Matlock (1986–1995): Season 8, Episode 4 - The Diner - full transcript

MAN: You've got a
problem? WOMAN: No.

What do you think?

How come you're
driving the Plymouth?

[MATLOCK CHUCKLES]

Started right up.

Runs like a top.

She a beauty?

You haven't had that
car out in ten years.

- I want to show it to Martha.
- Martha who?

Well, that's why I asked
you to meet me here.

[BOYS TALKING INDISTINCTLY]



Martha Jordan.

BOY 1: Hut, hut,
hut. Yeah. BOY 2: Oh.

[PLAYERS CHEERING]

Haven't seen her in 30 years.

Called out of the blue, heh.

Want you to meet her.

Hey, hey, lady, uh,
here, let me help you.

- Handle gets stuck sometimes.
- Oh, thank you.

Mm. Mm.

Why does her
name sound familiar?

Well, it was a long time
ago. You don't remember.

Her husband was my
first client, Cyrus Jordan.

Worked in the diner my dad always
ate at back home in Mount Harlan.

It was in the early '60s.



Things were real different then.

[SLOW MUSIC PLAYING
OVER SPEAKERS]

[DOOR BELL JINGLES]

- Cyrus. CYRUS: Yes, sir?

Deputy needs to
have his order done.

What can I get
y'all this morning?

Whip me up some of them biscuits
and gravy like the sheriff always eats.

- Yes, sir.
- Fried eggs and grits for me.

Alrighty.

WOMAN: Thank you.

- Pete. PETE: Charlie.

- Cyrus.
- Mr. Matlock,

I'll have your eggs ready
for you in just a minute.

All right.

I hear you've been
blueberry-picking.

[CYRUS CHUCKLES]

Yes, sir. We got
two pies back there.

Ain't too sure how long
they're gonna last, though.

You want me to save you a piece?

[CYRUS CHUCKLES]

Biscuits and gravy,
Cyrus. Make it fast.

Coming right up, sheriff.

Hope you weren't planning on
a leisurely breakfast, sergeant.

When we get done here, we
gotta get out to Willie Dodd's place

and bust up that still
of his once and for all.

Why?

Attorney General's office. Been
raising Cain with me since 8 this morning.

I know what it is,
though. It's the feds.

They just itching for an excuse
to get people like me fired,

so they can bring them
integrationists down here and take over.

That's just what we need is a
bunch of Yankees coming in here

and telling us how to do things.

You'd better get used
to it. Changing times.

That's what they
call it up in Atlanta.

Flushing the South down
the toilet. That's what I call it.

I need some coffee here, boy.

CHARLIE: Here. Here.

Yup, I stopped by the dime
store this morning to get a paper.

Frosty told me that Owen Lashley's
pawn shop was robbed last night.

Got any idea who it was?

Like I was just saying, Charlie,

I got more important
matters to attend to right now.

Now, Owen, he'll
just have to wait.

He shouldn't have had all
that cash in there to start with.

[FORK CLATTERS]

I need me another fork, Cyrus.

Someone back there
forgot to wash this one.

All right. I'll get
you one right away.

I'm eating biscuits and
gravy this morning too.

Sure is good.

Nice and clean.

WES: Thing is burned.

The biscuits are hard as rocks.

This is garbage, boy.

Refuse.

It's bad news.

You expect me to pay for it.

But did you really
think I was gonna eat it?

I mean, just how
ignorant do you think I am?

Cyrus, why don't you get
the sheriff some hotcakes?

WES: I don't want no hotcakes.

I want an answer.

You think I'm ignorant, boy.

[SIGHS]

No, sir.

Then why did you serve me trash?

Deputy Hayes there don't
seem to mind the flavor none.

WES: I say it's trash, boy.

You know what I do with trash?

I make trash clean it up.

It does taste
burned, like he said.

Maybe if you took a couple
of meals out of his wages,

he'd be more careful next time.

PETE: Clean it up.

Hurry.

[CAR APPROACHING]

You want a ride?

Heh, no, thank you, Mr. Matlock.
Uh, I can walk just fine.

Oh, come on. Get in.

You don't wanna wear a hole in
them new shoes before you have to.

Come on.

- All right. Thank you.
- Yeah.

My wife bought me these shoes.

CHARLIE: Oh, they're nice.
They look like they cost a lot.

