Disclaimer – I own no rights to Erle Stanley Gardner's characters, Dean Hargrove's television show, or Fred Steiner's amazing theme music.

A/N – All bet's are off. Here's the moment we've been waiting for. To all my readers, thank you for coming along with me on this trip. It's been one year since I first started this fan novel. I hope the ending proves worth waiting for. I think it only fitting that now, on the one-year anniversary of when I first started writing this, "The Case of the Lifeless Lothario" comes to a conclusion…

"Mr. Jack Anderson," said Hamilton Burger.

Anderson walked slowly to the front of the courtroom, straightened his tie, and sat down.

"Mr. Anderson, you were not traveling on the same train as Ms. Culp, Ms. Cook, Ms. Silvers, and Ms. Carmichael, were you?" asked Burger.

"No, I was not."

"Yet you still heard about Ms. Carmichael's plot to murder your business partner, Bill Anders?"

"Yes, I did."

"How did you hear this?"

"I heard it from Helen," said Anderson. "I took her out to dinner. To Slam Duncan's, the sports bar and grill. She told me all about how she and my partner had broken up and how she wanted to murder him."

"What was your reaction to this at the time?" asked Burger.

"I thought she was only joking, at the time."

"And now?"

"Objection," said Mason calmly.

"No further questions," responded Burger. Mason approached Anderson.

"Mr. Anderson, how long had you and Mr. Anders been business partners?" asked Mason.

"Since the business was started," said Anderson. "A long time now. I'm not sure just how many years."

"And now that Anders is dead, you are sole owner of the business?"

"That's true."

"That sounds like a pretty good motive for murder to me," said Mason.

"Objection," said Burger.

"Again, Your Honor," said Mason, "I'm only trying to show that others besides my client had reason to want Bill Anders dead."

"Overruled," declared the Judge.

"That's not much motive, really," said Anderson. "Anders and I were a team. The business wouldn't have been anywhere near as successful as it was without Bill. I was perfectly happy with the partnership the way it was."

"But didn't you and Anders have an argument a matter of weeks before Anders was killed?"

"Who told you that?" demanded Anderson.

"Your receptionist, Ms. Bellridge," explained Mason. "I could have her take the stand and testify that she heard raised voices coming from your office."

"There's no need for that. It's all true."

"Would you mind sharing with us what the argument was about?"

"It's hard to say," said Anderson. "My partner and I had a lot of arguments. It's one of the joys of co-owning a business."

"Didn't the argument involve a merger?" asked Mason. "A merger between Anders & Anderson and Taylor & Jackson?"

"Well, it…"

"Mr. Anders was excited about this merger. He thought it would provide a huge boost for your business. But there was one major concession Taylor & Jackson asked that Anders & Anderson make before they would go through with the merger. Would you mind sharing what that concession was with the court?"

Anderson tugged at his tie and tried to smile disarmingly.

"I don't remember any concession," he said.

"Let me help refresh your memory, then," said Mason. "Didn't Taylor & Jackson request your resignation before they would go through with the merger?"

Anderson's face registered shock for only a moment. He smiled again and just stared blankly towards the back of the court room.

"That was the concession, wasn't it, Mr. Anderson?" asked Mason. "Rowena Taylor was pleased with the business, but she had one misgiving about the merger. She didn't trust you. The only way she would allow a merger between her business and Anders & Anderson was if Anders would drop the Anderson."

"Sure," said Anderson. "And I guess Bill considered it. But he would never betray his partner like that."

"Do you know a Mr. Lao Ming?"

Anderson shook his head.

"No?" said Mason. "Well, he remembers you. I can have him come up here and give testimony. He's a sales clerk at Mart's. He remembers you because not many men come in and purchase size 8 high-heeled women's shoes. Not even when they claim the shoes are a gift for their wife."

"Objection," said Burger.

"Overruled," said the Judge.

"Do you know a Ms. Janet Redding?" asked Mason. Again, Anderson shook his head. "Yes, you do. She can come up here and testify to that fact. Only you know her better as Trixie Powers, the actress."

Anderson jumped to his feet.

"Lies!" he cried. "These are all bold-faced lies!"

"Mr. Anderson, where were you between 7:00 and 9:00 the night Bill Anders was murdered?"

