Matlock (1986–1995): Season 8, Episode 1 - The Play - full transcript
Bad news.
That's what I've got.
Bad news.
There is no will.
Or if there is one, no
one has found it yet.
I called you here
for another reason.
A little discussion
about murder.
LEANNE: Marshall
wasn't murdered.
We all saw the body.
He was ripped apart by
some hideous creature.
The hounds.
Oh, my God, it
must be the hounds.
Superstitious rot.
You wouldn't say that if you'd
seen what was left of him.
It was...
It was...
It was... [WHISPERS]
"Murder, Miss Isabel."
What?
[IN NORMAL VOICE]
Murder, Miss Isabel.
Murder, Miss Isabel.
That's what it was.
And while I did
not find the will,
I did find...
- Oh, this. Oh, I'm sorry.
- Aah!
[SIGHS]
MATLOCK: I'm
sorry about the knife.
It got caught on a
thread or something.
DOUG: All right,
all right, all right.
Let's take five, everyone.
[SIGHS]
Ben, a word with you, please.
I'm sorry about the knife.
Either I can't get it out of my
pocket or hang on to it once I do.
But I'll keep working on it.
Good. I'm sure Ms.
Dryden will appreciate that.
Yeah. Uh-huh.
Listen, my friend, your delivery
in this scene seems a little stilted.
Uh-huh. Mm-hm.
- I mean, a little too stilted.
- Oh.
See, you're playing a detective.
But he's a very caring
detective with deep emotions.
You know what I mean?
Oh, yeah, yeah, he's a
detective with, uh, deep emotions.
Yeah, I want you to reach down
inside yourself, into your very soul
and deliver those emotions,
bare yourself to the audience.
Now, this may be community
theater, but it's theater nonetheless.
- So I want passion.
- Passion, right.
DOUG: Remember, your character
is a vestige of the Old South,
a gentleman of
culture and breeding.
So when you reach
down inside yourself
and deliver those
painful emotions, think...
Think Orson Welles.
Orson Welles. Yeah.
Think someone larger than life.
Larger than life.
A detective who stalks his
prey with civility, patois, panache.
A detective with panache.
Now, I realize that neither you nor
anyone else here is a professional,
but the audience that's going
to be sitting out there next week
is still going to expect
to be, nay, want to be,
transported to another realm.
Yeah.
And you can do it,
Ben. We can do it.
- But you have to think reality.
- Reality. Reality.
- Reality.
- Reality.
- Good.
- Yeah.
- Let's try it again.
- Okay.
[DOUG SIGHS]
He's terrible.
I've seen kumquats
with more talent.
Give him all the energy
you can. Help him, Jane.
- Help me, help the show.
- I will try.
- All right. Same scene from the top.
- Right.
[BILLY BLOWS WHISTLE]
MAN: Places, everyone.
BILLY: From the top.
DOUG: Places, everyone.
[WOMAN COUGHS]
[CLEARS THROAT]
MATLOCK: Billy.
You're supposed to be coming in out of
the rain. It'll help you get in character.
[SIGHS]
Knock, please, Billy.
Line.
Everyone is gathered in the
drawing room, as you requested.
Everyone is gathered in the
drawing room, as you requested.
[CELL PHONE RINGS]
Oops. Sorry, Doug, I gotta
take this. It's my broker.
What is going on?
We are rehearsing a
play, for heaven's sake.
Cliff has one line.
He can't remember it.
Ben keeps dropping his knife.
Now Carl has to
talk to his broker.
All right. Let's
break for lunch.
I want everyone to take care
of their personal transactions
and be back here
no later than 1:30.
[CARL SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
- You got a minute?
- For what?
You know what. We're one
week away from opening.
None of the scenes
work, not one.
Don't look at me.
If you could just rewrite them so
that Ben Matlock has fewer lines.
I told you not to
give him the part.
[DOUG SIGHS]
Beth, I'm begging you.
Doug, if you take lines away
from Hamlet, then it's not Hamlet.
The play hangs on his role.
[DOUG SIGHS]
What am I gonna do?
LEANNE: Isn't Billy coming?
CLIFF: No. He's gonna
stay and work on some lights.
MATLOCK: He's really got
the theater bug, doesn't he?
CLIFF: Oh, yeah.
LEANNE: He's not the
only one, is he, Dad?
I think I'm really
getting there now.
I feel like an actor, like I'm
bringing things up from my soul.
Oh, see, that's
Doug. He's a genius.
Yeah, he's good. He's good.
- But you know what else
it's like? CLIFF: Hmm?
It's like being a lawyer is not all
that different from being an actor.
You're up there in
front of an audience.
You know what you wanna say.
But you also gotta know
when to say it and how to say it.
You know that speech
you have in the second act
about how it was
being Marshall's nurse?
You mean: Being his nurse
wasn't a job, it was a privilege.
And none of you will ever
know how much I'll miss him.
MATLOCK: You see how you're
emphasizing the word "ever"?
- Yeah.
- Try it this way.
It was a privilege. And
none of you will ever
know how much I'll miss him.
You want me to
emphasize the word "know"?
Exactly. See what I mean?
Just one little inflection
makes all the difference, heh.
Say it that way from now on.
I'd better check it out with
Doug just to make sure.
What about me? I know
I only have this one line,
but can you give me any tips?
Well, Cliff, just
try to remember it.
Tell Jeff I looked
over the files last night.
He's to go ahead and
approve the Stevenson loan.
But under no circumstances is
he to move on the Conklin loan
until he and I talk.
No, it'll have to be tomorrow.
I'll be here rehearsing
until at least 10.
Can't. Gotta go. Put it
onto my desk. Okay. Bye.
Doug.
Hi.
Wanna go get some lunch?
No. I, uh, brought a sandwich.
I thought I'd stay in my office
and get some paperwork done.
[GLENDA CHUCKLES]
Couldn't help but notice how,
um, chummy you seem to be getting
with Jane Dryden these days.
I am the director.
- I was just giving her direction.
- Oh, heh.
Does your wife know how
hands-on you tend to be
when directing beautiful women?
DOUG: Glenda, don't.
GLENDA: Let's have
dinner. DOUG: I can't.
Sure, you can. Go to my place.
You know where that
is by now, don't you?
DOUG: This has got to stop.
You're the one who started it.
Six o'clock.
Tell your wife you
won't be home.
Or would you like for me to?
Six o'clock.
Then opened the window,
looked out,
dropped the knife
down the rain spout,
knowing
that even if someone
like me were to find it,
the rain would
wash it clean of blood
[YAWNS]
MATLOCK: and fingerprints.
You are wrong, Mr. Angeline.
I saw the body.
And I cannot believe,
no, I refuse to believe,
that one human being
could do that to another.
It was the hounds.
I knew it.
They've come back.
And where are they now, Vanessa?
Out in the yard?
Actually, speaking
of whereabouts...
Aw, Ben, for God's sake.
We're one week
away from opening.
You've yet to get through a
scene without fluffing your lines.
Glenda's winking at me.
I have something
behind my contact lens.
DOUG: Well, don't just
stand there. Stay in character.
