I know where I was.
I hired you to find Prentiss.
I found him. Murdered.
(Rockford) Suicide!
The gun was underneath the drapes at least 15 feet from the body.
That gun was in the right hand of the deceased.
(Furlong) I made you a couple of promises.
There's nothing I'd hold you to. Would you mind? I bruise easy.
I was thinking of having an affair with him. I changed my mind.
(Furlong) But I want you down at the station
tomorrow morning at 10:00.
And bring along that good lawyer of yours. You're gonna need him.
Her.
[Telephone ringing]
(Rockford on answering machine) This is Jim Rockford.
At the tone, leave your name and message.
I'll get back to you.
[Beeps]
(Morey) It's Morey. Got a call from Davis at the IRS.
You were right. They bounced your return. Call me.
Bungalow 14. His car is there. There's a light on in the room.
I knocked on the door, with no answer.
Maybe he doesn't wanna answer. Maybe he's got company.
Sergeant, would he tell his wife where he is if he's got company?
I think something's wrong and you ought to check it out.
I can't go in that room. It'd be breaking and entering.
We can't go in, either. We don't have any authority.
You can get it.
Look, Sergeant, the man's wife is really worried.
He was supposed to call her at 10:00 tonight and he didn't.
She rang his room for an hour straight. No answer.
Where's she live? Pasadena.
That's just 45 minutes on the freeway, tops.
If she's so worried, why didn't she come here herself?
She has the flu.
Sergeant, she talked to her husband this afternoon.
He seemed very disturbed about something.
You know, we don't get very many private investigators...
here in Bay City.
Couple of bucks for a piece paper, that don't buy you nothing here.
It's $275
and $50 the last day of May of every even numbered year.
Now will you check the motel? You're gonna have to do it sooner or later.
If I've to call up Mrs. Carr, as upset as she is,
she's gonna be on the phone to everybody from your Chief on down.
If that doesn't work...
I don't like being threatened. I don't blame you.
That kind of thing ticks me off, too. But that's Mrs. Carr for you.
You should've seen the number she pulled in Santa Monica.
That was just over a traffic ticket.
Ran in a superior court judge. If you could...
All right, you made your point. We'll take a look.
Just how much money you getting paid for us doing your job for you?
Well, the rates are pretty much standardized.
How much? It's $200 a day, plus expenses.
But that's not day in and day out.
I mean, there's actually days, weeks, I'm standing in the Unemployment line.
Hey, it'd save a lot of time if I go along with you.
You ride around much with the cops in L. A?
It depends on the circumstances.
Yeah. You're not riding with us neither.
(Larsen) Hey, you, Rockford. Lieutenant wants to see you.
Jim. That means James.
James Rockford, Private Investigator. Office in L.A.
What are you doing in Bay City?
I explained all that to the Sergeant... Explain it to me.
Now, what's your connection with this Prentiss Carr?
There's no connection. I met him a couple of years ago.
I'm a friend of Mrs. Carr's.
Good friend?
Yeah. A good friend. Look Lieutenant...
So she hired you to check up on her husband, right?
Yeah. She was worried about him.
Mrs. Carr was worried about him.
She would've come herself, only she was sick.
If she's so sick, why isn't she home?
She is. No, she isn't.
We've been trying to reach her for the last hour.
Why have you been trying to reach her?
She was right to be worried about her husband.
He's dead.
Dead? Yeah.
Dead. That that's hard to believe. What happened?
He committed suicide. Suicide!
You got something says it wasn't suicide?
What makes you so sure it was? What business is it of yours?
Like I told you, I'm a friend of the family.
Oh, yeah, I forgot. Well, it's no secret.
The door was locked.
No sign of a forced entry. No sign of a struggle.
That gun was in the right hand of the deceased.
And there were powder burns on the wound in the belly.
Wait a minute. Now who'd commit suicide with a shot to the belly?
Prentiss Carr.
(Rockford) When you talked to Prentiss,
did he say who he was meeting in Bay City?
No. He was vague about the whole thing. And disturbed.
That's why I was so worried when I couldn't reach him.
Why I didn't want to go down there myself.
Did you see him? Yeah. I saw him.
