Murder, She Wrote (season 9)

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Murder, She Wrote (1984–1996) is an American television show, airing on CBS, about mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher.

Janet Weymouth: [after Jessica exposes her as the murderer] I just wanted to talk some sense into him. But he wouldn't listen. Every dime I have is from the Babbington side of the family. If word got out that Margaret had a child, we'd have lost the entire inheritance. We'd be ruined. I offered him everything, anything.

Sheriff Mort Metzger: But he refused.

Janet Weymouth: Yes.

Jessica Fletcher: And then?

Janet Weymouth: And then I ... And then I ... It was as if I'd lost touch with reality. My head was swimming. All I could feel was a terrible hatred for him and for what he was doing to me and to my family. I didn't know what I was doing. I just knew I was terrified of losing everything and I couldn't let that happen. I just couldn't.

Louis Paloma: [to Brynie Sullivan, after Jessica exposes the murderer] Sullivan, about that exclusive. I'm prepared to fill you in on any details, open my files up to you, if that's worth anything. As a matter of fact, I have some free time first thing in the morning.

Brynie Sullivan: Well, thanks, Louis. But this one's kind of writing itself. My lead's going to be how Lieutenant Artie Gelber cracked the murder case ten days before his retirement, and found in the killer's possession evidence that's going to allow the New York DA to put Max Hagen away for almost 200 years.

Lt. Artie Gelber: Yeah, Mr. Paloma, can you believe he was just carrying those computer disks around in his pocket?

Brynie Sullivan: But don't sweat it, Louis. After the DA has finished with Hagen, you can go after him in the federal courts. It might even get you nominated for dog catcher. Elected, I don't know.

Sean Culhane: What's an old retired cop like me gonna do otherwise? Sit at home and watch those infernal Australian soap operas?

Jessica Fletcher: You're still going on about them.

Sean Culhane: We sent them convicts, now they're sending us soap operas. If you ask me, we still owe them a few convicts.

Teddy Graves: [after Jessica exposes him as the murderer] I never meant to kill Ben. Honest. I was working on the last batch of phony strips.

Jessica Fletcher: And wearing those white gloves to prevent leaving fingerprints on the drawings?

Teddy Graves: Yeah. I'd been working about an hour and a half. My eyes were tired; my back was starting to complain. I needed to stretch. I figured I had plenty of time before he was due to appear, so I took a break and went to the kitchen for some coffee. Then suddenly I heard the front door being unlocked. It was Ben. He wasn't supposed to get there for another hour. He saw the false strips and knew something was fishy. Then I accidentally bumped something, and he turned. Ben had a black belt in karate, and he looked like he was ready to kill, so I grabbed the Reuben Award and swung at him. Then I realized how much trouble I'd be in if they found Ben on the floor of Stan's studio, so I decided to fake his suicide. There was a commotion in the street. If the police stopped me and asked me questions, I didn't want the glove found on me, so I hid it then and there.

Jessica Fletcher: Why, Teddy? Stan Hatter told me that you're brilliantly talented, that you were on your way to a superstar career in the comic strip business.

Teddy Graves: Maybe in ten, fifteen years. Eight months working as Stan's gofer and I had it up to my skull. And that music he played, day after day. Mrs. Fletcher, that phone message you left for Stan, about how the police knew it was murder and were coming in to really go over the studio tomorrow morning...

Jessica Fletcher: It was really a message for you, Teddy. I was counting on you calling in to Stan's machine because the only way that we could prove that you were the killer was if you incriminated yourself.

Teddy Graves: That's pretty good, Mrs. Fletcher. That's pretty good.

Charles Strickland: [after Jessica accuses him of committing the murder] You know, when Max first let me use Silverville for research, he wanted to see if there was any chance we could find this lost fortune. I didn't believe in it. Then one day he showed me McGee's diary.

Jessica Fletcher: Then you realized what the numbers were.

