Peter Gunn (1958) s01e20 Episode Script
Pecos Pete
1
© BF-WATCH TV 2021 Oh, what's up?
There's a man waiting for you over at that table.
That's the second fifth he's had, and
he's just as sober as when he walked in.
Do you want her to see me?
Depends on who you are.
Peter Gunn.
Sit down.
I'm Clay Baxter.
I'm from Texas.
I'm a cattleman, Mr. Gunn.
I own over 40,000 acres of the finest
grazing land in the state of Texas.
When I want something done, make it a
practice of hiring the very best people.
I hear you're the best.
I also make it a practice to pay top dollar.
There's 2,000.
Satisfactory?
What did you have in mind?
My brother Ross was killed yesterday.
Happened on my ranch.
Sheriff and coroner said it was an accident.
I don't believe it.
Why not?
Ross was too good a horseman.
If he'd have fallen from his horse,
he'd have taken a fall right.
Might have busted up something,
but I wouldn't have killed him.
Ross was murdered.
By who?
That's what I want you to find out.
There's your airplane ticket, flight 32.
I'll meet you at the airport in 40 minutes.
That's not much notice.
There'll be an additional
5,000 when you find the person.
The person who killed my brother.
Is that notice enough?
I haven't been to Texas since I was a boy.
Airport in 40 minutes.
Hi.
Say, do you know a home on the range?
Well, I think we could work something out.
Well, look, um
You practice up.
I'll be back.
Where are you going?
Texas.
You're kidding.
Yeah.
Smile when you say that, partner.
Why?
Why what?
Why do you have to go to Texas?
Honey, there comes a time when everybody's
got to go to Texas.
I'll see you when I get back.
It's about four hours flying time to Texas, but we ran
into some weather and were grounded most of the day.
It was evening when we found ourselves
over Texas, and that's quite a trick.
Hardly anything's over Texas.
Morning comes early on a ranch.
Comes particularly early at the Baxter Ranch House.
A ranch house is a Texas expression
meaning more rooms in the Pentagon building.
Good morning, Mr. Gunn.
Good morning.
We went right ahead with breakfast.
Didn't see any point in waking you.
Sit down.
What do you have?
Coffee's fine.
Mr. Gunn will have some coffee.
Wilma?
This is Mr. Peter Gunn.
Wilma Baxter, my brother's widow.
How do you do?
How you doing?
How do you do, Mr. Gunn?
This is Jim Billings, the sheriff around here.
How do you do, sheriff?
Howdy, Mr. Gunn.
Called over Jim this morning because I
thought you two should get together.
Jim's been investigating my brother's death.
Do you think it was an accident, sheriff?
The coroner called it that.
Claims Ross had his head in a rock.
You don't believe that, Jim?
Well, it's not a question of what I believe.
Now, Ross Baxter was a pretty good rider.
He could have been thrown.
All the evidence says he was.
What could have caused the horse to shy?
Snake.
Maybe.
Not that horse, and you know it, Jim.
Well, he could have stepped in a Chuck hole.
Now, he was limping pretty bad when he got
back to the barn.
Where'd this happen?
A couple of miles from here.
I'd like to have a look.
I'll have some horses saddled right out there.
By the way, Mr. Gunn, how are you with the horse?
Well, I'm a little rusty, but we usually
manage to wind up together.
Reckon we ought to get going, then.
Almost six O'clock, day's half gone.
Morning, Frank.
Oh, morning, Mr. Baxter.
Sheriff.
This is Peter Gunn, Frank.
Mr. Gunn, this is Frank Kelly, one of my top hands.
How do you do?
Mrs. Baxter tells me you're a detective.
No, uh, more of an investigator, Frank.
Oh?
Why do you investigate?
Sometimes people, when they seem too
curious about what I'm investigating.
Uh, saddle up some horses, Frank.
We're gonna take a ride out.
Yes, sir.
Nice-looking horses.