"I spoke at a dinner convention," said Anderson. "There must have been at least a hundred people there."

"But where were you between 6:00 and 7:00 that same night?"

"Why does that matter?"

"Because that's the time during which Bill Anders was really murdered!" declared Mason boldly. Everyone in the courtroom gasped.

"Objection!" cried Burger. "Mr. Anderson is not on trial!"

Mason ignored Burger's protest as he began to circle Anderson.

"Anders really had requested your resignation, hadn't he, Mr. Anderson?" asked Mason. "He was going to put you out of business. He was making you resign from one of the most successful businesses in the country. You knew if he died you would inherit the whole thing. Then you decided to kill him, didn't you?"

Anderson remained silent.

"Objection!" Burger called again.

"All you needed was a plot," said Mason. "And then you took Helen Carmichael out to dinner. And she gave you one. It was much too convenient."

"Objection!" Burger called again. Mason began to speak faster.

"You decided to carry out Ms. Carmichael's plot, didn't you, Mr. Anderson? With only a few small alterations? That way, Ms. Carmichael would take the blame for her own plot. Your only problem was this; she had confided the plot in you."

"Objection!" said Burger. Anderson glanced at the prosecuting attorney's face and noticed it was once again taking on a reddish glow.

"So you wrote an anonymous letter to the police," continued Mason. "You gave them all of the details of the plot Helen had given you. You then went to your partner's house at about 6:00 on Saturday."

"Objection!"

"What did you do next, Mr. Anderson?" demanded Mason. "You met him in his study, didn't you? You then struck him unconscious with his paper weight. You then grabbed a letter opener. It was the one that Ms. Carmichael had given Mr. Anders for his birthday, wasn't it?"

"Objec- -"

"You then dragged Mr. Anders into his bedroom. You were already familiar with many of your partner's unusual habits. You changed him into his pajamas because that was the way Helen Carmichael had plotted it and because that way it would seem Anders had been killed between 7:00 and 9:00 rather than between 6:00 and 7:00. Didn't you?"

"Obj- -"

"Didn't you then proceed to leave behind a tube of lipstick that you had stolen from the defendant, Mr. Anderson? And then afterwards, didn't you change into the pair of size 8 women's shoes that you had purchased? You then deliberately walked across the moist ground alongside Mr. Anders' driveway to leave traces. Is that not true?"

"Oh, Your Honor! This is really too much."

"Mr. Mason, will you please…?"

"But there was one more problem," said Mason. "You realized that an anonymous letter doesn't carry very much weight in court. So you hired an actress, Janet Redding, alias Trixie Powers, to act the part of the anonymous writer. You offered her money to approach the prosecuting attorney and claim that she had traveled in a train compartment near Helen Carmichael's, and that she had overheard Ms. Carmichael discussing the plot with her friends. Isn't that true, you murderer?"

"Objection!" screamed Burger at the top of his lungs. His face had now turned completely dark red, like blood.

"Your Honor," said Mason, "I would like to call Janet Redding to the stand."

"Alright!" screamed Anderson. The entire court now became silent. "It's true. It's all true. Anderson had everything he wanted. Money. Power. Girls. I hated him for it. This business was all I had, and he knew it. He was going to take that away from me. He was going to betray me, his partner, his friend, his brother. And for what? For another one of his girls. I killed him. I killed him exactly like you said I did. He didn't leave me much of a choice." Anderson took a deep breath. "He was a louse, and he deserved what he got. I'm the best friend Anders ever had. We were like brothers. And even I think he deserved what he got."

There was dead silence.

"Your Honor, I now move that all charges against the defendant be dropped," said Mason calmly.

Hamilton Burger sighed heavily, choking for breath. Still red-faced, he softly gasped, "I have no objection, Your Honor."

"Charges dropped," said Judge Julie Green. "Bailiff, please take the witness into custody. Case dismissed."

Jack Anderson stared at Helen Carmichael as he was being dragged out of the courtroom.

"This is all your fault, you self-centered, manipulative flirt!" he said, spitting at her. "This was all your fault. It was all your plot. It was all your fault."

A/N – Alright. Take a moment. Catch your breath. Then read the next chapter.