WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:08.400 Yes, Roma wines taste better because only Roma selects from the world's greatest wine reserves for your pleasure. 00:08.400 --> 00:15.000 And now, Roma wines, R-O-M-A, Roma wines present... 00:15.000 --> 00:17.000 Suspense! 00:21.000 --> 00:26.000 Tonight, Roma wines bring you Miss Anne Baxter in Always Room at the Top, 00:26.000 --> 00:31.000 a Suspense play produced, edited, and directed for Roma Wines by William Spear. 00:35.000 --> 00:41.000 Suspense! Radio's outstanding theater of thrills is presented for your enjoyment by Roma Wines. 00:41.000 --> 00:50.000 That's R-O-M-A, Roma Wines, those better tasting California wines enjoyed by more Americans than any other wine, 00:50.000 --> 00:54.000 for friendly entertaining, for delightful dining. 00:54.000 --> 01:01.000 Yes, right now, a glass full would be very pleasant, as Roma wines bring you Anne Baxter in a remarkable tale of... 01:01.000 --> 01:03.000 Suspense! 01:08.000 --> 01:13.000 Reception. Yes, she is, Miss Thornton. Very well, Miss Thornton, I'll have her come in. 01:13.000 --> 01:14.000 Miss Brands? 01:14.000 --> 01:15.000 Yes? 01:15.000 --> 01:17.000 Miss Thornton will see you now, large corner office at the end of the hall. 01:17.000 --> 01:18.000 Thank you. 01:18.000 --> 01:26.000 Jean Thornton was a tall, square-shouldered blonde with high cheekbones and a good figure, and nervous as a cat. 01:26.000 --> 01:31.000 More than that, I hadn't been in her office five minutes before I knew that she was afraid of something. 01:31.000 --> 01:35.000 Her boss, the responsibilities of her job, something. 01:35.000 --> 01:42.000 I couldn't understand it. She was art director of William J. Farrell & Company, one of the best advertising agencies in town. 01:42.000 --> 01:46.000 She had everything I wanted, professionally and a couple of other ways. 01:46.000 --> 01:51.000 And yet she was afraid. I couldn't understand it. Then? 01:51.000 --> 01:54.000 Yes, yes, he's quite good. Quite good, Miss... 01:54.000 --> 01:56.000 Brandt. Helen Brandt. 01:56.000 --> 01:59.000 Yes, Miss Brandt. Quite good. But, um, cigarette. 01:59.000 --> 02:00.000 Thanks. 02:01.000 --> 02:03.000 Oh, how cute. 02:03.000 --> 02:06.000 Silly thing. Mr. Farrell sent it to me from Mexico. 02:06.000 --> 02:11.000 Where else in the world would anybody have the patience to sit down and put together a musical cigarette case? 02:11.000 --> 02:13.000 But, as I was saying... 02:13.000 --> 02:14.000 What was I saying? 02:14.000 --> 02:19.000 Oh, oh, yes. Oh, yes, these are really very good layouts, Miss Brandt. I like them. 02:19.000 --> 02:21.000 But I don't quite see how we can use you just now. 02:21.000 --> 02:23.000 You said that before, Miss Thornton. 02:23.000 --> 02:24.000 Yes, so I did well. 02:24.000 --> 02:27.000 Look, Miss Thornton, I don't need the job. 02:27.000 --> 02:30.000 I'm not one of those desperate people that's coming to cry on your shoulder. 02:30.000 --> 02:35.000 I have a job at Maxfield & Ellis, but they're stupid there. I'm not getting any place. 02:35.000 --> 02:41.000 In a firm like this, where people have imagination, you have a chance. That's all I want, a chance. 02:41.000 --> 02:42.000 So do a lot of other people, Miss Brandt. 02:42.000 --> 02:49.000 Well, I'm not a lot of other people. I think I've got ability, and you know it. Commercial ability. I think I could be professional. 02:49.000 --> 02:51.000 Yes, yes. Well, if there's an opening, you'll get in touch with me. 02:51.000 --> 02:55.000 You'll get in touch. I know what that means. I've been given the brush off by X-ray. 02:55.000 --> 02:56.000 That will be all, Miss Brandt. 02:56.000 --> 03:01.000 But I'm sick of being brushed off. I've got ability. As much as you have and maybe more, and I'll show you. 03:01.000 --> 03:05.000 Miss Brandt, will you leave my office, or shall I have you thrown out? 03:05.000 --> 03:10.000 All right, Miss Brandt. Good day. 03:17.000 --> 03:22.000 Of course, that would be the last time I'd ever lay eyes on Gene Thornton. That's what I thought. 03:22.000 --> 03:29.000 I went back to my office and worked most of the night catching up on my own stuff, doing a little extra that I was peddling around town. 03:29.000 --> 03:38.000 I was standing on the sidewalk, kidding with a night elevator man, while I waited for a cab, and looking up at the tower against the early morning sky. 03:38.000 --> 03:49.000 That dark tower, 36 floors above the street, and three blocks up the avenue where the William J. Farrell Agency had their offices, and where I'd have given my right arm to be working. 03:49.000 --> 03:53.000 You'll miss all your beauty sleep working this late, Miss Brandt. 03:53.000 --> 03:56.000 Now, Charlie, who says I need beauty sleep? 03:56.000 --> 03:57.000 Oh, you don't. 03:57.000 --> 04:03.000 I like to work at night. It's quiet. Think of all the sunrises I see. Look at that sky. 04:03.000 --> 04:07.000 Yeah, it's gonna be a nice day I get. Look! 04:08.000 --> 04:14.000 I saw the bodies falling and the scream came to us at the same moment. We stood there frozen, horrified, fascinated. 