Improvise, turn away,
pace, use your brain.
You've distracted him. You've
broken everyone's concentration.
You should know
better than that.
[ACTORS GASP]
Are you sure you want
to speak to me like that?
We'll take it again.
I love the clean
fragrance in the air
[MATLOCK SNIFFS]
after the rain has stopped
and justice has been done.
He's horrible.
I told you that
during auditions.
But did you listen? No.
I thought we should have a name,
someone people would come to see.
Curtain, please, Billy.
All right, let's
break for dinner.
Back at 7 sharp.
We'll run the whole
thing through from the top.
Oh, Ben, a word with you,
please, out in the lobby.
- Ahh.
- That last scene felt good.
That's what I wanted
to talk to you about.
I'm getting the hang of this,
Doug, a handle on my character.
I'm reaching down into
my soul, like you said.
I really thought I played the
truth of the moment just now.
- Ben, I've got to replace you.
- Truth of the moment.
If actors would just play the...
How's that?
I've got to replace you.
You're firing me?
DOUG: Ben, I made a mistake.
I never should have
cast you in this role.
But I'm getting
better every day.
No. It's more than just that.
A director has to
consider the entire cast.
If it doesn't mesh, then
changes have to be made.
Well, we're not meshing?
That's right.
Well, how do you know it's
my fault we're not meshing?
Maybe if you fired
somebody else, we'd mesh.
DOUG: Ben, I'm trying
to be nice about this.
How do you know it's my
fault we're not meshing?
Ben, I thought I could
turn you into an actor.
After all, you've been performing in
front of judges and juries for years.
I was just saying that at lunch.
Ben, I was wrong.
You're not an actor,
never were, never will be.
But you can't find somebody to
replace me at the last minute like this.
[DOUG SCOFFS]
In this world, unemployed actors
are only slightly less
numerous than insects.
I'll do your lines
tonight at the rehearsal.
You don't have to come back.
Sorry it didn't work out.
There's a broken heart for
every light on Broadway, Ben.
Keep your chin up.
You might get another break.
[BILLY BLOWS WHISTLE]
BILLY: Okay, boys
and girls, from the top.
[GASPING]
Miss Yarnell, you're
supposed to be backstage.
Everybody's waiting for you.
Miss Yarnell.
Yoo-hoo.
Help!
Help, somebody! Help!
You're saying Glenda
was murdered?
BILLY: Was she ever.
Strangled.
Right in her own dressing room.
I was the one that found her.
[BILLY SHUDDERS]
Glad I don't do that every day.
MATLOCK: Police
have any idea who did it?
I don't think so.
They sealed off her dressing room
and questioned us, sent us home.
Forensics will be
in there all night.
I heard the coroner say that Glenda
only had one of her contacts in.
Apparently, the other
one was still in the case.
She was lying in the
middle of the room.
You know, you'd think that if
she was putting in her contacts,
she would have been found over
by the sink, where her lens case was.
MATLOCK: Maybe
there was a struggle,
and that's how she wound
up in the middle of the room.
Yeah, I guess. I don't know.
Somehow it just
didn't look right to me.
I bet if you'd been there, you
would have thought it was odd.
Unfortunately, I wasn't.
Oh, Dad.
I'm so sorry you got fired.
- Replaced. LEANNE:
Oh, replaced.
Now, don't let
this get you down.
You are still one of the
best lawyers in this country.
Was I really that bad?
You stunk.
Even I could tell that, and
I'm just the stage manager.
[PHONE RINGS]
MATLOCK: Hello?
What? You're kidding.
Well, I don't know.
Okay. Okay. I'll be
there in a few minutes.
Who was that?
Doug Michaels. He's
being held for murder.
Glenda's murder?
Wants me to be his lawyer.
Don't do it, Ben. Whatever
you do, don't take his case.
LEANNE: Why not?
- Because he did it.
I heard him and
Glenda talking backstage
when I was up on the
ladder fixing the light.
Sounded like they'd been
tiptoeing through the
cabbage patch with each other,
only Doug wanted to
break it off and she didn't.
So he killed her?
I said he did, didn't I?
Were you and Glenda
having an affair?
No. We were not. We just slept
together a few times. That's all.
LEANNE: How many times?
DOUG: Half a dozen or so.
A few weeks ago, my wife
went away for the weekend.
Glenda asked me to come over
and coach her on some of her scenes.
Well, we had some wine, and
then we had some more wine,
and finally, one
thing led to another.
It was just a moment's
indiscretion to me, but not to Glenda.
She became obsessed.
She wouldn't let go, said if
I didn't continue seeing her,
she'd tell my wife
and ruin my marriage.
I couldn't let that
happen. I love Flora.
- So you cheated on her.
- Precisely.
Ahh, that does have an
odd ring to it, doesn't it?
It gives you motive.
And fibers from your tie
were found on Glenda's neck.
My tie was on the desk in my
office, which I never bother to lock.
Anyone could have stolen
it and used it to kill her.
LEANNE: Well, the
police found your tie, Doug,
in the waste basket with
some trash on top of it.
They think you were hiding
it until you left the theater.
[DOUG SIGHS THEN SCOFFS]
This is so Kafkaesque.
I can't believe it.
- Kafka-what?
- Esque.
It's surreal. It's nightmarish.
LEANNE: Who knew
about you and Glenda?
I guess everybody in the
cast who saw her slap me
knew something was going on.
Someone in the cast
must have framed me.
That's what you're
thinking, isn't it?
Could be.
Ben, I'm asking you
what you're thinking.
Yeah. It could be somebody
in the cast, I guess.
You're mad at me, aren't you?
- Nope. DOUG: That's
why you're so quiet.
You're sulking just because I
removed you from that silly play.
- I'm not sulking.
- You're sulking.
I know sulking when I see it.
I'm a director, for God's sake. I
see sulking every day of my life.
It's what actors do best.
See? That proves
I'm not sulking.
I'm no actor.
According to you.
Look, I'm sorry if I
hurt your feelings.
I didn't mean to. I was
just being brutally frank.
Please don't hold
that against me.
I need you, Ben.
I could go to prison for
the rest of my life here.
You gotta help me.
Well...
For one thing, I'm expensive.
Fine. I'm rich. What else?
I want my part back.
- Oh.
- In the play.
Uh-huh.
MATLOCK: You're
thinking it over?
He's thinking it over.
Everyone is gathered in the
drawing room, as you requested.
Everyone is gathered in the
drawing room, as you requested.
- Everyone is gathered in the drawing...
- Cliff, for heaven's sake.
Just trying to get it right,
you know? Everyone is...
The bank president said
Glenda worked here for 11 years,
made it through two mergers,
and got promoted three times.
- As you requested...
- This is odd.
Drawing... What?
Jane Dryden, the woman
who plays Miss Isabel,
- she works here.
- Who?
She's a teller. We
passed her on the way in.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone...
- She used to be a loan officer.
Would you look at this?
She was bumped to
a teller last January.
Ho-ho, she took a
50 percent cut in pay.
Wonder why she just didn't quit.