She didn't tell me how
much she paid for them.

She just made me promise,
uh, to take real good care of them.

Oh, yeah, heh.

You know, the sheriff
was having a bad day

way before he got to
the diner this morning.

It wasn't you or your
cooking that made him mad.

Yeah. Well, I don't pay
much attention to stuff like that.

Mr. Matlock, I just let
it roll right off my back.

Hmm, do you?

Mm-hm, sort of
like water off a duck.

You're a better man than I am,
Cyrus Jordan, I'll tell you that.

[HORN HONKS]

Are you all right?

[CAR DOOR CLOSES]

Yeah. I'm all right.

This is Mr. Charlie Matlock.

- Is it true what they said?
- I don't know, son. What did they say?

That the sheriff dumped
food all over you.

Heh, yeah. That's all right.

Why didn't you hit him?

I don't want you talking
like that. Hear me?

Sheriff or no sheriff, I would
have shoved his face in the gravy

and drowned him in it.

Now, you quit that. And if you don't get
your butt back in the house, you better.

Eye for an eye,
tooth for a tooth.

Says so right in the Bible.

Hush up.

Well...

Your boy's growing up.

Quoting the Bible
and everything.

- Yeah. When it suits him.
- Oh.

Yes, that's the way
it is with most of us.

Where did you get
that old '46 Plymouth?

Mr. Harriman give it to me

for painting his house and
fixing up his yard last year.

She ran real good for a day
or two, then she just quit on me.

How about this, next time you
make a batch of blueberry pies,

make me one.

When I come out here
to get it, I'll bring the tools

and see what I can
do. How about it?

- Heh, that would be fine.
- Heh, see you.

JUDGE: Does the prosecution
wish to cross-examine the defendant?

Mr. Matlock.

Yes, Your Honor. Thank you.

So you've never been
at Jim Desmond's barn?

I've never set foot in his barn.

When's the last time
you were on his property?

Never set foot on
his property, neither.

MATLOCK: Never?
- Nope. Never.

When you gave blood last year,
they told you your blood type.

Happen to remember what it is?

AB something, heh, or other.

AB negative.

[WHISTLES]

Pretty rare.

But wouldn't you know,

it's the same type that was
found on this strand of barbed wire,

which, as we just heard
from Deputy Gadell,

the sheriff removed from
the fence besides Jim's barn

the morning after the theft.

Now, they believe

whoever broke into the
barn, stole those saddles,

threw them over the fence,

then crawled between the
wires to make his getaway,

scratching himself

and leaving AB negative blood
on these barbs in the process.

Well, AB negative or
XYZ positive, who cares?

Finding it there
don't make it mine.

Very true. But it
got me to thinking.

If it had been me getting all cut
up on rusty barbed wire like that,

first thing I would have
done is hightail it to a doctor.

Ever been to see Doc Wilshire?

Of course I have.

Everybody in Mount Harlan
has. He's the only doctor we got.

When was the last time
you saw him, Darryl?

I don't remember.

July 12th, 10 a.m.,

the morning after somebody
broke into Jim Desmond's barn.

Doc Wilshire cleaned
the cuts on your back,

gave you a tetanus shot

and sent you on
your way. Isn't that so?

No further questions.

[CHARLIE CHUCKLES]

That was good, son.

Kind of let him
convict himself, heh.

I tried to.

Yeah. That was good.

Set the trap and let
him walk right into it.

[CHARLIE CHUCKLES]

Dad, there's something
about being a DA

that just doesn't
sit right with me.

I don't like sending
people to jail.

Well, it's steady work.

When I was your age,
that's all there was to it.

Yeah, but I'd rather
do something else.

What?

Well, been thinking
about this for a while.

I'm quitting the DA's office.

Practice law on my
own from now on,

start defending people,
instead of prosecuting them.

Oh. Uh-huh.

Kind of like Elmo
Erickson, the drunk.

[CHARLIE CHUCKLES]

Dad, just because the only
criminal attorney you know

is an alcoholic doesn't
mean they all are.

No. No. I know.

Carlton Reeves,
he ain't no drunk.

Of course, he never
got married neither, heh.

I'm going to the office.
I'll talk to you later.

You checked all the
windows and doors?

You didn't find nothing
open or busted?

No. I come in this morning.

Everything was
clean as a whistle.

