jefferies.
for what?
who said i was getting rid of it?
gunnison -- how did you get to be such a big editor -- with such a small memory?
wrong week. next wednesday i emerge from this plaster cocoon.
yeah. i sure feel sorry for you, gunnison. must be rough on you thinking of me wearing this cast another whole week.
where?
where?
didn't i tell you! didn't i tell you it was the next place to watch?
okay. when do i leave? half-hour? an hour?
stop sounding stuffy. i'll take pictures from a jeep. from a water buffalo if necessary.
swell. i get myself half-killed for you -- and you reward me by stealing my assignments.
you asked for something dramatically different! you got it!
you've got to get me out of here! six weeks -- sitting in a two-room apartment with nothing to do but look out the window at the neighbors!
it's worse than the chinese water torture.
i've been taking pictures so long i don't know how to read anymore.
listen -- if you don't pull me out of this swamp of boredom -- i'll do something drastic.
i'll -- i'll get married. then i'll never be able to go anywhere.
can you see me -- rushing home to a hot apartment every night to listen to the automatic laundry, the electric dishwasher, the garbage disposal and a nagging wife.
yeah? maybe in the high rent districts they discuss -- but in my neighborhood, they still nag.
next time, have some good news.
hello stella.
readers' digest, april, 1939.
now look, stella --
how?
stella -- in economics, a kidney ailment has no relationship to the stock market. absolutely none.
right now i'd even welcome trouble.
how can you tell that from a thermometer!
i think you're right. there is going to be some trouble around here.
don't you ever heat that stuff up.
lisa fremont.
she expects me to marry her.
i don't want to.
i'm not ready for marriage.
she's all right.
no.
stella!
she's just not the girl for me.
too perfect. too beautiful, too talented, too sophisticated, too everything -- but what i want.
it's very simple. she belongs in that rarefied atmosphere of park avenue, expensive restaurants, and literary cocktail parties.
can you see her tramping around the world with a camera bum who never has more than a week's salary in the bank? if only she was ordinary.
probably. but when i do, it'll be to someone who thinks of life as more than a new dress, a lobster dinner, and the latest scandal. i need a woman who'll go anywhere, do anything, and love it.
the only honest thing to do is call it off. let her look for somebody else.
that's the hard part.
there's an intelligent way to approach marriage.
we've progressed emotionally in --
people have different emotional levels that --
that's fine, stella. now would you make me a sandwich?
she pay you much?
mmmm -- hurts a little.
empty as a football.
not too active.
uh-huh.
the lisa fremont who never wears the same dress twice?
depends on the quote. let's see -- there's the plane tickets over, import duties, hidden taxes, profit markups --
that dress should be listed on the stock exchange.
who buys them? tax collectors?
something big going on somewhere?
it's just a run-of-the-mill monday. the calendar's loaded with them.
hasn't been any big demand for tickets.
picked it up in shanghai -- which has also seen better days.
now that's no way to spend your hard- earned money!
you have, perhaps, an ambulance outside?
hello.
a big glassful.
fine. corkscrew's on the right.
yeah -- i want to get this thing off and get moving.
thank you.
tired?
tell me -- what was slim hayward wearing?
that's good news.
how could i run it from say -- pakistan?
i wish there was one i wanted.
you mean leave the magazine?
for what?
that's what i'm afraid of. could you see me -- driving down to the fashion salon in a jeep -- wearing combat boots and a three day beard?
let's not talk any more nonsense, huh?
miss lonely hearts. at least that's something you'll never have to worry about.
not exactly -- but we have a little apartment here that's probably about as popular as yours. you, of course, remember miss torso.
well, she picked the most prosperous looking one.
how can you tell that -- from here?
oh.  some songwriter. in the studio apartment. lives alone. probably had an unhappy marriage.
no wonder he's having so much trouble with it.
lisa, it's perfect as always.
well now, look --
there's nothing i'm hiding. it's just that --
some people can. now if you'll let me explain --
all right. that's your opinion. you're entitled to it, but --
i made a simple, but true statement and i'll back it up, if you'll just shut up for a minute!
lisa, simmer down -- will you?
lisa! shut up!
did you ever eat fish heads and rice?
you might have to, if you went with me. ever try to keep warm in a c-54, at fifteen thousand feet, at twenty below zero?
ever get shot at, run over, sandbagged at night because people got unfavorable publicity from your camera?
those high heels would be a lot of use in the jungle -- and those nylons and six-ounce lingerie --
well, they'd be very stylish in finland -- just before you froze to death. begin to get the idea?
huh? try and find a raincoat in brazil. even when it isn't raining lisa, on this job you carry one suitcase. your home is the available transportation. you sleep rarely, bathe even less, and sometime the food you even look at when they were alive!