04:19.000 --> 04:21.000 Oh, Lord, I wish I hadn't seen that. 04:21.000 --> 04:23.000 Charlie, that was someone from the Farrell Agency. 04:23.000 --> 04:24.000 Whoever it was, poor devil. 04:24.000 --> 04:25.000 A woman. 04:25.000 --> 04:28.000 Oh, wait, Miss Brandt. I wouldn't go up there. Miss Brandt! 04:33.000 --> 04:38.000 Even by the time I got there, a patrol car appeared out of nowhere, the way they will in this town. 04:38.000 --> 04:44.000 An unusual crowd of early birds and night owls standing around gawking. They were trying to cover it up with a blanket. 04:44.000 --> 04:46.000 All right, stand back. Stand back. 04:46.000 --> 04:47.000 Who is it? 04:47.000 --> 04:48.000 Oh, you couldn't tell anyway. 04:48.000 --> 04:50.000 A woman. 04:50.000 --> 04:58.000 I wanted to look, but I couldn't. A cop was picking up stuff that had rolled out of a handbag into the street, going through it methodically, opening things up. 04:58.000 --> 05:04.000 And then I heard it, and I didn't have to look. I knew. 05:12.000 --> 05:16.000 No, please! I tell you, I don't know when Mr. Farrell's coming in. I don't know. 05:16.000 --> 05:18.000 You wouldn't try to kid the press, would you, sister? 05:18.000 --> 05:20.000 You might as well tell us, because we'll just sit here anyway. 05:20.000 --> 05:21.000 Hey, there he is! 05:21.000 --> 05:24.000 Mr. Farrell, Mr. Farrell, I'm from the news. I'd like to know if I could get a... 05:24.000 --> 05:26.000 Please, please, boys, please. I can't tell you anything now. 05:26.000 --> 05:27.000 Mr. Farrell, I'm Helen Brandt. 05:27.000 --> 05:29.000 Mr. Farrell, my people would like to know if Ms. Thornton had been a respondent. 05:29.000 --> 05:32.000 Get your foot out of that door now, please. Please, get out of here already. Get out! 05:34.000 --> 05:36.000 I told you I can't talk to any reporters. Now give me a few minutes. 05:36.000 --> 05:42.000 I'm not a reporter, Mr. Farrell. I'm Helen Brandt. I'm art director of a small advertising agency, but I've got some samples here and... 05:42.000 --> 05:43.000 What? 05:43.000 --> 05:48.000 Mr. Farrell, please, just look at these. You're going to have to have a new art director. 05:48.000 --> 05:49.000 What did you say? 05:49.000 --> 05:55.000 Sure, you're shocked. But it can't hurt her. And I've been trying to see you for months, and now you're on a spot, and if you just make... 05:55.000 --> 05:57.000 Take those things out of my face and get out of here. 05:57.000 --> 05:59.000 Just look at them, sir. That's all I ask. 05:59.000 --> 06:01.000 All I ask is that you... 06:01.000 --> 06:03.000 Well... 06:03.000 --> 06:10.000 And this one, for Parker's Shoes. I've followed Ms. Thornton's general ideas, but I've added... well, that. 06:10.000 --> 06:11.000 Mm-hmm. 06:11.000 --> 06:14.000 They're good enough, Mr. Farrell. And if you say they aren't... 06:14.000 --> 06:21.000 All right. All right, they're good. They're very good. But if you think I'd hire a woman who hasn't any more decency than to barge in here at a time like this and try to push... 06:21.000 --> 06:27.000 Decency? What decency got to do with it? Do you need an art director or a Sunday school teacher? 06:27.000 --> 06:32.000 Look, Mr. Farrell, now if you don't mind, my people want to know what Ms. Thornton was doing in her office at 5 o'clock this morning. 06:32.000 --> 06:37.000 She must have been working all night on the new Parker layouts. They have to be out by... 06:37.000 --> 06:39.000 They have to be out by 3 this afternoon. 06:39.000 --> 06:44.000 Working all night, maybe went in the window for fresh air, tired, got dizzy, and... 06:44.000 --> 06:46.000 Look, Ms. um... 06:46.000 --> 06:47.000 Brant. Helen Brant. 06:47.000 --> 06:53.000 Uh, Ms. Brant. Ms. Brant, I think you're one of the most despicable women I've ever had the misfortune to meet. 06:53.000 --> 06:58.000 But I've got a very big job to get out this afternoon. My assistant art director's home sick, and by the time I interview these... 06:58.000 --> 06:59.000 Thanks, Mr. Farrell. 06:59.000 --> 07:07.000 You can arrange the details with my secretary in there. And frankly, the less I have to do with you myself, the better I'll like it. 07:07.000 --> 07:09.000 I think you'll change your mind about that, Mr. Farrell. 07:09.000 --> 07:14.000 No, Mr. Farrell, if you don't mind, we know things are tough and you don't want to tell us, but... 07:14.000 --> 07:15.000 Yes? 07:15.000 --> 07:16.000 Are you, uh... 07:16.000 --> 07:17.000 Mr. Farrell's secretary, yes. 07:17.000 --> 07:19.000 Oh. Well, I'm Helen Brant. 07:19.000 --> 07:20.000 Marie Harris. How do you do? 07:20.000 --> 07:24.000 How do you do? I'm taking Ms. Thornton's place. 07:24.000 --> 07:26.000 Taking Ms. Thornton's place, I see. 07:26.000 --> 07:28.000 Yes. Temporarily. 