Pillow of Death

Amelia.

Amelia!

What do you want now?

I want my dinner.

- You're not eating till Belle gets here. - That's what you said half an hour ago.

Well, I'm hungry and I'm going to eat now.

Well, don't stand there staring at me, bring on the food.

- Not a bite till Belle comes. - Now look here, you...

All right, go ahead and say it.

I'm just a poor relative from England,

doing you and Belle a favour by working in this creepy old house,

with its voices laughing and crying in the night,

and footsteps, poundings, creaking doors.

I sometimes wish I'd never come to America,

but I know on which side my bread is buttered.

That's why we'll wait till Belle gets here.

So you finally came home, did you?

Do you realise it's 7:30, and I hadn't had my dinner?

What I was doing is far more important than eating.

At my age, nothing's more important than eating.

- Just what were you doing? - I was calling on Wayne Fletcher's wife.

To talk about Donna and Wayne, I suppose.

- Donna's my niece. - Well, she's my niece, too, isn't she?

But I don't go around trying to run her life for her.

You mark my words, Belle Kincaid, she'll leave us flat some day.

She's of age and her own boss. And she's got a spirit, too.

Spirit or no spirit, I won't stand for her running around with Wayne Fletcher.

She's not running around with Wayne Fletcher.

- She's working for him in his law office. - She doesn't have to work.

None of the Kincaid women ever worked,

and I don't think she'll be working long after tonight.

- Dinner's on the table. - Good.

- Where's Donna? - She's gone.

She waited here till after 7:00,

and when this sass box here wouldn't serve her, she left.

She had work in the office to do for Wayne.

Night work!

Well, don't stand there grinning like an ape.

Food's the most important thing in your life, let's go into the dining room.

Certainly, my dear sister. May I?

Thanks for helping me out this evening.

I wouldn't have asked you

except that I have to file that brief in court in the morning.

- It was a big favour. - A favour to me.

It got me away from here for a couple of hours.

It's the only way I get out after dark.

- I thank you, boss. - Donna.

What?

I'm going to have a talk with Vivian tonight.

We've got to have a showdown. Things can't go on as they are.

It isn't fair.

- Wayne? - Yes?

Please don't do anything either one of us will regret.

People have been talking about us.

Uncle Sam and Aunt Belle have been good to me.

I don't want to hurt them.

And I don't want to be the cause of your hurting her.

Vivian doesn't care enough about me to be hurt by anything I do.

Well, I'm going to be in court all day tomorrow,

so I'll call you in the morning to check with you.

Okay.

Sure you haven't forgotten anything, Julian?

I've told you everything I know, Captain McCracken.

What are you doing here? Is something wrong?

Plenty. We just found your wife upstairs, dead.

Vivian, dead?

How did it happen?

As nearly as we can figure it, suffocation.

But how?

That's something we'll have to find out.

There are no signs of violence, no marks.

Where were you between 7:00 and 10:00 this evening, Fletcher?

- My office, working. - I suppose you can prove that?

- Yes, someone was with me. - Who was it?

My secretary.

But if there's any way of keeping her name out of this...

Oh, so it's a romance.

Any chance you might have wanted your wife out of the way?

You're forgetting, McCracken, that I'm an attorney.

- I don't have to answer... - Sure, sure, I know, you don't have to talk.

Ijustthought you might want to be helpful.

Julian, here, has been very helpful.

He says you have been trying to get rid of your wife.

He thinks you'd like to marry that young Kincaid girl.

Is that what this faker came here to tell you?

Not exactly. He says he came here to find out

why your wife didn't keep an appointment at his studio.

Says he phoned several times and nobody answered.

Then he claims he had a psychic presentiment

that something was wrong.

So he came here.

Couldn't get anybody to answer the doorbell and he called headquarters.

We found the body.

- Anything wrong with his story? - Plenty.

He calls himself a psychic investigator.

I don't know what his real name is.

My wife met him about a year ago, at one of those silly séances

that women so often attend.

Silly to you perhaps, Mr. Fletcher,

but not to those who believe.