I went to open the cash register
and I realized I'd been robbed.

And nothing else in
the shop was missing?

No cameras? No jewelry?

No. Just the money. $693.

Owen, how many
times we got to tell you?

Keep your money in
the bank, not at the store.

It's a pawnshop, Wes.

I gotta have money.

And here's the worst part.

My momma's gone to Florida,

and I wrote her phone
number on a 50-dollar bill.

Now I can't call her.

Are you saying a stolen bill's got a
phone number written down on it?

- Yes, sir.
- On the front or the back?

Well, it was on the front, right
next door to Ulysses S. Grant.

Now, that's what I call a lead.

I'll get on it first
thing in the morning.

No. You won't.

Not till the Attorney General's
office quits breathing down my neck.

I'm gonna personally oversee

each and every criminal
investigation we undertake.

I tell you...

Yeah, why don't you head on
home, sonny. I can finish up here.

Sounds good to me.

My old lady just hates it
when I'm late for supper.

- Yeah, get out of here. Yeah.
- See you in the morning.

So this, uh, phone
number in Florida...

Owen, that about
takes care of that.

If and when we find that 50-dollar
bill we may have ourselves a thief.

Uh-oh, somebody
lost their wallet.

Yeah.

Heh, Sully's.

I swear. That man would lose
his head if it weren't bolted on.

Hey, Sully. This here's
the sheriff. Do you read me?

SULLY [OVER RADIO STATIC]:
I hear you, Wes. What's going on?

[STATIC CRACKLING]

You left your wallet here, boy.

And where the heck are you,
anyway? I can hardly hear you.

SULLY: Driving about
two blocks from home.

Just stick it in my desk, okay?

I'll get it in the morning.

Well, you know you're out there
driving around without a license now.

If I see you, I'm gonna
have to arrest you, heh.

[DOOR CLOSES]

[SIGHS]

[GRUNTS]

[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING]

[GRUNTS]

Don't you work too hard.

[POLICE SIREN WAILING]

Heh, yeah. Cora,
come here, girl.

You be good in school and
learn something for me today.

All right? Give me some sugar.

Gamble, Mr. Know-It-All, boy,
you gotta work on that temper.

[SIREN APPROACHING]

Y'all stand back.

You're under arrest, boy.

- For what?
- Leave my daddy alone.

For murdering Sheriff
Slattery. What the hell you think?

[HANDCUFFS CLICKING]

Come on.

- My, my, don't you look
fine. MATLOCK: Heh.

Oh, well, heh.

And this is your daughter.

Leanne. I am so pleased
to meet you, Ms. Jordan.

I was just telling Leanne
about you and Cyrus

and that time he was
accused of murder.

I wouldn't be here today if it
wasn't for your granddaddy.

[MATLOCK CHUCKLES]

Sit down, honey.

Your daddy never was one
for making a long story short.

[ALL CHUCKLE]

So where were you?

Well, I was telling her about
the morning Cyrus was arrested.

Hmm.

MATLOCK: Dad called and
asked me to come over for lunch.

You're making me hot dogs.

- They're your favorite, ain't they?
- Yeah.

You've been telling me I've been
eating too many of them for years.

What are you up to?

Just trying to fix you
something you like.

Why?

Oh, I just want you to know that
if you wanna quit your job uptown,

it's all right with me.

And what else?

Well, I...

I might have a client for you.

Hey, Pop, that's great.

Of course, if you take him
on, it'd have to be for free.

I was at home all night.

You can ask
Martha. She'll tell you.

That ain't good enough, is it?

For me, it is.

But not for a jury.

They'll consider
her a little biased.

Any idea how your knife wound
up being used as a murder weapon?

Will you quit saying that?

It ain't my knife!

I use it when I'm working.

MATLOCK: Pete says,
uh, you were using that knife

to cut up blueberry
pies yesterday.

Traces of blueberry juice the
lab found on the sheriff's shirt

in one of the stab
wounds confirm that.

I left the knife for Moley to
have cleaned the next morning.

Like always.

Somebody just must have
broke in there and took it

when everybody went home.

Everybody knew about that
run-in you had with the sheriff.

You know how fast word
travels around this town.

It could have been anybody.

CYRUS: They won't
let me see Martha.

It wouldn't be so bad in here.

But they just won't
let me see Martha.