07:28.000 --> 07:32.000 Well, you're not one to let the grass grow under your feet, are you, my dear? 07:32.000 --> 07:35.000 Mr. Farrell said I could arrange the details with you. 07:35.000 --> 07:38.000 To be sure. I expect you'd better make out one of our regular employment forms. 07:38.000 --> 07:39.000 Oh, thank you. 07:39.000 --> 07:40.000 Temporarily, you said. 07:40.000 --> 07:41.000 Yes. 07:41.000 --> 07:47.000 Still, doesn't it feel a bit odd to be filling a dead woman's shoes that are hardly cold, so to speak? 07:47.000 --> 07:49.000 I don't see anything so odd about it, Ms. Harris. 07:49.000 --> 07:50.000 Somebody would have to. 07:50.000 --> 07:52.000 No, of course you wouldn't. 07:52.000 --> 07:55.000 By previous experience, does it mean just in the advertising business? 07:55.000 --> 07:57.000 Any experience that might be applicable. 07:57.000 --> 08:05.000 It has occurred to you, I suppose, Ms. Brant, that when someone like Ms. Thornton is cut off in mid-career, so to speak, there's usually a reason for it. 08:05.000 --> 08:07.000 They say it was an accident. 08:07.000 --> 08:08.000 An accident, do they? 08:08.000 --> 08:10.000 Oh, will this be all right, Ms. Harris? 08:10.000 --> 08:12.000 Yes. Yes, that will do. 08:12.000 --> 08:16.000 Of course, there's always the possibility of suicide. I suppose you've thought of that. 08:16.000 --> 08:18.000 I suppose it might have been. 08:18.000 --> 08:20.000 Will you show me my office, please? 08:20.000 --> 08:21.000 Certainly, this way. 08:21.000 --> 08:27.000 You might as well have the dead woman's, that is, Ms. Thornton's office. 08:27.000 --> 08:32.000 And of course, there is another possibility, isn't there? 08:32.000 --> 08:34.000 What other possibility? 08:34.000 --> 08:36.000 The possibility of murder. 08:36.000 --> 08:37.000 Murder? 08:37.000 --> 08:40.000 Why, yes. 08:40.000 --> 08:43.000 Here's your office, Ms. Brant. If you need anything, just call me. 08:43.000 --> 08:57.000 I want to make you as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. 08:57.000 --> 09:03.000 For Suspense, Roma Wines are bringing you Ann Baxter in, always Rome at the top. 09:03.000 --> 09:16.000 Roma Wines presentation tonight in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 09:16.000 --> 09:21.000 Between the acts of Suspense, this is Ken Niles for Roma Wines. 09:21.000 --> 09:27.000 Next time you buy wine, remember, more Americans enjoy Roma than any other wine. 09:27.000 --> 09:33.000 Yes, Roma wine is America's first choice because there's an important difference in Roma wine. 09:33.000 --> 09:37.000 A difference in fuller bouquet, richer body, better taste. 09:37.000 --> 09:42.000 A difference that means more enjoyment, more pleasure for you and your guests. 09:42.000 --> 09:48.000 To bring you wines that are superior, that taste better, Roma starts with California's Choices Grapes. 09:48.000 --> 09:53.000 Then Roma master vintners, with America's finest winemaking resources, 09:53.000 --> 09:59.000 guide this choice grape treasure unhurriedly to tempting taste perfection. 09:59.000 --> 10:09.000 Later, along with Roma wines of years before, these cuvées await selection from the world's greatest reserves of fine wines for your pleasure. 10:09.000 --> 10:17.000 That's what makes the difference in Roma wines. That's why Roma wines taste better every time. 10:17.000 --> 10:27.000 So for your best buy in good taste, insist on Roma Wine, R-O-M-A. Roma, the greatest name in wine. 10:27.000 --> 10:33.000 And now, Roma wines bring back to our Hollywood sound stage, Anne Baxter as Helen Brant, 10:33.000 --> 10:39.000 with Kathy Lewis as Marie, and Wally Mayer as Bill Farrell, in Always Room at the Top. 10:39.000 --> 10:54.000 A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. 10:54.000 --> 10:59.000 I'd met Marie Harris's type before, jealous of her authority as the boss's secretary, 10:59.000 --> 11:03.000 resentful of every newcomer and determined to make them uncomfortable. 11:03.000 --> 11:09.000 So it was only natural for her to resent someone like myself, a total stranger who walked into the job of art director 11:09.000 --> 11:14.000 for one of the best advertising outfits in town, the William J. Farrell Agency. 11:14.000 --> 11:19.000 And even though Mr. Farrell had said, temporary, I knew that I had the job. 11:19.000 --> 11:23.000 I knew it before the first campaign was over. I was in. 11:23.000 --> 11:28.000 And then, one night, the first of those funny little things began to happen. 11:28.000 --> 11:33.000 I was just taking off my hat and coat when I saw it there on my desk. 11:33.000 --> 11:38.000 A picture, a big framed picture of a dead girl, Jean Thornton. 11:38.000 --> 11:41.000 And written across the face of it, it said, 11:41.000 --> 11:49.000 Bill, darling, to the swellest guy and the swellest boss any girl ever had. 11:49.000 --> 11:51.000 Admiring your predecessor, Miss Brant? 11:51.000 --> 11:52.000 Where did that come from? 11:52.000 --> 11:54.000 I'm sure I haven't fainted, I do. 11:54.000 --> 11:56.000 It wasn't there when I left last night. Somebody put it there. 