The Rockford Files (1974) s02e07 Episode Script
The Real Easy Red Dog
This is Lieutenant Diehl speaking, Sergeant.
I got a body out here in the junkyard.
He's been shot twice.
We're looking for a James Rockford.
You know, Rockford, for a guy who's such a stickler for details, you play very sloppy ball.
Alice Sandstrom? I don't think she committed suicide, Mr.
Rockford.
We're calling it suicide, because it was a suicide.
See how neat that works out? I'm gonna jerk your ticket, Rockford.
You're gonna be doing laundry for the County.
This is Jim Rockford.
At the tone, leave your name and message.
I'll get back to you.
Jim, it's Shirley at the cleaners.
You know that brown jacket? The one I said looked so great on you? Your favorite? We lost it.
The teams are heading back on the field for the second half.
The Rams have been particularly effective during the first two quarters.
Their pass defense has been spectacular.
Hey, Solly.
Solly, what do you got for odds in the second half? I didn't say I wanted to press, I just want to know what the odds are.
Come in.
And the linebackers have been Hi.
I'll be right with you.
Fourteen and a half points! Solly, they came into the game an underdog.
They're only six points up.
Well, what are you running, a book or a bucket shop? No bet.
Fourteen and a half points, he thinks somebody's gonna take it.
I'm sorry.
My name is Jim Rockford.
Jennifer Sandstrom.
I hope you're available for employment.
I'm in need of a private investigator.
Hey, that's gonna work out real great.
That's what I do for a living.
I'm sorry.
That's just a little joke.
Sit down.
I don't know if there's anything you can do.
She may have killed herself.
It certainly is possible.
It just doesn't seem like her.
She was always such a happy person.
Even when we were children, she was always the most Miss Sandstrom.
Could you just start at the beginning, please? Oh, I'm sorry, of course.
You don't know what on earth I'm talking about.
Here.
Alice Sandstrom? My sister.
Well, it says the body was discovered on the beach near the Santa Monica Pier two days ago.
Her car was found two blocks away, with a suicide note written in her hand.
I don't think she committed suicide, Mr.
Rockford.
Look, Miss Sandstrom, if the police have it down as a suicide, that's probably just what it was.
No.
You see, she was afraid of the water.
Ever since we were children, she was always afraid of the water.
She would never have chosen drowning as a way to commit suicide.
I have a friend who is a psychiatrist and he said it would be most unlikely.
Yeah, unlikely, but possible.
Oh no, she was not a suicidal person.
I don't care what the police say.
She was a happy person.
She loved life.
I think she was killed, and I want you to look into it.
Miss Sandstrom, it says here that you are the sole survivor? How much do you charge, Mr.
Rockford? Look, I think you ought to let the police handle this.
I really do.
I mean, they're good.
Maybe they're not telling you everything they know.
It's $200 a day plus expenses.
But I'm trying to tell you to let the police handle it.
Look, maybe the police found out she had a psychiatrist that you didn't know about.
Maybe that psychiatrist knows something you don't know.
Are you listening to me or not? Miss Sandstrom, I don't take cases that don't seem real to me.
Now, you could triple that stack of money, it wouldn't change anything.
Well, it probably wouldn't.
Please.
I need your help.
Even if it turns out she killed herself.
I need to know for sure.
Please.
All right.
All right.
All right.
Look, I'll I'll look around for one day, huh? I'll go up there.
I'll look around.
I'll see if I can turn up something.
You'll find her address in that newspaper article.
And here is mine.
I'm there most of the time.
Mandeville Canyon.
That's a nice area.
Daddy left us some money, Mr.
Rockford.
Jim.
Just call me Jim.
Oh, I almost forgot this.
I got into her bedroom and I found some things that werert there before.
Look.
It's in here somewhere.
I don't know who J.
M.
Is.
We used to trade off jewelry quite a bit, and I know she didn't have that last month.
Also, there are these.
They're love letters, but the bottom's been cut off.
That's pretty strange, isn't it? Yeah, yeah Almost as if she didn't want anyone to know who it was.
Okay.
Yeah, thank you.
I wonder if you'd do me a favor.
Would you keep those on you? I'd hate to lose them.
Can you go up to the house now? I mean, can you start right now? Oh, well Yeah.
Sure.
Sure.
Just let me get my coat.
What do you mean, it's Lieutenant Diehl's case? Can't you check on it? Sure I can check on it.
I just don't want to.
Come on, Dennis.
She was a floater on the beach in Santa Monica.
There's gotta be some reason you guys are calling it suicide.
There is.
Okay, what is it? We're calling it suicide, because it was a suicide.
See how neat that works out? What about an autopsy? I don't know.
Look, Jimbo, it's not my case.
It's Lieutenant Diehl's.
Call Diehl up and ask him to read you the R.
O.
Report.
Okay.
Okay, I'm officially notifying you that I'm working on the case.
Why tell me? Tell Diehl.
I'm telling you because I'm talking to you.
You see how neat that works out? Oh, hi.
Say, is there anybody in the house? That filter, I'm gonna have to take it down to the shop and get some parts for it.
I said, is anybody in the house? Oh, yeah.
I think so.
I think there's a guy in there.
Why don't you try the front door? Thanks.
What is going on here? I don't know.
Let's wait and see.
May I ask what you think you're doing? Oh.
It's all right.
Oh, my name is Yes, I know your name.
You're Tom Brice.
I called Friedler, Pike and Morris.
They said you'd be here.
You know we haven't done the inventory.
You Who are you? Jay Volaro, County Assessors Office.
You know, Mr.
Brice, that removing an item, like that jewelry box, is a tax crime.
You start messing around with the County Assessors Office, you won't get into heaven, son.
Well, we were told the tax people had already done the audit.
We were authorized to remove the items that were special bequests in the will.
Who told you that? I think Well, come on.
I'd like to know.
Who told you that? It was Mr.
Talbot.
He's in your office.
Yeah.
Mr.
Friedler spoke to him, I think.
Talbot told you that? All right, I've had it with him.
He makes too many mistakes.
He's too old.
He told you that? When did he tell you that? I'd really like to know.
Was it before 10:30 this morning, huh? Look, I don't want to get anyone into any trouble.
I'm gonna find out, anyway.
Look, I don't know.
You see, you'd have to ask Mr.
Friedler.
He spoke to him.
Okay, I will.
You just might as well clear out, son.
I'll forget that you were in here illegally.
Oh, you You found the keys to the safe-deposit box, I suppose.
Safe-deposit box? Didrt know she had a safe-deposit box.
But I did find some keys.
Here.
Which bank? Bank.
I don't know.
But her checking account, that's at City Savings & Trust on Sunset.
Okay, I'll return these to you after the inventory and the audit.
Okay.
You can go, son.
Yes, sir.
Sergeant Becker, please.
I'm sorry.
He's not in.