Maybe I can get you out on bail.

You can get me out of here?

Maybe.

I used to work with these guys.

Maybe they'll do me a favor.

Look, uh, I can't
make bail money.

So what's the difference?

Well, uh... [CHARLIE
CLEARS THROAT]

Ben and me can help you out.

Uh, Dad.

[WHISPERS]
That's a lot of money.

CYRUS: Uh...

I stand on my own.

Always.

And, uh...

Since I ain't got no money,

I'd just as soon stay in here.

Uh...

Uh, Cyrus.

If I was to buy something from you,
now that wouldn't be charity, would it?

MARTHA: I used
to hate that old car.

It would never let me forget
how Mr. Harriman cheated you.

The man knew that car
was gonna break down.

Heh, but I don't
hate it no more.

When is Mr. Matlock
picking it up?

Tomorrow afternoon.

Feels so good to have
your arms around me again.

[CAR TIRES SCREECH]

[MEN SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]

MAN 1: There's more.
- Get down!

[GUNSHOTS]

MAN 2: Get them right now!

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

[CHARLIE GRUNTS]

Phew.

That's Martha's brother, Brundy.

Her and the young ones are gonna
stay there until this thing is over.

What's wrong with
people, anyway?

I don't know.

You need some help?

No. I think we got
her so she don't jump.

All right.

You ain't gonna
stay here, are you?

Of course I am. This is my home.

Well, I got a feeling them
jackasses might come back.

You can't stay here.

I don't have a choice. I don't
have nowhere else to go.

That ain't so.

I got an extra bed at my house.

Heh, look, no, no, I appreciate
it, but I'll just stay home.

CHARLIE: But
you can't stay here.

They might do something to you.

Look, I'm gonna
get hung, anyway!

So, what the hell
difference does it make?

He ain't gonna get me
off and we both know it.

Ahem, well,
actually, I think I can.

Or, at least, I intend
to try my damndest.

Well, thinking and trying is a
long way up the road from doing.

I got you out on bail, didn't I?

All the gun-toting jackasses in the
world can't change the facts, Cyrus.

The fact is, you're innocent.

That means something.

Yeah, something to that.

That's right.

Get your stuff
together. We'll wait.

[CYRUS CHUCKLES]

Sorry I can't help with the dishes. I
got a lot of reading to catch up on.

Oh, you done
enough. You go ahead.

Mm, Mr. Matlock, where
y'all learn to cook like this?

Well, let's just say it
wasn't from my father.

[ALL CHUCKLE]

I'll see you in the morning.

- Uh, night, heh.
- Night.

- Here, let me help you.
- No, no, no, you just sit there.

Yeah.

[CYRUS SIGHS]

- That's a fine house you got here.
- Yeah.

A real fine boy too. You
must be real proud of him.

Well, yeah, no more than
you are of Gamble, though.

He's a fine boy, smart,
got a head on his shoulders.

Yeah.

He got a temper too. Did he
get that from you or Martha?

Um, me, I guess, heh.

[BOTH CHUCKLE]

He didn't learn to
hold his in yet, huh?

No. He ain't had too
much practice at it.

- Come on, now, let me take this...
- No, no, sit there.

Let's talk about things.

You know, the only place we know
one another is down at the diner.

The way I see it, that's like
not knowing one another at all.

Well, there ain't a whole
lot to know, Mr. Matlock.

Charlie. It's Charlie.

You like cooking for folks?

I like feeding my family.

[CLEARS THROAT]

Uh, look, I ain't too
good at this talking.

So unless you want me to
go in and get on them dishes,

I'm just gonna turn in.

And again, I can't thank
you enough, Mr. Matlock.

Charlie.

No, sir. No, it ain't.

It's Mr. Matlock.

White folks hear me
calling you Charlie

around that diner or
around town, they...

They just don't like that.

Mr. Matlock...

[SIGHS]

You're a good man,

and I don't mean
you no disrespect,

but some things...

are the way they are.

[FIRE CRACKLES]

[PEOPLE SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]

They burned a cross
on Grandpa's lawn?

When Cyrus sent us
to live with my brother,

it was because he didn't want
us to be there if things turned ugly.

And back then, when a
black man was accused

of murdering a white man,

things could turn real ugly.

- And what happened?
MARTHA: Hmm.

My father put the fire out
and called the sheriff's office.