11:56.000 --> 12:00.000 Possibly some well-wisher, Miss Brant, some sincere well-wisher. 12:00.000 --> 12:02.000 It's a sort of warning. 12:02.000 --> 12:04.000 A warning of what? What are you driving at? 12:04.000 --> 12:08.000 Miss Thornton and Mr. Farrell were quite close. At one time, they... 12:08.000 --> 12:10.000 And what's that got to do with me? 12:10.000 --> 12:13.000 You know what happened, Miss Brant, to Miss Thornton. 12:13.000 --> 12:17.000 Look, Marie, are you hinting that female art directors in this office 12:17.000 --> 12:20.000 have a habit of falling for the boss and then falling out the window? 12:20.000 --> 12:22.000 I'm not hinting anything, Miss Brant. 12:22.000 --> 12:24.000 You asked me for an explanation of how the picture got there. 12:24.000 --> 12:26.000 I've given you one. 12:26.000 --> 12:28.000 Doubtless it is far-fetched. Certainly it must seem so to you. 12:28.000 --> 12:29.000 It's crazy. 12:29.000 --> 12:31.000 Of course. Will that be all, Miss Brant? 12:31.000 --> 12:36.000 Listen, Marie, let's you and I cut out the formality and let down our hair. 12:36.000 --> 12:41.000 Is there anything around here that I... well, ought to know? 12:41.000 --> 12:43.000 I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Miss Brant. 12:43.000 --> 12:47.000 All right. The girl who used to have my job is dead. 12:47.000 --> 12:49.000 You've been hitting around enough about it. 12:49.000 --> 12:52.000 Is there anything that you know that I don't? 12:52.000 --> 12:54.000 Now, is that plain enough? 12:54.000 --> 12:57.000 Quite. I can only say that I have not hinted at anything. 12:57.000 --> 13:00.000 I have perhaps engaged in certain idle speculations on matters 13:00.000 --> 13:04.000 which were better left as they are. That's all. 13:04.000 --> 13:06.000 Okay, Marie, but the way things look now, 13:06.000 --> 13:09.000 I'm liable to be around here for quite a while. 13:09.000 --> 13:11.000 Oh, I should think it likely. 13:11.000 --> 13:13.000 And you and I ought to learn to get along. 13:13.000 --> 13:16.000 You'll have no trouble getting along with me, Miss Brant. 13:16.000 --> 13:19.000 But you mean I may with... him? 13:19.000 --> 13:22.000 I can only say, Miss Brant, as your sincere friend... 13:22.000 --> 13:23.000 And well-wisher? 13:23.000 --> 13:25.000 Yes. That you're working for a man 13:25.000 --> 13:28.000 who's subject to singularly strong enthusiasms. 13:28.000 --> 13:32.000 Sometimes these enthusiasms are apt to be carried to extremes. 13:32.000 --> 13:35.000 It is essential to appreciate this in dealing with Mr. Farrell. 13:35.000 --> 13:40.000 I don't suppose this picture gag would be one of Mr. Farrell's little enthusiasms. 13:40.000 --> 13:43.000 Under the circumstances, I should think it most unlikely. 13:43.000 --> 13:46.000 And it wouldn't be one of yours, my little well-wisher. 13:46.000 --> 13:49.000 No, Miss Brant, it would not. 13:53.000 --> 13:56.000 You couldn't help but believe her. She was so prim and proper. 13:56.000 --> 13:59.000 But I was determined to have a showdown anyway on the whole thing. 13:59.000 --> 14:01.000 My job and everything. 14:01.000 --> 14:04.000 I stalked into Bill Farrell's office with a picture in my hand 14:04.000 --> 14:06.000 and without benefit of knocking. 14:06.000 --> 14:08.000 Oh, hello, Helen. Come in. 14:08.000 --> 14:12.000 Something that appears to be from your desk seems to have popped up on mine. 14:12.000 --> 14:14.000 Here. 14:14.000 --> 14:16.000 Where did you get that? 14:16.000 --> 14:18.000 I just told you. On my desk. 14:18.000 --> 14:24.000 Your ever tactful Marie has suggested that some well-wisher left it as a warning. 14:24.000 --> 14:28.000 Poor Jean. She gave me that when... 14:28.000 --> 14:32.000 That explanation still seems to leave several questions unanswered. 14:32.000 --> 14:36.000 Look, Helen, you'll hear a lot of funny things in this office, like any other office. 14:36.000 --> 14:38.000 But take my word for it, they don't mean a thing. 14:38.000 --> 14:42.000 Just do your job the way you've been doing it and you'll be all right. 14:42.000 --> 14:43.000 How right is that? 14:43.000 --> 14:45.000 You like the job, don't you? 14:45.000 --> 14:47.000 I like the work. I haven't got the job. 14:47.000 --> 14:48.000 Do you want it? 14:48.000 --> 14:49.000 What do you think? 14:49.000 --> 14:51.000 Well, you've certainly earned it, Helen. 14:51.000 --> 14:53.000 Will you stop beating around the bush? 14:53.000 --> 14:57.000 Am I the new art director of the William J. Farrell Agency or not? 14:57.000 --> 14:59.000 All right, you are. 14:59.000 --> 15:03.000 You are hereby officially the new art director of the William J. Farrell Agency. 15:03.000 --> 15:07.000 From this day forward until... 15:07.000 --> 15:10.000 Until what? 15:10.000 --> 15:15.000 As long as you want the job, Helen. 