The Night of the Tottering Tontine - Recap
In San Francisco, Jim meets with Dr. Robert Raven and accompanies him to the railroad station. Jim reminds him that until Raven’s new weapon is perfected, his life may be in danger. They encounter an associate of Raven’s, Martin Dexter, and Raven informs him that Jim will be accompanying him to their reunion in Monterey. Dexter suggests that Raven go to a tobacconist across the street to find his particular Jamaican cheroots and leaves to run some errands.
Raven and Jim go to the tobacconist and the agent waits outside. However, Jim notices a fuse and tackles Raven as the window explodes above them. He follows the fuse into an alleyway and finds Dexter, dead with a knife in his back.
Later, Jim and Raven discuss the situation. Raven doesn’t believe that Dexter was trying to kill him but Jim isn’t convinced. When he asks if Dexter had a motive, Raven explains that they were both members of a unique investment group. Their initial investment of thousands had turned into millions and the group is meeting in Monterey for its annual shareholder report. As Raven starts to explain the one important difference, Artie arrives and tells them that all of the explosive components were bought by a man named Fields. Fields’ description matches Dexter, and Artie has also learned that one of the members drowned a year ago. Another one, George Hunter, fell under a train a day ago. The agents resolve that Raven won’t be the fourth dead man of the group.
The agents take Raven to Monterey, Artie riding ahead while Jim and Raven take the stagecoach. An explosion goes off, causing a tree to fall across the road. Artie is caught beneath the tree but unharmed except for an injured shoulder. Jim refuses to take any more chances with Raven’s life, but the doctor insists on going on.
The trio arrives in Monterey and check in at the local hotel. Another member of the investment group, a gunslinger and bounty hunter named Stimson, is at the bar. Jim and Artie know that he specializes in shooing unarmed men, and Stimson briefly takes offense. He informs them that now that he’s made millions, he’s no longer a bounty hunter. Stimson yells for a drink from the bartender and shoots the bottles when he doesn’t get prompt service. The gunslinger pours himself a drink and explains that he has to concentrate on staying alive. Raven finally explains that the investment group is a tontine operating on the law of survival. The last survivor gets all of the money. Stimson downs his drink and draws his gun to shoot the bottles again, but the next shot backfires and kills him… leaving six corpses to go.
That night, Jim and Raven arrive at the coastal estate for the meeting. Artie catches up to them at the door, disguised as Raven’s Scottish secretary and bodyguard, Angus MacGordon. They hear a brief sound of electrical static and confirm that the door is rigged to deliver an electrical jolt. Their host, Martin Grevely, shuts down the security system and ushers them in. Raven informs him of the murders of Stimson and Dexter, the mysterious deaths of the other two men, and the attempts on his life. Grevely informs them that the others have been there since 4 that afternoon and opens a secret panel to reveal the meeting room. The host boasts of his collection of Egyptology and introduces the five remaining members of the tontine.
Raven apologizes for the delay and explains that he was detained. Grevely talks about how they formed the tontine on a matter of principle, but that someone has taken advantage of the survivor clause and killed four of their members. He then introduces Jim and Artie to the remaining members of the tontine: actress Amelia Maitlin; banker Applegate; abdicated Archduke Maurice; and mystery writer Edward Baring. Accompanying Amelia is heavyweight boxer Gunther Pearse.
Applegate insists on getting down to business and says that outsiders aren’t allowed. Jim objects and explains that everyone in the room could be murdered. No one is impressed and Applegate asks for a carafe of mineral water. A small rubber figure on a spring pops out of the bottle and the banker jerks back, startled. The others dismiss it as a prank but Jim realizes that Applegate is dead. A knife was rigged into the back of his chair, triggered by the impact. The others concede that Jim is right and one of them is a murderer. Artie points out that Baring is the one who handed Applegate the carafe, but Baring notes that he would have to take elaborate measures to sneak in beforehand.
An angry Grevely moves that they adjourn the meeting and move to a safer place. However, when he tries to open the metal panel, he discovers that it has been sabotaged. There are no other exits out of the meeting room. Grevely has Pearse put Applegate’s corpse in the wine cellar while Jim points out that any of them could be the murderer, including Raven. Maurice appears amused by the entire situation and points out that all of them earned their money through foul means. When Jim suggests that even Amelia could be the murderer, Pearse returns and attacks him. Jim quickly subdues him but they’re distracted when the door to the wine cellar swings open. Applegate is standing there and topples forward. Jim suggests that they all go to their rooms. As they leave, Jim tells Artie to stay close to Raven while he closes to the wine cellar to investigate who brought Applegate up.
