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The insurance investigator sneaks into Molly's home
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The )Plot
A motor accident occurs in Nevada, and the driver, Alex Ryder, is thrown free and knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he finds his hitch hiker passenger is dead and the car is on fire. Alex uses the opportunity to leave the impression that it was he who lost his life, but insurance investigator Fred Morrissey is suspicious of the case, and harasses Alex's wife Molly, to the point of sneaking into her home uninvited, and looking around for evidence that her husband may have committed suicide.
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Molly challenges Morrissey
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He is in the house when Molly receives a phone call from Paul, who'd been engaged to her sister Kate. He expresses his sympathy, saying that he read the news of Alex's death in a five-week-old newspaper.
Paul says that he'll be right over to see her, and when she gets up from the phone, Molly finds the insurance investigator in her home. She challenges him, but he counters that he thinks she and her husband are guilty of insurance fraud, and he believes that he might find evidence in the apartment.
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Morrissey hands Molly a check for $200,000
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They have a heated argument, but Molly says she welcomes Morrissey to look around as much as he likes.
When Paul arrives, she introduces the two men, saying that Morrissey believes that her husband committed suicide. Paul challenges the idea, but the investigator says that car crashes are a common way of committing suicide.
But then he announces that the company doesn't agree with him, and he gives her a check for $200,000, and leaves.
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Molly acts strangely on the phone
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Over coffee Molly talks about her husband's failings, but says that he had style. Paul looks dubious, and when she says, “I've been so caught up in my own troubles, I haven't even asked ….” but Paul cuts her off with a wave of his hand, saying that there was nothing new to report. “Same prognosis,” he adds as the phone interrupts any further discussion of his terminal illness.
Molly seems uncomfortable, and tells the caller that she can't speak to them until she's discussed the matter with her sister, and asks them to ring later.
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Paul hears Molly acting strangely on the phone
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Paul takes Molly out the next evening, and the phone is ringing when they return.
Molly again mentions her sister, and is very tense. When she hangs up Paul asks about the call, and Molly is dismissive.
He then turns on her, and asks why she hasn't looked at him directly since he arrived, and why she seemed scared to death on the phone.
Molly pulls away from him, and when he asks who was on the phone, she runs out of the room, and leaves the house.
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Paul wants to know how he can help
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She drives to the sea, and when Paul catches up with her, Molly is desperate, and says that she doesn't know what to do any more. He tells her that he came back to be supportive, and wants her to talk to him. She finally does, and tells him that the man on the phone was Alex, who rang after the funeral and told her he was alive.
Paul makes a remark about Alex having style after all, and when Molly protests, he says that he's a friend - giving him a right to be honest. But Molly says that she doesn't want a friend, as they do things for one's good, and she doesn't need that.
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Molly tells Paul what happened
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Since she'd asked his help, and didn't want friendship, Paul asks how he can assist her. “As a lawyer?” he asks, and Molly replies that that's exactly what she wants, someone she could speak to in privileged conversation without him repeating what she told him.
She says that she doesn't know who died in the car, that the body was burned, but had Alex's ring, part of his watch and wallet, and so she identified it as he. Paul wonders if she realizes that she's involved in a crime, and she asks him what else she could have done.
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Molly doesn't like what Paul is telling her
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She runs away from him then, and he follows her up the dock, and asks her if she cashed the check.
Molly replies that she did, and bought negotiable bonds, as Alex instructed her to do. She says she's cold, and Paul gives her his jacket. Feeling that she's in no condition to drive, he offers to take her home, and have her car picked up the next day.
Then he tries to make clear to Molly that she's not helping Alex, but guaranteeing him a jail sentence.
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Paul says that she must get Alex to come back
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She protests that the money has been paid so the plan worked, but Paul points out that the insurance company is watching for her to make a mistake, and it will all fall apart the moment they find out that Alex is alive.
He tells her that her husband can still come back, but she responds that it's too late.
Paul advises a calm arrangement can be made with the insurance company, but she insists that Alex won't come back.
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Molly says that Alex has threatened to be really dead
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Paul says that she has to make sure he does, but she replies that she's already tried. She explains that the $200,000 is Alex's dream - the “end of the rainbow” - and he told her that if she didn't go along, then he'd “make it legal,” meaning that he'd commit suicide.
Paul is still with her when Alex calls again, and gives Molly an address in Juarez, Mexico to send the negotiable bonds. Paul tells her that she's not going to, and Molly says she must, but he proposes that they go to Juarez together - without bonds.
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Alex says this is the chance of a lifetime
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Paul finds Alex in Juarez, and has to chase him down to catch him.
Alex's first words after hugging his wife are to ask if she brought the bonds. She tries to persuade him to give back the money, but Alex says this is the chance of his lifetime.
Paul asks who was killed in the car, and Alex replies that he doesn't know, and goes on to describe the accident. He tries to convince Molly that this is the greatest opportunity that's ever come his way, and opportunity is the only thing that held him back in the past.
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Alex talks about turning the money into a million
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Paul points out that Alex will be running for the rest of his life, but Alex talks about turning the $200,000 into a million. He goes on exuberantly, but Molly says that she won't send him the bonds. Alex tells her that it's way too late to go back to San Francisco. “What about us?” Molly asks, and he answers that there is no more “us” - just a rich widow and a corpse. He says that he'll keep running, and won't kill himself. Declaring that he could always go back to “pearl diving,” he walks out of the room.
Paul tells her that Alex is only bluffing, and trying to make her feel guilty.
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Paul says Alex is an emotional blackmailer
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He then asks what was meant by pearl diving. Molly tells him that it's a term for washing dishes, something that Alex did to support himself in law school - something that even left his hands unable to hold a pen at an exam once. Knowing that Molly is feeling guilty, Paul tells her that Alex is an emotional blackmailer, but she says that her husband knows that she can't leave him without money, so she's going to send the bonds. Paul advises that will make her an accomplice, and he won't let her, but Molly says that he can't stop her, and everything he knows is privileged communication.
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Morrissey tells Molly they'll be exuming the body
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Morrissey visits Molly, and asks her where the bonds are. She replies that she doesn't have to tell him anything, but he informs her that he's getting a court order to have her husband's body exhumed, and if necessary, will get another to make her show that she still has the bonds - or can account for any expenditure of money obtained from the insurance company. He adds that he knew something was wrong, but just had the incorrect idea. Noting the photos on the mantel of Alex with his leg in a cast, he says that the body in her husband's grave probably never broke his leg.
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Molly may stand trial for murder on her own
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As a result of a body not Alex's found in his grave, Molly is arrested, not just for fraud, but murder. Paul represents Molly, and tells her that Alex must come back with the bonds, but she doesn't know where he is.
Remembering something Alex had said about a place where money was called after birds, Paul consults a travel agent with the clue, and she tells him that the currency in Guatemala has the same name as a bird. Paul then calls a friend at the American embassy in Guatemala, and asks him to try and get Molly's picture and story published all across the country.
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Alex tells Paul that he's come back of his own free will
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When the preliminary hearing is held to determine whether Molly should stand trial for murder, Alex suddenly walks in, and offers to take the stand. He explains everything that happened, and states that Molly was unaware of the fact he was not dead at the time of the funeral, and that he threatened suicide in order to get him to send him the bonds, which he was now returning to the insurance company of his own free will. After his testimony Alex is remanded into custody and the charges against Molly are dismissed.
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