Thanks.
That's one of the lots over here.
Yes, sir.
That's Ross's horse.
Was.
Oh, Frank!
Better saddle up the black one for Mr. Gunn.
Hey, boy.
You investigate horses, too?
He's a little skittish with that bad leg.
Might kick you.
I wouldn't fuss with him.
Oh, he seems friendly enough.
The other horses are ready, Mr. Gunn.
I'd like to get you saddled up.
Mr. Baxter doesn't like to be kept waiting.
His body was right there.
You say he hit his head on a rock.
Now that one right there.
It never make me believe he took a fall.
Why should anyone want to kill your brother, Mr. Baxter?
40,000 acres, ranch cattle worth maybe 25 million.
Ross owned half the ranch.
What are you driving at?
Wilma, his wife.
She stands to inherit everything he owns.
Half of 40,000 acres is a lot of ranch.
Half of $25 million is a lot of motor.
All that's been considered, Mr. Gunn.
Now, if Ross had been killed, there's a
few people I'd suspect.
But the point is, you have to prove he was murdered.
I had an idea about that horse.
There was an inflamed area on his flank as though
it had been stuck or jabbed with some instrument.
Someone had wanted the horse to appear lame.
Clay Baxter seemed anxious to indict Wilma.
So anxious that Baxter himself was a
pretty fair possibility.
And then there was Baxter's top hand,
Frank, rather suspicious of strangers,
which could incline a stranger to be
rather suspicious of him.
And then there was the sheriff.
He didn't seem to suspect anyone.
Good morning, Sheriff.
Howdy, Jim.
Well, it looks like you bucked yourself a bronco, Mr. Gunn.
Did I?
Well, the coroner says that rock you
brought in don't match Ross's head wound.
I didn't think it would.
Come on, Doc.
Clay, I suppose Jim told you about the rock, Mr. Gunn.
What about the autopsy?
Ross didn't die from a skull fracture.
What was it?
A long, thin instrument was jabbed into his upper eyelid.
Pierced the brain.
Killer probably used the same instrument.
It must have been on Ross's horse.
That horse doesn't have a game leg.
He has a badly inflamed hip.
It's infected as though it's been jabbed with something.
You said Ross's body was found by a couple of old miners?
Yeah, Luke and Phineas Merriweather.
Two of the orneriest old coots you'll ever meet.
I'd like to meet them.
They own an old silver mine about ten miles out of town.
You wouldn't care to ride out with us, would you, Sheriff?
Nope.
Wouldn't want to break your streak.
Mr. Gunn.
Oh, just the boys' ways of telling us not
to come any closer, less than they tell us.
Luke!
Pettis!
What you want?
Clay Baxter here.
Got a friend who wants to talk to you.
This is a It's important!
It's about my brother!
It's about his brother.
The dead one we found the other day.
Well, all right.
Tell one of them to come on down.
Baxter!
Yeah, Luke.
Send your friend down.
Well?
I understand you boys found Ross Baxter.
Good.
Did you notice anything unusual?
See anyone around?
You a detective?
No.
You're asking detective questions.
Actually, I'm a private investigator.
So, uh, you're investigating Ross's death.
Why?
I think he was killed.
Maybe you think we done it.
Did you?
Well, thanks, boys.
Rabbit.
Ha ha, supper.
Well, it went clear through, just under the collarbone.
Didn't break anything.
Uh, well, Mr. Gunn?
Well, what?
Well, who do we arrest?
I don't know.
Clay said it might have been one of the Meriwether boys.
No, I don't think so.
The Meriwethers were carrying shotguns.
Clay was shot with a rifle.
Well, I, I better tell, uh, Wilma.
She's probably worried.
I'll look sure if she's sitting right
Doc, do you carry some surgical probes?
Yes, but I'd like to borrow them.
Well, I don't know.
I It's important.
Thanks.
Then.
I didn't know you were a vet.