Well? Where were you tonight, Janet?
Here.
I asked you about Prentiss.
I called here. There was no answer.
I went to an all-night drug store down on Orange Grove.
I didn't have anything to read.
Get bored with all the travel folders?
You were gone at least two hours that I know of.
Maybe longer.
I went through the magazine racks. I always go through the magazine racks.
You should remember that.
Look, I didn't hire you to find out where I was. I know where I was.
I hired you to find Prentiss.
I found him.
[Sighing]
He's dead, Janet.
Murdered.
[Whispering] Prentiss?
Prentiss.
How did it happen?
Who? I don't know.
I was hoping you could tell me.
You can't think that I killed him.
I haven't seen you in four years.
I don't know what's happened to you, what's happened to your marriage.
I didn't kill Prentiss.
Now that doesn't make any sense. I sent you there.
None of it makes any sense.
I found him, Janet. He was shot.
The gun wasn't anywhere near his body.
There's no question it was murder.
I asked the police to go check the room,
and I didn't tell them that I'd been inside.
They came back with a verdict of suicide.
I don't understand. Neither do I.
Did you call them on it?
I wanted to talk to you first.
You see, the minute that I make it murder, two things happen.
I make my client a suspect, and I have to admit that I was in that room.
I don't care if I'm a suspect. I didn't kill Prentiss.
So you better tell the police that you were in that room.
Because if you don't, I will.
Okay, I will.
In the meantime, when they contact you, don't say anything about it.
It's gonna be bad enough coming from me.
Jim?
Don't go.
I don't want to be alone tonight. Please.
I can fix up the guest room.
The cops'll be dropping by any minute.
Believe me, they wouldn't understand.
And, Janet, I'd get rid of those travel folders.
That's something else they wouldn't understand.
I'll see you tomorrow.
After I've tried to explain that false report I made.
I'm sure the Lieutenant has some simple, reasonable explanation
for our difference of opinion.
You both know Mr. Rockford.
Yes, sir, we've met.
(Larsen) We heard you were back.
Mr. Rockford has brought some very serious charges against you two.
I didn't make any charges. I just gave you the facts.
You came to your own conclusions.
My conclusion is this:
Mr. Rockford has accused you of obstructing justice...
and tampering with evidence in a capital crime.
He claims Prentiss Carr was murdered
and you two rearranged things
to make it look like suicide.
That's a lie. What are you talking about?
I was in that room before I came here last night. The door was unlocked.
The door was locked. We had to get the manager to let us in.
There was a chair knocked over.
It looked like whoever pulled the trigger
must've panicked and ran for the door.
(Furlong) No chair knocked over.
(Larsen) There was no sign of a struggle at all.
The gun was underneath the drapes at least 15 feet from the body.
The gun was in his right hand. Powder burns on the wound.
All right, he was shot at close range. Did you run a paraffin test?
We didn't need to. We've got two eyes.
The paraffin test isn't conclusive, Mr. Rockford.
You know, according to this statement,
last night you said you didn't enter the room.
Last night I signed anything they wanted me to sign.
I didn't have an unbiased witness around.
You still don't.
I'm biased.
I've known both of these men for a long time.
Lt. Furlong, 18 years. Medal of Valor winner.
Coming up for retirement.
Lars has been with us 12 years in August.
They're good men and they're good cops.
You?
I never saw you before in my life.
Now why would I come in here with a story like that if it wasn't true?
What it boils down to is
your word against the word of two men I know and trust.
Now, if I go ahead and investigate those allegations,
you and I both know we'll end up right back here
in the same place we are right now.
A standoff.
In the meantime, we'd get something going that's bad for Department morale,
bad for public confidence, bad all the way around.
Prentiss Carr committed suicide.
Your office is in L.A., right, Mr. Rockford?
My office is a trailer.
At the moment, it's parked in L.A.
Yeah. Well, the next time you feel like a change of scenery
don't come looking for it in Bay City.
[Police siren blaring]
Get out.
[Chuckles]
You were following me. I spotted you when I left the station.
I just didn't believe you'd tail me in that blue-and-white.
You know, most cops use unmarked cars, sedans,
and something in a neutral color.
You gonna keep working that mouth, or listen?