Everyone is gathered in the
drawing room, as you requested.
Everyone is gathered in
the drawing room, as you...
No, everyone is gathered in the
drawing room, as you requested.
I like it here. It's a
nice place to work.
But your salary was
practically cut in half.
Well, the bank was
going through a merger
and making
cutbacks right and left.
It was either take a
lower-paying job or be let go.
I wasn't thrilled about
making less money,
but at least I still
have health insurance.
LEANNE: Glenda
demoted you, didn't she?
Yes, but Glenda
gave me this job.
She was my friend.
- Thank you, sir. Have a nice day.
MAN 1 [OVER INTERCOM]: You too.
You know, it never seemed
that way back at the theater.
I mean, I didn't even know
you two worked together,
let alone that you were friends.
Oh. Well, we've known
each other almost eight years.
The play was her idea.
I never would have
done it without her.
MAN 2 [OVER INTERCOM]: Morning.
- Morning.
Well, we should let you get
back to work. Thanks a lot, Jane.
Sure. Oh, I'll see you tomorrow.
LEANNE: Bye.
- Bye.
Thanks. Everyone is
gathered in the drawing room...
Did that make sense to you?
Uh, yeah, I guess it did.
I'm trying to learn this line.
Everyone is gathered
in the drawing room...
You know what? I'm gonna
take my dad out to dinner,
because I think he's been so
wrapped up in the stage-manager job,
he hasn't had a
decent meal in weeks.
I bet.
- You wanna come?
- What?
Oh, no, thanks. Dad wants me to
take a look around Glenda's place.
He's home studying his lines.
Oh, good. Good.
Everyone is gathered
in the drawing room...
[GASPS]
Oh.
Hello, Beth.
Leanne, what are you doing here?
My dad's decided
to be Doug's lawyer.
So I heard.
Thought I'd look
over Glenda's things,
help him figure out
who really killed her.
The police gave me a
key. How'd you get in?
- Oh, well...
- You broke in?
Glenda borrowed some things
of mine. I just wanted them back.
What kinds of things?
This doesn't concern
you or your father.
Why would Glenda borrow a photo
album from you? Is that a scrapbook?
It's none of your business.
I can call the police and make it
their business. Is that what you want?
Glenda Yarnell was my mother.
No kidding. Her mother.
Said she was adopted 25 years
ago by a couple in New York,
started looking
for her birth mother
almost as soon as
they told her the truth,
and she found Glenda
about a year ago.
She call her?
No. She said she was too afraid of
being rejected to contact her directly.
- What'd she do?
- She's a writer,
and she found out how active
Glenda was in the theater down here.
So she sent the
director one of her plays
and used that as a way to
ease her way into her mom's life.
Had she eased her way
in by the time Glenda died?
No. Beth said that she never
told Glenda who she really was.
- Huh.
- Never worked up the nerve.
Knowing that even if
someone like me were to find it,
the rain would wash away
the blood and the fingerprints.
Maybe she lied.
Maybe she talked to
her and it didn't go well.
Maybe she wound up resenting
Glenda so much that she killed her.
I don't know, Dad. She
was stealing a photo album.
She wanted something to
remember her real mom by.
I don't know why she'd do that
if she was the one that killed her.
Oh.
On the other hand, she said
she was waiting around the theater
just like everybody else on
the night that Glenda died,
and I don't remember seeing
her until after the police arrived.
I'd better check this out with
Cliff, see what he remembers.
Do that tomorrow. Stay
here and run lines with me.
Oh, I'd better check
this out with Cliff, Dad.
As I'm sure most, if
not all, of you know,
Ben Matlock has
agreed to defend me,
and I, in turn, have reconsidered
the hasty decision I made
on the eve of
Glenda's tragic death
and have returned him to
the role of Monroe Angeline.
I'd like to apologize to all of you
for the gigantic mess I've created.
Mostly, I apologize to
my beautiful wife, Flora.
Though I don't deserve it,
she's declared her
intention to stay by my side.
And trouper that she is,
she's also come to our rescue
and will assume
the role of Vanessa.
- I love you, darling.
- Oh.
In any case, opening
night looms ahead.
We'll spend the next few days and
nights rehearsing as never before.
So let's get started. Places,
everyone. From the top.
All right.
[BILLY BLOWS WHISTLE]
From the top.
Everyone is gathered... Everyone
is gathered in the drawing room...
Did you see Jane?
Did you talk to her?
Yeah, yeah. I did.
She said that she didn't
remember seeing Beth that night
until after the police
got here, either.
We might as well
talk to the whole cast
and see if anyone
remembers seeing her.
Do you think we should
confront Beth again right away?
No, Miss Isabel,
I'm afraid human beings are
quite capable of such horrors,
a fact which you know
all too well, don't you?
Never mind.
I love the clean
fragrance in the air...
[MATLOCK SNIFFS]
Ah.
After the rain has stopped
and justice has been done.
[SIGHS]
I think he's gotten
much better, don't you?
Ahem. Bravo! Bravo!
Curtain, please, Billy.
Excellent, one and all.
Ben, you were superb.
You don't think he said that just
because I'm his lawyer, do you?
No, Dad, heh.
Well, this is it.
Opening night. Ha, ha.
I want everybody
to grab a light dinner,
be back here at 6:30 to get
back into costume and makeup,
7:45 green room,
8:00 curtain up.
Oh, uh, one other thing.
It appears that Glenda's death
has generated a
great deal of national
as well as local interest
in our little production.
Critics from two
weekly news magazines
have indicated they'll
be out there tonight,
as well as reviewers
from the daily papers.
So on your toes.
But most of all, have
fun. Huh? Ha, ha.
[ACTORS CLAPPING]
[LEANNE CHUCKLES]
How many critics did he
say would be out there?
Just about a dozen or so.
You wanna get a bite?
CARL: Leanne.
- Yeah?
I'm gonna go sign some
checks before dinner.
But before I do, I figured
you'd want to see this.
What's that?
Remember when I told
you Beth wasn't around
- the night Billy found Glenda's body?
- Yeah.
Well, I know where she was.
This reminded me.
- Phone bill?
- For my cellular phone.
I let her borrow it that night
so she could make an
emergency call to New York.
She wanted some privacy, so
she went off in a corner by herself.
See? That's the charge.
She was on the
phone for 27 minutes.
Wonder why she
didn't tell me about that.
I was upset that night.
It just slipped my mind.
I remembered a day or two later.
Why didn't you tell
me about it then?
I guess I just
didn't feel like it.
LEANNE: Huh.
Well, thanks, Carl.
You bet. Break a leg tonight.
Ah, you too.
What do you think of that, Dad?
Dad?
Dad?
- Dad?
- Yeah?
Well, Beth Samuels has an
alibi for the time of the murder.
She's about the only one
around here who does.
I mean, anybody could have slipped
off for five minutes and killed Glenda.
- Even the janitor.
- Yeah.
[MATLOCK SIGHS]
- Is it hot in here?
- No.
- You all right?
- Yeah.
You look a little pale.
- Why are you perspiring so much?
- I'm just hot.
