims Prentiss Carr
was murdered
and you two rearranged things
to make it look like suicide.
That's a lie.
What are you talking about?
I was in that room before I came here
last night. The door was unlocked.
The door was locked.
We had to get the manager to let us in.
There was a chair
knocked over.
It looked like
whoever pulled the trigger
must've panicked
and ran for the door.
No chair knocked over.
There was no
sign of a struggle at all.
The gun was underneath the drapes
at least 15 feet from the body.
The gun was in his right hand.
Powder burns on the wound.
All right, he was shot at close range.
Did you run a paraffin test?
We didn't need to.
We've got two eyes.
The paraffin test isn't
conclusive, Mr. Rockford.
You know,
according to this statement,
last night you said
you didn't enter the room.
Last night I signed anything
they wanted me to sign.
I didn't have
an unbiased witness around.
You still don't.
I'm biased.
I've known both of these men
for along time.
Lt. Furlong, 18 years.
Medal of Valor winner.
Coming up for retirement.
Lars has been with us
12 years in August.
They're good men
and they're good cops.
You?
I never saw you before
in my life.
Now why would I come in here with a
story like that if it wasn't true?
What it boils down to is
your word against the word of
two men I know and trust.
Now, if I go ahead and
investigate those allegations,
you and I both know
we'll end up right back here
in the same place
we are right now.
A standoff.
In the meantime, we'd get something
going that's bad for Department morale,
bad for public confidence,
bad all the way around.
Prentiss Carr
committed suicide.
Your office is in L.A., right,
Mr. Rockford?
My office is a trailer.
At the moment,
it's parked in LA.
Yeah. Well, the next time you
feel like a change of scenery
don't come looking
for it in Bay City.
Get out.
You were following me.
I spotted you when I left the station.
I just didn't believe you'd
tail me in that Que-and-white.
You know, most cops use
unmarked cars, sedans,
and something in
a neutral color.
You gonna keep
working that mouth, or listen?
I'm gonna listen.
All right,
Chief put it to you his way
I'm gonna put it to you mine.
Stay out of Bay City.
You're making it kind of hard for
me, Lieutenant.
I can't stay out
until you let me leave.
And I can't leave as long
as you're leaning on me.
We're not leaning on
you, Rockford.
Leaning means that if you're
stupid enough to come back here,
and we pull you over
for a traffic violation,
you reach in for your ID,
we think you're going for a gun.
It's all over and too late
when we find out we were wrong.
That's leaning.
You tried to burn us
with the Chief.
I don't know why
and I don't care.
Being a private investigator, I guess
you've got your own creepy reasons.
But I'm not gonna forget it.
So if I see you coming
across that city line,
I'm gonna come down
on you so hard
you're gonna have to reach up
to put your shoes on.
You got it?
Got it.
Get it out of here. Fast.
Turn it off.
If you've come to apologize for last
night, I'm prepared to be generous.
Is it that bad?
They didn't file charges against you?
No. They just ran me
out of town.
Bay City has Prentiss
down as a suicide,
and that's the way
it's gonna stay.
I don't understand, why?
They just didn't like
what I had to say.
At least
you've cleared yourself.
They can never claim you didn't
try to tell them the truth.
It's a marvelous machine.
Prentiss bought it for me.
Didn't realize how demanding
tennis was.
Skip a day
and your game is shot.
Yeah, it'd be a shame
to lose your backhand, too.
Prentiss is dead, and I'm
sorry, whatever you think.
Genuinely and deeply sorry.
But I'm not going to pretend
emotions I don't feel.
I married Prentiss
because I loved him.
And I kept on loving him, even though it
was obvious that he no longer loved me.
How many affairs do you think
it takes to kill a marriage?
I really don't know.
Neither do I.
I lost count.
I thought maybe after he'd
get tired of playing around,
he'd want the marriage
as much as I did.
Didn't work out that way.
So we settled
for an arrangement.
We settled for
liking each other.
If my husband didn't demand hypocrisy
of me, I don't know why you should.
No love, no hard feelings?
That's right.
Where were you last night,
Janet?
We're back to that again?
Yeah. And we're gonna keep coming
back to it till you tell me the truth.
I told you the truth.
You didn't even tell me
a good lie.
You should pick a place
where they don't know you.
They know you at the drug store.
You weren't there.
Where I was is my business.
Now you made it my business last night
when you sent me looking for Prentiss.
Now, you told me you were ”I,
you weren't.
You told me you went to
the drug store and you didn't.
You told me you called me
from home.
Maybe you called me
from Bay City.
Do I have to remind you again
that if I had killed Prentiss,
I wouldn't be idiotic enough to
send you out to check up on him?