Charles Strickland: Well, not at first. Later I realized that if those were map coordinates, I could get that treasure for myself. I knew his sextant was limited in its accuracy, so first I got that book you saw me with, then I stole the sextant from the museum, and then burned it down to cover the theft. If the sextant had been the only thing missing, it would have looked suspicious. I was then able to recreate his reading. And in the library, I found this newspaper report on Cutter McGee's trial with a description of where he was captured, dying of thirst, and that description matched this canyon exactly.

Jessica Fletcher: Then you took those editions out of the library, so that no one else could follow the clue.

Charles Strickland: Then I started looking under cover of darkness. It was still a big area. Somehow, Max got suspicious and followed me out here. He accused me of a double-cross, said he was gonna turn me in for burning down his place. I panicked and shot him. It all happened so quickly. Then I took his body back to Silverville, 'cause I didn't want the police crawling all over here finding my treasure.

Jessica Fletcher: [after exposing the murderer] You had to have seen Paul give Andrea the pearls. There's no other explanation. What you didn't see was Paul slipping the disk into the jewel case before he left to meet you. But when Andrea told you that Paul had given it to her just before he was killed, and when you saw the pearls and the open case here ... Well, you're a clever young lady, Miss Downing. Not to mention ambitious and ruthless.

Laura Downing: I learned it from Paul. Oh, yes, Paul taught me a lot. His problem was that he didn't know that I was smarter than he was. The information on that disk? I dug it out for him. Did he think I didn't know what he was going to use it for? Didn't know what it was worth?

Jessica Fletcher: So you decided to cash in on it, take over his game. You phoned him, said you had to talk with him.

Andrea Cromwell: But why did you frame my father?

Laura Downing: I didn't plan it that way. But Hagerty followed Paul. Paul had spotted Hagerty following him. It was Paul who hit him. It just flashed into my head. The perfect cover. Now, I had to kill Paul either way. I had the gun in my purse, but Hagerty's gun was just lying on the floor. It was even better.

Jessica Fletcher: Then you slipped out and phoned security, reporting the gunshot.

Laura Downing: It was almost a perfect plan.

Jessica Fletcher: Except for the fact that Paul wasn't carrying the disk.

George Foster: [after Jessica accuses him of committing the murders] You think you know everything, don't you? Yeah, I'd been stealing money for years. Winnowing it from every unit in the corporate structure. But old Buck found out about it right before B.J. did. I ran into him the other night at the steakhouse, just as he was leaving. He pulled me aside and said that he was going to hand me over to the investigation committee, try to save the company and prevent his employees from losing their jobs. When I got home that night and found out that Buck was there, something snapped. I went to his room. I shot him. I had no idea that woman was hiding in the bathroom, listening to the whole thing.

Jessica Fletcher: But you had a good-paying job, you lived in a mansion and you were married to a billionaire's sister. Why did you need to steal the money?

George Foster: I needed to get away. From the job, from that house. Most of all, from my wife. I'm so sick of being Buck Wilson's brother-in-law! I wanted to fly to Rio and start a new life. In my own mansion.

Amy Wainwright: [after confessing to the shooting] I didn't want to get Charlie McCumber in trouble. I just wanted to save Floyd.

David North: [after Jessica exposes him as the murderer] You know all about this, don't you?

Jessica Fletcher: Enough to put it together. When you came by my house the other day, you mentioned you only drive cars with a stick shift. When your friend Vincent Channing died in a car accident outside town, you said he was alone, driving one of your cars. And I noticed in the photo of the accident that it was, indeed, a manual transmission car. But at night, after a rain, with the roads still slick, it seems very unlikely that he could drive a stick shift with a broken right arm. When your friend died that night, he wasn't alone, was he? You were there at the wheel.

David North: He had to get back to the coast, I offered to drive him to the airport. We celebrated his departure, and we were both pretty drunk. Eric was following us, trying to get us to stop. I said, "Let's lose him." And I gunned the engine. The wheel just turned in my hand. I was apparently thrown clear when the car went off the road. I was hardly even scratched. And Eric was there, helping me up. But Vincent...

Jessica Fletcher: Was dead. To avoid causing a scandal for the studio, Eric made it look like Vincent was driving alone. And took you back to town. You didn't know that he'd taken pictures of the whole thing.