Yeah.
Give me Lieutenant Diehl then.
This is Lieutenant Diehl speaking.
Hello, Lieutenant.
This is Jim Rockford.
Hello.
I said this is What do you want? Lieutenant, I understand that you're handling the Alice Sandstrom drowning case.
What do you want, Rockford? I think maybe you ought to go up to her house and check the pool filter.
Why would I want to do that? And then I think you ought to get the autopsy report back and check and see if anybody bothered to look, see what kind of water was in her lungs.
I think maybe she was drowned in her own pool then taken out and pushed in the ocean.
This is not a murder, Rockford.
I closed this case.
And I damn well don't appreciate you digging around in it.
I just said I know what you said.
Get off my back, get off my case.
You understand? Diehl, you get off your butt and come up here and look at this pool filter, or I'm gonna go to the City Attorney! I'm gonna jerk your ticket, Rockford.
You're gonna be doing laundry for the County.
You do yourself a favor, Lieutenant.
You loosen up just long enough to check that autopsy report and get up here and look at this pool filter.
I'm here to see Jennifer Sandstrom.
Is she expecting you, Mr.
Rockford? Yes.
One moment, while I check.
I'm sorry.
There must be some mistake.
I was looking for Jennifer Sandstrom.
You found her.
If you're here investigating Alice's death for the insurance company, I've already told Mr.
Dreikurs we're not filing a claim.
It was a suicide.
I don't understand what it is you people want to investigate.
Oh, I'm working for Friedler, Pike and Morris.
Tom Brice hired me this afternoon.
There's some legal matters that need to be concluded.
Such as? Well There was the whole matter about your sister's investment in the Lake Oswego Real Estate Corporation.
She was a general partner on that and had some general partnership liabilities.
Then there was, of course, the matter about the civil misconduct case we were handling for her.
What the devil are you talking about? Well, I guess I shouldn't have said anything at all.
I just assumed that you knew about your sister's affairs.
I mean, Mr.
Brice didn't say anything about maintaining any confidentiality.
I do.
And I've never heard of any of those things.
Well, it does seem strange, doesn't it? Well, to begin with, my sister was in no mental condition to be a general partner or to assume any liabilities.
After all, she'd been in and out of Lynaven for the last two years.
Well, Lynaven was some sort of hospital? It's a mental institution.
Surely Mr.
Brice told you that my sister had been deeply suicidal for the last two or three years.
Oh, yes, yes.
We went into that very thoroughly.
Yes.
What is all this malarkey about my sister being a general partner in some sort of investment? Well, it's just that.
What? Malarkey.
It's all malarkey.
I guess I'll just be on my way.
Thank you.
What took you so long? Hey, I had to go all the way back to the gas station.
Okay.
We shouldn't have to use our own cars.
Well, what did Sherman say? He said go ahead and stick on this guy.
His name turns out to be Rockford and he's a P.
I.
That's great.
What about the girl? He's got two other guys on her now, but he says it may have already gone down.
Hello.
Let me speak with Mr.
Friedler, please.
Well, when he gets in, tell him to call Jennifer Sandstrom.
It's urgent.
Cops.
Yes, this is Mr.
Smith in Room 24.
I'm gonna take a little nap.
Could you wake me at 7:30, please? Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Well? He's taking a nap.
He left a wake-up call for 7:30 tonight.
Let's go.
We can check back here at 7:30 if that's what Sherman wants.
Oh, hi.
You ought to be able to do better than that.
You're upset.
I can appreciate that.
Why don't you let me put a little extra in the pot? Would you stay for lunch? Yeah.
Where you going? Now, wait a minute.
What the hell do you think you're doing? I am going to call the police.
Just open the front door and call out in a loud voice.
What are you talking about? Oh, come on, Tina, don't tell me you don't know there's four of L.
A.
's finest sitting outside, drinking cold coffee.
Well, well.
What have we here? You got paid.
What more do you want? That's just about priceless.
Wait a minute.
Oh, so you think I won't call the police, huh? Well All right, so I won't call the police.
But that doesn't give you any right to go prowling through someone's personal effects.
What are you doing? Just earning my money.
Well, well.
Here we have the solution to the mystery of the letters and the bracelet.
Fascinating.
I'm enthralled.
Now would you please get out of here? Oh, I could be persuaded to leave.
Of course, I have a few conditions.
I was sure you would.
Don't get too salty, Miss Dusseau.
Remember, I'm the guy that got red-dogged.
Red-dogged? Yeah.
It's a football term.
That's where the line opens up a hole and they shoot a linebacker through to sack the unsuspecting quarterback.
Oh, my stew.
It's burning.
Arert you coming? You didn't put it on the stove.
I notice little things like that.
I'm a detective, remember? If you want to get rid of me, you'll have to do better than that.
It's just that everything around here is so messy.
You know Well, now, don't feel too bad.
What were you gonna do? Get a chill, come in to get a sweater, and then pick up your cute little chrome-plated cannon, chase me out into the street? I saved you a lot of trouble.
You know, I could get very tired of all this clever chatter.
You know, that makes my palms just all sweaty.
Where we going? First we're gonna get out of here and then Then you're gonna tell me why you sent me to the Sandstrom house.
Although I have a pretty fair idea, I'd like to hear all the gory little details.
Now, wait a minute.
Just Wait, wait a minute.
Okay, so you just selected the Alice Sandstrom drowning out of the paper at random, sent me up there.
Then you gave me the envelope so that when I left my trailer I'd take the two cops off you.
Now, I want to know why they're interested in you and I want to know what I got myself involved in.
Hello.
Okay, you're on.
Make it good honey, huh? Aunt Elizabeth always said you could dance.
Funny.
Well, I guess it won't hurt to tell you.
Pacific Trust insures the Delany jewelry collection.
It's won'th maybe $3,000,000.
Anyway, the whole collection was stolen from the Delany house about two weeks ago.
Pacific Trust was contacted by the thieves and offered a chance to buy back the collection at half the price, which was a lot cheaper than paying off the insurance claim.
No.
But they wanted the cops kept on the outside of the deal.
And they wanted me to be the go-between.
'Cause they figured I was a girl and I wouldn't be much of a threat to them.
Oh, but they didn't know that you keep a chrome-plated.
38 right next to your pearl drop earrings.
You're determined to be flip, aren't you? Hey, come on now.
Give me a break, huh? I'm trying to walk off a big emotional disappointment.
Anyway, somehow the cops must have gotten wind of the exchange that took place at I was on my way to the insurance company to pick up the money that came in a manila envelope.
I looked out the front of my house and I saw two cops.
So I decided to make a duplicate envelope.
$3 won'th, please.
So you You smuggled it out to your car, you went to the insurance company, you picked up the money and then on your way to make the switch, you dropped by my place with the phony envelope.
And I walked out of my trailer waving it like a flag, and I've had those two cops following me ever since.
