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Inspector Abbronzare says the death was an accident
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The Plot
When Joanne Harley drowns in Italy, it appears to be an accident, but in fact, she was pulled into the water after her swim by an unknown assailant.
Paul comes to Milan to look into the incident, posing as an insurance investigator.
After showing Paul the autopsy report and her effects, Inspector Abbronzara informs him that there is nothing to indicate that Joanne's death was anything but an accident.
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Verbeck dresses after physiotherapy
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Paul then goes to see Heinrik Verbeck, with whom Joanne was involved. A self-made man several times over (after successful businesses failed), Verbeck has a severely injured leg from an explosion in his Algerian factory during the 1950s. He has had Paul's activities in Milan observed, and wants to know what he learned about Joanne's death. Verbeck does not believe that she could have committed suicide. Telling Paul that he loved her very much, and that they were going to marry after she got a divorce, Verbeck says that he does not want Paul to desecrate her memory.
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Verbeck gets hard with Paul
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Paul says that he'll next be looking at Joanne's apartment, to see if a suicide note might have been overlooked. Verbeck hardens up, and repeats to Paul that he doesn't want him looking into Joanne's life, but Paul says that he's not going to stop, and will keep on probing, asking how Verbeck will stop him from uncovering any filth that may exist. Verbeck pulls out his walking stick aggressively, and Paul adds, “by killing me?” But as he turns to leave, Verbeck says that Paul won't need to apply to the police to search Joanne's apartment, and they can go together, using his key.
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The inspector and Joanne's sister are at the apartment
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Meanwhile, a top executive with Verbeck's company, Michael Aldington, has checked out Paul's credentials, and found that he doesn't work for the insurance company.
Inspector Abbronzare is at the apartment when Paul and Verbeck arrive. Also there is Barbara Sherwood, sister of the victim.
Verbeck is quite obviously struck at her resemblance to Joanne, but she turns her anger on Paul over his investigation, “prying into the affairs of someone who can't defend herself.”
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Paul and Barbara discuss strategy
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She then offers to put aside any of her sister's things that Verbeck might want to keep, but he declines and leaves. To placate her, Paul invites Barbara to take a moment for a coffee, and she reluctantly accepts.
When they are at the table, it is clear that Barbara and Paul not only know one another, but had a romance in London which he broke off, only to come to her aid when she had suspicions about Joanne's death.
Barbara says that she appreciates his help, and is glad to see him again, but Paul says that he hasn't accomplished anything yet.
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Barbara shows Paul Joanne's letter expressing fear
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He says there just seems no evidence that the drowning wasn't an accident, but Barbara is intense in her suspicions that Joanne was murdered, and shows Paul a letter from her sister, indicating that she was afraid of something - completely unlike brave and independent Joanne. In the note Joanne says that she was supposed to keep something hidden, but let slip to someone about the cache. Barbara believes that she was hiding something for Verbeck, and perhaps her estranged husband found out about it, adding that in the beginning of her letter, Joanne said that he was trying to arrange a reconciliation between them.
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Paul questions Joanne's husband
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Paul goes to the island of Ischia to talk to Joanne's husband Chips. He's fairly unfriendly, and says that he knew nothing about his wife's insurance policy which made her sister beneficiary. Admitting that he was in Milan the day she drowned, he says it was to try for a reconciliation with Joanne, and that he was on his way to France when she met her death. A lady companion emerges to confirm that, but he tells her to pack and leave. When she's departed, Chips says that he couldn't imagine his wife committing suicide, but Verbeck might have murdered her when he found out that she wasn't getting a divorce after all.
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Aldington conspires with Strom in a church
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Barbara and Paul meet to discuss the visit to Ischia, but both feel that they're at a dead end, so he goes back to Verbeck. He is unable to talk with the businessman, as a therapy session is scheduled, but learns from physiotherapist Helga that she's been with Verbeck since he left the hospital seven years earlier, then unable to walk.
Michael Aldington meanwhile has masterminded a plot to get money from Verbeck's business empire, and in a church, meets a man named Strom who is to make fake bids on Verbeck's Luxembourg property,
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Aldington puts his plot into action
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Aldington then goes to Verbeck, and tells him to sign authorization papers on the property in question, but Verbeck counters that this would be only if he plans to sell.