In the cellar, hooded men attack Jim and quickly knock him out. Meanwhile, Artie takes Raven to his room and stands watch outside the doctor’s bedchamber.
Jim wakes up and finds himself tied up and placed on a cart. The hooded men’s leader tells Jim that he’s reached the end of the line and explains that the cart is on the rails and rigged with rockets. The rails lead to an opening in the face of the cliff, 1,200 feet above the ocean. One of the men lights the fuses while the leader explains that a secondary explosive device will destroy the cart before it hits the surf. The hooded men depart, leaving Jim to his fate. Once they’re gone, the agent extracts a hidden knife from his boot heel and cuts through his bonds. As the rockets ignite, Jim frees himself and rolls off the cart just before it explodes.
Artie sees the explosion from Raven’s quarters and calls the doctor out. Together they go to investigate.
Jim heads for the stairs, taking out the hooded man on guard. Meanwhile, Artie and Raven enter the meeting room and find Maurice coming in from the balcony. He asks what the fireworks are about.
In the cellar, Jim subdues two more opponents and knocks out a third when he comes to investigate the commotion. He goes upstairs as the others come down from their rooms and Artie removes his disguise and tells them who he is. Jim asks about the secret rail system below the house, and Grevely explains that he gave a leading architect, Martin Dexter, a free hand to design the house. Amelia steps forward, offering to act as a spirit guide for an ancient Egyptian king who can tell them who the murderer is.
With nothing else to do, the tontine members, Artie, Jim, and Pearse sit around the table and Amelia holds her crystal ball. They join hands and the actress calls upon the spirits to reveal the murderer. The ball fills with mist and the balcony doors blow open. The voice of the king speaks and tells Amelia that she’ll be the next to die. Realizing that it’s a trap, Jim grabs the crystal ball and throws it out the window, where it explodes. When Artie turns up the lights, they discover that Amelia is gone. They hear her scream from the wine cellar where she has discovered Applegate’s body. Pearse runs after her and someone shoots him from inside a wine cask.
Jim arrives seconds later but the killer has fled through a panel in the back. The agent goes through the panel and finds more corridors. He spots the hooded killer enter another chamber and goes in after him, but the door closes behind him and the room is empty. A wall slides away to reveal mounted spikes that move toward him. Jim uses his sleeve derringer to fire an explosive bullet into the ceiling. He then climbs up the spikes and out the hole just as the spikes hit the opposing wall.
Maurice emerges from the wine cellar with a rare bottle of wine. As he takes it up the stairs to his wound, a halberd falls and almost slices him open. Undeterred, Maurice tries to put the halberd back in its original position and goes to his room.
Baring goes to his room and starts packing. Maurice arrives and offers him a drink, and Baring admits that he’s preparing to leave. The mystery writer has no interest in being a murder victim. The two men share a toast and Maurice briefly feigns being poisoned, and then goes to get another bottle. Baring returns to his packing but hears music and a book on the desk falls over. He picks it up and discovers it is titled, “The Death of Edward Baring.” He opens it, triggering a fatal electrical charge. A hooded man emerges from a hidden passage to confirm that Baring is dead, and Jim follows him out. He stuns the man and removes his hood, and discovers that the leader is... Martin Dexter.
The tontine assembles in the meeting room and Jim and Artie explain that Baring wrote a book about a twin who murdered his brother to provide himself with a perfect alibi. However, they realize that Dexter’s twin could never have collected from the tontine since his brother was confirmed dead, meaning he has an accomplice. Amelia draws a gun on Raven and Dexter’s twin grabs a two-handed sword and attacks Jim, driving him through a rotating bookcase and into a hidden chamber. A rack of hidden guns drops down and opens fire, and Jim hits the ground.
When the guns fail to claim Jim’s life, a rotating saw blade drops down from the ceiling. Thinking quickly, the agent ducks to the side out of the twin’s visual range, removes his coat, and jams the blade against the wall. When the twin opens the rotating bookcase, Jim comes around the other side and knocks him onto the blades. When Amelia tries to shoot Jim, Artie disarms her. Unphased, Maurice, suggests they play a parlor game of Murder.