I'm gonna listen.
All right, Chief put it to you his way
I'm gonna put it to you mine. Stay out of Bay City.
You're making it kind of hard for me, Lieutenant.
I can't stay out until you let me leave.
And I can't leave as long as you're leaning on me.
(Furlong) We're not leaning on you, Rockford.
Leaning means that if you're stupid enough to come back here,
and we pull you over for a traffic violation,
you reach in for your ID, we think you're going for a gun.
It's all over and too late when we find out we were wrong.
That's leaning.
You tried to burn us with the Chief.
I don't know why and I don't care.
Being a private investigator, I guess you've got your own creepy reasons.
But I'm not gonna forget it.
So if I see you coming across that city line,
I'm gonna come down on you so hard
you're gonna have to reach up to put your shoes on.
You got it?
Got it.
Get it out of here. Fast.
[Birds chirping]
Turn it off.
If you've come to apologize for last night, I'm prepared to be generous.
Is it that bad? They didn't file charges against you?
No. They just ran me out of town.
Bay City has Prentiss down as a suicide,
and that's the way it's gonna stay.
I don't understand, why?
They just didn't like what I had to say.
At least you've cleared yourself.
They can never claim you didn't try to tell them the truth.
It's a marvelous machine. Prentiss bought it for me.
Didn't realize how demanding tennis was.
Skip a day and your game is shot.
Yeah, it'd be a shame to lose your backhand, too.
Prentiss is dead, and I'm sorry, whatever you think.
Genuinely and deeply sorry.
But I'm not going to pretend emotions I don't feel.
I married Prentiss because I loved him.
And I kept on loving him, even though it was obvious that he no longer loved me.
How many affairs do you think it takes to kill a marriage?
I really don't know.
Neither do I. I lost count.
I thought maybe after he'd get tired of playing around,
he'd want the marriage as much as I did.
Didn't work out that way.
So we settled for an arrangement.
We settled for liking each other.
If my husband didn't demand hypocrisy of me, I don't know why you should.
No love, no hard feelings?
That's right.
Where were you last night, Janet?
We're back to that again?
Yeah. And we're gonna keep coming back to it till you tell me the truth.
I told you the truth.
You didn't even tell me a good lie.
You should pick a place where they don't know you.
They know you at the drug store. You weren't there.
Where I was is my business.
Now you made it my business last night when you sent me looking for Prentiss.
Now, you told me you were ill, you weren't.
You told me you went to the drug store and you didn't.
You told me you called me from home.
Maybe you called me from Bay City.
Do I have to remind you again that if I had killed Prentiss,
I wouldn't be idiotic enough to send you out to check up on him?
I make a good alibi. Now, where were you, Janet?
I was out. That much I know.
I was with somebody. Come on, Janet.
A man. That's not enough.
He's a member of the club. That's still not enough.
His name is Sterling Parker.
All right, you wanna know everything?
I was thinking of having an affair with him. I changed my mind.
What changed it?
Two hours in the front seat of a sports car!
[Knocking on door]
Come in.
I'm going to Tahiti.
(Rockford) That isn't necessary.
Why don't you just tell me you're sorry you lied to me?
Why don't you cooperate so I can make a reservation?
I can't leave till this is resolved. I wouldn't feel right.
Between your tennis lessons and your travel folders,
I hate to tell you what you're doing to
the whole mystique of widowhood.
Not to mention the fact that your attitude makes you look guilty as hell.
If the police ever change their decision on suicide,
you wouldn't make a bad suspect yourself.
We've enjoyed a prior relationship
and there's only our word that it ended when I got married.
You were in the motel room, you found Prentiss.
And the Bay City Police don't like you.
That puts you way up on the list.
Sandbagging never works with me, Janet. It just makes me unfriendly.
That wasn't sandbagging.
I was only demonstrating how easy it would be to argue a case proving your guilt.
Only, I wouldn't believe you were guilty. I know you.
Cataloguing my virtues won't work, either.
I hold them to a minimum so they're easy to keep a track of.
What will work?
I think I may have something to point you in another direction.
I was going through some of Prentiss' things
and I found this in one of his suit jackets.
(Rockford) Bay City liquors.
