Ep 7. Mavis McCloud

In Gunsmoke season 3 episode 7 titled "Mavis McCloud," Marshal Matt Dillon and his deputy Chester investigate the murder of a local farmer. The only witness to the crime is the wife of the deceased, Mavis McCloud, who claims that the murderer was a man named Pete, whom she had hired to help on the farm. As Matt and Chester investigate the case, they start to question Mavis's story and wonder whether she might be hiding something.

The episode begins with Matt and Chester arriving at the McCloud farm and finding the body of the farmer, Robert, in the barn. Mavis tells the two lawmen that she had hired a man named Pete to help on the farm, but that she had sent him away after he had proved to be lazy and unreliable. However, she claims that he had returned to the farm that night and killed her husband.

Matt and Chester set out to find Pete, but their search leads them to dead ends. Meanwhile, Mavis's behavior becomes increasingly suspicious – she is evasive when answering questions and seems to be hiding something. Matt and Chester begin to suspect that her story might not be entirely truthful.

As they continue their investigation, they encounter a number of individuals who may have had motives for killing Robert. There is the neighboring farmer who had a long-standing feud with Robert over water rights, as well as a group of drifters who had been causing trouble in the area. However, every lead seems to come up empty, and Matt and Chester are no closer to solving the case.

As they dig deeper, they discover that Mavis had been having an affair with a man in town, which had put a strain on her marriage. They begin to wonder whether she might have played a role in her husband's death in order to be with her lover. However, when they confront her with their suspicions, she breaks down and admits that she had made up the story about Pete in order to cover up the fact that she had killed her husband herself.

The episode ends with Mavis being taken into custody and Matt and Chester reflecting on the tragic nature of the case. They had been unable to prevent the murder, but at least justice had been served and the killer had been brought to justice. It is a somber reminder of the dangers of life on the frontier and the importance of upholding the law in order to maintain order and justice in society.