It must be this costume.
- Are you nervous, Dad?
- No.
Oh, you are.
[CHUCKLES]
Ben Matlock, the famous lawyer
who thinks nothing of
giving press conferences
that are seen by millions of
people on national television,
is actually nervous about doing
some inconsequential little play.
[LEANNE CHUCKLES]
I'm not nervous.
Wanna get some dinner?
- No.
- Why not?
I had a big lunch.
If I eat anything
now, I'll throw up.
Oh, Dad. Ha, ha.
It's gonna be okay.
Everybody gets nervous
before they go on. It's natural.
Actually, it's good for you.
It keeps you on your toes.
There are gonna
be critics out there.
You're gonna be just fine.
I'll tell Doug I can't do it.
I'm too busy
preparing for his case.
Like you said, a lot of
people don't have alibis.
I got a lot of work to do. I'll just
tell him to put my understudy on.
Dad, this isn't Broadway.
It's Willow Springs, Georgia.
You don't have an understudy.
It was just a thought.
Bad news.
That's what I have.
I have bad news.
There is no will.
Or if there is, no
one has found it yet.
I called you here
for another reason,
a little discussion
about murder.
Marshall wasn't murdered.
We all saw the body.
He was ripped apart by
some hideous creature.
The hounds.
Oh, my God, it
must be the hounds.
Superstitious rot.
You wouldn't say that if you'd
seen what was left of him.
It was...
It was...
[WHISPERS] Murder, Miss
Isabel, that's what it was.
Oh, God, it was...
[CROWD MURMURING]
We're dead.
Huh?
Murder, Miss Isabel,
that's what it was.
And while I did
not find the will,
I did find
[SIGHS]
this.
This is what killed your
stepfather, Miss Isabel,
and the creature that wielded it
was all too human, I assure you.
You mean you know
who killed Marshall?
I prefer to let the facts
speak for themselves,
and if you will come
with me to the library,
they shall speak
volumes, I assure you.
[AIR WHOOSHING]
[CROWD APPLAUDING]
[IN NORMAL VOICE] Ben,
where are you going? Ben.
BILLY: Ben? Ben?
Ben, get back up there.
You're in the next scene.
We've got a show to
put on, Ben. Come on.
Now.
Ms. Dryden, I understand
the deceased, Glenda Yarnell,
was your immediate superior
in the bank where you work.
Yes, she was.
MATLOCK: And I hear
that she demoted you
from loan officer to bank
teller last January. Is that right?
Well, it wasn't
really a demotion.
Our bank had just merged, and
the new owners insisted on cutbacks.
It was either accept a
lower-paying job or be let go.
You sure you weren't demoted
because you were accused
of misappropriating funds?
How dare you?
You know that accusation was
investigated and proven false.
Who spearheaded
that investigation?
JANE: I don't know.
Somebody from the bank.
Was it the deceased?
I said, I don't know.
MATLOCK: You mean the
fact that she demoted you
one week after you were
accused is a coincidence?
Yes.
Was she punishing you?
No. I just told you. I'd
done nothing wrong.
You did a lot of
personal chores for her
in the month before she
was murdered, didn't you?
JANE: Well, what do you mean?
Oh, I mean, things like taking
her car to the car wash at lunch
and clothes to the dry cleaner's
and buying her groceries
for her, you know.
At least according to Mr. Selby,
Mrs. Gideon and Mr. Evans.
That's what they tell me.
They're ready to testify that you've
done business in their establishments
since January on
behalf of Glenda Yarnell.
Car wash, dry cleaner's,
groceries. Remember?
I did favors for Glenda
from time to time, yes.
According to them, you did
those favors practically every day.
Were they favors?
Or were they blackmail payments?
They were favors.
Glenda didn't force you to be
what amounted to her personal slave
in return for keeping it a secret
that you were an embezzler?
- No.
- You're reaching, Mr. Matlock.
Your Honor, why would
she do all these things
for somebody who
practically fired her?
You're reaching, Mr. Matlock.
- But, Your Honor. CLAGETT:
You're pressing your luck.
Do you have to do any
typing as a bank teller?
I use a keyboard to enter
information into the computer,
if that's what you mean.
Don't those long
fingernails get in your way?
Not really.
MATLOCK: I noticed
those fingernails
opening night of the
play that we're both in.
It's called The Last
Cry of the Hounds.
I play Monroe
Angeline, the lead.
Get on with it, Mr. Matlock.
Are they your fingernails
or are they artificial?
They're artificial. Acrylic.
I noticed those fingernails
opening night, and it hit me,
you weren't wearing long fingernails
during rehearsals, were you?
No. I had them
put on for the play.
It seemed to me that the character
I play would have long nails.
Uh-huh. Or did you
have them put on
to hide what happened
to your real nails?
No. I was trying to
get into character,
something you probably
wouldn't understand.
MATLOCK: The reason
I mentioned the nails
is the police just got
done taking apart the pipes
under the sink in Glenda
Yarnell's dressing room.
Do you know what they found?
Two fingernails.
Your fingernails.
That is ridiculous.
You tore them off during the struggle
with Glenda Yarnell, didn't you?
Boy, that must have hurt.
You ripped off two fingernails trying
to pull Doug's red tie around her neck,
and she was
trying to pull it off.
That's not true.
MATLOCK: The struggle
took place over the sink
because that's where Glenda
put on her contact lenses.
She put up a pretty good fight.
But you won
but ripped off two fingernails
in the process, whew,
and then washed
them down the drain.
No.
I tore off a
fingernail one time.
Boy, that hurt. Whew.
- Did you ever tear off a fingernail?
- Mr. Matlock.
And then, to make doubly sure
that no one would ever find them,
you dragged the body to the middle
of the room, away from the sink,
so that nobody would even be
tempted to look there. Is that about right?
That is not true.
MATLOCK: Yes, it is.
The lady who did your
nails, Mrs. McCowen,
she's here, and she's ready to testify
that you had ripped off two fingernails,
and your fingers were
bruised and discolored
when you came in to have
those acrylic nails put on.
And when the police run
a DNA test on those nails,
whatever tissue they find on
them, I'm sure that'll about clinch it.
Since the day Glenda caught
you with your hand in the till,
you were her servant.
She wasn't a nice woman.
She probably was abusive to you.
I guess that's the way you figured
the only way you could end it.
Murder, Miss Isabel,
that's what it was.
We find the
defendant not guilty.
Thank you, ladies and
gentlemen. Court is adjourned.
[GAVEL BANGS]
[CROWD CHATTERING]
LEANNE: Mm. BILLY: Ben, Ben!
You were wonderful.
Masterful performance.
Ben, you got reviewed
in this week's magazine.
- What'd they say?
- Right there.
You're a hit, Ben.
They loved you.
"But the biggest surprise of all
was the performance of real-life
attorney Benjamin Matlock,
whose overwrought
delivery, robot-like gestures,
and unremittingly
awkward stage presence
almost single-handedly made
The Last Cry of the Hounds
the best piece of camp theater
since Mel Brooks' Springtime for Hitler."
See what I mean? You
were so bad you were good.
