Mannix (TV Series)

A Problem of Innocence (1973)

Fritz Weaver: William Avery

Quotes 

• Joe Mannix : What makes you think Anne has been kidnapped?

  William Avery : [shows Joe a copy of a recently dated newspaper]  That second column, Mr. Mannix, under Missing Persons.

  Joe Mannix : [reads the newspaper]  "Father, must see you, urgent. Phone you at Joe's. Annie Girl." You're sure this is Anne, and she's going to phone you here?

  William Avery : Somebody's going to phone, and I know you're the Joe she's referring to.

  Joe Mannix : What makes you think that?

  William Avery : Because when she visited me in prison, she told me about all her friends. She never mentioned anybody named Joe.

  Joe Mannix : How did you find out about me?

  William Avery : The day after I got out of prison, I got to her apartment house just as you were leaving with her. You came back alone.

  Joe Mannix : [thinks for a moment]  And you checked the registration on my car.

  William Avery : Right. Nobody else ever called her Annie Girl either. That was my special name for her when she was a little girl. We talked about that, too.

  Joe Mannix : Let's suppose this is her ad. There's nothing in it that indicates she's been kidnapped.

  William Avery : Yes, there is, there is. You see, she couldn't possibly know I was alive.

  Joe Mannix : Who could?

  William Avery : Well, nobody could know. Somebody's guessing, that's all. Somebody who knew me from before. And whoever it is has got Annie Girl, I know it.

  Joe Mannix : Sit down, Mr. Avery.

  [Avery takes a seat] 

  Joe Mannix : To begin with, you've got some explaining to do.

  William Avery : Well, I spent ten years in prison. The day I got out, it looked to me like somebody in a car was following me. When I was sure it, I got a couple of turns ahead of him. I slowed down and jumped out of the car. When it went over the cliff, there was nobody in it.

  Joe Mannix : Did you get a look at the man in the other car?

  William Avery : Not a very good one, but enough to know that I had never seen him before.

  Joe Mannix : So far, you've told me what you did. Now tell me why.

  William Avery : Well, I realized that somebody, maybe several people, were expecting men to lead them to the payroll money. So I decided I wouldn't disappoint them. I drove fast and ended up dead. I figured that would be the end of it.

  Joe Mannix : And now you think somebody's figured you're not dead.

  William Avery : Yes!

  Joe Mannix : Same person who killed Carl Simmons?

  William Avery : [hesitates before answering]  I guess so.

  Joe Mannix : All right. If I get a phone call asking for William Avery, I'll tell him that all I know is what I read in the papers, and the papers say Avery is dead.

  William Avery : No, no, no, no. You can't do that.

  Joe Mannix : Why not? If they got Anne, there's no reason why they shouldn't let her go if they really believe you're dead.

  William Avery : They'd still think I told her where the money was.

  Joe Mannix : You didn't tell her?

  William Avery : No.

  Joe Mannix : But you know.

  William Avery : Yeah, I know. I took it, and I hid it. And I spent ten years in jail for it. But I can't let anything happen to Annie.

  Joe Mannix : You're willing to make a trade? A million dollars for Anne?

  William Avery : Yeah.