[MARTHA CHUCKLES]

MATLOCK: Nobody showed
up till the next morning.

Might as well not
shown up at all.

I'm telling you,
it's Mitchell Crane.

He was wearing that ball cap.
You know, where the bill's turned up,

where he looks like
some kind of giant duck.

It was nighttime, Charlie. You
can't be sure what you saw.

That fire's going as
bright as day out here.

Even if it was Mitchell Crane, I
wouldn't have arrested him, anyway.

I mean, what's the crime?

Trespassing.
Destruction of property.

SULLY: Some of
your grass got burned.

It'll grow back.

In fact, them ashes will
probably do it some good.

You're telling me it's all right
to go around burning stuff

in other people's yards?

Look, we'll do everything we can
to make sure nothing else happens.

If you use some common sense

when it comes to who
stays at your house,

you know as well as I do none
of this would have happened.

- Dad, where are you going?
- Get breakfast.

Ah, Elma. Elma, I
need them hotcakes.

All right?

- Come on. BOY: Sorry, Pop.

That's a nice-looking
cap you got there, Mitchell.

Bill get turned up
that way by accident?

Or do you wanna go
around looking like a moron?

You say something
to me, old man?

Bill up like that, you can't
keep the sun out of your eyes.

You don't need it to
keep your head warm.

You're too good
at lighting fires.

Certain people need to learn certain
things just ain't done around here.

It just seems to me

that lighting fires

in other people's yards

is a pretty dumb
way to make a point.

But if you ever get the urge to
do it again, burn something else.

I see you and yours
in church all the time.

I guess the cross don't
mean nothing to you.

It just don't seem Christian to
use the cross as a symbol of hate.

Maybe Reverend Weber
ought to talk on that sometime.

Maybe he ought to talk on how
we're supposed to love our brothers,

treat them like we
want them to treat us.

Why don't you shut up?

PETE: Two orders
of eggs over easy.

Side of bacon, side
of sausage and grits.

Don't forget them
hotcakes. All right?

See you got your wife working.

And my boy. And
I'm still short-handed.

Why don't you hire Cyrus back?

I can't have no colored
murderer working here.

Cyrus ain't no murderer.

I know he ain't. But that's
what everybody thinks.

If people stop coming in
here, I go out of business.

How long you think you
gonna stay in business

if people have to wait a
half hour for their grits?

Cyrus is the best man
ever worked for me.

If it was just me, I'd hire
him back in a second.

But I got Elma to think
about and the young'uns.

Did it ever occur to you
if you hired him back,

people would see
how much you trust him.

They might get to thinking
maybe he's not a killer.

MAN: Pete, you got
them hotcakes yet?

PETE: Dang it, Elma, where
are them hotcakes? Come on.

What are you doing?

Well, I'm going over to Moley's.

Cyrus, you can't go over
there. You won't be safe.

Well, Mr. Matlock, you've
done enough for me already.

Just what I'd do for
any friend of mine.

Mr. Matlock, we ain't friends.

And never gonna be.

Truth of the matter is,
all this hadn't happened,

I never would've set
one foot in your place.

Never eat here, never
even had my family here.

No.

I'm best off with my own kind.

Cyrus,

you know a lot of them
people down there at the diner,

ignoramuses.

I'm gonna tell you
something I believe.

I ain't gonna tell you that I've
liked every colored man I ever met,

and I sure as hell ain't liked
every white man I ever met.

But I like you.

You've got a nice smile.

Smart.

Head on your shoulders.

Make the best blueberry
pie on the face of this Earth.

And I ain't ignoring the
fact that you're colored.

That's part of who you are.

But if neither the
whites nor the coloreds

start taking it one
person at a time,

instead of lumping
everybody together,

then all the marching and
protesting and integrating in the world

ain't gonna amount
to a hill of beans.

Well...

It really ain't that hard to
make a decent blueberry pie.

I could probably teach you how.

Probably not.

Give it a try.

Hi, Dad, how come you're
not at the service station?

We stayed home so Cyrus could
teach me to make blueberry pie.

You made that?

I helped.

What did you do?

I picked the berries, washed
them, tried to make the crust.

But after I'd pretty much
destroyed two batches of dough

trying to roll it out,
Cyrus took over.

Where you been?

Talking to Owen Lashley.