[FLORA CHUCKLES]
That's what I've got.
Bad news.
There is no will.
Or if there is one, no
one has found it yet.
I called you here
for another reason.
A little discussion
about murder.
LEANNE: Marshall
wasn't murdered.
We all saw the body.
He was ripped apart by
some hideous creature.
The hounds.
Oh, my God, it
must be the hounds.
Superstitious rot.
You wouldn't say that if you'd
seen what was left of him.
It was...
It was...
It was... [WHISPERS]
"Murder, Miss Isabel."
What?
[IN NORMAL VOICE]
Murder, Miss Isabel.
Murder, Miss Isabel.
That's what it was.
And while I did
not find the will,
I did find...
- Oh, this. Oh, I'm sorry.
- Aah!
[SIGHS]
MATLOCK: I'm
sorry about the knife.
It got caught on a
thread or something.
DOUG: All right,
all right, all right.
Let's take five, everyone.
[SIGHS]
Ben, a word with you, please.
I'm sorry about the knife.
Either I can't get it out of my
pocket or hang on to it once I do.
But I'll keep working on it.
Good. I'm sure Ms.
Dryden will appreciate that.
Yeah. Uh-huh.
Listen, my friend, your delivery
in this scene seems a little stilted.
Uh-huh. Mm-hm.
- I mean, a little too stilted.
- Oh.
See, you're playing a detective.
But he's a very caring
detective with deep emotions.
You know what I mean?
Oh, yeah, yeah, he's a
detective with, uh, deep emotions.
Yeah, I want you to reach down
inside yourself, into your very soul
and deliver those emotions,
bare yourself to the audience.
Now, this may be community
theater, but it's theater nonetheless.
- So I want passion.
- Passion, right.
DOUG: Remember, your character
is a vestige of the Old South,
a gentleman of
culture and breeding.
So when you reach
down inside yourself
and deliver those
painful emotions, think...
Think Orson Welles.
Orson Welles. Yeah.
Think someone larger than life.
Larger than life.
A detective who stalks his
prey with civility, patois, panache.
A detective with panache.
Now, I realize that neither you nor
anyone else here is a professional,
but the audience that's going
to be sitting out there next week
is still going to expect
to be, nay, want to be,
transported to another realm.
Yeah.
And you can do it,
Ben. We can do it.
- But you have to think reality.
- Reality. Reality.
- Reality.
- Reality.
- Good.
- Yeah.
- Let's try it again.
- Okay.
[DOUG SIGHS]
He's terrible.
I've seen kumquats
with more talent.
Give him all the energy
you can. Help him, Jane.
- Help me, help the show.
- I will try.
- All right. Same scene from the top.
- Right.
[BILLY BLOWS WHISTLE]
MAN: Places, everyone.
BILLY: From the top.
DOUG: Places, everyone.
[WOMAN COUGHS]
[CLEARS THROAT]
MATLOCK: Billy.
You're supposed to be coming in out of
the rain. It'll help you get in character.
[SIGHS]
Knock, please, Billy.
Line.
Everyone is gathered in the
drawing room, as you requested.
Everyone is gathered in the
drawing room, as you requested.
[CELL PHONE RINGS]
Oops. Sorry, Doug, I gotta
take this. It's my broker.
What is going on?
We are rehearsing a
play, for heaven's sake.
Cliff has one line.
He can't remember it.
Ben keeps dropping his knife.
Now Carl has to
talk to his broker.
All right. Let's
break for lunch.
I want everyone to take care
of their personal transactions
and be back here
no later than 1:30.
[CARL SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
- You got a minute?
- For what?
You know what. We're one
week away from opening.
None of the scenes
work, not one.
Don't look at me.
If you could just rewrite them so
that Ben Matlock has fewer lines.
I told you not to
give him the part.
[DOUG SIGHS]
Beth, I'm begging you.
Doug, if you take lines away
from Hamlet, then it's not Hamlet.
The play hangs on his role.
[DOUG SIGHS]
What am I gonna do?
LEANNE: Isn't Billy coming?
CLIFF: No. He's gonna
stay and work on some lights.
MATLOCK: He's really got
the theater bug, doesn't he?
CLIFF: Oh, yeah.
LEANNE: He's not the
only one, is he, Dad?
I think I'm really
getting there now.
I feel like an actor, like I'm
bringing things up from my soul.
Oh, see, that's
Doug. He's a genius.
Yeah, he's good. He's good.
- But you know what else
it's like? CLIFF: Hmm?
It's like being a lawyer is not all
that different from being an actor.
You're up there in
front of an audience.
You know what you wanna say.
But you also gotta know
when to say it and how to say it.
You know that speech
you have in the second act
about how it was
being Marshall's nurse?
You mean: Being his nurse
wasn't a job, it was a privilege.
And none of you will ever
know how much I'll miss him.
MATLOCK: You see how you're
emphasizing the word "ever"?
- Yeah.
- Try it this way.
It was a privilege. And
none of you will ever
know how much I'll miss him.
You want me to
emphasize the word "know"?
Exactly. See what I mean?
Just one little inflection
makes all the difference, heh.
Say it that way from now on.
I'd better check it out with
Doug just to make sure.
What about me? I know
I only have this one line,
but can you give me any tips?
Well, Cliff, just
try to remember it.
Tell Jeff I looked
over the files last night.
He's to go ahead and
approve the Stevenson loan.
But under no circumstances is
he to move on the Conklin loan
until he and I talk.
No, it'll have to be tomorrow.
I'll be here rehearsing
until at least 10.
Can't. Gotta go. Put it
onto my desk. Okay. Bye.
Doug.
Hi.
Wanna go get some lunch?
No. I, uh, brought a sandwich.
I thought I'd stay in my office
and get some paperwork done.
[GLENDA CHUCKLES]
Couldn't help but notice how,
um, chummy you seem to be getting
with Jane Dryden these days.
I am the director.
- I was just giving her direction.
- Oh, heh.
Does your wife know how
hands-on you tend to be
when directing beautiful women?
DOUG: Glenda, don't.
GLENDA: Let's have
dinner. DOUG: I can't.
Sure, you can. Go to my place.
You know where that
is by now, don't you?
DOUG: This has got to stop.
You're the one who started it.
Six o'clock.
Tell your wife you
won't be home.
Or would you like for me to?
Six o'clock.
Then opened the window,
looked out,
dropped the knife
down the rain spout,
knowing
that even if someone
like me were to find it,
the rain would
wash it clean of blood
[YAWNS]
MATLOCK: and fingerprints.
You are wrong, Mr. Angeline.
I saw the body.
And I cannot believe,
no, I refuse to believe,
that one human being
could do that to another.
It was the hounds.
I knew it.
They've come back.
And where are they now, Vanessa?
Out in the yard?
Actually, speaking
of whereabouts...
Aw, Ben, for God's sake.
We're one week
away from opening.
You've yet to get through a
scene without fluffing your lines.
Glenda's winking at me.
I have something
behind my contact lens.
DOUG: Well, don't just
stand there. Stay in character.
Improvise, turn away,
pace, use your brain.