I don't see what harm it did.
I made the switch.
The insurance company has the jewelry.
And you have $200.
Well, the only thing wrong with all that is I think that Alice Sandstrom was really murdered.
You're kidding.
I told you I was a good detective.
I think that she was drowned in her own swimming pool, taken out and thrown in the ocean.
Hmm.
I called Lieutenant Diehl down at the police station Lieutenant Thomas Diehl? and climbed his tree.
Yeah.
You know him? Do I! He hates me.
Yeah, me, too.
Well, anyway, we're going down there, and you're gonna clear me with Diehl.
You're gonna tell him you sent me off on a wild goose chase to get those two cops off of me that were following you.
Oh, no.
I'm not going to the police station to scrub you clean with Diehl.
Not on your life.
You got a permit to carry this thing? Oh, come on.
Lieutenant Diehl will pull your ticket for carrying an unauthorized weapon.
Why, I never saw that gun before in my life.
Well, you're gonna be wearing it when we see Diehl just the same.
You wouldn't.
We're colleagues.
I'm just thinning out the field.
It's good for business.
All right.
But if I go in there and I get you straight with Diehl, that's it, right? Right.
That's $3.
Right.
Thank you.
You bet.
The thing is that Diehl is such a cluck.
Yeah.
You got any idea what this cost the County? You got the faintest idea? I just thought it'd be a good idea if you looked Okay, we checked.
This lady got no pool water in her lungs.
She jumped off the Santa Monica Pier.
She left a suicide note.
She's been in deep analysis for over two years.
Her psychiatrist says she was suicidal.
What does it take to satisfy you, Rockford? Oh, I'd say that right about now I'm satisfied.
What do you got to do with this? She's the one that hired me to investigate the drowning.
She's my client.
I have been dreading the day when you two would get together on anything.
Miss Dusseau, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, would you mind explaining to me why you hired Rockford? I was trying to get the two detectives who work for Sergeant Vince Sherman to follow Rockford instead of me.
I see.
I see, and why would you want to do that? That is privileged client information.
Come on.
It is police business.
Lieutenant, I'm not gonna tell you.
If you're that curious, you can ask Sergeant Sherman.
He knows.
Look, Lieutenant, why stand around yammering with us, huh? What do you expect to get out of a couple of jerk private eyes? Why don't we just say we made a big mistake and Tina and I'll get out of your life, huh? In the two and a half years I've known you, that's the first thing you've ever said I can get behind.
Hey.
What? On the way back, I want to drop by the Sandstrom house for a minute.
Do you mind? Of course I mind.
I don't want to get in trouble with Lieutenant Diehl.
If we go there, we're just asking for it.
Yeah.
Yeah, well, it'll only take a minute.
Oh, come on, Jim.
I'm not impressed with this sort of thing.
Either you know something or you don't.
There was no pool truck.
The door in the back of the house was jimmied, but there was no pool truck out front.
Oh, that sheds a lot of light on everything.
You know, you have a tendency for flip remarks yourself.
You know that pool man.
He said he didn't have parts to fix the filter.
You'd just think they'd always carry parts to fix a filter.
Yeah, you'd think they would.
All right, I give up.
What are we looking for? The guy was carrying a pool skimmer.
You know the little thing you fish the leaves and bugs out of the pool.
See if you can find it.
Seems strange you wouldn't notice that truck was missing before.
Well, I just assumed that there was a back exit to this place and he was parked in the back.
There's no back road here, and there's no pool skimmer.
Guy just picked it up and carried it off.
Guy in his shirtsleeves, carrying a pool skimmer just looks like a pool man.
It's an instant disguise.
I wouldn't break in there if I were you.
I'm not breaking in.
It's been jimmied.
I told you that.
"Police, fire, "pool service.
" This is Mr.
Brice.
And we're handling the estate of Alice Sandstrom and I'm sorry, but I'm afraid we're going to have to terminate the pool service.
Yes.
Yes, it was a terrible shame.
Look, for our records, could you tell me when the last time that the pool was serviced? Uh-huh, and that was the last time? No.
No.
No problem, just send us a final statement, please.
Yes.
Thank you.
Come and take a look at this.
Now, who would paint a room and put on new curtains, if they intended to commit suicide? Hmm.
Taking a little busmars holiday, I see.
It is pretty strange, don't you think? Yeah.
Yeah.
It turns out the pool man was a phony.
The last time they had anybody up here was Tuesday.
Do you think it really was him that jimmied the door? I suppose he has to be considered.
What would he want inside the house? Well, maybe it was these.
Safe-deposit box? Yup.
Where did you get these? Well, I'd rather not say.
Do you want to call Lieutenant Diehl and let him in on this? Do you? No.
We could send him an anonymous letter.
Hmm.
He'd know.
Yeah.
We could forget the whole thing.
After all, we don't owe any of these people anything.
Now, don't go heroic on me.
You're right.
Let's get out of here.
Look at it this way.
It probably was a suicide.
I mean, Diehl wouldn't lie about her psychiatrist saying she was suicidal.
Yeah.
I know.
Her sister Jennifer said she was in and out of a mental institute for two years.
You see, that corroborates it.
So she painted a room and went out and jumped off a pier.
What about the pool man? What about him? A friendly neighbor who didn't want to see the filter get clogged.
I know, it's a little strange.
But I'm sure if we thought about it long enough, we could come up with at least a dozen reasons for the pool man.
Yeah, I suppose.
Where do you want me to drop you off? At home.
Oh, say, I've got some of that stew left.
Do you want to stay for dinner? Hmm.
Get your head down.
Quick! If you hadrt taken the bullets out of my gun, we could have shot back.
Well, you can't shoot what you can't see.
So much for the suicide theory.
All right.
Come on, let's go up there and get the spare on and get out of here.
I can do it.
All right.
Stay where you are.
I'll check and see if it's clear.
"Brice.
Thomas A.
" Brice? Sandstrom.
Lieutenant, Sergeant Shermars on the patch-through on your car right now.
Thanks.
This is Lieutenant Diehl speaking, Sergeant.
I got a body out here in the junkyard.
He's been shot twice.
The guy's name is Tom Brice.
He's an attorney for Alice Sandstrom.
You got anything that ties Rockford or Tina Dusseau into this? Yeah.
I've just been reading through Deek's report.
We got a match-up.
Rockford was up at that house about the time Brice was there.
Maybe he followed him out and dropped the hammer on him.
Okay.
If we can put Rockford with Brice this morning, I want a warrant put out on him.
Suspicion of murder.
We better get a time of death from the M.
E.
We need a match-up on the time.
We need motive.
It's a little thin.
Suspicion is just what it says.
Suspicion, Sergeant.
Pick him up.
Well, this is Sunday, so we can't get into that safe-deposit box until tomorrow.