15:15.000 --> 15:20.000 Until death do us part is what he'd started to say. 15:25.000 --> 15:29.000 I forgot it, Bill. I forgot it almost the moment he said it. 15:29.000 --> 15:32.000 For the next 24 hours I was walking on air. 15:32.000 --> 15:35.000 It wasn't just the job. It was something even better. 15:35.000 --> 15:38.000 I knew Bill Farrell was falling in love with me. 15:38.000 --> 15:42.000 I knew that was just a matter of time, too. 15:46.000 --> 15:48.000 Morning, Marie. Is Mr. Farrell in? 15:48.000 --> 15:49.000 Not yet, Miss Brandt. 15:49.000 --> 15:51.000 I wish you wouldn't be so formal with me, Marie. 15:51.000 --> 15:55.000 Everybody calls everybody else by their first names around here except you. 15:55.000 --> 15:58.000 I am used to more conventional methods in most things, Miss Brandt. 15:58.000 --> 16:02.000 Okay, okay. Let me know when he comes in, though, will you? I want to see him. 16:02.000 --> 16:08.000 Miss Brandt. 16:14.000 --> 16:17.000 Hello, Bill, darling. You here? 16:17.000 --> 16:20.000 Yes, it is the thing you sent me from Mexico. 16:20.000 --> 16:22.000 I got it just this morning, Ellie. 16:22.000 --> 16:25.000 And so I wanted to tell you how sweet it was. 16:25.000 --> 16:26.000 And thank you this way. 16:26.000 --> 16:29.000 Marie! Marie! Marie! 16:29.000 --> 16:31.000 Yes, Miss Brandt. 16:31.000 --> 16:33.000 Marie, I just heard her voice. 16:33.000 --> 16:35.000 Whose voice, Miss Brandt? 16:35.000 --> 16:37.000 Hers. Jean's. Miss Thornton's. 16:37.000 --> 16:39.000 Why don't you lie down on the couch for a moment, Miss Brandt? 16:39.000 --> 16:41.000 You've been working too hard lately, and I'll get you some water. 16:41.000 --> 16:43.000 No, I tell you, I heard it right in this room. 16:43.000 --> 16:44.000 In this room? 16:44.000 --> 16:49.000 Yes, I know. It was because there was that music box, too. That cigarette case of hers. 16:49.000 --> 16:50.000 Oh, yes, yes. I remember. 16:50.000 --> 16:55.000 So do I. Because the last time I heard it was down there when they were picking up the things. 16:55.000 --> 16:58.000 There's no one here now, Miss Brandt. No one but you and me. 16:58.000 --> 16:59.000 I know, but I heard it. 16:59.000 --> 17:02.000 Was she...was it speaking to you, this voice? 17:02.000 --> 17:06.000 No, the bill for Mr. Fowl. Something personal. 17:06.000 --> 17:08.000 Oh, I dare say. 17:08.000 --> 17:10.000 Have you ever looked in this closet by the door, Miss Brandt? 17:10.000 --> 17:12.000 Well, not especially, no. 17:12.000 --> 17:16.000 I think there's probably a perfectly logical explanation of what you heard, Miss Brandt. 17:16.000 --> 17:18.000 Yes, yes, you see? 17:18.000 --> 17:19.000 Oh. 17:19.000 --> 17:22.000 A dictograph. It used to be Miss Thornton's. 17:22.000 --> 17:24.000 They use dictographs for everything in this office. 17:24.000 --> 17:27.000 They say it saves them $40,000 a year in stenographic help. 17:27.000 --> 17:28.000 I see. 17:28.000 --> 17:30.000 Something must have turned it on. 17:30.000 --> 17:34.000 Yes, there, you see? This box of pencils that had fallen off the shelf. It must have been that. 17:34.000 --> 17:36.000 What turned it off, Marie? 17:36.000 --> 17:38.000 I'm sure I don't know. It's quite simple, isn't it? 17:38.000 --> 17:40.000 Here's the switch. 17:40.000 --> 17:42.000 Hello, Bill, darling. 17:42.000 --> 17:44.000 Stop it. Stop it. 17:44.000 --> 17:45.000 Yes, Miss Brandt. 17:45.000 --> 17:46.000 And now get it out of here. 17:46.000 --> 17:48.000 Certainly, Miss Brandt. Is there any particular... 17:48.000 --> 17:51.000 I don't care what you do with it. Do anything you like. Throw it out the window. 17:53.000 --> 17:55.000 What was that, Miss Brandt? 17:55.000 --> 17:57.000 Just get it out of here. 17:57.000 --> 17:59.000 And leave me alone. 18:05.000 --> 18:07.000 It's silly I know that. 18:07.000 --> 18:09.000 It could have happened that way. It must have. 18:09.000 --> 18:11.000 Just as Marie said. 18:11.000 --> 18:14.000 But all the time in the back of my mind was a lurking horror. 18:14.000 --> 18:17.000 A nameless thing that I felt hanging over that office. 18:17.000 --> 18:19.000 And over me. 18:19.000 --> 18:21.000 Something about a girl who was dead. 18:21.000 --> 18:26.000 A girl who had plunged to her death from that same dark tower that was now my dark tower. 18:26.000 --> 18:30.000 Plunged screaming to her death only a few short weeks ago. 18:30.000 --> 18:33.000 The next night, I had to work late again to make up. 18:33.000 --> 18:35.000 I'd been out to supper alone. 18:35.000 --> 18:39.000 I was conscious of the light still burning in Bill's office when I got back. 18:39.000 --> 18:42.000 I wasn't particularly anxious to see him just then. 18:42.000 --> 18:45.000 The truthful I was avoiding him, I suppose. 18:45.000 --> 18:48.000 I'd been in my office about an hour and a half. 18:48.000 --> 18:51.000 When the phone rang, I thought it was strange. 18:51.000 --> 18:54.000 Because I was certain that I'd asked to have my night line disconnected. 