You've distracted him. You've
broken everyone's concentration.
You should know
better than that.
[ACTORS GASP]
Are you sure you want
to speak to me like that?
We'll take it again.
I love the clean
fragrance in the air
[MATLOCK SNIFFS]
after the rain has stopped
and justice has been done.
He's horrible.
I told you that
during auditions.
But did you listen? No.
I thought we should have a name,
someone people would come to see.
Curtain, please, Billy.
All right, let's
break for dinner.
Back at 7 sharp.
We'll run the whole
thing through from the top.
Oh, Ben, a word with you,
please, out in the lobby.
- Ahh.
- That last scene felt good.
That's what I wanted
to talk to you about.
I'm getting the hang of this,
Doug, a handle on my character.
I'm reaching down into
my soul, like you said.
I really thought I played the
truth of the moment just now.
- Ben, I've got to replace you.
- Truth of the moment.
If actors would just play the...
How's that?
I've got to replace you.
You're firing me?
DOUG: Ben, I made a mistake.
I never should have
cast you in this role.
But I'm getting
better every day.
No. It's more than just that.
A director has to
consider the entire cast.
If it doesn't mesh, then
changes have to be made.
Well, we're not meshing?
That's right.
Well, how do you know it's
my fault we're not meshing?
Maybe if you fired
somebody else, we'd mesh.
DOUG: Ben, I'm trying
to be nice about this.
How do you know it's my
fault we're not meshing?
Ben, I thought I could
turn you into an actor.
After all, you've been performing in
front of judges and juries for years.
I was just saying that at lunch.
Ben, I was wrong.
You're not an actor,
never were, never will be.
But you can't find somebody to
replace me at the last minute like this.
[DOUG SCOFFS]
In this world, unemployed actors
are only slightly less
numerous than insects.
I'll do your lines
tonight at the rehearsal.
You don't have to come back.
Sorry it didn't work out.
There's a broken heart for
every light on Broadway, Ben.
Keep your chin up.
You might get another break.
[BILLY BLOWS WHISTLE]
BILLY: Okay, boys
and girls, from the top.
[GASPING]
Miss Yarnell, you're
supposed to be backstage.
Everybody's waiting for you.
Miss Yarnell.
Yoo-hoo.
Help!
Help, somebody! Help!
You're saying Glenda
was murdered?
BILLY: Was she ever.
Strangled.
Right in her own dressing room.
I was the one that found her.
[BILLY SHUDDERS]
Glad I don't do that every day.
MATLOCK: Police
have any idea who did it?
I don't think so.
They sealed off her dressing room
and questioned us, sent us home.
Forensics will be
in there all night.
I heard the coroner say that Glenda
only had one of her contacts in.
Apparently, the other
one was still in the case.
She was lying in the
middle of the room.
You know, you'd think that if
she was putting in her contacts,
she would have been found over
by the sink, where her lens case was.
MATLOCK: Maybe
there was a struggle,
and that's how she wound
up in the middle of the room.
Yeah, I guess. I don't know.
Somehow it just
didn't look right to me.
I bet if you'd been there, you
would have thought it was odd.
Unfortunately, I wasn't.
Oh, Dad.
I'm so sorry you got fired.
- Replaced. LEANNE:
Oh, replaced.
Now, don't let
this get you down.
You are still one of the
best lawyers in this country.
Was I really that bad?
You stunk.
Even I could tell that, and
I'm just the stage manager.
[PHONE RINGS]
MATLOCK: Hello?
What? You're kidding.
Well, I don't know.
Okay. Okay. I'll be
there in a few minutes.
Who was that?
Doug Michaels. He's
being held for murder.
Glenda's murder?
Wants me to be his lawyer.
Don't do it, Ben. Whatever
you do, don't take his case.
LEANNE: Why not?
- Because he did it.
I heard him and
Glenda talking backstage
when I was up on the
ladder fixing the light.
Sounded like they'd been
tiptoeing through the
cabbage patch with each other,
only Doug wanted to
break it off and she didn't.
So he killed her?
I said he did, didn't I?
Were you and Glenda
having an affair?
No. We were not. We just slept
together a few times. That's all.
LEANNE: How many times?
DOUG: Half a dozen or so.
A few weeks ago, my wife
went away for the weekend.
Glenda asked me to come over
and coach her on some of her scenes.
Well, we had some wine, and
then we had some more wine,
and finally, one
thing led to another.
It was just a moment's
indiscretion to me, but not to Glenda.
She became obsessed.
She wouldn't let go, said if
I didn't continue seeing her,
she'd tell my wife
and ruin my marriage.
I couldn't let that
happen. I love Flora.
- So you cheated on her.
- Precisely.
Ahh, that does have an
odd ring to it, doesn't it?
It gives you motive.
And fibers from your tie
were found on Glenda's neck.
My tie was on the desk in my
office, which I never bother to lock.
Anyone could have stolen
it and used it to kill her.
LEANNE: Well, the
police found your tie, Doug,
in the waste basket with
some trash on top of it.
They think you were hiding
it until you left the theater.
[DOUG SIGHS THEN SCOFFS]
This is so Kafkaesque.
I can't believe it.
- Kafka-what?
- Esque.
It's surreal. It's nightmarish.
LEANNE: Who knew
about you and Glenda?
I guess everybody in the
cast who saw her slap me
knew something was going on.
Someone in the cast
must have framed me.
That's what you're
thinking, isn't it?
Could be.
Ben, I'm asking you
what you're thinking.
Yeah. It could be somebody
in the cast, I guess.
You're mad at me, aren't you?
- Nope. DOUG: That's
why you're so quiet.
You're sulking just because I
removed you from that silly play.
- I'm not sulking.
- You're sulking.
I know sulking when I see it.
I'm a director, for God's sake. I
see sulking every day of my life.
It's what actors do best.
See? That proves
I'm not sulking.
I'm no actor.
According to you.
Look, I'm sorry if I
hurt your feelings.
I didn't mean to. I was
just being brutally frank.
Please don't hold
that against me.
I need you, Ben.
I could go to prison for
the rest of my life here.
You gotta help me.
Well...
For one thing, I'm expensive.
Fine. I'm rich. What else?
I want my part back.
- Oh.
- In the play.
Uh-huh.
MATLOCK: You're
thinking it over?
He's thinking it over.
Everyone is gathered in the
drawing room, as you requested.
Everyone is gathered in the
drawing room, as you requested.
- Everyone is gathered in the drawing...
- Cliff, for heaven's sake.
Just trying to get it right,
you know? Everyone is...
The bank president said
Glenda worked here for 11 years,
made it through two mergers,
and got promoted three times.
- As you requested...
- This is odd.
Drawing... What?
Jane Dryden, the woman
who plays Miss Isabel,
- she works here.
- Who?
She's a teller. We
passed her on the way in.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone...
- She used to be a loan officer.
Would you look at this?
She was bumped to
a teller last January.
Ho-ho, she took a
50 percent cut in pay.
Wonder why she just didn't quit.
Everyone is gathered in the
drawing room, as you requested.
