Professor and the Fox (East Coast)

In “The Professor and the Fox,” attorney John Strickland is cornered both professionally and financially when a seemingly trivial negligence lawsuit threatens to expose the $80,000 he has secretly embezzled from his wealthy, long-time client, Mrs. Fremont. His only hope lies in Professor Greer, a mild-mannered chemist whose expert testimony could dismiss the suit instantly. But when Greer unexpectedly discovers the real cause of the caretaker’s wife’s death—a finding that would lose Strickland the case and expose his crimes—Strickland panics and murders him, staging the professor’s car crash as an accident. Moments later, police arrive with stunning news: the caretaker, Benson, has confessed not only to killing his own wife but also to murdering Professor Greer. Strickland relaxes, believing he’s safe, until one final detail drops the floor out from under him—Benson planted a bomb inside Greer’s briefcase, meaning the professor died before Strickland ever touched him. The man Strickland thought he killed was already dead, and the explosion Benson describes proves Strickland is lying, trapping him in the very confession he never made.