18:54.000 --> 18:57.000 Out of habit, I picked it up to answer. 18:57.000 --> 18:59.000 Hello, Bill? 18:59.000 --> 19:01.000 Bill, is that you? 19:01.000 --> 19:03.000 Bill! 19:05.000 --> 19:07.000 Bill! Bill! 19:07.000 --> 19:08.000 What, Helen? What is it? 19:08.000 --> 19:09.000 Oh, Bill! 19:09.000 --> 19:11.000 Helen, darling. Tell me. 19:11.000 --> 19:13.000 Baby, baby, what is it? What's happened? 19:13.000 --> 19:15.000 I heard her. Again. 19:15.000 --> 19:16.000 Heard who, dear? 19:16.000 --> 19:18.000 Jean. Jean Thornton. 19:18.000 --> 19:19.000 Jean? 19:19.000 --> 19:22.000 Yes. On the telephone. I know it was. I swear it. 19:22.000 --> 19:24.000 But, darling, it couldn't have been. 19:24.000 --> 19:25.000 Oh, Bill, I think I'm going mad. 19:25.000 --> 19:27.000 Oh, Helen, darling, listen to me. 19:27.000 --> 19:29.000 Picture, the dictograph. All right. But this... 19:29.000 --> 19:31.000 Helen, Helen, look at me. 19:31.000 --> 19:32.000 Yes, Bill. 19:32.000 --> 19:34.000 I love you, Helen. You know that, don't you? 19:34.000 --> 19:37.000 Yes. Oh, yes, darling, I do. 19:37.000 --> 19:38.000 I'm afraid. 19:38.000 --> 19:39.000 But there's nothing to be afraid of, darling. 19:39.000 --> 19:41.000 No, not that. 19:41.000 --> 19:44.000 I'm afraid because now I know that you're afraid. 19:44.000 --> 19:45.000 I am? 19:45.000 --> 19:47.000 Yes. You are, aren't you? 19:47.000 --> 19:48.000 Helen, I... 19:48.000 --> 19:51.000 Bill, please. You've got to tell me now. 19:51.000 --> 19:54.000 Look, darling, I'm in a jam. A bad jam, an awful bad jam. 19:54.000 --> 19:55.000 Yes, it must be. 19:55.000 --> 19:56.000 But it's nothing that you have to worry about. 19:56.000 --> 19:58.000 It's nothing that isn't going to straighten itself out. 19:58.000 --> 20:01.000 It's nothing that I'm going to let affect us ever. 20:01.000 --> 20:04.000 Bill, if it affects you, it does affect us. 20:04.000 --> 20:07.000 Darling, darling, you've got to trust me just a little longer. 20:07.000 --> 20:11.000 Bill, I do. I will. But it's about Jean, isn't it? 20:11.000 --> 20:14.000 Yes. Yes, it's about Jean. 20:14.000 --> 20:18.000 And it was. She didn't just fall. 20:18.000 --> 20:19.000 It was a terrible thing, Helen. Terrible. 20:19.000 --> 20:22.000 About as terrible as it could be. But Helen, just remember this, darling. 20:22.000 --> 20:26.000 There's nothing to be afraid of. It'll all be over soon. Very soon. 20:26.000 --> 20:28.000 Is that all? All you can tell me? 20:28.000 --> 20:30.000 It's all I can tell you now. 20:30.000 --> 20:32.000 Oh, darling, I know what this is like for you. 20:32.000 --> 20:34.000 But please, please go home now and forget all about it. 20:34.000 --> 20:35.000 How can I forget about it? 20:35.000 --> 20:37.000 Well, try. Try anyway. 20:37.000 --> 20:39.000 I've got some things to finish up here, and then I'll call for you, 20:39.000 --> 20:41.000 and we'll start making our plans. 20:41.000 --> 20:43.000 Oh, you will marry me, won't you, Helen? 20:43.000 --> 20:45.000 Oh, Bill, yes. 20:45.000 --> 20:47.000 Then everything's all right. 20:47.000 --> 20:49.000 Go on now, go on. 20:49.000 --> 20:50.000 All right. 20:50.000 --> 20:53.000 Good night for now, my dearest. 20:53.000 --> 20:55.000 Good night. 21:03.000 --> 21:07.000 I went out. I didn't go home. I couldn't. 21:07.000 --> 21:11.000 I walked, walked for miles trying to think. 21:11.000 --> 21:15.000 But nothing made any sense, except that I was in love 21:15.000 --> 21:19.000 and in an agony of fear for what might happen to Spoiler. 21:19.000 --> 21:21.000 And suddenly I realized that I had to know everything, 21:21.000 --> 21:24.000 now, tonight, whatever it was. 21:24.000 --> 21:26.000 So I went back to the office. 21:26.000 --> 21:29.000 Bill's light was still on, and I was just at the door when I stopped. 21:29.000 --> 21:31.000 You're insane, you're insane crazy. 21:31.000 --> 21:33.000 Suppose somebody saw you and recognized you. 21:33.000 --> 21:34.000 You sent me a message. You sent me a message. 21:34.000 --> 21:36.000 I did not. I gave no message to no one. 21:36.000 --> 21:37.000 Why did you lie to me like that? 21:37.000 --> 21:38.000 I'm not lying to you. 21:38.000 --> 21:40.000 Bill, I heard it. 21:40.000 --> 21:43.000 I threw open the door, and she was standing there. 21:43.000 --> 21:47.000 Gene, Gene Thornton, a woman who was dead. 21:54.000 --> 21:58.000 My ten-two was lying on the couch in Bill's office. 21:58.000 --> 22:00.000 At first it seemed perfectly natural, 22:00.000 --> 22:02.000 lying there and Bill sitting beside me, 22:02.000 --> 22:05.000 holding my hand, and her there, Gene, 22:05.000 --> 22:08.000 standing over by the desk talking to him. 22:08.000 --> 22:10.000 Well, what are you going to do about her? 22:10.000 --> 22:11.000 Do? What do you mean do? 22:11.000 --> 22:13.000 Well, you're going to have to do something she knows, doesn't you, 22:13.000 --> 22:14.000 or she will when she snaps out of it. 22:14.000 --> 22:16.000 I'm not going to do anything. 