Everyone is gathered in
the drawing room, as you...
No, everyone is gathered in the
drawing room, as you requested.
I like it here. It's a
nice place to work.
But your salary was
practically cut in half.
Well, the bank was
going through a merger
and making
cutbacks right and left.
It was either take a
lower-paying job or be let go.
I wasn't thrilled about
making less money,
but at least I still
have health insurance.
LEANNE: Glenda
demoted you, didn't she?
Yes, but Glenda
gave me this job.
She was my friend.
- Thank you, sir. Have a nice day.
MAN 1 [OVER INTERCOM]: You too.
You know, it never seemed
that way back at the theater.
I mean, I didn't even know
you two worked together,
let alone that you were friends.
Oh. Well, we've known
each other almost eight years.
The play was her idea.
I never would have
done it without her.
MAN 2 [OVER INTERCOM]: Morning.
- Morning.
Well, we should let you get
back to work. Thanks a lot, Jane.
Sure. Oh, I'll see you tomorrow.
LEANNE: Bye.
- Bye.
Thanks. Everyone is
gathered in the drawing room...
Did that make sense to you?
Uh, yeah, I guess it did.
I'm trying to learn this line.
Everyone is gathered
in the drawing room...
You know what? I'm gonna
take my dad out to dinner,
because I think he's been so
wrapped up in the stage-manager job,
he hasn't had a
decent meal in weeks.
I bet.
- You wanna come?
- What?
Oh, no, thanks. Dad wants me to
take a look around Glenda's place.
He's home studying his lines.
Oh, good. Good.
Everyone is gathered
in the drawing room...
[GASPS]
Oh.
Hello, Beth.
Leanne, what are you doing here?
My dad's decided
to be Doug's lawyer.
So I heard.
Thought I'd look
over Glenda's things,
help him figure out
who really killed her.
The police gave me a
key. How'd you get in?
- Oh, well...
- You broke in?
Glenda borrowed some things
of mine. I just wanted them back.
What kinds of things?
This doesn't concern
you or your father.
Why would Glenda borrow a photo
album from you? Is that a scrapbook?
It's none of your business.
I can call the police and make it
their business. Is that what you want?
Glenda Yarnell was my mother.
No kidding. Her mother.
Said she was adopted 25 years
ago by a couple in New York,
started looking
for her birth mother
almost as soon as
they told her the truth,
and she found Glenda
about a year ago.
She call her?
No. She said she was too afraid of
being rejected to contact her directly.
- What'd she do?
- She's a writer,
and she found out how active
Glenda was in the theater down here.
So she sent the
director one of her plays
and used that as a way to
ease her way into her mom's life.
Had she eased her way
in by the time Glenda died?
No. Beth said that she never
told Glenda who she really was.
- Huh.
- Never worked up the nerve.
Knowing that even if
someone like me were to find it,
the rain would wash away
the blood and the fingerprints.
Maybe she lied.
Maybe she talked to
her and it didn't go well.
Maybe she wound up resenting
Glenda so much that she killed her.
I don't know, Dad. She
was stealing a photo album.
She wanted something to
remember her real mom by.
I don't know why she'd do that
if she was the one that killed her.
Oh.
On the other hand, she said
she was waiting around the theater
just like everybody else on
the night that Glenda died,
and I don't remember seeing
her until after the police arrived.
I'd better check this out with
Cliff, see what he remembers.
Do that tomorrow. Stay
here and run lines with me.
Oh, I'd better check
this out with Cliff, Dad.
As I'm sure most, if
not all, of you know,
Ben Matlock has
agreed to defend me,
and I, in turn, have reconsidered
the hasty decision I made
on the eve of
Glenda's tragic death
and have returned him to
the role of Monroe Angeline.
I'd like to apologize to all of you
for the gigantic mess I've created.
Mostly, I apologize to
my beautiful wife, Flora.
Though I don't deserve it,
she's declared her
intention to stay by my side.
And trouper that she is,
she's also come to our rescue
and will assume
the role of Vanessa.
- I love you, darling.
- Oh.
In any case, opening
night looms ahead.
We'll spend the next few days and
nights rehearsing as never before.
So let's get started. Places,
everyone. From the top.
All right.
[BILLY BLOWS WHISTLE]
From the top.
Everyone is gathered... Everyone
is gathered in the drawing room...
Did you see Jane?
Did you talk to her?
Yeah, yeah. I did.
She said that she didn't
remember seeing Beth that night
until after the police
got here, either.
We might as well
talk to the whole cast
and see if anyone
remembers seeing her.
Do you think we should
confront Beth again right away?
No, Miss Isabel,
I'm afraid human beings are
quite capable of such horrors,
a fact which you know
all too well, don't you?
Never mind.
I love the clean
fragrance in the air...
[MATLOCK SNIFFS]
Ah.
After the rain has stopped
and justice has been done.
[SIGHS]
I think he's gotten
much better, don't you?
Ahem. Bravo! Bravo!
Curtain, please, Billy.
Excellent, one and all.
Ben, you were superb.
You don't think he said that just
because I'm his lawyer, do you?
No, Dad, heh.
Well, this is it.
Opening night. Ha, ha.
I want everybody
to grab a light dinner,
be back here at 6:30 to get
back into costume and makeup,
7:45 green room,
8:00 curtain up.
Oh, uh, one other thing.
It appears that Glenda's death
has generated a
great deal of national
as well as local interest
in our little production.
Critics from two
weekly news magazines
have indicated they'll
be out there tonight,
as well as reviewers
from the daily papers.
So on your toes.
But most of all, have
fun. Huh? Ha, ha.
[ACTORS CLAPPING]
[LEANNE CHUCKLES]
How many critics did he
say would be out there?
Just about a dozen or so.
You wanna get a bite?
CARL: Leanne.
- Yeah?
I'm gonna go sign some
checks before dinner.
But before I do, I figured
you'd want to see this.
What's that?
Remember when I told
you Beth wasn't around
- the night Billy found Glenda's body?
- Yeah.
Well, I know where she was.
This reminded me.
- Phone bill?
- For my cellular phone.
I let her borrow it that night
so she could make an
emergency call to New York.
She wanted some privacy, so
she went off in a corner by herself.
See? That's the charge.
She was on the
phone for 27 minutes.
Wonder why she
didn't tell me about that.
I was upset that night.
It just slipped my mind.
I remembered a day or two later.
Why didn't you tell
me about it then?
I guess I just
didn't feel like it.
LEANNE: Huh.
Well, thanks, Carl.
You bet. Break a leg tonight.
Ah, you too.
What do you think of that, Dad?
Dad?
Dad?
- Dad?
- Yeah?
Well, Beth Samuels has an
alibi for the time of the murder.
She's about the only one
around here who does.
I mean, anybody could have slipped
off for five minutes and killed Glenda.
- Even the janitor.
- Yeah.
[MATLOCK SIGHS]
- Is it hot in here?
- No.
- You all right?
- Yeah.
You look a little pale.
- Why are you perspiring so much?
- I'm just hot.
It must be this costume.
- Are you nervous, Dad?
