Murder, She Wrote Season 1 quotes

Cat Hudson-Drake: [after being exposed as a conspirator in the murder] Bob was in the office workin' on the galleys. Hank had the key. I gave it to him. He got into the house and went into the office through the door from the foyer. Bob asked him to leave. Hank argued with him. And then Hank took the rifle from the rack. After he struck Bob, he took the gold medallion from the desk and then opened a desk drawer. He knew exactly what to take from the files in the desk. After that, he let himself out the French doors and broke the glass from the outside to make it look like some burglar had forced his way in. He made me help him. There wasn't anything I could do. That's not true. I was afraid. I was afraid just like the rest of them. Afraid that Bob was gonna spoil everything. Hank knew that I spent a couple hours with Adam in a motel off an interstate. Hell, Hank knew everything that went on around here. He took me aside and said that we needed to get rid of Bob before he smeared my grandfather's reputation. But he needed someone to pin it on. Otherwise, everybody would know it was one of us. He said he needed me to help him frame Adam. Look, I just wanted that part in the movie. Don't you understand? The lead in the biggest movie of the year. I mean, no more R-rated cheapies, no more crummy television movies. Was that so wrong?

Al Sidell: [after Jessica accuses him of committing the murder] You gotta believe me, the both of you. Killing that woman was the furthest thing from my mind. I was in my motel room around 10:30 when Loretta phoned. She asked me if Freddie Masters was in my room. She said he wasn't at the inn, and she knew that he was my client, and I said I didn't know any Freddie Masters. And she said she wanted me to corroborate some evidence that she had that proved that Charley Holcombe and Freddie Masters were the same person, and Freddie Masters was a known bail jumper. I said I would come right over and prove just how wrong she was. But when I got there, she said she had a friend who was no longer an active player, who had played in rookie league with Charley, and he swore that Charley and Freddie were the same person. She was some piece of work, that woman. Well, she said that her going public with it, it wouldn't hurt my career or Charley's career. She thought it would just help her career. She thought she might go to the networks, or even go to the commissioner. She went to the phone, and I guess I went nuts. I don't know. And I picked up my glasses, and I tried to make it look like a robbery. And I drove back to the motel. I was blind as a bat without the glasses. Funny thing is, I almost made it. This is the first time I've ever been in trouble. I never even had a parking ticket. That was the first time I ever had any trouble with the police.

Dr. Seth Hazlitt: Now, a few years back, you needed this writing to help you get through the empty days and lonely nights. I know that. I went through it myself. But Frank's a long time gone now, just like my Ruth. And another best seller, or ten best sellers, are not going to fill that void.

Jessica Fletcher: Seth, I know that.

Dr. Seth Hazlitt: Maybe yes and maybe no. All I know is that if Frank Fletcher were still around, you wouldn't be spending half your life chained to that typewriter and the other half chasing around the country. No, sir. You'd be out smelling the salt air at sunrise.

Sheriff Mort Metzger: [while confronting the murderer] Maybe you better let me handle this, Mr. Shipton.

Hank Shipton: Please, Sheriff, he's my responsibility. What did you kill him for, Bobby? Why'd you do that?

Bobby Shipton: I am telling you, Pop, I didn't...

Hank Shipton: Then where'd you get the gun? Whose gun is that, son?

Bobby Shipton: I had to do it, Pop. 'Cause he knew. He was gonna fix it so Eudora dumped you. It's a lot of money, Pop. Anything we ever wanted. Well, maybe you didn't care, but I cared. Over twenty years, I never had nothin' until you married her. Think I was gonna let that creep take it away?

Harold Baines: [to Michael Hagarty, after confessing to the murder] I really had no choice. And after all, Michael, that is what they train us for, isn't it?

Marilyn North: [after confessing to the murder] We had a good thing going, Evan and I. But suddenly I just couldn't stand the thought of him ever touching me again.

Pauline Byrne: [after confessing to the murders] I never did have much luck. Men, money, it's all the same. Always has been.

Stanley Holmes: [after Jessica, Mort, and Fred Owens accuse him of committing the murder] It all started when I met Marjorie. She's a wonderful woman. She just has expensive tastes. She didn't like my old car. She wanted a sleek foreign model. She didn't like my house. Or Cabot Cove, either. She wants to live in a condo in New York. It just snowballed. I mean, once I started taking, I couldn't stop. I'm sorry, Fred.

Jessica Fletcher: And are you sorry about Bud Fricksey, too?

Stanley Holmes: More than, more than anything. I can't believe this. I started the fire in the front of the store and worked my way back to the office, thinking that it would take longer for the furniture to catch. It would be a simple matter to burn the files and the accounts. I heard a crash. I just thought it was a part of the fire. And I was almost done. I was just ready to light a match, and I looked up, and there was Bud. I don't know which of us was more shocked. I hit him with the can. The way he fell, I was sure he was dead, but what if he wasn't? So I picked up the phone to call, and then I saw Marjorie looking at me from the knapsack. And I just did what I had to do. God help me.

Sheriff Mort Metzger: You got a better chance with him than you have with a jury.