Later, Jim and Artie bring their dates back to the Wanderer and finish the story of the tontine. The group turned over the money and created a scholarship fund. Jim has Amelia’s crystal ball and Artie describe the séance in great detail. The ball starts to fill with smoke and the two women take refuge in the arms of their dates.
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Raven and Jim go to the tobacconist and the agent waits outside. However, Jim notices a fuse and tackles Raven as the window explodes above them. He follows the fuse into an alleyway and finds Dexter, dead with a knife in his back.
Later, Jim and Raven discuss the situation. Raven doesn’t believe that Dexter was trying to kill him but Jim isn’t convinced. When he asks if Dexter had a motive, Raven explains that they were both members of a unique investment group. Their initial investment of thousands had turned into millions and the group is meeting in Monterey for its annual shareholder report. As Raven starts to explain the one important difference, Artie arrives and tells them that all of the explosive components were bought by a man named Fields. Fields’ description matches Dexter, and Artie has also learned that one of the members drowned a year ago. Another one, George Hunter, fell under a train a day ago. The agents resolve that Raven won’t be the fourth dead man of the group.
The agents take Raven to Monterey, Artie riding ahead while Jim and Raven take the stagecoach. An explosion goes off, causing a tree to fall across the road. Artie is caught beneath the tree but unharmed except for an injured shoulder. Jim refuses to take any more chances with Raven’s life, but the doctor insists on going on.
The trio arrives in Monterey and check in at the local hotel. Another member of the investment group, a gunslinger and bounty hunter named Stimson, is at the bar. Jim and Artie know that he specializes in shooing unarmed men, and Stimson briefly takes offense. He informs them that now that he’s made millions, he’s no longer a bounty hunter. Stimson yells for a drink from the bartender and shoots the bottles when he doesn’t get prompt service. The gunslinger pours himself a drink and explains that he has to concentrate on staying alive. Raven finally explains that the investment group is a tontine operating on the law of survival. The last survivor gets all of the money. Stimson downs his drink and draws his gun to shoot the bottles again, but the next shot backfires and kills him… leaving six corpses to go.
That night, Jim and Raven arrive at the coastal estate for the meeting. Artie catches up to them at the door, disguised as Raven’s Scottish secretary and bodyguard, Angus MacGordon. They hear a brief sound of electrical static and confirm that the door is rigged to deliver an electrical jolt. Their host, Martin Grevely, shuts down the security system and ushers them in. Raven informs him of the murders of Stimson and Dexter, the mysterious deaths of the other two men, and the attempts on his life. Grevely informs them that the others have been there since 4 that afternoon and opens a secret panel to reveal the meeting room. The host boasts of his collection of Egyptology and introduces the five remaining members of the tontine.
Raven apologizes for the delay and explains that he was detained. Grevely talks about how they formed the tontine on a matter of principle, but that someone has taken advantage of the survivor clause and killed four of their members. He then introduces Jim and Artie to the remaining members of the tontine: actress Amelia Maitlin; banker Applegate; abdicated Archduke Maurice; and mystery writer Edward Baring. Accompanying Amelia is heavyweight boxer Gunther Pearse.
Applegate insists on getting down to business and says that outsiders aren’t allowed. Jim objects and explains that everyone in the room could be murdered. No one is impressed and Applegate asks for a carafe of mineral water. A small rubber figure on a spring pops out of the bottle and the banker jerks back, startled. The others dismiss it as a prank but Jim realizes that Applegate is dead. A knife was rigged into the back of his chair, triggered by the impact. The others concede that Jim is right and one of them is a murderer. Artie points out that Baring is the one who handed Applegate the carafe, but Baring notes that he would have to take elaborate measures to sneak in beforehand.
An angry Grevely moves that they adjourn the meeting and move to a safer place. However, when he tries to open the metal panel, he discovers that it has been sabotaged. There are no other exits out of the meeting room. Grevely has Pearse put Applegate’s corpse in the wine cellar while Jim points out that any of them could be the murderer, including Raven. Maurice appears amused by the entire situation and points out that all of them earned their money through foul means. When Jim suggests that even Amelia could be the murderer, Pearse returns and attacks him. Jim quickly subdues him but they’re distracted when the door to the wine cellar swings open. Applegate is standing there and topples forward. Jim suggests that they all go to their rooms. As they leave, Jim tells Artie to stay close to Raven while he closes to the wine cellar to investigate who brought Applegate up.