- No.
Oh, you are.
[CHUCKLES]
Ben Matlock, the famous lawyer
who thinks nothing of
giving press conferences
that are seen by millions of
people on national television,
is actually nervous about doing
some inconsequential little play.
[LEANNE CHUCKLES]
I'm not nervous.
Wanna get some dinner?
- No.
- Why not?
I had a big lunch.
If I eat anything
now, I'll throw up.
Oh, Dad. Ha, ha.
It's gonna be okay.
Everybody gets nervous
before they go on. It's natural.
Actually, it's good for you.
It keeps you on your toes.
There are gonna
be critics out there.
You're gonna be just fine.
I'll tell Doug I can't do it.
I'm too busy
preparing for his case.
Like you said, a lot of
people don't have alibis.
I got a lot of work to do. I'll just
tell him to put my understudy on.
Dad, this isn't Broadway.
It's Willow Springs, Georgia.
You don't have an understudy.
It was just a thought.
Bad news.
That's what I have.
I have bad news.
There is no will.
Or if there is, no
one has found it yet.
I called you here
for another reason,
a little discussion
about murder.
Marshall wasn't murdered.
We all saw the body.
He was ripped apart by
some hideous creature.
The hounds.
Oh, my God, it
must be the hounds.
Superstitious rot.
You wouldn't say that if you'd
seen what was left of him.
It was...
It was...
[WHISPERS] Murder, Miss
Isabel, that's what it was.
Oh, God, it was...
[CROWD MURMURING]
We're dead.
Huh?
Murder, Miss Isabel,
that's what it was.
And while I did
not find the will,
I did find
[SIGHS]
this.
This is what killed your
stepfather, Miss Isabel,
and the creature that wielded it
was all too human, I assure you.
You mean you know
who killed Marshall?
I prefer to let the facts
speak for themselves,
and if you will come
with me to the library,
they shall speak
volumes, I assure you.
[AIR WHOOSHING]
[CROWD APPLAUDING]
[IN NORMAL VOICE] Ben,
where are you going? Ben.
BILLY: Ben? Ben?
Ben, get back up there.
You're in the next scene.
We've got a show to
put on, Ben. Come on.
Now.
Ms. Dryden, I understand
the deceased, Glenda Yarnell,
was your immediate superior
in the bank where you work.
Yes, she was.
MATLOCK: And I hear
that she demoted you
from loan officer to bank
teller last January. Is that right?
Well, it wasn't
really a demotion.
Our bank had just merged, and
the new owners insisted on cutbacks.
It was either accept a
lower-paying job or be let go.
You sure you weren't demoted
because you were accused
of misappropriating funds?
How dare you?
You know that accusation was
investigated and proven false.
Who spearheaded
that investigation?
JANE: I don't know.
Somebody from the bank.
Was it the deceased?
I said, I don't know.
MATLOCK: You mean the
fact that she demoted you
one week after you were
accused is a coincidence?
Yes.
Was she punishing you?
No. I just told you. I'd
done nothing wrong.
You did a lot of
personal chores for her
in the month before she
was murdered, didn't you?
JANE: Well, what do you mean?
Oh, I mean, things like taking
her car to the car wash at lunch
and clothes to the dry cleaner's
and buying her groceries
for her, you know.
At least according to Mr. Selby,
Mrs. Gideon and Mr. Evans.
That's what they tell me.
They're ready to testify that you've
done business in their establishments
since January on
behalf of Glenda Yarnell.
Car wash, dry cleaner's,
groceries. Remember?
I did favors for Glenda
from time to time, yes.
According to them, you did
those favors practically every day.
Were they favors?
Or were they blackmail payments?
They were favors.
Glenda didn't force you to be
what amounted to her personal slave
in return for keeping it a secret
that you were an embezzler?
- No.
- You're reaching, Mr. Matlock.
Your Honor, why would
she do all these things
for somebody who
practically fired her?
You're reaching, Mr. Matlock.
- But, Your Honor. CLAGETT:
You're pressing your luck.
Do you have to do any
typing as a bank teller?
I use a keyboard to enter
information into the computer,
if that's what you mean.
Don't those long
fingernails get in your way?
Not really.
MATLOCK: I noticed
those fingernails
opening night of the
play that we're both in.
It's called The Last
Cry of the Hounds.
I play Monroe
Angeline, the lead.
Get on with it, Mr. Matlock.
Are they your fingernails
or are they artificial?
They're artificial. Acrylic.
I noticed those fingernails
opening night, and it hit me,
you weren't wearing long fingernails
during rehearsals, were you?
No. I had them
put on for the play.
It seemed to me that the character
I play would have long nails.
Uh-huh. Or did you
have them put on
to hide what happened
to your real nails?
No. I was trying to
get into character,
something you probably
wouldn't understand.
MATLOCK: The reason
I mentioned the nails
is the police just got
done taking apart the pipes
under the sink in Glenda
Yarnell's dressing room.
Do you know what they found?
Two fingernails.
Your fingernails.
That is ridiculous.
You tore them off during the struggle
with Glenda Yarnell, didn't you?
Boy, that must have hurt.
You ripped off two fingernails trying
to pull Doug's red tie around her neck,
and she was
trying to pull it off.
That's not true.
MATLOCK: The struggle
took place over the sink
because that's where Glenda
put on her contact lenses.
She put up a pretty good fight.
But you won
but ripped off two fingernails
in the process, whew,
and then washed
them down the drain.
No.
I tore off a
fingernail one time.
Boy, that hurt. Whew.
- Did you ever tear off a fingernail?
- Mr. Matlock.
And then, to make doubly sure
that no one would ever find them,
you dragged the body to the middle
of the room, away from the sink,
so that nobody would even be
tempted to look there. Is that about right?
That is not true.
MATLOCK: Yes, it is.
The lady who did your
nails, Mrs. McCowen,
she's here, and she's ready to testify
that you had ripped off two fingernails,
and your fingers were
bruised and discolored
when you came in to have
those acrylic nails put on.
And when the police run
a DNA test on those nails,
whatever tissue they find on
them, I'm sure that'll about clinch it.
Since the day Glenda caught
you with your hand in the till,
you were her servant.
She wasn't a nice woman.
She probably was abusive to you.
I guess that's the way you figured
the only way you could end it.
Murder, Miss Isabel,
that's what it was.
We find the
defendant not guilty.
Thank you, ladies and
gentlemen. Court is adjourned.
[GAVEL BANGS]
[CROWD CHATTERING]
LEANNE: Mm. BILLY: Ben, Ben!
You were wonderful.
Masterful performance.
Ben, you got reviewed
in this week's magazine.
- What'd they say?
- Right there.
You're a hit, Ben.
They loved you.
"But the biggest surprise of all
was the performance of real-life
attorney Benjamin Matlock,
whose overwrought
delivery, robot-like gestures,
and unremittingly
awkward stage presence
almost single-handedly made
The Last Cry of the Hounds
the best piece of camp theater
since Mel Brooks' Springtime for Hitler."
See what I mean? You
were so bad you were good.
[FLORA CHUCKLES]