What are we gonna do? Well, ordinarily, I'd go to the police, but we just can't prove anybody tried to kill us.
And I get the feeling Lieutenant Diehl would have a rooting interest in the killer.
So that doesn't make much sense.
How are we gonna get in that safe-deposit box? Well, first we go back to Alice's house, get something with her signature on it, and then we'll do what we can tomorrow to make you look like Alice.
Oh, no.
The lady who lets the people in the safe-deposit box area is not gonna be fooled.
She probably knows what Alice Sandstrom looks like.
Well, that's why we wait until she goes to lunch.
Then we hit on the substitute during the lunch hour.
It's a gamble, but it's the best chance we got.
Oh, by the way, we don't have to go back to the house.
Well, we gotta get something with her signature on it, so you can learn how to sign her name.
I stole these canceled checks from off her desk.
I figured if we look through them we might find something that was interesting.
"We don't know these people.
"We don't need to get involved.
" Forget it.
Oh, you're a bigger sucker than I am.
I just don't see anything in here that's gonna help us.
How you doing? Not bad.
Look.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's not too bad.
Only I'd broaden the "A" in Sandstrom.
Really? I think it's all right.
She did have a sort of a cramped hand.
Typical of the paranoid.
You know, Jim, maybe she did commit suicide.
Maybe the man that shot at us this afternoon was really after something else.
Well, I think she was murdered.
There's just too much that can't be explained.
Yes? We're looking for a James Rockford.
We thought you might have some idea of his whereabouts.
No.
Why? We have a warrant for his arrest.
Suspicion of murder.
Who was killed? An attorney named Tom Brice.
Is he here, or do you know where he is? No, I don't.
But you're welcome to come in and have a look.
You understand we don't have a search warrant.
Well, that's all right.
If you want to have a look, you have my permission.
Well, that won't be necessary.
Have you tried his trailer at the beach? Yes, we have.
Well, thank you.
It was a nice job.
You heard? Yeah.
Now, who would want to kill Tom Brice? Well, look, let's just put this together with some structure that fits, huh? There is a safe-deposit box with something in it.
Something that somebody's willing to kill for, huh? Now, Tom Brice went up to that house to look for some jewelry, but he found a key, which he didn't know was there.
But somebody else did.
They went up there, they jimmied the door.
Tom Brice interrupted them.
So the guy went out by the pool and just puttered around.
And that's when I arrived.
So he decided to get the hell out of there.
Now, I bluffed Tom Brice out of the key, but the killer didn't know that.
He followed Tom Brice to a spot where they could have a little conversation.
Things got rough.
He wound up killing Brice and he looked for the key, but it wasrt there.
He still hasn't found it.
And he made a try for us this afternoon.
It's a theory.
It's a good one.
Hey, I better get out of here.
They're liable to come back.
Wait a minute.
I'm going with you.
We're gonna have to get rid of this car and get a rental.
I'd better rent it.
Okay.
Then we'll check into a motel.
We'll wait until 12:00 noon.
Are you trying to corrupt me? Yeah.
Yeah.
I think maybe I am.
You know, this is funny.
Here we are, hotter than Bonnie and Clyde and it's It's funny.
Hello.
May I help you? Yes.
My name is Alice Sandstrom.
I'd like to get into my safe-deposit box.
Thank you.
Right this way, Miss Sandstrom.
Friedler, Pike and Morris.
Let me speak to Mr.
Friedler, please.
Yes? You can use this booth if you like.
Thank you.
It's getting out of control, Pete.
There's somebody at the bank trying to get at that box.
If the authorities get that box, we're cooked.
Look, I had to do it.
You didn't need to kill her.
You didn't need to kill Brice.
Now, look here.
This is a tough business.
There's a lot of bread in it.
You don't like the risk, you don't get involved.
You'd better take care of it.
She had a baby.
Yeah.
This is the birth certificate.
That explains the baby blue room with the new curtains.
It also says she was afraid she might be murdered.
She certainly was psychotic.
Look how it rambles.
It looks like she had a baby and gave it over to some guy named Pete Finch.
Then she had a change of mind, tried to get it back and threatened to expose the whole baby racket, and they killed her.
The pool man? Well, we won't know that until we can get a look at this guy Pete Finch.
It says here Attorney Aaron Friedler set up the whole deal.
And her sister Jennifer was in on it, huh? Yeah, probably.
Probably Jennifer didn't want her sister to have an heir.
You said it best.
What do you mean? "Daddy left us a lot of money.
" My house is only a couple of blocks from here.
Why don't we go there and call Lieutenant Diehl? The cops are probably staking out your place.
Where are you going? You going toward my house? There are cops there.
I know.
That's the whole idea.
Get out of the car.
ROCKFORD: All right.
All right.
I'm getting out.
Feet apart.
Hands on top of the car.
Put your hands behind your back.
Hey! My briefcase, get my briefcase, will you? Move it! You must be Pete Finch.
Well, I'm not talking to anyone until I see my lawyer.
Hey, Pete.
You're a lousy shot.
Book Finch and pick up Friedler.
Yeah, the charge is the murder of Alice Sandstrom and Tom Brice.
And get somebody to check way back on Finch.
I think we just might have the tip of a big baby racket going here.
And tell the D.
A.
I want to see him at 4:00.
And get his whole staff involved in this.
Yup.
Could be a biggie.
Right.
Hey, Lieutenant, I hate to be a stickler for details, but you forgot to add two counts of attempted murder to those charges.
I mean, he did try to kill Miss Dusseau and myself.
No kidding? Hmm.
Sorry I missed that.
Can we go now? Why didn't you come right to us when you turned up the key? Well And why didn't you call us when you found out she had a safe-deposit box? Well, now, on that one How come you broke into the house? Well, I didn't really break in You know, Rockford, for a guy who's such a stickler for details, you play very sloppy ball.
Yeah.
Yeah, I guess if you want to overlook the fact that I took a suicide out of your wastebasket and put it on the D.
A.
's murder docket.
I can't figure out what Becker likes about you.
Well, I think he likes me because he can beat me at handball.
Sign the statement, keep yourselves handy.
We'll need you for the preliminary hearing.
You were in there playing a great game of catch-up with Diehl.
I appreciate all your help.
What do you mean? You were doing fine.
You did say to tell him what he wanted to hear, and I figured he didn't want to hear from me.
Oh, I see.
You're a real princess.
You know, I feel great.
We stuck to this thing because our instincts told us we were right.
And we ended up catching a murderer, exposing a multimillion dollar baby plot, and we may have gotten a little boy his heritage.
Real heroic stuff.
You rented it.
It's your ticket.
Look, you don't quite understand.
You see, the police impounded this car.
Then they drove it around here and they parked it here.
We don't deserve a ticket.
I'm sorry.
But Wait a minute.
I just said that I didn't park it.
The police did.
You can ask them.
Go right in there and ask them.
I'm sorry.