There's a delivery charge I could check on.
Could I borrow your car tomorrow?
What's the matter with yours?
The Bay City Police are gonna be looking for mine.
Was Prentiss still with that insurance company?
Yes. But you won't find anything there.
I'll let you know. Jim,
I know I have to get used to being alone eventually.
But not yet.
I don't have a guest room.
I do.
(Saunders) Come in, Mr. Rockford.
Thank you for seeing me, Mr. Saunders.
Well, not at all. I want to do anything I can to be of help.
Here, I think you'll find this comfortable. Thank you.
What would you like to know?
I'd appreciate anything you could tell me about Prentiss Carr.
That would be a good deal.
See, Prentiss was with us almost since the inception of the firm.
He grew right along with the company. He was Controller, you know,
and was about to be named Executive Vice President.
There was nothing here in his work, that might have disturbed him?
Not that I can think of. His department was in great shape.
The books all balanced.
Sounds like the ideal employee.
He was. He'll be a hard man to replace.
Is that all?
There's not much you can ask about somebody too good to be true.
I guess we all have a tendency to eulogize the dead.
But I didn't exaggerate his importance to the firm.
Personally, he was a practical, phlegmatic man.
He doesn't sound like a candidate for suicide.
No. And when I heard what had happened, I didn't believe it.
Do you believe it now?
In view of the evidence and the police report, yes.
I don't understand it, but I believe it.
Thank you, Mr. Saunders. Not at all.
This is Mr. Carr, P.H. Carr.
I'd like you to send me over a bottle of your best Scotch,
a six-pack of soda.
Usual address. Immediate delivery.
Carr. C-A-R-R. Who is this? You new there?
Look, the charge number is
614-21242.
Yeah, send it over right now if you will.
The sooner the better. Thank you.
You made good time. You beat me here.
That is the order for Carr, isn't it?
Yeah. Yeah. All right, here.
No. It's supposed to be a charge.
That's all right. That's a tip, son. You keep it.
Thank you. Thanks, Mr. Carr.
[Car engine starting]
[Car driving away]
[Sighing]
[Car approaching]
[Footsteps approaching]
(Furlong) What are you doing here?
Hi, Lieutenant.
What're you doing out of Bay City?
This is Bay City.
No. This is Oak Grove.
It's Bay City, and you know it.
Well, now, I'm not very good on directions,
but I can't be that far off. Are you sure?
Out of the car. Out.
Sergeant, would you mind putting that thing away? I mean...
All right. Hands against the top. Spread 'em!
Lieutenant... Shut up.
He's clean.
All right, now we had a conversation,
and I made you a couple of promises.
There's nothing I'd hold you to.
Would you mind? I bruise easy.
How easy? That easy?
I'm not gonna ask you what you're doing here in Bay City.
I just wanna know what you're doing here, on this particular street.
That's it, pal, that's it.
Now, I don't wanna play your little game anymore,
and I don't have to tell you squat.
Where'd you learn to be so tough, Rockford?
In the joint?
That's right. We checked your record, and you are an ex-con.
You should have read the report all the way through.
I'm not on parole. I got a full pardon.
Let's just say you got yourself a good lawyer.
I still have a good lawyer.
You're gonna need a good lawyer,
unless you got a good reason for being here.
I don't need a good reason for being here.
You may not want me in Bay City,
but there's no law to keep me out.
[Sighing]
You're not very bright, are you?
You're an ex-con and we're cops.
You heard what the Chief said. He admires and respects us.
So, if we decide to play it rough, believe me, we can hang you
and there's nothing you can do about it.
You're a real credit to the force.
All right, I'm gonna tell you once more and that's it.
We don't want you here in Bay City
and we don't want you messing in that suicide.
You understand?
All right, we're gonna let you go.
Only, this time, you make it permanent.
Changing cars doesn't make you invisible, mister.
Now, if you decide to come back here looking for trouble...
I'll know right where to find it.
How did you know where I was?
I'm a detective. Remember?
Did you get anywhere with that receipt from the liquor store?
I'm not here to talk about the receipt.
I'm here to talk about you. I checked with the club.
They never heard of a Sterling Parker.
