McBride: Murder Past Midnight

It's you.

Mr. Harriman?

Mr. Harriman?

Mr. Harriman?

Marta? Not now please.

Marta! Later!

Marta!

Sorry to bother you, Mrs. Harriman.

Who are you?

Detective Hansen, LAPD.

Will you come with me please?

What happened?

The paramedics got a call from the maid,

at eight this morning that your husband was unconscious.

What?

They arrived at eight twenty

and they transferred him

to the Angels of Mercy hospital.

Is he okay?

He's in a coma.

You didn't hear the paramedics arrive?

No. I, I, I took a sedative last night.

Why didn't Marta wake me up?

Where is she?

She's downstairs giving a statement.

I don't understand?

Mrs. Harriman.

Why don't you get dressed.

Big day, huh, Claire?

How could you?

Hey, hey, hey, hey.

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

We'll need statements from both of you.

Detective?

Detective. I am Elena Ashfield,

Mr. Harriman's executive secretary.

I came over as soon as I heard.

Detective? - Yes?

Take her downstairs and get her statement.

Right. Come with me.

Ma'am.

Well!

What have you got?

This was in the dishwasher.

Cook here says all the dishes were done before he went home.

When was that?

Sometime after ten.

When did he come on duty?

About a half hour ago.

I found it before he got here.

It's consistent with the maid's story.

Were you in the habit of taking your husband

a glass of milk late at night?

No.

Then why did you on this occasion?

He paged me on the intercom and asked me to.

Why didn't he page the maid?

He said she had gone to bed early

and she wasn't feeling well.

And he didn't want to disturb her.

How long had you slept in separate bedrooms?

Does it matter?

I don't know. How long?

I don't remember.

Would you care to talk about it?

It's personal and I'd rather not.

Mrs. Harriman, you could help yourself

if you were more forthcoming.

I just don't think it is any

of your business. That's all.

All right

then I guess this interview is over.

She's all yours.

Thanks Detective.

Quite a spread huh?

Yeah, you could say that.

You have to put in a little money to fixing 'er up.

But it will be a real honey when you are done.

Huh.

How long have you been looking after the place Russell?

Ever since Mr McNabb started

having his legal problems.

Yeah well. Good thing you weren't his ex-wife.

Heh. Damn shame about that.

I think he always figured you'd get him off.

Two people you never lie to Russell.

Your priest and your lawyer.

He neglected to tell me,

he actually killed his wife.

Heh, heh.

I gotta admit I envy you.

I had my eye on this place for some time.

Really? Want to buy it?

Can't.

Just bought a bunch of new farm equipment.

McNabb gave me this place as my retainer.

Now that he is making thirty cents a day at San Quentin.

I am never going to my fees.

So this lovely country home is now mine.

It may not look like much at first,

but it's got a lot of potential.

Horse is real reliable.

Yeah. You can never have enough glue huh.

Russell, listen. Do you want to,

stay on here, take care of the place,

same deal you had with McNabb?

I'd be honored.

Me too.

So the first thing we do is, get all of this junk out of here.

I mean everything out of the house

except maybe the plumbing.

Find a couple of repairmen.

And a good painter. All right?

Yes sir.

Whose dog?

He's yours.

Comes with the property.

Does it have a name?

It's a he.

His name is Jesse.

He's a great dog.

Good. Do you want him?

No. I got six dogs already.

All right.

Jesse?

Come on. Come on dog.

Get in.

Yeah.

So where are you taking him?

Doggie adoption.

Roberta?

Hi. - Hey Phil.

What brings you this time?

DUI? Stolen hubcaps?

Shoplifting?

Actually it's kind of

a big case.

What do you mean?

You mean the Harriman case?

Yeah.

I, I've actually never worked on

anything as big as this before.

And Leyton's prosecuting.

Do you have any advice?

Wear heavy shoes.

Thanks.

Mrs. Harriman?

I'm Phil Newberry from the Public Defender's office.

I've been assigned to represent you.

Mrs. Harriman. I am just going to level with you.

I. I've never tried anything nearly as big as this.

You deserve the best representation you can get.

So my advice to you is that,

you hire yourself

a defense attorney.

Phil...

That would take several thousand dollars.

And I don't have several thousand dollars.

I just assumed that,

someone in your position would have

substantial financial assets.

I signed a prenuptial agreement before I was married.

I get an allowance.

What about other members of the family?

Heh, they are not about to give me money.

They want to see me get convicted.

The prenup that you signed didn't prevent you from

inheriting if your husband was incapacitated or deceased, did it?

No.

And that would be my motive, right?

I'd say you could count on that. Yeah.

Well, Phil.

Looks like you got yourself a big case.

Hola, qué pasa?

Aquino más.

Goodbye.

Goodbye.

Keep, keep, keep.

What did I do?

Court is back in session

Mr. Newberry do you want to continue your voir dire?

Yes your Honor, thank you.

Mr. McBride.

I can see from your questionnaire here,

You worked as,

a police detective, you have friends who are police officers,

and you currently work as a criminal defense attorney.

And you know Mr. Leyton the Assistant District Attorney

who represents the state in this case. - That's all true.

And you've represented some high profile clients in murder cases.

That's also true. - And you've collected some substantial fees?

You'd be surprised.

Now in your experience as an attorney,

would you say you have seen defendants lie?

All the time. - What about police officers?

I've known a few who have been less than candid.

And what about Mr. Leyton, do you think that you will tend to agree

with all of the things he'll say during trial?

I'm afraid that Mr. Leyton and I tend to

not agree on most things.