You know, I try.
I really try, Jim.
But, damn it, I hate cops.
I got a body out here in the junkyard.
He's been shot twice.
We're looking for a James Rockford.
You know, Rockford, for a guy who's such a stickler for details, you play very sloppy ball.
Alice Sandstrom? I don't think she committed suicide, Mr.
Rockford.
We're calling it suicide, because it was a suicide.
See how neat that works out? I'm gonna jerk your ticket, Rockford.
You're gonna be doing laundry for the County.
This is Jim Rockford.
At the tone, leave your name and message.
I'll get back to you.
Jim, it's Shirley at the cleaners.
You know that brown jacket? The one I said looked so great on you? Your favorite? We lost it.
The teams are heading back on the field for the second half.
The Rams have been particularly effective during the first two quarters.
Their pass defense has been spectacular.
Hey, Solly.
Solly, what do you got for odds in the second half? I didn't say I wanted to press, I just want to know what the odds are.
Come in.
And the linebackers have been Hi.
I'll be right with you.
Fourteen and a half points! Solly, they came into the game an underdog.
They're only six points up.
Well, what are you running, a book or a bucket shop? No bet.
Fourteen and a half points, he thinks somebody's gonna take it.
I'm sorry.
My name is Jim Rockford.
Jennifer Sandstrom.
I hope you're available for employment.
I'm in need of a private investigator.
Hey, that's gonna work out real great.
That's what I do for a living.
I'm sorry.
That's just a little joke.
Sit down.
I don't know if there's anything you can do.
She may have killed herself.
It certainly is possible.
It just doesn't seem like her.
She was always such a happy person.
Even when we were children, she was always the most Miss Sandstrom.
Could you just start at the beginning, please? Oh, I'm sorry, of course.
You don't know what on earth I'm talking about.
Here.
Alice Sandstrom? My sister.
Well, it says the body was discovered on the beach near the Santa Monica Pier two days ago.
Her car was found two blocks away, with a suicide note written in her hand.
I don't think she committed suicide, Mr.
Rockford.
Look, Miss Sandstrom, if the police have it down as a suicide, that's probably just what it was.
No.
You see, she was afraid of the water.
Ever since we were children, she was always afraid of the water.
She would never have chosen drowning as a way to commit suicide.
I have a friend who is a psychiatrist and he said it would be most unlikely.
Yeah, unlikely, but possible.
Oh no, she was not a suicidal person.
I don't care what the police say.
She was a happy person.
She loved life.
I think she was killed, and I want you to look into it.
Miss Sandstrom, it says here that you are the sole survivor? How much do you charge, Mr.
Rockford? Look, I think you ought to let the police handle this.
I really do.
I mean, they're good.
Maybe they're not telling you everything they know.
It's $200 a day plus expenses.
But I'm trying to tell you to let the police handle it.
Look, maybe the police found out she had a psychiatrist that you didn't know about.
Maybe that psychiatrist knows something you don't know.
Are you listening to me or not? Miss Sandstrom, I don't take cases that don't seem real to me.
Now, you could triple that stack of money, it wouldn't change anything.
Well, it probably wouldn't.
Please.
I need your help.
Even if it turns out she killed herself.
I need to know for sure.
Please.
All right.
All right.
All right.
Look, I'll I'll look around for one day, huh? I'll go up there.
I'll look around.
I'll see if I can turn up something.
You'll find her address in that newspaper article.
And here is mine.
I'm there most of the time.
Mandeville Canyon.
That's a nice area.
Daddy left us some money, Mr.
Rockford.
Jim.
Just call me Jim.
Oh, I almost forgot this.
I got into her bedroom and I found some things that werert there before.
Look.
It's in here somewhere.
I don't know who J.
M.
Is.
We used to trade off jewelry quite a bit, and I know she didn't have that last month.
Also, there are these.
They're love letters, but the bottom's been cut off.
That's pretty strange, isn't it? Yeah, yeah Almost as if she didn't want anyone to know who it was.
Okay.
Yeah, thank you.
I wonder if you'd do me a favor.
Would you keep those on you? I'd hate to lose them.
Can you go up to the house now? I mean, can you start right now? Oh, well Yeah.
Sure.
Sure.
Just let me get my coat.
What do you mean, it's Lieutenant Diehl's case? Can't you check on it? Sure I can check on it.
I just don't want to.
Come on, Dennis.
She was a floater on the beach in Santa Monica.
There's gotta be some reason you guys are calling it suicide.
There is.
Okay, what is it? We're calling it suicide, because it was a suicide.
See how neat that works out? What about an autopsy? I don't know.
Look, Jimbo, it's not my case.
It's Lieutenant Diehl's.
Call Diehl up and ask him to read you the R.
O.
Report.
Okay.
Okay, I'm officially notifying you that I'm working on the case.
Why tell me? Tell Diehl.
I'm telling you because I'm talking to you.
You see how neat that works out? Oh, hi.
Say, is there anybody in the house? That filter, I'm gonna have to take it down to the shop and get some parts for it.
I said, is anybody in the house? Oh, yeah.
I think so.
I think there's a guy in there.
Why don't you try the front door? Thanks.
What is going on here? I don't know.
Let's wait and see.
May I ask what you think you're doing? Oh.
It's all right.
Oh, my name is Yes, I know your name.
You're Tom Brice.
I called Friedler, Pike and Morris.
They said you'd be here.
You know we haven't done the inventory.
You Who are you? Jay Volaro, County Assessors Office.
You know, Mr.
Brice, that removing an item, like that jewelry box, is a tax crime.
You start messing around with the County Assessors Office, you won't get into heaven, son.
Well, we were told the tax people had already done the audit.
We were authorized to remove the items that were special bequests in the will.
Who told you that? I think Well, come on.
I'd like to know.
Who told you that? It was Mr.
Talbot.
He's in your office.
Yeah.
Mr.
Friedler spoke to him, I think.
Talbot told you that? All right, I've had it with him.
He makes too many mistakes.
He's too old.
He told you that? When did he tell you that? I'd really like to know.
Was it before 10:30 this morning, huh? Look, I don't want to get anyone into any trouble.
I'm gonna find out, anyway.
Look, I don't know.
You see, you'd have to ask Mr.
Friedler.
He spoke to him.
Okay, I will.
You just might as well clear out, son.
I'll forget that you were in here illegally.
Oh, you You found the keys to the safe-deposit box, I suppose.
Safe-deposit box? Didrt know she had a safe-deposit box.
But I did find some keys.
Here.
Which bank? Bank.
I don't know.
But her checking account, that's at City Savings & Trust on Sunset.
Okay, I'll return these to you after the inventory and the audit.
Okay.
You can go, son.
Yes, sir.
Sergeant Becker, please.
I'm sorry.
He's not in.
Yeah.
Give me Lieutenant Diehl then.
This is Lieutenant Diehl speaking.