22:16.000 --> 22:17.000 I suppose you're in love with her. 22:17.000 --> 22:18.000 What if I am? 22:18.000 --> 22:20.000 Because it makes a difference, my sweet, to me. 22:20.000 --> 22:21.000 Bill? 22:21.000 --> 22:24.000 Oh, darling, darling, it's all right. 22:24.000 --> 22:27.000 Is she, is she really? 22:27.000 --> 22:29.000 Yes, yes, it's Gene. 22:29.000 --> 22:32.000 But I saw her that morning. I saw her lying. 22:32.000 --> 22:34.000 That's what you were supposed to think. 22:34.000 --> 22:35.000 Then who? 22:35.000 --> 22:36.000 Just a girl. 22:36.000 --> 22:37.000 Well, you might as well tell her. 22:37.000 --> 22:39.000 At least then she'll be in it as deep as the rest of us. 22:39.000 --> 22:40.000 Gene, please. 22:40.000 --> 22:42.000 Your boyfriend there had been dipping into the till 22:42.000 --> 22:45.000 about a quarter of a million dollars' worth of the client's money. 22:45.000 --> 22:47.000 My insurance and what the company had me insured for 22:47.000 --> 22:49.000 were just about enough to cover it. 22:49.000 --> 22:51.000 Like a fool, I agreed to it. 22:51.000 --> 22:52.000 You suggested it. 22:52.000 --> 22:54.000 I thought he was in love with me then. 22:54.000 --> 22:55.000 But there was a girl. 22:55.000 --> 22:57.000 A girl who worked in the office. 22:57.000 --> 22:58.000 No friends, no family. 22:58.000 --> 23:02.000 I fired her the day before, then got her to come up here that night. 23:02.000 --> 23:03.000 Another chance. 23:03.000 --> 23:05.000 Modeling, I said, was my clothes. 23:05.000 --> 23:06.000 Cigarette case. 23:06.000 --> 23:07.000 I dug up another one. 23:07.000 --> 23:09.000 I knew people would remember that. 23:09.000 --> 23:10.000 Bill. 23:10.000 --> 23:11.000 I told you it was bad. 23:11.000 --> 23:13.000 Oh, darling, I don't care. 23:13.000 --> 23:14.000 I don't care what it was. 23:14.000 --> 23:15.000 As long as... 23:15.000 --> 23:18.000 I think you'd better let me take charge of things now, Mr. Ferrell. 23:18.000 --> 23:19.000 Marie. 23:19.000 --> 23:20.000 Please don't move. 23:20.000 --> 23:21.000 I'm quite prepared to shoot if I have to. 23:21.000 --> 23:22.000 Marie, this is insane. 23:22.000 --> 23:23.000 Is it? 23:23.000 --> 23:24.000 The shakedown. 23:24.000 --> 23:26.000 What do you want, Marie? 23:26.000 --> 23:29.000 Quite a lot, I'm afraid, Mr. Ferrell. 23:29.000 --> 23:30.000 How do you expect to get it? 23:30.000 --> 23:32.000 It's your word against ours, three of us. 23:32.000 --> 23:35.000 You forget, Miss Thornton, that you are legally dead. 23:35.000 --> 23:38.000 As for the rest, do you remember, Miss Brant, 23:38.000 --> 23:41.000 that I said we used dictographs for practically everything in this office? 23:41.000 --> 23:42.000 It was you that... 23:42.000 --> 23:44.000 I tried my best to warn you, Miss Brant. 23:44.000 --> 23:45.000 I'm truly sorry for you. 23:45.000 --> 23:46.000 Listen. 23:46.000 --> 23:47.000 You might as well tell her. 23:47.000 --> 23:49.000 At least then she'll be in as deep as the rest of it. 23:49.000 --> 23:50.000 Jean, please. 23:50.000 --> 23:52.000 Your boyfriend there has been dipping into the till. 23:52.000 --> 23:55.000 About a quarter of a million dollars' worth of the client's money. 23:55.000 --> 23:56.000 My insurance. 23:56.000 --> 23:58.000 There is more, of course, but I'm sure that will suffice. 23:58.000 --> 24:02.000 Now, Miss Thornton, I think you and I had better have a little talk alone. 24:02.000 --> 24:03.000 What do you want us to do, Marie? 24:03.000 --> 24:04.000 I'll come to you later, Mr. Ferrell. 24:04.000 --> 24:07.000 For the moment, I must ask you to step into the conference room behind you. 24:07.000 --> 24:08.000 You too, Miss Brant. 24:08.000 --> 24:09.000 Marie. 24:09.000 --> 24:10.000 Please, Mr. Ferrell, not now. 24:10.000 --> 24:14.000 I shall have to lock you in, but it will not be for long, I think. 24:14.000 --> 24:17.000 You know, of course, that there's no other way out... 24:17.000 --> 24:19.000 except down. 24:24.000 --> 24:26.000 We stood there huddled together by the locked door, 24:26.000 --> 24:27.000 but we could hear nothing. 24:27.000 --> 24:30.000 Till there was a sound like a window being opened, and then... 24:30.000 --> 24:31.000 Oh, please! 24:31.000 --> 24:33.000 Ah! 24:35.000 --> 24:36.000 Marie! 24:36.000 --> 24:37.000 Marie! 24:37.000 --> 24:38.000 Marie! 24:38.000 --> 24:39.000 Marie! 24:41.000 --> 24:42.000 Take them out now. 24:42.000 --> 24:43.000 What have you done to her? 24:43.000 --> 24:47.000 Miss Thornton has, shall we say, taken the easy way out. 24:47.000 --> 24:48.000 You mean you forced her? 24:48.000 --> 24:49.000 Very well, if you prefer. 24:49.000 --> 24:52.000 I'm sure it can make little difference now. 24:52.000 --> 24:54.000 You, Miss Brant, I take it, are in love with Mr. Ferrell, 24:54.000 --> 24:56.000 in spite of my warnings. 