Olivia Waverly: [after Jessica picks the lock to Harry's room] Where on earth did you learn that?

Jessica Fletcher: I think it was The Thin Man Returns. Or maybe it was Charlie Chan in Hong Kong?

Kimberly Carson: [after Jessica accuses her of commiting the murder] First it was the awful things that Grandfather said about me in his will. I'd always loved Grandfather. And then I realized without the money that Preston would never marry me. Yes, I knew he was vain and self-centered, but I didn't care. And then Mother came in, and she said he was an impostor, and that he was using me. So I decided to kill myself. So I went down and I got the gun out of Grandfather's desk and I decided to do it in the pool house, because it was always just a very special place to me. I didn't mean to kill him. I didn't mean it.

Jessica Fletcher: I know.

Winifred Thayer: [after Jessica exposes her as the murderer] Oh, God, how I hate this place! The only reason why I stay here is because I cannot show my face in Boston! He's had affairs with so many women! Mostly my friends, I might add! You bet I killed her, the same way I wanted to kill all the other women he'd humiliated me with.

Danny Snow: [after Jessica exposes him as the murderer] It wasn't something I planned. It just happened. Oh, God. The past few days I've been so scared, looking over my shoulder, waiting for somebody to figure it out.

Sheriff Mort Metzger: Why don't you just start at the beginning, Danny?

Danny Snow: I like Marla. She's a great lady. And I hated the way Jack was always trying to strong-arm her. At the factory last Friday, I heard him tell her he was gonna come over to the house to work something out for the back rent. I figured if I gave her the rent money, maybe she'd begin to look at me differently, not just some dumb delivery guy. So I told Owen I had an errand to run, and I went to her house. She wasn't there. I was getting ready to leave, and Jack pulled up, looking for Marla. When he found out she wasn't there, he got really mad. He thought she was trying to skip out on the rent. So he took it out on me. Just like he always did, even in high school. Jack loved to rub it in about how we both came from the same place, but he'd made it big, and I was still just a nobody. Well, this time, I tried to stick up for myself. I wasn't gonna take it. He hit me, and he knocked me into the dirt. And then he laughed at me. The way he'd been laughing at me my whole life. Something in me snapped. I saw the shovel laying there. I picked it up, and I swung. When I realized what I'd done, I knew I had to get rid of his body. So I drove his Mercedes into the woods, and I threw the shovel as far as I could. Then I pushed the car into the gully. I figured somebody would think it was an accident. And I ran back to the house. I got in my truck, but I was in such a hurry to get out of there that I backed into the firewood in the front yard, and I broke my taillight. I found as many pieces as I could in the dark, and then I just beat it out of there.

Kevin Bryce: That's when you nearly ran me down.

Danny Snow: Yeah. Next day, I drove over to Rockport and I bought a new taillight cover.

Sheriff Mort Metzger: Yeah, we know. We've got a copy of the receipt. Lock him up, Floyd.

Jerome Ashcroft: [after confessing to the murder] I couldn't let a scoundrel like Gordon Tully take over the firm I devoted my life to. You understand that, don't you? Somebody has got to stand up for the old values.

Claire Hastings: [to Arnold Hastings, after Jessica exposes her as the murderer] Oh, Arnold, close your mouth. You know what it's like. Been all these years working with the rich, not being rich ourselves. Not rich, rich. You actually start to feel that you're one of them. And then one day, you wake up, and you realize that you're on a par with their poodle's hairdresser.

Det. Lt. Percy Redick: Mrs. Hastings, why don't you bring us all up to speed and tell us what really happened?

Claire Hastings: That idiot, Seymour Densch, couldn't resist the opportunity to see the house and meet the infamous Deborah Tarkington, daughter of his idol, Harry Tarkington. So he used his offer on the house as an entrée and introduced himself to Deborah. Well, after five minutes, she saw right through him, and she called him on it. Of course, he spilled his guts before she tossed him out. I guess that's when she called Victoria and left the message on her machine that the deal was off. Then she called Arnold at the party to give him a piece of her mind, but I intercepted the call. She was talking about fraud. Now I told her to calm down, that we would talk about it. So, I left the party, and I went to Deborah's. She'd been drinking just enough to be abusive and nasty and very dangerous. And when she went for the phone to call the police, I went for the fireplace poker. I always was a good closer.

Jessica Fletcher: In case you couldn't guess, my old friend Dennis Stanton hates writing letters. On the other hand, loves the sound of his own voice. Actually, this seems like a marvelous way to keep in touch. Many of you will remember Dennis from the first time I met him. His occupation was a little different then. Jewel thief, second-story man, con artist. I'm happy to say events conspired to turn him into a very respectable member of the community. His work habits haven't changed much, but at least now he's working on the right side of the law. What's the old bromide? Set a thief to catch a thief. Dennis doesn't have to bilk the insurance companies anymore. In fact, they pay him handsomely to outwit other thieves. In fact, he's such a dashing and unorthodox figure I'm half tempted to base one of my stories on him. I confess that's actually not my idea, but then, modesty was never one of Dennis' attributes.