Hello, Lieutenant.
This is Jim Rockford.
Hello.
I said this is What do you want? Lieutenant, I understand that you're handling the Alice Sandstrom drowning case.
What do you want, Rockford? I think maybe you ought to go up to her house and check the pool filter.
Why would I want to do that? And then I think you ought to get the autopsy report back and check and see if anybody bothered to look, see what kind of water was in her lungs.
I think maybe she was drowned in her own pool then taken out and pushed in the ocean.
This is not a murder, Rockford.
I closed this case.
And I damn well don't appreciate you digging around in it.
I just said I know what you said.
Get off my back, get off my case.
You understand? Diehl, you get off your butt and come up here and look at this pool filter, or I'm gonna go to the City Attorney! I'm gonna jerk your ticket, Rockford.
You're gonna be doing laundry for the County.
You do yourself a favor, Lieutenant.
You loosen up just long enough to check that autopsy report and get up here and look at this pool filter.
I'm here to see Jennifer Sandstrom.
Is she expecting you, Mr.
Rockford? Yes.
One moment, while I check.
I'm sorry.
There must be some mistake.
I was looking for Jennifer Sandstrom.
You found her.
If you're here investigating Alice's death for the insurance company, I've already told Mr.
Dreikurs we're not filing a claim.
It was a suicide.
I don't understand what it is you people want to investigate.
Oh, I'm working for Friedler, Pike and Morris.
Tom Brice hired me this afternoon.
There's some legal matters that need to be concluded.
Such as? Well There was the whole matter about your sister's investment in the Lake Oswego Real Estate Corporation.
She was a general partner on that and had some general partnership liabilities.
Then there was, of course, the matter about the civil misconduct case we were handling for her.
What the devil are you talking about? Well, I guess I shouldn't have said anything at all.
I just assumed that you knew about your sister's affairs.
I mean, Mr.
Brice didn't say anything about maintaining any confidentiality.
I do.
And I've never heard of any of those things.
Well, it does seem strange, doesn't it? Well, to begin with, my sister was in no mental condition to be a general partner or to assume any liabilities.
After all, she'd been in and out of Lynaven for the last two years.
Well, Lynaven was some sort of hospital? It's a mental institution.
Surely Mr.
Brice told you that my sister had been deeply suicidal for the last two or three years.
Oh, yes, yes.
We went into that very thoroughly.
Yes.
What is all this malarkey about my sister being a general partner in some sort of investment? Well, it's just that.
What? Malarkey.
It's all malarkey.
I guess I'll just be on my way.
Thank you.
What took you so long? Hey, I had to go all the way back to the gas station.
Okay.
We shouldn't have to use our own cars.
Well, what did Sherman say? He said go ahead and stick on this guy.
His name turns out to be Rockford and he's a P.
I.
That's great.
What about the girl? He's got two other guys on her now, but he says it may have already gone down.
Hello.
Let me speak with Mr.
Friedler, please.
Well, when he gets in, tell him to call Jennifer Sandstrom.
It's urgent.
Cops.
Yes, this is Mr.
Smith in Room 24.
I'm gonna take a little nap.
Could you wake me at 7:30, please? Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Well? He's taking a nap.
He left a wake-up call for 7:30 tonight.
Let's go.
We can check back here at 7:30 if that's what Sherman wants.
Oh, hi.
You ought to be able to do better than that.
You're upset.
I can appreciate that.
Why don't you let me put a little extra in the pot? Would you stay for lunch? Yeah.
Where you going? Now, wait a minute.
What the hell do you think you're doing? I am going to call the police.
Just open the front door and call out in a loud voice.
What are you talking about? Oh, come on, Tina, don't tell me you don't know there's four of L.
A.
's finest sitting outside, drinking cold coffee.
Well, well.
What have we here? You got paid.
What more do you want? That's just about priceless.
Wait a minute.
Oh, so you think I won't call the police, huh? Well All right, so I won't call the police.
But that doesn't give you any right to go prowling through someone's personal effects.
What are you doing? Just earning my money.
Well, well.
Here we have the solution to the mystery of the letters and the bracelet.
Fascinating.
I'm enthralled.
Now would you please get out of here? Oh, I could be persuaded to leave.
Of course, I have a few conditions.
I was sure you would.
Don't get too salty, Miss Dusseau.
Remember, I'm the guy that got red-dogged.
Red-dogged? Yeah.
It's a football term.
That's where the line opens up a hole and they shoot a linebacker through to sack the unsuspecting quarterback.
Oh, my stew.
It's burning.
Arert you coming? You didn't put it on the stove.
I notice little things like that.
I'm a detective, remember? If you want to get rid of me, you'll have to do better than that.
It's just that everything around here is so messy.
You know Well, now, don't feel too bad.
What were you gonna do? Get a chill, come in to get a sweater, and then pick up your cute little chrome-plated cannon, chase me out into the street? I saved you a lot of trouble.
You know, I could get very tired of all this clever chatter.
You know, that makes my palms just all sweaty.
Where we going? First we're gonna get out of here and then Then you're gonna tell me why you sent me to the Sandstrom house.
Although I have a pretty fair idea, I'd like to hear all the gory little details.
Now, wait a minute.
Just Wait, wait a minute.
Okay, so you just selected the Alice Sandstrom drowning out of the paper at random, sent me up there.
Then you gave me the envelope so that when I left my trailer I'd take the two cops off you.
Now, I want to know why they're interested in you and I want to know what I got myself involved in.
Hello.
Okay, you're on.
Make it good honey, huh? Aunt Elizabeth always said you could dance.
Funny.
Well, I guess it won't hurt to tell you.
Pacific Trust insures the Delany jewelry collection.
It's won'th maybe $3,000,000.
Anyway, the whole collection was stolen from the Delany house about two weeks ago.
Pacific Trust was contacted by the thieves and offered a chance to buy back the collection at half the price, which was a lot cheaper than paying off the insurance claim.
No.
But they wanted the cops kept on the outside of the deal.
And they wanted me to be the go-between.
'Cause they figured I was a girl and I wouldn't be much of a threat to them.
Oh, but they didn't know that you keep a chrome-plated.
38 right next to your pearl drop earrings.
You're determined to be flip, aren't you? Hey, come on now.
Give me a break, huh? I'm trying to walk off a big emotional disappointment.
Anyway, somehow the cops must have gotten wind of the exchange that took place at I was on my way to the insurance company to pick up the money that came in a manila envelope.
I looked out the front of my house and I saw two cops.
So I decided to make a duplicate envelope.
$3 won'th, please.
So you You smuggled it out to your car, you went to the insurance company, you picked up the money and then on your way to make the switch, you dropped by my place with the phony envelope.
And I walked out of my trailer waving it like a flag, and I've had those two cops following me ever since.
I don't see what harm it did.
I made the switch.