I make a good alibi.
Now, where were you, Janet?
I was out.
That much I know.
I was with somebody.
Come on, Janet.
A man.
That's not enough.
He's a member of the club.
That's still not enough.
His name is Sterling Parker.
All right,
you wanna know everything?
I was thinking of having an affair
with him. I changed my mind.
What changed it?
Two hours in the front seat of
a sports car!
Come in.
I'm going to Tahiti.
That isn't necessary.
Why don't you just tell me
you're sorry you lied to me?
Why don't you cooperate
so I can make a reservation?
I can't leave till this is resolved.
I wouldn't feel right.
Between your tennis lessons
and your travel folders,
I hate to tell you
what you're doing to
the whole mystique of
widowhood.
Not to mention the fact that your
attitude makes you look guilty as hell.
If the police ever change
their decision on suicide,
you wouldn't make
a bad suspect yourself.
We've enjoyed
a prior relationship
and there's only our word that
it ended when I got married.
You were in the motel room,
you found Prentiss.
And the Bay City Police
don't like you.
That puts you way up
on the list.
Sandbagging never works with me, Janet.
It just makes me unfriendly.
That wasn't sandbagging.
I was only demonstrating how easy it would
be to argue a case proving your guilt.
Only, I wouldn't believe you were guilty.
I know you.
Cataloguing my virtues
won't work, either.
I hold them to a minimum so
they're easy to keep a track of.
What will work?
I think I may have something to
point you in another direction.
I was going through
some of Prentiss' things
and I found this in
one of his suit jackets.
Bay City liquors.
There's a delivery charge
I could check on.
Could I borrow your
car tomorrow?
What's the matter with yours?
The Bay City Police
are gonna be looking for mine.
Was Prentiss still
with that insurance company?
Yes. But you won't find
anything there.
I'll let you know.
Jim,
I know I have to get used
to being alone eventually.
But not yet.
I don't have a guest room.
I do.
Come in, Mr. Rockford.
Thank you for seeing me,
Mr. Saunders.
Well, not at all.
I want to do anything I can to be of help.
Here, I think you'll find
this comfortable. Thank you.
What would you like to know?
I'd appreciate anything you could
tell me about Prentiss Carr.
That would be a good deal.
See, Prentiss was with us almost
since the inception of the firm.
He grew right along with the company.
He was Controller, you know,
and was about to be named
Executive Vice President.
There was nothing here in his work,
that might have disturbed him?
Not that I can think of.
His department was in great shape.
The books all balanced.
Sounds like
the ideal employee.
He was. He'll be a hard man
to replace.
Is that all?
There's not much you can ask about
somebody too good to be true.
I guess we all have a tendency
to eulogize the dead.
But I didn't exaggerate
his importance to the firm.
Personally, he was a
practical, phlegmatic man.
He doesn't sound like
a candidate for suicide.
No. And when I heard what had
happened, I didn't believe it.
Do you believe it now?
In view of the evidence
and the police report, yes.
I don't understand it,
but I believe it.
Thank you, Mr. Saunders.
Not at all.
This is Mr. Carr, P.H. Carr.
I'd like you to send me over
a bottle of your best Scotch,
a six-pack of soda.
Usual address.
Immediate delivery.
Carr. Ce-A-R-R. Who is this?
You new there?
Look, the charge number is
614-21242.
Yeah, send it over right now
if you will.
The sooner the better.
Thank you.
You made good time.
You beat me here.
That is the order for Carr,
isn't it?
Yeah.
Yeah. All right, here.
No.
It's supposed to be a charge.
That's all right.
That's a tip, son. You keep it.
Thank you.
Thanks, Mr. Carr.
What are you doing here?
Hi, Lieutenant.
What're you doing
out of Bay City?
This is Bay City.
No. This is Oak Grove.
It's Bay City,
and you know it.
Well, now, I'm not very good
on directions,
but I can't be that far off.
Are you sure?
Out of the car. Out.
Sergeant, would you mind putting
that thing away? I mean--
All right. Hands against the top.
Spread 'em!
Lieutenant--
Shut up.
He's clean.
All right, now we had
a conversation,
and I made you
a couple of promises.
There's nothing
I'd hold you to.
Would you mind?
I bruise easy.
How easy? That easy?
I'm not gonna ask you what
you're doing here in Bay City.
I just wanna know what you're doing
here, on this particular street.
That's it, pal, that's it.
Now, I don't wanna play
your little game anymore,
and I don't have to
tell you squat.
Where'd you learn
to be so tough, Rockford?
In the joint?
That's right. We checked your
record, and you are an ex-con.
You should have read the
report all the way through.