Last person to see
Sheriff Slattery alive.

What did he say?

Well, he went down
to the sheriff's station,

unh, around 8:00 that night

to answer questions about
that burglary at his pawnshop,

and the sheriff sent
Sully home around 8:30

and Owen left about
a half hour later.

What time did Wes'
wife find him dead?

9:15.

So whoever killed him must
have been hiding outside the office

waiting for Wes
to be by himself.

Right.

Did you say you put new radios
in all three sheriff's cars last week?

Yup.

Well, apparently, Sully left
his wallet at the office that night,

and when the sheriff
radioed him to tell him,

Owen says the static
was so bad on Sully's end,

he could hardly hear
what he was saying.

Static?

That radio was
fresh from the factory.

Well, thought you'd wanna know.

Been nearly a half hour.

When's your daddy gonna call?

Soon as he gets to
where Sully was that night.

I really appreciate
your doing this, Owen.

Things like this
drive my father crazy.

He's got to know whether it's the radio
or the work he did installing it is bad.

CHARLIE [OVER RADIO]:
Oh, Ben, it's Charlie.

You there? Hello?

I'm here, Dad. Where are you?

Chesterfield Road, about
two blocks from Sully's house.

How's the static?

Nothing like it was that night.

Dad, you're coming
in clear as a bell.

That don't make no sense.

Maybe Sully said he
was somewheres else

and Owen heard it wrong.

Before he left the office, he
said he's going home for supper.

Owen said Sully said he
was going straight home, Dad.

So can Owen go now?

No. Don't let Owen
leave until I call you back.

You hear me?
Don't let him leave.

I gotta go. You know what?

I'm as crazy as your
pa for staying this long.

CHARLIE [OVER RADIO STATIC]:
Hello, Ben, is Owen still there?

[STATIC CRACKLING]

That's it. That's the
way it sounded that night.

We could hardly hear you for
the static, Dad. Where are you?

A lot closer than before.

CHARLIE: Sully.

- Hello, Sully.
- Sully.

SULLY: Hello, Ben, Charlie.
What brings you out here?

We need to talk to you, Sully.

Yeah? About what?

About, uh, the burglary over
at Owen Lashley's pawnshop.

How's the investigation going?

It's coming. Slow but sure.

Found that 50-dollar bill with
the phone number on it yet?

- Who told you about
that? MATLOCK: Owen.

As soon as we found out you
were behind the sheriff's office, uh,

when Wes radioed you about
losing your wallet that night,

we asked Owen a
whole lot of questions.

I don't know what
you're talking about.

We just come from
the bank, Sully.

Vera. You know,
teller. Tall. Red hair.

She remembers that big deposit
you made the day after the robbery.

One of the bills had
a phone number on it.

She asked if you needed
to copy it down, you said no.

That's why you killed
the sheriff, isn't it?

So he wouldn't find
out you were the burglar.

Ooh, you boys are just
barking up the wrong tree.

MATLOCK: We told Deputy
Vance and he told the state patrol.

Come clean and they
might go easy on you, Sully.

Burglary's one thing,

but this don't prove I'm a murderer,
especially seeing that I'm white.

Your boy's colored.

Compared to that,
this don't mean nothing.

[CHARLIE PLAYING
GUITAR AND HUMMING]

[DOOR OPENS THEN CLOSES]

How come you're here so late?

Couldn't sleep.

Oh, sit down. I'll cut
you a piece of pie.

No thanks, Pop.

How about a couple
of hands of gin?

Hmm, I don't know if
that's such a good idea.

You know how you
get when you lose.

Just that once.

That glass of tomato
juice slipped off the table.

I didn't do it on purpose.

Soaked clear
through my overalls.

It was an accident, Dad.

[HUMMING AND PLAYING]

Are all the face cards
on top of this deck?

You shuffled. I didn't.

[WHISTLING]

You sure this is a full deck?

See? You getting testy already.

No, I'm not.

- Gin.
- Gin?

[PLATE CLATTERS]

I'm sorry, Dad.

Uh, at least the tomato
juice washed out.

Don't move. Just sit
there. Uh, I'll clean it up.

Your mother always said
blueberry stains won't come out.

MATLOCK: Oh, Lord,
it's not coming out.

Ben.

Son.

I understand you were recently
charged with a crime, deputy.