In the cellar, hooded men attack Jim and quickly knock him out. Meanwhile, Artie takes Raven to his room and stands watch outside the doctor’s bedchamber.
Jim wakes up and finds himself tied up and placed on a cart. The hooded men’s leader tells Jim that he’s reached the end of the line and explains that the cart is on the rails and rigged with rockets. The rails lead to an opening in the face of the cliff, 1,200 feet above the ocean. One of the men lights the fuses while the leader explains that a secondary explosive device will destroy the cart before it hits the surf. The hooded men depart, leaving Jim to his fate. Once they’re gone, the agent extracts a hidden knife from his boot heel and cuts through his bonds. As the rockets ignite, Jim frees himself and rolls off the cart just before it explodes.
Artie sees the explosion from Raven’s quarters and calls the doctor out. Together they go to investigate.
Jim heads for the stairs, taking out the hooded man on guard. Meanwhile, Artie and Raven enter the meeting room and find Maurice coming in from the balcony. He asks what the fireworks are about.
In the cellar, Jim subdues two more opponents and knocks out a third when he comes to investigate the commotion. He goes upstairs as the others come down from their rooms and Artie removes his disguise and tells them who he is. Jim asks about the secret rail system below the house, and Grevely explains that he gave a leading architect, Martin Dexter, a free hand to design the house. Amelia steps forward, offering to act as a spirit guide for an ancient Egyptian king who can tell them who the murderer is.
With nothing else to do, the tontine members, Artie, Jim, and Pearse sit around the table and Amelia holds her crystal ball. They join hands and the actress calls upon the spirits to reveal the murderer. The ball fills with mist and the balcony doors blow open. The voice of the king speaks and tells Amelia that she’ll be the next to die. Realizing that it’s a trap, Jim grabs the crystal ball and throws it out the window, where it explodes. When Artie turns up the lights, they discover that Amelia is gone. They hear her scream from the wine cellar where she has discovered Applegate’s body. Pearse runs after her and someone shoots him from inside a wine cask.
Jim arrives seconds later but the killer has fled through a panel in the back. The agent goes through the panel and finds more corridors. He spots the hooded killer enter another chamber and goes in after him, but the door closes behind him and the room is empty. A wall slides away to reveal mounted spikes that move toward him. Jim uses his sleeve derringer to fire an explosive bullet into the ceiling. He then climbs up the spikes and out the hole just as the spikes hit the opposing wall.
Maurice emerges from the wine cellar with a rare bottle of wine. As he takes it up the stairs to his wound, a halberd falls and almost slices him open. Undeterred, Maurice tries to put the halberd back in its original position and goes to his room.
Baring goes to his room and starts packing. Maurice arrives and offers him a drink, and Baring admits that he’s preparing to leave. The mystery writer has no interest in being a murder victim. The two men share a toast and Maurice briefly feigns being poisoned, and then goes to get another bottle. Baring returns to his packing but hears music and a book on the desk falls over. He picks it up and discovers it is titled, “The Death of Edward Baring.” He opens it, triggering a fatal electrical charge. A hooded man emerges from a hidden passage to confirm that Baring is dead, and Jim follows him out. He stuns the man and removes his hood, and discovers that the leader is... Martin Dexter.
The tontine assembles in the meeting room and Jim and Artie explain that Baring wrote a book about a twin who murdered his brother to provide himself with a perfect alibi. However, they realize that Dexter’s twin could never have collected from the tontine since his brother was confirmed dead, meaning he has an accomplice. Amelia draws a gun on Raven and Dexter’s twin grabs a two-handed sword and attacks Jim, driving him through a rotating bookcase and into a hidden chamber. A rack of hidden guns drops down and opens fire, and Jim hits the ground.
When the guns fail to claim Jim’s life, a rotating saw blade drops down from the ceiling. Thinking quickly, the agent ducks to the side out of the twin’s visual range, removes his coat, and jams the blade against the wall. When the twin opens the rotating bookcase, Jim comes around the other side and knocks him onto the blades. When Amelia tries to shoot Jim, Artie disarms her. Unphased, Maurice, suggests they play a parlor game of Murder.
Later, Jim and Artie bring their dates back to the Wanderer and finish the story of the tontine. The group turned over the money and created a scholarship fund. Jim has Amelia’s crystal ball and Artie describe the séance in great detail. The ball starts to fill with smoke and the two women take refuge in the arms of their dates.
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