if anything, i'm making it sound good. let's face it, lisa.  you aren't made for that kind of a life. few people are.
i'm not stubborn! i'm truthful!
now if you want to get vicious, i'd be very happy to accommodate you!
it would be the wrong thing.
right now, it doesn't seem so.
there's nothing wrong with you, lisa. you have the town in the palm of your hand.
you mean "goodnight."
lisa!
can't we just sort of keep things status quo?
well -- when'll i see you again?
gunnison?
it's me.
the word is "everything." now what time does my plane leave tuesday?
i don't care where it goes -- just as long as i'm on it.
that's more like it. goodnight, old buddy.
that's a stiff one.
how did you know!
i was.
depends one which one.
now miss torso, for example --
she's real eat, drink and be merry girl.
speaking of misery, miss lonely hearts drank herself to sleep again. alone.
and some man will lose his.
well, the salesman could be available soon.
it's hard to figure. he went out several time last night, in the rain carrying his sample case.
now what could he sell at three in the morning?
he was taking something out of the apartment. i'm certain.
sometimes it's worse to stay than it is to run.
no. the shades are still drawn in their apartment.
get back! out of sight! quick!
the salesman's looking out his window.
get back there! he'll see you!
it's not an ordinary look. it's the kind of look a man gives when he's afraid somebody might be watching him.
uh-huh.
uh-huh.
stella.
will you take those binoculars out of the case and bring them to me.
if she's pretty enough, she doesn't have to go anywhere. she just has to "be".
i'm not exactly on the other side of the room.
don't you ever have any problems?
so do i.
why would a man leave his apartment three times, on a rainy night, with a suitcase? and come back three times?
not that salesman's wife. and why didn't he go to work today?
what's interesting about a butcher's knife and a small saw wrapped up in a newspaper?
why hasn't he gone into his wife's bedroom all day?
lisa -- there's something terribly wrong.
what do you think?
he went out a few minutes ago -- in his undershirt -- and he hasn't come back yet.
you know -- that would be terrible job to tackle.
how would you begin to cut up a human body?
be quiet! shhh! he's coming back!
now, lisa --
do you think i consider this recreation?
you'd better before you catch the disease!
i want to find out what's wrong with the salesman's wife. does that make me sound like a madman?
where's the doctor -- the undertakers?
lisa, please!
there is -- i've seen things through that window! bickering, family fights, mysterious trips at night, knives, saws, rope -- and since last evening, not a sight or sound of his wife! now you tell me where she is and what she's doing!
it's pretty hard to stay away from that word isn't is?
what are you getting at?
yeah.
that's where he's being clever. acting nonchalant.
no comment.
okay, lisa -- probably you're right. he's probably in the bedroom now, entertaining his wife with the indian rope trick. i'll admit to criminal insanity. now when do i start the cure?
yeah?
what's the apartment house number?
thanks, lisa.
to get on home.
just sitting in the living room. in the dark. and he hasn't gone near the bedroom. now get some sleep. goodnight.
look, doyle -- it's just one of those things i can't tell you on the phone. you have to be here, and see the whole set-up.
it's probably nothing important -- just a little neighborhood murder, that's all. as a matter of fact, i did say "murder".
my only thought was to throw a little business your way. a good detective, i reasoned, would jump at the chance to detect.
well, i usually took my best pictures on my day off. okay, doyle -- soon as you can.
stella, i -- i can't tell you what a welcome sight this is. no wonder your husband's still in love with you.
huh?
oh. well, yes and no. it wasn't an official call. he's just a friend. an old, ornery friend.
i thought doyle would get here before the trunk went -- or i'd have called the police. now we're going to lose it.
stella, don't do anything reckless!
i'll watch the alleyway -- in case it goes that way.
long distance.
because everything that man's done has been suspicious. trips at night in the rain, saws, knives, trunks with rope, and a wife that isn't there any more.
go ahead, doyle -- tell me he's an unemployed magician -- amusing the neighborhood with sleight-of-hand.
well, officer -- do your duty.
i'll bet it's been done.
you think i made all this up?
for instance?
she -- was -- an -- invalid!
all right -- you don't believe me.
thanks.
do that.
not 'til you showed up.
i was jaywalking.
the indianapolis speedway.
yup. it sure stopped traffic.
i think they missed their chance with her.
then where is she -- in the ice box?
what time?
i think that's about the time i fell asleep.
not yet.
how's your wife?
who said they left then?
the thorwalds -- at six in the morning?
now how could anybody guess that? they had, perhaps, signs on their luggage, "grand central or bust!"?
