Ruth Gordon credited as playing...
Abigail Mitchell
- Lt. Columbo: You know, I can remember the only new car my father ever bought. How proud he was. The way it smelled. Kind of like the inside of a Pullman car. It wasn't like this though, I'll tell you that.
- Abigail Mitchell: My father never owned a car. Not until I bought him one. I was 20; I'd just sold my first book. Shall we compare poverty stories, Lieutenant?
- Lt. Columbo: Not in a Rolls Royce, ma'am.
- [last lines]
- Abigail Mitchell: Just think, Lieutenant, if you had investigated my niece's death, all this need never have happened.
- Lt. Columbo: [to his dog] Okay. Now, don't go away. Stay.
- [Dog runs off]
- Lt. Columbo: He's trained.
- Abigail Mitchell: Amazing.
- Abigail Mitchell: [about Columbo's basset hound] Is he all right?
- Lt. Columbo: Well, yes, ma'am. Do you see something wrong?
- Abigail Mitchell: He seems to be scraping bottom.
- Lt. Columbo: Well, that's the way they were made.
- Lt. Columbo: [Referring to an old chair] Can I sit in this?
- Abigail Mitchell: Well, that's what it was made for 400 years ago.
- Abigail Mitchell: I'm beginning to be very fond of you, Lieutenant. I think you're a very kind man.
- Lt. Columbo: Don't count on that, Miss Mitchell. Don't count on it.
- Abigail Mitchell: Besides, I have work to do with Lieutenant Columbo.
- Lt. Columbo: [mocking] 'I have work to do with Lieutenant Columbo'. I wish Mrs. Columbo could hear that.
- Lt. Columbo: I can't tell you what a big help you've been.
- Abigail Mitchell: "Big help to Lieutenant Columbo." Wish my publishers could hear you say that.
- Lt. Columbo: My car's right here. It's French. Very rare.
- [Abigail looks at Columbo's car, dust-covered, front grill manged, and with license plate askew]
- Abigail Mitchell: Uh, yes. Oh, I can see why.
- Lt. Columbo: That must have been very hard losing someone you love like that. I've been very lucky. I've lost my parents, that's the way of the world. But to lose someone that young, that's like being cheated. That's very hard.
- Abigail Mitchell: I'm beginning to be very fond of you, Lieutenant. I think you're a very kind man.
- Lt. Columbo: Don't count on that, Miss Mitchell. Don't count on it.
- Martin Hammond: Abigail, you are the most exasperating woman I have ever met!
- Abigail Mitchell: I accept all superlatives.
- Lt. Columbo: [after Abigail Mitchell Shows Lt Columbo where she said she found the car keys next to the sprinkler head] I'll be running off now.
- Abigail Mitchell: Goodbye, young man.
- [hesitates]
- Abigail Mitchell: Oh...
- [follows after Lt. Columbo, then calls out]
- Abigail Mitchell: Lt. Columbo
- [Lt. Columbo turns around]
- Abigail Mitchell: *Just one more question*.
- Abigail Mitchell: Is there murder in our civilized hearts? Obviously, there is in mine, and I'm well-paid.
- Abigail Mitchell: Days are for work. Nights are for play. Stewardess, may I have another Scotch, please?
- [Columbo, accompanied by Dog, talks to Abigail Mitchell by the river.]
- Lt. Columbo: He likes to look at the boats.
- [lifts up Dog, who shows absolutely no interest in the boats.]
- Lt. Columbo: We come down here in the mornings and walk and think... In my business, the thinking never stops. He loves the ocean.
- Abigail Mitchell: How can you tell?
- Lt. Columbo: Makes him frisky.
- [Dog slumps his head on the railing.]
- Lt. Columbo: Had enough?
- [Columbo puts down Dog.]
- Lt. Columbo: Okay. Now don't go away. Stay.
- [Dog potters off.]
- Lt. Columbo: [to Abigail Mitchell] He's trained.
- Abigail Mitchell: Amazing!