David North: Not until later, when the blackmail began. He wanted in. He became my personal manager. He took a piece of everything I made. And after a few years, I couldn't take it any longer. I quit. I retired, disappeared. And after ten years, I thought it was long enough. That he'd forgotten about me. I was wrong.

Jessica Fletcher: Which explains your curious reaction when Eric showed up in town. You seemed more stunned than pleased at his arrival.

David North: I wanted him to go away. I wanted him to leave me alone. He refused. I begged. I pleaded with him. I'd made a mistake. It was a long time ago. I wanted my life back. He wouldn't let go! I lost control.

Jessica Fletcher: And that's when you knocked over the paint cans. And then fled out the back door when you heard us enter the theater.

Sheriff Mort Metzger: That's the same jacket you were wearing the night Eric Benderson was killed. During the struggle, you knocked over some containers of that special paint, the kind that can only be seen under ultraviolet light. I'm sorry, Mr. North, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to place you under arrest.

David North: Good scene, Jessica.

Frank Fernandez: I have to make my peace with God and with my son.

Raymond Fernandez: You think either one of them'll forgive you?

Frank Fernandez: They'll have to decide that for themselves.

Laura Ann Callan: [after confessing to the murder] I guess my father turned out to be only human. But then, so did I.

Danny Cochran: [to Louise Anderson-Crowe, after Jessica exposes him as the murderer] You were all I ever wanted, but there was always someone else. I figured someday I would be the only one left, and that we could work the station together. I knew that once Colin took over the station, I'd never see you again.

Alice Morgan: [after Jessica exposes the murderer] I always dreamed of an attacking hawk. Mrs. Fletcher showed me how I had it mixed up with the emblem on your helmet. The one you left on the hall table. I never saw you in the brownstone that night. Only your helmet. But, subconsciously, I must have known that you were there, that you killed my mother, but I could never let myself believe it.

Peter Morgan: When I heard Barnett was back in New York, I was afraid he might talk to you and you would remember. Alice, when my dad and your mom got together, married ... Alice, I've always wanted a sister.

Alice Morgan: I wanted a brother, too, Peter.

Sheriff Mort Metzger: You know, bacon fat would help that back of yours, Doc. My grandma swore by it.

Dr. Seth Hazlitt: Bacon? Didn't you ever hear of cholesterol, Sheriff?

Sheriff Mort Metzger: I'm not talking about eating it. You rub it into the sore spot. And you call yourself a doctor.

Dr. Seth Hazlitt: If I could stand up straight, you would regret that last remark.

Bruce Hastings: [after Jessica accuses him of committing the murder] Ethan didn't simply threaten to implicate me. He demanded part of my share. I arranged to meet him at his office. I told him I'd bring the money. We're both members of the downtown squash club, so I borrowed his keys out of his locker and I made copies. I arrived a few minutes early and let myself in. I was just putting my bag on the desk, and then the strangest thing happened. The door opens, and in walks this young woman. She comes right toward where I'm hiding. I was beginning to panic. And suddenly ... I noticed the young woman's blood, and I realized I had a chance to frame her. I wiped some on my glove and smeared it on the edge of Ethan's desk. And then I placed the gun in her hand, squeezed the trigger, fired a round into the wall.

Vincent Polaski: Listen, Bruce, you know I'd be happy to defend you on this. Of course, no plea bargains, you know. This is actually one trial I'd enjoy losing.

Lt. Steve Warren: [to Det. Eddie Flowers, after Jessica exposes him as the murderer] Eddie, I know you'd feel better if I gave you the speech. About the kids in college and the leaky plumbing and the wife's surgery, all these bozos who belong in jail are living like kings. But the truth is, I like money.

Jessica Fletcher: Enough to commit murder for it.

Sibella Stone: My compliments, Jessica. I should have stuck to my specialty, gothic romance, and left the murder plotting to you.

Jessica Fletcher: I think you were mistaken on a far more basic level, Sibella. You convinced yourself you could pull it off in real life.