Was Mrs. Fletcher a believer?

She was more than that. She was that rare individual,

a natural medium for communication with the spirit world.

Did you know that your wife was a perfect medium?

I only know that she was a changed woman from the day she met that man.

She lost interest in me, neglected our home

and talked of nothing but death and life after death.

She became strangely interested in suicide.

In fact, she was reading up on the subject.

Do you think your wife committed suicide?

I don't really know what to think.

Your wife was murdered, Mr. Fletcher.

I had instructed her to rest

before coming to my studio for tonight's experiment.

And then,

I seemed to receive a message from her. I knew she had come to harm.

I'm sure she was trying to contact me

from the other side.

Did you have dinner at home tonight?

- Well, yes. - What time did you leave for the office?

- A few minutes before 7:00, I believe. - But you're not sure?

Yes, I am sure. It must have been about that time,

because I met my secretary at the office at 7:00.

Oh.

Hello? Yes, he's here.

For you, Captain.

McCracken speaking.

How long ago?

Okay, thanks.

Fletcher, I'm holding you on suspicion of murder.

- Aren't you making a big mistake? - Maybe. I've made them before.

You won't be in long, if I'm mistaken.

Maybe till tomorrow, huh?

- You've heard of habeas corpus? - Sure, sure.

Take him in, Harry.

You better come along, Julian. I may need you.

Certainly.

Julian.

- Julian what? - Julian Julian.

You're in a rut.

Have you no pride?

Doesn't the name of Kincaid mean anything to you?

I've done nothing to disgrace the name.

I suppose getting yourself talked about

with Wayne Fletcher isn't disgraceful?

I can't help it if people make something nasty

- out of a perfectly decent relationship. - "Perfectly decent relationship!"

In my day, no girl who ever thought anything of her reputation would think

of going to a man's office to work at night.

But we aren't living in your day, Aunt Belle.

We're living in a new world. For which I say, "Three cheers!"

Who can that be at this hour of the night?

- Answer it, Amelia. - Too bad you were born so long ago, Belle.

As I remember you, when you were Donna's age,

you weren't bad-looking.

And you even could've trapped a man, if the folks hadn't taught you to run

- at the sight of one. - Be quiet. And put down that sandwich.

What's the matter with it?

If you eat that poisonous-looking thing, you won't sleep a wink.

Is that all, sister dear?

Well, don't worry about that.

Sleep is something you get around here

only when the shades of the departed have taken a night off.

- Why, Mr. Julian. - Good evening, Amelia.

- I'm sorry to be making such a late call... - Save it, Julian.

If the folks have gone to bed, get them up.

I want to talk to everybody in the house.

- And who are you? - Captain McCracken, Detective Bureau.

- Detective? What has she done? - Who?

Donna.

I knew something terrible would happen sooner or later,

with her running around nights with Wayne Fletcher.

We'll talk about that later.

It's Julian. He's got a detective with him.

- A detective? What does he want? - I want to ask a few questions.

- About a murder. - Who's been murdered?

Mrs. Wayne Fletcher.

You seem very startled, miss. Mind telling me why?

No, you see,

I work for Mr. Fletcher,

and naturally, the news that his wife is dead...

- Worked for him tonight, too, didn't you? - Yes, I did.

If you're insinuating that she had anything to do with the murder...

- Who are you? - Who am I? Well, I like that.

- I'm Belle Kincaid. - Oh, yes.

I'll want to ask you a few questions, too,

as soon as I've finished with the young lady.

Meantime, you'd better sit down.

- I take it you are Mr. Samuel Kincaid? - Yes, that's me.

And that's Amelia. She comes from the English branch of the family

- that frittered away its money. Oh, I see.

And don't be asking me any questions about the murder.

I haven't been outside the house all day.

Good, that establishes the first alibi in the case. Have a seat.

- You might as well relax, too, Julian. - Thank you.

Is that spirit rapper in on this, too?

- And so you know Julian? - Know him?

He practically lived here

since Belle and Amelia here have decided

they wanted to talk to all of the Kincaid ghosts.