Good evening, Mrs. Baxter.
Tell me, what you doing with Ross's horse?
I was just trying to help him out a little bit.
He's had a pretty rugged time.
Somebody jabbed a piece of this needle in his flank.
My goodness, what a cruel thing to do.
Well, it wasn't exactly cruelty, Mrs. Baxter.
It was part of a murder plan.
Ross's death was accidental, Mr. Gunn.
The accident was planned.
Your husband was knocked off his horse, then killed.
Then somebody jabbed this needle in the
horse's flank to make him pull up lame.
Looked like he'd shy.
You mean somebody deliberately killed Ross?
That same someone tried to kill me this evening.
But they missed.
They got Clay instead.
Mrs. Baxter, I'd like to borrow one of your horses.
Why, yes, of course.
I've got to ride out to the Merriweathers.
The two miners?
They saw the murderer.
Now, why didn't they speak up before this?
They were afraid.
Said they didn't figure it was any of their business.
But I want to get a sworn statement from them.
The trap, the killer.
We ain't interested in trapping killers.
Yeah, well, I think you
Don't move.
All right, put the gun on the table.
Nice and easy.
Why did you kill Ross Baxter?
Wilma talked me into it.
She promised me a share of the rat.
Ah, come on, you can tell it to the sheriff.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
What an asshole.
Ah, ah, I'll leave it to you.
Ahem.
Ah, ah, ah.
Just a mistake.
I know, I know.
I know, I know.
I know, I know.
But.
It means the same thing.
How come you didn't write?
Marked sure the stage would get through.
Engines?
Freeway.
How are things on the ring?
Not so good, ma'am.
Somebody said a discouraging word.
Crazy.
That's the word.
Ten gallons?
Yep.
Pull her up, Barney.
Come on, little gal.
I'm hankering for some vittles.
I'm hankering for some vittles.
I'm hankering for some vittles.
I'm hankering for some vittles.
I'm hankering for some vittles.
I'm hankering for some vittles.
I'm hankering for some vittles.
© BF-WATCH TV 2021 Oh, what's up?
There's a man waiting for you over at that table.
That's the second fifth he's had, and
he's just as sober as when he walked in.
Do you want her to see me?
Depends on who you are.
Peter Gunn.
Sit down.
I'm Clay Baxter.
I'm from Texas.
I'm a cattleman, Mr. Gunn.
I own over 40,000 acres of the finest
grazing land in the state of Texas.
When I want something done, make it a
practice of hiring the very best people.
I hear you're the best.
I also make it a practice to pay top dollar.
There's 2,000.
Satisfactory?
What did you have in mind?
My brother Ross was killed yesterday.
Happened on my ranch.
Sheriff and coroner said it was an accident.
I don't believe it.
Why not?
Ross was too good a horseman.
If he'd have fallen from his horse,
he'd have taken a fall right.
Might have busted up something,
but I wouldn't have killed him.
Ross was murdered.
By who?
That's what I want you to find out.
There's your airplane ticket, flight 32.
I'll meet you at the airport in 40 minutes.
That's not much notice.
There'll be an additional
5,000 when you find the person.
The person who killed my brother.
Is that notice enough?
I haven't been to Texas since I was a boy.
Airport in 40 minutes.
Hi.
Say, do you know a home on the range?
Well, I think we could work something out.
Well, look, um
You practice up.
I'll be back.
Where are you going?
Texas.
You're kidding.
Yeah.
Smile when you say that, partner.
Why?
Why what?
Why do you have to go to Texas?
Honey, there comes a time when everybody's
got to go to Texas.
I'll see you when I get back.
It's about four hours flying time to Texas, but we ran
into some weather and were grounded most of the day.
It was evening when we found ourselves
over Texas, and that's quite a trick.
Hardly anything's over Texas.
Morning comes early on a ranch.
Comes particularly early at the Baxter Ranch House.
A ranch house is a Texas expression
meaning more rooms in the Pentagon building.