a very convenient guy -- this superintendent. have you checked his bank deposits lately?
well -- what good is his information?!! it's a second-hand version of an unsupported statement by the murderer himself -- thorwald! anybody actually see the wife get on the train?
doyle -- are you interested in solving a case, or making me look foolish?
well then do a good job of it! get over there, and search thorwald's apartment! it must be knee-deep in evidence.
i mean when he goes out for a paper, or a drink, or something. what he doesn't know won't hurt him.
what's the matter? does he have a courtesy card from the police department?
just make sure you're not caught. if you find something, you've got a murderer and nobody will care about a couple of house rules. if you find nothing -- he's clear.
give him evidence.
by morning there might not be anything left to find in his apartment.
what do you need before you can search -- bloody footsteps leading up to the door?
you know, every day for three years i asked myself that same question?
yeah -- frequently -- it ran something like this: "your request for transfer turned down --"
forget the story -- find the trunk. mrs. thorwald's in it!
is -- is anna -- who i think it is?
yeah. a good detective.
mrs. doyle?
jeff again. has tom come in yet?
you haven't even heard from him?
i'm afraid it is, tess.
tell him not to waste time calling. to get over here soon as he can. i think thorwald's pulling out tonight.
he knows. don't worry, tess. it's a man.
goodnight, mrs doyle.
long distance again.
quick. take a look. thorwald's getting ready to pull out for good!
he was just laying all his things out on one of the beds! coats, suits, shirts, sox, even his wife's --
that alligator bag his wife had on the bedpost --
he had it hidden in the dresser! well, at least it was in there. he took it out, went to the phone and called somebody long distance. -- his wife's jewelry was in the handbag. and something about it worried him. he was asking somebody advice over the phone.
i never saw him ask her for advise before. but she volunteered plenty.
i don't know.
he will. all his things are still piled on the bed.
not yet!
he must have gone somewhere to the right.
thinking about thorwald?
not a word. he was going to check on the railroad station, and the trunk. he must be still on it.
something on your mind, lisa?
what doesn't?
lisa -- i can't guess what you're thinking.
because she didn't know she was going on a trip -- and where she was going she wouldn't need a handbag.
do they hide it in their husband's clothes?
inside stuff?
i'm with you, sweetie, but detective thomas j. doyle has a pat answer for that.
that's what the witnesses told him.
still -- those witnesses.
come here.
don't be too hard on him. he's a steady worker. i wish he'd get there, though.
we have all -- what?
you'll have to clear that through my landlord --
well that's fine, but i only have one bed, and --
lisa, i won't be able to give you any --
-- pajamas.
that's a suitcase?
i'd be no better than thorwald, to refuse.
from his landlord -- once a month.
you are. you have a talent for creating difficult situations.
staying the night here, uninvited.
the same girl who keeps him out of the clutches of seductive show girls, and over-passionate daughters of the rich.
but he never ends up marrying her. strange.
you mean -- like the kitchen? and make us some coffee?
enough to scare me that you wouldn't get here in time, and we'd lose him.
everything he owns is laid out on the bedroom, ready for packing.
tom, this is miss lisa fremont.
careful, tom.
hallo?
just a minute, please.
he has his wife's jewelry hidden in among his clothes over there.
that wasn't mrs. thorwald who left with him yesterday morning?
come on, tom -- you don't really need any of this information, do you?
you mean you can explain everything that went on over there -- and is still going on?
but tom -- the saw, the knives --
well, in the garage, back home, we --
but i'm not a killer!
i take it you didn't find the trunk -- and this is just an old speech you once gave at the policeman's ball.
what was in the trunk? a surly note to me?
why -- when a woman only goes on a simple trip, does she take everything she owns?
if his wife wasn't coming back -- why didn't he tell his landlord? -- i'll answer it for you -- because he had something to hide.
i told you to be careful.
all the things i hate.
who was the trunk addressed to?
let's wait and see who picks it up.
that depends on who "they" were.
as much as i hate to give thomas j. doyle too much credit, he might have gotten a hold of something when he said this was pretty private stuff going on out there.
do you suppose it's ethical to watch a man with binoculars, and a long- focus lens -- until you can see the freckles on the back of his neck, and almost read his mail -- do you suppose it's ethical even if you prove he didn't commit a crime?
of course, they have the same chance. they can look at me like a bug under glass, if they want to.
huh?
i think i'll start reviving it tomorrow, with say -- miss torso for a start?
no, lisa -- i don't think he did.
thank you.
well, -- if there was one less thread this way -- -- and two less that way -- -- i might give up bachelorhood.
for a minute, doyle almost had me convinced i was wrong.
