Build a movie plot around this: What political office do Callahan and Hoffman have their eye on in the upcoming election? the upcoming election for governor
ContentsFebruary 10, 1960: MurderOn a dark night (February 10, 1960), Thomas Morely (Robert Colbert), gardener, dressed in pinstripes, reconnoiters the home of one of his clients, Paula Thornwall (June Blair). He enters the house and confronts her in her bedroom. He's "looking for a little action" and has some reason (how good a reason, we'll learn later) to believe that she might favor him with some. But of course she thinks he is beneath her, so she tells him to get out of there, or she'll call the police. Morely puts his lighted cigarette into her ashtray and otherwise does not move. So she picks up the phone. He takes the phone away from her and assaults her. She bites his hand, and he hits her hard enough to knock her out and lay her out on the floor. Now thoroughly angry, Morely picks up the nearest handy object, a pillow, and smothers her with it. Once she is dead, he puts the pillow back onto the bed, picks her up, lays her out on the bed, takes the cigarette from the ashtray, and places it in her hand. Then he leaves the house, just as the smoldering cigarette catches the sheet on fire. But on his way out, he is nearly blinded by the headlights of a car, and hides in a hedge, causing it some minor damage. (That will come out later in court.)In the next scene, Judge Leland "Lee" Hoffman (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr) and District Attorney Dan Callahan (James Kelly) are shooting ducks in a swamp. Matt Keenan (Carroll O'Connor), the local newspaper publisher, gives a shout to the other two and asks them who shot down a duck. The three gather inside a nearby cabin, which Hoffman owns. There Hoffman tells the other two that a political operative called him and told him that he could have the gubernatorial nomination in his party if he wanted it. Hoffman would like Callahan as a running mate, but Callahan demurs. Matt tries to persuade Callahan, without success (though Callahan won't say his preferences out loud). As the three are talking, a messenger arrives with a telegram to Callahan: get back to town to handle...