Good morning, Mr. Gunn.
Good morning.
We went right ahead with breakfast.
Didn't see any point in waking you.
Sit down.
What do you have?
Coffee's fine.
Mr. Gunn will have some coffee.
Wilma?
This is Mr. Peter Gunn.
Wilma Baxter, my brother's widow.
How do you do?
How you doing?
How do you do, Mr. Gunn?
This is Jim Billings, the sheriff around here.
How do you do, sheriff?
Howdy, Mr. Gunn.
Called over Jim this morning because I
thought you two should get together.
Jim's been investigating my brother's death.
Do you think it was an accident, sheriff?
The coroner called it that.
Claims Ross had his head in a rock.
You don't believe that, Jim?
Well, it's not a question of what I believe.
Now, Ross Baxter was a pretty good rider.
He could have been thrown.
All the evidence says he was.
What could have caused the horse to shy?
Snake.
Maybe.
Not that horse, and you know it, Jim.
Well, he could have stepped in a Chuck hole.
Now, he was limping pretty bad when he got
back to the barn.
Where'd this happen?
A couple of miles from here.
I'd like to have a look.
I'll have some horses saddled right out there.
By the way, Mr. Gunn, how are you with the horse?
Well, I'm a little rusty, but we usually
manage to wind up together.
Reckon we ought to get going, then.
Almost six O'clock, day's half gone.
Morning, Frank.
Oh, morning, Mr. Baxter.
Sheriff.
This is Peter Gunn, Frank.
Mr. Gunn, this is Frank Kelly, one of my top hands.
How do you do?
Mrs. Baxter tells me you're a detective.
No, uh, more of an investigator, Frank.
Oh?
Why do you investigate?
Sometimes people, when they seem too
curious about what I'm investigating.
Uh, saddle up some horses, Frank.
We're gonna take a ride out.
Yes, sir.
Nice-looking horses.
Thanks.
That's one of the lots over here.
Yes, sir.
That's Ross's horse.
Was.
Oh, Frank!
Better saddle up the black one for Mr. Gunn.
Hey, boy.
You investigate horses, too?
He's a little skittish with that bad leg.
Might kick you.
I wouldn't fuss with him.
Oh, he seems friendly enough.
The other horses are ready, Mr. Gunn.
I'd like to get you saddled up.
Mr. Baxter doesn't like to be kept waiting.
His body was right there.
You say he hit his head on a rock.
Now that one right there.
It never make me believe he took a fall.
Why should anyone want to kill your brother, Mr. Baxter?
40,000 acres, ranch cattle worth maybe 25 million.
Ross owned half the ranch.
What are you driving at?
Wilma, his wife.
She stands to inherit everything he owns.
Half of 40,000 acres is a lot of ranch.
Half of $25 million is a lot of motor.
All that's been considered, Mr. Gunn.
Now, if Ross had been killed, there's a
few people I'd suspect.
But the point is, you have to prove he was murdered.
I had an idea about that horse.
There was an inflamed area on his flank as though
it had been stuck or jabbed with some instrument.
Someone had wanted the horse to appear lame.
Clay Baxter seemed anxious to indict Wilma.
So anxious that Baxter himself was a
pretty fair possibility.
And then there was Baxter's top hand,
Frank, rather suspicious of strangers,
which could incline a stranger to be
rather suspicious of him.
And then there was the sheriff.
He didn't seem to suspect anyone.
Good morning, Sheriff.
Howdy, Jim.
Well, it looks like you bucked yourself a bronco, Mr. Gunn.
Did I?
Well, the coroner says that rock you
brought in don't match Ross's head wound.
I didn't think it would.
Come on, Doc.
Clay, I suppose Jim told you about the rock, Mr. Gunn.
What about the autopsy?
Ross didn't die from a skull fracture.
What was it?
A long, thin instrument was jabbed into his upper eyelid.