He's not on the membership roster
and he didn't have a guest card. So, where were you?
Jim, please, don't be angry. I didn't lie to you. Not really.
I just didn't tell you who he is. So I made up a name.
He is married. He has two children.
He also has a name. What is it?
Harry Fielding. Harry Fielding.
Okay, Janet. And this one better check out.
It'll check out.
And what about the receipt?
It paid off. The girl's name is Nancy Hellman.
I followed her this morning from her house to her office.
She's a secretary in Bay City,
which gives me two hot prospects for your husband's murder:
Nancy Hellman and you.
Now wait a minute.
You can't just say something like that to me and then just walk off.
Look, Janet, either you're good for this killing or you're not.
Now, I wanna believe all this.
I watched you. You're very good at it.
But you also wanna run off to Tahiti
and spend all the money that Prentiss left you.
That makes me wonder why.
I bet your grandfather was a preacher.
As a matter of fact, he was a horse thief.
(Eddie) Gotta get my bumper fixed.
Are you sure you're not gonna need the car now?
I don't drive much anymore.
Thanks a lot, Eddie. I really appreciate it.
Just one thing.
When you come to a stop, throw it in neutral and give it a little gas.
That way, she won't die on you.
Eddie, I wanted a mature car so it wouldn't attract attention.
If it's gonna die on me every time I hit an intersection...
It won't die. Just throw it in neutral.
And give it a little gas.
No wonder you don't do too much driving, Eddie.
[Lawnmower whirring]
[Seagulls cawing]
[Tires screeching]
[Car engine cranking]
I'm sorry to keep you waiting.
I want you to take this car to a guy named Eddie Smith.
His address is on the registration.
You haven't seen Rocky around here, have you? He should be here by now.
That's why you got me out here in the middle of nowhere? To return a car for you?
No. I thought you might like to know that you're not a suspect anymore.
What finally convinced you?
A very long and awkward conversation
with Harry Fielding.
Look, Janet, if Rocky doesn't show up here in the next 30 seconds,
I'm gonna have to borrow your car again. I don't wanna chance it.
Where are you going?
Back to Bay City.
That liquor store receipt really did pay off.
It led me to Nancy Hellman,
who led me to your husband's boss, Eric Saunders.
Saunders?
Nancy Hellman's blackmailing him.
I don't know what she's got on him,
but they're both tied in with Prentiss, so I think I should find out.
[Car horn honking]
Hey, Rocky.
I'll call you after I talk to Nancy Hellman.
When you're driving this car and you come up to a stop
just put it in neutral and give it a little gas. That way it won't die on you.
I got here as quick as I could.
Yeah, I really appreciate it, Rocky.
What'd you do, wash this thing? Kind of an eye-catcher.
Twice a week. You don't see one like this all the time.
You know what really grabs people the most?
Those road lights up on top of the roll bar.
I don't want to show it in competition.
I just wanna drive it for a couple of hours.
Rocky, how much?
I'll tell you what. You might put in a little gas
just sort of top off the tanks?
Thank you, Rocky.
Rocky?
You've got dual fuel tanks in this thing. It'll take me 40 gallons.
Yeah, I don't use no regular, no sir.
Rocky, if the cops weren't expecting me to show up driving a car,
[engine revving] I'd tell you to...
(Rocky) Cops? Hey, wait a minute!
Bay City Police, please.
Hold it, Rockford. Where do you think you're going?
I'm leaving,
unless you got some charge you wanna book me on, like murder.
You're looking pretty good for it.
We saw you hanging around here the other night.
You had opportunity.
How about motive? I never even met Nancy Hellman.
If you wanna book me, go right ahead.
Just let me use the phone to call my lawyer.
Call on your own dime, but we're not booking you now, anyway.
But I want you down at the station tomorrow morning at 10:00.
And bring along that good lawyer of yours. You're gonna need him.
Her.
[Crowd chattering]
[Female dispatcher chattering]
[Gun firing]
[Tires screeching]
[Gun firing]
I need the number for the Bay City Police Department.
[Gun firing]
[Whispering] ...0- 5-4-2-3-1.
[Panting]
[Stuttering]
Yes. There's a shooting at the Kellogg Lumber Yard.