But Aldington insists that this is the only property Verbeck can dispose of to meet an impending deadline.
He adds that Paul is not an insurance investigator, but a lawyer Aldington believes to be representing an American investment group.
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Verbeck demands to know what Aldington knows
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Aldington says that if Verbeck might be thinking of using assets which don't show up on the books - funds that might be hidden away - it wouldn't work. Verbeck jumps up and grabs Aldington by the throat, and Aldington admits knowing about a million dollars Verbeck has built up in gold certificates. Verbeck angrily pushes Aldington across the room, and demands to know what he knows about the hidden money. Aldington admits that he studied the books, and managed to discover the emergency fund, and says that since Verbeck didn't bank the money, he must have hidden it.
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Aldington says that he guessed Joanne had the certificates
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“Where did I hide it, Roger?” Verbeck asks menacingly.
Frightened by Verbeck's aggressive physical manner, Aldington says that he knew it had to be kept by someone Verbeck trusted, and guessed that he must have given the money to Joanne Harley, so asked her if she was hiding it in a safe place. The look she gave him confirmed his suspicions.
“Where is it?” Verbeck asks, as if about to kill Aldington. “The money?” Aldington asks, “You mean it's gone?” He appears bewildered for a moment.
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Verbeck slaps Aldington and fires him
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Aldington ponders the matter, and comes to the conclusion that Joanne must have been murdered for the money.
Verbeck slaps him in the face, and asks who else he told about Joanne holding the money, suggesting Paul as a possibility. Aldington denies killing Joanne or telling anyone about what he knew, and Verbeck ruefully agrees that he wouldn't have the nerve to do much.
“Cheating the Luxumbourg property out of a couple dollars is all you're capable of,” Verbeck adds, and fires Aldington.
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Helga says she'll speak to Verbeck on Aldington's behalf
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Helga witnesses the end of the conversation as Verbeck goes out the door, and when she asks Aldington what happened, he replies, “if he thinks he can sack me like some poor clod, he'll find out. I know enough to ruin him.” As he goes to the phone Aldington adds, “he won't have a cent left when I've finished talking to the right people.”
Helga suggests that Verbeck might change his mind, and Aldington puts down the receiver, agreeing that Verbeck listens to her. She says that she'll talk to their boss later about the matter.
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Verbeck confronts Paul
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Later Aldington gets a call, and notes down the appointment.
Paul and Barbara are again looking through Joanne's apartment when Verbeck comes in. He challenges Paul about not working for an insurance company, and while Paul admits that, he says that he has been investigating Joanne's death on behalf of her sister. While he thinks it's possible that Verbeck killed her because she was leaving him and taking something valuable with her, Paul says that he's come to the conclusion that she wasn't going back to her husband.
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Verbeck says that he gave the funds to Joanne to keep
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But he has decided that she was holding something for Verbeck.
He asks Verbeck what it was, and the businessman directly replies that it was a million dollars in legal and tax-paid gold certificates. He explains that he learned from the war that such getaway money could be important, but that the money was really for Joanne.
Then he goes on to say that complications from his leg injury have developed into a bone-marrow disease.
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Paul listens to Verbeck's predicament
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that means, although they could keep him alive for a few months amputating a bit at a time, he will soon die. Verbeck says that he didn't want anyone to know, and that he was trying to live as though he could take all the time he should have had, and compress it into the time he did have left.
Verbeck says that Paul and Barbara could never understand - with their lives spread before them, but that now, nothing matters with Joanne gone - and the money too. Paul listens intently, but shows no emotion at coming face to face with another man sharing his own fate.
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Verbeck says only Aldington knew about Joanne
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He only says that the door lock to Joanne's apartment was not tampered with, and the only way someone could have gotten in was to use her key - which was missing from her key ring after she drowned.
Verbeck declares that the only other person who knew she had the certificates was Aldington
That evening Aldington goes to his office to meet Helga. She asks him whether he's made the revelations against Verbeck that he threatened, and Aldington says he hasn't.