in the whole courtyard, only one person didn't come to the window.
do you think this was worth waiting all day to see?
he's washing down the bathroom walls.
lisa -- lisa -- on the shelf over there -- get me the small yellow box --
and that little viewer.
these aren't more than two weeks old -- i hope i didn't take all leg art. i think this is the one.
something -- that if i'm right -- might solve a murder.
uh-uh. the dog. i think i know now why thorwald killed it.
you take a look and tell me what you see.
now take it away.
well?
i know. but there's one important change. the flowers in thorwald's pet flower bed.
and digging in. look at that flower bed.
there's a dip at this end. and since when do flowers grow shorter in two weeks?
something's in there. those flowers have been taken up, and put back again.
i'm not going to call doyle until i show him the body of mrs. thorwald -- and you're not going to dig up anything, an get your neck broken too.
what we've got to do is find some way to get in there, and --
you did it, thorwald! you did it!
lisa! look out! he's coming!
look!
i have a feeling we've just begun.
no doubt of it. he's leaving. the question is -- when?
not as long as you tell me what you're looking at.
what?
you can tell that from here?
would four of them -- ?
then i wouldn't worry too much. but let's keep an eye on her.
you don't say! i might just take that compliment as an insult.
too close.
real professional. would have made a great layout for the bazaar. the model pressed back against a brick wall, eyes wild, tense. low cut bodice, in new suspicious black, with a --
suppose mrs. thorwald's wedding ring was among the jewelry he has in the handbag. during that phone conversation he held up three rings -- one with a diamond -- one with a big stone of some kind -- and one plain gold band.
what are you two talking about?
no.
now wait a minute --
now hold on. i'm not a bit squeamish about what might be under those flowers -- but i don't care to watch two women end up like that dog --
there's no point in taking unnecessary chances. give me the phone book, lisa.
maybe i can get thorwald out of the apartment.
i'll try to give you at least fifteen minutes.
chelsea 2-7099. we scared him once. maybe we can scare him again. i'm using that word "we" a little too freely, i guess. i don't take any of the chances.
go ahead, thorwald -- pick it up. you're curious. you wonder if it's your girl friend calling. the one you killed for. pick it up, thorwald!
did you get my note?
well -- did you get it, thorwald?
i'll give you a chance to find out. meet me in the bar at the brevoort -- and do it right away.
for a little business meeting -- to settle the estate of your late wife.
now stop wasting time, thorwald, or i'll hang up and call the police.
that's a start. i'm at the brevoort now. i'll be looking for you.
one of you watch this window. if i see him coming back, i'll signal with a flashbulb.
this is l. b. jefferies, a friend of tom's. who am i talking with?
oh. when are they expected home?
well, if he calls in, tell him to get in touch with l. b. jefferies right away. i might have quite a surprise for him.
he has it. thank you.
lisa -- no!
come on. come on! get out of there!
i'm going to ring him now!
lisa! lisa!
a man is assaulting a woman at one two five west ninth street. second floor rear. make it fast.
l. b. jefferies.
chelsea 2-5598.
stella -- what can we do?
smart girl.
that'll get her out of there, won't it?
stella! the lights! he'd seen us!
stella -- how long do you think he'll stay there?
my billfold! in the right hand drawer.
to bail lisa out of jail.
one hundred and twenty-seven.
first offense burglary -- -- probably two-fifty. the piggy bank.
thirty-three here. totals one-ninety. not enough.
what about the rest?
just a minute. i'll tell you who it is when you get back.
jefferies.
tom, i've got something real big for you.
listen to me! lisa's been arrested.
my lisa. she went into thorwald's apartment, and he came back. the only way i could get her out was to call the police.
i know what you told me! she went in to get evidence, and she came out with it.
like mrs. thorwald's wedding ring. if that woman were still alive, she'd be wearing it.
a fact! last night he killed a dog for pawing in his garden. why? because he had something buried in there. something a dog could scent.
i don't know what pet name thorwald had for his wife. and that night he went out half a dozen times with the metal suitcase. he wasn't taking his possessions, because they're up in his apartment now!
in sections! and one other thing, doubting tom -- it just occurred to me that all the calls thorwald made were long distance! if he called his wife the day she left -- after she arrived in merritsville -- why did she need to send him a postcard saying she'd arrived?
precinct six. i sent a friend over with bail money.
just don't dally. thorwald knows he's being watched. he won't hang around long.
hello. hello, doyle? tom? tom, i think thorwald's left. i don't see anything of -- hello.
no.
i can't. the police have it by now.
lisa -- i -- i -- can't tell you how scared i was that you -- you might --
think you've got enough for a search warrant now?