The insurance company has the jewelry.
And you have $200.
Well, the only thing wrong with all that is I think that Alice Sandstrom was really murdered.
You're kidding.
I told you I was a good detective.
I think that she was drowned in her own swimming pool, taken out and thrown in the ocean.
Hmm.
I called Lieutenant Diehl down at the police station Lieutenant Thomas Diehl? and climbed his tree.
Yeah.
You know him? Do I! He hates me.
Yeah, me, too.
Well, anyway, we're going down there, and you're gonna clear me with Diehl.
You're gonna tell him you sent me off on a wild goose chase to get those two cops off of me that were following you.
Oh, no.
I'm not going to the police station to scrub you clean with Diehl.
Not on your life.
You got a permit to carry this thing? Oh, come on.
Lieutenant Diehl will pull your ticket for carrying an unauthorized weapon.
Why, I never saw that gun before in my life.
Well, you're gonna be wearing it when we see Diehl just the same.
You wouldn't.
We're colleagues.
I'm just thinning out the field.
It's good for business.
All right.
But if I go in there and I get you straight with Diehl, that's it, right? Right.
That's $3.
Right.
Thank you.
You bet.
The thing is that Diehl is such a cluck.
Yeah.
You got any idea what this cost the County? You got the faintest idea? I just thought it'd be a good idea if you looked Okay, we checked.
This lady got no pool water in her lungs.
She jumped off the Santa Monica Pier.
She left a suicide note.
She's been in deep analysis for over two years.
Her psychiatrist says she was suicidal.
What does it take to satisfy you, Rockford? Oh, I'd say that right about now I'm satisfied.
What do you got to do with this? She's the one that hired me to investigate the drowning.
She's my client.
I have been dreading the day when you two would get together on anything.
Miss Dusseau, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, would you mind explaining to me why you hired Rockford? I was trying to get the two detectives who work for Sergeant Vince Sherman to follow Rockford instead of me.
I see.
I see, and why would you want to do that? That is privileged client information.
Come on.
It is police business.
Lieutenant, I'm not gonna tell you.
If you're that curious, you can ask Sergeant Sherman.
He knows.
Look, Lieutenant, why stand around yammering with us, huh? What do you expect to get out of a couple of jerk private eyes? Why don't we just say we made a big mistake and Tina and I'll get out of your life, huh? In the two and a half years I've known you, that's the first thing you've ever said I can get behind.
Hey.
What? On the way back, I want to drop by the Sandstrom house for a minute.
Do you mind? Of course I mind.
I don't want to get in trouble with Lieutenant Diehl.
If we go there, we're just asking for it.
Yeah.
Yeah, well, it'll only take a minute.
Oh, come on, Jim.
I'm not impressed with this sort of thing.
Either you know something or you don't.
There was no pool truck.
The door in the back of the house was jimmied, but there was no pool truck out front.
Oh, that sheds a lot of light on everything.
You know, you have a tendency for flip remarks yourself.
You know that pool man.
He said he didn't have parts to fix the filter.
You'd just think they'd always carry parts to fix a filter.
Yeah, you'd think they would.
All right, I give up.
What are we looking for? The guy was carrying a pool skimmer.
You know the little thing you fish the leaves and bugs out of the pool.
See if you can find it.
Seems strange you wouldn't notice that truck was missing before.
Well, I just assumed that there was a back exit to this place and he was parked in the back.
There's no back road here, and there's no pool skimmer.
Guy just picked it up and carried it off.
Guy in his shirtsleeves, carrying a pool skimmer just looks like a pool man.
It's an instant disguise.
I wouldn't break in there if I were you.
I'm not breaking in.
It's been jimmied.
I told you that.
"Police, fire, "pool service.
" This is Mr.
Brice.
And we're handling the estate of Alice Sandstrom and I'm sorry, but I'm afraid we're going to have to terminate the pool service.
Yes.
Yes, it was a terrible shame.
Look, for our records, could you tell me when the last time that the pool was serviced? Uh-huh, and that was the last time? No.
No.
No problem, just send us a final statement, please.
Yes.
Thank you.
Come and take a look at this.
Now, who would paint a room and put on new curtains, if they intended to commit suicide? Hmm.
Taking a little busmars holiday, I see.
It is pretty strange, don't you think? Yeah.
Yeah.
It turns out the pool man was a phony.
The last time they had anybody up here was Tuesday.
Do you think it really was him that jimmied the door? I suppose he has to be considered.
What would he want inside the house? Well, maybe it was these.
Safe-deposit box? Yup.
Where did you get these? Well, I'd rather not say.
Do you want to call Lieutenant Diehl and let him in on this? Do you? No.
We could send him an anonymous letter.
Hmm.
He'd know.
Yeah.
We could forget the whole thing.
After all, we don't owe any of these people anything.
Now, don't go heroic on me.
You're right.
Let's get out of here.
Look at it this way.
It probably was a suicide.
I mean, Diehl wouldn't lie about her psychiatrist saying she was suicidal.
Yeah.
I know.
Her sister Jennifer said she was in and out of a mental institute for two years.
You see, that corroborates it.
So she painted a room and went out and jumped off a pier.
What about the pool man? What about him? A friendly neighbor who didn't want to see the filter get clogged.
I know, it's a little strange.
But I'm sure if we thought about it long enough, we could come up with at least a dozen reasons for the pool man.
Yeah, I suppose.
Where do you want me to drop you off? At home.
Oh, say, I've got some of that stew left.
Do you want to stay for dinner? Hmm.
Get your head down.
Quick! If you hadrt taken the bullets out of my gun, we could have shot back.
Well, you can't shoot what you can't see.
So much for the suicide theory.
All right.
Come on, let's go up there and get the spare on and get out of here.
I can do it.
All right.
Stay where you are.
I'll check and see if it's clear.
"Brice.
Thomas A.
" Brice? Sandstrom.
Lieutenant, Sergeant Shermars on the patch-through on your car right now.
Thanks.
This is Lieutenant Diehl speaking, Sergeant.
I got a body out here in the junkyard.
He's been shot twice.
The guy's name is Tom Brice.
He's an attorney for Alice Sandstrom.
You got anything that ties Rockford or Tina Dusseau into this? Yeah.
I've just been reading through Deek's report.
We got a match-up.
Rockford was up at that house about the time Brice was there.
Maybe he followed him out and dropped the hammer on him.
Okay.
If we can put Rockford with Brice this morning, I want a warrant put out on him.
Suspicion of murder.
We better get a time of death from the M.
E.
We need a match-up on the time.
We need motive.
It's a little thin.
Suspicion is just what it says.
Suspicion, Sergeant.
Pick him up.
Well, this is Sunday, so we can't get into that safe-deposit box until tomorrow.
What are we gonna do? Well, ordinarily, I'd go to the police, but we just can't prove anybody tried to kill us.