I'm not on parole.
I got a full pardon.
Let's just say you
got yourself a good lawyer.
I still have a good lawyer.
You're gonna need
a good lawyer,
unless you got a good reason
for being here.
I don't need a good reason
for being here.
You may not want me
in Bay City,
but there's no law
to keep me out.
You're not very bright,
are you?
You're an ex-con
and we're cops.
You heard what the Chief said.
He admires and respects us.
So, if we decide to play it
rough, believe me, we can hang you
and there's nothing
you can do about it.
You're a real credit
to the force.
All right, I'm gonna tell
you once more and that's it.
We don't want you here
in Bay City
and we don't want you messing
in that suicide.
You understand?
All right,
we're gonna let you go.
Only, this time,
you make it permanent.
Changing cars doesn't make
you invisible, mister.
Now, if you decide to come
back here looking for trouble--
I'll know right
where to find it.
How did you know where I was?
I'm a detective.
Remember?
Did you get anywhere with that
receipt from the liquor store?
I'm not here to talk
about the receipt.
I'm here to talk about you.
I checked with the club.
They never heard of
a Sterling Parker.
He's not on
the membership roster
and he didn't have a guest card.
80, where were you?
Jim, please, don't be angry.
I didn't lie to you. Not really.
I just didn't tell you who he is.
Sol made up a name.
He is married.
He has two children.
He also has a name.
What is it?
Harry Fielding.
Harry Fielding.
Okay, Janet.
And this one better check out.
It'll check out.
And what about the receipt?
It paid off.
The girl's name is Nancy Hellman.
I followed her this morning
from her house to her office.
She's a secretary
in Bay City,
which gives me two hot prospects
for your husband's murder:
Nancy Hellman and you.
Now wait a minute.
You can't just say something like
that to me and then just walk off.
Look, Janet, either you're good
for this killing or you're not.
Now, I wanna believe all this.
I watched you.
You're very good at it.
But you also wanna
run off to Tahiti
and spend all the money
that Prentiss left you.
That makes me wonder why.
I bet your grandfather
was a preacher.
As a matter of fact,
he was a horse thief.
Gotta get my bumper fixed.
Are you sure you're not gonna
need the car now?
I don't drive much anymore.
Thanks a lot, Eddie.
I really appreciate it.
Just one thing.
When you come to a stop, throw it
in neutral and give it a little gas.
That way,
she won't die on you.
Eddie, I wanted a mature car so
it wouldn't attract attention.
If it's gonna die on me every
time I hit an intersection--
It won't die.
Just throw it in neutral.
And give it a little gas.
No wonder you don't do
too much driving, Eddie.
I'm sorry to keep you waiting.
I want you to take this car
to a guy named Eddie Smith.
His address is
on the registration.
You haven't seen Rocky around here,
have you? He should be here by now.
That's why you got me out here in the
middle of nowhere? To return a car for you?
No. I thought you might like to know
that you're not a suspect anymore.
What finally convinced you?
A very long
and awkward conversation
with Harry Fielding.
Look, Janet, if Rocky doesn't show
up here in the next 30 seconds,
I'm gonna have to borrow your car again.
I don't wanna chance it.
Where are you going?
Back to Bay City.
That liquor store receipt
really did pay off.
It led me to Nancy Hellman,
who led me to your husband's
boss, Eric Saunders.
Saunders?
Nancy Hellman's
blackmailing him.
I don't know
what she's got on him,
but they're both tied in with
Prentiss, so I think I should find out.
Hey, Rocky.
I'll call you after I talk to
Nancy Hellman.
When you're driving this car
and you come up to a stop
just put it in neutral and give it a
little gas. That way it won't die on you.
I got here
as quick as I could.
Yeah, I really appreciate it,
Rocky.
What'd you do, wash this thing?
Kind of an eye-catcher.
Twice a week. You don't see
one like this all the time.
You know what really
grabs people the most?
Those road lights up
on top of the roll bar.
I don't want to show it
in competition.
I just wanna drive it
for a couple of hours.
Rocky, how much?
I'll tell you what.
You might put in a little gas
just sort of
top off the tanks?
Thank you, Rocky.
Rocky?
You've got dual fuel tanks in this thing.
It'll take me 40 gallons.
Yeah, I don't use no regular,
no sir.
Rocky, if the cops weren't expecting
me to show up driving a car,
I'd tell you to
Cops? Hey, wait a minute!
Bay City Police, please.
Hold it, Rockford.
Where do you think you're going?
I'm leaving,
unless you got some charge you
wanna book me on, like murder.
You're looking
pretty good for it.
We saw you hanging around here
the other night.
You had opportunity.
