Peter Falk credited as playing...
Columbo
- Peter Hamilton: Now, Lieutenant, you don't really think that Beth killed her brother in cold blood, now do you?
- Columbo: Well, as a matter of fact... I do.
- Columbo: Uh, my name is Columbo, ma'am. I'm a, uh... lieutenant, uh, from the police.
- [shows badge then puts it away]
- Mrs. Chadwick: Dah, just a minute. Not so quickly. I'd like to look that over.
- [examines his I.D. then him]
- Mrs. Chadwick: Well, I must say, you hardly look the role.
- Columbo: This is a terrible thing to admit, but, uh... I think that, in a way, her brother's death is the best thing that ever happened to her.
- Columbo: You see, I come from a very big family, and at dinner time... it was like, well you know, Madison Square Garden, and... we used to patch it up with coffee.
- Columbo: I saw your new car, by the way. Oh, that's some automobile.
- Beth Chadwick: Thank you.
- Columbo: Really beautiful. Beautiful. I suppose you have to order those things weeks in advance, don't you?
- Beth Chadwick: Yes, that's right.
- Columbo: Yeah, that's right. Boy. Real change of pace for you, isn't it?
- Beth Chadwick: Well, I felt like something racy, as they say in advertising. A new image.
- Columbo: Yeah. Well y'now, I can understand that... I'm sorry... because it's a natural thing I think, after a death in the family... to want to break loose.
- Beth Chadwick: That's one way of putting it.
- Columbo: Gee, that's funny though.
- Beth Chadwick: What?
- Columbo: If you had to order the car some time ago...... that would mean you knew in advance you were going to change your style.
- Columbo: You see, according to your story, you were asleep at night... the alarm woke you up, you reached for a gun... and you shot what you thought was a burglar.
- Beth Chadwick: Which is exactly what happened.
- Columbo: Couldn't be. Because Mr. Hamilton, who was driving up outside... at the time, he heard both the shots and alarm.
- Beth Chadwick: Of course he did. What difference does that make?
- Columbo: Oh, big difference. He heard the shots first, then the alarm. That's the cart before the horse. I mean, how could the alarm wake you if the shots came first?
- Peter Hamilton: ...I won't be a hypocrite, Lieutenant. I'm sorry about poor Bryce being killed, but it has gotten Beth out from under his thumb.
- Columbo: Oh, yeah, yeah... Way out! Huh?
- [He gestures with his hands]
- Columbo: Morning, Mr. Hamilton.
- Peter Hamilton: Oh, Lieutenant.
- Columbo: You remember me?
- Peter Hamilton: Yes, I've got a very good memory.
- Columbo: I tell you, I envy you that. I got to the point where I can't... remember my telephone number.
- Columbo: You and Mrs. Chadwick, are you going to be married?
- Peter Hamilton: You don't believe in preliminaries, do you?
- Columbo: Well y'now sometimes, you just...
- Peter Hamilton: Lieutenant, why are you hounding Beth?
- Columbo: Hounding? Who me? Oh no, I'm not hounding anybody. Oh no. No. No, what I'm trying to do is get to the bottom of this thing.
- Peter Hamilton: Y'now Lieutenant, I like you. I really do. But you are devious.
- Beth Chadwick: I'm warning you. No more questions.
- Columbo: I wasn't going to ask a question, ma'am. I just wanted to return your bulb.
- Columbo: That's a tough little monkey you got there.
- Mrs. Chadwick: Enrico is not a monkey. He's a pedigreed silky.
- Columbo: Oh, I can see that, ma'am. It's just a figure of speech.
- Columbo: I couldn't sleep last night. There were a couple of points that... were bothering me so I thought I'd come over here and clear 'em up.
- Beth Chadwick: What kind of points?
- Columbo: That newspaper.
- Beth Chadwick: Newspaper?
- Columbo: Uh, yes. The one that I noticed on the table in the foyer. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't I hear you say that you... were home all day yesterday?
- Beth Chadwick: That's right.
- Columbo: See that's what puzzles me. How did that newspaper get there?
- Beth Chadwick: Haven't you ever heard of home delivery?
- Columbo: Oh, yeah. Yeah, I have a newspaper delivered to my house every morning.
- Beth Chadwick: There's your answer.
- Columbo: No. No, that won't answer it. No. No, the newspaper on the foyer table, that was a late edition. I mean, I even saw racetrack results in it.
- Beth Chadwick: I'm afraid I don't quite follow you.
- Columbo: Well, if you were home all day who brought home the newspaper?
- Beth Chadwick: Well, Bryce must have brought it home.
- Columbo: Yes, but Bryce came in through your room, he didn't come in through... the front door. I mean, he was shot on that side of the house. How did that newspaper get to the other end of the house?
- Columbo: Now, you figured that your brother had to walk around... the side of the house like this. Is that right?
- Beth Chadwick: I figure it. And so did the coroner's jury.
- Columbo: Right. Now you see you had to walk on grass.
- Beth Chadwick: Is there some point to this?
- Columbo: Yes, ma'am, there is. You see, now this grass is kind of dry because the sun's been out. Uh, well, today's Thursday. And the gardener cuts the grass on Thursday. Excuse me a minute. You see? Grass.
- Beth Chadwick: Yes. Well, that's only natural.
- Columbo: It certainly is. But you know there was no grass on your brother's shoe?
- Beth Chadwick: I'm afraid I don't quite understand.
- Columbo: Your brother was shot a week ago. On Thursday. And I looked at the... photographs of the body, I even had them blown up... and for the life of me, I just couldn't see any grass... on the soles of his shoe. And I couldn't figure that out. Why? It was freshly cut... and it was sticky because it was at night and there was dew.