[Gun firing]
Sergeant, there's a shooting going on down here.
[Stuttering] Kellogg Lumber Yard on Bay City Boulevard.
[Gun firing]
Jack Clark. I work in the lumber yard.
I'm an employee here.
(Rockford) Come on, let's go.
I'm gonna kill you. Shut up.
What you did to Nancy? I'm gonna kill you.
Hold it.
Get up.
Get up against there. Hands behind your back.
[Moaning] Come on, behind you.
[Panting]
I don't know who you are,
but Nancy Hellman was blackmailing Eric Saunders. I wanna know why.
I don't know what you're talking about.
Two people are dead because they were dumb and greedy.
You're bucking to make it three.
I got nothing to say.
You better have a lot to say. It just might save your life.
Prentiss Carr was murdered by Saunders
because he was trying to shake him down.
Nancy Hellman was dusted off for the same reason.
Nancy walked in on her boyfriend, Prentiss, to help him count the money.
Only, she found him dead.
She didn't want a murder investigation,
so she tried to make it look like Carr committed suicide.
That means she knew why Saunders was being blackmailed.
I think you know, too.
You're out of your mind. I don't know nothing.
Okay. I'm sure somebody called the cops.
We'll just wait here and let you explain it to them.
Okay, let's get out of here. Then we can talk.
There's a lot of money in this. I mean, plenty.
You mean enough for both of us? Yeah.
If you wanna deal.
I can make you a lot of money, or I can keep my mouth shut.
[Police siren wailing]
I like the part about making me a lot of money.
75-25. It's my information.
You'll never be able to spend it in jail.
60-40?
You get the 60.
Okay. 60-40.
You were right about Nancy.
She was the one who faked that guy's suicide,
so she could blackmail Saunders herself.
Blackmail him with what?
Prentiss Carr was the Controller in that insurance company.
He found out that Saunders was selling policies
on things like the Houghton Bridge,
the Mullhard Aqueduct, big things like that.
Only, Saunders never sent the policies back to the main office in New York.
He put them away in a safe, collected the premiums...
and put the money in his personal account.
He's still collecting about a half a million a year.
And we can get ours.
Half a million a year.
I can see where you could work up an appetite.
Thanks a lot.
We going back for my car?
No. I'm turning you over to the cops.
You said we had a deal. I lied.
Okay, take him out.
The aqueduct's not insured, the bridge's not insured, and the dam's not insured.
Saunders was working with pretty good odds.
I mean, whatever happens to a bridge?
Hold on a minute, Mr. Rockford.
There's something I think you should do before you go.
What's that?
I've already given Furlong and Larsen hell about the way they hassled you,
but you've made some very serious charges against them.
I think before you leave, you should apologize.
You think I should apologize to them?
There's no need to apologize. Everything's fine.
Don't worry about it, Chief. No sweat.
Then you two better get back to work.
Goodbye, Mr. Rockford. Bye.
You guys wanna know what I think?
I think you should buy me a drink.
You kidding? I'm not gonna buy you a drink.
After the way you guys were shoving me around,
it's the only gentlemanly thing to do.
We ain't gentleman. Neither one of us.
Come on, Earl, let's buy him a drink.
Then we'll run him out of town.
Now, why didn't I think of that?
[People chattering]
It's funny how things work out, isn't it?
Prentiss blackmailing someone.
That's really kind of colorful.
He's the one person I never expected any surprises from.
We all have a few surprises.
Well,
I guess you'll be leaving for Tahiti now?
Not right away, of course.
I have a couple of commitments first. Such as?
There's a girl at the clinic who's getting married.
I agreed to fill in for her for a while.
It's only for a month until she gets back from her honeymoon.
I've been going in twice a week, anyway.
Now, don't look at me like that.
I am not the Lady with the Lamp.
I'm not going to devote my life to good works.
I'm just doing a favor for a friend, that's all.
Sure.
I mean it. I'm going to Tahiti.
I'm just not going tomorrow.
A month, maybe? Six weeks at the most.
I might as well stay until the end of the semester.
[Snickering]
Jim, I am going to Tahiti.
Sure you are. I am.
Let's talk about it tomorrow, okay?