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Helga says Joanne told her about the certificates
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When she asks whether he's told anyone about the gold certificates, he is taken aback that she knows about them.
Helga explains that Joanne told her how Aldington had tricked her into revealing that she was holding them, and was afraid that he would do something to Verbeck, asking Helga to keep an eye on Aldington.
But Helga adds that Joanne wasn't really fearful for Verbeck, but for herself, and that Aldington might get the money from her before she was able to force Verbeck to marry her.
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Helga watches Aldington die
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She takes out a long cloth without Aldington seeing, and explains that she told Joanne that she'd found out what Aldington was up to, and arranged a meeting at the lake to show her the evidence. “Then you killed her,” Aldington says, “for the money.”
“Not for the money,” Helga laughs pleasantly, “for the same reason I'm going to kill you.” And with that, she wraps the cloth around Aldington's neck, and begins to strangle him - just enough to induce a heart attack, and slowly kill him. When he's dead, she removes the cloth, and leaves the office.
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Paul says he's come to split the million with Helga
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Verbeck and Paul find Aldington dead on the floor, and Paul goes to see Helga
He tells her that it's about splitting a million dollars between the two of them, adding that at first, he thought Aldington stole the money and killed Joanne, but having found a note in the dead man's desk which said “H. at 8 pm,” Paul is now wiser.
He says that he might lose the note and forget what it said for half a million, but otherwise, would have to go to the police with it.
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Paul tells Helga that Verbeck's involved with Barbara
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Helga says that Paul is welcome to go to the police with his note as she doesn't know what he's talking about and has nothing to hide. She adds that she's perfectly happy looking after Verbeck, and doesn't need any million he's accused her of stealing.
Paul replies that he believes that she doesn't want any million, but he does, and were he to go to the police, Barbara Sherwood would get the lot. This is his ploy, implying that Verbeck has now become involved with Joanne's sister, and he leaves Helga to contemplate on this - and his proposal.
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After their talk Verbeck rings Helga
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Paul discusses his theories with Verbeck and Barbara, and she says that she's willing to be the bait in a trap. Then Paul tells Verbeck that Helga's obsession for him probably also made her kill his late wife.
According to their plan Verbeck rings Helga, asking her to come to Joanne Harley's apartment. When she arrives, he tells Helga that, as he and Barbara will be spending a lot of time together, hewants Helga to show Barbara her various massage techniques, as Barbara will be doing most of that physiotherapy from now on.
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Barbara says she can do everything for Verbeck
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Helga assures that she'll always be available to do the massages for him, but when he responds, “not all the time,” Barbara, behaving like a lover, affectionately assures that she doesn't need to learn any techniques, as she's sure that she can already do all that is necessary for him.
Verbeck says that he really shouldn't have called Helga, and that he wouldn't be needing her any more.
She walks out the door, and Barbara tells Paul, who emerges from the bedroom that Helga looked like she wanted to kill her.
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Paul finally subdues Helga
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Paul then leaves, saying that he expects that Helga will be calling him soon, to make sure that he's not a threat, before taking any action against Barbara. Helga indeed rings him at his hotel a short time later, and arranges a meeting at the lake.
Paul paces along the dock, and suddenly finds himself pulled into the water from below. Helga is in diving gear, and attempts to drown him. Although his struggles bring him to the surface, she pulls him down again and again, but he is finally successful in subduing her, and tows her to the surface.
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They watch Helga being taken away by police
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Barbara and Verbeck join him, and Paul tells them that the gold certificates are in a waterproof pouch, weighted down at the far side of the lake.
Verbeck says that the money isn't important, but Paul points out that it's still a million dollars, and a few hours of dragging the lake will locate the cache.
As they watch Helga being taken away by the police, Paul asks Verbeck, “what now?”
“What I've always done,” the dying businessman replies."
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"We're all going to die," Paul tells Barbara
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He says that he will start again. "Build another empire, another fortune. I think, for me, it's best to live the life I've always lived. I'm much to old - or perhaps not old enough - to change.
They shake hands, and Verbeck's car takes him away. Barbara remarks how strange it is, "the way he can go on as if nothing has changed for him - pretending, even though he knows he's going to die."
Paul just answers, “we're all going to die.”
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