Short Fuse story
Roger Stanford is a chemist whose uncle, David, has taken over a business that his parents built and his aunt controls. David plans to sell the business to a conglomerate, and uses dirty tricks to get Roger to go along. Roger double crosses and murders his uncle with a booby trapped box of cigars rigged to explode as he drives through the mountains with his chauffeur. Everett Logan, the next-in-line vice president whom Roger discredits as part of the offshoot of the murder, so Roger can take over the company. David's secretary is romantically involved with Roger. Final clue/twist: Columbo tricks Roger into incriminating himself by having him believe the fateful accident was a result of treacherous driving conditions rather than Roger's bomb. Columbo shows Roger a damaged but intact box of cigars and tells him it came from the death scene. Along with Everett, they take a cable car up the mountain. Roger, thinking they are the booby- trapped cigars he had planted, becomes unhinged. He screams at Columbo to get rid of the box because it is about to explode. Columbo reveals that the box is not from the death scene, that he had just got it and scuffed it up to look like it had been. Realizing he has been tricked, Roger can only laugh hysterically. Directed by: Edward M. Abroms. Story by: Lester Pine, Tina Pine, Jackson Gillis.
22 total · 2 choice · 6 major · 14 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| greed for riches | choice | David and Roger both wanted control of the family business all to themselves. David wanted to cash out by selling the company to a conglomerate. |
| how to murder someone and get away with it | choice | Roger hatched the following plot to do away with his troublesome and blackmailing uncle: Roger planted a booby trapped box of cigars in the uncle's car and rigged it to explode as he drove through a mountainous area with his chauffeur. |
| appearances can be deceiving | major | Witnesses and villains alike are caught off guard by Lieutenant Columbo's bumbling façade, which invariably proves to conceal a laser-focused mind. |
| aunt and nephew | major | Roger liked his aunt Doris very much, and the feeling was reciprocated. |
| avunculicide | major | Roger hatched the following plot to do away with his troublesome and blackmailing uncle: Roger planted a booby trapped box of cigars in the uncle's car and rigged it to explode as he drove through a mountainous area with his chauffeur. |
| blackmail | major | David tried to blackmail Roger into convincing his aunt to approve the sale of their family chemical company to a conglomerate. In exchange, David would keep a lid on Roger's various past indiscretions, including the racking up of gambling debts in Vegas, a drug habit in college, an unspecified "mess" in Acapulco, and a car theft. |
| law enforcement | major | The bumbling but sharp-witted homicide detective Lieutenant Columbo was tasked with the following murder mystery: The murky disappearance of the Stanford Chemicals company CEO David Buckner. |
| uncle and nephew | major | Roger did not much car for his step-uncle David, so he murdered him. |
| chemicals | minor | Columbo queried his suspect about chemistry and bomb-making. |
| coping with the death of a spouse | minor | Aunt Doris showed a conspicuous lack of emotion when relayed the news of her husbands demise. |