And I get the feeling Lieutenant Diehl would have a rooting interest in the killer.
So that doesn't make much sense.
How are we gonna get in that safe-deposit box? Well, first we go back to Alice's house, get something with her signature on it, and then we'll do what we can tomorrow to make you look like Alice.
Oh, no.
The lady who lets the people in the safe-deposit box area is not gonna be fooled.
She probably knows what Alice Sandstrom looks like.
Well, that's why we wait until she goes to lunch.
Then we hit on the substitute during the lunch hour.
It's a gamble, but it's the best chance we got.
Oh, by the way, we don't have to go back to the house.
Well, we gotta get something with her signature on it, so you can learn how to sign her name.
I stole these canceled checks from off her desk.
I figured if we look through them we might find something that was interesting.
"We don't know these people.
"We don't need to get involved.
" Forget it.
Oh, you're a bigger sucker than I am.
I just don't see anything in here that's gonna help us.
How you doing? Not bad.
Look.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's not too bad.
Only I'd broaden the "A" in Sandstrom.
Really? I think it's all right.
She did have a sort of a cramped hand.
Typical of the paranoid.
You know, Jim, maybe she did commit suicide.
Maybe the man that shot at us this afternoon was really after something else.
Well, I think she was murdered.
There's just too much that can't be explained.
Yes? We're looking for a James Rockford.
We thought you might have some idea of his whereabouts.
No.
Why? We have a warrant for his arrest.
Suspicion of murder.
Who was killed? An attorney named Tom Brice.
Is he here, or do you know where he is? No, I don't.
But you're welcome to come in and have a look.
You understand we don't have a search warrant.
Well, that's all right.
If you want to have a look, you have my permission.
Well, that won't be necessary.
Have you tried his trailer at the beach? Yes, we have.
Well, thank you.
It was a nice job.
You heard? Yeah.
Now, who would want to kill Tom Brice? Well, look, let's just put this together with some structure that fits, huh? There is a safe-deposit box with something in it.
Something that somebody's willing to kill for, huh? Now, Tom Brice went up to that house to look for some jewelry, but he found a key, which he didn't know was there.
But somebody else did.
They went up there, they jimmied the door.
Tom Brice interrupted them.
So the guy went out by the pool and just puttered around.
And that's when I arrived.
So he decided to get the hell out of there.
Now, I bluffed Tom Brice out of the key, but the killer didn't know that.
He followed Tom Brice to a spot where they could have a little conversation.
Things got rough.
He wound up killing Brice and he looked for the key, but it wasrt there.
He still hasn't found it.
And he made a try for us this afternoon.
It's a theory.
It's a good one.
Hey, I better get out of here.
They're liable to come back.
Wait a minute.
I'm going with you.
We're gonna have to get rid of this car and get a rental.
I'd better rent it.
Okay.
Then we'll check into a motel.
We'll wait until 12:00 noon.
Are you trying to corrupt me? Yeah.
Yeah.
I think maybe I am.
You know, this is funny.
Here we are, hotter than Bonnie and Clyde and it's It's funny.
Hello.
May I help you? Yes.
My name is Alice Sandstrom.
I'd like to get into my safe-deposit box.
Thank you.
Right this way, Miss Sandstrom.
Friedler, Pike and Morris.
Let me speak to Mr.
Friedler, please.
Yes? You can use this booth if you like.
Thank you.
It's getting out of control, Pete.
There's somebody at the bank trying to get at that box.
If the authorities get that box, we're cooked.
Look, I had to do it.
You didn't need to kill her.
You didn't need to kill Brice.
Now, look here.
This is a tough business.
There's a lot of bread in it.
You don't like the risk, you don't get involved.
You'd better take care of it.
She had a baby.
Yeah.
This is the birth certificate.
That explains the baby blue room with the new curtains.
It also says she was afraid she might be murdered.
She certainly was psychotic.
Look how it rambles.
It looks like she had a baby and gave it over to some guy named Pete Finch.
Then she had a change of mind, tried to get it back and threatened to expose the whole baby racket, and they killed her.
The pool man? Well, we won't know that until we can get a look at this guy Pete Finch.
It says here Attorney Aaron Friedler set up the whole deal.
And her sister Jennifer was in on it, huh? Yeah, probably.
Probably Jennifer didn't want her sister to have an heir.
You said it best.
What do you mean? "Daddy left us a lot of money.
" My house is only a couple of blocks from here.
Why don't we go there and call Lieutenant Diehl? The cops are probably staking out your place.
Where are you going? You going toward my house? There are cops there.
I know.
That's the whole idea.
Get out of the car.
ROCKFORD: All right.
All right.
I'm getting out.
Feet apart.
Hands on top of the car.
Put your hands behind your back.
Hey! My briefcase, get my briefcase, will you? Move it! You must be Pete Finch.
Well, I'm not talking to anyone until I see my lawyer.
Hey, Pete.
You're a lousy shot.
Book Finch and pick up Friedler.
Yeah, the charge is the murder of Alice Sandstrom and Tom Brice.
And get somebody to check way back on Finch.
I think we just might have the tip of a big baby racket going here.
And tell the D.
A.
I want to see him at 4:00.
And get his whole staff involved in this.
Yup.
Could be a biggie.
Right.
Hey, Lieutenant, I hate to be a stickler for details, but you forgot to add two counts of attempted murder to those charges.
I mean, he did try to kill Miss Dusseau and myself.
No kidding? Hmm.
Sorry I missed that.
Can we go now? Why didn't you come right to us when you turned up the key? Well And why didn't you call us when you found out she had a safe-deposit box? Well, now, on that one How come you broke into the house? Well, I didn't really break in You know, Rockford, for a guy who's such a stickler for details, you play very sloppy ball.
Yeah.
Yeah, I guess if you want to overlook the fact that I took a suicide out of your wastebasket and put it on the D.
A.
's murder docket.
I can't figure out what Becker likes about you.
Well, I think he likes me because he can beat me at handball.
Sign the statement, keep yourselves handy.
We'll need you for the preliminary hearing.
You were in there playing a great game of catch-up with Diehl.
I appreciate all your help.
What do you mean? You were doing fine.
You did say to tell him what he wanted to hear, and I figured he didn't want to hear from me.
Oh, I see.
You're a real princess.
You know, I feel great.
We stuck to this thing because our instincts told us we were right.
And we ended up catching a murderer, exposing a multimillion dollar baby plot, and we may have gotten a little boy his heritage.
Real heroic stuff.
You rented it.
It's your ticket.
Look, you don't quite understand.
You see, the police impounded this car.
Then they drove it around here and they parked it here.
We don't deserve a ticket.
I'm sorry.
But Wait a minute.
I just said that I didn't park it.
The police did.
You can ask them.
Go right in there and ask them.
I'm sorry.
You know, I try.
I really try, Jim.
But, damn it, I hate cops.