Objection. That is irrelevant
to these proceedings.

MATLOCK: Goes to
motive, Your Honor.

Motive? But who's on trial here?

The wrong man,

and if you'll let me
continue, I'll prove it.

Go ahead.

What crime were you
charged with, Deputy Hayes?

They say I stole some money
from Owen Lashley's pawnshop.

Prior to the sheriff's death,

who in the department
normally investigated burglaries?

Me.

But when you and the
sheriff interviewed Owen

about the burglary at his place,

a crime with which
you've been charged,

the sheriff said he'd
investigate the case, didn't he?

Yeah.

Must have come as quite a shock.

After all, you were counting on
investigating that case, weren't you,

so you could make
sure it was never solved?

- That ain't true.
- You mean, the fact

that the sheriff wound up dead

before he could look into that
burglary is just a big coincidence?

That's right.

Everybody knows that that
colored fellow over there done it.

He got mad at Wes
for insulting his cooking

and he killed
him with his knife.

His kind do stuff
like that all the time.

And all you're doing
is muddying the water,

trying to confuse them
good people over there.

Before your arrest, you had a key
to just about every place of business

in Mount Harlan, didn't you?

For when you pulled
night patrol duty.

Yeah. That's right.

- Have a key to the pawnshop?
- Yeah.

MATLOCK: You also had a
key to the diner, didn't you?

Yeah.

You used that key
to get into the diner

after you left the sheriff's
office that night, didn't you?

Most certainly did not.

And being real careful not to
disturb any of the fingerprints

or blueberry juice
that was on it,

you stole one of
Cyrus Jordan's knives.

- Didn't you? SULLY: No.

MATLOCK: And then
you went to your patrol car,

and instead of going home,

you waited in your car outside the
back of the sheriff's station. Didn't you?

No. That ain't true.

You knew the sheriff
would be calling you

because you accidentally on
purpose left your wallet there.

What are you talking about?

So you waited and waited,

and sure enough, he called you,

giving you a chance to
make him and Owen think

that you were just
two blocks from home,

so later on, Owen
could give you an alibi.

Isn't that right, Sully?

SULLY: No. That ain't right.

And after that, you
waited till Owen was gone,

and then you snuck
in the sheriff's office

through the back door,

and then used the knife from
the diner to kill Sheriff Slattery

so no one would ever find
out you were a common thief.

- Didn't you?
- No.

Yes, you did, Sully.

I know because I got proof.

I got proof right here.

Deputy Vance removed
this from your patrol car,

the one you were
driving that night.

It's the floor mat
from the driver's side.

Mind telling the court what
made these stains, Sully?

They're blueberry
stains, aren't they, Sully?

No, uh...

They're... It's grape juice.

I was eating in my
car and it spilled.

Well...

if that were the case, those stains
would be on top of the floor mat,

not on the bottom. No.

The police lab over in Atlanta
says these are blueberry stains.

How did they get there?

- Hmm. MATLOCK: Well,

after you stole Cyrus' knife
from the diner that night,

you had to keep it out of sight

while you were waiting for
Owen to leave the sheriff's office.

So you put it down by your
feet underneath the floor mat.

Didn't you, Sully?

Next morning, the jury
found Cyrus innocent,

and by the end of the day, he
was back working at the diner.

And me and the children
came back the day after.

And from then on, life
seemed to get better.

Cyrus seemed more at
peace with hisself somehow,

and Gamble, well, heh, white folks
finding his daddy innocent like that

gave him something he'd been
missing his whole life: hope.

[MATLOCK CHUCKLES]

Where's Gamble now?

Columbus, Ohio. Got his
own advertising company.

MATLOCK: Oh.

And Cora, she's
married, mother of 3.

Three?

[ALL CHUCKLE]

And what about Cyrus?

That's, heh, why I
called your daddy.

Cyrus passed away
three weeks ago.

I'm so sorry.

[MARTHA WHIMPERS]

He was a fine man,
Martha. I'll never forget him.

- I got something I wanna
show you. MARTHA: Hmm?

Close your eyes.

[MATLOCK CHUCKLING]

Okay. Now open them.

Aah! You've still
got that old car.

Oh, it was my
father's pride and joy.

He was a good man too.

Your daddy and granddaddy
set our lives on a good course.

I just thought somebody ought
to thank him before it's too late.