24:56.000 --> 24:57.000 Yes. 24:57.000 --> 24:58.000 And I'm sure I can count on your silence, 24:58.000 --> 25:01.000 knowing the results to Mr. Ferrell, if you were to break it. 25:01.000 --> 25:02.000 Yes, yes, anything. 25:02.000 --> 25:06.000 But I'm afraid your marital plans will have to wait. 25:06.000 --> 25:07.000 What do you mean? 25:07.000 --> 25:10.000 I think it's best this way, for my own protection. 25:10.000 --> 25:13.000 Of course, if anything were to happen to Mr. Ferrell, 25:13.000 --> 25:15.000 this way, everything would come to me. 25:15.000 --> 25:16.000 What would? How? 25:16.000 --> 25:18.000 The firm and the money. 25:18.000 --> 25:23.000 You see, Miss Brant, Mr. Ferrell is going to marry me. 25:23.000 --> 25:28.000 I looked at Bill. 25:28.000 --> 25:30.000 I knew he'd do as she said. 25:30.000 --> 25:31.000 What else? 25:31.000 --> 25:33.000 I turned and left the room without speaking. 25:33.000 --> 25:35.000 In my own office, I found a little automatic, 25:35.000 --> 25:37.000 where lately I'd always kept it. 25:37.000 --> 25:39.000 When I came back, Bill was staring out the window, 25:39.000 --> 25:42.000 and Marie was making up her face from a little compact. 25:42.000 --> 25:45.000 They didn't even glance in my direction. 25:45.000 --> 25:50.000 Ah! 26:00.000 --> 26:02.000 I'm waiting for the police. 26:02.000 --> 26:05.000 I've been looking over the new layout. 26:05.000 --> 26:08.000 The Dosset Soap campaign is particularly good. 26:08.000 --> 26:10.000 We did it together, Bill and I. 26:10.000 --> 26:12.000 I'm sorry, Miss Brant. 26:12.000 --> 26:16.000 The theme was a bride and groom. 26:28.000 --> 26:30.000 Suspense. 26:30.000 --> 26:36.000 Presented by Roma Wine, R-O-M-A, Roma, America's favorite wine. 26:36.000 --> 26:39.000 This is Ken Niles, the owner of the Roma Wine Company. 26:39.000 --> 26:42.000 The Roma's favorite wine. 26:42.000 --> 26:44.000 This is Ken Niles bringing back to our Suspense audience 26:44.000 --> 26:48.000 the lovely, talented star of tonight's play, Anne Baxter. 26:48.000 --> 26:50.000 Anne, you did a marvelous job. 26:50.000 --> 26:52.000 We're sorry you weren't cast as the sweet young thing tonight, 26:52.000 --> 26:55.000 but then most of our Suspense characters are pretty rugged, you know. 26:55.000 --> 26:58.000 Well, I can't be the sweet young thing all the time, Mr. Niles. 26:58.000 --> 27:01.000 Well, bad or good, to show you how we feel about you, Anne, 27:01.000 --> 27:03.000 here's a gift basket of Roma wines 27:03.000 --> 27:06.000 with the compliments of your host tonight, Roma Wine. 27:06.000 --> 27:08.000 Thank you, Ken, and Roma too. 27:08.000 --> 27:10.000 Let's see, is there a Roma wine in my basket 27:10.000 --> 27:13.000 that goes with baked beans? It's a Saturday night favorite. 27:13.000 --> 27:16.000 Oh, positively, Anne. For a combination fit for a king, 27:16.000 --> 27:21.000 try this delicious Roma California burgundy with old-fashioned baked beans. 27:21.000 --> 27:23.000 Mmm, it's a tempting treat. 27:23.000 --> 27:28.000 And whatever the dish, robust Roma burgundy adds zest to everyday meals. 27:28.000 --> 27:31.000 Ken, I could use you at home to help sell my cooking. 27:31.000 --> 27:34.000 No need of that, Anne, when you serve Roma burgundy. 27:34.000 --> 27:38.000 You'll find Roma burgundy works wonders for the simplest dishes, 27:38.000 --> 27:42.000 brings out the natural flavor goodness of any hearty food. 27:42.000 --> 27:45.000 And remember, with Roma wines, you enjoy an important difference, 27:45.000 --> 27:51.000 an extra goodness in fuller bouquet, richer body, and better taste. 27:51.000 --> 27:55.000 Yes, that difference in Roma wines, that better taste, 27:55.000 --> 28:00.000 is the reason more Americans enjoy Roma than any other wine. 28:00.000 --> 28:03.000 It certainly makes sense, Ken. Thank you and good night. 28:03.000 --> 28:06.000 Ann Baxter is currently being seen in the 20th Century Fox 28:06.000 --> 28:10.000 Darrell F. Zanuck production, The Razor's Edge. 28:10.000 --> 28:14.000 Tonight's suspense play was written by Eleanor Beeson. 28:14.000 --> 28:18.000 Next Thursday, same time, you will hear William Bendix 28:18.000 --> 28:21.000 as star of Suspense. 28:23.000 --> 28:25.000 Produced and directed by William Spearer 28:25.000 --> 28:33.000 for the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California. 28:45.000 --> 28:48.000 Until next week, enjoy more Suspense thrills 28:48.000 --> 28:55.000 as compiled in Suspense Magazine. 28:55.000 --> 28:58.000 In the coming weeks, Suspense will present such stars 28:58.000 --> 29:02.000 as James Stewart, Eddie Bracken, Howard De Silva, and others. 29:02.000 --> 29:06.000 Make it a point to listen each Thursday to Suspense, 29:06.000 --> 29:32.000 radio's outstanding theater thrill. 29:32.000 --> 29:37.000 Stay tuned for the thrilling adventures of the FBI in Peace and War 29:37.000 --> 29:41.000 following immediately over most of these stations. 29:41.000 --> 30:03.000 This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.