How about motive?
I never even met Nancy Hellman.
If you wanna book me,
go right ahead.
Just let me use the phone
to call my lawyer.
Call on your own dime,
but we're not booking you now, anyway.
But I want you down at the
station tomorrow morning at 10:00.
And bring along that good lawyer of yours.
You're gonna need him.
Her.
I need the number for the
Bay City Police Department.
0-5-4-2-3-1.
Yes. There's a shooting
at the Kellogg Lumber Yard.
Sergeant, there's a shooting
going on down here.
Kellogg Lumber
Yard on Bay City Boulevard.
Jack Clark.
I work in the lumber yard.
I'm an employee here.
Come on, let's go.
I'm gonna kill you.
Shut up.
What you did to Nancy?
I'm gonna kill you.
Hold it.
Get up.
Get up against there.
Hands behind your back.
Come on, behind you.
I don't know who you are,
but Nancy Hellman was blackmailing
Eric Saunders. I wanna know why.
I don't know
what you're talking about.
Two people are dead because
they were dumb and greedy.
You're bucking
to make it three.
I got nothing to say.
You better have a lot to say.
It just might save your life.
Prentiss Carr was murdered
by Saunders
because he was trying
to shake him down.
Nancy Hellman was dusted off
for the same reason.
Nancy walked in on her boyfriend,
Prentiss, to help him count the money.
Only, she found him dead.
She didn't want
a murder investigation,
so she tried to make it look
like Carr committed suicide.
That means she knew why
Saunders was being blackmailed.
I think you know, too.
You're out of your mind.
I don't know nothing.
Okay. I'm sure somebody
called the cops.
We'll just wait here and
let you explain it to them.
Okay, let's get out of here.
Then we can talk.
There's a lot of money in this.
I mean, plenty.
You mean enough for both of us?
Yeah.
If you wanna deal.
I can make you a lot of money,
or I can keep my mouth shut.
I like the part about
making me a lot of money.
75-25. It's my information.
You'll never be able
to spend it in jail.
60-40?
You get the 60.
Okay. 60-40.
You were right about Nancy.
She was the one
who faked that guy's suicide,
so she could blackmail
Saunders herself.
Blackmail him with what?
Prentiss Carr was the Controller
in that insurance company.
He found out that Saunders was
selling policies
on things like
the Houghton Bridge,
the Mullhard Aqueduct,
big things like that.
Only, Saunders never sent the policies
back to the main office in New York.
He put them away in a safe,
collected the premiums
and put the money in
his personal account.
He's still collecting
about a half a million a year.
And we can get ours.
Half a million a year.
I can see where you could
work up an appetite.
Thanks a lot.
We going back for my car?
No. I'm turning you
over to the cops.
You said we had a deal.
I lied.
Okay, take him out.
The aqueduct's not insured, the bridge's
not insured, and the dam's not insured.
Saunders was working
with pretty good odds.
I mean,
whatever happens to a bridge?
Hold on a minute,
Mr. Rockford.
There's something I think
you should do before you go.
What's that?
I've already given Furlong and Larsen
hell about the way they hassled you,
but you've made some very
serious charges against them.
I think before you leave,
you should apologize.
You think
I should apologize to them?
There's no need to apologize.
Everything's fine.
Don't worry about it,
Chief. No sweat.
Then you two
better get back to work.
Goodbye, Mr. Rockford.
Bye.
You guys wanna know
what I think?
I think you should
buy me a drink.
You kidding?
I'm not gonna buy you a drink.
After the way you guys
were shoving me around,
it's the only
gentlemanly thing to do.
We ain't gentleman.
Neither one of us.
Come on, Earl,
let's buy him a drink.
Then we'll run him
out of town.
Now, why didn't I
think of that?
It's funny how things
work out, isn't it?
Prentiss blackmailing someone.
That's really
kind of colorful.
He's the one person I never
expected any surprises from.
We all have a few surprises.
Well,
I guess you'll be leaving
for Tahiti now?
Not right away, of course.
I have a couple of commitments first.
Such as?
There's a girl at the clinic
who's getting married.
I agreed to fill in for her
for a while.
It's only for a month until she
gets back from her honeymoon.
I've been going in
twice a week, anyway.
Now, don't look at me
like that.
I am not
the Lady with the Lamp.
I'm not going to devote
my life to good works.
I'm just doing a favor
for a friend, that's all.
Sure.
I mean it.
I'm going to Tahiti.
I'm just not going tomorrow.
A month, maybe?
Six weeks at the most.
I might as well stay
until the end of the semester.
Jim, I am going to Tahiti.
Sure you are.
I am.
Let's talk about it tomorrow,
okay?