Pierced the brain.
Killer probably used the same instrument.
It must have been on Ross's horse.
That horse doesn't have a game leg.
He has a badly inflamed hip.
It's infected as though it's been jabbed with something.
You said Ross's body was found by a couple of old miners?
Yeah, Luke and Phineas Merriweather.
Two of the orneriest old coots you'll ever meet.
I'd like to meet them.
They own an old silver mine about ten miles out of town.
You wouldn't care to ride out with us, would you, Sheriff?
Nope.
Wouldn't want to break your streak.
Mr. Gunn.
Oh, just the boys' ways of telling us not
to come any closer, less than they tell us.
Luke!
Pettis!
What you want?
Clay Baxter here.
Got a friend who wants to talk to you.
This is a It's important!
It's about my brother!
It's about his brother.
The dead one we found the other day.
Well, all right.
Tell one of them to come on down.
Baxter!
Yeah, Luke.
Send your friend down.
Well?
I understand you boys found Ross Baxter.
Good.
Did you notice anything unusual?
See anyone around?
You a detective?
No.
You're asking detective questions.
Actually, I'm a private investigator.
So, uh, you're investigating Ross's death.
Why?
I think he was killed.
Maybe you think we done it.
Did you?
Well, thanks, boys.
Rabbit.
Ha ha, supper.
Well, it went clear through, just under the collarbone.
Didn't break anything.
Uh, well, Mr. Gunn?
Well, what?
Well, who do we arrest?
I don't know.
Clay said it might have been one of the Meriwether boys.
No, I don't think so.
The Meriwethers were carrying shotguns.
Clay was shot with a rifle.
Well, I, I better tell, uh, Wilma.
She's probably worried.
I'll look sure if she's sitting right
Doc, do you carry some surgical probes?
Yes, but I'd like to borrow them.
Well, I don't know.
I It's important.
Thanks.
Then.
I didn't know you were a vet.
Good evening, Mrs. Baxter.
Tell me, what you doing with Ross's horse?
I was just trying to help him out a little bit.
He's had a pretty rugged time.
Somebody jabbed a piece of this needle in his flank.
My goodness, what a cruel thing to do.
Well, it wasn't exactly cruelty, Mrs. Baxter.
It was part of a murder plan.
Ross's death was accidental, Mr. Gunn.
The accident was planned.
Your husband was knocked off his horse, then killed.
Then somebody jabbed this needle in the
horse's flank to make him pull up lame.
Looked like he'd shy.
You mean somebody deliberately killed Ross?
That same someone tried to kill me this evening.
But they missed.
They got Clay instead.
Mrs. Baxter, I'd like to borrow one of your horses.
Why, yes, of course.
I've got to ride out to the Merriweathers.
The two miners?
They saw the murderer.
Now, why didn't they speak up before this?
They were afraid.
Said they didn't figure it was any of their business.
But I want to get a sworn statement from them.
The trap, the killer.
We ain't interested in trapping killers.
Yeah, well, I think you
Don't move.
All right, put the gun on the table.
Nice and easy.
Why did you kill Ross Baxter?
Wilma talked me into it.
She promised me a share of the rat.
Ah, come on, you can tell it to the sheriff.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
What an asshole.
Ah, ah, I'll leave it to you.
Ahem.
Ah, ah, ah.
Just a mistake.
I know, I know.
I know, I know.
I know, I know.
But.
It means the same thing.
How come you didn't write?
Marked sure the stage would get through.
Engines?
Freeway.
How are things on the ring?
Not so good, ma'am.
Somebody said a discouraging word.
Crazy.
That's the word.
Ten gallons?
Yep.
Pull her up, Barney.
Come on, little gal.
I'm hankering for some vittles.
I'm hankering for some vittles.
I'm hankering for some vittles.
I'm hankering for some vittles.
I'm hankering for some vittles.
I'm hankering for some vittles.
I'm hankering for some vittles.